Unambiguous evidence for the participation of singlet oxygen ( 1 ) in photodynamic oxidation of amino acids

Abstract— A variety of experimental tests have been applied to the methylene-blue-sensitized photooxidation of amino acids to distinguish between singlet oxygen and non-singlet oxidation mechanisms. Conventional flash photolysis and laser photolysis were used to measure the rate constants for the quenching of excited triplet sensitizer and singlet oxygen by the amino acids histidine. tryptophan and methionine and the nucleotide guanosine-5′-monophosphate. In the case of histidine, the rate constants alone rule out an oxidation mechanism involving direct reaction with excited dye. With the other amino acids, and with guanosine monophosphate, the oxidation rates might be accounted for by either mechanism. The inhibition of the photo-oxidation of both tryptophan and methionine as well as histidine by the singlet-oxygen quenchers N₃^? and tetramethylethylene suggests that these reactions occur via a singlet-oxygen mechanism. A newly developed test of singlet oxygen reactions involving a comparison of photooxidation rates in normal and perdeuterated solvents has been used to establish that the photooxidation of tryptophan proceeds primarily by a singlet-oxygen mechanism. These experiments appear to constitute the first proof that singlet oxygen is involved in the photooxidation of the three amino acids tryptophan, methionine and histidine.     

Self‐assembled polyurea macromer nanodispersion and resulting hybrid polyurea‐acrylic emulsions and films

A polyurea macromer (PUM) was synthesized and dispersed in basic conditions to form self‐assembled nanoparticles (<20 nm dispersions, up to 30 wt % aq. soln.). These nanoparticles enabled surfactant‐free emulsion polymerization to form hybrid polyurea‐acrylic particles despite the absence of a measureable water‐soluble fraction. The T_g of the starting PUM material was a strong function of the PUM's extent of neutralization and hydration (varying between 100 °C and >175 °C) due to changes in hydrogen and ionic bonding. Two separate hybrid polyurea‐acrylic emulsion systems were prepared: one by direct polymerization of (meth)acrylic monomers in the presence of the nanodispersion and a second by a physical blend of PUM nanodispersion with an acrylic latex control. The direct polymerization method resulted in a hybrid emulsion particle size that developed by a mechanism resembling conventional emulsion polymerization and was unlike that described for seeded polyurethane dispersion systems. Film hardness was shown to increase with increasing coating thickness for the hybrid film prepared by direct polymerization. The resulting mechanical properties could be explained by applying mechanical models for a composite foam structure. These results were unprecedented for normal elastomer films. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 1373–1388     

Diamond and diamond-like carbon from a preceramic polymer

The synthesis of poly(hydridocarbyne), one of a class of carbon-based random network polymers and a structural isomer of polyacetlyene, is reported. The network backbone of this polymer is primarily composed of tetrahedrally hybridized carbon atoms, each bearing one hydride substituent and linked via three carbon-carbon single bonds into a three-dimensional random network of fused rings. This atomic-level carbon network backbone confers unusual properties on the polymer, including facile thermal decomposition to form diamond or diamond-like carbon high-quality films at atmospheric pressure, by direct deposition or by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), without the use of hydrogen or any other reagent.     

Evidence for muon neutrino oscillation in an accelerator-based experiment

We present results for nu(mu) oscillation in the KEK to Kamioka (K2K) long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. K2K uses an accelerator-produced nu(mu) beam with a mean energy of 1.3 GeV directed at the Super-Kamiokande detector. We observed the energy-dependent disappearance of nu(mu), which we presume have oscillated to nu(tau). The probability that we would observe these results if there is no neutrino oscillation is 0.0050% (4.0 sigma).     

Development,validation, and implementation of capillary gel electrophoresis as a replacement for SDS‐PAGE for purity analysis of IgG2 mAbs

Capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE) methods with UV detection were developed for reduced and non‐reduced mAb analysis. These methods can be used to evaluate mAb purity, offering more reproducible quantitation compared with that of traditional SDS‐PAGE methods. These CGE methods have been utilized as platform technology for bioprocess development, formulation development, mAb characterization, drug substance/drug product release testing as well as a required methodology for stability testing. We have found these CGE methods to be applicable across a platform of mAbs in preclinical and clinical development, with the majority of mAbs requiring no modification to the method conditions. This methodology has been ICH validated and transferred to several supporting organizations. The data presented herein describes the development of CGE methodology, platform application to mAb purity analysis, ICH validation, reliability metrics, and considerations on technology enhancement for improved performance and throughput.     

Isothermal desorption measurements of self-diffusion in supercooled o-terphenyl

Isothermal desorption of o-terphenyl thin-film bilayers was used to measure self-diffusion coefficients of supercooled o-terphenyl near the glass transition temperature (Tg=243 K). Diffusion coefficients from 10(-15.5) to 10(-12) cm2 s(-1) were obtained between 246 and 265 K. Protio and deuterio o-terphenyl were sequentially vapor deposited, then annealed to simultaneously diffuse and desorb the sample in a vacuum chamber. During the desorption of the bilayer, the concentration of each isotope was detected by a mass spectrometer, which revealed the extent of interfacial broadening. In these experiments, isotopic interdiffusion is indistinguishable from self-diffusion and the measured interfacial broadening is consistent with Fickian diffusion. The samples prepared under several different deposition conditions yielded the same self-diffusion coefficients, indicating that the experiments were conducted in the equilibrium supercooled liquid state.     

Extreme red shifted SERS nanotags

Surfaced enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanotags operating with 1280 nm excitation were constructed from reporter molecules selected from a library of 14 chalcogenopyrylium dyes containing phenyl, 2-thienyl, and 2-selenophenyl substituents and a surface of hollow gold nanoshells (HGNs). These 1280 SERS nanotags are unique as they have multiple chalcogen atoms available which allow them to adsorb strongly onto the gold surface of the HGN thus producing exceptional SERS signals at this long excitation wavelength. Picomolar limits of detection (LOD) were observed and individual reporters of the library were identified by principal component analysis and classified according to their unique structure and SERS spectra.