Natural anti-HIV agents. Part 3: Litseaverticillols A-H, novel sesquiterpenes from Litsea verticillata

Bioassay directed-fractionation led to the identification of litseaverticillols A-H (1-8) from the leaves and twigs of Litsea verticillata Hance. These new sesquiterpenes possess a unique skeleton that was recently designated as ‘litseane’. The structures of these compounds were determined by spectroscopic means including 1D and 2D NMR data. Structural configurations were determined by ROESY experiments. Mosher ester reactions and optical rotation measurements established the sesquiterpenes 1-8 as racemates. Isolates 1-8 inhibited HIV-1 replication in HOG.R5 cells with IC₅₀ values ranging from 2 to 15 μg/ml (8-58 μM) while affecting the growth of HOG.R5 at concentrations 2-3-fold higher. Based on this data, structure-activity relationships can be discerned, suggesting compounds of this class are good candidates for analog production.     

Möbius aromaticity in [12]annulene: cis-trans isomerization via twist-coupled bond shifting

Density functional and coupled cluster calculations show that facile thermal configuration change in [12]annulene occurs via a twist-coupled bond-shifting mechanism. The transition state for this process is highly aromatic with M?bius topology. At the CCSD(T)/cc-pVDZ//BH&HLYP/6-311+G** level, the isomerization of tri-trans-[12]annulene 1a (CTCTCT) to its di-trans isomer 2 (CCCTCT) via such a mechanism has a barrier of 18.0 kcal/mol, in good agreement with earlier experiments. Two other aromatic M?bius bond-shifting transition states were located that result in configuration change for other [12]annulene conformers. This mechanism contrasts sharply with diradical configuration change for acyclic polyenes and with planar bond-shifting mechanisms generally assumed for annulenes. This constitutes evidence that neutral M?bius aromatic annulenes play a role in the dynamic processes of neutral [4n]annulenes.     

A new study of the enzymatic hydrolysis of carboxymethyl cellulose with a bulk acoustic wave sensor

A new bulk acoustic wave (BAW) cellulase sensing technique, which is based on the enzymatic hydrolysis process of sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) by cellulase, was established. The frequency shift curves of BAW sensor indicated that the viscosity of the tested solutions decreased during the hydrolysis process. The hydrolysis rate of CMC by cellulase was calculated from the frequency shift curves. The hydrolysis rate of CMC under different pH conditions at 30°C showed that cellulase had high hydrolysis ability approximately at pH 5.0. Kinetic parameters (the Michaelis constant K_m and the maximum rate V_max) of the process were estimated by using a linear method of Lineweaver–Burk plot. K_m is 1.95±0.25 mg ml⁻¹ and V_max is −(4.25±0.58)×10⁻³ g^1/2 cm^−3/2 cP^1/2 min⁻¹. Also the activation energy (E_a) of the enzymatic hydrolysis, with a value of 51.99±1.26 kJ mol⁻¹, was estimated in this work.     

Rapid detection of Escherichia coliform with a bulk acoustic wave sensor based on the gelation of Tachypleus amebocyte lysate

A new sensing method (BAW-TAL technique), which combined the bulk acoustic wave (BAW) technique with the gelation reaction of Tachypleus amebocyte lysate (TAL), was used for viscosity and density measurement and applied to the detection of Escherichia coliform (E. coli). This method depended on the fact that the viscosity and density of the mixture increased, and as a result, the resonance frequency decreased correspondingly after TAL was mixed with the heated E. coli solution that contained endotoxin. Results showed that the frequency shift was linearly related to the logarithm of E. coli concentration in the range of 2.7x10(4)-2.7x10(8) cells/ml. The correlation coefficient was 0.996. This BAW-TAL method was compared with the standard pour plate counts (PPC) method. The proposed method was much more rapid and simpler for detection of E. coli than the traditional methods.     

Improperly efficient solutions in a class of vector optimization problems

Journal of Global Optimization - Improperly efficient solutions in the sense of Geoffrion in linear fractional vector optimization problems with unbounded constraint sets are studied systematically...     

Prediction of brand stories spreading on social networks

Advances in Data Analysis and Classification - Online social network is a major media for many types of information communication. Although the primary purpose of social networks is to connect...     

Hardy Spaces on the Plane and Double Fourier Transforms

We provide a direct computational proof of the known inclusion where is the product Hardy space defined for example by R. Fefferman and is the classical Hardy space used, for example, by E.M. Stein. We introduce a third space of Hardy type and analyze the interrelations among these spaces. We give simple sufficient conditions for a given function of two variables to be the double Fourier transform of a function in and respectively. In particular, we obtain a broad class of multipliers on and respectively. We also present analogous sufficient conditions in the case of double trigonometric series and, as a by-product, obtain new multipliers on and respectively.