Three-dimensional structure of Saccharomyces cerevisiae inorganic pyrophosphatase complexed with cobalt and phosphate ions

Crystals of Saccharomyces cerevisiae inorganic pyrophosphatase suitable for X-ray diffraction study were grown by cocrystallization of the enzyme with cobalt chloride and imidodiphosphate. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a metal-dependent enzyme which catalyzes hydrolysis of inorganic pyrophosphate to orthophosphate. The three-dimensional structure of this enzyme was solved by the molecular-replacement method and refined at 1.8 Å resolution to an R factor of 19.5%. Cobalt and phosphate ions were revealed in the active centers of both identical subunits (A and B) of the pyrophosphatase molecule. In subunit B, a water molecule was found between two cobalt ions. It is believed that this water molecule acts as an attacking nucleophile in the enzymatic cleavage of the pyrophosphate bond. It was demonstrated that cobalt ions and a phosphate group occupy only part of the potential binding sites (two chemically identical and crystallographically independent subunits have different binding sites). The arrangement of ligands and the structure of the nucleophile-binding site are discussed in relation to the mechanism of action of the enzyme and the nature of the metal activator.     

Quantitative electron probe microanalysis for the characterization of thin carbon-boron layers in fusion devices

Summary The first wall of the fusion device TEXTOR at the Forschungszentrum Jülich has been coated in situ with an amorphous hydrogen rich carbon/boron film (a-C/B:H) which reduces plasma impurities caused by the plasma surface interaction. The results of the coating process of the 35 m² large inner wall surface have been controlled by a recently developed modification of the quantitative electron probe microanalysis, which has been applied to 12 samples from specified positions inside the tokamak. The quantification itself is based on a Monte Carlo simulation of electron trajectories providing very accurate results for X-ray intensities emitted by elements present in the electron bombarded sample. The Monte Carlo results are used in the present work to calibrate the measured X-ray intensities emitted by boron and carbon from the a-C/B:H layers deposited on pure silicon substrates. As a result the total deposited mass of the layer per area unit as well as the composition of the layers (except hydrogen) could be determined very accurately. The relative errors were less than 7%. The limit of detectability were found to be in the range of one monolayer for boron as well as for carbon.     

Synthesis and characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol)‐graft‐[poly(D,L‐lactide)/poly(D,L‐lactide‐co‐glycolide)] hydrogels

Poly(D ,L ‐lactide) and poly(D ,L ‐lactide‐co‐glycolide) with various composition and with one methacrylate and one carboxylate end group were synthesized and grafted onto poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) via the carboxylate group. The graft copolymers were crosslinked via the methacrylate groups using a free radical initiator. The polymer networks were characterized by means of NMR and studied qualitatively by means of IR spectroscopy. The influence of the glycolide content in the polyester grafts and of the number of ester units in the grafts on thermal properties and swellability were studied as well. The high swellability in water is characteristic of all hydrogels. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed a single glass transition temperature that occurs in the range between 51 and 69 °C. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of the networks showed the main loss in weight in the temperature range between 290 and 370 °C. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 4536–4544, 2007     

An anisotropic fibre-network model for mechano-sorptive creep in paper

In this paper a simplified network model for mechano-sorptive creep is presented, which is a further development of an earlier paper [Strömbro, J., Gudmundson, P., 2008. Mechano-sorptive creep under compressive loading – a micromechanical model. International Journal of Solids and Structures 45 (9), 2420–2450.]. It is assumed that the anisotropic hygroexpansion of the fibres leads to large stresses at the fibre bonds when the moisture content changes. The resulting stress state will accelerate creep if the fibre material obeys a constitutive law that is non-linear. Fibre kinks are included in order to capture experimental observations of larger mechano-sorptive effects in compression than in tension. Moisture dependent material parameters and anisotropy in the fibre distribution have been introduced. Theoretical predictions based on the model are compared to experimental results for an anisotropic paper both under tensile and compressive loading at varying moisture content and it is found that the important features in the experiments are captured by the model. Different kinds of drying conditions have also been examined.