Asymmetric synthesis of four isomers of 2-C-trifluoromethylerythritol

Optically active 2-C-trifluoromethylerythritols, analogues of 2-C-methylerythritol, which is a key intermediate in the biosynthesis of isoprenoid with a mevalonate-independent route, were conveniently synthesized from 1,1,1-trifluoro-2,3-epoxypropane.     

Structure-directing role of amines in the ionothermal synthesis

The structure-directing effect of amine has been observed in the ionothermal synthesis of aluminophosphate molecular sieves in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ionic liquid. The seven different amines we tested have an influence on the crystallization dynamics and the final product, leading to the formation of pure AFI and ATV structures.     

Chemistry of periodate-mediated cross-linking of 3,4-dihydroxylphenylalanine-containing molecules to proteins

Chemical cross-linking is an attractive approach to map peptide-protein and protein-protein complexes. Previously, we explored 3,4-dihydroxylphenylalanine (DOPA) as a protein cross-linking agent upon periodate oxidation (Burdine, L.; Gillette, T. G.; Lin, H.-J.; Kodadek, T. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 11442-11443). We report here a study on the chemistry of DOPA-protein cross-linking. First, using a peptide nucleic acid templated system, we identified the alpha-amino, epsilon-amino of Lys, imidazole of His, and thiol of Cys as functional groups capable of attacking DOPA ortho-quinone. Second, we demonstrated that periodate-induced DOPA-protein cross-linking could be carried out efficiently at neutral pH in the presence of excess aliphatic 1,2-diols such as ethylene glycol, lactose, and adenosine triphosphate. This result indicated that DOPA-protein cross-linking and 1,2-diol oxidative cleavage proceed via different mechanisms and that carbohydrates will not interfere with this process when carried out in crude cell extracts or on intact cells.     

Shape-coded silica nanotubes for biosensing

Shape-coded silica nanotubes (SNTs) were fabricated on the basis of template synthesis as a new dispersible microarray system. The template synthesis of shape-coded SNTs begins with the fabrication of a porous alumina film that has well-defined cylindrical pores with two or more different diameter segments by multistep anodization of an aluminum substrate. Then, SNTs were fabricated with a surface sol-gel method that can control the wall thickness of SNTs on the single-nanometer level. Attractively, the difference in optical reflectance between the segmented parts of individual silica nanotube makes it very convenient to identify each nanotube and enables these shape-coded SNTs to work as coding materials for biosensing.     

Positioning and alignment of lipid tubules on patterned Au substrates

This paper presents a method for positioning and aligning self-assembled tubules of 1,2-bis(tricosa-10,12-diynoyl)-sn-glycero-3-phosphochloline (DC(8,9)PC) by withdrawing a patterned Au substrate from tubule solution. The patterned Au substrates with alternating bare Au stripes and thiol monolayer stripes are formed by microcontact printing. We find that the lipid tubules selectively adsorb on the bare Au stripes but show no orientation order. By withdrawing the patterned Au substrates at the direction along the stripes from tubule solution, the lipid tubules are found to be aligned along the direction of the Au stripes. The angular distribution and the density of the aligned lipid tubules depend on the withdrawal rates and the adsorption time, respectively. We conclude that forces causing tubule alignment that originate in the surface tension associated with the moving meniscus dominate alignment forces exerted by the patterned Au substrates.     

Dipole-bound anions of beta-alanine: canonical and zwitterionic conformers

The remarkable stabilities of the dipole-bound anions of the canonical and zwitterionic conformers of beta-alanine are predicted at the high level of theories, in which the former is the global minimum and the latter, the anti zwitterionic anion, is the local minimum. In contrast to the dipole-bound anions of glycine, the gauche zwitterionic anion of beta-alanine is an unstable conformer. The vertical electron detachment energies for the canonical and anti zwitterionic anions are 58 and 1145 meV, respectively. The photodetachment electron spectrum of the canonical anion is theoretically simulated on the basis of the Franck-Condon factor calculations.     

Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy and its artifacts: simulations and tests

Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy (FFS)[1,2] is a kind of fluorescence detection techniques suitable for monitoring interaction and transportation processes in a small detection zone of biological systems. FFS detects and analyzes the fluorescence signal of the fluorescent molecules in the detection zone to retrieve the dynamical parameters of the system including concentration, diffusion coefficient and interaction constants. FFS utilizes various statistical methods to analyze the data,…     

Electric field effect in diluted magnetic insulator anatase Co: TiO2

An external electric field induced reversible modulation of a room temperature magnetic moment and coercive field is achieved in an epitaxial and insulating thin film of dilutely cobalt-doped anatase TiO2. This first demonstration of an electric field effect in any oxide-based diluted ferromagnet is realized in a high quality epitaxial heterostructure of PbZr(0.2)Ti(0.8)O(3)/Co: TiO(2)/SrRuO(3) grown on (001) LaAlO3. The observed effect, which is about 15% in strength in a given heterostructure, can be modulated over several cycles. Possible mechanisms for electric field induced modulation of insulating ferromagnetism are discussed.     

Imaging of small nanoparticle-containing objects by finite-element-based photoacoustic tomography

We present semiquantitative photoacoustic images of small nanoparticle-containing objects having a wide range of contrast levels relative to the background. The images are obtained by a finite-element reconstruction algorithm that is based on the Helmholtz-like photoacoustic wave equation in the frequency domain. Our reconstruction approach is an iterative Newton method coupled with combined Marquardt and Tikhonov regularizations that can extract the spatial distribution of relative optical absorption property in heterogeneous media. We demonstrate experimental images in single- and multiple-object configurations with a circular scanning photoacoustic tomographic system. The results obtained show that millimeter-size nanoparticle-containing objects can be clearly detected in terms of position, size, and relative optical properties.     

Efficient improvement of laser beam quality by coherent combining in an improved Michelson cavity

The efficient improvement of laser beam quality is demonstrated by coherent combining of two Nd:YVO4 lasers in an improved Michelson cavity. When the two lasers are separately operated with beam qualities of M(x)2 = 1.74 and M(y)2 = 1.34 for laser 1 and M(x)2 = 1.53 and M(y)2 = 1.39 for laser 2, by coherent combining of the two lasers, a single beam output exceeding 2 W with a nearly perfect TEM00 mode (M(x)2 = 1.08, M(y)2 = 1.04) is obtained. Moreover, it can withstand environmental perturbations with no change in beam quality or output power and has the potential for scaling to much higher output power with high beam quality by coherent addition of multiple lasers in this configuration.