Estimation of underground water radon danger in Bakreswar and Tantloi Geothermal Region,India

The main aim of the study is to present an evaluation of radon concentration in underground water of Bakreswar and Tantloi geothermal region which is mainly used for drinking purposes of the local people. Water samples were collected from tube-wells at 173 different locations. The radon (²²²Rn) concentration level was observed to fluctuate widely between 3.3 and 803.8 Bq/l with an average of 106.8 Bq/l. Nearly 42% of the samples had radon concentration above the safe limit of 100 Bq/l recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Union Commission (EU). Considering the WHO and International Commission on Radiological Protection recommended water consumption rate for adults (730 l/year) the corresponding total annual effective dose of the samples were estimated to assess the probable health risk. Total annual effective dose of the samples were varied between 16.72 and 4079.47 µSv/year with an average value of 541.92 µSv/year. About 95% samples exceed the WHO and EU Commission proposed safe limit of 100 µSv/year.     

Iron(III) amine-bis(phenolate) complexes as catalysts for the coupling of alkyl halides with aryl Grignard reagents

Catalytic cross-coupling of aryl Grignard reagents with primary and secondary alkyl halides bearing beta-hydrogens is achieved using Fe(III) amine-bis(phenolate) halide complexes.     

Folding kinetics of a naturally occurring helical peptide: implication of the folding speed limit of helical proteins

The folding mechanism and dynamics of a helical protein may strongly depend on how quickly its constituent alpha-helices can fold independently. Thus, our understanding of the protein folding problem may be greatly enhanced by a systematic survey of the folding rates of individual alpha-helical segments derived from their parent proteins. As a first step, we have studied the relaxation kinetics of the central helix (L9:41-74) of the ribosomal protein L9 from the bacterium Bacillus stearothermophilus , in response to a temperature-jump ( T-jump) using infrared spectroscopy. L9:41-74 has been shown to exhibit unusually high helicity in aqueous solution due to a series of side chain-side chain interactions, most of which are electrostatic in nature, while still remaining monomeric over a wide concentration range. Thus, this peptide represents an excellent model system not only for examining how the folding rate of naturally occurring helices differs from that of the widely studied alanine-based peptides, but also for estimating the folding speed limit of (small) helical proteins. Our results show that the T-jump induced relaxation rate of L9:41-74 is significantly slower than that of alanine-based peptides. For example, at 11 degrees C its relaxation time constant is about 2 micros, roughly seven times slower than that of SPE(5), an alanine-rich peptide of similar chain length. In addition, our results show that the folding rate of a truncated version of L9:41-74 is even slower. Taken together, these results suggest that individual alpha-helical segments in proteins may fold on a time scale that is significantly slower than the folding time of alanine-based peptides. Furthermore, we argue that the relaxation rate of L9:41-74 measured between 8 and 45 degrees C provides a realistic estimate of the ultimate folding rate of (small) helical proteins over this temperature range.     

Micellar effect on quinquivalent vanadium ion oxidation of D‐glucose in aqueous acid media: A kinetic study

Vanadium(V) oxidation of D ‐glucose shows first‐order dependence on D ‐glucose, vanadium(V), H⁺, and HSO. These observations remain unaltered in the presence of externally added surfactants. The effect of the cationic surfactant (i.e., N‐cetylpyridinium chloride [CPC]), anionic surfactant (i.e., sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS]), and neutral surfactant (i.e., Trion X‐100 [TX‐100]) has been studied. CPC inhibits the reactions, whereas SDS and TX‐100 accelerate the reaction to different extents. Observed effects have been explained by considering the hydrophobic and electrostatic interaction between the surfactants and reactants. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 40: 282–286, 2008     

First-principles characterisation of the pressure-dependent elastic anisotropy of SnO2 polymorphs

Using DFT calculations, this study investigates the pressure-dependent variations of elastic anisotropy in the following SnO₂ phases: rutile-type (tetragonal; P4₂/mnm), CaCl₂-type (orthorhombic; Pnnm)-, α-PbO₂-type (orthorhombic; Pbcn)- and fluorite-type (cubic; Fm-3m). Experimentally, these polymorphs undergo sequential structural transitions from rutile-type → CaCl₂-type → α-PbO₂-type → fluorite-type with increasing pressure at 11.35, 14.69 and 58.22 GPa, respectively. We estimate the shear anisotropy (A₁ and A₃) on {1?0?0} and {0?0?1} crystallographic planes of the tetragonal phase and (A₁, A₂ and A₃) on {1?0?0}, {0?1?0} and {0?0?1} crystallographic planes of the orthorhombic phases. The rutile-type phase shows strongest shear anisotropy on the {0?0?1} planes (A₂ > 4.8), and the degree of anisotropy increases nonlinearly with pressure. In contrast, the anisotropy is almost absent on the {1?0?0} planes (ie A₁ ~ 1) irrespective of the pressure. The CaCl₂-type phase exhibits similar shear anisotropy behaviour preferentially on {0?0?1} (A₃ > 5), while A₁ and A₂ remain close to 1. The α-PbO₂-type phase shows strikingly different elastic anisotropy characterised by a reversal in anisotropy (A₃ > 1 to < 1) with increasing pressure at a threshold value of 38 GPa. We provide electronic density of states and atomic configuration to account for this pressure-dependent reversal in shear anisotropy. Our study also analyses the directional Young’s moduli for the tetragonal and orthorhombic phases as a function of pressure. Finally, we estimate the band gaps of these four SnO₂ phases as a function of pressure which are in agreement with the previous results.     

Response normalized liquid chromatography nanospray ionization mass spectrometry

The widely different LC-MS response observed for many structurally different compounds limits the use of LC-MS in full scan detection mode for quantitative determination of drugs and metabolites without using reference standard. The recently introduced nanospray ionization (NSI) technique shows comparable MS response for some compounds under non-LC-MS conditions. However, in the presence of numerous endogenous compounds commonly associated with biological samples such as urine, plasma, and bile, LC-MS is required to separate, detect, identify, and measure individual analytes. An LC-NSI-MS system was devised and the MS response obtained in this system for a variety of pharmaceutical drugs and their metabolites. The set-up involves two high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems, a chip-based NSI source and a quadrupole-time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometer. Herein this is referred to as the response normalized-liquid chromatography NSI-MS (RNLC-NSI-MS) system. One HPLC unit performs the analytical separation, while the other unit adds solvent post-column with an exact reverse of the mobile phase composition such that the final composition entering the NSI source is isocratic throughout the entire HPLC run. The data obtained from four different structural classes of compounds [vicriviroc (VCV), desloratadine (DL), tolbutamide, and cocaine] and their metabolites indicate that by maintaining the solvent composition unchanged across the HPLC run, the influence of the solvent environment on the ionization efficiency is minimized. In comparison to responses obtained from radiochromatograms, responses from conventional LC-ESI-MS overestimated the VCV and DL responses, respectively, by 6- and 20-fold. Although VCV and DL responses obtained using LC-NSI-MS are within 2- to 6-fold from the respective radiochromatographic responses, the response normalization modification results in nearly uniform LC-NSI-MS response for all compounds evaluated.     

Evaluation of low energy CID and ECD fragmentation behavior of mono-oxidized thio-ether bonds in peptides

Thio-ether bonds in the cysteinyl side chain of peptides, formed with the most commonly used cysteine blocking reagent iodoacetamide, after conversion to sulfoxide, releases a neutral fragment mass in a low-energy MS/MS experiment in the gas phase of the mass spectrometer [6]. In this study, we show that the neutral loss fragments produced from the mono-oxidized thio-ether bonds (sulfoxide) in peptides, formed by alkyl halide or double-bond containing cysteine blocking reagents are different under low-energy MS/MS conditions. We have evaluated the low-energy fragmentation patterns of mono-oxidized modified peptides with different cysteine blocking reagents, such as iodoacetamide, 3-maleimidopropionic acid, and 4-vinylpyridine using FTICR-MS. We propose that the mechanisms of gas-phase fragmentation of mono-oxidized thio-ether bonds in the side chain of peptides, formed by iodoacetamide and double-bond containing cysteine blocking reagents, maleimide and vinylpyridine, are different because of the availability of acidic beta-hydrogens in these compounds. Moreover, we investigated the fragmentation characteristics of mono-oxidized thio-ether bonds within the peptide sequence to develop novel mass-spectrometry identifiable chemical cross-linkers. This methionine type of oxidized thio-ether bond within the peptide sequence did not show anticipated low-energy fragmentation. Electron capture dissociation (ECD) of the side chain thio-ether bond containing oxidized peptides was also studied. ECD spectra of the oxidized peptides showed a greater extent of peptide backbone cleavage, compared with CID spectra. This fragmentation information is critical to researchers for accurate data analysis of this undesired modification in proteomics research, as well as other methods that may utilize sulfoxide derivatives.     

Thermally Stimulated Processes in a Liquid Crystal Polymer

Measurement of voltage-induced thermal depolarization current and calculation of the rate of depolarization as well as the parameters of drift mobility and conductivity of charge carriers for melt-extruded neat unreinforced grade A950 VECTRA® resin - a wholly aromatic copolyester - strongly suggest that an irreversible minor transition centered around 65°C is the primary thermal process related to molecular realignment. Changes in capacitance values with temperature also show this to be the most active temperature region. A major depolarization peak at 100°C having the characteristics of a T_g cannot be justified as due to glass transition but likely to result from molecular motions involving long range intermolecular order. The interpretation for both transitions can be supported by the mechanical response of this polymer. An important outcome of this work is the assertion that contrary to current thinking, it is the number of charge carriers and not viscosity alone that will have to be considered in future development of fast response liquid crystal displays along with the development of newer liquid crystal polymer structures.