Study on osmotic pressures for aqueous lysozyme and alpha-chymotrypsin-electrolyte solutions with two Yukawa potentials

The equation of state (EOS) of Duh and Mier-y-Terán for one Yukawa potential is expanded to two Yukawa potentials to describe the nonidealities of the charged lysozyme and alpha-chymotrypsin solutions. Instead of the classical DLVO theory, the attractive dispersion and double-layer repulsion interactions are represented by two Yukawa potentials, respectively. For the aqueous lysozyme solutions, the only adjustable dispersion energy parameter epsilon/k is regressed and the average deviation is 1.76%. For the aqueous alpha-chymotrypsin solutions, two adjustable parameters (the molecular weight and dispersion energy parameter) are regressed and the average deviation is 7.62%. Some correlation and prediction results are discussed.     

Alcohol sensing membrane based on immobilized ruthenium(II) complex in carboxylated PVC and surface covalently bonded alcohol oxidase

Alcohol sensing membranes coated on overhead transparency films for the continuous monitoring of ethanol, propanol and butanol are presented. Alcohol oxidation catalyzed by alcohol oxidase in conjunction with the fluorescence quenching reaction of oxygen-sensitive dye ion-pair, tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) ruthenium(II) didodecylsulphate was chosen for the determination. Alcohol oxidase was immobilized covalently on a plasticized carboxylated poly(vinyl chloride) membrane and the oxygen-sensitive dye ion-pair was entrapped in the same membrane. The sensing membrane relates oxygen consumption, as a result of enzymatic oxidation, to alcohol concentration. Measurements have been performed in air-saturated alcohol standard solutions of pH 7.0. Storage stability, reproducibility and the effect of pH on sensing membrane performance have been studied in detail. The alcohol sensing membrane proposed here is simple to prepare and has a fairly rapid response time of <1 min. It has been successfully applied to the determination of the ethanol contents in various spirits.     

Analysis of organic acids in wines by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has been a major point of development in many wine laboratories in recent years. It enables almost instant analysis of several properties of wine, usually with very good precision and accurate results. Nevertheless, validation procedures should not be forgotten and should be fully performed. Recovery experiments were performed by spiking wine samples with different amounts of organic acids (tartaric, malic, lactic, acetic and citric—the most prominent in wines). After FTIR analysis of the total acidity and of each organic acid concentration, recoveries were calculated. For total acidity recovery results were, in general, good and very close to 100% (64–111%). On the other hand, for individual organic acid concentrations, the recovery results were lower than 100% (11–73%) for all spiking additions. These results could be explained by spectroscopic interferences between the organic acids. Because they have similar infrared spectra, it is not easy to distinguish between them and, therefore, to achieve accurate calibration. When total acidity, with a different infrared spectrum from the other abundant compounds in the wine, was taken as a single property the recovery results were acceptable.     

Optimization of the abnormal Beckmann rearrangement: application to steroid 17-oximes

A novel and practical procedure was developed for the abnormal Beckmann rearrangement of steroid 17-oximes. Treatment of the 17-oximes with TFA/CH(OMe)(3) in boiling THF for 2 h gives the corresponding 13,17-seco alkene nitrile products in unprecedented high yields (70-92%). Since the alkene nitriles can be subsequently converted into 18-norsteroids, this general method provides a highly efficient route to these biologically important compounds and, by extension, to other structurally related natural products.     

Optical properties of ZnO and ZnO:In nanorods assembled by sol-gel method

Self-assembled zinc oxide (ZnO) and indium-doping zinc oxide (ZnO:In) nanorod thin films were synthesized on quartz substrates without catalyst in aqueous solution by sol-gel method. The samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman-scattering spectroscopy, room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and temperature-dependent PL spectra measurements. XRD and Raman spectra illustrated that there were no single In2O3 phase in ZnO lattice after indium doping. The PL spectra of ZnO showed a strong UV emission band located at 394 nm and a very weak visible emission associated with deep-level defects. Indium incorporation induced the shift of optical band gap, quenching of the near-band-edge photoluminescence and enhanced LO mode multiphonon resonant Raman scattering in ZnO crystals at different temperatures. Abnormal temperature dependence of UV emission integrated intensity of ZnO and ZnO:In samples is observed. The local state emission peak of ZnO:In samples at 3.37 eV is observed in low-temperature PL spectra. The near-band-edge emission peak at room temperature was a mixture of excitons and impurity-related transitions for both of two samples.     

Study on the interaction of platinum(IV), gold(III) and silver(I) ions with DNA

Fluorescence, absorption spectra have been produced by the interaction of platinum(IV), silver(I) and gold(III) ions with the berberine–DNA system (berberine, Scheme 1). Platinum(IV) and gold(III) ions show different effects from that of silver(I) ion on the spectral characteristics of the berberine–DNA system. Quenching fluorescence is seen with platinum(IV) and gold(III) ions addition, whereas increasing fluorescence is observed for silver(I) ions. The addition of gold(III) and silver(I) ions cause an increase in absorption of the berberine–DNA system. The above results suggest that different metal ions exhibit different affinities when binding to DNA correlates well with the ions’ charge, structure and the coordination ability.     

Palladium salicylaldimine complexes containing boronate esters

Reactions of salicylaldehydes with boronate ester derivatives of aniline have been examined. Addition of these Schiff base ligands to palladium acetate or Na₂PdCl₄ afforded novel boron-containing trans-bis(N-arylsalicylaldiminato) palladium complexes.Condensation of salicylaldehyde (2-HOC₆H₄C(O)H) with H₂NC₆H₄Bpin (pin=1,2-O₂C₂Me₄) afforded the boron-containing Schiff bases, 2-HOC₆H₄C(H)=NC₆H₄Bpin (1–3a). Similar reactivity with 2-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzaldehyde and 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde gave the corresponding Schiff bases (1-3b) and (1-3c), respectively. Reaction of Schiff bases (2) and (3) with palladium acetate or Na₂PdCl₄ afforded complexes of the type PdL₂ (4,5), where L=deprotonated Schiff base. The molecular structure of the nitro-salicylaldehyde 4-Bpin palladium complex (5b) was characterized by an X-ray diffraction study. All new palladium compounds have been characterized fully and tested for their antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus.     

Synthesis and X-ray crystal structure of oxamido-bridged heterobinuclear Ni(Ⅱ)-Cu(Ⅱ) complexes

The two complexes [Ni(oxen)Cu(L)2](ClO4)2.xH2O (L=2,2'-bipyridyl(bpy), 1,10-phenanthroline(phen)) have been synthesized, where oxen is N,N'-bis(2-aminoethyl)oxamido di-anion. The crystal structure of [Ni(oxen)Cu(bpy)2](ClO4)2.CH3OH has been determined by X-ray diffraction method. The crystal is triclinic system, space group P1 with a=12.179(1),b=12.298(2), c=11.476(2) A, a=97.57(1), B=97.52(1), 7=80.29(2), V=1669.04(67) A3, Z=2, Dcalcd=1.667 g/cm3. The structure has been refined to final R of 0.076 and Rw of 0.080, respectively. The complexes have an extended oxamido-bridged structure and consist of Ni(Ⅱ) ion in a square planar environment and Cu(Ⅱ) ion in a distorted octahedral environment.     

Rapid separation of phenylthiohydantoin amino acids: ambient pressure ion-mobility mass spectrometry (IMMS)

An electrospray ionization (ESI) ambient pressure ion-mobility spectrometer (APIMS) interfaced to an orthogonal reflector time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS) was evaluated for the first time as a detector for the identification of phenylthiohydantoin (PTH)-derivatized amino acids, the final products in the Edman sequencing process of peptides and proteins. The drift and flight times of the twenty common PTH amino acids were characterized by a well-defined 2-D mobility/mass spectral pattern. The combination of mobility/mass modes of analysis gave rise to a unique trend-line formation for the series of PTH amino acids. In addition, each PTH amino acid had a unique reduced mobility constant K(o), thus enabling the differentiation of all the amino acid derivatives including the PTH-leucine and PTH-isoleucine isomers. More importantly it was shown that it was possible to resolve a complete reference mixture of PTH amino acids in a single experimental run in less than 1 min. Detection limits for the PTH amino acids were found to range from 1.04 to 3.52 ng; indicating that the limits of detection were less than 17.0 pmol for all of the PTH amino acids.     

Synthesis,crystal structure and luminescent property of a novel H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O-bridged cobalt(II) polymer with one-dimensional chain structure

The coordination compound [Co(C₁₀H₇COO)₂(H₂O)₃]_2n · 4nH₂O was prepared by the reaction of 1-naphthoic acid and cobalt(II) acetate tetrahydrate in basic solution, and was fully characterized by X-ray diffraction, element analysis, FTIR, TG-DTA and luminescent spectra. In the crystal the six-coordinated Co(II) centers are linked into one-dimensional zigzag chains by water molecules, which are further assembled into a two-dimensional network through weak inter-chain C–H···π interactions. The solid complex exhibits favorable fluorescent properties similar to those of free ligand at room temperature, which can be assigned to the intraligand electronic transfer.