Nonresonant inelastic x-ray scattering and energy-resolved Wannier function investigation of d-d excitations in NiO and CoO

Nonresonant inelastic x-ray scattering measurements on NiO and CoO show that strong dipole-forbidden d-d excitations appear within the Mott gap at large wave vectors. These dominant excitations are highly anisotropic, and have [001] nodal directions for NiO. Theoretical analyses based on a novel, energy-resolved Wannier function (within the local density approximation+Hubbard U) show that the anisotropy reflects the local exciton wave functions and local point-group symmetry. The sensitivity to weak symmetry breaking in particle-hole wave functions suggests a wide application to strongly correlated systems.     

Optimization of Affinity Chromatography of Pepsins on Iodinated <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-Tyrosine–Sepharose

Iodinated l-tyrosine–Sepharose was used as an affinity sorbent for the separation of porcine and human pepsins. The optimized conditions for pepsin adsorption as well as enzyme desorption were investigated. The following basic characteristics of the prepared affinity sorbent were determined: the recovery of the loaded enzyme, capacity of the affinity sorbent, concentration range of the linear dependence of bound pepsin on the applied enzyme, and the reproducibility of the experiments. The method described here cannot only be used for pepsin separation but also for analytical purposes.     

A new optical fiber reactor for the photocatalytic degradation of gaseous organic contaminants

The main objective of this study was to develop a simple, energy-efficient photoreactor for operating at room temperature. In this work, the design of a new gas-phase optical fiber photoreactor (OFP) was introduced which operated under various parameters, such as the UV light intensity and the initial concentration for the photocatalytic decomposition of acetone. Experimental results indicated that increasing the UV light intensity or decreasing the initial concentrations of acetone by a UV/TiO₂ process would result in improving the decomposition and mineralization efficiencies. The apparent quantum yield of the novel optical fiber reactor is about 2 to 3 times greater than that of the traditional annular reactor.     

Measurement of reduced and total mercaptamine in urine using liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection

A simple liquid chromatographic method for the determination of reduced and total mercaptamine in human urine is described. The method is based on derivatization with 2-chloro-1-methylquinolinium tetrafluoroborate followed by ion-pairing reversed-phase liquid chromatography separation and ultraviolet-absorbance detection at 355 nm. Total mercaptamine was determined by reductive conversion of its oxidized fraction to the thiol form before the derivatization step. Baseline separation was achieved on an analytical Zorbax SB C(18) (5 microm, 150 x 4.6 mm) column with a mobile phase consisting of pH 2.0 0.05 mol L(-1) trichloroacetic acid buffer (component A) and acetonitrile (component B) pumped at 1.2 mL min(-1). Gradient elution was used: 0-3 min 12% B, 3-9 min 12-30% B, 9-12 min 30-12% B. The response of the detector was linear within the ranges studied, from 0.1 to 50 micromol L(-1) for reduced mercaptamine and from 0.4 to 400 micromol L(-1) for total mercaptamine. The imprecision ranges for reduced and total mercaptamine were within 1.45-11.71 and 0.73-10.61%, respectively. The analytical accuracy for determined compounds was from 98.79 to 109.77%. The lower limits of detection and quantitation were 0.05 and 0.1 micromol L(-1) of urine for reduced mercaptamine, and 0.2 and 0.4 micromol L(-1) of urine for total mercaptamine, respectively. This method can be used for routine clinical monitoring of the title thiol-drug and its reduced and oxidized fractions. Moreover, cysteine and cysteinylglycine can be measured concurrently, if needed.     

Synthesis of tricyclic ring systems: [2+2] ketene addition reaction for preparation of tricyclic ketone,alcohol, and lactone derivatives

The addition of dichloroketene to 1,4-cyclohexadiene was examined. Dichloroketene, which was easily prepared from trichloroacetyl chloride and Zn–Cu, reacted with 1,4-cyclohexadiene in the presence of POCl₃ to afford novel racemic products of single addition (5) and double addition (6). The adducts 6 and 7 were reacted separately with MCPBA (meta-chloroperbenzoic acid), H₂O₂, LiAlH₄, and cis-diol 10 was reacted with PCC (pyridinium chlorochromate) to afford lactone, alcohol, and ketone derivatives likely to exhibit biological activity. The structures of all the racemic molecules mentioned in the article were determined from ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, MS, and IR data.     

Facile isomerization of glucose into fructose using anion-exchange resins in organic solvents and application to direct conversion of glucose into furan compounds

The facile isomerization of glucose into fructose has been developed using commercially available anion-exchange resins (AERs) in organic solvents. Following extensive screening for the amount and type of AERs, solvents and reaction time, glucose was transformed into fructose in yields of up to 50% using Amberlite A-26 with macroreticular morphology and tertiary amine functionality in a protic solvent (ethanol). AERs could be used five times without a significant loss of activity. This isomerization method could be applied to the direct conversion of glucose into furan compounds by integrating the dehydration of fructose with cation-exchange resins.     

Design,synthesis and biological evaluation of novel non-azole derivatives as potential antifungal agents

A series of 3-substituted quinazolinones, 2-substituted quinoxalines and 2-substituted benzopyrans were synthesized and evaluated for their antifungal activity in vitro. The new compounds revealed excellent in vitro antifungal activity with broad spectrum. The structure-activity relationships (SARs) of the derivatives were analyzed. Compound 9A2 exhibits better antifungal activity against 5 tested fungi in vitro than fluconazole, especially against Trichophyton rubrum and Microsporum gypseum. This study provides a series of novel lead compounds for the development of non-azole antifungal agents.