Determination of phytase activity in feed: interlaboratory study

An interlaboratory study was conducted to determine the performance characteristics of a new method for the determination of phytase activity in feed samples. The method is based on the principle that inorganic phosphate is released from the substrate phytate under defined assay conditions and has been validated for its suitability to measure the enzyme activity of various phytase products. Two different experimental designs of the study were applied, allowing for the estimation of the precision of the method under repeatability, intermediate precision and reproducibility conditions, respectively. The relative standard deviation for repeatability (RSDr) ranged from 2.2 to 10.6% and the RSD for reproducibility (RSDR) ranged from 5.4 to 15%. The suitability of the validated method for the intended purpose was demonstrated. The obtained performance profile of the method validated in this study was comparable to that of similar methods that were exclusively validated for one phytase product.     

Methylidynearsine (HC[triple bond]As): synthesis and direct characterization by UV-photoelectron spectroscopy and mass spectrometry

The dehydrohalogenation of gaseous dichloromethylarsine on solid base led to chloromethylidenearsine and, at higher temperature of the base, to methylidynearsine, the third unsubstituted heteroalkyne unambiguously synthesized up to now.     

Structure-property relationship for two-photon absorbing multiporphyrins: supramolecular assembly of highly-conjugated multiporphyrinic ladders and prisms

Two-photon absorption (TPA) phenomena of a series of single-strand as well as supramolecular self-assembled ladders and prisms of highly conjugated ethyne bridged multiporphyrin dimer, trimer, and star shaped pentamer have been investigated. The ligand mediated self-assembled supramolecular structures were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy and small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) analysis. The TPA cross section values of multiporphyrins increase nonlinearly from approximately 100 to approximately 18000 GM with an increased number of porphyrin units and elongated pi-conjugation length by virtue of charge transfer and excited-state cumulenic configurations. The observed opposite TPA behavior between their supramolecular ladder and prism configurations necessitates the importance of interstrand interactions between the multiporphyrinic units and the overall shape of the assembly. Furthermore, the diminished TPA cross section of the pentamer, despite the increased pi-conjugation resulting from duplex formation suggests that destabilizing the essential functional configurations at the cost of elongation of pi-delocalization pathway must cause unfavorable effects. We have also shown that one- and two-photon allowed energy-levels of linear multiporphyrins are nearly isoenergetic and the latter transition originates exclusively from the extent of pi-delocalization within the molecule. The identical TPA maximum position of the trimer and pentamer indicates that the TPA of the pentamer arises only from its basic trimer unit in spite of its extended two-dimensional pi-conjugation pathway involving five porphyrinic units.     

Versatile synthesis of head group functionalized phospholipids via oxime bond formation

A method for introduction of various head groups on phospholipid frameworks via oxime bond formation has been developed for the synthesis of cyclen-Cu(II), pyrene, naphthalene, and other headgroup functionalized phospholipids that can cleave the membrane protein, hemagglutinin.     

Regio- and stereoselective addition of allylmetal reagents to pyridinium-pi and quinolinium-pi complexes

[reaction: see text] Regio- and stereoselective allylation of pyridinium and quinolinium salts was performed by the addition of allylindium and allyltributyltin reagents toward intermediary cation-pi complexes. The reaction with allylindium and allyltributyltin reagents afforded a 1,2-adduct, whereas the addition of a prenylindium reagent gave a 1,4-adduct with good regio- and stereoselectivities. X-ray structural analysis, 1H NMR studies, and DFT calculations elucidated the intermediary cation-pi complex formation with face-to-face orientation.     

Non-wandering points and the depth for graph maps

Let G be a graph and f:G→G be continuous.Denote by R(f) andΩ(f) the set of recurrent points and the set of non-wandering points of f respectively.LetΩ_0(f) = G andΩ_n(f)=Ω(f|_(Ω_(n-1)(f))) for all n∈N.The minimal m∈NU {∞} such thatΩ_m(f)=Ω_(m 1)(f) is called the depth of f.In this paper,we show thatΩ_2 (f)=(?) and the depth of f is at most 2.Furthermore,we obtain some properties of non-wandering points of f.     

Selective Determination of Nicorandil with a Single Planar Solid-state Potentiometric Ion Selective Electrode

Novel screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) were constructed for the quantitation of nicorandil (NIC) in its pharmaceutical formulations. Different ion-exchangers and plasticizers were investigated, but the optimal potentiometric response was obtained using nicorandil-phosphotungstate (NIC-PTA) ion associate and tricresyl phosphate as a plasticizer. A Nernstian response of 58.80±1 mV/decade was obtained over a concentration range of (1×10⁻⁶–1×10⁻²) M with 1×10⁻⁵ M as a detection limit. Sensor morphology was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The method was validated for the assay of NIC with high selectivity, accuracy (average recovery=100.54 %), and precision (%RSD≤2).     

The Challenging Measurement of Protein in Complex Biomass-Derived Samples

Measurement of the protein content in samples from production of lignocellulosic bioethanol is an important tool when studying the adsorption of cellulases. Several methods have been used for this, and after reviewing the literature, we concluded that one of the most promising assays for simple and fast protein measurement on this type of samples was the ninhydrin assay. This method has also been used widely for this purpose, but with two different methods for protein hydrolysis prior to the assay—alkaline or acidic hydrolysis. In samples containing glucose or ethanol, there was significant interference from these compounds when using acid hydrolysis, which was not the case when using the alkaline hydrolysis. We evaluated the interference from glucose, cellulose, xylose, xylan, lignin and ethanol on protein determination of BSA, Accellerase® 1500 and Cellic® CTec2. The experiments demonstrated that the presence of cellulose, lignin and glucose (above 50 g/kg) could significantly affect the results of the assay. Comparison of analyses performed with the ninhydrin assay and with a CN analyser revealed that there was good agreement between these two analytical methods, but care has to be taken when applying the ninhydrin assay. If used correctly, the ninhydrin assay can be used as a fast method to evaluate the adsorption of cellulases to lignin.     

Characteristics of double-plasmonic-racetrack resonator to increase quality factor

We have numerically evaluated wavelength characteristics at telecommunication wavelengths by means of a doubleplasmonic-racetrack resonator using the finite-difference time domain method. We investigated the effect of the space between the two plasmonic racetracks of the resonator on the quality factor. The quality factor of the proposed structure is 57 when the space between two racetracks is 600 nm. The quality factor of a double-plasmonic-racetrack resonator of a dielectric-filled trench is 1.5 times greater than that of a single-plasmonic-racetrack resonator of an air-filled trench. The phase mismatch of the trench channel plasmon polaritons contributes to the quality factor of the double-plasmonicracetrack resonator.     

在乙二醇甲醚溶液中合成NiTiO_3超细粉末

在无隔膜电解槽中,加入0.035mol/L（Bu4N）Br的乙二醇甲醚溶液,保持电解温度40℃、电流密度30mA/cm2时,先电解钛片6h,再电解镍片3h,制得镍、钛醇盐配合物,电流效率为95.1%。采用红外、拉曼光谱对其进行了表征。结果表明,前驱体结构为NiTi（OCH2CH2OCH3）6,可以有效克服团聚现象。水解...