Speciation of mercury in salmon egg cell cytoplasm in relation with metallomics research

Speciation of mercury in salmon egg cell cytoplasm was investigated by surfactant-mediated high-performance liquid chromatography/inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC/ICP-MS), where an ODS (octadecylsilica) column coated with a bile acid derivative, CHAPS (3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)-dimethylammonio]-1-propane sulfonate), was used for species separation. Prior to the speciation analysis, total Hg in the cell cytoplasm was determined by ICP-MS at m/z 202 in a flow injection mode. For the precise measurement, salmon egg cell cytoplasm was diluted five-fold with 0.1 M Tris (Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane)-HNO₃ buffer solution, and the standard addition method was employed. Thus, the total concentration of Hg in cell cytoplasm was estimated to be 12.4 ng g⁻¹ on the wet weight basis. Next, the cell cytoplasm diluted five-fold with 0.1 M Tris-HNO₃ buffer solution was analyzed by surfactant-mediated HPLC with the dual detection system of a UV absorption detector and an ICP-MS instrument. Two peaks corresponding to some proteins and small molecules were mainly observed in those chromatograms. When salmon egg cell cytoplasm was diluted five-fold with 0.01 M Tris buffer solution or pure water, some precipitates appeared probably because of precipitation of hydrophobic proteins in cytoplasm. After the precipitates were eliminated with a membrane filter, the filtrate was subjected to the analysis by surfactant-mediated HPLC/UV/ICP-MS. As a result, the peaks for small molecular species of Hg were clearly observed at the retention time near 4.0 min (corresponding to low-molecular weight zone) in the chromatograms with UV absorption detection as well as with Hg- and S-specific ICP-MS detections. The small molecule bound with Hg was identified as cysteine through the cysteine-spiked experiment. In addition, the protein fraction on the chromatogram obtained by using the CHAPS-coated ODS column was further analyzed by SEC (size exclusion chromatography). Consequently, several protein peaks with molecular weight of 300, 50 and 12 kDa were observed in all the detections of UV absorption, Hg and Se, although two peaks among them were coincident in the case of S. These results indicate that Hg in salmon egg cell cytoplasm binds with proteins containing selenocysteine and/or cysteine residues in proteins.     

Synthesis and properties of novel fluoroalkyl end‐capped oligomers having adamantane units in the main chains via a radical process

Fluoroalkanoyl peroxides were reacted with adamantane in the presence of radical polymerizable monomers such as acrylic acid, acryloylmorpholine, and N,N‐dimethylacrylamide to afford fluoroalkyl end‐capped oligomers having adamantane units in the main chains via a radical process under very mild conditions. Thermal stability of these new fluorinated adamantane co‐oligomers thus obtained became higher than that of the corresponding fluorinated homo‐oligomers having no adamantane units. Interestingly, these fluorinated adamantane co‐oligomers exhibited good solubility in traditional organic solvents such as methanol, ethanol, tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, benzene, dimethylsulfoxide and N,N‐dimethylformamide including water, although the parent adamantane exhibited no solubility in water, methanol and dimethylsulfoxide. Furthermore, these adamantane co‐oligomers were able to reduce the surface tension effectively to form the nanometer size‐controlled self‐assembled fluorinated molecular aggregates. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contrasteric stereochemical dictation of the cyclobutene ring-opening reaction by a vacant boron p orbital

Cyclobutene, having a pinacolatoboryl group at the 3-position, was prepared by the reaction of trimethyl borate with a cyclobutenyl anion, which was generated by reductive lithiation of 3-(phenylselenyl)cyclobutene. Its thermal ring-opening reaction provided (Z)-1-borylbuta-1,3-diene selectively despite the arising steric congestion. The contrasteric behavior was accounted for by assuming an electron-accepting interaction of the vacant boron p orbital with the distorted breaking sigma orbital in the inward transition state.     

A study of Feynman integrals by micro-differential equations

We use the holonomic character of Feynman integrals to describe their singularity structure explicitly in some simple cases. The results in §1 show that under moderate conditions Feynman amplitudes can be locally expressed essentially in terms of Legendre functions near the points where two positive- Landau-Nakanishi surfaces meet. Related topics such as hierarchical principle in perturbation theory are also discussed in terms of holonomic systems involved. In §4 we use the concrete expressions for Feynman amplitudes obtained in §1 to discuss the validity of Sato's conjecture.Supported in part by NSF MCS 75-2333Supported in part by NSF GP 36269     

ANALYSIS OF PHOTOTRANSFORMATION INTERMEDIATES IN THE PATHWAY FROM THE RED-ABSORBING TO THE FAR-RED-ABSORBING FORM OF AVENA PHYTOCHROME BY A MULTICHANNEL TRANSIENT SPECTRUM ANALYZER

Phototransformation of the red-absorbing form of phytochrome (Pr) to the far-red-absorbing form (Pfr) was followed with a custom-built transient spectrum analyzer. Large phytochrome, which consisted of approximately 120000-dalton monomers, was immunopurified or conventionally purified from etiolated oat (Avena sativa L., cv. Garry) shoots. Phototransformation was initiated by exciting Pr with a 115-mJ, 600-ns half-width, 655-nm laser pulse. Absorption spectra were recorded on a microsecond time scale at predetermined times after the flash. It has been reported earlier that flash excitation of large oat Pr produces a transformation intermediate with maximum absorbance near 700 nm in a difference spectrum and that this intermediate decays by two kinetically distinct reactions. Difference spectra for these two reactions are indistinguishable. Both show bleaching centered at 690 nm with no detectable associated absorbance increase between 570 and 830 nm. Subsequent appearance of absorbance at 724 nm, which presumably but not necessarily represents the appearance of Pfr, had earlier been shown to occur by two kinetically distinct reactions for large oat phytochrome. Data presented here indicate in addition the occurrence of a third, slower reaction. Difference spectra for the two faster reactions are indistinguishable, both with maxima near 728 nm and minima near 650 nm. The difference spectrum for the slowest component, however, was qualitatively different exhibiting a maximum near 722 nm with no corresponding minimum. About 15-20% of the absorbance increase at 724 nm occurred by this slowest reaction, which exhibited a half-life of 3 s at 25°C and a Q₁₀ of 1.2 for immunopurified and 1.5 for conventionally purified phytochrome. The percentage occurring by this reaction was independent of temperature over the range studied (1-25dEC). For immunopurified phytochrome the enthalpy of activation, Gibbs free energy of activation, and entropy of activation of this slowest reaction were found to be about lOkJ-mol^-1, 75kJ.mol^-1, and -220 J.mol^-1 K^-1, respectively, and for conventionally purified phytochrome 25kJ.mol^-1, 75kJ.mol^-1and —170 J.mol^-1 K^-1, respectively. The thermodynamic characteristics of this reaction indicate that it may involve a significant ordering of the protein moiety as it transforms to Pfr.     

Co-hydrolysis products of tetraethoxysilane and methyltriethoxysilane in the presence of tetramethylammonium ions: Part 2 [1]

²⁹Si NMR peaks due to species with the double four-membered ring siloxane backbone composed of both Si(O^–)_4/2 and CH₃Si(O^–)_3/2 units, (CH₃) _n Si₈O _{20 – n} ^{/(8 – n) –} (n=1–3), formed by co-hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane and methyltriethoxysilane in the presence of tetramethylammonium ions in methanol have been assigned. It has been found that ²⁹Si NMR peaks due to Si(OSi)₃(O^–) units shift to lower frequencies by replacement of the adjacent Si(O^–)_4/2 units by CH₃Si(O^–)_3/2 units, in other words, with increasing m value in Si[OSi(O^–)₃]_{3 – m} [OSi(CH₃) (O^–)₂] _m (O^–) (m=0–2). Peaks from CH₃ Si(OSi)₃ units in the species have also appeared as separated due to the kind of neighbor structural units. On the basis of the assignments, positions of CH₃Si(O^–)_3/2 units in the cubic octameric siloxane framework of (CH₃) _n Si₈O _{20 – n} ^{/(8 – n) –} (n=2, 3), for both of which three isomers are present, have been estimated.     

Effect of lipid composition on phospholipase A2-catalyzed membrane leakage in immobilized liposomes: sensitization for polychlorinated biphenyls detection with antibody affinity column tandem with fluorescent liposome column

Phospholipase A(2) (PLA(2))-catalyzed membrane leakage can be detected by immobilized liposomes containing a self-quenching fluorescent dye, calcein, on an open column using off-line analysis with a fluorescent spectrophotometer. The calcein release was found to be affected by the pH value, incubation time, and liposome compositions. The fluorescent signal from the negatively charged liposomes hydrolyzed by PLA(2) was 5 times higher than that from neutral liposomes. We utilized this enzymatic reaction to amplify signal to detect polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). To achieve this goal, we conjugated an analogue of PCB, 3,4-dichloroaniline, to PLA(2). The competitive immunoreaction between the 3,4-dichloroaniline-PLA(2) conjugate and PCB samples on the anti-PCB antibody column caused the release of the bound PLA(2) conjugates in proportion to the PCB concentration. The released PLA(2) conjugates was then passed through the tandem fluorescent liposome column causing release of fluorescent dye from the liposomes. Therefore, the signal of immunocompetitive assay was amplified on the fluorescent liposome column. The tandem column system achieves a high sensitivity by detecting the PCB concentration as low as 0.5 ng/mL in less than 20 min. It has great potential in detecting other pollutants, and has been used for sensitive immunoassays.     

Photocatalytic Reduction of NO with C2H6 on a Hollandite-Type Catalyst

The photocatalytic reduction of nitrogen monoxide (NO) with ethane on the hollandite type catalyst (K₂Ga₂Sn₆O₁₆KGSO) was investigated. Using a closed-gas circulating system equipped with a Q-MASS detector and in-situ diffuse reflectance FT-IR spectroscopy. The reactant gases of NO and ¹³C₂H₆ decreased with the increasing irradiation time. In contrast, the N₂ yield increased proportionally to the conversion of ¹³C₂H₆. Nitrogen oxides such as N₂O did not reach their detectable levels. The NO adsorbed on KGSO was found to change to its activated species by UV irradiation. The oxidized products of C₂H₆ such as CH₃CHO increased in proportion to the reaction time. The present results strongly suggest that KGSO has remarkable photocatalytic activity for the reduction of NO with C₂H₆.     

Application of solvent extraction and synchronous spectrofluorimetry to the determination of the formation constant for a 1:1 complex of carbazole withβ-cyclodextrin in water-dimethyl sulfoxide medium

Extraction of carbazole in heptane was performed at 25±1°C with an aqueous dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) medium containing -cyclodextrin (CD) at consecutive concentrations in the range of 0–10 mM. The fluorescence intensity of carbazole remaining in the heptane phase was measured by synchronous scanning fluorimetry. The apparent formation constant (K _f) for a 1:1 carbazole: CD inclusion complex in water-DMSO medium was determined by using a linear plot of the distribution ratio calculated from the fluorescence intensities vs. the -CD concentration. The values thus obtained ranged from 477 M^–1 in a 10% v/v DMSO medium to 12.1 M^–1 in a 60% v/v medium. Good linear relationships were observed between logK _f and the DMSO concentration ([DMSO]), and also between logK _f and the logarithm of the distribution coefficient (K _d) for carbazole. The formation constant in 100% water was estimated to be approximately 1.0×10³ M^–1 on the basis of the logK _f vs. [DMSO] and the logK _f vs. logK _d correlations.     

Dynamic covalent approach to [2]- and [3]roxtanes by utilizing a reversible thiol-disulfide interchange reaction

A dynamic covalent approach to disulfide-containing [2]- and [3]rotaxanes is described. Symmetrical dumbbell-shaped compounds with two secondary ammonium centers and a central located disulfide bond were synthesized as components of rotaxanes. The rotaxanes were synthesized from the dumbbell-shaped compounds and dibenzo-[24]crown-8 (DB24C8) with catalysis by benzenethiol. The yields of isolated rotaxanes reached about 90 % under optimized conditions. A kinetic study on the reaction forming [2]rotaxane 2 a and [3]rotaxane 3 a suggested a plausible reaction mechanism comprising several steps, including 1) initiation, 2) [2]rotaxane formation, and 3) [3]rotaxane formation. The whole reaction was found to be reversible in the presence of thiols, and thermodynamic control over product distribution was thus possible by varying the temperature, solvent, initial ratio of substrates, and concentration. The steric bulk of the end-capping groups had almost no influence on rotaxane yields, but the structure of the thiol was crucial for reaction rates. Amines and phosphines were also effective as catalysts. The structural characterization of the rotaxanes included an X-ray crystallographic study on [3]rotaxane 3 a.