Selective enzymatic reduction of aldehydes

Highly selective enzymatic reductions of aldehydes to the corresponding alcohols was performed using an E. coli JM109 whole cell biocatalyst. A selective enzymatic method for the reduction of aldehydes could provide an eco-compatible alternative to chemical methods. The simplicity, fairly wide scope and the very high observed chemoselectivity of this approach are its most unique features.     

Modulation of hydrophobic effect by cosolutes

This work concerns a comparison of the hydration properties and self-association behavior in aqueous solution of three biologically relevant simple molecules: tert-butyl alcohol (TBA), trimethylamine-n-oxide (TMAO), and glycine betaine (GB). These molecules were used as a model to study hydrophobic behavior in water solutions. In particular, water perturbation induced by TBA, TMAO, and GB molecules was studied as a function of the solute molar fraction X(2) (0 < X(2) < 0.04) by Raman spectra of water in the fundamental OH-stretching region (3,800-2,800 cm(-1)). Furthermore, possible hydrophobic clustering of these molecules was investigated by studying the behavior of the alkyl CH stretching band in the 3,100-2,900 cm(-1) frequency region as a function of X(2). To establish the existence of a correlation between the effects of these three solutes on the micellization process and changes in the properties of the solvent, the behavior of the critical micelle concentration of sodium dodecyl sulfate was also investigated as a function of the added amount of TBA, TMAO, and GB. On the whole, these data show that there is no direct correlation between a solute's effect on the water structure and its effect on micelle or protein stability. Results indicate that, while TBA starts to self-aggregate at approximately X(2) = 0.025, both TMAO and GB do not exhibit any significant self-aggregation up to the highest concentration considered. In addition, nonadditive perturbations of the H-bonded networks of solvent water are observed in the case of TBA solutions, but are absent in both the TMAO and GB cases. The absence of these nonlinear effects in TMAO and GB water solutions allow for tracing the microscopical mechanism of the neutrality of these osmolytes toward hydrophobic effects. This confers the compatibility to these two osmolytes, which can be accumulated at high concentrations without interfering with biochemical processes in the cell.     

Monte Carlo vs molecular dynamics for all-atom polypeptide folding simulations

An efficient Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm including concerted rotations is directly compared to molecular dynamics (MD) in all-atom statistical mechanics folding simulations of small polypeptides. The previously reported algorithm "concerted rotations with flexible bond angles" (CRA) has been shown to successfully locate the native state of small polypeptides. In this study, the folding of three small polypeptides (trpzip2/H1/Trp-cage) is investigated using MC and MD, for a combined sampling time of approximately 10(11) MC configurations and 8 micros, respectively. Both methods successfully locate the experimentally determined native states of the three systems, but they do so at different speed, with 2-2.5 times faster folding of the MC runs. The comparison reveals that thermodynamic and dynamic properties can reliably be obtained by both and that results from folding simulations do not depend on the algorithm used. Similar to previous comparisons of MC and MD, it is found that one MD integration step of 2 fs corresponds to one MC scan, revealing the good sampling of MC. The simplicity and efficiency of the MC method will enable its future use in folding studies involving larger systems and the combination with replica exchange algorithms.     

A new benzofuranolignan and a new flavonol derivative from the stem of Morus australis

A new benzofuranolignan austrafuran A （1） and a new flavonol derivative 5,7,2′,4′-tetrahydroxy-3-methoxyflavone （2） were isolated from the stem of Morus australis. Their structures were determined on the basis of spectroscopic evidences.     

Nanotexturing of polystyrene surface in fluorocarbon plasmas: from sticky to slippery superhydrophobicity

In this work plasma etching processes have been studied to roughen and fluorinate polystyrene surface as an easy method to achieve a superhydrophobic slippery character. Radiofrequency discharges have been fed with CF(4)/O(2) mixtures and the effect of the O(2):CF(4) ratio, the input power, and the treatment duration have been investigated in terms of wettability, with focus on sliding performances. For this purpose, surface morphological variations, evaluated by means of scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, together with the chemical assessment by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, have been correlated with water contact angle hysteresis and volume resolved sliding angle measurements. Results indicate that by increasing the height and decreasing the density of the structures formed by etching, within a tailored range, a transition from sticky to slippery superhydrophobicity occurs. A short treatment time (5 min) is sufficient to obtain such an effect, provided that a high power input is utilized. Optimized surfaces show a unaltered transparency to visible light according to the low roughness produced.     

金属纳米颗粒制备中的还原剂与修饰剂

金属纳米颗粒由于其独特的光学、电学、化学性质以及各种潜在的应用价值,受到不少研究人员的广泛关注。实现金属纳米粒子尺寸、形貌可控,改善粒子分散性和稳定性,提高产率及纯度已成为具有挑战性的研究课题,不断发展和完善金属纳米粒子的合成方法则显得尤为重要。本文总结了目前制备金属纳米材料的几种化学方法：化学试剂还原法、电化学还原法、辐射还原法等,分类介绍了化学试剂还原法中常用的无机、有机还原剂,以及含氮、磷、羧基、巯基小分子有机化合物以及高分子聚合物等修饰剂并重点总结了其还原和修饰机理。     

莱克多巴胺免疫亲和柱的制备与应用研究

用多元酸酐与混合酸酐相结合的方法合成了莱克多巴胺(Rac)抗原,免疫动物获得特异性抗体,并以蛋白A柱纯化得到IgG抗体。琼脂糖凝胶(Sepharose 4B)经溴化氰(CNBr)活化后与IgG抗体偶联,制备莱克多巴胺免疫吸附剂。据此建立了尿液中莱克多巴胺的免疫亲和柱净化/液相色谱-荧光法(HPLC-FL)测定的分析方法。免疫制备特异抗体50%抑制浓度(IC50)为5μg/L。Sepharose 4B经CNBr活化后与2 mg抗体的偶联率达87.4%。1 mL吸附剂的柱容量为67.57 ng。尿液中莱克多巴胺的回收率为76%~90%。     

二苯并-18-冠-6-甲醛聚合物柱色谱分离富集化学发光法测定痕量金

研究了用一种新的高分子冠醚聚合物(二苯并-18-冠-6-甲醛聚合物)作为色谱柱的固定相，分离富集痕量金，再用化学发光法进行测定；在盐酸介质中，高分子冠醚对金的吸附率可达100％，吸附的金可被硫脲完全解吸，吸附容量为19.40mg/g；化学发光法测定操作简便，效果令人满意；研究结果表明：把高分子冠醚聚合物作为分离富集手段与具有高灵敏度的化学发光法结合进行痕量分析是一种很有前途的方法。     

纳米ZnO/聚合物器件的制备及应用

近年来,氧化锌(ZnO)由于依赖于尺寸、形状的光电特性而备受关注。纳米ZnO尺寸较小、表面能高,易团聚,使其在光电、生物等方面的应用受到限制。将其与聚合物复合或组装,不但能稳定纳米ZnO,而且可以使纳米ZnO/聚合物复合材料具有优良性能。本文综述了近年来纳米ZnO/聚合物复合材料的制备方法(聚合物辅助、表面接枝、转移分散等法)及纳米ZnO/聚合物器件在电致发光、光伏电池、荧光成像等方面的应用,并对纳米ZnO/聚合物复合材料的发展做了展望。     

Preparation of the Ca–diclofenac complex in solid state

Two ONNO type naphtaldehyde derivative Schiff base compounds were reduced and two symmetric phenol-amine ligands containing naphthalene groups were obtained; bis-N,N′[(2-hydroxy-1-naphtyl) methyl]-1,3-propanediamine (NAFL^H) and bis-N,N′[(2-hydroxy-1-naphtyl) methyl]-2,2′-dimetyhyl-1,3-propanediamine (NAFLDM^H). Homotrinuclear Ni(II) complexes of these ligands were prepared. The solid-state molecular structures of representative nickel complex of NAFLDM^H were determined using single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The terminal Ni(II) ions were found to be situated in between the donor atoms of the organic ligand. The central Ni(II) ion was observed to be bonded via two different μ-bridges. The phenolic oxygens and carboxylate ion were seen to form two different μ-bridges. TG analysis proved that the compounds have different thermal characteristics than those cited in literature. The complexes showed extreme exothermic degradation reactions in inert atmosphere. The complexes are ruptured with a two stepped exothermic reaction which appears huge heat over 300 °C. The heat appeared in O₂ atmosphere is observed to be higher than the heat appeared in inert atmosphere. Revealed heat is observed to be higher than the conventional explosive materials.