Rotational bands in 181Ta

High-spin states in ¹⁸¹Ta have been studied via the ¹⁷⁶Yb(¹¹B,α2n) reaction at 52 MeV using the PEX array and at 57 MeV using the NORDBALL array, with α-particle detection. The previously known, K^π=(7/2)⁺ ground state band and K^π=(9/2)⁻ band have been extended to spins (29/2)⁺ and (31/2)⁻, respectively. Two new one-quasiparticle bands, the K^π=(5/2)⁺ band built on the known (5/2)⁺ isomer and a K^π=((1/2)⁻) band have been observed. Two other rotational bands with three-quasiparticle structure, K^π=(15/2)⁻ and ((19/2)⁺ with π(7/2)[404]ν²(1/2)[510](9/2)[624] and π(9/2)[514]ν²(1/2)[510](9/2)[624] configurations, respectively, have been newly observed. The half-life of the K^π=((19/2)⁺) bandhead which decays to the head of the (15/2)⁻ band has been measured to be 140(36) ns. However, transitions from the ((19/2)⁺) state to the (15/2)⁻ band have not been observed. Received: 26 August 1998     

Constituents of Crinoidea, 4. Isolation and structure of ceramides and glucocerebrosides from the feather star Comanthus japonica

Five ceramides, JC-1-JC-5, and four glucocerebrosides, JCer-1-JCer-4, have been isolated from their parent ceramide and glucocerebroside molecular species JC and JCer obtained from the less polar lipid fraction of the chloroform/methanol extract of the feather star Comanthus japonica. The structures of these sphingolipids have been determined on the basis of chemical and spectroscopic evidence. Reversed-phase HPLC was effective at isolating these sphingolipids, revealing very close resemblance in their structures. JC-1, JC-3, JC-4, JC-5 and JCer-2, JCer-4 are newly found ceramides and glucocerebrosides, respectively.     

Structures of TMC-95A-D: novel proteasome inhibitors from Apiospora montagnei sacc. TC 1093

Four novel proteasome inhibitors, TMC-95A-D (1-4) have been isolated from the fermentation broth of Apiospora montagnei Sacc. TC 1093, isolated from a soil sample. All of the molecular formulas of 1-4 were established as C(33)H(38)N(6)O(10) by high-resolution FAB-MS. Their planar structures were determined on the basis of extensive analyses of 1D and 2D NMR, and degradation studies. Compounds 1-4 have the same planar structures to each other, and are unique highly modified cyclic peptides containing L-tyrosine, L-aspargine, highly oxidized L-tryptophan, (Z)-1-propenylamine, and 3-methyl-2-oxopentanoic acid units. The absolute configuration at C-11 and C-36 of 1-4 was determined based on chiral TLC and HPLC analyses of their chemical degradation products. The ROESY analysis along with (1)H-(1)H coupling constants clarified the absolute stereochemistry at C-6, -7, -8, and -14 of the cyclic moieties. These studies revealed the relationships of 1-4 to be diastereomers at C-7 and C-36.     

Evaluation of the adsorption affinity of proteins to calcium hydroxyapatites by desorption and pre-adsorption methods

The adsorption affinity of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and lysozyme (LSZ) to calcium hydroxyapatite (CaHAP) was evaluated by desorption and two step adsorption methods. These experiments were carried out at 15°C in a 1×10⁻⁴ mol dm⁻³ KCl solution of pH 6.0. BSA molecules were scarcely desorbed, exhibiting an irreversible adsorption of BSA, though LSZ slightly desorbed. This result supports our previous findings that LSZ adsorbs weakly onto phosphate ions exposed on ac or bc faces of CaHAP while BSA adsorbs strongly onto positively charged sites on ac or bc faces of CaHAP. The amount of adsorbed LSZ was markedly increased by the pre-adsorption of BSA, where LSZ was adsorbed onto BSA-covered CaHAP. On the other hand, the amount of adsorbed BSA was not changed by the pre-adsorption of LSZ. In both pre-adsorption systems it was confirmed by an HPLC method that no protein molecule pre-adsorbed was desorbed after the post-adsorption procedure. Therefore, it was interpreted that the enhancement of adsorption of positively charged LSZ is induced by an electrostatic attractive force through pre-adsorption of negatively charged BSA molecules with a high coverage. However, since the coverage of LSZ onto CaHAP is considerably low, no stimulation of BSA adsorption occurred on the LSZ-covered surface. The formation of double protein adsorbed layers consisting of pre- and post-adsorbed proteins was proposed.     

Improvement of culture conditions forl-proline production by a recombinant strain ofSerratia marcescens

Serratia marcescens SP511 was previously reported to be anl-proline-producing strain that harbors a recombinant plasmid carrying the mutant type of the proline operon. This strain produced 65 g/L ofl-proline in a medium containing 22% sucrose and urea after 5 d of incubation under the conventional culture conditions. We searched for more suitable culture conditions for more abundantl-proline production by SP511. To improve the supply of a nitrogen source to cells, ammonium was used instead of urea and fed to a culture under control of the pH of the medium. The concentrations of MgSO₄ and K₂HPO₄ were increased, and in addition, sucrose was continuously added to the culture at a final concentration of 32%. Under these conditions, the cell amount was increased twofold over that under the previous conditions andl-proline production reached a maximum of more than 100 g/L after 4 d of incubation.     

Analysis of phenothiazines in human body fluids using disk solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography

Seven phenothiazine derivatives, perazine, perphenazine, prochlorperazine, propericiazine, thioproperazine, trifluoperazine, and flupentixol, have been found to be extractable from human plasma and urine samples using disk solid-phase extraction (SPE) with an Empore C18 cartridge. Human plasma and urine (1 mL each) containing the 7 phenothiazine derivatives were mixed with 2 mL of 0.1M NaOH and 7 mL distilled water and then poured into the disk SPE cartridges. The drugs were eluted with 1 mL chloroform- acetonitrile (8 + 2) and determined by liquid chromatography with ammonium formate/formic acid-acetonitrile gradient elution. The detection was performed by ultraviolet absorption at 250 nm. The separation of the 7 phenothiazine derivatives from each other and from impurities was generally satisfactory using a SymmetryShield RP8 column (150 x 2.1 mm id, 3.5 microm particle size). The recoveries of the 7 phenothiazine derivatives spiked into plasma and urine samples were 64.0-89.9% and 65.1-92.1%, respectively. Regression equations for the 7 phenothiazine derivatives showed excellent linearity, with detection limits of 0.021-0.30 microg/mL for plasma and 0.017-0.30 microg/mL for urine. The within-day and day-to-day coefficients of variation for both samples were commonly below 9.0 and 14.9%, respectively.     

Preparation and characterization of carbonated barium-calcium hydroxyapatite solid solutions

Particles of carbonated barium-calcium hydroxyapatite solid solutions (BaCaHap) with different Ba/(Ba+Ca) (X(Ba)) atomic ratios were prepared by a wet method at 100 degrees C and characterized by various means. The crystal phases and structures of the products strongly depended on the composition of the starting solution, that is, the Ba/(Ba+Ca) atomic ratio ([X(Ba)]) and H3PO4 concentration ([H3PO4]) in the solution. BaCaHap with X(Ba)0.43 could be prepared at [X(Ba)]0.7 by changing [H3PO4], but could never be obtained at [X(Ba)]=0.8-0.95 regardless of [H3PO4]. The carbonated calcium hydroxyapatite particles prepared at [X(Ba)]=0 were fine and short rod-shaped particles (ca. 14x84 nm). With increasing [X(Ba)] from 0 to 0.8, the particles obtained became large spherical agglomerates. The carbonated barium hydroxyapatite particles formed at [X(Ba)]=1 were long rod-shaped agglomerates (ca. 0.2x2 microm) of fine primary particles. The amount of CO2 adsorbed irreversibly on a series of BaCaHaps showed a minimum at (Ba+Ca)/(P+C) atomic ratio of around 1.56, which agreed well with the minimum cation/P ratio obtained for the other hydroxyapatites, as already reported.     

Synthesis of (S-(−)-wybutine,the fluorescent minor base from yeast phenylalanine transfer ribonucleic acids

The Wittig reaction of 1-benzyl-7-formylwye (12) with (R)-[2-carboxy-2-[(methoxycarbonyl)amino]ethyl]triphenylphosphonium chloride (8) followed by successive methylation and reduction gave (-)-wybutine [(S)-1a].