Determination of a ternary mixture of penicillin-G sodium salt, penicillin-G procain salt and dihydrostreptomycin sulphate, by third-derivative spectrophotometry

Ternary mixtures of antibiotics, i.e. penicillin-G sodium salt, penicillin-G procain salt and dihydrostreptomycin sulphate salt, are assayed by 'zero-crossing' third-derivative spectrophotometry. Calibration plots follows Beer's law up to 40 mug/ml of penicillin-G sodium at 222.5 nm (r = 0.9997), 46 mug/ml of penicillin-G procain at 217 nm (r = 0.9999) and 36 mug/ml of dihydrostreptomycin sulphate at 211.5 nm (r = 0.9999), in the presence of one another. Detection limits at p = 0.05 level of significance were calculated to be, respectively, 0.66, 0.41 and 0.25 mug/ml. The procedure is rapid, simple, nondestructive and does not require solution of equations. The method was successfully applied for determining laboratory mixtures and commercial injections.     

Infrared active fundamental vibrations of TCNQ and chloranil monovalent anions

The interpretation of the infrared active fundamentals of TCNQ and chloranil monovalent anions is given for the first time. The rationalization of the infrared spectra was made possible by the recently achieved vibrational assignment of the corresponding neutral molecules and is mainly based on a set of judicious adjustments of their empirical valence force fields.     

Soft agonist receptor interactions: Theoretical and experimental simulation of the active site of the receptor of sweet molecules

The structure-activity relationship of sweet molecules is chosen as an example to illustrate a mechanistic approach of soft agonist-receptor interactions. It is shown that an essentially geometric model of the receptor site can explain the activity of most sweet molecules, both rigid and flexible. The relevant conformations of flexible molecules in solution are extracted from a combination of NMR data and of energy calculations. A possible experimental simulation of the receptor environment in solution is illustrated by the complex of a dipeptide sweetener with a crown-ether.     

Use of solid-phase micro-extraction as a sampling technique in the determination of volatiles emitted by flowers,isolated flower parts and pollen

The volatiles emitted by fresh whole flowers or isolated flower parts of mandarin, Citrus deliciosa Ten. (Rutaceae), were sampled using solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME). This technique offers several advantages over dynamic headspace sampling techniques used in previous investigations. In particular, SPME requires smaller sample sizes and very short sampling times, which can minimize the formation of artifacts due to damage to the plant, and contaminations or loss of compounds. This was especially applicable to the collection of volatiles from pollen.     

EFFECT OF METAL IONS ON THE LUMINESCENCE OF ACRIDINE DYES BOUND TO DNA

Abstract— The luminescence of acridine dyes intercalated in DNA was studied as a function of the concurrent binding of metal ions to DNA, in an effort to deduce specific site interactions of the dyes. Two dyes, proflavine (PF) and acridine orange (AO), and two metal ions, silver and mercuric, were used. Both ions quench the fluorescence of the dyes in aqueous solution at room temperature. The metal ions have a different effect on the fluorescence of these dyes when they are intercalated between the base pairs of DNA. The fluorescence of AO is decreased when silver is bound, while the fluorescence of PF is enhanced. Since Ag⁺ initially binds to GC sites in DNA, which quench the PF fluorescence, it ostensibly 'turns off' the quenching by DNA at these sites, and this effect is greater than the quenching effect of the silver ion itself. Hg²⁺ ion initially binds to AT sites in DNA. Since both dyes fluoresce from AT sites, Hg²⁺ is expected to quench their fluorescence. This behavior is observed at low r (metal ion/base). At higher r values, however, where Hg²⁺ is expected to begin binding to GC sites, the fluorescence of PF is enhanced. These quenching turn-off effects are tentatively interpreted in terms of a change in the structure of the dye/DNA complex which occurs when a metal ion binds at the intercalation site. At 77 K. no fluorescence enhancement is observed when metal ions bind; Ag⁺ quenches the fluorescence and enhances the phosphorescence of both dyes. Qualitatively similar results are obtained with Hg²⁺.     

Whiteness process of tile ceramics: using a synthetic flow as a modifier agent of color firing

Synthetic flow is proposed as a modifier agent of color firing in tile ceramic mass during the sinterization process, turning the red color firing into whiteness. Therefore, the ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to understand how the interaction of the iron element in the mechanism of color firing mass occurs in this system. The results suggest that the change of color firing can be alternatively due to two main factors: (i) diluting the hematite content in the sample because of the use of synthetic flow and (ii) part of the hematite is converted in other uncolored crystal structures, which makes the final color firing lighter.     

Dynamical phases of the Hindmarsh-Rose neuronal model: studies of the transition from bursting to spiking chaos

The dynamical phases of the Hindmarsh-Rose neuronal model are analyzed in detail by varying the external current I. For increasing current values, the model exhibits a peculiar cascade of nonchaotic and chaotic period-adding bifurcations leading the system from the silent regime to a chaotic state dominated by bursting events. At higher I-values, this phase is substituted by a regime of continuous chaotic spiking and finally via an inverse period doubling cascade the system returns to silence. The analysis is focused on the transition between the two chaotic phases displayed by the model: one dominated by spiking dynamics and the other by bursts. At the transition an abrupt shrinking of the attractor size associated with a sharp peak in the maximal Lyapunov exponent is observable. However, the transition appears to be continuous and smoothed out over a finite current interval, where bursts and spikes coexist. The beginning of the transition (from the bursting side) is signaled from a structural modification in the interspike interval return map. This change in the map shape is associated with the disappearance of the family of solutions responsible for the onset of the bursting chaos. The successive passage from bursting to spiking chaos is associated with a progressive pruning of unstable long-lasting bursts.     

Spectroscopic properties in the liquid phase: combining high-level ab initio calculations and classical molecular dynamics.

We present an integrated computational tool, rooted in density functional theory, the polarizable continuum model, and classical molecular dynamics employing spherical boundary conditions, to study the spectroscopic observables of molecules in solution. As a test case, a modified OPLS-AA force field has been developed and used to compute the UV and NMR spectra of acetone in aqueous solution. The results show that provided the classical force fields are carefully reparameterized and validated, the proposed approach is robust and effective, and can also be used by nonspecialists to provide a general and powerful complement to experimental techniques.     

Hierarchical Analysis of Self‐Assembled PEGylated Hexaphenylalanine Photoluminescent Nanostructures

Despite the growing literature about diphenylalanine‐based peptide materials, it still remains a challenge to delineate the theoretical insight into peptide nanostructure formation and the structural features that could permit materials with enhanced properties to be engineered. Herein, we report the synthesis of a novel peptide building block composed of six phenylalanine residues and eight PEG units, PEG₈‐F6. This aromatic peptide self‐assembles in water in stable and well‐ordered nanostructures with optoelectronic properties. A variety of techniques, such as fluorescence, FTIR, CD, DLS, SEM, SAXS, and WAXS allowed us to correlate the photoluminescence properties of the self‐assembled nanostructures with the structural organization of the peptide building block at the micro‐ and nanoscale. Finally, a model of hexaphenylalanine in aqueous solution by molecular dynamics simulations is presented to suggest structural and energetic factors controlling the formation of nanostructures.     

Thermoelectric power of bismuth nanocomposites

Because of the increase in the electronic density of states in low-dimensional systems, semiconductor quantum wires constitute a most promising thermoelectric material. We report here the first experimental observation of a very large enhancement of the thermoelectric power of composites containing bismuth nanowires with diameters of 9 and 15 nm, embedded in porous alumina and porous silica. The temperature dependence of the electrical resistance shows that the samples are semiconductors with energy gaps between 0.17 and 0.4 eV, consistent with the theoretical predictions.