Blood Tolerant Laccase by Directed Evolution

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Highlights? A fungal laccase was tailored by directed evolution to be functional in human blood ? The mutant is active at physiological pH and under high concentrations of halides ? Mutations introduced by evolution are located at the surroundings of the T1 copper     

Testing of Prestressed Concrete Shell Under Long-Term Load and Unload

The results of experimental testing of a cylindrical prestressed concrete shell under long-term load and unload are given. The shell is reinforced by welded steel mesh in the top and bottom layers, with a different reinforcement area in the longitudinal and in the transversal directions, as well as by two straight prestressing tendons within the longitudinal sides. The shell is supported at corners only. Lateral displacements are disabled at the corner. The shell was prestressed first and then loaded by a permanent static load for a year. Then, the permanent load was removed. Shell defections as well as strains of concrete, reinforcement and tendons were measured at several points throughout a year and a half following the prestressing and loading.     

Tailored molybdenum imido alkylidene N-heterocyclic carbene complexes as latent catalysts for the polymerization of dicyclopentadiene

Three novel molybdenum imido alkylidene N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) pre-catalysts, that is, Mo(N-t-Bu)(1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-3-isopropyl-4-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-5-ylidene)(CHCMe₂Ph)(OTf)₂ ( I1 , OTf = CF₃SO₃), Mo(N-t-Bu)(1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-3-isopropyl-4-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-5-ylidene)(CHCMe₂Ph)(OTf)(t-BuO) ( I2 ) and Mo(N-2,6-Me₂-C₆H₃)(1,3,4-triphenyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-5-ylidene)(CHCMe₂Ph)(OTf)₂ ( I3 ) are presented. Compared to complexes based on imidazol-2-ylidenes or imidazolin-2-ylidenes, (1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-3-isopropyl-4-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-5-ylidene) used in precatalysts I1 and I2 exerts a comparably strong trans effect to the triflate groups trans to the NHC, while (1,3,4-triphenyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-5-ylidene) used in I3 has a weaker trans effect on the triflate. In combination with a suitable second anionic ligand at molybdenum, that is, OTf, t-BuO, compounds I1 – I3 require higher temperatures to become active and can thus be used as truly room temperature latent pre-catalysts, even for a highly reactive monomer such as dicyclopentadiene (DCPD). When used as latent precatalysts, I1 – I3 offer access to poly-DCPD with different degrees of cross-linking and glass-transition temperatures (T_g). © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 3028–3033     

A basis for the determination of branching in polymers by use of gel-permeation chromatography

The technique for determining branching in polymers by using a combination of GPC and intrinsic viscosity data has been extended beyond current methods. Equations used in these analyses are presented. The derivations are based upon the assumption that branching is present only when there is a measurable reduction in the intrinsic viscosity. Techniques for calculating the functionality of the star branch point in starbranched polymers are given. Three random-branching parameters are calculated from a knowledge of the average branching density, \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \bar \lambda $\end{document}: (a) the lowest molecular weight branched polymer that can be measured, M?^*; (b) the average molecular weight between branch points, M?_bp; (c) the weight percentage of polymer that is branched. The applicability of this technique is demonstrated by using an analysis of published data on characterized fractions of a randomly branched polystyrene.     

Proline-mediated formation of novel chroman-4-one tetrahydropyrimidines

Novel tricyclic N-benzylated chroman-4-one tetrahydropyrimidine derivatives have been prepared through a multi-component reaction between various 2-substituted chroman-4-one derivatives, N-methylenebenzylamine and a catalytic amount of proline under mild reaction conditions. The tricyclic structure of 1a was determined by NMR spectroscopy and confirmed by X-ray crystallography. An additional product, 2a, was isolated from the reaction mixture and its structure and conformation were determined by a combination of theoretical (Monte Carlo conformational search) and NMR-based (NOE and ³J_HH couplings) conformational analysis. The NMR analysis revealed one preferred geometry for 1a and 2a in CHCl₃ solution.     

Novel tricyclic diamines 1. Synthesis of 1,4-diazaisotwistane and 1,4-diazahomoisotwistane as constrained 3-aminoquinuclidine isosteres

Synthesis of the novel tricyclic diamines 1,4-diazaisotwistane and 1,4-diazahomoisotwistane are described. These compact tricyclic cores have one tertiary and one secondary amine and may serve as ring-constrained isosteres of 3-aminoquinuclidine. Both tricycles were prepared by a similar strategy involving saturation of an appropriately substituted aromatic azaindole, functionalization and intramolecular alkylation.     

Further applications of holography to photoelasticity

A holographic method for reconstructing the polarization of light emitted by a photoelastic model is presented. Isochromatic and the entire family of isoclinic fringe patterns may be obtained by examining the holographic image, a posteriori. This is accomplished by using two orthogonally polarized reference beams so arranged that the reconstructed crosstalk images do not overlap. An analysis is preseted crosstalk images do not overlap. An analysis is presented which shows that, to reconstruct polarization, the phase relationship between the two reference beams must be maintained. This requirement is more stringent than that normally required in holography. Experimental verification is presented.The use of double-exposure holography to obtain isopachic-isochromatic fringe patterns in the reconstructed image is discussed. An analytic treatment of the method is presented. Expressions relating the isopachic-isochromatic fringe pattern in the reconstructed virtual image to the principal stresses are developed. Differences between this analysis and that presented in a recent paper are discussed. Experimental results are obtained and compared to theory and to other experimental results with good agreement.Paper was presented at 1969 SESA Spring Meeting held in Philadelphia, Pa., on May 13–16.The study reported herein was supported in part by NASA Grant No. NsG-401.     

Interpreting conformational effects in protein nano-ESI-MS spectra

Nano-electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (nano-ESI-MS) is employed here to describe equilibrium protein conformational transitions and to analyze the influence of instrumental settings, pH, and solvent surface tension on the charge-state distributions (CSD). A first set of experiments shows that high flow rates of N₂ as curtain gas can induce unfolding of cytochrome c (cyt c) and myoglobin (Mb), under conditions in which the stability of the native protein structure has already been reduced by acidification. However, it is possible to identify conditions under which the instrumental settings are not limiting factors for the conformational stability of the protein inside ESI droplets. Under such conditions, equilibrium unfolding transitions described by ESI-MS are comparable with those obtained by other established biophysical methods. Experiments with the very stable proteins ubiquitin (Ubq) and lysozyme (Lyz) enable testing of the influence of extreme pH changes on the ESI process, uncoupled from acid-induced unfolding. When HCl is used for acidification, Ubq and Lyz mass spectra do not change between pH~7 and pH 2.2, indicating that the CSD is highly characteristic of a given protein conformation and not directly affected by even large pH changes. Use of formic or acetic acid for acidification of Ubq solutions results in major spectral changes that can be interpreted in terms of protein unfolding as a result of the increased hydrophobicity of the solvent. On the other hand, Lyz, cyt c, and Mb enable direct comparison of protein CSD (corresponding to either the folded or the unfolded protein) in HCl or acetic acid solutions at low pH. The values of surface tension for these solutions differ significantly. Confirming indications already present in the literature, we observe very similar CSD under these solvent conditions for several proteins in either compact or disordered conformations. The same is true for comparison between water and water–acetic acid for folded cyt c and Lyz. Thus, protein CSD from water–acetic solutions do not seem to be limited by the low surface tension of acetic acid as previously suggested. This result could reflect a general lack of dependence of protein CSD on the surface tension of the solvent. However, it is also possible that the effect of acetic acid on the precursor ESI droplets is smaller than generally assumed.