Nanoparticle-free single molecule anti-stokes Raman spectroscopy

In the absence of large, plasmon-supporting nanoparticles, biocompatible dendrimer- and peptide-encapsulated few-atom Ag nanoclusters produce scaffold-specific single molecule (SM) Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman scattering. The strong SM vibrational signatures are enhanced by the Agn transitions in nanoparticle-free samples and cannot arise from plasmon enhancement. Characteristic SM-Raman intermittency is observed, with antibunching of the underlying Agn emission directly confirming the SM nature of the emissive species.     

Reusable photonucleases: plasmid scission by a uranyl ion impregnated adenine homopolymer in the presence of visible light and sunlight

Relaxation of supercoiled plasmid by uranyl ions impregnated on a adenylated polymeric support has been observed in the presence of visible light and sunlight. This insoluble polymer support permits facile reusability of the catalytic system and it failed to cleave lysozyme under the conditions employed for plasmid modification.     

Microwave‐assisted facile synthesis of liquid crystalline non‐symmetrical hexaalkoxytriphenylenes containing a branched chain and their characterization

Two novel series of liquid crystalline non‐symmetrical hexaalkoxytriphenylenes containing a branched alkyl chain have been prepared using microwave dielectric heating. Series 1 contains 2‐ethyl hexyloxy group as the branched chain whereas series 2 contains 3,7‐dimethyl octyloxy as the branched chain along with five normal alkoxy chains. The number of carbon atoms varies from four to eight in the normal alkoxy chains. Mesophase behaviour of the compounds has been characterized by polarizing optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and mesophase structure has been characterized by X‐ray diffractometry. All the compounds show enantiotropic mesophase transitions with columnar hexagonal structure. In series 1 ( 4a – e ) the mesophase range and transition temperatures of all the compounds are lowered as compared to the parent compounds whereas in series 2 ( 5a – e ) the transition temperatures of all the compounds are lowered, mesophase range for lower members are decreased, however, higher members show more mesophase stability. Both melting and clearing temperatures of series 2 ( 5a – e ) show strong odd–even effect. The intercolumnar distance increases as expected for compounds of both the series with increase in alkyl chain length with some degree of interdigitation of the alkyl chains. The intercolumnar distances for the compounds of the series 2 are slightly higher than the compounds of the series 1 . Compound 4c displays homeotropic alignment without using any special technique for alignment of the columnar phase or application of any external force. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nano- and micro-scale patterning of Si (1 0 0) under keV ion irradiation

Evolution of Si (1 0 0) surface under 100 keV Ar⁺ ion irradiation at oblique incidence has been studied. The dynamics of surface erosion by ion beam is investigated using detailed analysis of atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. During an early stage of sputtering, formation of almost uniformly distributed nano-dots occurs on Si surface. However, the late stage morphology is characterized by self-organization of surface into a regular ripple pattern. Existing theories of ripple formation have been invoked to provide an insight into surface rippling.     

Consonant and vowel confusions in speech-weighted noise

This paper presents the results of a closed-set recognition task for 64 consonant-vowel sounds (16 C X 4 V, spoken by 18 talkers) in speech-weighted noise (-22,-20,-16,-10,-2 [dB]) and in quiet. The confusion matrices were generated using responses of a homogeneous set of ten listeners and the confusions were analyzed using a graphical method. In speech-weighted noise the consonants separate into three sets: a low-scoring set C1 (/f/, /theta/, /v/, /d/, /b/, /m/), a high-scoring set C2 (/t/, /s/, /z/, /S/, /Z/) and set C3 (/n/, /p/, /g/, /k/, /d/) with intermediate scores. The perceptual consonant groups are C1: {/f/-/theta/, /b/-/v/-/d/, /theta/-/d/}, C2: {/s/-/z/, /S/-/Z/}, and C3: /m/-/n/, while the perceptual vowel groups are /a/-/ae/ and /epsilon/-/iota/. The exponential articulation index (AI) model for consonant score works for 12 of the 16 consonants, using a refined expression of the AI. Finally, a comparison with past work shows that white noise masks the consonants more uniformly than speech-weighted noise, and shows that the AI, because it can account for the differences in noise spectra, is a better measure than the wideband signal-to-noise ratio for modeling and comparing the scores with different noise maskers.     

Self-assembly and potassium ion triggered disruption of peptide-based soft structures

This report describes formation of soft vesicular structures by a tetrapeptide and its disruption triggered by potassium ions.     

Rapid and sensitive method for the determination of sibutramine active metabolites in human plasma by reversed-phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy

A new, rapid, and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method is developed and validated to quantitate the sibutramine active metabolites mono desmethyl sibutramine (M1) and di-desmethyl sibutramine (M2) using imipramine as the internal standard in human plasma samples for routine bioequivalence studies. The method involves rapid solid-phase extraction from plasma, eliminating the drying and reconstitution steps. The analytes are chromatographed on a C8 reversed-phase chromatographic column and analyzed by mass spectrometry in the multiple reaction monitoring mode, which enables a quantitation limit at the sub-nanogram level. The method has a chromatographic run time of 2.8 min. The proposed method is validated with a linear range of 0.1-8.0 and 0.2-16.0 ng/mL for M1 and M2, respectively, with a correlation coefficient of regression > or = 0.9990. The method is sensitive and reproducible, having intra- and inter-assay precision at the lower limit of quantitation (0.1 ng/mL for M1 and 0.2 ng/mL for M2) < 10.0%. The overall recovery for M1 and M2 is 93.5% and 77.9%, respectively. The method has been applied to a bioequivalence clinical study with great success.     

Effect of Donor-Acceptor Chromophores on Photophysical Properties of Newly Synthesized Pyrazolo-Pyrrolo-Pyrimidines (PPP)

Novel pyrazolo-pyrrolo-pyrimidine (PPP) derivatives having remarkable photophysical properties are designed with the help of theoretical semiempirical calculations. These compounds then synthesized successfully and studied effect of substituents on its photophysical properties.

Effect of Specific Solute-Solvent Interaction and Electron Donor-Acceptor Substituents of Novel Pyrazolo Naphthyridines on Fluorescence

Heterocyclic orthoaminoaldehyde such as 4-amino-3-(4-phenyl)-1-phenyl-1H-Pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine-5-carbaldehyde was synthesized by multistep reactions involving reduction of azido derivative 2 with LAH to yield aminoalcohol 3 and oxidation of it with MnO(2) to aminoaldehyde 4.The pyridine ring annulated on to 4 by Friedl?nder condensation using acetophenones in presence of base to obtained pyrazolo[3,4-h][1,6]naphthyridine 5 in excellent yield. Study of photophysical properties of 5 revealed that the absorption and emission of them depends up on the substituents present on benzene ring in newly annulated pyridine ring.     

Proteome profile of zebrafish caudal fin based on one-dimensional gel electrophoresis LCMS/MS and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis MALDI MS/MS analysis

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is the widely used vertebrate model animal for understanding the complexity of development and disease process. Zebrafish has been also extensively used in understanding the mechanism of regeneration for its extensive capability of regenerating fins and other tissues. We have analyzed the proteome profile of zebrafish caudal fin in its native state based on one-dimensional gel electrophoresis LCMS/MS and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis MS/MS analyses. A total of 417 proteins were identified as zebrafish fin tissue specific, which includes 397 proteins identified based on one-dimensional gel electrophoresis LCMS/MS analysis and 101 proteins identified based on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis MALDI MS/MS. The proteins mapped to the zebrafish fin tissue were shown to be involved in various biological activities related to development, apoptosis, signaling and metabolic process. Focal adhesion, regulation of actin cytoskeleton, cancer-related pathways, mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling, antigen processing and presentation, and proteasome are some of the important pathways associated with the identified proteome data set of the zebrafish fin.