Enzymatic Hydrolysis and Ethanol Fermentation of High Dry Matter Wet-Exploded Wheat Straw at Low Enzyme Loading

Wheat straw was pretreated by wet explosion using three different oxidizing agents (H₂O₂, O₂, and air). The effect of the pretreatment was evaluated based on glucose and xylose liberated during enzymatic hydrolysis. The results showed that pretreatment with the use of O₂ as oxidizing agent was the most efficient in enhancing overall convertibility of the raw material to sugars and minimizing generation of furfural as a by-product. For scale-up of the process, high dry matter (DM) concentrations of 15–20% will be necessary. However, high DM hydrolysis and fermentation are limited by high viscosity of the material, higher inhibition of the enzymes, and fermenting microorganism. The wet-explosion pretreatment method enabled relatively high yields from both enzymatic hydrolysis and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) to be obtained when performed on unwashed slurry with 14% DM and a low enzyme loading of 10 FPU/g cellulose in an industrial acceptable time frame of 96 h. Cellulose and hemicellulose conversion from enzymatic hydrolysis were 70 and 68%, respectively, and an overall ethanol yield from SSF was 68%.     

Synthesis and application of vinylpyridine containing ion‐imprinted copolymer gel microbeads for Cu(II) solid‐phase extraction

The influence of polymer matrix on the extraction efficiency for Cu(II) and selectivity against metal ions such as Ni(II), Cd(II), Pb(II) of Cu(II) imprinted copolymer gels was described. The functional monomers investigated include the weakly basic 4‐vinylpyridine (4‐VP) and its mixure with the acidic and hydrogen binding methacrylic acid. Copolymer gels were prepared by dispersion cross‐linking copolymerization using Cu(II)–4‐(2‐pyridylazo)resorcinol complex, Cu(II), or 4‐(2‐pyridylazo)resorcinol as templates. The chemical structure and morphology of the Cu(II)‐imprinted microbeads are defined using elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Extraction efficiencies of newly synthesized sorbents were studied by batch procedure. The prepared copolymer gel with 4‐VP as monomer and Cu(II)–4‐(2‐pyridylazo)resorcinol complex has higher capacity and selectivity toward Cu(II) than the copolymer gels prepared using the mixture of methacrylic acid and 4‐VP. This new sorbent can be used as an effective SPE material for the highly selective preconcentration and separation of Cu(II) in sea water samples. It shows high mechanical and chemical stability.     

Quantum chemical modeling of enzymatic reactions: The case of histone lysine methyltransferase

Quantum chemical cluster models of enzyme active sites are today an important and powerful tool in the study of various aspects of enzymatic reactivity. This methodology has been applied to a wide spectrum of reactions and many important mechanistic problems have been solved. Herein, we report a systematic study of the reaction mechanism of the histone lysine methyltransferase (HKMT) SET7/9 enzyme, which catalyzes the methylation of the N‐terminal histone tail of the chromatin structure. In this study, HKMT SET7/9 serves as a representative case to examine the modeling approach for the important class of methyl transfer enzymes. Active site models of different sizes are used to evaluate the methodology. In particular, the dependence of the calculated energies on the model size, the influence of the dielectric medium, and the particular choice of the dielectric constant are discussed. In addition, we examine the validity of some technical aspects, such as geometry optimization in solvent or with a large basis set, and the use of different density functional methods. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

Pore formation in glass-ceramics: Influence of the stress energy distribution

In glass-ceramics, the density difference between the new, semi-crystalline system, and the ambient phase requires a deformation of the grains. However, the first stage of surface induced crystallization is the creation of rigid shell, opposing the shrinkage. Therefore, an important stress appears inside the grain. If the average density of the new system is higher than that of the ambient phase, a tensile stress is generated. In the opposite case, a compressive stress is developed. As soon as the system is neither pure elastic body nor pure plastic one, the concentration of the stress energy depends on the distance from the interface. We describe theoretically the distribution profile of the stress energy. Depending on the stress attenuation parameter and the grain size, there are two solutions. The first one predicts a maximum in the middle of the grain. According to the second, there are two maxima close to the crystal/glass interface. This explains the appearance of cabbage like crystals or of crystalline grains with a pore in the center.     

Temperature‐sensitive polyzwitterionic gels

An abrupt change in the polyzwitterionic swelling ratio as a function of the temperature, sodium chloride concentration and chemical crosslinking density is established. These results are reasonably explained by the model presuming zwitterionic cluster formation in the segments between the chemical junction points. The zwitter‐ionic clusters, produced at low chemical crosslinking density only, act as temperature‐ and salt concentration‐dependent physical junction points. An irreversible temperature‐stimulated swelling‐shrinking behaviour of the polyzwitter‐ionic hydrogels (swelling ratio‐temperature hysteresis loop) at low chemical cross‐linking density is also observed and analysed.     

Electrostimulated shift of the precipitation temperature of aqueous polyzwitterionic solutions

The precipitation temperature (T_pr) value of aqueous poly(dimethylamino-ethoxyacryloyl-propylsulphonate) (PDMAPS) solutions decreases with the rise of electric field intensity both in the absence and in the presence of a low molecular salt. This electrostimulated T_pr shift is explained qualitatively by means of the model taking into account both the dominating intermacromolecular dipole-dipole interaction and the dipole cluster formation.