Monodisperse porous poly(vinyl acetate-co-divinylbenzene) particles by single-stage seeded polymerization: a packing material for reversed phase HPLC

A single-stage swelling and polymerization method was proposed for the synthesis of monodisperse porous poly(vinyl acetate-co-divinylbenzene) [poly(VAc-co-DVB)] particles with different VAc/DVB feed ratios. The particles obtained with the VAc/DVB feed ratio of 50:50 v/v had a narrow pore size distribution exhibiting a sharp peak at 30 nm. Based on this distribution the mean pore size and the specific volume were determined as 12 nm and 1.39 mL/g, respectively. The specific surface area of poly(VAc-co-DVB) particles was found to be 470 m2/g. These properties make poly(VAc-co-DVB) particles a promising support for potential HPLC applications. Poly(vinyl alcohol-co-divinylbenzene) [poly(VA-co-DVB)] particles were then obtained by the basic hydrolysis of poly(VAc-co-DVB) particles. The hydroxyl groups on poly(VA-co-DVB) particles have a suitably reactive functionality for surface grafting or derivatization protocols aiming at synthesizing various HPLC packings. The examination of poly(VA-co-DVB) particles by confocal laser scanning microscopy showed the homogeneous distribution of hydroxyl functionality in the particle interior. As a starting point, the chromatographic performance of plain material, poly(VAc-co-DVB) particles produced with VAc/DVB feed ratio of 50:50 (v/v) was tested by a commonly utilized chromatographic mode, reversed phase chromatography. Poly(VAc-co-DVB) particles were successfully used as packing material in the RP separation of alkylbenzenes with resolutions higher than 1.5. Theoretical plate numbers up to 17 500 plates/m were achieved. No significant change both in the chromatographic resolution and column efficiency was observed with increasing flow rate. The chromatography showed that poly(VAc-co-DVB) particles were a suitable starting material for the synthesis of chromatographic packings for different modes of HPLC.     

Syntheses, crystal structures, spectral and thermal analysis and biological activities of copper(II)-pyridine-2,5-dicarboxylate complexes with 4-methylimidazole, imidazole, and 3,4-dimethylpyridine

In this study, three novel Cu(II)-pyridine-2,5-dicarboxylate (pydc) complexes with 4-methylimidazole (4-Meim), [Cu(pydc)(H₂O)(4-Meim)₂]·H₂O (1), imidazole (im), {[Cu(μ-pydc)(im)₂]·2H₂O}_n (2), and 3,4-dimethylpyridine (dmpy), [Cu(μ-pydc)(H₂O)(dmpy)]_n (3) have been synthesized. Elemental and thermal analyses, magnetic susceptibilities, IR and UV/vis spectroscopic studies have been performed to characterize the complexes. The molecular structures of mononuclear (1) and polynuclear (2 and 3) complexes have been determined by the single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. In 1 and 2, Cu(II) ions have distorted square planer geometry, while 3 has distorted octahedral coordination. The pyridine-2,5-dicarboxylate exhibits three different coordination modes namely bidentate (1), tridentate (2) and tetradentate (3). The complex 1 is further constructed to form three-dimensional framework by hydrogen bonding, C–Hπ and ππ stacking interactions. The adjacent chains of 2 and 3 are then mutually linked via hydrogen bonding, ππ and C–Hπ interactions, which are further assembled to form three-dimensional framework. 1 exhibits the magnetic moment value of 1.70 BM, which corresponds to one of the unpaired electron, while the polynuclear complexes 2 and 3 exhibit 1.58 and 1.46 BM, which is lower than the spin only value for one unpaired electron, indicates to antiferromagnetic effect. The first thermal decomposition process of all the complexes is endothermic dehydration. This stage is followed by partial (or complete) decomposition of the neutral and pydc ligands. In the later stage, the remained organic residue exothermically burns. The final decomposition products which identified by IR spectroscopy were the CuO.     

Integration of topological measures for eliminating non-specific interactions in protein interaction networks

High-throughput protein interaction assays aim to provide a comprehensive list of interactions that govern the biological processes in a cell. These large-scale sets of interactions, represented as protein–protein interaction networks, are often analyzed by computational methods for detailed biological interpretation. However, as a result of the tradeoff between speed and accuracy, the interactions reported by high-throughput techniques occasionally include non-specific (i.e., false-positive) interactions. Unfortunately, many computational methods are sensitive to noise in protein interaction networks; and therefore they are not able to make biologically accurate inferences.In this article, we propose a novel technique based on integration of topological measures for removing non-specific interactions in a large-scale protein–protein interaction network. After transforming a given protein interaction network using line graph transformation, we compute clustering coefficient and betweenness centrality measures for all the edges in the network. Motivated by the modular organization of specific protein interactions in a cell, we remove edges with low clustering coefficient and high betweenness centrality values. We also utilize confidence estimates that are provided by probabilistic interaction prediction techniques. We validate our proposed method by comparing the results of a molecular complex detection algorithm (MCODE) to a ground truth set of known Saccharomyces cerevisiae complexes in the MIPS complex catalogue database. Our results show that, by removing false-positive interactions in the S. cerevisiae network, we can significantly increase the biological accuracy of the complexes reported by MCODE.     

Electronic Absorption Spectroscopy and Photochemistry of Criegee Intermediates

Interest in Criegee intermediates (CIs), often termed carbonyl oxides, and their role in tropospheric chemistry has grown massively since the demonstration of laboratory-based routes to their formation and characterization in the gas phase. This article reviews current knowledge regarding the electronic spectroscopy of atmospherically relevant CIs like CH₂OO, CH₃CHOO, (CH₃)₂COO and larger CIs like methyl vinyl ketone oxide and methacrolein oxide that are formed in the ozonolysis of isoprene, and of selected conjugated carbene-derived CIs of interest in the synthetic chemistry community. Of the aforementioned atmospherically relevant CIs, all except CH₂OO and (CH₃)₂COO exist in different conformers which, under tropospheric conditions, can display strikingly different thermal loss rates via unimolecular and bimolecular processes. Calculated photolysis rates based on their absorption properties suggest that solar photolysis will rarely be a significant contributor to the total loss rate for any CI under tropospheric conditions. Nonetheless, there is ever-growing interest in the absorption cross sections and primary photochemistry of CIs following excitation to the strongly absorbing ¹ππ* state, and how this varies with CI, with conformer and with excitation wavelength. The later part of this review surveys the photochemical data reported to date, including a range of studies that demonstrate prompt photo-induced fission of the terminal O–O bond, and speculates about possible alternate decay processes that could occur following non-adiabatic coupling to, and dissociation from, highly internally excited levels of the electronic ground state of a CI.