Microarrays of heparin oligosaccharides obtained by nitrous acid depolymerization of isolated heparin

Heparin oligosaccharides derived by nitrous acid depolymerization of heparin have been immobilized on amine-coated glass slides. The formation of a Schiff base creates heparin chips that are a suitable platform for the high-throughput analysis of carbohydrate-protein interactions.     

A new steroidal saponin from Agave shrevei

A new steroidal saponin was isolated from the leaves of Agave shrevei. Its structure was established as 3-[O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)-O-[O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-O-[O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->6)]-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-oxy]-(3beta,5alpha,25R)-spirostane. The structural identification was performed using detailed analyses of 1H- and 13C-NMR spectra including 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques (COSY, HETCOR, HMBC, and HMQC) and chemical conversions. The haemolytic activity of the steroidal saponin was evaluated using an in vitro assay.     

Determination of soluble phosphates in water samples using ytterbium(III) and dynamic measurements of light scattering intensity at long wavelength

A selective and fast method has been developed for the determination of phosphates by measuring the formation of ytterbium(III) phosphate through the variation of the light scattering intensity with time. The low solubility of this compound causes an efficient dispersion of the radiation at 490 nm, which is measured at 980 nm using the second-order grating effect. This approach minimizes potential background signals from the sample matrix. The initial rate of the system is automatically obtained in only 0.5 s by stopped-flow mixing technique. The variable optimization study has been carried out using univariate and multivariate methods. The dynamic range of the calibration graph is 0.09–7.9 mmol L⁻¹ (Pearson's correlation coefficient = 0.9999) and the detection limit is 0.03 mmol L⁻¹. The precision of the method, expressed as relative standard deviation, is 2.3%. The study of the potential interference of different inorganic anions showed that arsenate is the main interferent, although it is tolerated in a molar ratio of 5.5. The method has been satisfactorily applied to the determination of soluble phosphates in tap, ground and river water using a previous preconcentration step with a Dowex 1 (1 × 4–400) anionic resin. A 500-fold concentration has been achieved, which has allowed to decrease the detection limit up to 60 mmol L⁻¹. The recovery range is 97.5–102.5%. The results obtained are consistent with those obtained with the standard molybdenum blue method.     

A note on cake cutting

The algorithmic aspects of the following problem are investigated: n (≥2) persons want to cut a cake into n shares so that every person will get at least 1/n of the cake by his own measure and so that the number of cuts made on the cake is minimal. The cutting process is to be governed by a protocol (computer program). It is shown that no deterministic protocol exists which is fair (in a sense defined in the text) and results in at most n ? 1 cuts. An O(n log n)-cut deterministic protocol and an O(n)-cut randomized protocol are given explicitly and a deterministic fair protocol with 4 cuts for n=4 is described in the appendix.     

Enhanced Li+ binding energies of some azines: a molecular orbital study

Summary Hartree-Fock calculations with the 6–31G* basis have been performed to investigate the structure and Li⁺ binding energies of the complexes between Li⁺ and pyridine, diazines, triazines and tetrazines. Structures have been fully optimized at the 3–21G level. As for azole-Li⁺ and methyldiazole-Li⁺ complexes, a topological analysis of the Laplacian of the electronic charge density reveals that the azine-Li⁺ is a typical closed-shell interaction and that the stabilization of the complex is mainly electrostatic. BSSE is quite significant, specially for Li⁺-bridging complexes. The correlation between calculated Li⁺ binding energies and proton affinities follows two different linear relationships, one for those cases where Li⁺ is singly coordinated and a different one for those cases in which an additional three-membered ring is formed. The enhanced stability of these particular conformations explains why while polyazines are less basic than pyridine when the reference acid is a proton; pyridazine and 1,2,4 triazine are more basic than pyridine when the reference acid is Li⁺. The effect on Li⁺ binding energies of systematic nitrogen substitution roughly follows an additive model.     

Application of Different Group Contribution Models and Empirical Methods to Excess Enthalpies of Ternary Mixtures

Studies were previously made of the excess molar enthalpies, H_m ^E, at 298.15 K and normal atmospheric pressure of the ternary mixtures (ethyl propanoate or 3-pentanone) + (n-hexane) + (n-decane, n-dodecane or n-tetradecane) and (1-propanol) + (3-pentanone) + (n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, 1-hexanol or 1-heptanol). In the present work, experimental values of H_m ^E were correlated through use of the Cibulka and Nagata equations, and a new correlation equation is proposed. Experimental data were compared with the predictions of the UNIFAC I (version of Tassios), UNIFAC II (version of Larsen) and Nitta-Chao group contribution models. H_m ^E values were used to test several empirical predictive methods, both symmetric (Kohler, Jacob-Fitzner, Colinet and Knobeloch-Schwartz), and asymmetric (Tsao-Smith, Toop, Scatchard, Hillert and Mathieson-Tynne). This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Stopped-flow fluorescence polarization immunoassay

A general survey of the analytical application of kinetic methodology in fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) is presented. Stopped-flow mixing technique (SF) allows the initial rate of the immunochemical reaction between the tracer and the antibody to be obtained, which is used as the analytical parameter instead of the equilibrium signal used in conventional FPIA. The instrumentation required is described and the features of the analytical methods proposed are compared with those obtained by conventional FPIA. The usefulness of SF-FPIA for routine screening in clinical, environmental and food analysis is discussed.     

Spectroscopic study of a UV-photostable organic-inorganic hybrids incorporating an Eu3+ beta-diketonate complex.

New europium and gadolinium tris-beta-diketonate complexes have been prepared and incorporated in sol-gel-derived organic-inorganic hybrids, named di-ureasils. The general formula [Ln(btfa)3(4,4'-bpy)(EtOH)] (Ln=Eu, Gd; 4,4'-bpy=4,4'-bipyridine; btfa=4,4,4-trifluoro-1-phenyl-1,3-butanedione) for the complexes was confirmed by X-ray crystallography and elemental analysis. The ground-state geometry of the Eu3+ complex was calculated from the Sparkle/AM1 model. The calculated quantum yield obtained from the Sparkle model and from the crystal structure (both 46%) are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental value (38+/-4%). In the isolated complex the most efficient luminescence channel is S0-->S1-->T-->(5D1, 5D0)-->7F0-6, where the exchange mechanism dominates in the energy-transfer channel T-->(5D1, 5D0). For the Eu3+-based di-ureasils a 50% quantum yield enhancement compared to the Eu3+ complex is observed, which suggests an effective hybrid host-metal ion interaction and an active energy-transfer channel between the hybrid host and the Eu3+ complex. The Eu3+-based di-ureasils are photostable under UVA (360 nm) excitation, whereas under UVB (320 nm) and UVC (290 nm) photodegradation occurs.