Capillary zone electrophoresis for the analysis of peptides synthesized by recombinant DNA technology

Capillary zone electrophoresis is applied to investigate the recombinant insulin-like growth factor and recombinant hirudin. During the production of these peptides in S. cerevisiae, byproducts with small variations in the structure of the polypeptide chain are obtained. The different peptides are separated in a fused silica capillary and detected on-column by ultraviolet absorption or fluorescence. Separation times are 10–40 min. The excellent separation efficiencies obtained indicate that capillary zone electrophoresis is complementary to liquid chromatography in the analysis of these peptides.     

Structural Polymorphism and Thin Film Transistor Behavior in the Fullerene Framework Molecule 5,6;11,12‐di‐o‐Phenylenetetracene

The molecular structure of the hydrocarbon 5,6;11,12‐di‐o‐phenylenetetracene (DOPT), its material characterization and evaluation of electronic properties is reported for the first time. A single‐crystal X‐ray study reveals two different motifs of intramolecular overlap with herringbone‐type arrangement displaying either face‐to‐edge or co‐facial face‐to‐face packing depicting intensive π–π interactions. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations underpin that a favorable electronic transport mechanism occurs by a charge hopping process due to a π‐bond overlap in the DOPT polymorph with co‐facial arene orientation. The performance of polycrystalline DOPT films as active organic semiconducting layer in a state‐of‐the‐art organic field effect transistor (OFET) device was evaluated and proves to be film thickness dependent. For 40 nm layer thickness it displays a saturation hole mobility (μ_hole) of up to 0.01 cm² V^?1 s^?1 and an on/off‐ratio (I_on/I_off) of 1.5×10³.     

Anil-Synthese 22. Mitteilung über die Herstellung von Styryl-und Distyryl-Derivaten des Pyridins

Preparation of Styryl and Distyryl Derivatives of Pyridine 2,4-, 2,5- and 2,6-Dimethylpyridines react with anils of aromatic aldehydes in the presence of dimethylformamide and potassium hydroxide to yield the corresponding distyrylpyridines (‘anil synthesis’). Under the same reaction conditions (4-methylstyryl)pyridines are converted to (stilbenylvinyl)pyridines. Similarly, the Schiff's base derived from pyridine-3-carbaldehyde and p-chloroaniline on treatment with methyl- and p-tolyl-substituted aromatic heterocycles gives the corresponding (heteroaryl-styryl)pyridines, whereas with the Schiff's bases derived from pyridine-2- and -4-carbaldehyde side reactions, such as dimerization followed by disproportionation predominate.     

Fast protein sequence determination with matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization mass spectrometry

Measurement and identification of digested peptides by matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) is demonstrated. Synthetic human parathyroid hormone, pTH (1-34), with a molecular mass of 4117.8 Da was digested with carboxypeptidases Y and B and the sequence of 14 amino acids from the C-terminus of the peptide was determined by analyzing the molecular mass of the truncated peptides. Furthermore, a tryptic digestion of pTH (1-34) was carried out and a molecular mass map of pTH (1-34) was obtained. With the results of the proteolytic digestion a rapid confirmation of the amino-acid sequence of the protein was possible. It is shown that the results of the tryptic digestion can be used for the unambiguous identification of the amino acid residues Lys and Arg, which cannot be distinguished with a mass spectrometer because of their equal nominal masses. Several advantages of amino acid sequence determination by the combination of digestion and LDI-MS are obvious: high sensitivity in the low pmol range, fast digestion time due to high enzyme/substrate ratios, quantification is unnecessary because the amino acids are identified by their molecular mass differences, the low chemical expenditure for the digestions and the accuracy of the sequence determination. Measurements with LDI-MS are fast: sample preparation and the measurement take only a few min. The mass determination and amino acid sequence is completely unimpaired by amino acid contaminations or impurities in the sample. The sensitivity of the method is in the low pmol to fmol range and thus comparable to other analytical methods.     

A setup for the search for E0 decay of superdeformed 236U

Transitions between nuclear states with a large deformation difference may have large transition probabilities for E0 decay. Such an E0 decay has been found in the decay of the superdeformed ²³⁸U fission isomer back into the normal-deformed states [1]. However, a search for the E0 back-decay in ²³⁶U showed no result [2]. A setup has been developed to search for conversion electrons in this decay.