Fracture behavior and mechanical,thermal, and rheological properties of biodegradable films extruded by flat die and calender

The development of biodegradable materials for tailored applications, particularly in the field of polymeric films and sheets, is a challenging technological goal as well as a contribution to help protect the environment. Poly(lactic) acid (PLA) is a promising substitute for several oil-based polymers; however, to overcome its thermal and mechanical drawbacks, researchers have developed solutions such as blending PLA with polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), which is capable of increasing the ductility of the final material. In this study, PLA/PBAT binary blends, with minimum possible content of nonrenewable materials, were examined from processing, thermal, morphological, and rheological perspective. An optimized PLA/PBAT ratio was chosen as the polymeric basis to obtain a biodegradable formulation by adding a biobased plasticizer and appropriate fillers to produce a micrometer film with tailored flexibility and tear resistance. The processing technology involved flat-die extrusion, followed by calendering. The tearing resistance of the produced film was investigated, and the results were compared with literature data. A study on the essential work of fracture was implemented to explore the mode III out-of-plane fracture resistance starting from a trouser tear test.     

Comprehensive Profiling by Non-targeted Stable Isotope Tracing Capillary Electrophoresis-Mass Spectrometry: A New Tool Complementing Metabolomic Analyses of Polar Metabolites

Mass spectrometry (MS) driven metabolomics is a frequently used tool in various areas of life sciences; however, the analysis of polar metabolites is less commonly included. In general, metabolomic analyses lead to the detection of the total amount of all covered metabolites. This is currently a major limitation with respect to metabolites showing high turnover rates, but no changes in their concentration. Such metabolites and pathways could be crucial metabolic nodes (e.g., potential drug targets in cancer metabolism). A stable-isotope tracing capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry (CE-MS) metabolomic approach was developed to cover both polar metabolites and isotopologues in a non-targeted way. An in-house developed software enables high throughput processing of complex multidimensional data. The practicability is demonstrated analyzing [U-¹³C]-glucose exposed prostate cancer and non-cancer cells. This CE-MS-driven analytical strategy complements polar metabolite profiles through isotopologue labeling patterns, thereby improving not only the metabolomic coverage, but also the understanding of metabolism.     

A convenient strategy of dimerization by microwave heating and using 2,5-diketopiperazine as scaffold

A novel and convenient microwave-assisted dimerization of an active peptide compound using the DKPs as scaffold is described. The key reaction giving rise to the diketopiperazine scaffold is the intermolecular coupling. No epimerization was detected in the reactions used. Conventional and microwave heating of the reactions are compared. Synthesis by microwave irradiation gave the desired compounds in higher yields and in shorter reaction times than those obtained by conventional heating.     

The complexity of minimum difference cover

The complexity of searching minimum difference covers, both in Z⁺ and in Z_n, is studied. We prove that these two optimization problems are NP-hard. To obtain this result, we characterize those sets—called extrema—having themselves plus zero as minimum difference cover. Such a combinatorial characterization enables us to show that testing whether sets are not extrema, both in Z⁺ and in Z_n, is NP-complete. However, for these two decision problems we exhibit pseudo-polynomial time algorithms.     

Synthesis of the Oviposition-Deterring Pheromone (ODP) in Rhagoletis cerasi L. Preliminary communication

For the assignment of the configuration at C(8) and C(15) of the natural oviposition-deterring pheromone 1 in Rhagoletis cerasi L., the four possible stereoisomers of 1 are synthesized. By condensing the C₆ building blocks (5R)- 4 and (5S)- 4 with the boron enolates of the C₁₀ building blocks (4S)- 13 and (4R)- 13 , followed by decarboxylative dehydration, all stereoisomers of 16 are available (Scheme 5). Glucosylation of 16 followed by formation of the taurin amide gives, after deprotection, the four stereoisomers (8R,15S)- 1 , (8R,15R)- 1 , (8R,15S) -1 , and (8S,15S)- 1 (Scheme 6).     

Comparative investigation of ruthenium-based metathesis catalysts bearing N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands

Exchange of one PCy3 unit of the classical Grubbs catalyst 1 by N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands leads to "second-generation" metathesis catalysts of superior reactivity and increased stability. Several complexes of this type have been prepared and fully characterized, six of them by X-ray crystallography. These include the unique chelate complexes 13 and 14 in which the NHC- and the Ru-CR entities are tethered to form a metallacycle. A particularly favorable design feature is that the reactivity of such catalysts can be easily adjusted by changing the electronic and steric properties of the NHC ligands. The catalytic activity also strongly depends on the solvent used; NMR investigations provide a tentative explanation of this effect. Applications of the "second-generation" catalysts to ring closing alkene metathesis and intramolecular enyne cycloisomerization reactions provide insights into their catalytic performance. From these comparative studies it is deduced that no single catalyst is optimal for different types of applications. The search for the most reactive catalyst for a specific transformation is facilitated by IR thermography allowing a rapid and semi-quantitative ranking among a given set of catalysts.     

Multiparametric microsensor chips for screening applications

The identification of drug targets for pharmaceutical screening can be greatly accelerated by gene databases and expression studies. The identification of leading compounds from growing libraries is realized by high throughput screening platforms. Subsequently, for optimization and validation of identified leading compounds studies of their functionality have to be carried out, and just these functionality tests are a limiting factor. A rigorous preselection of identified compounds by in vitro cellular screening is necessary prior to using the drug candidates for the further time consuming and expensive stage, e.g. in animal models. Our efforts are focused to the parallel development, adaptation and integration of different microelectronic sensors into miniaturized biochips for a multiparametric, functional on-line analysis of living cells in physiologically environments. Parallel and on-line acquisition of data related to different cellular targets is required for advanced stages of drug screening and for economizing animal tests.