Guanidiniocarbonyl-pyrrole-aryl conjugates as nucleic acid sensors: switch of binding mode and spectroscopic responses by introducing additional binding sites into the linker

Two novel guanidiniocarbonyl pyrrole-pyrene conjugates 3 and 4 as spectroscopic probes for ds-polynucleotides were synthesized and their interaction with different ds-DNAs/RNAs studied. Compared to a previously reported first set of conjugates (1 and 2) the significant extension and increased rigidity of the central part of the structure resulted in a switch of DNA binding mode from intercalative (previously studied derivatives 1 and 2 with a nonbinding and flexible linker) to minor groove binding of the two novel guanidiniocarbonyl-pyrrole-pyrene conjugates 3 and 4. These two compounds interact strongly with ds-DNAs, but only weakly with ds-RNA. The newly incorporated heterocyclic moieties within the central part of the structure of 3 and 4 were able to control by steric and hydrogen-bonding effects the alignment of the molecules within various, structurally different forms of DNA minor grooves, whereby even small differences in the position of the attached pyrene within the groove were reflected in different fluorimetric responses. In addition, 3 and 4 revealed intriguing in vitro selectivity among various human tumour cell lines.     

Equilibrium acidities of superacids

In this paper, we report the most comprehensive equilibrium superacidity scale that is available to date. Contrary to most of the past works, this scale is set up in a medium of constant composition and the obtained acidity values characterize the acidities of molecules rather than acidities of media. The current scale is thus complementary to the well-known H(0) scale in the information that it provides. The solvent used is 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE). DCE has very weak basic properties (but sufficiently high polarity) and is an appropriate solvent for measuring acidities of very strong acids of diverse chemical nature. DCE acidities of well-known superacids (CF(3)SO(2)OH, (CF(3)SO(2))(2)NH, cyanocarbon acids, etc.) as well as common mineral acids (H(2)SO(4), HI, HBr, etc.) are reported. Acidities of altogether 62 acids have been determined from 176 interlinked relative acidity measurements. The scale spans 15 orders of magnitude (from picric acid to 1,1,2,3,3-pentacyanopropene) and is expected to be a useful tool in design, use, and further acidity measurements of superacidic molecules.     

Towards a unified view of fluids

It has traditionally been believed that, unlike normal fluids whose structural properties are determined primarily by the intermolecular short-range repulsive interactions, the properties of polar and associating fluids are strongly affected by the long-range Coulombic interactions. In the course of investigations to determine the primary driving forces governing the behaviour of various (non-simple) fluids, and hence to gain a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to the development of theoretically based simple models and theory, extensive and systematic computer simulations have been performed on typical quadrupolar (carbon dioxide), dipolar (acetone and acetonitrile), and associating (hydrogen fluoride, methanol, and water) fluids using the available realistic effective pair potentials and their variants involving forces of different ranges. In addition to the main structural characteristics (one- and two-dimensional site–site correlation functions, local g factors, and radial slices through the full pair correlation function), the dielectric constants and the thermodynamic properties (internal energy and pressure) of both the homogeneous liquid and supercritical fluid phases, and vapor–liquid equilibria have also been considered. Furthermore, in the case of water, the diffusion coefficient and viscosity have also been considered along with water at the interface. All the obtained results lead to the unambiguous conclusion that the structure, defined in terms of the complete set of site–site correlation functions, for both polar and associating pure fluids is governed by the same molecular mechanism as for normal fluids, i.e. by the short-range interactions (which, however, may be both repulsive and attractive), whereas the long-range part of the electrostatic forces, regardless of their strength, plays only a marginal role and may be treated as a perturbation only. The consequences of these findings for theory and applications are also discussed.     

From realistic to simple models of fluids. III. Primitive models of carbon dioxide,hydrogen sulphide and acetone,and their properties

Recently developed methodology to construct primitive models of associating fluids as direct descendants of complex realistic intermolecular potential functions [L. Vl?ek, I. Nezbeda. Molec. Phys., 102, 485 (2004).] is extended to polar fluids and applied to three substances of practical importance: quadrupolar carbon dioxide, and dipolar hydrogen sulphide and acetone. It is shown that the structural properties (in terms of the site–site correlation functions) of the primitive models of polar fluids reproduce very well those of their parent realistic models but, nonetheless, they perform worse than in the case of associating fluids. A number of thermodynamic properties of the developed models obtained by computer simulations is also reported (for their later use in theoretical investigation) and discussed.     

Ring Expansions of Boroles with Diazo Compounds: Steric Control of C or N Insertion and Aromatic/Nonaromatic Products

Access to novel imine‐substituted 1,2‐azaborinines, as well as highly arylated boracyclohexa‐3,5‐dienes has been developed by ring expansion of boroles with diazoalkanes with varying degrees of steric bulk. The formation of a diazoalkane intermediate is also discussed for the reaction of ortho‐brominated p‐tolyl‐azide with 1,2,3,4,5‐pentaphenylborole. Structural details as well as UV/Vis spectroscopic and cyclic voltammetric data are provided. These boron‐containing heterocycles have the potential to serve as building blocks for boron‐containing materials.     

Axial dispersion in a liquid fluidized bed of particles akin to immobilized enzymes

The axial dispersion of a liquid fluidized bed of controlled pore silica (CPS) particles has been determined by the pulse tracer method. The CPS used was the same as for enzyme immobilization, having an average diameter of 0.436 mm and mean pore size of 37.5 nm. The fluidization liquid is α-amylase liquefied manioc starch, 30% w/v, 45°C pH=4.5. Nominal bed porosities tested were 0.7 and 0.8. The results show that the axial dispersion coefficient increases with greater superficial liquid velocities. Various available correlations tested disagree with each other to a large extent and are unable to represent collected experimental data.     

The finite element method with Lagrangian multipliers

Summary The Dirichlet problem for second order differential equations is chosen as a model problem to show how the finite element method may be implemented to avoid difficulty in fulfilling essential (stable) boundary conditions. The implementation is based on the application of Lagrangian multiplier. The rate of convergence is proved.This paper was supported by the Atomic Energy Commission under Contract No. AEC AT (40-1) 3443/4.     

Time domain numerical model for linear and nonlinear grating assisted co-directional coupler

A time domain algorithm for the dynamic analysis of linear and nonlinear devices based on coupled modes propagating with different group velocities is presented for the first time. As a test case, the numerical algorithm is applied to the analysis of a linear grating assisted co-directional coupler, in order to investigate quantitatively its limitations. As an application example, we show the simulation results on the switching dynamics of a current injection controlled grating assisted co-directional coupler sampled Bragg reflectors laser.     

Poly(amidoamine) dendrimers peripherally modified with 1,8-naphthalimides. Photodegradation and photostabilization on polyamide matrix

Some novel fluorescent poly(amidoamine) dendrimers supported by a polyamide-6 matrix have been prepared and studied for the first time. The colour characteristics of the novel materials have been determined and found to be dependent on the nature of 1,8-naphthalimides bonded to their periphery amino groups. The materials have been treated with protons and cuprum cations. The resulting into changes in the colour characteristics and photostability of the dendrimers has been investigated. It has been shown that these ions inhibit the photodegradation of dendrimers molecules studied.     

Shortest expected delay routing for Erlang servers

The queueing problem with Poisson arrivals and two identical parallel Erlang servers is analyzed for the case of shortest expected delay routing. This problem may be represented as a random walk on the integer grid in the first quadrant of the plane. An important aspect of the random walk is that it is possible to make large jumps in the direction of the boundaries. This feature gives rise to complicated boundary behavior. Generating function approaches to analyze this type of random walk seem to be extremely complicated and have not been successful yet. The approach presented in this paper directly solves the equilibrium equations. It is shown that the equilibrium distribution of the random walk can be written as an infinite linear combination of products. This linear combination is constructed in a compensation procedure. The starting solutions for this procedure are found by solving the shortest expected delay problem with instantaneous jockeying. The results can be used for an efficient computation of performance criteria, such as the waiting time distribution and the moments of the waiting time and the queue lengths.