Application of a Data Reconciliation Method to the Stoichiometric Analysis of Fibrobacter succinogenes Growth

Fibrobacter succinogenes S85, a strictly anaerobic Gram-negative bacterium, was grown in continuous culture in a bioreactor at different dilution rates (0.02 to 0.092 h(-1)) on a fully synthetic culture medium with glucose as carbon source. Glucose and ammonium sulfate consumption, as well as biomass, succinate, acetate, formate, and carbohydrate production were regularly measured. The relevant biomass elemental compositions were established for each dilution rate. Robustness of the experimental information was checked by C and N mass balances estimation, which were satisfactory. A detailed overall stoichiometry analysis of the process, including all substrates and products of the culture, was proposed. Online and off-line parameters measured during the culture brought a large number of data which were weighted by their respective variance associated to the measured value. The material balance resulted in an overdetermined linear system of equations made of weighted relationships including experimental data, elemental balances (C, H, O, N, S, Na), and an additional constraint. The mass balances involved in stoichiometric equations were solved using data reconciliation and linear algebra methods to take into account error measurements. This methodology allowed to establish the overall stoichiometric equation for each dilution rate studied.     

Oligonucleotide-oligospermine conjugates (zip nucleic acids): a convenient means of finely tuning hybridization temperatures

Synthesis of oligonucleotide probes and control of their hybridization temperature are key aspects of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based detection of genetic sequences. A straightforward means to approach the last goal is to decrease the repulsion between the polyanionic probe and target strands. To this end, we have developed a versatile automated synthesis of oligonucleotide-oligospermine derivatives that gave fast access to a large variety of compounds. Plots of their hybridization temperatures T(m) vs overall charge provided a measure of the impact of interstrand phosphate repulsion (and of spermine-mediated attraction) on the main driving force of duplex formation, i.e., base pairing. It showed that stabilization brought about by excess cationic charges can be of larger absolute magnitude than interstrand repulsion, even in high salt media. Base sequence and conjugation site (3' or 5') hardly influenced the effect of spermine on T(m). In typical PCR probe conditions, the T(m) increased linearly with the number of grafted spermines (e.g., 6.2 degrees C per spermine for a decanucleotide probe). The large data set of T(m) vs number of spermines and oligonucleotide length allowed us to empirically derive a simple mathematical relation that is accurately predicting the T(m) of any oligonucleotide-oligospermine derivative. Zip nucleic acids (ZNA) are thus providing an interesting alternative to locked nucleic acids (LNA) or minor groove binders (MGB) for raising the stability of 8-12-mer oligonucleotides up to ca. 70 degrees C, the level required for quantitative PCR experiments.     

Synthesis, Structural Characterization and Spectroscopic Properties of 1,2-Bis[4-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-2-oxobutyl]benzene

Abstract  

The crystal structure of the title compound C₂₂H₃₀N₄O₂·H₂O (L), has been determined using X-ray diffraction at 293 K. The crystal of 1,2-bis[4-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-2-oxobutyl]benzene is in triclinic crystal system with space group P(−1) (Z = 2), lattice parameters a = 8.225(6) ?, b = 10.967(6) ?, c = 12.903(6) ?, V = 1119.1(11) ?³. Analyses of single crystals of L, crystallized from dichloromethane/diethyl ether (1:1), revealed that the molecules are arranged in couples, which adopt a pseudo chair conformation, by means of intermolecular O–H···N hydrogen bonding interactions. Moreover, the extended structure revealed a 1D chain caused by several C–H···N intermolecular interactions.     

Fast 2D NMR ligand screening using Hadamard spectroscopy

Fast 2D NMR-based screening can be achieved using Hadamard encoded spectroscopy to focus on the signals of interest (e.g., enzyme active or ligand recognition sites). By recording a set of Hadamard spectra (a "Hadamard constellation") with relative offsets comparable to the excitation bandwidth, quantitative ligand-induced shifts can be obtained from peak intensities.     

Nitrene Chemistry in Organic Synthesis: Still in Its Infancy?

The element nitrogen is essential to life. Considerable attention is thus paid to the development of synthetic methods for its introduction into molecules. Nitrenes, long regarded as highly reactive but poorly selective species, have recently emerged as useful tools for the formation of C-N bonds. Practical metal-catalyzed protocols are now available for the preparation of amines through either the aziridination of alkenes or the C-H amination of alkanes. Recent results highlighted in this Minireview suggest that synthetic nitrene chemistry is maturing with a wider scope not limited to these two reactions.     

On the equivalence of the Einstein–Hilbert and the Einstein–Palatini formulations of general relativity for an arbitrary connection

In the framework of the Einstein–Palatini formalism, even though the projective transformation connecting the arbitrary connection with the Levi-Civita connection has been floating in the literature for a long time and perhaps the result was implicitly known in the affine gravity community, yet as far as we know Julia and Silva were the first to realise its gauge character. We rederive this result by using the Rosenfeld–Dirac–Bergmann approach to constrained Hamiltonian systems and do a comprehensive self contained analysis establishing the equivalence of the Einstein–Palatini and the metric formulations without having to impose the gauge choice that the connection is symmetric. We also make contact with the the Einstein–Cartan theory when the matter Lagrangian has fermions.     

An axiomatic characterization of the potential decisiveness index

Let us consider that somebody is extremely interested in increasing the probability of a proposal to be approved by a certain committee and that to achieve this goal he/she is prepared to pay off one member of the committee. In a situation like this one, and assuming that vote-buying is allowed and free of stigma, which voter should be offered a bribe? The potential decisiveness index for simple games, which measures the effect that ensuring one positive vote produces for the probability of passing the issue at hand, is a good tool with which to acquire the answer. An axiomatic characterization of this index is given in this paper, and its relation to other classical power indices is shown.     

On an evolution operator connecting Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms

The unambiguous evolution operator K was recently introduced in the theory of constrained systems. By viewing K as a vector field over the Legendre transformation, we give an intrinsic characterization of it through simple and intuitive properties. Some immediate consequences are explored.