Homopolymerization of 2-alkyl- and 2-aryl-2-oxazolines

2-Aryl- and 2-alkyl-2-oxazolines have been polymerized to poly-(N-aroyl)aziridines and poly(N-acyl)aziridines, respectively, in the presence of boron trifluoride. The polymers obtained were glassy, light yellow resins with molecular weights ranging from 3500 to 7500 (35–50 oxazoline units per chain). The polymerization rates have been determined for several of these monomers. A polymerization mechanism is proposed.     

Second-Generation Covalent TMP-Tag for Live Cell Imaging

Chemical tags are now viable alternatives to fluorescent proteins for labeling proteins in living cells with organic fluorophores that have improved brightness and other specialized properties. Recently, we successfully rendered our TMP-tag covalent with a proximity-induced reaction between the protein tag and the ligand-fluorophore label. This initial design, however, suffered from slow in vitro labeling kinetics and limited live cell protein labeling. Thus, here we report a second-generation covalent TMP-tag that has a fast labeling half-life and can readily label a variety of intracellular proteins in living cells. Specifically, we designed an acrylamide-trimethoprim-fluorophore (A-TMP-fluorophore v2.0) electrophile with an optimized linker for fast reaction with a cysteine (Cys) nucleophile engineered just outside the TMP-binding pocket of Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase (eDHFR) and developed an efficient chemical synthesis for routine production of a variety of A-TMP-probe v2.0 labels. We then screened a panel of eDHFR:Cys variants and identified eDHFR:L28C as having an 8-min half-life for reaction with A-TMP-biotin v2.0 in vitro. Finally, we demonstrated live cell imaging of various cellular protein targets with A-TMP-fluorescein, A-TMP-Dapoxyl, and A-TMP-Atto655. With its robustness, this second-generation covalent TMP-tag adds to the limited number of chemical tags that can be used to covalently label intracellular proteins efficiently in living cells. Moreover, the success of this second-generation design further validates proximity-induced reactivity and organic chemistry as tools not only for chemical tag engineering but also more broadly for synthetic biology.     

Magnetic properties of C60 polymers

Magnetic properties of various C60 polymers are calculated using tight-binding molecular-dynamics and ab initio methods. Our results suggest a mechanism involving an interplay between structural defects and sp(3) hybridization to be responsible for the origin of this magnetism. The onset of magnetism is found to occur much more readily for the Rh-C60 polymeric phase with defects than for any of the other polymers, in agreement with the recent experiment. Our estimate of the magnetic moment is also in very good agreement with the value observed in experiment.     

High-fidelity Recognition of Organotrifluoroborate Anions (R−BF3−) as Designer Guest Molecules

The recognition of boron compounds is well developed as boronic acids but untapped as organotrifluoroborate anions (R−BF₃⁻). We are exploring the development of these and other designer anions as anion-recognition motifs by considering them as substituted versions of the parent inorganic ion. To this end, we demonstrate strong and reliable binding of organic trifluoroborates, R−BF₃⁻, by cyanostar macrocycles that are size-complementary to the inorganic BF₄⁻ progenitors. We find that recognition is modulated by the substituent's sterics and that the affinities are retained using the common K⁺ salts of R−BF₃⁻ anions.     

Pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles from Au + Au collisions at the maximum RHIC energy,square root[s(NN)] = 200 GeV

We present charged-particle multiplicities as a function of pseudorapidity and collision centrality for the 197Au+197Au reaction at square root[s(NN)] = 200 GeV. For the 5% most central events we obtain dN(ch)/deta/(eta = 0) = 625+/-55 and N(ch)/(-4.7< or =eta < or =4.7) = 4630 +/- 370, i.e., 14% and 21% increases, respectively, relative to square root[s(NN)] = 130 GeV collisions. Charged-particle production per pair of participant nucleons is found to increase from peripheral to central collisions around midrapidity. These results constrain current models of particle production at the highest RHIC energy.     

PAST AND FUTURE MANAGEMENT OF A COLLAPSED FISHERY: THE BAY OF BISCAY ANCHOVY

Abstract We analyze the efficiency of the international management of the Bay of Biscay anchovy. While a sharing agreement between France and Spain has been in place since 1992, the fish stock collapsed in 2005 and the fishery closed from 2005 to spring 2010. We consider differences in production technologies between both countries and calibrate our model using data from 1987 to 2009. Our results suggest two sources of rent dissipation under the existing sharing agreement: inefficient quota allocation and production inefficiencies due to inflexible national regulations. We discuss several alternatives to improve management.     

DYNGA: a general purpose QM-MM-MD program. I. Application to water

We present a general purpose QM-MM-MD engine (DYNGA) designed to test alternative hybrid Hamiltonians geared towards the treatment of problems of interest in structural biology including the use of experimental data constraints. In this first presentation we use DYNGA to explore the behaviour of a traditional QM-MM approach in the treatment of the water—water interaction. We find the potential energy hypersurface for the water dimer computed with the HF 4–31G*/TIP3P hybrid Hamiltonian tends to be too flat. We also explore the effect of using traditional QM-MM techniques on proton wires and conclude there is a need for improvement, possibly addressed by using polarizable force fields.     

Lateral membrane waves constitute a universal dynamic pattern of motile cells

We have monitored active movements of the cell circumference on specifically coated substrates for a variety of cells including mouse embryonic fibroblasts and T cells, as well as wing disk cells from fruit flies. Despite having different functions and being from multiple phyla, these cell types share a common spatiotemporal pattern in their normal membrane velocity; we show that protrusion and retraction events are organized in lateral waves along the cell membrane. These wave patterns indicate both spatial and temporal long-range periodic correlations of the actomyosin gel.     

ConFlo III - an interface for high precision delta(13)C and delta(15)N analysis with an extended dynamic range

A newly developed interface coupling a CHN combustion device (elemental analyser 'EA') to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer is described and evaluated. The purpose of the device is to extend the dynamic range of delta(13)C and delta(15)N analysis from less than 2 orders of magnitude to more than 3 orders of magnitude. Carbon isotope ratio measurements of atropine as a model compound have been performed analysing between 1 μg to 5 mg C with acceptable to excellent precision (0.6 to 0.06 per thousand, delta-notation). The correction due to the blank signal is critical for sample amounts smaller than 4 μg C. The maximum sample weight is determined by the combustion capacity of the EA. Larger sample amounts are measured using dilution of a small part of the EA effluent with helium. The dilution mechanism works virtually free of isotope fractionation. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.