The effect of sonication on glass electrodes

This communication describes observations made on the disturbing effect of ultrasound on the functioning of glass electrodes. It was observed that the signal of glass electrodes drops significantly, with as much as several pH units, if sonication is applied to the sample solution. The effect was studied for a variety of electrolyte solutions and for several glass electrode makes, and was always found to be reversible and reproducible. The quality and the concentration of the electrolyte, as well as the ultrasonic power applied were seen to strongly influence the magnitude of the effect. These findings suggests that (i) if a glass electrode is being used to follow chemical reactions in sonicated solutions, irradiation should be intermitted for the time of measurements, and (ii) the phenomenon may provide an alternative method for sensing ultrasound or mapping ultrasound energy distribution.     

Fine-tuning water exchange on Gd(III) poly(amino carboxylates) by modulation of steric crowding

In the objective of optimizing water exchange rate on stable, nine-coordinate, monohydrated Gd(III) poly(amino carboxylate) complexes, we have prepared monopropionate derivatives of DOTA4- (DO3A-Nprop4-) and DTPA5- (DTTA-Nprop5-). A novel ligand, EPTPA-BAA(3-), the bisamylamide derivative of ethylenepropylenetriamine-pentaacetate (EPTPA5-) was also synthesized. A variable temperature 17O NMR study has been performed on their Gd(III) complexes, which, for [Gd(DTTA-Nprop)(H2O)]2- and [Gd(EPTPA-BAA)(H2O)] has been combined with multiple field EPR and NMRD measurements. The water exchange rates, k(ex)(298), are 8.0 x 10(7) s(-1), 6.1 x 10(7) s(-1) and 5.7 x 10(7) s(-1) for [Gd(DTTA-Nprop)(H2O)]2-, [Gd(DO3A-Nprop)(H2O)]- and [Gd(EPTPA-BAA)(H2O)], respectively, all in the narrow optimal range to attain maximum proton relaxivities, provided the other parameters (electronic relaxation and rotation) are also optimized. The substitution of an acetate with a propionate arm in DTPA5- or DOTA4- induces increased steric compression around the water binding site and thus leads to an accelerated water exchange on the Gd(III) complex. The k(ex) values on the propionate complexes are, however, lower than those obtained for [Gd(EPTPA)(H2O)]2- and [Gd(TRITA)(H2O)]- which contain one additional CH(2) unit in the amine backbone as compared to the parent [Gd(DTPA)(H2O)]2- and [Gd(DOTA)(H2O)]-. In addition to their optimal water exchange rate, [Gd(DTTA-Nprop)(H2O)]2- has, and [Gd(DO3A-Nprop)(H2O)]- is expected to have sufficient thermodynamic stability. These properties together make them prime candidates for the development of high relaxivity, macromolecular MRI contrast agents.     

The first ternary tin(II) nitride: NaSnN

NaSnN with the non-centrosymmetric layered structure type of KSnAs and featuring the new layered Zintl ion [SnN]- is the first example of a ternary nitride containing Sn-N bonds, and the first example of a nitride containing formally divalent tin.     

Modeling rate-controlling solvent effects. The pericyclic meisenheimer rearrangement of N-propargylmorpholine N-oxide

The activation parameters of the pericyclic Meisenheimer rearrangement and a competitive rearrangement of N-propargylmorpholine N-oxide were determined by experimental and computational methods. A number of aprotic and protic solvents of different polarities and hydrogen bond-forming abilities and the roles of electron-pair acceptor additives were investigated. The reaction kinetics were followed by means of NMR. In protic solvents, isotope-labeling experiments revealed a novel inverse secondary kinetic isotope effect (k(H)/k(D) about 0.8) for the rate-determining cyclization step, probably occurring because of a C(sp) --> C(sp(2)) change in hybridization at the reaction center. In molecular computations at the B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p) level of theory, implicit, explicit, and joint explicit-implicit solvent models were used. The explicit-implicit model and molecular dynamic simulations gave the most accurate results. The components of the rate-controlling solvent effect are discussed, and general equations are proposed for accurate prediction of the solvent-dependent activation parameters.     

Copper(II) interaction with unstructured prion domain outside the octarepeat region: speciation, stability, and binding details of copper(II) complexes with PrP106-126 peptides

Copper(II) complexes of the neurotoxic peptide fragments of human and chicken prion proteins were studied by potentiometric, UV-vis, CD, and EPR spectroscopic and ESI-MS methods. The peptides included the terminally blocked native and scrambled sequences of HuPrP106-126 (HuPrPAc106-126NH2 and ScrHuPrPAc106-126NH2) and also the nona- and tetrapeptide fragments of both the human and chicken prion proteins (HuPrPAc106-114NH2, ChPrPAc119-127NH2, HuPrPAc109-112NH2, and ChPrPAc122-125NH2). The histidyl imidazole-N donor atoms were found to be the major copper(II) binding sites of all peptides; 3N and 4N complexes containing additional 2 and 3 deprotonated amide-N donors, respectively, are the major species in the physiological pH range. The complex formation processes for nona- and tetrapeptides are very similar, supporting the fact that successive deprotonation and metal ion coordination of amide functions go toward the N-termini in the form of joined six- and five-membered chelates. As a consequence, the peptide sequences investigated here, related to the neurotoxic region of the human PrP106-126 sequence, show a higher metal-binding affinity than the octarepeat fragments. In the case of the HuPrP peptide sequences, a weak pH-dependent binding of the Met109 residue was also detected in the 3N-coordinated complexes.     

Defining Relations for W-Algebras from Singular Vectors

It is shown that the commutation relations of W-algebras can be recovered from the singular vectors of their simplest nontrivial, completely degenerate highest weight representation.     

Applications of mathematical systems theory in population biology

This paper is a review of recent developments of a research line proposed on the turn of the decades, 1980s to 1990s. The main results concern basic qualitative properties of nonlinear models of population biology, such as controllability and observability. The methods applied are different for the density-dependent models of population ecology and for the frequency-dependent models of population genetics and evolutionary theory. While in the first case the classical theorems of nonlinear systems theory can be used, in the second one an extension of classical results to systems with invariant manifold is necessary. Supported by the Hungarian NFSR (OTKA K 62000, K 68187).     

Synthesis of three regioisomers of the pentasaccharide part of the Skp1 glycoprotein of Dictyostelium discoideum

Three regioisomers of the linear pentasaccharide part of the Skp1 glycoprotein, found in Dictyostelium discoideum, were prepared in the form of (2-trimethylsilyl)ethyl glycosides by means of 2+3 block syntheses using the disaccharide donor at the non-reducing end, and three different trisaccharide acceptors at the reducing end. Fucosylation of (2-trimethylsilyl)ethyl 3,4,6-tri-O-benzyl-β-d-galactopyranosyl-(1→3)-4,6-O-benzylidene-2-deoxy-2-NPhth-β-d-glucopyranoside with different fucosyl donors carrying an O-(2-naphthyl)methyl ether as a temporary-protecting group at positions C2, C3 or C4 gave rise to the protected core trisaccharides. After selective removal of the (2-naphthyl)methyl group, the resulting acceptors were glycosylated with the α(1→6) linked digalactosyl donor to yield the respective three regioisomeric pentasaccharides. Transformation of the phthalimido moiety into an N-acetyl group, followed by catalytic hydrogenation of the reducible-protecting groups furnished the free target pentasaccharides, which should be able to assist during the elucidation of the exact structure of the natural pentasaccharide.     

Hypergraph connectivity augmentation

Received May 1995 / Revised version received May 1996 Published online March 16, 1999