Mercerized cellulose biocomposites: a study of influence of mercerization on cellulose supramolecular structure, water retention value and tensile properties

In this study the effect of the mercerization degree on the water retention value (WRV) and tensile properties of compression molded sulphite dissolving pulp was evaluated. The pulp was treated with 9, 10, or 11 % aqueous NaOH solution for 1 h before compression molding. To study the time dependence of mercerization the pulp was treated with 12 wt% aqueous NaOH for 1, 6 or 48 h. The cellulose I and II contents of the biocomposites were determined by solid state cross polarization/magic angle spinning carbon 13 nuclear magnetic resonance (CP/MAS ¹³C NMR) spectroscopy. By spectral fitting of the C6 and C1 region the cellulose I and II content, respectively, could be determined. Mercerization decreased the total crystallinity (sum of cellulose I and cellulose II content) and it was not possible to convert all cellulose I to cellulose II in the NaOH range investigated. Neither increased the conversion significantly with 12 wt% NaOH at longer treatment times. The slowdown of the cellulose I conversion was suggested as being the result from the formation of cellulose II as a consequence of coalescence of anti-parallel surfaces of neighboring fibrils (Blackwell et al. in Tappi 61:71–72, 1978; Revol and Goring in J Appl Polym Sci 26:1275–1282, 1981; Okano and Sarko in J Appl Polym Sci 30:325–332, 1985). Compression molding of the partially mercerized dissolving pulps yielded biocomposites with tensile properties that could be correlated to the decrease in cellulose I content in the pulps. Mercerization introduces cellulose II and disordered cellulose and lowered the total crystallinity reflected as higher water sensitivity (higher WRV values) and poorer stiffness of the mercerized biocomposites.     

Differentiation and quantification of synthetic phosphatidylethanol (PEth) homologues by 1H- and 13C-NMR in polar organic solvents

Various phosphatidylethanol (PEth) derivatives, the corresponding reversed positional isomers (RPI-PEths), lyso-PEth-16:0, and penta-deuterium-labeled PEth analogs (d5-PEths), were synthesized by enzyme-independent synthetic routes. A general solvent system consisting of a mixture of acetone-d6 and methanol-d4 (97:3; v/v) was found to provide a good solubilizing capacity and excellent hydrogen-1 NMR (¹H-NMR) peak resolution of various PEth homologues. Analytical differentiation of PEth from the corresponding RPI-PEth by carbon-13 NMR (¹³C-NMR) was demonstrated by comparison of the ¹³C-NMR signals of the carbonyl groups, the allylic positions, and of the β-carbons. An exemplary stable long-term room temperature, DMSO-d6-based, and proton-sensitive quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-qNMR) independently quantified calibrator comprising PEth-16:0/18:1 for liquid chromatography (tandem) mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analytical applications were prepared by employment of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as a solubilizing additive. In summary, novel hypothetically occurring PEth derivatives, e.g., RPI-PEths, have been independently synthesized with regio- and stereochemical control. Use of polar organic solvents, e.g., mixtures of acetone-d6 and methanol-d4 or DMSO-d6, improves spectral line shapes as compared to traditional hydrophobic solvents and allow for analytical differentiation between closely related PEth derivatives, as well as LC-MS/MS-independent concentration determination of dissolved single species by employment of ¹H-qNMR.

N-Aryl Isoleucine Derivatives as Angiotensin?II AT2 Receptor Ligands

A novel series of ligands for the recombinant human AT₂ receptor has been synthesized utilizing a fast and efficient palladium-catalyzed procedure for aminocarbonylation as the key reaction. Molybdenum hexacarbonyl [Mo(CO)₆] was employed as the carbon monoxide source, and controlled microwave heating was applied. The prepared N-aryl isoleucine derivatives, encompassing a variety of amide groups attached to the aromatic system, exhibit binding affinities at best with K_i values in the low micromolar range versus the recombinant human AT₂ receptor. Some of the new nonpeptidic isoleucine derivatives may serve as starting points for further structural optimization. The presented data emphasize the importance of using human receptors in drug discovery programs.     

Stability Enhancement of a Dimeric HER2-Specific Affibody Molecule through Sortase A-Catalyzed Head-to-Tail Cyclization

Natural backbone-cyclized proteins have an increased thermostability and resistance towards proteases, characteristics that have sparked interest in head-to-tail cyclization as a method to stability-enhance proteins used in diagnostics and therapeutic applications, for example. In this proof-of principle study, we have produced and investigated a head-to-tail cyclized and HER2-specific Z_HER2:342 Affibody dimer. The sortase A-mediated cyclization reaction is highly efficient (>95%) under optimized conditions, and renders a cyclic Z_HER3:342-dimer with an apparent melting temperature, T_m, of 68 °C, which is 3 °C higher than that of its linear counterpart. Circular dichroism spectra of the linear and cyclic dimers looked very similar in the far-UV range, both before and after thermal unfolding to 90 °C, which suggests that cyclization does not negatively impact the helicity or folding of the cyclic protein. The cyclic dimer had an apparent sub-nanomolar affinity (K_d ~750 pM) to the HER2-receptor, which is a ~150-fold reduction in affinity relative to the linear dimer (K_d ~5 pM), but the anti-HER2 Affibody dimer remained a high-affinity binder even after cyclization. No apparent difference in proteolytic stability was detected in an endopeptidase degradation assay for the cyclic and linear dimers. In contrast, in an exopeptidase degradation assay, the linear dimer was shown to be completely degraded after 5 min, while the cyclic dimer showed no detectable degradation even after 60 min. We further demonstrate that a site-specifically DyLight 594-labeled cyclic dimer shows specific binding to HER2-overexpressing cells. Taken together, the results presented here demonstrate that head-to-tail cyclization can be an effective strategy to increase the stability of an Affibody dimer.     

Anomalous curie response of impurities in quantum-critical spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnets

We consider a magnetic impurity in two different S=1/2 Heisenberg bilayer antiferromagnets at their respective critical interlayer couplings separating Néel and disordered ground states. We calculate the impurity susceptibility using a quantum Monte Carlo method. With intralayer couplings in only one of the layers (Kondo lattice), we observe an anomalous Curie constant C*, as predicted on the basis of field-theoretical work [S. Sachdev, Science 286, 2479 (1999)10.1126/science.286.5449.2479]. The value C* = 0.262 +/- 0.002 is larger than the normal Curie constant C=S(S+1)/3. Our low-temperature results for a symmetric bilayer are consistent with a universal C*.     

Transition from a two-dimensional superfluid to a one-dimensional Mott insulator

A two-dimensional system of atoms in an anisotropic optical lattice is studied theoretically. If the system is finite in one direction, it is shown to exhibit a transition between a two-dimensional superfluid and a one-dimensional Mott insulating chain of superfluid tubes. Monte Carlo simulations are consistent with the expectation that the phase transition is of Kosterlitz-Thouless type. The effect of the transition on experimental time-of-flight images is discussed.     

Optimal estimation of the diffusion coefficient from non-averaged and averaged noisy magnitude data

The magnitude operation changes the signal distribution in MRI images from Gaussian to Rician. This introduces a bias that must be taken into account when estimating the apparent diffusion coefficient. Several estimators are known in the literature. In the present paper, two novel schemes are proposed. Both are based on simple least squares fitting of the measured signal, either to the median (MD) or to the maximum probability (MP) value of the Probability Density Function (PDF). Fitting to the mean (MN) or a high signal-to-noise ratio approximation to the mean (HS) is also possible. Special attention is paid to the case of averaged magnitude images. The PDF, which cannot be expressed in closed form, is analyzed numerically. A scheme for performing maximum likelihood (ML) estimation from averaged magnitude images is proposed. The performance of several estimators is evaluated by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. We focus on typical clinical situations, where the number of acquisitions is limited. For non-averaged data the optimal choice is found to be MP or HS, whereas uncorrected schemes and the power image (PI) method should be avoided. For averaged data MD and ML perform equally well, whereas uncorrected schemes and HS are inadequate. MD provides easier implementation and higher computational efficiency than ML. Unbiased estimation of the diffusion coefficient allows high resolution diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and may therefore help solving the problem of crossing fibers encountered in white matter tractography.     

Diffusion-direction-dependent imaging: a novel MRI approach for peripheral nerve imaging

A novel magnetic resonance imaging approach, called diffusion-direction-dependent imaging (DDI), is introduced. Due to inherent anisotropic diffusion properties, peripheral nerves can be visualized on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The largest signal attenuation on DTI correlates with the direction of a nerve fiber, and the least signal attenuation correlates with the direction perpendicular to the nerve fiber. Since low signal-to-noise ratio is a concern in peripheral nerve DTI, we explored a new approach focusing on the perpendicular diffusion direction. A 36-gradient diffusion direction scheme was used. A mean expected curve specific for peripheral nerves was calculated based on the sciatic nerve and its division into the common peroneal nerve and the tibial nerve in three healthy volunteers. By a simple postprocessing method, a comparison of the mean expected curve and the measured curve was made voxel by voxel, and the sciatic nerve and its division were reconstructed, excluding other tissues. More studies are needed to investigate whether other postprocessing methods or other diffusion direction schemes are more suited for peripheral nerve imaging with DDI. Further studies may also be of interest to investigate whether DDI can be a complementary method to conventional T(1)-weighted and T(2)-weighted sequences in the imaging of peripheral nerve pathology or even in the visualization of other tissues, possibly with different diffusion direction schemes.     

理论研究晶体场效应和电荷转移效应对Co2+的2p电子X射线L2,3吸收边光谱的影响

运用多重态计算方法研究了在正八面体对称性的晶体场中Co²⁺离子的2p电子X射线L_2,3吸收边光谱, 研究了Co²⁺离子和周围的配位离子之间的正八面体(O_h)晶体场效应和相应的电荷转移效应对于吸收光谱的影响. 系统讨论了在多重态计算中起作用的所有物理参数对CoO和CoCl₂的X射线吸收光谱特性的特定影响及其物理机制. 将计算得出的光谱数据和同样具有O_h对称性结构Co²⁺离子的CoO和CoCl₂实验光谱数据进行了对比, 在实验光谱数据中发现的特征被确定为来自不同自旋态, 并且光谱强度的变化与晶体场的强度相关, 揭示了其中包含的电荷转移效应. 本文为低对称性复杂系统的多重态计算提供了一个基础的参考标准, 可以适用于含有钴元素或其它过渡金属的复杂体系的X射线吸收光谱的理论计算.     

Mono‐ and Bis(pyrrolo)tetrathiafulvalene Derivatives Tethered to C60: Synthesis,Photophysical Studies,and Self‐Assembled Monolayers

A series of mono‐ (MPTTF) and bis(pyrrolo)tetrathiafulvalene (BPTTF) derivatives tethered to one or two C₆₀ moieties was synthesized and characterized. The synthetic strategy for these dumbbell‐shaped compounds was based on a 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition reaction between aldehyde‐functionalized MPTTF/BPTTF derivatives, two different tailor‐made amino acids, and C₆₀. Electronic communication between the MPTTF/BPTTF units and the C₆₀ moieties was studied by a variety of techniques including cyclic voltammetry and absorption spectroscopy. These solution‐based studies indicated no observable electronic communication between the MPTTF/BPTTF units and the C₆₀ moieties. In addition, femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy revealed, rather surprisingly, that no charge transfer from the MPTTF/BPTTF units to the C₆₀ moieties takes place on excitation of the fullerene moiety. Finally, it was shown that the MPTTF–C₆₀ and C₆₀–BPTTF‐C₆₀ dyad and triad molecules formed self‐assembled monolayers on a Au(111) surface by anchoring to C₆₀.