New reals: Can live with them,can live without them

We give a self‐contained proof of the preservation theorem for proper countable support iterations known as “tools‐preservation”, “Case A” or “first preservation theorem” in the literature. We do not assume that the forcings add reals. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Luteone,a twenty three carbon terpenoid from the dorid nudi branch Cadlina luteomarginata

The structure of luteone ($\text{1}$), a twenty three carbon terpenoid, has been solved by performing a single crystal x-ray analysis on a 3,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone derivative.     

Determination and confirmation of malachite green and leucomalachite green residues in salmon using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry with no-discharge atmospheric pressure chemical ionization

A liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) method was developed to quantitate and confirm residues of leucomalachite green (LMG) in salmon tissue after their conversion to chromic malachite green (MG) in the extraction process. The method uses no-discharge atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) in conjunction with an ion-trap instrument to generate product-ion spectra. In the sample preparation procedure, salmon tissue is extracted with acetonitrile/buffer, the LMG residue is partitioned into methylene chloride, the LMG is converted to MG using an organic oxidizing agent, and the MG is isolated on alumina/propylsulfonic acid solid-phase extraction cartridges. The method was validated by fortifying salmon with different levels of LMG, and then detecting the residue as MG The LC/MS conditions, including a comparison of electrospray and no-discharge APCI, were evaluated and optimized. MG was not confirmed in any of the control tissue extracts, and all fortified samples analyzed during validation met the confirmation criteria as described. In addition to providing confirmatory data, this method can provide an alternative method for quantitation of MG in salmon. The recoveries of LMG measured as MG by this LC/MS method, at fortification levels of 1-10 ng/g were very high (86-109%), with low relative standard deviation(RSD) values (6.4-13%). The results agreed very closely with those obtained for the same extracts using an LCNIS procedure, indicating that matrix suppression was not an issue. The presence of LMG in salmon tissue samples fortified at 0.25 ng/g was confirmed by this method, with an average recovery of 70.1% and an RSD of 12.0%. Sample extracts from fish exposed to MG were also analyzed.     

Evolutionary rate variation and RNA secondary structure prediction

Predicting RNA secondary structure using evolutionary history can be carried out by using an alignment of related RNA sequences with conserved structure. Accurately determining evolutionary substitution rates for base pairs and single stranded nucleotides is a concern for methods based on this type of approach. Determining these rates can be hard to do reliably without a large and accurate initial alignment, which ideally also has structural annotation. Hence, one must often apply rates extracted from other RNA families with trusted alignments and structures. Here, we investigate this problem by applying rates derived from tRNA and rRNA to the prediction of the much more rapidly evolving 5'-region of HIV-1. We find that the HIV-1 prediction is in agreement with experimental data, even though the relative evolutionary rate between A and G is significantly increased, both in stem and loop regions. In addition we obtained an alignment of the 5' HIV-1 region that is more consistent with the structure than that currently in the database. We added randomized noise to the original values of the rates to investigate the stability of predictions to rate matrix deviations. We find that changes within a fairly large range still produce reliable predictions and conclude that using rates from a limited set of RNA sequences is valid over a broader range of sequences.     

Electronic Structure and Photophysical Properties of Isoindole and its Benzo[f]- and Dibenzo[e,g]-Derivatives

The synthesis of N-methyl-benz[f]isoindole ( 2 ) and N-methyl-dibenz[e,g]isoindole ( 3 ) is reported. The NMR. spectra of N-methyl-isoindole ( 1 ) and of 2 have been analysed and the implications concerning the alternation of bond lengths are discussed. The photophysical properties of 1 to 3 have been investigated by the following methods: HeI photoelectron (PE.) spectroscopy, UV./VIS. absorption (polarization measurements by the stretched-foil technique) and emission spectroscopy (fluorescence spectra, lifetimes and quantum yields, phosphorescence spectra), and flash spectroscopy (triplet-triplet absorption spectra). The discussion of the results is based on HMO. and PPP SCF CI. calculations and points to the relationship between the heterocycles 1 to 3 and the corresponding benzenoid hydrocarbons obtained by replacement of the ? NMe? subunit by ? CH?CH? . Some comments concerning the ground state properties of isoindole and related compounds are derived from the analysis of their electronic structure.     

Electronic Structure and Photophysical Properties of Planar Conjugated Hydrocarbons with 4n-Membered Rings. I. Photoelectron Spectra of 1,5,9-Tridehydro[12]-annulene and Related Compounds

The HeI photoelectron spectra of the title compound 1 (1,5,9-cyclododecatriene-3,7,11-triyne), 1,5-didehydro[12]annulene (1,3,5,9-cyclododecatetraene-7, 11-diyne ( 2 )), sym-tri-benzotridehydro[12]annulene (tribenzo[a,e,i]-5,6,11,12,17,18-hexadehydrocyclododecene ( 3 )), and sym-dibenzodidehydro[8]annulene (dibenzo[a,e]-5,6,11,12-tetradehydrocyclooctene ( 4 )) have been recorded and analysed on the basis of various semi-empirical model calculations. Despite the distinct bond length alternation in the parent compounds and, apparently, in the radical cations, the first ionization occurs at low energies in these compounds (7.6 ± 0.2 eV). The spectra yield little information with regard to the transannular interactions of the triple bonds.