Electrospinning of a functional perfluorinated block copolymer as a powerful route for imparting superhydrophobicity and corrosion resistance to aluminum substrates

Superhydrophobic aluminum surfaces with excellent corrosion resistance were successfully prepared by electrospinning of a novel fluorinated diblock copolymer solution. Micro- and nanostructuration of the diblock copolymer coating was obtained by electrospinning which proved to be an easy and cheap electrospinning technology to fabricate superhydrophobic coating. The diblock copolymer is made of poly(heptadecafluorodecylacrylate-co-acrylic acid) (PFDA-co-AA) random copolymer as the first block and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as the second one. The fluorinated block promotes hydrophobicity to the surface by reducing the surface tension, while its carboxylic acid functions anchor the polymer film onto the aluminum surface after annealing at 130 °C. The PAN block of this copolymer insures the stability of the structuration of the surface during annealing, thanks to the infusible character of PAN. It is also demonstrated that the so-formed superhydrophobic coating shows good adhesion to aluminum surfaces, resulting in excellent corrosion resistance.     

Luminescence studies in polymers—XI: Acenaphthylene polymers and copolymers with methylmethacrylate: polarization,yield and decay of the fluorescence as a function of temperature in solution

For polymers of acenaphthylene and copolymers with methylmethacrylate measurement of the polarization of the fluorescence in glassy solution at 77K has been combined with analysis of the intensity and decay of excimer and monomer fluorescence over a large temperature range. Activation energies and frequency factors corresponding to several photophysical processes have been determined and compared with those reported previously for I-vinylnaphthalene polymer and copolymers.     

Inhibition of Cellobiohydrolases from Trichoderma reesei. Synthesis and Evaluation of Some Glucose-, Cellobiose-, and Cellotriose-Derived Hydroximolactams and Imidazoles

The lactam 16 , the hydroximolactams 8 , 20 , 23 , and 27 , and the imidazole 32 were prepared following known methods. They were tested together with the known tetrazole 35 and the hydroximolactams 2 and 36 as inhibitors of the cellobiohydrolases Cel7A and Cel6A from Trichoderma reesei. Cel7A is only weakly inhibited by these compounds. Comparing their inhibitory activity evidences the importance of occupying subsites +1 and +2. The results strongly suggest that the shape of none of the variants of the lactone-type inhibitor motif embodied by these inhibitors is complementary to the subsite −1, i. e., analogous to the transition state. Cel6A is rather strongly inhibited by the cellobiose analogues 20 , 23 , and 32 , and by the cellotriose analogue 27 . Their relative inhibitory activities evidence that binding at subsite −2 depends upon the shape of the moiety occupying subsite −1. There is only a small difference between the inhibition by the hydroximolactams 20 and 23 , which may be (partially) protonated by the catalytic acid of either anti- or syn-protonating glycosidases, and the imidazole 32 , which can only be protonated by anti-protonating glycosidases. The results strongly suggest that shape requirements must be met by glycosidase inhibitors before they can be used to characterize the proton trajectory of glycosidases.     

Synthesis and Evaluation of 2-Deoxy-2-amino-β-cellobiosides as Cellulase Inhibitors

The cellulase mixture of Hypocrea jecorina (formerly Trichoderma reesei) contains a variety of exo- and endoglucanases that belong to different structural families. As such, these enzymes form an interesting model system to study the enzyme-ligand interactions in glycoside hydrolases. The nucleophilic carboxylate of retaining β-glycosidases is believed to form a hydrogen bond with the 2-hydroxyl group of their substrate. Consequently, replacing this hydroxyl group with an amino group should result in a stronger electrostatic interaction and thus an increased affinity for the ligand. In this study, several modified cellobiosides were synthesized and evaluated as cellulase inhibitors. The introduction of an amino group was found to have an unpredictable effect on the inhibitory power of the ligands. However, the enzymes display a very high affinity for the corresponding 2-azido compounds, precursors in the synthetic route. The new ligand m-iodobenzyl 2-deoxy-2-azido-β-cellobioside even is the strongest inhibitor of cellobiohydrolase I known to date (K_I = 1 μM).     

Luminescence studies in polymers—II : Temperature effect on polyvinylcarbazole fluorescence

Polyvinylcarbazole (PVCa) films and solutions emit normal and excimer fluorescence between 77 and 425 K. The absolute (I_M and I_D) and relative (I_M/I_D) intensities emitted strongly depend on temperature. The usual U-shaped curve is obtained for log I_M/I_D as a function of 1/T in the case of polymer films. In solution, two minima corresponding to two different excimers are observed. The formation and dissociation of PVCa excimers in films and solutions have been interpreted according to the usual kinetic scheme. The binding energies for the excimer in films and for the high temperature excimer in solutions are respectively 4 and 2·8 kcal mole⁻¹.     

Synthesis of 2‐Hydroxy‐1,4‐oxazin‐3‐ones through Ring Transformation of 3‐Hydroxy‐4‐(1,2‐dihydroxyethyl)‐β‐lactams and a Study of Their Reactivity

The reactivity of 3‐hydroxy‐4‐(1,2‐dihydroxyethyl)‐β‐lactams with regard to the oxidant sodium periodate was evaluated, unexpectedly resulting in the exclusive formation of new 2‐hydroxy‐1,4‐oxazin‐3‐ones through a C3? C4 bond cleavage of the intermediate 4‐formyl‐3‐hydroxy‐β‐lactams followed by a ring expansion. This peculiar transformation stands in sharp contrast with the known NaIO₄‐mediated oxidation of 3‐alkoxy‐ and 3‐phenoxy‐4‐(1,2‐dihydroxyethyl)‐β‐lactams, which exclusively leads to the corresponding 4‐formyl‐β‐lactams without a subsequent ring enlargement. In addition, this new class of functionalized oxazin‐3‐ones was further evaluated for its potential use as building blocks in the synthesis of a variety of differently substituted oxazin‐3‐ones, morpholin‐3‐ones and pyrazinones. Furthermore, additional insights into the mechanism and the factors governing this new ring‐expansion reaction were provided by means of density functional theory calculations.     

The active site of cellobiohydrolase Cel6A from Trichoderma reesei: the roles of aspartic acids D221 and D175

Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolase Cel6A is an inverting glycosidase. Structural studies have established that the tunnel-shaped active site of Cel6A contains two aspartic acids, D221 and D175, that are close to the glycosidic oxygen of the scissile bond and at hydrogen-bonding distance from each other. Here, site-directed mutagenesis, X-ray crystallography, and enzyme kinetic studies have been used to confirm the role of residue D221 as the catalytic acid. D175 is shown to affect protonation of D221 and to contribute to the electrostatic stabilization of the partial positive charge in the transition state. Structural and modeling studies suggest that the single-displacement mechanism of Cel6A may not directly involve a catalytic base. The value of (D2O)(V) of 1.16 +/- 0.14 for hydrolysis of cellotriose suggests that the large direct effect expected for proton transfer from the nucleophilic water through a water chain (Grotthus mechanism) is offset by an inverse effect arising from reversibly breaking the short, tight hydrogen bond between D221 and D175 before catalysis.     

Purification and Characterization of a Low Molecular Weight of β-Mannanase from Penicillium occitanis Pol6

The highest β-mannanase activity was produced by Penicillium occitanis Pol6 on flour of carob seed, whereas starch-containing medium gave lower enzymes titles. The low molecular weight enzyme was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel filtration, and ion-exchange chromatography procedures. The purified β-mannanase (ManIII) has been identified as a glycoprotein (carbohydrate content 5%) with an apparent molecular mass of 18 kDa. It was active at 40 °C and pH 4.0. It was stable for 30 min at 70 °C and has a broad pH stability (2.0–12.0). ManIII showed K _m, V _max, and K _cat values of 17.94 mg/ml, 93.52 U/mg, and 28.13 s⁻¹ with locust bean gum as substrate, respectively. It was inhibited by mannose with a K _I of 0.610⁻³ mg/ml. ManIII was activated by CuSO₄ and CaCl₂ (2.5 mM). However, in presence of 2.5 mM Co²⁺, its activity dropped to 60% of the initial activity. Both N-terminal and internal amino acid sequences of ManIII presented no homology with mannanases of glycosides hydrolases. During incubation with locust bean gum and Ivory nut mannan, the enzyme released mainly mannotetraose, mannotriose, and mannobiose.     

Luminescence studies in polymers—VIII Poly-1-vinylnaphthalene and its copolymers with methylmethacrylate: Flourescence yield and life-time as a function of temperature in solution

Combining the measurement of fluorescence yield and decay-time as a function of temperature, the activation energies and frequency factors corresponding to several photophysical processes have been determined for solutions of poly-1-vinylnaphthalene and its copolymers with methylmethacrylate. The results are discussed in relation to copolymer composition and compared with those reported in the literature for model compounds. Excimer dissociation is found to be unimportant in the polymeric systems. This is tentatively assigned to a lower value of the frequency factor corresponding to excimer dissociation.