Effective artificial metalloproteases have been designed by using cross-linked polystyrene as the backbone. Artificial active sites comprising Cu(II) complexes as the catalytic site and other metal centers or organic functionalities as binding sites were synthesized. The activity of Cu(II) centers for peptide hydrolysis was greatly enhanced on attachment to polystyrene. By placing binding sites in proximity to the catalytic centers, the ability to hydrolyze a variety of protein substrates at selected cleavage sites was improved. Thus far, the most advanced immobile artificial proteases have been obtained by attaching the aldehyde group in proximity to the Cu(II) complex of cyclen.

Total synthesis of biologically interesting $({\pm})$-cannabichromene, $({\pm})$-cannabichromenic acid, and $({\pm})$-daurichromenic acid is described. The key step in the synthetic strategy involves the formation of benzopyrans by ethylenediamine diacetate-catalyzed reactions of resorcinols with $\alpha$,$\beta$-unsaturated aldehydes.

A lab-made chemiluminescence system with air pump was developed for monitoring of some metal levels in rain. The air pump enabled injection of 17.7 $\mu$g samples into a glass cell filled with luminol-$H_2O_2$ reagent of typically 300 $\mu$L for chemiluminescence measurement. The monitored trend of total metal ions in the rain collected in our campus was compared with analytical results of each metal ion from GFAAS. The system was also demonstrated to determine $Cr^{6+}$ by reduction to $Cr^{3+}$ using $SnCl_2$. The limit of detection for $Cr^{6+}$ obtained by 4 measurements was 85.0 pg $mL^{-1}$ with a relative standard deviation of 3.4%. Although this system doesn’t have selectivity due to the characteristics of chemiluminescence, application of it to environmental monitoring as a sensor for some transition metal ions was demonstrated.

To raises the possibility of designing effective inhibitors, 3D-QSAR for the inhibition of calcineurin-NFAT signaling by new N-(4-oxo-1(4H)-naphthalenylidene benzenesulfonamide derivatives as inhibitors of intracellular protein-protein interactions were studied using CoMFA and CoMSIA methodology. The three templates, N-(4-oxo-1(4H)-naphthalenylidene)benzenesulfonamide (A), benzenesulfonamide (B) and 4-oxo-1(4H)-naphthalenylidene (C) were selected to improve the statistic of the present 3D-QSAR models. The best models with combination of standard field in CoMFA, and steric field and electrostatic field in CoMSIA derived from the template, B and C, because most of the compounds tend not to be aligned in template A. From the based on the CoMFA and CoMSIA contour maps, the $R_1$ and $R_2$ groups on 4-oxo-1(4H) naphthalenylidene ring are steric favor. The ortho position on the benzenesulfonyl ring is steric disfavor and the meta position is steric favor. In addition, the oxygene atom of carbonyl group will have better inhibition activities as it has a negative charge favor. From these findings, we can conclude that the analyses of the contour maps provided insight into possible modification of molecules for effective inhibitiors.

New group 15 organometallic compounds, M$(phenanthrenyl)_3$ (M = P (1), Sb (2), Bi (3)) have been prepared from the reactions of 9-phenanthrenyllithium with $MCl_3$. A reaction of 9-(diphenylphosphino)phenanthrene with 2,6-diisopropylphenyl azide led to the formation of (phenanthrenyl)${(Ph)}_2P$=N-(2,6-$^iPr_2C_6H_3$) (4). The crystal structures of 2 and 4 have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffractions, both of which crystallize with two independent molecules in the asymmetric unit. Compound 2 shows a trigonal pyramidal geometry around the Sb atom with three phenanthrenyl groups being located in a screw-like fashion with an approximately $C_3$ symmetry. A significant amount of CH- -$\pi$ interaction exists between two independent molecules of 4. The phosphorus center possesses a distorted tetrahedral environment with P-N bond lengths of 1.557(3)$\AA$ (P(1) N) and 1.532(3)$\AA$ (P(2)-N), respectively, which are short enough to support a double bond character. One of the most intriguing structural features of 4 is an unusually diminished bond angle of C-N-P, attributable to the hydrogen bonding of N(1)-H(5A) [ca. 2.49$\AA$ between two adjacent molecules in crystal packing. The compounds 1-3 show purple emission both in solution and as films at room temperature with emission maxima ($\lambda_{max}$) at 349, 366, and 386 nm, respectively, attributable to the ligand centered $\pi$ $\rightarrow$ $\pi^\ast$ transition in phenanthrene contributed by the lone pair electrons of the Gp 15 elements. Yet the nature of luminescence observed with 4 differs in that it originates from $\pi$ (diisopropylbenzene)-$\pi^\ast$ (phenanthrene) transitions with the $\rho\pi$contribution from the nitrogen atom. The emission maximum of 4 is red-shifted ranging 350-450 nm due to the internal charge transfer from the phenanthrenyl ring to the N-arylamine group as deduced from the ab initio calculations.

We have performed high-level quantum mechanical calculation for multiple proton transfer in HOCl + HCl and $H_2O$ + $ClONO_2$ on water clusters, which can be used as a model of the reactions on ice surface in stratospheric clouds. Multiple proton transfer on ice surface plays crucial role in these reactions. The structures of the clusters with 0-3 water molecules and the transition state structures for the multiple proton transfer have been calculated. The energies and barrier heights of the proton transfer were calculated at various levels of theory including multi-coefficient correlated quantum mechanical methods (MCCM) that have recently been developed. The transition state structures and the predicted reaction mechanism depend very much on the level of theory. In particular, the HF level can not correctly predict the TS structure and barrier heights, so the electron correlation should be considered appropriately.

Zirconium(IV) chloride is found to be an efficient catalyst for the electrophilic addition reaction of indole with aldehydes/ketones to afford the corresponding bis(indolyl methanes in good yields. The remarkable features of this new procedure are high conversions, shorter reaction times, cleaner reaction profiles and simple experimental and work-up procedures.

Extended H$\ddot{u}$ckel molecular calculations have been used to analyze how the magnitude of exchange coupling is influenced by the structural distortions in a series of dinuclear six-coordinate copper(II) complexes bridged by the planar bis-bidentate oxalate anion. Copper(II) ions have distorted octahedral surroundings, one being axially elongated and the other compressed. The magnetic interaction is strong in the former complexes and very weak in the latter. This is interpreted as resulting from a switching of magnetic spin orbitals due to the structural distortions (bond elongation or compression) of the copper sites.

Composite systems of $Eu(phen)_2Cl_3{(H_2O)}_2$, Eu(DN-bpy)$(phen)Cl_3{(H_2O)}_2$ and Eu(DB-bpy)$(phen)Cl_3{(H_2O)}_2$ (DNbpy: $4,4^\prime$-Dinonyl-$2,2^\prime$-dipyridyl; DB-bpy: $4,4^\prime$-Di-tert-butyl-$2,2^\prime$-dipyridyl) with crown ethers of Benzo-15-crown-5 (B15C5), Benzo-18-crown-6 (B18C6), 18-crown-6 (18C6), Dibenzo-18-crown-6 (DB18C6) and Dibenzo-24-crown-8 (DB24C8) were fabricated successfully and characterized by using photoluminescent spectroscopy and luminescent lifetime measurements. All composites formed show high luminescence mainly in red region. It was found that the heterocyclic ligands such as phen, DN-bpy and DB-bpy as well as the crown ethers have great influences on the photoluminescent properties of $Eu^{3+}$ ion. The environment around $Eu^{3+}$ ion in the composite systems changes greatly,presumably the variation of the first coordination sphere. The $Eu^{3+}$ ion occupies higher symmetrical environment and in more than one kind of symmetrical site in the composite systems studied in this work.

A series of substituted rutaecarpines were prepared by employing Fischer indole synthesis as key step and their inhibitory activities on COX-1 and 2 as well as selectivity on COX-2 were evaluated. The compounds with a methanesulfonyl and a bromo group at C10 showed promising inhibitory activity ($IC_{50}$ = 0.27, 0.35 $\mu$M, respectively) with selectivity.

Kinetic studies have been performed for alkaline hydrolysis of a series of [(methoxy)(p-substituted styryl)carbene]pentacarbonyl chromium(0) complexes ($(CO)_5$Cr=$C(OCH_3)CH=CHC_6H_4X$, X = p-$OCH_3$, p-$CH_3$, H, p-Cl, p-$NO_2$). Second-order rate constants $(k_{{OH}^-})$ for the alkaline hydrolysis in 50% acetonitrile-water(v/v) were determined spectrophotometrically at various temperatures. At a low pH region (pH < 7.5), the observed rate constant $(k_{obs})$ remained constant with a small value, while in a high pH region (pH > 9.5), $k_{obs}$ increases linearly with increasing the pH of the medium. The second-order rate constants $(k_{{OH}^-})$ increase as the substituent X changes from a strong electron donating group to a strong electron withdrawing group. The Hammett plot obtained for the alkaline hydrolysis is consisted of two intersecting straight lines. The nonlinear Hammett plot might be interpreted as a change in the rate-determining step. However, the fact that the corresponding Yukawa-Tsuno plot is linear with $\rho$ and r values of 0.71 and 1.14, respectively indicates that the nonlinear Hammett plot is not due to a change in the rate-determing step but is due to ground-state stabilization through resonance interaction. The positive $\rho$ value suggests that nucleophilic attack by $OH^-$ to form a tetrahedral addition intermediate is the rate-determining step. The large negative ${\Delta}S^\neq$ value determined in the present system is consistent with the proposed mechanism.

We study the relaxation kinetics of reversible reactions of the type A + B $^\leftarrow_\rightarrow$ C + B by applying the manyparticle kernel theory, which we have developed to investigate many particle effects on general diffusioninfluenced reactions. It is shown that for the target model, where A and C molecules are immobile and their interconversion is induced by the encounter with the B molecules that are present in much excess, the manyparticle kernel theory gives a result that coincides with the known exact result.

Sensitivity factors of elements by a glow discharge mass spectrometry (GD-MS) were intensively investigated and compared with a laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). In case of copper matrix, the sensitivity factor by GD-MS generally decreases with the increase of the mass number of element. The details are a little different between each data measured by Faraday and multiplier detectors. The factor by a multiplier detector drastically decreases with the mass increase in the region of low mass as in Faraday detector’s case, but slowly in the high mass region. On the contrast, the sensitivity factor of solution standard by a conventional ICP-MS slowly increases with the increase of elemental mass number even though there are some exceptions such as gold and also the sensitivity factor by a laser ablation ICP MS generally increases with mass number of element in the specimen of glass type. In case of steel matrix, any definite trends could not be shown in the relationship between the GD-MS’s sensitivity factor and elemental mass.

Headspace hanging drop liquid phase micro-extraction (HS-HD-LPME) is studied as a novel solvent-based sample pretreatment method for floral volatile aroma compounds. This paper reports on application of the HSHD- LPME combined with GC-MS for the analysis of linalool component emitted from evening primrose flowers. The effect of several variables on the method performance was investigated. Additionally, the separation of enantiomers on a cyclodextrin capillary column was performed to identify chirality of (−)-linalool component. Since the unsurpassed volume of a few micro-liters of solvent is used, there is minimal waste or exposure to toxic organic solvents. This method enables to combine extraction, enrichment, clean-up, and sample introduction into a single step prior to the chromatographic process.

Glycoproteins and glycolipids play key roles in intracellular reactions between cells and their environments at the membrane surface. For better understanding of the nature of these events, it is necessary to know threedimensional structures of those carbohydrates, involved in them. Since carbohydrates contain many hydroxyl groups which can serve both as hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, hydrogen bond is an important factor stabilizing the structure of carbohydrate. DMSO is an aprotic solvent frequently used for the study of carbohydrates because it gives detailed insight into the intramolecular hydrogen bond network. In this study, conformational properties and the hydrogen bonds in $\beta$-lactose in DMSO are investigated by NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. NOEs, temperature coefficients, deuterium isotope effect, and molecular dynamics simulations proved that there is a strong intramolecular hydrogen bond between O3 and HO2' in $\beta$-lactose and also OH3 in $\beta$-lactose may form an intermolecular hydrogen bond with DMSO.

An artificial neural network (ANN) is successfully presented for prediction acidity constant (pKa) of various benzoic acids and phenols with diverse chemical structures using a nonlinear quantitative structure-property relationship. A three-layered feed forward ANN with back-propagation of error was generated using six molecular descriptors appearing in the multi-parameter linear regression (MLR) model. The polarizability term $(\pi_1)$, most positive charge of acidic hydrogen atom $(q^+)$, molecular weight (MW), most negative charge of the acidic oxygen atom $(q^-)$, the hydrogen-bond accepting ability $(\epsilon_B)$ and partial charge weighted topological electronic (PCWTE) descriptors are inputs and its output is pKa. It was found that properly selected and trained neural network with 205 compounds could fairly represent dependence of the acidity constant on molecular descriptors. For evaluation of the predictive power of the generated ANN, an optimized network was applied for prediction pKa values of 37 compounds in the prediction set, which were not used in the optimization procedure. Squared correlation coefficient $(R^2)$ and root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.9147 and 0.9388 for prediction set by the MLR model should be compared with the values of 0.9939 and 0.2575 by the ANN model. These improvements are due to the fact that acidity constant of benzoic acids and phenols in water shows nonlinear correlations with the molecular descriptors.

The supported bimetallic Co-containing catalysts promoted by the different amount of noble metal (Pd) have been studied in the dry reforming of methane. The activity, selectivity, stability and resistance to the carbon deposition of Co-Pd/$Al_2O_3$ catalysts depend on both the catalyst composition and process conditions. It has been observed that the Co-Pd/$Al_2O_3$ catalysts produce the various oxygenates from $CO_2$ + $CH_4$ at moderate pressures.

The oxidation of cytidine 1 and inosine 5 by sodium metaperiodate followed by the reaction of the product with $CH_3I$ in NaOH afforded 2',4'-dihydroxyhexopyranosyl derivatives 2 and 14 respectively. The reaction of thiophene-2-carboxylic acid or furfural with cytidine were taken place via cycloaddition afforded adducts 3 and 4 respectivily. The bromination of inosine 5 or its 2',3'-O-isopropylidine inosine 6 led to the formation of 8-bromoanalogue 7 and 8, respectively. The reaction of 8-bromo-2',3'-O-isopropylidine inosine (8) with ethylglycinate hydrochloride afforded 8-ethoxycarbonylmethylaminoinosine 9. The alkylation of the compound 6 with urea led to the formation of 3-carbonylaminoinosine 10. The oxidation of 6 with DCC afforded 4'-formyl derivative 11, which on reaction with ethyl glycinate hydrochloride followed by reaction with sodium cyanoborohydride afforded 12, while the treatment of dialdehyde inosine 13 with ethyl cyanoacetate in the presence of 0.5 N NaOH afforded compound 15.

This paper demonstrates details of thermal behavior of Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film of poly(tert-butyl methacrylate) (PtBMA) by using the principal component analysis based two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (PCA2D) through eigenvalue manipulating transformation (EMT). By uniformly lowering the power of a set of eigenvalues associated with the original data, the smaller eigenvalues becomes more prominent and the subtle contribution from minor components is now highlighted much more strongly than the original data. Thus, the subtle difference of thermal behavior of LB film of PtBMA from minor components, which is not readily detectable in the conventional 2D correlation analysis, is much more noticeable than the original data. PCA2D correlation spectra with EMT operation for the temperature-dependent IR spectra of LB film of PtBMA reveal the hidden property of phase transition processes during heating.

In vitro selection was used to isolate $Mg^{2+}$-dependent self-cleaving ribozymes with cis-cleavage activity from a pre-tRNA library having 40-mer random sequences attached to 5'-end of E. coli $tRNA^{Phe}$. After 8 rounds of SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment), RNA molecules which can self-cleave at the high concentration of $Mg^{2+}$ were isolated. The selected ribozymes can carry out the self-cleavage reaction in the presence of 100 mM $Mg^{2+}$ but not in 10 mM $Mg^{2+}$. The cleavage sites of the ribozymes are located at +3 and +4 of $tRNA^{Phe}$, compared with +1 position of 5'-end cleavage site of pre-tRNA by RNase P. New RNA constructs deprived of its D stem-loop, anticodon stem-loop, variable loop and T stem-loop, respectively showed the cleavage specificity identical to a ribozyme having the intact tRNA structure. Also, the new ribozyme fused with both a ribozyme and $tRNA^{Leu}$ showed the cleavage activities at the various sites within its sequences, different from two sites of position +3 and +4 observed in the ribozyme with $tRNA^{Phe}$. Our results suggest that the selected ribozyme is not structural-specific for tRNA.