Sphere,honeycomb, regularly spaced droplet and fiber structures of polyion complexes of chitosan and gellan

Different characteristic surface structures such as true and hemi spheres, honeycomb, regularly spaced droplets and fibers are created by electrostatic polysaccharide interaction between chitosan and gellan gum via polyion complex formation. Spherical droplet capsules of varying diameters form in solution. Strong fibers can be spun by gravity and by wet spinning in ethanol. These fibers possess a counter ion pairing structure, and exhibit a ‘nervation/veining’ pattern.     

Analysis of surface and bulk polymerization of a thin film using a chemical derivatization technique and TOF-SIMS

A chemical derivatization technique in TOF-SIMS along with ultra-low angle sample cutting technique were used to perform a quantitative study of the surface and in-depth double bond profile of the photo-initiated polymerized thin film. We found out that the characteristic peaks at m/z 185 and 199 were obtained from the thin film composed of acrylate monomer and methacrylate monomer, respectively, after reaction with bromine gas. The detection sensitivity of certain chemical indicators is affected by changing the primary ion species. The Bi₃⁺ primary ion results in the best chemical sensitivity. The surface double-bond density obtained by TOF-SIMS and the Br 3d signal intensity of XPS showed a good linear relationship in the limited region due to the effect of matrix hardness.The thin film was cut with microtome about 1° angle and was left to react with bromine and was measured using TOF-SIMS. It was clearly observed from this technique that double bond of acrylate and methacrylate monomer remained much more at the surface of the photo-initiated polymerized thin film, due to the inhibition of polymerization by oxygen. From the surface to 1 μm depth, both monomers show the same behavior, but the rate of polymerization of methacrylate monomer was lower than that of acrylate in deeper layers.     

Conversion from arenes having a benzene ring to those having a picolinic acid by simple growing cell reactions using Escherichia coli that expressed the six bacterial genes involved in biphenyl catabolism

The comprehensive bioconversion of aromatic compounds with a benzene ring to a picolinic acid was achieved with a recombinant Escherichia coli strain that expressed the six genes involved in biphenyl catabolism, these being the bphA1(2072)A2A3A4 genes encoding the evolved biphenyl dioxygenase, the bphB gene encoding dihydrodiol dehydrogenase, and the bphC gene encoding catechol 2,3-dioxygenase.     

Regulation of apoptosis through arachidonate cascade in mammalian cells

The arachidonate cascade includes the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway to form prostanoids and the lipoxygenase (LOX) pathway to generate several oxygenated fatty acids, collectively called eicosanoids. Eicosanoids are suggested to play a dual role in regulating cell survival and apoptosis in various types of cells through an unknown mechanism. We found apoptosis in cultured Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells treated with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol β-acetate (TPA), a potent tumor promoter, and nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA), a LOX inhibitor. The effect of TPA was synergistically stimulated along with NDGA. Aspirin, a COX inhibitor, was not effective. The target of NDGA might be different from the mechanism involving a LOX activity in some kinds of carcinoma cells because the increased expression of 12-LOX was not detected in MDCK cells treated with TPA. Caspase and poly(ADP-ribose) metabolites were found to be involved in the signal transduction pathway of the TPA- and NDGA-induced apoptosis in MDCK cells. Alternatively, hydrogen peroxide-induced apoptosis was not affected by NDGA. Thus, the TPA-induced response involved the mechanism independent of the oxidative stress. Obesity is a risk factor for severe diseases including noninsulin-dependent diabetes and atherosclerosis characterized by the changes of cell properties of adipocytes. We found that conjugated linolenic acid from bitter gourd was able to induce apoptosis in mouse preadipogenic 3T3-L1 cells. The findings provide the potential use of conjugated fatty acids to regulate obesity.     

Novel preparation of beta,beta'-connected porphyrin dimers

Porphyrin dimers were prepared from beta,beta'-dipyrrole derivatives via the double pyrrolylmethylation followed by double [2 + 2] MacDonald porphyrin synthesis.     

An integrated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system with an organic light-emitting diode and a charge-coupled device for fluorescence detection

A fluorescence detection system for a microfluidic device using an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) as the excitation light source and a charge-coupled device (CCD) as the photo detector was developed. The OLED was fabricated on a glass plate by photolithography and a vacuum deposition technique. The OLED produced a green luminescence with a peak emission at 512 nm and a half bandwidth of 55 nm. The maximum external quantum efficiency of the OLED was 7.2%. The emission intensity of the OLED at 10 mA/cm(2) was 13 μW (1.7 mW/cm(2)). The fluorescence detection system consisted of the OLED device, two band-pass filters, a five microchannel poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluidic device and a linear CCD. The fluorescence detection system was successfully used in a flow-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on a PDMS microfluidic device for the rapid determination of immunoglobulin A (IgA), a marker for human stress. The detection limit (S/N=3) for IgA was 16.5 ng/mL, and the sensitivity was sufficient for evaluating stress. Compared with the conventional 96-well microtiter plate assay, the analysis time and the amounts of reagent and sample solutions could all be reduced.     

Ab initio derivation of multi-orbital extended Hubbard model for molecular crystals

From configuration interaction (CI) ab initio calculations, we derive an effective two-orbital extended Hubbard model based on the gerade (g) and ungerade (u) molecular orbitals (MOs) of the charge-transfer molecular conductor (TTM-TTP)I(3) and the single-component molecular conductor [Au(tmdt)(2)]. First, by focusing on the isolated molecule, we determine the parameters for the model Hamiltonian so as to reproduce the CI Hamiltonian matrix. Next, we extend the analysis to two neighboring molecule pairs in the crystal and we perform similar calculations to evaluate the inter-molecular interactions. From the resulting tight-binding parameters, we analyze the band structure to confirm that two bands overlap and mix in together, supporting the multi-band feature. Furthermore, using a fragment decomposition, we derive the effective model based on the fragment MOs and show that the staking TTM-TTP molecules can be described by the zig-zag two-leg ladder with the inter-molecular transfer integral being larger than the intra-fragment transfer integral within the molecule. The inter-site interactions between the fragments follow a Coulomb law, supporting the fragment decomposition strategy.     

Comparison of Mineral Acids in Wet Digestion of Plant Materials for Flame and Flameless Atomic Absorption Measurement of Metals

Various mineral acids are compared in measuring metals in plant materials by flame and flameless atomic absorption spectrometry. NBS-SRM 1571, Orchard Leaves, is utilized as the plant material. The combination of H₂SO₄ and HNO₃ is found to be the most suitable for measuring Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy, while HNO₃ is found to be the best for measuring Cu, Mn, and Pb by flameless Atomic Absorption spectroscopy.     

Manipulation of the heme electronic structure by external stimuli and ligand field

This review describes the switching behaviors of the electronic structure, which were observed in iron(III) porphyrinoids, by the addition of external stimuli. The combined analysis by various methods, such as EPR, M?ssbauer, SQUID, single crystal X-ray structure analysis, revealed a wide variety of electronic structures of the heme related complexes. This paper focuses in particular on the spin-crossover phenomenon in the solid state. An overview of spin-crossover phenomena found in iron(III) porphyrinoids between (i) S?= 5/2 and S?= 1/2, (ii) S?= 3/2 and S?= 1/2, (iii) S?= 5/2 and S?= 3/2, will be described.     

Direct chemoselective allylation of inert amide carbonyls

Direct allylation of inert amide carbonyls utilizing the Schwartz reagent afforded either substituted tertiary or secondary amines. A preactivation step was successfully avoided, which is generally a requisite to increase the electrophilicity of amides. The reaction exhibited remarkable functional group tolerance and proceeded even in the presence of methyl esters and nitro groups.