Strategies to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated softwood with high residual lignin content

Pretreatment of Douglas-fir by steam explosion produces a substrate containing approx 43% lignin. Two strategies were investigated for reducing the effect of this residual lignin on enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose: mild alkali extraction and protein addition. Extraction with cold 1% NaOH reduced the lignin content by only approx 7%, but cellulose to glucose conversion was enhanced by about 30%. Before alkali extraction, addition of exogenous protein resulted in a significant improvement in cellulose hydrolysis, but this protein effect was substantially diminished after alkali treatment. Lignin appears to reduce cellulose hydrolysis by two distinct mechanisms: by forming a physical barrier that prevents enzyme access and by non-productively binding cellulolytic enzymes. Cold alkali appears to selectively remove a fraction of lignin from steam-exploded Douglas-fir with high affinity for protein. Corresponding data for mixed softwood pretreated by organosolv extraction indicates that the relative importance of the two mechanisms by which residual lignin affects hydrolysis is different according to the pre- and post-treatment method used.     

SCF perturbation theory for unimolecular reactions

A CNDO/2 SCF perturbation theory is presented for interpreting the form of CNDO/2 potential energy surfaces of unimolecular reactions. The analysis is performed by calculating the energy change E arising from a distortion of the molecular geometry along the reaction coordinate. E is decomposed into different perturbational contributions which are appropriate for an interpretation of the perturbation energy E. Moreover, E is resolved into energy parts arising from a single occupied orbital and contributions due to pairwise orbital interactions. In this way one evaluates numerically how the form of the occupied and unoccupied orbitals determines the magnitude of E. If the distortion occurs along a definite symmetry coordinate, group-theoretical arguments can be applied to discuss the magnitude of characteristic components of the perturbation energy. The SCF perturbation theory is used to analyze the isomerization of ethylene, cis-2-butene and cis-2-butenenitrile.This work was partially supported by Nato-Grant No. 1072     

Tocopherols and Triterpenoids from Sida acuta

A new tocopherol derivative, 7_a‐methoxy‐α‐tocopherol ( 1 ), and a new taraxastane triterpene, taraxast‐1,20(30)‐dien‐3‐one ( 5 ), together with four known compounds, β‐tocopherol ( 2 ), α‐tocopherol ( 3 ), α‐tocospiro B ( 4 ) and taraxasterone ( 6 ) were isolated from the whole plant of Sida acuta. Their structures were elucidated by spectral analysis including MS, 1D and 2D‐NMR spectroscopy. Among those compounds, compounds 1 , 2 , and 3 showed significant antioxidant effect (EC₅₀ = 86.9, 68.2, and 70.9 μM, respectively) in the DPPH radicals scavenging activity assay.     

Determination of the cyclodextrin inclusion constant with the constant current coulometric titration method

With fluorometry this paper has proved that alpha-cyclodextrin (CD) and gamma-CD do not form inclusion complexes with procaine, while beta-CD and HP-beta-CD do. Their molar ratios are demonstrated both 1:1 with the equimolar variation method. The constant current coulometric titration method (CCCT) is first proposed and applied in the determination of the CD inclusion constant. To compare with this method, the fluorescence experiment has been done with the satisfactory results.     

Synthesis of racemic and enantiomerically pure 2′-thia-2′,3′-dideoxycytidine as potential anti-hepatitis B virus agents

A novel class of nucleosides with the C₁, atom bonded to three hetero atoms was synthesized. 2′-Thia-2′,3′-dideoxycytidine was the pilot compound of this series. (±)-β-2′-Thia-1′,3′-dideoxycytidine ( 6 ) and (±)-α-2′-thia-2′,3′-dideoxycytidine ( 7 ) were synthesized from (±)-3-mercapto-1,2-propanediol. The synthesis of the enantiomerically pure 2′-thia-2′,3′-dideoxycytidines (α-D-form, β-D-form, α-1-form and β-L-form) from optically pure (S)-(2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxalan-yl)methyl p-toluenesulfonate ( 8 ) and its (R)-isomer 18 was also described. The preliminary biological results showed that (+)-β-D-2′-thia-2′,3′-dideoxycytidine ( 26 ) was the most active against human hepatitis B virus with an ED₅₀ of 3 μM.     

Functionally relevant protein motions: extracting basin-specific collective coordinates from molecular dynamics trajectories

Functionally relevant motion of proteins has been associated with a number of atoms moving in a concerted fashion along so-called "collective coordinates." We present an approach to extract collective coordinates from conformations obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. The power of this technique for differentiating local structural fluctuations between classes of conformers obtained by clustering is illustrated by analyzing nanosecond-long trajectories for the response regulator protein Spo0F of Bacillus subtilis, generated both in vacuo and using an implicit-solvent representation. Conformational clustering is performed using automated histogram filtering of the inter-C(alpha) distances. Orthogonal (varimax) rotation of the vectors obtained by principal component analysis of these interresidue distances for the members of individual clusters is key to the interpretation of collective coordinates dominating each conformational class. The rotated loadings plots isolate significant variation in interresidue distances, and these are associated with entire mobile secondary structure elements. From this we infer concerted motions of these structural elements. For the Spo0F simulations employing an implicit-solvent representation, collective coordinates obtained in this fashion are consistent with the location of the protein's known active sites and experimentally determined mobile regions.     

Chiral Lewis acid-catalyzed asymmetric Baylis-Hillman reactions

An effective chiral Lewis acid-catalyzed asymmetric Baylis-Hillman reaction is described. Good to high enantioselectivities were obtained using 3 mol % chiral catalyst. Novel camphor-derived dimerized ligands were prepared from the condensation of (+)-ketopinic acid with the corresponding diamines and hydrazine under acidic conditions. When alpha-naphthyl acrylate was used as a Michael acceptor, the reaction is complete within 20 min with high stereoselectivity and in reasonable chemical yields.     

交联聚丙烯酰胺吸水凝胶的强度

高吸水材料是一类新型的功能高分子材料,已有广泛开发和应用。本文讨论了含大量无机填料膨润土的阴离子型交联聚丙烯酰胺(JSWAM)吸水凝胶的强度及其形态结构。 吸水材料JSWAM的制备:将填料搅拌分散于丙烯酰胺水溶液中,同时加入规定量的甲叉基双丙烯酰胺、过硫酸铵、碱,而后聚合并水解。将聚合物胶块造粒、烘干、粉碎。凝胶强度     

Operator splitting algorithm for isokinetic SLLOD molecular dynamics

We apply an operator splitting method to develop a simulation algorithm that has complete analytical solutions for the Gaussian thermostated SLLOD equations of motion [D. J. Evans and G. P. Morriss, Phys. Rev. A 30, 1528 (1984)] for a system under shear. This leads to a homogeneous algorithm for performing both equilibrium and nonequilibrium isokinetic molecular dynamics simulation. The resulting algorithm is computationally efficient. In particular, larger integration time steps can be used compared to simulations with regular Gaussian thermostated SLLOD equations of motion. The utility and accuracy of the algorithm are demonstrated through application to the Weeks-Chandler-Anderson fluid. Although strict conservation of the kinetic energy suppresses thermal fluctuations in the system, this algorithm does not allow simulations at lower shear rates than those normally afforded by older nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations.     

8—氮鸟嘌呤的极谱伏安行为

用循环伏安法（ＣＶ）、电流采样极诸法（ＳＣＰ，即ＴＡＳＴ）、常规脉冲极谱法（ＮＰＰ）、微分脉冲极谱法（ＤＰＰ）、线性扫描伏安法（ＬＳＶ）、Ｏｓｔｅｒｙｏｕｎｇ方波伏安法（ＯＳＷＶ）和计时库仑法（ＣＣ）等电化学技术研究了抗癌药物８－氮鸟嘌呤（８－ａｚａｇｕａｎｉｎｅ，ｇｕａｎａｚｏｌｏ，简称８－ＡＧ）的极谱伏安行为．在 ０． １ｍｏｌ／Ｌ Ｈ２ＳＯ４底液中，８－ＡＧ有一良好的还原峰，峰电位（Ｅｐ）在－０． ９５Ｖ（ｖｓ．Ａｇ／ＡｇＣｌ，下同）附近，８－ＡＧ浓度在４×１０－６～８×１０－４ｍｏｌ／Ｌ范围内．峰高与浓度有良好的线性关系，线性相关系数ｒ＝０．９９９９～０．９９１０，检出限为１× １０－６ｍｏｌ／Ｌ．实验证明了该峰具有吸附性．本文提出了电极反应机理，它包括：酸性介质中８－ＡＧ的质子化、质子化的８－ＡＧ在汞电极上吸附以及完全不可逆的两电子还原过程．同时用量子化学计算方法（全略微分重叠法即ＣＮＤＯ／２）对８－ＡＧ和鸟嘌呤的各原子的净电荷以及Ｗｉｂｅｒｇ键级进行了计算，从理论上解释了８－ＡＧ的电化学还原机理。