Formation of Supramolecular Nanostructures through in Situ Self-Assembly and Post-Assembly Modification of a Biocatalytically Constructed Dipeptide Hydrazide**

Aqueous self-assembly of short peptides has attracted growing attention for the construction of supramolecular materials for various bioapplications. Herein, we describe how the thermolysin-assisted biocatalytic construction of a dipeptide hydrazide from an N-protected amino acid and an amino acid hydrazide leads to the formation of thermally stable supramolecular hydrogels. In addition, we demonstrate the post-assembly modification of the supramolecular architectures constructed in situ tethering hydrazide groups as a chemical handle by means of fluorescence imaging.     

Simultaneous determination of serotonin and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid in human urine by automated precolumn derivatization and semi-microbore column liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

An improved high-performance liquid-chromatographic (HPLC) assay for the simultaneous determination of serotonin (5-HT) and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA) in human urine is reported. Following the automated precolumn derivatization of urinary 5-HT and 5-HIAA with benzylamine, the derivatives are separated by isocratic elution on a reversed-phase C18 semi-microbore column, and are fluorometrically detected at an excitation wavelength of 345 nm and an emission wavelength of 480 nm. The detection limits of 5-HT and 5-HIAA are 7 and 5 nmol/l in urine (0.7 and 0.5 fmol/20-microl injection). The proposed automatic method permits a highly selective and sensitive determination of 5-HT and 5-HIAA in human urine without any sample purification.     

Multiplex amplified product-length polymorphism analysis of 36 mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms for haplogrouping of East Asian populations

We present a reliable, rapid, and economical multiplex amplified product-length polymorphism (APLP) method for analyzing the haplogroup-diagnostic mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNPs) in East Asian populations. By examining only 36 haplogroup-specific mtSNPs in the coding region by using four 9-multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequent electrophoresis, we could safely assign 1815 individuals from 8 populations of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Germans to 45 relevant haplogroups. This multiplex APLP analysis of coding-region mtSNPs for haplogrouping is especially useful not only for molecular phylogenetic studies but also for large-scale association studies due to its rapid and economical nature. This is the first panel of mtSNPs in the coding region to be used for haplogrouping of East Asian populations.     

A gravimetric method for the determination of oxygen in uranium oxides and ternary uranium oxides by addition of alkaline earth compounds

A simple gravimetric determination of oxygen in uranium oxides and ternary uranium oxides is described. In alkaline earth uranates which are formed by heating in air at 800–1100°C, uranium is in the hexavalent state over certain continuous ranges of alkaline earth-to-uranium ratios. Thus, if an alkaline earth uranate or a compound containing an alkaline earth element, e.g. MgO, is mixed with the oxide sample and heated in air under suitable conditions, oxygen can be determined from the weight change before and after the reaction. The standard deviation of the O:U ratio for a UO_2+x test sample is ±0.0008–0.001, if a correction is applied for atmospheric moisture absorbed during mixing.     

Development of novel chiral urea catalysts for the hetero-Michael reaction

Chiral urea compounds 10a-g were synthesized as catalysts for conjugate addition of pyrrolidine (2) to gamma-crotonolactone (3). In the presence of a catalytic amount of the chiral ureas, this hetero-Michael reaction was greatly accelerated. Asymmetric induction was observed with the catalysts 10e, 10f, and 10g.     

The crystal structures of α- and β-CdUO4

The structural parameters of α- and β-CdUO₄ crystals are determined by X-ray powder diffraction technique. α-CdUO₄ is rhombohedral and cell parameters are a = 6.233(3) Å and α = 36.12(5)°. β-CdUO₄ crystallizes in a C-centered orthorhombic cell with a = 7.023(4), b = 6.849(3), c = 3.514 (2) Å. The space groups are $\text{R}\text{3}\text{m}$ for α-CdUO₄ and Cmmm for β-CdUO₄. α-CdUO₄: 1U in (000), 1Cd in ($\text{1}\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}$), 2O(1) in ±(uuu), 2O(2) in ±(vvv); u = 0.113, v = 0.350, Z = 1. β-CdUO₄: 2U in ($\text{000;}\text{1}\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}\text{0}$), 2Cd in ($\text{1}\text{2}\text{0}\text{1}\text{2}\text{; 0}\text{1}\text{2}\text{,}\text{1}\text{2}$), 4O(1) in ($\text{0, ±y, 0;}\text{1}\text{2}\text{,}\text{1}\text{2}\text{±y, 0}$), 4O(2) in ($\text{±x, 0,}\text{1}\text{2}\text{;}\text{1}\text{2}\text{±x,}\text{1}\text{2}\text{,}\text{1}\text{2}$); x = 0.159, y = 0.278, Z = 2. β-CdUO₄ contains collinear uranyl UO²⁺₂ groups with a UO(1) distance of 1.91 Å, located either along or parallel to the c axis whereas the UO(1) bond length in α-CdUO₄ is 1.98 Å which is longer than the usual uranyl bond length.