Preparation of water‐soluble,syndiotacticity‐rich,low molecular weight poly(vinyl alcohol) microfibrils in high yields with the low‐temperature polymerization of vinyl pivalate in tetrahydrofuran and saponification

To prepare water‐soluble, syndiotacticity‐rich poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) microfibrils for various industrial applications, we synthesized syndiotacticity‐rich, low molecular weight PVA by the solution polymerization of vinyl pivalate (VPi) in tetrahydrofuran (THF) at low temperatures with 2,2′‐azobis(2,4‐dimethylvaleronitrile) (ADMVN) as an initiator and successive saponification of poly(vinyl pivalate) (PVPi). Effects of the initiator and monomer concentrations and the polymerization temperature were investigated in terms of the polymerization behaviors and molecular structures of PVPi and the corresponding syndiotacticity‐rich PVA. The polymerization rate of VPi in THF was proportional to the 0.91 power of the ADMVN concentration, indicating the heterogeneous nature of THF polymerization. The low‐temperature solution polymerization of VPi in THF with ADMVN proved to be successful in obtaining water‐soluble PVA with a number‐average degree of polymerization (P_n) of 300–900, a syndiotactic dyad content of 60–63%, and an ultimate conversion of VPi into PVPi of over 75%. Despite the low molecular weight of PVA with P_n = 800, water‐soluble PVA microfibrillar fibers were prepared because of the high level of syndiotacticity. In contrast, for PVA with P_n = 330, shapeless and globular morphologies were observed, indicating that molecular weight has an important role in the in situ fibrillation of syndiotacticity‐rich PVA. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 1103–1111, 2002     

Surface modification for nano‐lignocellulose fiber through vapor‐phase‐assisted surface polymerization

This study addresses the inherent issues surrounding surface modification methods of nanofibers and proposes an environmentally friendly and less toxic strategy for the surface modification of hydrophilic nanofiber. From the continuation of our previous work, which discussed the easy production of nanofiber (average size: 127 nm) from oil palm mesocarp fiber (OPMF), in this work, the surface of nanofibers (M‐IL‐OPMF) were modified through vapor‐phase‐assisted surface polymerization (VASP) to improve the affinity of interface between the polymer grafted M‐IL‐OPMF and non‐polar matrix. VASP of ε‐caprolactone was successfully proceeded from the [M‐IL‐OPMF] at 70 °C for 24 h and 72 h, and compositions were estimated to be 35.7% fiber/64.3% polymer and 27.8% fiber/72.2% polymer. To confirm the grafting of PCL, size‐exclusion chromatography (SEC) and Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetry (TG), and dispersibility test in hydrophobic solvent were carried out. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 2575–2580     

On the Protein Fibrillation Pathway: Oligomer Intermediates Detection Using ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy

Oligomeric intermediates on the pathway of amyloid fibrillation are suspected as the main cytotoxins responsible for amyloid-related pathogenicity. As they appear to be a part of the lag phase of amyloid fibrillation when analyzed using standard methods such as Thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence, a more sensitive method is needed for their detection. Here we apply Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in attenuated total reflectance (ATR) mode for fast and cheap analysis of destabilized hen-egg-white lysozyme solution and detection of oligomer intermediates of amyloid fibrillation. Standard methods of protein aggregation analysis— Thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and 8-anilinonaphthalene-1-sulphonic acid (ANS) fluorescence were applied and compared to FTIR spectroscopy data. Results show the great potential of FTIR for both, qualitative and quantitative monitoring of oligomer formation based on the secondary structure changes. While oligomer intermediates do not induce significant changes in ThT fluorescence, their secondary structure changes were very prominent. Normalization of specific Amide I region peak intensities by using Amide II peak intensity as an internal standard provides an opportunity to use FTIR spectroscopy for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of biological samples and detection of potentially toxic oligomers, as well as for screening of efficiency of fibrillation procedures.     

酚化合物对胰岛素淀粉样纤维化的抑制作用

采用牛胰岛素作为模型多肽分子, 对几种结构相近的简单多酚的抗多肽淀粉样纤维化作用进行了研究. 结果表明, 邻苯二酚和对苯二酚对胰岛素纤维化具有抑制作用, 并通过形成醌中间体对多肽链进行修饰, 与对苯醌作用类似; 而苯酚和间二苯酚在相同条件下, 既不能修饰多肽也无抑制纤维化作用. 在无氧条件下, 邻苯二酚和对苯二酚对胰岛素纤维化的抑制作用明显降低, 说明酚化合物经氧化形成的醌中间体是其抗胰岛素纤维化的主要活性结构.     

Computer-aided molecular modeling of polymers. III. enthalpy of polymerization as a measure of stability

A formalism of computational chemistry methods is presented to estimate the stability of vinyl polymers. This approach takes into account changes in electronic energy upon polymerization using quantum mechanical methods and contributions of the conformational energetics of the polymerized state using a molecular mechanics force field. A work term, ΔV, based upon the molecular volume difference between the monomer and the reactant, is shown to be negligible. For 10 structurally diverse vinyl polymers, the sum of the electronic and conformational energy differences between reactant and monomer states, AEp, has a high linear correlation with corresponding measured enthalpies of polymerization, ΔHp. The linear regression least square fit is ΔHp = 0.89 AEp-13.39. Errors due to possible contributions to AHp not included in the formalism reported here are probably small and/or relatively constant over the set of polymers studied. If this were not the case, a linear correlation between AHp and AEp, with a slope near 1, would not be observed. Most likely the intercept of-13.39 kcal/mol is due to the choice of the quantum mechanical method used, MNDO. Overall, the formalism presented here seems a reliable means of predicting relative polymerization stability, in advance of synthesis, for a structurally congeneric set of polymers.     

毛细管流变仪中尼龙6在聚丙烯中的原位成纤

将聚丙烯与尼龙6的共混物在毛细管流变仪中挤出，通过显微形态观察发现，在研究的共沸比范围和较宽的剪切速度和温度范围内尼龙6均能在聚丙烯基体中成纤，表明这种热塑性树脂的成纤性比热致液晶聚合物的更好。     

乙酰化修饰抑制?-synuclein的纤维化聚集

天然无结构蛋白a-synuclein（a-syn）的纤维化聚集是帕金森病的特征表现。静电相互作用已被证明会显著影响a-syn 的聚集。该文通过简单的赖氨酸乙酰化修饰改变蛋白的净电荷,研究静电效应对于a-syn 的构象和纤维化聚集的影响。核磁共振（NMR）实验结果表明乙酰化后的a-syn仍然是无序结构,而且展现出比野生型更加伸展的构象。由于N端和C端都高度带负电荷,结构打开会更加暴露NAC区域,静电排斥和疏水作用共同存在,但 ThT 荧光实验发现乙酰化修饰抑制了它的纤维化聚集,因此我们认为这里静电排斥占据主导作用。这种依赖电荷的作用机理会帮助我们更好地理解a-syn的纤维化聚集,而乙酰化修饰也提供了一种抑制聚集的新方法。     

蛋白质二硫键异构酶与α-突触核蛋白的相互作用及对其聚集的影响

α-突触核蛋白（α-synuclein,αsyn）的错误折叠和聚集是帕金森症的疾病特征.分子伴侣蛋白质二硫键异构酶（PDI）可在体外结合αsyn的N端并抑制其聚集,但PDI的识别机制至今仍不明确.我们通过液体核磁共振（NMR）实验,发现人源PDI b'xa'可结合αsyn的N端区域.此外,硫黄素T（ThT）荧光实验结果表明PDI b'xa'会显著抑制αsyn的聚集.我们进一步利用NMR滴定实验确定了PDI主要通过b'结构域的疏水空腔结合αsyn.最后,我们以此构建了PDI结合αsyn的对接模型,并提出了PDI抑制αsyn聚集的作用机理.这一工作为理解PDI抑制αsyn聚集提供了实验依据.     

Ischemic Stroke Risk Assessment by Multiscale Entropy Analysis of Heart Rate Variability in Patients with Persistent Atrial Fibrillation

It has been recognized that heart rate variability (HRV), defined as the fluctuation of ventricular response intervals in atrial fibrillation (AFib) patients, is not completely random, and its nonlinear characteristics, such as multiscale entropy (MSE), contain clinically significant information. We investigated the relationship between ischemic stroke risk and HRV with a large number of stroke-naïve AFib patients (628 patients), focusing on those who had never developed an ischemic/hemorrhagic stroke before the heart rate measurement. The CHA2DS2−VASc score was calculated from the baseline clinical characteristics, while the HRV analysis was made from the recording of morning, afternoon, and evening. Subsequently, we performed Kaplan–Meier method and cumulative incidence function with mortality as a competing risk to estimate the survival time function. We found that patients with sample entropy (SE(s)) ≥ 0.68 at 210 s had a significantly higher risk of an ischemic stroke occurrence in the morning recording. Meanwhile, the afternoon recording showed that those with SE(s) ≥ 0.76 at 240 s and SE(s) ≥ 0.78 at 270 s had a significantly lower risk of ischemic stroke occurrence. Therefore, SE(s) at 210 s (morning) and 240 s ≤ s ≤ 270 s (afternoon) demonstrated a statistically significant predictive value for ischemic stroke in stroke-naïve AFib patients.