Studies on the phase properties of lyotropic liquid crystals of Brij35/sodium oleate/oleic acid/water system:By means of polarizing microscope,SAXS,~2H-NMR and rheological methods

The pseudo-quaternary phase diagram of Brij35/sodium oleate/oleic acid/water systems has been investigated, and the liquid crystal area has been identified, which covers about two thirds of the whole phase diagram. The liquid crystal structure and behavior have been also studied by using polarizing texture, small angle X-ray scattering, 2H-NMR and rheometer etc. The result shows that when the composition of the system changes along the line of AA′ in this large liquid crystal region, the structural change is cubic→cubic/lamellar→lamellar→lamellar/hexagonal→hexagonal. Meanwhile, we made the first attempt of systematic study of the rheological properties of the above system. The lattice constants of cubic and hexagonal liquid crystals are 10.53 and 5.68 nm, respectively.     

Toward breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) inhibitors: design, synthesis of a series of new simplified fumitremorgin C analogues

In this study, we report the design and synthesis of a series of new simplified fumitremorgin C analogues. The preliminary biological study indicated some of these simplified fumitremorgin C might be developed into breast cancer resistance inhibitors.     

LIGHT-SCATTERING STUDY OF POLYELECTROLYTE HOLLOW CAPSULES

Silver halide (AgX) microcrystal was used as template to synthesize hollow polyelectrolyte capsules. These hollow capsules were characterized by laser light scattering (LLS) used to measure the size of the capsules in solution. The ratio of hydrodynamic radius (Rh) from dynamic LLS to the radius of gyration (Rg) from static LLS is almost unity, revealing that the entities are hollow in solution. The results suggest that the LLS method can be regarded as a good complement to the confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) method for the characterization of small hollow capsules, and it possesses the advantage of not needing fluorescence labeling.     

Enzymatic kinetic of cellulose hydrolysis

The ethanol effect on the Trichoderma reesei cellulases was studied to quantify and clarify this inhibition type. To determine inhibition parameters of crude cellulase and purified exoglucanase Cel7A, integrated Michaelis-Menten equations were used assuming the presence of two inhibitors: cellobiose as the reaction product and ethanol as a possible bioproduct of cellulose fermentation. It was found that hydrolysis of cellulose by crude enzyme follows a model that considers noncompetitive inhibition by ethanol, whereas Cel7A is very slightly competitively inhibited. Crude cellulase is much more inhibited (K _iul=K _icl=151.9 mM) than exoglucanase Cel7A (K _icl=1.6 × 10¹⁵ mM). Also, calculated inhibition constants showed that cellobiose inhibition is more potent than ethanol inhibition both for the crude enzyme as well as exoglucanase Cel7A.     

Concentrations of Active Species in the Flowing Afterglow of a Nitrogen Microwave Plasma

Measurements of nitrogen atom density, by means of NO chemical titration, along with an evaluation of the densities of some excited species N ₂ (B, v=11), N ₂ (B, v=2), N ₂ (C, v=0), and N ₂ ⁺ (B,v=0), by means of a spectroscopic study of some bands of dinitrogen, are achieved along the flowing afterglow of a dinitrogen microwave plasma (2450 MHz) for several pressures. The concentrations obtained are in the following range: [N]10 ⁺¹⁵ , [N ₂ (B, 2)]10 ⁺⁹ –10 ⁺¹⁰ , [N ₂ (B, 11)]10 ⁺⁸ –10 ⁺⁹ , [N ₂ (C, 0)]10 ⁺⁶ –10 ⁺⁷ , [N ₂ ⁺ (B,0)]10 ⁺⁶ -10 ⁺⁸ (cm^-3). From a kinetic study of the formation and decay of excited and charged species, an estimation of N ₂ (A, v), N ₂ (X, v, and N ₂ ⁺ (X) densities can be derived: [N ₂ (A, v)]10 ⁺¹² , [N ₂ (X, v6)]10 ⁺¹⁵ –10 ⁺¹⁶ , [N ₂ (X, v12)]10 ⁺¹⁴ –10 ⁺¹⁵ , [N ₂ ⁺ (X)]10 ⁺¹⁰ (cm ^-3 ).     

Free energy perturbation approach to the critical assessment of selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors

The discovery of selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors represents a major achievement of the efforts over the past few decades to develop therapeutic treatments for inflammation. To gain insights into designing new COX-2-selective inhibitors, we address the energetic and structural basis for the selective inhibition of COX isozymes by means of a combined computational protocol involving docking experiment, force field design for the heme prothetic group, and free energy perturbation (FEP) simulation. We consider both COX-2- and COX-1-selective inhibitors taking the V523I mutant of COX-2 to be a relevant structural model for COX-1 as confirmed by a variety of experimental and theoretical evidences. For all COX-2-selective inhibitors under consideration, we find that free energies of binding become less favorable as the receptor changes from COX-2 to COX-1, due to the weakening and/or loss of hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interactions that stabilize the inhibitors in the COX-2 active site. On the other hand, COX-1-selective oxicam inhibitors gain extra stabilization energy with the change of residue 523 from valine to isoleucine because of the formations of new hydrogen bonds in the enzyme-inhibitor complexes. The utility of the combined computational approach, as a valuable tool for in silico screening of COX-2-selective inhibitors, is further exemplified by identifying the physicochemical origins of the enantiospecific selective inhibition of COX-2 by -substituted indomethacin ethanolamide inhibitors.     

Single-Molecule single crystals of isotactic polystyrene

Single-molecule single crystals were grown from amorphous droplets of fractionated isotactic polystyrene. The crystals were analyzed by electron microscopy and electron diffraction. The molecular mass distribution could be matched with a statistical analysis of single-molecule particles (amorphous and crystals). Proof was brought that single molecules of isotactic polystyrene do not reach equilibrium dimensions on crystallization, rather assume the lamellar morphology with chain-folded macroconformation, also known from crystallization of polymolecular crystals. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

1 This article is a US Government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America. US Government contract No. DE-AC05-840R-21400.

     

Solvothermal Synthesis, Crystal Structure and Electrochemical Property of Complex [Co(p-MBA)2(2,2''-bipy)(H2O)]·(H2O)

One novel complex [Co(p-MBA)2(2,2'-bipy)(H2O)]·(H2O) has been synthesized by the reaction of p-methylbenzoic acid with 2,2'-bipyridine in the solvent mixture of water and methanol. It crystallizes in triclinic, space group P-1 with a=0.70479(14), b=1.1211(2), c=1.6718(3) nm, α=103.806(3), β=90.795(3), γ=104.207(3)°, V=1.2399(4) nm3, Mr=512.41, Dc=1.373 g/cm3, Z=2, F(000)=532, μ=0.733 mm-1, R=0.0432 and wR=0.0957. The crystal structural analysis shows that the cobalt atom is coordinated with three oxygen atoms from two p-methylbenzoic acids and one water molecule and two nitrogen atoms from one 2,2'-bipyridine,forming a distorted square-pyramidal coordination geometry. The cyclic voltammetry behavior of the complex is also reported.     

Investigation of Tomato Plant Defence Response to Tobacco Mosaic Virus by Determination of Methyl Salicylate with SPME-Capillary GC-MS

Headspace SPME was applied to investigation of tomato plant defence response to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) by determination of compounds emitted from tomato plants at the extraction conditions of 25 °C and 15 min. It was found that TMV-inoculated tomato plant released large amount of methyl salicylate (MeSA) as response to TMV and MeSA concentration changed dramatically with time after inoculation. Gaseous MeSA as a signaling compound could induce in surrounding tomato plants to produce salicylic acid (SA) and synthesize and release MeSA. These results show that MeSA might be an airborne plant-signalling molecule in tomato plant response to TMV. The present method provided low detection limit of 2.0 ng L^–1 and needed little sample preparation time (15 min), so the method makes it easy to find the critical times of tomato plant response to TMV by fast determination of MeSA released from tomato plant.