Group separation of trivalent actinides and lanthanides by tertiary pyridine-type anion-exchange resin embedded in silica beads

The separation of trivalent actinides and lanthanides was studied by using newly developed tertiary pyridine-type anion-exchange resin embedded in silica beads. Chromatographic elution experiments were carried out by using a packed column of the new resin and methanol-hydrochloric acid solution as an effluent. We confirmed that the actinides were eluted well from the elution bands of lanthanides. Actinides and lanthanides were eluted according to the reverse order of their atomic number.     

Investigation of transitions and relaxation processes in polystyrene by using positron annihilation

The glass transition and relaxation processes in polystyrene resins with the number average molecular weight ranging from 7.0·10² to 9.8·10⁴ were studied with the positron annihilation technique. The pick-off annihilation lifetime of ortho-positronium (₃) and its intensity (I ₃) were measured in the temperature range from 20 to 430 K. The glass transition temperature (T _g) was determined as an onset temperature coefficient of ₃.T _g shows the molecular weight dependence in these samples. BelowT _g, local motions were detected by measurements ofI ₃. The local motions could be observed above 100 K in this experiment.I ₃ show the minimum at around 250 K and it does not show molecular weight dependence.     

准一维聚合物中的声学极化子

本文讨论准一维聚合物中的一维电子通过形变势与三维声学声子相互作用,对弱耦合和中间耦合情形,导出了极化子基态能量和有效质量。结果表明,在这种混合维数模型中,可形成稳定的极化子。     

Synthetic studies on oxindole spiro-lactones with thalliumd(III) trinitrate: A formal total synthesis of (±)-tryptoquivaline G

(±)-Tryptoquivaline G was formally synthesized through shortened steps from tryptophan, in which oxidation with thallium(III) trinitrate(TTN) was effected at the crucial stage. The present work also constitutes the first synthesis of oxindole lactones carrying 2-alkyl quinazolinones.     

Theoretical studies of the cross-linking mechanisms between cytosine and tyrosine

DNA-protein cross-linking is one of the many DNA lesions mediated by hydroxyl radicals, the most damaging among the reactive oxygen species in biological systems. Density functional theory methods are employed to investigate the complex reaction mechanisms of the formation of cytosine-tyrosine cross-links as observed in gamma-irradiated aqueous solutions of cytosine and tyrosine, as well as in gamma-irradiated nucleohistone. The majority of the radical addition mechanisms considered are found to have significant barriers and therefore to be thermodynamically unfavorable for the formation of the initial cross-linked product. Our calculated reaction potential energy surfaces suggest that a feasible complete mechanism consists of radical combination forming the initial cross-linked product, a hydrogen shuffle within the initial cross-linked product, and an acid-catalyzed dehydration reaction. Water and hydrogen-bonding interactions are suggested to play a key role in catalyzing the hydrogen-transfer step of the reaction.     

Aqueous Titanate Sols from Ti Alkoxide-α-Hydroxycarboxylic Acid System and Preparation of Titania Films from the Sols

Aqueous titanate sols were prepared by reactions of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TIP) with -hydroxycarboxylic acids in water. IR and Raman spectra, and elemental analyses of the precipitates obtained from the sols revealed that the carboxylates were chelated to titanium but the Ti species were polymerized to form a cluster that had a colloidal nature. Spin-coating of titania (TiO₂) thin films from these sols was also examined. Interestingly, it was found that (004) preferentially oriented anatase films with refractive index of 2.54 were obtained from TIP-lactic acid-NH₃ (1:1:1, molar ratio) aqueous sol. This crystallographic orientation was characteristic of the TIP-lactic acid-NH₃ (1:1:1) system, and was not affected by the kinds of substrates used and the heating rate of the film. TEM observation indicated that small anatase grains had already formed at 200°C. Therefore, the crystallographic orientation might depend strongly on the structure of the chemical species of the precursor solutions.     

Modeling the reaction mechanisms of the amide hydrolysis in an N-(o-carboxybenzoyl)-L-amino acid

Reaction mechanisms of the amide hydrolysis from the protonated, neutral, and deprotonated forms of N-(o-carboxybenzoyl)-l-amino acid have been investigated by use of the B3LYP density functional method. Our calculations reveal that in the amide hydrolysis the reaction barrier is significantly lower in solution than that in the gas phase, in contrast with the mechanism for imide formation in which the solvent has little influence on the reaction barrier. In the model reactions, the water molecules function both as a catalyst and as a reactant. The reaction mechanism starting from the neutral form of N-(o-carboxybenzoyl)-l-amino acid, which corresponds to pH 0-3, is concluded to be the most favored, and a concerted mechanism is more favorable than a stepwise mechanism. This conclusion is in agreement with experimental observations that the optimal pH range for amide hydrolysis of N-(o-carboxybenzoyl)-l-leucine is pH 0-3 where N-(o-carboxybenzoyl)-l-leucine is predominantly in its neutral form. We suggest that besides the acid-catalyzed mechanism the addition-elimination mechanism is likely to be an alternative choice for cleaving an amide bond. For the reaction mechanism initiated by protonation at the amidic oxygen (hydrogen ion concentration H(0) < -1), the reaction of the model compound with two water molecules lowers the transition barrier significantly compared with that involving a single water molecule.     

Determination of protein phosphorylation by extracellular signal-regulated kinase using capillary electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) is a key regulatory enzyme mediating cell responses to mitogenic stimulation and is one of the key components in linking growth factor receptor activation to serine/threonine protein phosphorylation processes. Phosphorylation reaction by ERK plays an important role in many signal transduction pathways. ERK phosphorylates numerous substrates such as MBP, microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) and nuclear protein. In particular, MBP is a substrate commonly employed for the detection of ERK activity and contains the consensus primary sequence PRT97P. In this paper, we compared the degree of the phosphorylation reaction of MBP substrate peptides by ERK with the three different MBP substrate peptides, MBP1(KNIVTPRTPPPSQGK), MBP2(VPRTPGGRR) and MBP3(APRTPGGRR) in order to select an efficient substrate peptide for phosphorylation reaction by ERK. The results showed that the MBP3 peptide is the most efficient substrate for phosphorylation reaction by ERK. Using MBP3 peptide, the phosphorylation reaction of MBP by ERK was monitored with both matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and capillary electrophoresis (CE). Our results demonstrate the feasibility of the CE method, the method being a simple and reliable technique in determining and characterizing various kinds of enzyme reaction especially including kinase enzymes.     

Reaction of α-haloester having internal double bond with the low-valent metal complex

The α-haloester having an internal double bond was allowed to react with a catalytic amount of Pd(PPh₃)₄ to afford a cyclized product in a fairly good yield and the same product was obtained by treatment with Pd(OAc)₂ to ketene silyl acetal.     

Synthesis of Zeolite L. Tuning Size and Morphology

Summary. A convenient synthesis of zeolite L is presented. The size of the crystals can be tuned between 30 and 6000nm, spanning a volume range of seven orders of magnitude. The zeolite L crystals, which typically feature a cylindrical morphology, are synthesized with various aspect ratios ranging from elongated to disc-shaped. The importance of obtaining zeolite crystals with well-defined size and morphology is discussed in view of potential applications of zeolite L containing organic dye molecules as guests.This revised version was published online in February 2005. In the previous version the issue was not marked as a special issue, and the issue title and the editor was missing