Identification of Two Palmitoyl Groups in Octopus Rhodopsin

Abstract— We determined the structure and site of fatty acid incorporated in octopus rhodopsin using a combination of fluorescence label and enzymatic cleavage methods in conjunction with fast-atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry. A single peptide containing two adjacent cysteines, Cys337 and Cys338, was successfully isolated using the fluorescence from a dye conjugated to Cys345. The FAB mass spectrometric analysis of the peptide (323phe-³⁴⁰phe) revealed that two palmitoyl groups are linked to Cys337 and Cys338 via thioester bonds in octopus rhodopsin as in bovine rhodopsin.     

Preparation of flexible and transparent polylactic acids films by crystallization manipulation

Highly flexible and transparent polylactic acids (PLAs) films were successfully prepared by manipulating their crystallization. The semicrystalline poly(L ‐lactic acid) (L) was blended with a noncrystalline poly(DL ‐lactic acid) (DL) together with diglycerol tetraacetate (DGTA). Optimal DGTA content to plasticize PLAs was about 17%. Addition of DL hindered the crystallization of the films. Tensile strengths of the films having DL content more than 5% were about 10 MPa while the elongations at break were boosted as DL content increased. Films having L/DL ratio of 50/50 showed elongations at break of 270%. Stretch ability and clarity of films containing 15–50% DL were fair although they were subjected to annealing at 60 °C for 1 h. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 6489–6495, 2008     

Semiconductor-catalyzed photooxygenation of aromatic olefins

Irradiation of semiconductors (TiO₂ and CdS) suspended in organic solvents containing 1,1-diphenylethylene and its derivatives under oxygen afforded the corresponding epoxides and benzophenone. A possible mechanism is discussed.     

A three carbon homologation by the ring-opening of β-propiolactones with diorganocuprates

Various organocuprates react with β-propiolactones to give β-substituted propionic acids in high yields.     

Coplanar Schottky variable phase shifter constructed on GaAs substrate for millimeter-wave application

A Schottky contact variable phase shifter constructed on either uniformly or periodically doped GaAs substrate is discussed in details. The device can operate at millimeter-wave frequencies with reasonably low attenuation.Work supported by the Office of Naval Research under Contract N00014-79-0053, Joint Service Electronics Program under Grant F49620-82-C-0033, and US Army Research Office under Contract DAAG29-81-K-0053.     

On the index of a holomorphic vector field tangent to a singular variety

In this article we define and compute an index for a holomorphic vector field on a (possibly singular) subvariety of a complex manifold, provided the subvariety is a local complete intersection. This index reduces to the usual Poincaré-Hopf index in case the subvariety is smooth, and is equal more generally to the index defined in [GSV] and [SS].     

Reactions of 1,3-thiazine-2,6-dithiones. Part 5. Novel synthesis of 3,5-dicyano-4-thiopyridones via 2-cyanomethyldihydro-1,3-thiazine-6-thiones

A novel synthesis of a series of 2,6-disubstituted 3,5-dicyano-4-thiopyridones 4 by the decomposition of 2,4-disubstituted 5-cyano-2-cyanomethyldihydro-1,3-thiazine-6-thiones 2 , which are synthesized from 4-substituted 5-cyano-1,3-thiazine-2,6-dithiones and enaminonitriles, is described.