Surface structures of adsorption layers of sodium hyaluronate and bovine serum albumin complexes on poly(γ-methyl-l-glutamate) film and their surface properties

Two-dimensional structures and characteristics of the complexes between sodium hyaluronate (NaHA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were studied by using a quartz crystal microbalance method and an atomic force microscope (AFM). NaHA did not adsorb on poly(-methyl-l-glutamate) (PMLG) film. On the other hand, the complexes adsorbed on it and the adsorption behaviors were found to be Langmuir types. With increasing weight ratio of BSA to NaHA, W _BSA, the adsorption constants K decreased and the saturated adsorption masses increased. The adsorbed complexes were spherical particles and at saturated adsorption states they covered compactly on the PMLG film. The mean diameters d _AFM estimated from the topographic images decreased from 70 to 54 nm with increasing W _BSA. The adhesion force F _ad and the frictional force F _f between the complex layers and the AFM tip were obtained by using the contact mode of the AFM. With increasing W _BSA, the values of F _ad decreased and the values of F _f increased. Compared with the frictional coefficient of the NaHA adsorption layer on the BSA monolayer, the values for the NaHA–BSA complex layer were found to be much higher.     

Making the liquid-phase catalytic hydrodechlorination of pce over Pd/C safer

Summary The hydrodechlorination of tetrachloroethylene in methanol (MeOH) over palladium catalysts on activated carbon (Pd/C) at 20°C and atmospheric pressure was rendered safer by using ethanol (EtOH), isopropanol (IPA) or water-alcohol mixtures as solvents. Adding water to MeOH was better than using EtOH or IPA since it resulted in a faster reaction and better stability of Pd/C, which could also be completely reactivated.     

Isolation of xylose reductase gene ofPichia stipitis and its expression inSaccharomyces cerevisiae

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - A NADPH/NADH-dependent xylose reductase gene was isolated from the xylose-assimilating yeast,Pichia stipitis. DNA sequence analysis showed that the gene...     

A convenient synthesis of 1-bromoolefins and acetylenes by a chain extension of aldehydes

Aldehydes are easily converted to 1-bromoolefins or terminal acetylenes by the use of Wittig reaction of bromomethylenetriphenylphosphorane which is prepared from bromomethyltriphenylphosphonium bromide with potassium tert-butoxide.     

General and practical catalytic enantioselective Strecker reaction of ketoimines: significant improvement through catalyst tuning by protic additives

Significant improvement in enantioselectivity and catalyst activity was achieved for the catalytic enantioselective Strecker reaction. Using a catalyst (1-2.5 mol %) prepared from Gd(OⁱPr)₃ and d-glucose derived ligand 1, and in the presence of 2,6-dimethylphenol as an additive, high enantioselectivity was obtained from a wide range of ketoimines, including heteroaromatic and cyclic ketoimines. The new method was applied to an efficient catalytic asymmetric synthesis of sorbinil, a therapeutic agent for diabetic complications.     

PI Mtoyoura: a new PI M subtype found by separator and hybrid isoelectric focusing

In the course of a population study of alpha 1-antitrypsin polymorphism by separator isoelectric focusing, a variant phenotype having a somewhat narrower spacing than PI M1M3 was observed in a Japanese blood donor. Family studies by hybrid isoelectric focusing in a carrier ampholyte-supplemented immobilized pH gradient from 4.35-4.65 revealed that the products of the responsible gene, PI*Mtoyoura, were extremely close but slightly cathodal to those of PI*M1. The difference in isoelectric point between them corresponded to the resolving limit of isoelectric focusing. For this reason, although the propositus' father was deduced to have the genotype PI*M1/PI*Mtoyoura, the products of these two genes failed to form a double band pattern. Thus, the gene frequency for PI*Mtoyoura was unknown. These findings, however, indicate that a further microheterogeneity in the PI M subtype exists at least in the Japanese.     

Bromination by means of sodium monobromoisocyanurate (SMBI)

A variety of aromatic compounds with both activating and deactivating substituents were brominated with sodium monobromoisocyanurate (SMBI) 1, diethyl ether, diethyl ether-methanesulfonic acid, trifluoroacetic acid, or sulfuric acid were employed as solvents. Thus nitrobenzene was conveniently brominated in sulfuric acid, benzene was readily monobrominated in diethyl ether-methanesulfonic acid, and phenol was selectively brominated at the ortho position under mild conditions in refluxing diethyl ether. With substituents that are easily protonated, trifluoroacetic acid may be employed as solvent in the reaction with 1, in contrast NBS was ineffective in trifluoroacetic acid. This renders 1 a superior reagent relative to NBS. In addition to aromatics, alkenes, ketones and esters were also brominated with 1. Diethyl malonate was brominated with 1 and then subjected to a Bingel reaction with NaH to afford the desired methanofullerene in reasonable yield.