Styrene copolymers as pollutant adsorbents : Safe sampling volume determination

The determination of safe sampling volumes of benzene and acetone on air samplers filled with Porapak Q, Chromosorb 101, 102 and 103 is described. Two direct methods are employed; one method is based on frontal chromatography, while the second one is a concentration method followed by thermal desorption. The results are compared to those determined by the indirect pulse chromatographic method. The safe sampling volumes determined by the direct methods were in accordance. The indirect method gives slightly different values; however, this procedure is carried out at "infinite dilution". The effect of the pollutant concentration on the safe sampling volumes was also examined. The values decrease with increasing pollutant concentration.     

Obtainment of chelating agents through the enzymatic oxidation of lignins by phenol oxidase

Oxidation of lignin obtained from acetosolv and ethanol/water pulping of sugarcane bagasse was performed by phenol oxidases: tyrosinase (TYR) and laccase (LAC), to increase the number of carbonyl and hydroxyl groups in lignin, and to improve its chelating capacity. The chelating properties of the original and oxidized lignins were compared by monitoring the amount of Cu²⁺ bound to lignin by gel permeation chromatography. The Acetosolv lignin oxidized with TYR was 16.8% and with LAC 21% higher than that of the original lignin. For ethanol/water lignin oxidized with TYR was 17.2% and with LAC 18% higher than that of the original lignin.     

RP-HPLC analysis of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in beverages and plant extracts using a CoulArray detector

Methods were developed for the analysis of natural antioxidants including phenolic compounds and flavonoids in beverages and plant extracts using gradient HPLC with multi-channel electrochemical coulometric detection. Suitability of various reversed-phase columns for this purpose was compared; pH and mobile phase gradients were optimized with respect to the separation selectivity and sensitivity of detection. Because of different target compounds in various sample types, the overlapping resolution maps and the normalized resolution product approaches described earlier were used to select optimum columns and gradients to suit the analysis of the individual sample types. The methods were applied to the analysis of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in beer, wine, tea, and yacon extracts. 32 phenolic compounds were identified and determined, including derivatives of benzoic and cinnamic acids, flavones, and a few related glycosides. Eight-channel CoulArray detection offers high selectivity and sensitivity with limits of detection in the low microg L(-1) range, at least an order of magnitude lower than single-channel coulometric detection using the Coulochem detector. No special sample pretreatment is necessary and, because of the compatibility of the CoulArray detector with gradient elution, phenolic antioxidants of different polarities can be determined in a single run. In addition to the retention times, the ratios of the areas of the pre-dominant and post-dominant peaks to the area of the dominant peak can be used for improved identification of natural antioxidants.     

Different Pathways in the Base-Promoted Isomerization of Benzyl Oxiranyl Ethers

The base-promoted isomerization of benzyl oxiranyl ethers was investigated. In particular it was shown that the reaction may proceed toward two main regioisomeric products: a benzyl vinyl ether or a 2-aryl-3-(hydroxyalkyl)oxetane, depending on subtle variations in the substitution on the phenyl ring. Disubstituted oxetanes were obtained in a stereoselective manner, thus providing a good entry to this class of synthetically useful compounds.     

A fluorescence-based method for direct measurement of submicrosecond intramolecular contact formation in biopolymers: an exploratory study with polypeptides.

A fluorescent amino acid derivative (Fmoc-DBO) has been synthesized, which contains 2,3-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2-ene (DBO) as a small, hydrophilic fluorophore with an extremely long fluorescence lifetime (325 ns in H2O and 505 ns in D2O under air). Polypeptides containing both the DBO residue and an efficient fluorescence quencher allow the measurement of rate constants for intramolecular end-to-end contact formation. Bimolecular quenching experiments indicated that Trp, Cys, Met, and Tyr are efficient quenchers of DBO (k(q) = 20, 5.1, 4.5, and 3.6 x 10(8) M(-1) x s(-1) in D2O), while the other amino acids are inefficient. The quenching by Trp, which was selected as an intrinsic quencher, is presumed to involve exciplex-induced deactivation. Flexible, structureless polypeptides, Trp-(Gly-Ser)n-DBO-NH2, were prepared by standard solid-phase synthesis, and the rates of contact formation were measured through the intramolecular fluorescence quenching of DBO by Trp with time-correlated single-photon counting, laser flash photolysis, and steady-state fluorometry. Rate constants of 4.1, 6.8, 4.9, 3.1, 2.0, and 1.1 x 10(7) s(-1) for n = 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10 were obtained. Noteworthy was the relatively slow quenching for the shortest peptide (n = 0). The kinetic data are in agreement with recent transient absorption studies of triplet probes for related peptides, but the rate constants are significantly larger. In contrast to the flexible structureless Gly-Ser polypeptides, the polyproline Trp-Pro4-DBO-NH2 showed insignificant fluorescence quenching, suggesting that a high polypeptide flexibility and the possibility of probe-quencher contact is essential to induce quenching. Advantages of the new fluorescence-based method for measuring contact formation rates in biopolymers include high accuracy, fast time range (100 ps-1 micros), and the possibility to perform measurements in water under air.     

Nonreductive Enantioselective Ring Opening of N-(Methylsulfonyl)dicarboximides with Diisopropoxytitanium α,α,α′,α′-Tetraaryl-1,3-dioxolane-4,5-dimethanolate

The bicyclic and tricyclic meso-N-(methylsulfonyl)dicarboximides 1a–f are converted enantioselectively to isopropyl [(sulfonamido)carbonyl]-carboxylates 2a–f by diisopropoxytitanium TADDOLate (75–92% yield; see Scheme 3). The enantiomer ratios of the products are between 86:14 and 97:3, and recrystallization from CH₂Cl₂/hexane leads to enantiomerically pure sulfonamido esters 2 (Scheme 3). The enantioselectivity shows a linear relationship with the enantiomer excess of the TADDOL employed (Fig.3). Reduction of the ester and carboxamide groups (LiAlH₄) and additional reductive cleavage of the sulfonamido group (Red-Al) in the products 2 of imide-ring opening gives hydroxy-sulfonamides 3 and amino alcohols 4 , respectively (Scheme 4). The absolute configuration of the sulfonamido esters 2 is determined by chemical correlation (with 2a,b ; Scheme 6), by the X-ray analysis of the camphanate of 3e (Fig. 1), and by comparative ¹⁹F-NMR analysis of the Mosher esters of the hydroxy-sulfonamides 3 (Table 1). A general proposal for the assignment of the absolute configuration of primary alcohols and amines of Formula HXCH₂CHR¹R², X = O, NH, is suggested (see 11 in Table 1). It follows from the assignment of configuration of 2 that the Re carbonyl group of the original imide 1 is converted to an isopropyl ester group. This result is compatible with a rule previously put forward for the stereochemical course of reactions involving titanium TADDOLate activated chelating electrophiles ( 12 in Scheme 7). A tentative mechanistic model is proposed ( 13 and 14 in Scheme 7).     

Planar Chromatographic and Electrophoretic Study of Thermally Induced Conformational Modifications of Protein Structure

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC -     

The effect of amino acid deletions and substitutions in the longest loop of GFP

Background  

The effect of single and multiple amino acid substitutions in the green fluorescent protein (GFP) from Aequorea victoria has been extensively explored, yielding several proteins of diverse spectral properties. However, the role of amino acid deletions in this protein -as with most proteins- is still unknown, due to the technical difficulties involved in generating combinatorial in-phase amino acid deletions on a target region.     

Alkyl 2-(2-benzoyl-2-ethoxycarbonyl-1-ethenyl)amino-3-dimethylaminopropenoates in the synthesis of heterocyclic systems

Alkyl 2-(2-benzoyl-2-ethoxycarbonyl-1-ethenyl)amino-3-dimethylaminopropenoates 4a,b were prepared. They react with C-nucleophiles such a 2-pyridinylacetonitrile 5 and methyl-2-quinolinylacetate 8, cyclohexane-1,3-dione 10 and its derivatives 12 and 14, resorcinol derivative 16 , 2-naphtol 18, 2-pyranone derivatives 20 and 22, and 4-hydroxypyridin-2(1H)-one 24, to form substituted amino derivatives of quinolizine 6, benzo[c]quinolizine 9, tetrahydrobenzopyran-2-one 11, 13, 15 , naphto[2,1-b]pyran-3-one 19 , pyranopyranones 21, 23, and pyrano[3,2-c]pyridine 25.     

A New Ent-Kaurane from the Roots of Lasianthaea aurea

Chemistry of Natural Compounds - A known kaurenoic acid (1), together with a new kaurane derivative named 3α-isobutyryloxykaurenoic acid (2), was isolated from the roots of Lasianthaea aurea,...