Liquid crystal properties of some substituted pyrazines

A number of biphenyl, terphenyl analogues and ethynes which contain a pyrazine ring have been made and their liquid crystal transition temperatures, together with examples of birefringence measurements, are reported. All the 2,5-disubstituted pyrazine systems are liquid crystalline showing high birefringence values for the biphenyl and terphenyl analogues, whereas the 1,5-disubstituted systems are not liquid crystalline. The pyrazine ethyne systems exhibit very high birefringence values. X-ray diffraction has been used to identify the liquid crystal phases of 2-n-nonyloxy-5-(4'-propylbiphenyl-4-yl)pyrazine.     

Plant polysaccharides I. Polysaccharides ofLagochilus and their biological activity

Institute of the Chemistry of Plant Substances, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, fax (3712) 89 14 75. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 2, pp. 313–314, March–April, 1995. Original article submitted November 7, 1994.     

A high performance liquid chromatographic assay for AMP-deaminase activity in the erythrocytes of healthy subjects and patients with inherited purine disorders

A novel method for measuring AMP-deaminase activity in human erythrocytes is presented, based on the determination of the reaction product, IMP, using high performance liquid chromatography. IMP formation was found to be proportional both to the incubation time and the amount of haemolysate over a wide range. The minimal detectable AMP-deaminase activity was more than 1000 times lower than the mean activity found in healthy controls (1083 nmol/h/mg Hb). No marked difference of activity was found in the patients with the following inherited purine disorders: familial juvenile gouty nephropathy and deficiencies of adenosine deaminase, hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase or adenine phosphoribosyltransferase. The activity in the erythrocytes of patients with chronic renal failure was also similar to controls. The existence of subjects with low erythrocyte AMP-deaminase activity in the population has been confirmed.     

A generalised model and calculation of the hyperfine interaction constant for anomalous muonium in the crystalline lattice of silicon

A new microscopic model of anomalous muonium for the elemental semiconductors is proposed. The relevant configuration consisting of both a diamagrentic molecule Si−Mu and an unpaired orbital e⁻ is contained into a semivacancy of the real lattice. By using the unrestricted Hartree-Fock computational method the principal properties of the system are established. A dynamical version of the model together with a question on the formation of such system are discussed.     

Scanning tunnelling microscopic images of the surface ordering of the liquid crystal 4-n-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl

Images of the surface ordering of 4-n-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl, a room temperature smectic liquid crystal deposited upon graphite, have been obtained by scanning tunnelling microscopy. The microscope was operated in air using the constant-current mode. Under certain tunnelling conditions it has been possible to resolve both the aliphatic and aromatic parts of the molecule, and to observe individual benzene rings. Two previously unreported conformations have been observed: an overlapping bilayer structure with spacing 3.7 nm, and a monolayer structure with spacing 2.4 nm. The latter structure may represent the first visual evidence for a surface polar ordered structure.