Preparation and Characterization of 2,2-bis[4-(3-Aminophenoxy)phenyl]propane/4,4′-Oxydianiline/4,4′-Oxydiphthalic Anhydride (3-BAPOPP/44ODA/ODPA) Polyimide Films with Various Co-monomer Ratios

A new diamine monomer 2,2-bis[4-(3-aminophenoxy)phenyl]propane (3-BAPOPP) was synthesized through two steps and its melting point was determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was then copolymerized with 4,4′-oxydianiline (44ODA) and 4,4′-oxydiphthalic anhydride (ODPA) to obtain a series of aromatic polyimide(3-BAPOPP/44ODA/ODPA-PI) films. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) was used to characterize the structures of the monomer and the polyimide films. Water absorption, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, contact angle, DSC, and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to characterize the properties of 3-BAPOPP/44ODA/ODPA-P films. The results showed that the PI films had low water absorption in the range of 1.5%～1.9%, low surface energy in the range of 43.3 ～43.5 mJ/m², glass transition temperature (T_g) in the range of 192.5°C～226.1°C, and dielectric constant in the range of 2.79～3.02 at 1 MHz. The films also exhibited good thermal properties and good optical properties, with the ultra violet cut-off wavelength being in the range of 346～364 nm.     

Intracellular Assembly of Interacting Enzymes Yields Highly-Active Nanoparticles for Flow Biocatalysis

All-enzyme hydrogel (AEH) particles with a hydrodynamic diameter of up to 120 nm were produced intracellularly with an Escherichia coli-based in vivo system. The inCell-AEH nanoparticles were generated from polycistronic vectors enabling simultaneous expression of two interacting enzymes, the Lactobacillus brevis alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and the Bacillus subtilis glucose-1-dehydrogenase (GDH), fused with a SpyCatcher or SpyTag, respectively. Formation of inCell-AEH was analyzed by dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy. Using the stereoselective two-step reduction of a prochiral diketone substrate, we show that the inCell-AEH approach can be advantageously used in whole-cell flow biocatalysis, by which flow reactors could be operated for >4 days under constant substrate perfusion. More importantly, the inCell-AEH concept enables the recovery of efficient catalyst materials for stable flow bioreactors in a simple and economical one-step procedure from crude bacterial lysates. We believe that our method will contribute to further optimization of sustainable biocatalytic processes.     

Long lived photo excitations in (6, 5) carbon nanotubes

We study the photo-induced transmission change (ΔT/T) upon quasi-continuum laser excitation, for different modulation frequency and excitation intensity in films of (6, 5) enriched CoMoCat single wall nanotubes (SWNTs) embedded in a polymeric matrix. This technique probes long-lived excited species, with lifetime in the 1 ms–1 s domain. The observed line-shape of ΔT/T spectra that can be assigned to a superposition of ground state bleaching and absorption modulation. We speculate that photo-excitation creates charges which get trapped in the sample, acquiring ms lifetime. This causes bleaching of the ground state absorption due to state filling and possibly a tube diameter expansion, with consequent blue shift of the optical transition.     

Synthesis of 2,4,5-trisubstituted tetrahydropyrans as peptidomimetic scaffolds for melanocortin receptor ligands

[reaction: see text] We have synthesized a series of 2,4,5-trisubstituted tetrahydropyran derivatives to determine the utility of this scaffold as a peptidomimetic platform. The key synthetic steps involved a palladium-mediated cross-coupling reaction of a dihydropyran-4-one moiety to introduce R(2) followed by a sequential regio- and diastereoselective reduction of sp(2) carbon centers. Selected compounds have shown biological activity at melanocortin receptors, indicating that this scaffold may be useful in the design of peptidomimetics relating to a tripeptide structure.