Bioengineering functional copolymers. III. Synthesis of biocompatible poly[(N‐isopropylacrylamide‐co‐maleic anhydride)‐g‐poly(ethylene oxide)]/poly(ethylene imine) macrocomplexes and their thermostabilization effect on the activity of the enzyme penicillin G acylase

Stimuli‐responsive poly[(N‐isopropylacrylamide‐co‐maleic anhydride)‐g‐poly(ethylene oxide)]/poly(ethylene imine) macrobranched macrocomplexes were synthesized by (1) the radical copolymerization of N‐isopropylacrylamide and maleic anhydride with α,α′‐azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator in 1,4‐dioxane at 65 °C under a nitrogen atmosphere, (2) the polyesterification (grafting) of prepared poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide‐co‐maleic anhydride) containing less than 20 mol % anhydride units with α‐hydroxy‐ω‐methoxy‐poly(ethylene oxide)s having different number‐average molecular weights (M_n = 4000, 10,000, or 20,000), and (3) the incorporation of macrobranched copolymers with poly(ethylene imine) (M_n = 60,000). The composition and structure of the synthesized copolymer systems were determined by Fourier transform infrared, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, and chemical and elemental analyses. The important properties of the copolymer systems (e.g., the viscosity, thermal and pH sensitivities, and lower critical solution temperature behavior) changed with increases in the molecular weight, composition, and length of the macrobranched hydrophobic domains. These copolymers with reactive anhydride and carboxylic groups were used for the stabilization of penicillin G acylase (PGA). The conjugation of the enzyme with the copolymers significantly increased the thermal stability of PGA (three times at 45 °C and two times at 65 °C). © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 1580–1593, 2003     

Classification of the energy levels of the cyclopentane molecule

The energy levels of the cyclopentane molecule are classified taking into account pseudorotation and inversion motion caused by the nonplanarity of the equilibrium configuration of the five-membered cycle of the carbon nuclei of the molecule. For this purpose, the relatively recently developed symmetry-group chain methods, which are the most powerful methods at present, are used.     

Few-body correlations in the QCD phase diagram

From the viewpoint of statistical physics, nuclear matter is a strongly correlated many-particle system. Several regimes of the QCD phase diagram should exhibit strong correlations. Here I focus on three- and four-body correlations that might be important in the phase diagram.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 21.65. + f Nuclear matter - 21.45. + v Few-body systems     

Sound scattering by a body in a planar layered waveguide

In the framework of the theory of integral equations, the problem of sound diffraction by pressure-release and acoustically stiff inhomogeneities of an oceanic waveguide is considered. The iteration method is used to obtain recurrent relations for the surface currents. The relations describe the diffraction process as a sequence of interactions between the body and the waveguide boundaries (multiple reflections). The validity condition for the zero-order approximation, which ignores multiple reflections, is formulated and physically justified.     

Synthesis and characterization of poly(methyl methacrylate)‐block‐poly(methylphenylsilane)‐ block‐poly(methyl methacrylate) by atom transfer radical polymerization

ABA block copolymers of methyl methacrylate and methylphenylsilane were synthesized with a methodology based on atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The reaction of samples of α,ω‐dihalopoly(methylphenylsilane) with 2‐hydroxyethyl‐2‐methyl‐2‐bromoproprionate gave suitable macroinitiators for the ATRP of methyl methacrylate. The latter procedure was carried out at 95 °C in a xylene solution with CuBr and 2,2‐bipyridine as the initiating system. The rate of the polymerization was first‐order with respect to monomer conversion. The block copolymers were characterized with ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography, and differential scanning calorimetry was used to obtain preliminary evidence of phase separation in the copolymer products. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 30–40, 2003     

Schemes for preparation of W-and GHZ-class states from atoms and atomic ensembles

Independent systems, each containing an atomic ensemble entangled through the interaction with its own photon, can be, in turn, entangled in the course of measurements. Schemes for preparing states of the W and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) classes with the use of projective measurements of light that include three-photon parametric interactions are proposed and analyzed.     

Condensation of Isatoic Anhydride with Hetarylguanidines

Condensation of isatoic anhydride with 4-methylquinazolin-2-yl-, 2-benzoxazolyl-, 2-benzothiazolyl-, and 4,6-dimethylpyrimidin-2-ylguanidines leads to the corresponding 2-hetarylamino-4-hydroxyquinazolines as a result of cyclization of intermediate anthranilic acid hetarylguanidides. These intermediates can be isolated as individual compounds.     

Short-and long-range order effects on resonance energy transfer in crystals and glasses

Resonance energy transfer by the Förster-Dexter mechanism in a cubic crystal and in a rigid homogeneous medium is studied. The homogeneous medium is modeled using a hard-sphere fluid (HSF) radial distribution function. This distribution is more realistic than the commonly used uniform distribution with excluded volume (UDEV) function. For the dipole-dipole mechanism, both models yield essentially the same donor luminescence decay, except for small critical radii. For the exchange mechanism, however, the two models differ significantly. In particular, to fit a given experimental decay, the UDEV model requires both a larger effective Bohr radius and a larger rate constant at collisional distance than the HSF model.     

Self-broadening of space-time spectra of few-cycle pulses in dielectric media

The nonparaxial dynamics of spectra of pulses comprising a few cycles of a light field is analyzed in transparent nonlinear media with dispersion. It is shown that the inhomogeneous self-broadening of the time spectrum of a pulse proceeds more effectively into the blue region at all spatial frequencies. A decrease in the energy in the central part of the time spectrum is realized mainly at high spatial frequencies.