Synthesis and biological evaluation of spongistatin/altohyrtin analogues: E-ring dehydration and C46 side-chain truncation

Simplified analogues of the potent antimitotic marine macrolide spongistatin 1/altohyrtin A were synthesised and evaluated as growth inhibitory agents against a range of human tumour cell lines, including Taxol-resistant strains, revealing that E-ring dehydration leads to enhanced cytotoxicity at the low picomolar level while truncation of the side-chain at C46 results in a drastic decrease in activity.     

Rapid PCR in a continuous flow device

Continuous flow polymerase chain reaction (CFPCR) devices are compact reactors suitable for microfabrication and the rapid amplification of target DNAs. For a given reactor design, the amplification time can be reduced simply by increasing the flow velocity through the isothermal zones of the device; for flow velocities near the design value, the PCR cocktail reaches thermal equilibrium at each zone quickly, so that near ideal temperature profiles can be obtained. However, at high flow velocities there are penalties of an increased pressure drop and a reduced residence time in each temperature zone for the DNA/reagent mixture, that potentially affect amplification efficiency. This study was carried out to evaluate the thermal and biochemical effects of high flow velocities in a spiral, 20 cycle CFPCR device. Finite element analysis (FEA) was used to determine the steady-state temperature distribution along the micro-channel and the temperature of the DNA/reagent mixture in each temperature zone as a function of linear velocity. The critical transition was between the denaturation (95 degrees C) and renaturation (55 degrees C-68 degrees C) zones; above 6 mm s(-1) the fluid in a passively-cooled channel could not be reduced to the desired temperature and the duration of the temperature transition between zones increased with increased velocity. The amplification performance of the CFPCR as a function of linear velocity was assessed using 500 and 997 base pair (bp) fragments from lambda-DNA. Amplifications at velocities ranging from 1 mm s(-1) to 20 mm s(-1) were investigated. The 500 bp fragment could be observed in a total reaction time of 1.7 min (5.2 s cycle(-1)) and the 997 bp fragment could be detected in 3.2 min (9.7 s cycle(-1)). The longer amplification time required for detection of the 997 bp fragment was due to the device being operated at its enzyme kinetic limit (i.e., Taq polymerase deoxynucleotide incorporation rate).     

A study of thoria on the surface of gamma-Al2O3

The dispersion of thoria on the surface of gamma-Al2O3 and the surface properties of ThO2/gamma-Al2O3 samples, as well as the influence of the loading amount of thoria on the reduction behavior of copper oxide species, have been studied using XRD, XPS, FTIR, and TPR. The results indicate that the dispersion capacity of thoria, like that of ceria, is much lower than for two other tetravalent metal oxides, zirconia and titania, and the surface adsorption amount of the carbonyl compound and H2O slightly increases with increasing thoria loading. The different thoria loadings can influence the reduction behavior of the dispersed copper oxide by comparing the TPR results of CuO/ThO2/gamma-Al2O3 samples. In addition, the lower dispersion capacities of thoria and ceria on gamma-Al2O3 are tentatively discussed by considering the structural stability of the two oxides.     

CHRONIC METABOLIC MEASUREMENTS OF NORMAL BRAIN TISSUE RESPONSE TO PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY

The metabolic response of normal rat brain to photodynamic therapy (PDT) was studied over a 1 week interval using in vivo 31P-NMR spectroscopy. Rats injected with 12.5 mg/kg Photofrin II were submitted to brain photoactivation 48 h after drug administration with either 140 or 70 J/cm2 light (630 +/- 1 nm) from an Argon dye laser. Control studies, animals not given drug or light, animals submitted only to brain illumination without drug, and animals given drug but no light, were also performed. The data revealed a transient metabolic degradation; a decrease in the ratio of beta-nucleotriphosphate to inorganic phosphate (P less than 0.001) at 24 h after PDT treatment was followed by a return to pretreatment spectral values. Brain tissue alkalosis was also noted, with significant (P less than 0.05) differences in brain tissue pH detected at 72 h post treatment between 70 J/cm2 PDT vs control studies and at 1 week post treatment between 140 J/cm2 vs 70 J/cm2, 140 J/cm2 vs no light-no drug and 140 J/cm2 vs drug only. The data suggest that there is no difinitive metabolic marker from 31P-NMR spectroscopy that can identify necrotic brain tissue caused by PDT. Phosphorus-31 NMR data are also presented which suggest that PDT damage to brain is not solely the result of microvascular occlusion causing ischemic necrosis.     

Optical Properties of Model Compounds of Polyaniline

The UV and visible spectra of six model compounds were studied. These compounds can be considered as models of polyaniline in the reduced, cation radical, partially oxidized and oxidized forms. After treatment of a mixture of equal molar quantities of the reduced form (DPPD) and the oxidized form (QDIM) with acid, the following reaction was observed: DPPD(I)+QDIM(III)+2H⁺=2DPPD⁺(II) After similar treatment of the partially oxidized form (V) with acid, the radical cation salt formed. The UV and visible spectra of polyaniline in the reduced form, oxidized form and conductive form are similar to the spectra of DPPD, QDIM and DPPD⁺ or radical cation salt of V respectively. We propose that the polyaniline synthesized by chemical oxidation of aniline consists of oxidized and reduced repeat units. Upon protonation a redox reaction (or electron rearrangement) occurs and forms delocalized radical cations (polarons) in the polymer chain which are highly conductive.     

Solution-phase preparation of a 560-compound library of individual pure mappicine analogues by fluorous mixture synthesis

Solution-phase mixture synthesis has efficiency advantages and favorable reaction kinetics. Applications of this technique, however, have been discouraged by the difficulty in obtaining individual, pure final products by using conventional separation and identification processes. Introduced here is a new strategy for mixture synthesis that addresses the separation and identification problems. Members of a series of organic substrates are paired with a series of fluorous tags of different chain lengths. The tagged starting materials are then mixed and taken through a multistep reaction process. Fluorous chromatography is used to demix the tagged product mixtures on the basis of the fluorine content of the tags to provide the individual pure components of the mixture, which are detagged to release the final products. The utility of fluorous mixture synthesis is demonstrated by the preparation of a 560-membered library of analogues of the natural product mappicine. A seven-component mixture is carried through a four-step mixture synthesis (two one-pot and two parallel steps) to incorporate two additional points of diversity onto the tetracyclic core. Methods for analysis and purification of the intermediates are established for the quality control of the mixture synthesis.     

大孔交联甲基丙烯酸缩水甘油酯共聚物的合成及其结构性能研究(Ⅰ)

甲基丙烯酸缩水甘油酯（GMA）为单体，三烯丙基氰尿酸酯（TAC）为交联剂，在致孔剂甲苯、正庚烷存在下，用悬浮聚合法制得一系列大孔共聚物（GT）。测定了共聚物的孔结构性能，讨论了不同交联剂及致孔剂用量和配比对共聚物结构的影响，并初步讨论了特大孔共聚物的形成机理。     

人工神经元网络辅助丙烷氨氧化催化剂设计

报道了利用人工神经元网络辅助丙烷氨氧化制丙烯腈催化剂设计的研究进展结果．通过筛选得到了可以拟合该反应体系的神经元网络模型，从而使丙烷转化率和丙烯腈选择性可以表示为催化剂组成的函数，利用培训后的神经元网络模型所得到的权值文件，结合作者自编的优化程序，该网络可用于预测最优的催化剂组成．实验得到丙烯腈收率和选择性可分别达到４３．０％和５６．２４％．     

用WAXD和SAXS研究辐照聚酰胺1010结构

用ＷＡＸＤ和ＳＡＸＳ方法研究了聚酰胺１０１０的聚集态结构和结晶结构的辐射损伤过程和机理。辐射交联与裂解主要在非晶区和结晶表面或中间相发生；辐射损伤并从这里开始，随辐射剂量增大，非晶化逐渐向晶区伸展，有氢键的（０１０）晶面损伤几率高于（１００）晶面；辐射后效应导致新的交联与裂解生成，主要影响（０１０）晶面的形成与完善，使Ｌ１００及Ｗｃ变小。     

聚合物硼氢阴离子还原剂的制备及其对酯的还原研究

氯型季我安盐型强碱性阴离子交换树脂７１１＾＃与硼氢化钾反应制得聚合物硼氢阴离子还原剂，树脂容量３．２ｍｍｏｌ ＢＨ４／ｇ。用于不同酯化合物的还原，操作简便，树脂可再生重复使用。