We present calculations for the acetonitrile - water clusters to examine the nature of interactions in the mixed clusters. We calculate conformers of various composition, either of σ -type (-OH and -CN binding linearly) or π -type (-OH and -CN interacting perpendicularly) structures for the acetonitrile - water clusters. We predict that the IR frequency of the proton-accepting C≡N stretching mode red-shifts in the σ -type clusters and blueshifts in π -type conformers, whereas the proton-donating ?OH stretching frequency red-shifts in all cases. We find that this intriguing pattern also applies to the acetonitrile - water clusters of various molar ratio.

The interaction of a polyoxometal (POM), K6SiW11Co(H2O)O39.10H2O (K6) as a Keggin, with human serum albumin (HSA) was studied by different methods and techniques. Binding studies show two sets of binding sites for interaction of POM to HSA. Binding analysis and isothermal calorimetery revealed that, the first set of binding site has lower number of bound ligand per mole of protein (ν), lower Hill constant (n), higher binding constant (K), more negative entropy (ΔS) and more electrostatic interaction in comparison to the second set of binding site. In addition, differential scanning calorimetery (DSC) and spectrophotometery data showed that, there are two energetic domains. The first domain is less stable (lower Tm and Cp) which corresponds to the tail segment of HSA and another with more stability is related to the head segment of HSA. Polyoxometal also decreases the stability of protein as Tm, secondary and tertiary structure as well as quenching of the fluorescence decrease. On other hand, perturbations in tertiary structure are more than secondary structure.

An isotope dilution-liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric method was developed as a candidate reference method for the accurate determination of acrylamide in potato chips, starch-rich foodstuff cooked at high temperature. Sample was spiked with 13C3-acrylamide and then extracted with water. The extract was further cleaned up with an Oasis HLB solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge and an Oasis mixed-phase cation exchange (MCX) SPE cartridge. The extract was analyzed by using LC/ESI/Tandem MS in positive ion mode. LC with a medium reversed-phase (C4) column was optimized to obtain adequate chromatographic retention and separation of acrylamide. MS was operated to selectively monitor [M+H]+ ions of the analyte and its isotope analogue at m/z 72 and m/z 75, respectively. Sample was also analyzed by the LC/MS with selectively monitoring the collisionally induced dissociation channels of m/z 72 → m/z 55 and m/z 75 → 58. Compared to the LC/MS chromatograms, the LC/MS/MS chromatograms showed substantially reduced background chemical noises coming from solvent clusters formed during ESI spray processes and interferences from sample matrix. Repeatability and reproducibility studies showed that the LC/MS/MS method is a reliable and reproducible method which can provide a typical method precision of 1.0% while the LC/MS results are influenced by chemical interferences.

An isotope dilution-liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric method was developed as a candidate reference method for the accurate determination of folic acid in infant milk formula. Sample was spiked with 13C5-folic acid and then extracted with phosphate buffer (pH 6) solution. The extract was further cleaned up by deproteinization followed by a C18 solid-phase extraction cartridge. The extract was analyzed by using LC/ ESI/MS/MS with selectively monitoring the collisionally induced dissociation channels of m/z 442 → m/z 295 and m/z 447 → m/z 295, which are the neutral glutamyl loss from the [M+H]+ ions of folic acid and 13C5-folic acid, respectively. LC/MS/MS chromatograms showed substantially reduced background from chemical noises compared to LC/MS chromatograms. Repeatability and reproducibility studies showed that the LC/MS/ MS method is a reliable and reproducible method which can provide less than 1.5 relative percentage of method precision.

To develop new COX-2 inhibitors, 1,5-diarylhydantoins and 1,5-diaryl-2-thiohydantoins were synthesized from phenylacetic acids by esterification, bromination, C-N bond formation and cyclization. Esters 1-3 were efficiently synthesized from the starting materials by reflux in absolute methanol for 3 h containing concentrated sulfuric acid as catalyst. Bromination was carried out with N-bromosuccinimide at rt in dichloromethane. Bromides 4-6 were reacted with aniline, p-anisidine, sulfanilamide in ethanol (or N,N-dimethylformamide) to provide the amines 7-15. Hydantoins and 2-thiohydantoins 16-46 were synthesized from amines 7-15 by treating them with potassium isocyanate (or potassium thiocyanate) and triethylamine. The synthetic process from alkyl α-anilinophenylacetate 7-15 to 3-alkylhydantoins was carried out in a one-pot reaction using alkyl isocyanate (alkyl isothiocyanate).

A new alkyldithiocarbonate (xanthate), as sodium salts, C2H5OCS2Na, was synthesized by the reaction between CS2 with ethyl alcohol in the presence of NaOH. The new xanthate was characterized by 1H NMR, IR and elemental analysis. Then, the new synthesized compound was examined for functional study of cresolase activity of Mushroom Tyrosinase (MT) from a commercial source of Agricus bisporus in 10 mM phosphate buffer pH 6.8, at three temperatures of 10, 20 and 33℃ using UV spectrophotemetry. 4-[(4-methylphenyl)- azo]-phenol (MePAPh) was used as a synthetic substrate for the enzyme for cresolase reaction. The results show that ethyl xanthate can activate or inhibit the cresolase activity of mushroom tyrosinase depending to the concentration of ethyl xanthate. It was concluded that the enzyme has two distinct sites for ethyl xanthate. The first one is a high-affinity activation site and the other is a low-affinity inhibition site. Activation of the enzyme in the low concentration of ethyl xanthate arises from increasing the affinity of binding for the substrate as well as increasing the enzyme catalytic constant. The affinity of ligand binding in the activation site is decreased by increasing of the temperature, which is the opposite result for the inhibition site. Hence, the nature of the interaction of ethyl xanthate is different in two distinct sites. The binding process for cresolase inhibition is only entropy driven, meanwhile the binding process for cresolase activation is not only entropy driven but also enthalpy driven means that hydrophobic interaction is more important in the inhibition site.

Oxypalmatine and oxypseudopalmatine were synthesized in three steps from the benzonitrile 11 and toluamides 12a, b. The lithiated cycloaddition reaction yielded 3-arylisoquinolinone intermediates. A subsequent internal SN2 reaction produced the corresponding 8-oxoprotoberberines, oxypalmatine and oxypseudopalmatine.

By adopting a time-resolved optical emission spectrometry, we have investigated the effects of transverse magnetic field on C2 and CN molecules produced by laser ablation of a graphite target in nitrogen atmosphere. We found that the spectroscopic temperatures of both species, obtained via simulation of the optical emission spectra, as well as their emission intensities from the electronically excited states increased significantly in the presence of a magnetic field. The cyclotron radii and frequencies for electrons and ions were estimated to explain the increase in the number of collisions in the laser-produced carbon plasma plume under a magnetic field.

In order to study the role of residue in the active site of glutathione S-transferase (GST), Arg13 residue in human GST P1-1 was replaced with alanine, lysine and leucine by site-directed mutagenesis to obtain mutants R13A, R13K and R13L. These three mutant enzymes were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by affinity chromatography on immobilized GSH. Mutation of Arg13 into Ala caused a substantial reduction of the specific activity by 10-fold. Km GSH, Km DCNB and Km EPNP values of R13A were approximately 2-3 fold larger than those of the wild type. Mutation of Arg13 into Ala also significantly affected I50 values of S-methyl-GSH that compete with GSH and ethacrynic acid, an electrophilic substrate-like compound. These results appeared that the substitution of Arg13 with Ala resulted in significant structural change of the active site. Mutation of Arg13 into Leu reduced the catalytic activity by approximately 2-fold, whereas substitution by Lys scarcely affected the activity, indicating the significance of a positively charged residue at position 13. Therefore, arginine 13 participates in catalytic activity as mainly involved in the construction of the proper electrostatic field and conformation of the active site in human GST P1-1.

A novel library of amino-substituted 2-pyridones has been constructed through a two-step sequence of microwave-promoted Buchwald-Hartwig amination of 2-benzyloxy halopyridines followed by debenzylation. Microwave-promoted amination of 3- or 4-halopyridine in the presence of a suitable palladium catalyst and ligand system provided amino-substituted 2-benzyloxypyridines in excellent yields. Then, debenzylation of 2- benzyloxypyridines afforded the corresponding 2-pyridones with high efficiency.

The immobilization of proteins and their molecular interactions on various polymer-modified glass substrates [i.e. 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS), 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTS), poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEG-DA), chitosan (CHI), glutaraldehyde (GA), 3-(trichlorosilyl)propyl methacrylate (TPM), 3'-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS), glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and poly-l-lysine (PL).] for potential applications in a nanoarray protein chip at the single-molecule level was evaluated using prismtype dual-color total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (dual-color TIRFM). A dual-color TIRF microscope, which contained two individual laser beams and a single high-sensitivity camera, was used for the rapid and simultaneous dual-color detection of the interactions and colocalization of different proteins labeled with different fluorescent dyes such as Alexa Fluor® 488, Qdot® 525 and Alexa Fluor® 633. Most of the polymer-modified glass substrates showed good stability and a relative high signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio over a 40-day period after making the substrates. The GPTS/CHI/GA-modified glass substrate showed a 13.5-56.3% higher relative S/N ratio than the other substrates. 1% Top-Block in 10 mM phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4) showed a 99.2% increase in the blocking effect of non-specific adsorption. These results show that dual-color TIRFM is a powerful methodology for detecting proteins at the single-molecule level with potential applications in nanoarray chips or nano-biosensors.

A new azocalix[4]arene, 5,14,17,23-tetra[(2-benzoic acid)(azo)phenyl] calix[4]arene (2), has been prepared by hydrolysis of its ester derivative and characterized by 1H NMR, IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Based on UV spectral changes, we found that 2 exhibits Pb2+ ion selectivity. In basic media, Pb2+ forms a 1:1 complex with the ligand. Beer's law is obeyed in the range of 2.0 × 10?6 ? 2.4 × 10?5 mol L?1 of Pb2+. The molar absorptivity (ε ) of 2-Pb2+ complex is 1.89 × 104 L mol?1 cm?1 at 440 nm, and the detection limit is 1.6 × 10?6 mol L?1.

The bulk properties of poly(γ-benzyl-L-glutamate)-poly(ethylene glycol), PBLG-PEO, diblock copolymer were investigated. The helical transition from 7/2 to 13/5 for pure PBLG was at 120 oC while those of GE-1 and GE-2, which contain flexible PEO block 40 wt% and 60 wt% respectively, were shown at 135℃ on DSC experiments. FT-IR and XRD experiments were shown that the diblock copolymers maintained their α-helical structure in the temperature range between 25℃ and 175℃. Increasing relative size of coil part resulted in the increase of intermolecular packing distances. Due to well-maintained helical structure, lyotropic LC phases were observed for the PBLG-PEO block copolymer by the polarized optical microscope (POM). Especially, GE-3 copolymer, which has 12.5 wt% PEO contents, showed the smectic C phase. The competition of favorable aggregation energy between rod-rod and coil-coil, and unfavorable aggregation energy of rod-coil give rise to change the supramolecular structure in mixed solvent.

Cyanobacterial toxins, microcystins are very potent hepatotoxins and their occurrence has been reported all over the world. They could threaten human health when toxic Microcystis occurs in water supply reservoirs. In this study, the effects of several environmental factors on production and degradation of toxins produced by cyanobacteria in Lake Soyang have been studied. A new rapid quantification method of microcystins using fluorescence for a detection signal and a lateral-flow-type immunochromatography as a separation system was used. Culture age, temperature, light intensity, pH, N-nutrient concentration, P-nutrient concentration, iron and zinc concentration were the most importantly examined factors. The toxin content was the highest on 17-18 days and at temperatures between 20℃ and 25℃, and at pH between 8.4 and 8.8.

Molecular recognition for a specific cation depending on the change of the oxidation state of the metal catalyst component contained in the hydrogel network has been studied in a self-oscillating hydrogel. The selfoscillating hydrogels are synthesized by the copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm), lead methacrylic acid (Pb(MAA)2), and Ru(bpy)3 2+ monomer as a metal catalyst component. The recognition for a specific cation (in this study, Ca2+ has been used) is characterized by the adsorbed amount of Ca2+ into the gel. The recognition of the gels for Ca2+ is higher at the temperature below the LCST, and also higher at the oxidized state than at reduced state of the metal catalyst component which corresponds to a more swollen state. Moreover, a propagating wave induced by a periodic change of the oxidation state with the diffusion phenomena in the oscillating hydrogel shows a possibility for temporal and site-specific molecular recognition due to the local swelling of the gel.

A series of bispyrenyl-polyether have been synthesized and investigated as a fluorescent chemosensor for metal ions. The results showed that bispyrenyl-polyether system is selective towards Al3+ ion over other ions tested. In free ligand, excited at 343 nm, it displays a strong excimer emission at around 475 nm with a weak monomer emission at 375 nm. A ratiometry of monomer (375 nm) increase and excimer (475 nm) quenching was shown only when Al3+ ion is bound to ligand, because two facing pyrene groups form a less efficient overlap of π?π stacking compared with that of free ligand.

Novel new red-light emitting perylene fluoroionophore N,N'-dipropyl-1,7-bis(calix[4]azacrown-5-crown-5)- 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxy diimide (3) was prepared by reacting N,N'-dipropyl-1,7-dibromo-3,4,9,10- perylene tetracarboxy diimide (1) with calix[4]azacrown-5-crown-5. Also the alternating copolymer (4) with similar repeating unit was prepared reacting by calix[4]bisazacrown-5 with 1. Metal ion binding by 3 and 4 leads to a blue-shift of absorption band and emission spectra. When ionophoric characteristics were investigated by binding alkali, alkali earth metal and various metal ions, polymeric ionophores displayed large fluorescence decreasing effects with K+, Ag+ and Ba2+, which was rationalized by photo-induced charge transfer (PCT).

Several oxazolidinones, a new class of synthetic antibacterial agents, have shown biological activity against multidrug-resistant gram positive organisms such as staphylococci, streptococci, and enterococci. Previous results of our studies with benzoxazolidinone phosphonate derivatives have demonstrated very low antibacterial activity. In the course of our studies directed towards the discovery of noble antibacterial agents, we have synthesized several new derivatives of oxazolidinone phosphonates prepared efficiently from commercially available amino acids. These compounds are tested for in vitro antibacterial activity and one of the compounds showed promising results allowing us to pursue further studies.

Bioassay-directed fractionation of Draba nemorosa led to the isolation of two new phenolic glycosides, 1-O- (sinapoyl)-glucitol (2) and 1,3-disinapoylgentiobiose (5) along with five known phenolic glycosides (1, 3, 4, 6, and 7). Their structures were characterized based on spectroscopic methods (2D NMR, HRTOFMS, IR, and UV). The isolated compounds showed antioxidant activities (IC50) in the range of 14-98 mM which were estimated by DPPH radical-scavenging assay.