The Effect of Oxygen on Conversion in the Organic Peroxide-initiated High-Pressure Polymerization of Ethylene

To initiate the high-pressure polymerization of ethylene, oxygen is used together with organic peroxides in a number of tubular reactor processes. Since molecular oxygen is capable of promoting or inhibiting radical polymerization, depending on the reaction conditions chosen, controlled experiments were carried out to clarify these aspects of high pressure ethylene polymerization. In continuous polymerization tests carried out at 1700 bar and temperatures between 110 and 320°C, conversions were determined with tert-amyl perneodecanoate and di-tert-butyl peroxide initiation in the presence of various quantities of oxygen. Batch tests using a photo-initiator together with oxygen were also carried out. A comparison with polymerizations under conditions of careful elimination of oxygen shows no effect on the peroxide-initiated polymerization up to temperatures of 160 to 170°C. Although oxygen is an initiator at higher temperatures, the conversions obtained from the simultaneous addition of controlled quantities of oxygen and organic peroxides is lower than that obtained by adding together the conversions from the separate polymerizations.     

A two-step stimulus-response cell-SELEX method to generate a DNA aptamer to recognize inflamed human aortic endothelial cells as a potential in vivo molecular probe for atherosclerosis plaque detection

Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that are capable of binding wide classes of targets with high affinity and specificity. Their unique three-dimensional structures present numerous possibilities for recognizing virtually any class of target molecules, making them a promising alternative to antibodies used as molecular probes in biomedical analysis and clinical diagnosis. In recent years, cell-systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) has been used extensively to select aptamers for various cell targets. However, aptamers that have evolved from cell-SELEX to distinguish the “stimulus-response cell” have not previously been reported. Moreover, a number of cumbersome and time-consuming steps involved in conventional cell-SELEX reduce the efficiency and efficacy of the aptamer selection. Here, we report a “two-step” methodology of cell-SELEX that successfully selected DNA aptamers specifically against “inflamed” endothelial cells. This has been termed as stimulus-response cell-SELEX (SRC-SELEX). The SRC-SELEX enables the selection of aptamers to distinguish the cells activated by stimulus of healthy cells or cells isolated from diseased tissue. We report a promising aptamer, N55, selected by SRC-SELEX, which can bind specifically to inflamed endothelial cells both in cell culture and atherosclerotic plaque tissue. This aptamer probe was demonstrated as a potential molecular probe for magnetic resonance imaging to target inflamed endothelial cells and atherosclerotic plaque detection.

Capillary liquid chromatographic fingerprint used for discrimination of Zingiber montanum from related species

Fingerprint analysis using capillary liquid chromatography (CLC) has been developed for discrimination of Zingiber montanum (ZM) from related species, for example Z. americans (ZA) and Z. zerumbet (ZZ). By comparing the fingerprint chromatograms of ZM, ZA, and ZZ we could identify ZM samples and discriminate them from ZA and ZZ by using their marker peaks. We also combined CLC fingerprint with multivariate analysis, including principal-component analysis (PCA) and canonical variate analysis (CVA); all three species were discriminated successfully. This result indicates that CLC fingerprint analysis in combination with PCA and CVA can be used for discrimination of ZM samples from samples of related species.

Incorporation of azide sugar analogue decreases tumorigenic potential of breast cancer cells by reducing cancer stem cell population

The azido sugar,GalNAz,was successfully used for imaging and perturbing protein glycosylation in triple-negative breast cancer cell line,MDA-MB-231.After the incorporation of GalNAz in the triple-negative breast cancer cell line,the tumorigenicity of these cells was decreased.Results from gene analysis and drug treatment suggest that the tumorigenicity decrease may be attributed to the reduction of cancer stem cell population.Possible mechanisms of GalNAz induced cancer stem cells(CSCs) proportion change are discussed.     

A Convenient Method for the Preparation of (Z)-(2-Aminothiazol-4-yl)-2-methoxyimino-acetylchloride Hydrochloride

Successive treatment of (Z)-(2-aminothiazol-4-yl) -2-methoxyiminoacetic acid, 1, with 0.9 to 1.0 equiv. of hydrogen chloride and 1.04 equiv. (chloromethylene) dimethylammonium chloride provides (Z) - (2-aminothiazol-4-yl) -2-methoxyiminoacetyl-chloride hydrochloride, 3, in high yield.     

Investigation on the dissolution of Mn ions from LiMn2O4 cathode in the application of lithium ion batteries: First principle molecular orbital method

The dissolution phenomenon of Mn ions in LiMn₂O₄ (LMO) cathode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) was investigated by a first principle calculation using the discrete variational Xα molecular orbital method. It was found that the oxidation number of Mn ions easily increases at high temperatures due to the empty levels of Mn 3d orbitals located in the vicinity of the Fermi energy level of LMO crystal. The changes of density of states (DOS) and Mn‐O bonding properties with doping were examined. Analysis of DOS showed that the substitution of elements with a smaller oxidation number than Mn was found effective in keeping Mn ions at higher oxidation states. From the calculation of bonding properties, the dissolution of Mn was found to be strongly correlated with the covalent nature of Mn‐O bond. Based on the results, we concluded that increasing the covalent character of Mn‐O bond is effective to minimize the dissolution of Mn ions, along with suppressing the formation of Jahn‐Teller‐active Mn³⁺ by inducing Mn ions at high oxidation state with proper selection of doping elements. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.