The ruthenium(II) ferrocenyl heterocyclic thiosemicarbazone complexes of the type $[RuCl(CO)(EPh_3)]_2L$ (where E = P/As; L = binucleating monobasic tridendate thiosemicarbazone ligand) have been investigated. Strutural features were determined by analytical and spectral techniques. Binding of these complexes with CT-DNA by absorption spectral study indicates that the ruthenium(II) complexes form adducts with DNA and has intrinsic binding constant in the range of $3.3{\times}10^4-1.2{\times}10^5M^{-1}$. The complexes exhibit a remarkable DNA cleavage activity with CT-DNA in the presence of hydrogen oxide and the cleavage activity depends on dosage.

Two novel binuclear metal-organic coordination complexes [$Cd_2(Hdpa)_4(bpy)_2$] (1), [$Dy_2(dpa)_2(bpy)_2(NO_3)_2-(H_2O)_2$](bpy) (2) (where $H_2dpa$ = biphenyl-2,2'-dicarboxylic acid, bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, spectral method (IR), elemental analysis (EA), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), electronic spectra (UV-vis), fluorescent in the solid state and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Complexes 1-2 crystallizes isomorphously in the Triclinic space group P-1. The ${\pi}-{\pi}$ stacking interactions and hydrogen-bonds play a vital role in determining the crystal packing and construction of the extended 3-D supramolecular network.

For the production of ethanol from freshwater cyanobacteria, a new pretreatment method using supercritical fluid was introduced. In this study, it was found that the supercritical fluid could penetrate inside the cell wall and help to liberate starch from cyanobacterial cells which resulted in the increase of the efficiency of ethanol production. For Microcystis aeruginosa, supercritical fluid pretreatment increased the amount of ethanol produced from cyanobacteria from 1.53 g/L to 2.66 g/L. For Anabaena variabilis, the amount of ethanol was increased from 1.25 g/L to 2.28 g/L. With use of supercritical fluid pretreatment, the efficiency of the process to obtain higher ethanol yields from freshwater cyanobacteria was improved upto 80%. The optimum temperature and pressure conditions for supercritical fluid pretreatment were determined as the temperature of $40^{\circ}C$ and the pressure of 120 atm. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using supercritical fluid pretreatment for ethanol production using freshwater cyanobacteria.

Fluorine-doping on the $Li_{1+x}Mn_{1.9-x}Al_{0.1}O_4$ spinel cathode materials is found to alter crystal shape, and enhance initial interfacial reactivity and solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation, leading to improved initial coulombic efficiency in the voltage region of 3.3-4.3 V vs. Li/$Li^+$ in the room temperature electrolyte of 1 M $LiPF_6$/EC:EMC. SEM imaging reveals that the facetting on higher surface energy plane of (101) is additionally developed at the edges of an octahedron that is predominantly grown with the most thermodynamically stable (111) plane, which enhances interfacial reactivity. Fluorine-doping also increases the amount of interfacially reactive $Mn^{3+}$ on both bulk and surface for charge neutrality. Enhanced interfacial reactivity by fluorine-doping attributes instant formation of a stable SEI layer and improved initial cyclic efficiency. The data contribute to a basic understanding of the impacts of composition on material properties and cycling behavior of spinel-based cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

A rhodamine B-based fluorescent probe for nitrite ion ($NO{_2}^-$) has been designed, synthesized, characterized and its properties for recognition of $NO{_2}^-$ were studied. Nearly non fluorescent probe upon reaction with nitrite ion significantly triggered the fluorescence. Fluorescence response is based on ring opening of the spirolactam of rhodamine B phenyl hydrazide showing maximum absorbance at 552 nm and maximum emission at 584 nm. Probe 3 exhibited high sensitivity and extreme selectivity for nitrite ion over other common ions and oxidants ($Cl^-$, $ClO^-$, $ClO{_2}^-$, $ClO{_3}^-$, $ClO{_4}^-$, $SO{_4}^{2-}$, $SiO{_3}^{2-}$, $NO{_3}^{2-}$, $CO{_3}^{2-}$) examined in methanol water (1:1, v/v) at pH 7.0. The probe might be a new efficient tool for detection of nitrite ion in natural water and biological system.

An efficient process for the synthesis of N-azaaryl anilines via Smiles rearrangement as a tool. A variety of N-azaaryl anilines were generated by the reaction of substituted phenols, substituted anilines, aminopyridines and chloroacetyl chloride or pyridols, under base condition in good to excellent yields.

Two series of new green phosphorescent polymers bearing a bis(2-phenyl-pyridine)iridium(III)(dibenzoylmethane) [$(ppy)_2Irdbm$] complex were designed and synthesized. Poly-carbazole (PCbz) derivative or polyfluorene with pendant carbazole groups (PFCbz) were employed as host polymers for the iridium complex. The iridium complex monomer was copolymerized with the host monomers using varying monomer ratios via a Yamamoto coupling reaction. Efficient energy transfer from host to dopant unit was observed by increasing the ratio of the iridium guest in the copolymers. Electroluminescent devices with the configuration ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer/BmPyPB/LiF/Al were fabricated and characterized. The phosphorescent polymers composed of the iridium complex guest and polyfluorene with carbazole pendants as a host performed better than the polymers composed of the same guest and the main chain polycarbazole host. A maximum external quantum efficiency of 0.73%, a luminous efficiency of 1.21 cd/A, and a maximum luminance of 372 $cd/m^2$ were obtained from a device fabricated using one of the synthesized copolymers.

Tetrahyropapaveroline (THP) is compound derived from dopamine metabolism and is capable of causing dopaminergic neurodegenerative disorder, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of THP to cause oxidative damage on the structure of cytochrome c (cyt c). Our data showed that THP led to protein aggregation and the formation of carbonyl compound in protein aggregates. THP also induced the release of iron from cyt c. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers and iron specific chelator inhibited the THP-mediated cyt c modification and carbonyl compound formation. The results of this study show that ROS may play a critical role in THP-induced cyt c modification and iron releasing of cyt c. When cyt c that has been exposed to THP was subsequently analyzed by amino acid analysis, lysine, histidine and methionine residues were particularly sensitive. It is suggested that oxidative damage of cyt c by THP might induce the increase of iron content in cells and subsequently led to the deleterious condition. This mechanism is associated with the deterioration of organs under neurodegenerative disorder such as PD.

In order to enhance the photovoltaic property of the CdS/CdSe co-sensitized quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs), the surface of nanoporous $TiO_2$ photoanode was modified by ultrathin $Al_2O_3$ layer before the deposition of quantum dots (QDs). The $Al_2O_3$ layer, dip-coated by 0.10 M Al precursor solution, exhibited the optimized performance in blocking the back-reaction of the photo-injected electrons from $TiO_2$ conduction band (CB) to polysulfide electrolyte. Transient photocurrent spectra revealed that the electron lifetime (${\tau}_e$) increased significantly by introducing the ultrathin $Al_2O_3$ layer on $TiO_2$ surface, whereas the electron diffusion coefficient ($D_e$) was not varied. As a result, the $V_{oc}$ increased from 0.487 to 0.545 V, without appreciable change in short circuit current ($J_{sc}$), thus inducing the enhancement of photovoltaic conversion efficiency (${\eta}$) from 3.01% to 3.38%.

Effect of chemical substitution at the para-position of the thiophenoxyl radical has been theoretically investigated in terms of energetics, structures, charge densities and orbital shapes for the ground and first electronically excited states. It is found that the adiabatic energy gap increases when $CH_3$ or F is substituted at the para-position. This change is attributed to the stabilization of the ground state of thiophenoxyl radical through the electron-donating effect of F or $CH_3$ group as the charge or spin of the singly-occupied molecular orbital is delocalized over the entire molecule especially in the ground state whereas in the excited state it is rather localized on sulfur and little affected by chemical substitutions. Quantitative comparison of predictions based on four different quantum-mechanical calculation methods is presented.

The effect of pretreatment on indium-tin oxide (ITO) electrodes has been rarely studied, although that on metal and carbon electrodes has been enormously done. The electrochemical and surface properties of ITO electrodes are investigated after 6 different pretreatments. The electrochemical behaviors for oxygen reduction, $Ru(NH_3){_6}^{3+}$ reduction, $Fe(CN){_6}^{3-}$ reduction, and p-hydroquinone oxidation are compared, and the surface roughness, hydrophilicity, and surface chemical composition are also compared. Oxygen reduction, $Fe(CN){_6}^{3-}$ reduction, and p-hydroquinone oxidation are highly affected by the type of the pretreatment, whereas $Ru(NH_3){_6}^{3+}$ reduction is almost independent of it. Interestingly, oxygen reduction is significantly suppressed by the treatment in an HCl solution. The changes in surface roughness and composition are not high after each pretreatment, but the change in contact angle is substantial in some pretreatments.

The mechanisms concerning C-Cl activation of $CCl_4$ by $CHBr^{{\cdot}-}$ and $CBr{_2}^{{\cdot}-}$ have been comparatively investigated in theory. Optimized geometries and frequencies of all stationary points on PES are obtained at the BhandHLYP/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory, and then the energy profiles are refined at the QCISD(T) method with the aug-cc-pVTZ basis by using the BhandHLYP/aug-cc-pVTZ optimized geometries. Our calculated findings suggest that in the title reactions the major mechanisms consist of both Cl-abstraction and $S_N2$ substitution reactions. Also, a succeeding pathway described by electron transfer was revealed before the initial Cl-abstraction products separate. Those are consistent with relevant experimental results.

Carbon-coated $Li_3V_2(PO_4)_3-LiMnPO_4$ composite cathode materials are first reported in this work, prepared by the mechanochemical process with a complex metal oxide as the precursor and sucrose as the carbon source. X-ray diffraction pattern of the composite material indicates that both olivine $LiMnPO_4$ and monoclinic $Li_3V_2(PO_4)_3$ co-exist. We further investigated the electrochemical properties of our $Li_3V_2(PO_4)_3-LiMnPO_4$ composite cathode materials using galvanostatic charging/discharging tests, where our $Li_3V_2(PO_4)_3-LiMnPO_4$ composite electrode materials exhibit the charge/discharge efficiency of 91.9%, while $Li_3V_2(PO_4)_3$ and $LiMnPO_4$ exhibit the efficiency of 87.7 and 86.7% in the first cycle. The composites display unique electrochemical performances in terms of overvoltage and cycle stability, displaying a reduced gap of 141.6 mV between charge and discharge voltage and 95.0% capacity efficiency after $15^{th}$ cycles.

A new series of 4-(2-(substituted)pyridin-4-yl)-3-(3-methoxy-5-methylphenyl)-1H-pyrazoles (4a-f) and their 1,2-isoxazole analogues (5a-f) has been rationally designed, synthesized and screened against both ROS and MAPK14 kinases. Compounds 4b, 4c and 4e showed moderate inhibitions against both ROS and MAPK14 kinases. Compound 4e has showed the strongest inhibitions with IC50 values of 1.25 ${\mu}M$ and 3.00 ${\mu}M$ against ROS and MAPK14 kinases, respectively. A brief structure-activity relationship study and a molecular modeling study were made revealing a group of essential structural features for good kinase inhibitory activity within this new class of kinase inhibitors.

In this work, a novel strategy is provided to prepare silver nanoplates by a fibronectin (Fn) nanofibril template. First, Fn molecules were controlled to assemble into amyloid-like nanofibrils in highly concentrated ethanol aqueous solution. The resultant nanofibrils could serve as a soft template to direct the formation of silver nanoplates. It is worth noting that the silver nanoplates are excellent surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate with 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) molecule as a test probe. This high active SERS substrate can also be used to detect drug molecule, 2-thiouracil with high sensitivity.

In this study we report a new method for the synthesis of a silica monolithic column bed with bimodal pores (throughpores and mesopores). The template induced synthesis method was used to direct bimodal pores simultaneously instead of the usual post base-treating method. Block polymer Pluronic F127 was chosen as a dual-function template to form hierarchically porous silica monolith with both macropores and mesopores. This is a simplification of the method of monolithic column preparation. Poly(ethylene glycol) was used as a partial substitute for F127 can effectively prevent shrinkage during the monolith aging process without losing much surface area (944 $m^2/g$ to 807 $m^2/g$). More importantly, the resultant material showed a much narrower mesopore size (centered at 6 nm) distribution than that made using only F127 as the template reagent, which helps the mass transfer process. The solvent washing method was used to remove the remaining organic template, and it was proved to be effective enough. The new synthesis method makes the fabrication of the silica monolithic column (especially capillary column) much easier. All the structure parameters indicate that monolith PFA05 prepared by the above method is a good material for separation, with the merits of much higher surface area than usual commercial HPLC silica particles, suitable mesopore volume, narrow mesopore size distribution, low shrinkage and it is easily prepared.

In phtosynthetic light harvesting complexes, the electronic transition energies of chlorophylls are influenced by the Coulombic interaction with nearby molecules. Variation of the interactions caused by structural inhomogeneity in biological environment results in a distribution of disordered electronic transition energies of chlorophylls. In order to provide a practical guide to predict qualitative tendency of such distribution, we model four porphyrin derivatives including chlorophyll a molecule interacting with an external positive charge and calculate their transition energies using the time dependent density functional method. It is found that ${\pi}-{\pi}^*$ transition energies of the molecules are generally blue-shifted by the charge because this stabilizes occupied molecular orbitals to a greater extent than unoccupied ones. Furthermore, new transitions in the visible region emerge as a result of the red-shift in energy of an unoccupied Mg orbital and it is suggested that light-induced electron transfer may occur from the tetrapyrrole ring to the central magnesium when the molecules are interacting with a positive charge.

Single-chain variable fragments of antibodies (scFv) specific to 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) were isolated from a phage library displaying synthetic human scFv fragments with 6 diversified complementary determining regions (CDRs). A DNT derivative that contained an extended amine group was synthesized and conjugated to the NHS-group that was linked to magnetic beads. Phages specific to the immobilized DNT derivatives were isolated from the library after 4 rounds of sequential binding and elution processes. The displayed scFv fragments from the isolated phages showed consensus CDR sequences. One DNT-specific scFv was expressed in E. coli and purified using Ni-affinity chromatography. The purified DNT-specific scFv binds specifically to the immobilized DNT-derivative with $K_D$ value of $6.0{\times}10^{-7}$ M. The scFv and DNT interaction was not disrupted by the addition of 4-nitrotoluene or benzoic acid. These data demonstrate that the screened scFv from the phage displayed library could be used for selective and sensitive detection of explosives such as TNT.

Proton transfer reaction is one of the most fundamental processes in chemistry and life science. Excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) has been studied as a model system of the proton transfer, since it can be conveniently initiated by light. We report ESIPT reaction dynamic of 1-hydroxy-anthraquione (1-HAQ) in solution by highly time-resolved fluorescence. ESIPT time of 1-HAQ is determined to be $45{\pm}10$ fs directly from decay of the reactant fluorescence and rise of the product fluorescence. High time resolution allows observation of the coherent vibrational wave packet motion in the excited state of the reaction product tautomer. The coherently excited vibrational mode involves large displacement of the atoms, which shortens the distance between the proton donor and the acceptor. With the theoretical analysis, we propose that the ESIPT of 1-HAQ proceeds barrierlessly with assistance of the skeletal vibration, which in turn becomes excited coherently by the ESIPT reaction.

Surfaced-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of 4,4'-biphenyldithiol (BPDT) has been investigated at a silver island film. Ordinary Raman (OR) spectra of neat sample in solid state and in basic solution have also been taken for comparison. The spectral feature in the SERS spectrum was similar to that for the OR spectrum in basic solution, except for the broadening of ring stretching bands indicative of the presence of surface-phenyl ring $\pi$ interaction. In contrast, only absence of the C-H stretching band with very small Raman scattering cross-section seemed not pertinent in judging the definitive orientation of molecule. The observed vibrational bands in the SERS spectrum have been assigned by referring to the normal modes and wavenumbers from density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the simple model as 4,4'-biphenyldithiolates bound to two Ag atoms at the both ends. Excellent agreement between the experimental and the calculated results was achieved, which is remarkable considering the level of theory applied.

By using ionic liquid 1-hexylpyridinium hexafluorophosphate ($HPPF_6$) based carbon ionic liquid electrode (CILE) as the substrate electrode, a $CoMoO_4$ nanorods and myoglobin (Mb) composite was casted on the surface of CILE with chitosan (CTS) as the film forming material to obtain the modified electrode (CTS/$CoMoO_4$-Mb/CILE). Spectroscopic results indicated that Mb retained its native structures without any conformational changes after mixed with $CoMoO_4$ nanorods and CTS. Electrochemical behaviors of Mb on the electrode were carefully investigated by cyclic voltammetry with a pair of well-defined redox peaks from the heme Fe(III)/Fe(II) redox center of Mb appeared, which indicated that direct electron transfer between Mb and CILE was realized. Electrochemical parameters such as the electron transfer number (n), charge transfer coefficient (${\alpha}$) and electron transfer rate constant ($k_s$) were estimated by cyclic voltammetry with the results as 1.09, 0.53 and 1.16 $s^{-1}$, respectively. The Mb modified electrode showed good electrocatalytic ability toward the reduction of trichloroacetic acid in the concentration range from 0.1 to 32.0 mmol $L^{-1}$ with the detection limit as 0.036 mmol $L^{-1}$ ($3{\sigma}$), and the reduction of $H_2O_2$ in the concentration range from 0.12 to 397.0 ${\mu}mol\;L^{-1}$ with the detection limit as 0.0426 ${\mu}mol\;L^{-1}$ ($3{\sigma}$).

Two piperazine-containing 3,4-dihyroquinazolines (BK10007S/8S) have been synthesized, based on our previous work on the synthesis and antitumoral activity of 3,4-dihyroquinazolines. After evaluating them for T-type calcium channel blocking effect and in vitro anti-cancer effect, they were profiled for acute and repeat dose toxicity (40 mg/kg, 2 weeks) to BALB/c mice. BK10007S/8S were further in vivo evaluated against human pancreatic MIA PaCa-2 carcinoma in $BALB/c^{nu/nu}$ nude mice, which exhibited 54 and 61% tumor growth inhibition through 57-day oral administration of 2 mg/kg of body weight, respectively.

An improved method for the preparation of monomethine cyanine dyes with quinoline nucleus by one-pot three-component using 1-methyl-2-quinolinethione, quaternized 2- or 4-methylheterocyclic compounds and methyl p-toluenesulfonate as starting materials was described. Compared with the traditional methods, the new synthetic method reduced the reaction steps, shortened the reaction time, avoided the separation and purification of the intermediate and reduced cost. The dyes absorbed in the region 478.0-563.0 nm and had molar extinction coefficients of $1.3{\times}10^4-9.4 {\times}10^4L\;mol^{-1}\;cm^{-1}$. Their fluorescence maxima and Stokes shifts were in the range of 525.2-594.4 nm and 16.2-80.6 nm in different solvents, respectively. From the spectral properties of the dyes in different solvents, it could be found that the ${\lambda}_{max}$ of the dyes were shorter in protonic solvents, and showed hypsochromic shifts with the increase of polarity of the solvents.

A novel series of aryl sulfonylpiperazine derivatives (5-15) were synthesized as 5-$HT_6$ ligands. In vitro assay was evaluated by measuring the 5-HT-induced $Ca^{2+}$ increases using HeLa cell line expressing the cloned human 5-$HT_6$ receptor, and the compound 13 showed potent 5-$HT_6$ receptor antagonistic effect with $IC_{50}$ value of 3.9 ${\mu}M$. Compound 13 also showed good selectivity on the 5-$HT_6$ over 5-$HT_4$ and 5-$HT_7$ receptors.

In this paper, in addition to introducing efficient method for bromohydrin and bromoether preparation, simple, green and efficient method to C-N bond formation from alkene and N,N'-Dibromo-N,N'-1,2-ethanediyl-bis(p-toluenesulfonamide) [BNBTS] in water was investigated. The reaction between alkenes, ${\beta}$-cyclodexterin, and BNBTS took place in water afterward, by making media basic; it will give the corresponding valuable building blocks in good yields (45-79%).

A low temperature ($65^{\circ}C$) thermal deposition process was developed for depositing a silver coating on thermally sensitive polymeric substrates. This low temperature deposition was achieved by chemical reduction of a silver alkylcarbamate complex with latent reducing agent. The effects of acetol as a latent reducing agent for the silver 2-ethylhexylcarbamate (Ag-EHCB) complex and their blend solutions were investigated in terms of reducing mechanism, and the size and shape of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) as a function of reduced temperature and time, and PVP stabilizer concentration were determined. Low temperature deposition was achieved by combining chemical reduction with thermal heating at $65^{\circ}C$. A range of polymer film, sheet and molding product was coated with silver at thicknesses of 100 nm. The effect of process parameters and heat treatment on the properties of silver coatings was investigated.

The structural change of Nafion polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) induced by hot-pressing, which is one of the representative procedures for preparing membrane-electrode-assembly for low temperature fuel cells, was investigated by $^2H$ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The hydrophilic channels were asymmetrically flattened and more aligned in the membrane plane than along the hot-pressing direction. The average O-$^2H$ director of $^2H_2O$ in polymer electrolyte membrane was employed to extract the structural information from the $^2H$ NMR peak splitting data. The dependence of $^2H$ NMR data on water contents was systematically analyzed for the first time. The approach presented here can be used to understand the chemicals' behavior in nano-spaces, especially those reshaping and functioning interactively with the chemicals in the wet and/or mixed state.

We present synthesis of a new kind of organic-inorganic hybrid polymer, poly xylene-hexamethyltrisiloxane hybrid (PXS) by a new synthetic way from o-xylene and 1,1,3,3,5,5-hexamethyltrisiloxane. The merged molecular structure of the two monomeric components for the PXS polymer was confirmed by $^{13}C$- and $^1H$-NMR, and FT-IR. Its optical absorption and emission properties were investigated by UV-vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The PXS exhibits absorption at 265 nm which is the same with the o-xylene but tailing up to nearly 400 nm, which is maybe related the polymeric structure of the PXS. For the PL investigation, the PXS shows red-shift of the peak from 288 nm (o-xylene) to 372 nm in the case of excitation at 265 nm, at which both PXS and o-xylene have sufficiently high absorption for excitation. When 325-nm laser is used for excitation, the PXS shows a broader peak at 395 nm compared to the excitation at 265 nm and the o-xylene shows no luminescence probably due to the lack of absorption at 325 nm.

When atomic layer deposition (ALD) is performed on a porous material by using an organometallic precursor, minimum exposure time of the precursor for complete coverage becomes much longer since the ALD is limited by Knudsen diffusion in the pores. In the previous report by Min et al. (Ref. 23), shrinking core model (SCM) was proposed to predict the minimum exposure time of diethylzinc for ZnO ALD on a porous cylindrical alumina monolith. According to the SCM, the minimum exposure time of the precursor is influenced by volumetric density of adsorption sites, effective diffusion coefficient, precursor concentration in gas phase and size of the porous monolith. Here we modify the SCM in order to consider undesirable adsorption of byproduct molecules. $TiO_2$ ALD was performed on the cylindrical alumina monolith by using titanium tetrachloride ($TiCl_4$) and water. We observed that the byproduct (i.e., HCl) of $TiO_2$ ALD can chemically adsorb on adsorption sites, unlike the behavior of the byproduct (i.e., ethane) of ZnO ALD. Consequently, the minimum exposure time of $TiCl_4$ (~16 min) was significantly much shorter than that (~71 min) of DEZ. The predicted minimum exposure time by the modified SCM well agrees with the observed time. In addition, the modified SCM gives an effective diffusion coefficient of $TiCl_4$ of ${\sim}1.78{\times}10^{-2}\;cm^2/s$ in the porous alumina monolith.

In this study, we describe the most expected behavior of cells on the modified surface and the correlation between the modified substrates and the response of cells. The physicochemical characteristics of substrates played an essential role in the adhesion and proliferation of cells. Glass and polymer substrates were modified using air plasma oxidation, and the surfaces were coated with self-assembled monolayer molecules of silanes. The PDMS substrates embedded with parallel micropatterns were used for evaluation of the effect of topologically modified substrate on cellular behaviour. BALB/3T3 fibroblast cells were cultured on different surfaces with distinct wettability and topology, and the growth rates and morphological change of cells were analyzed. Finally, we found the optimum conditions for the adhesion and proliferation of cells on the modified surface. This study will provide insight into the cell-surface interaction and contribute to tissue engineering applications.

A mass balance method established in this laboratory was applied to determine the purity of an endosulfan-II pure substance. Gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) was used to measure organic impurities. Total of 10 structurally related organic impurities were detected by GC-FID in the material. Water content was determined to be 0.187% by Karl-Fischer (K-F) coulometry with an oven-drying method. Non-volatile residual impurities was not detected by Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) within the detection limit of 0.04% (0.7 ${\mu}g$ in absolute amount). Residual solvents within the substance were determined to be 0.007% in the Endosulfan-II pure substance by running GC-FID after dissolving it with two solvents. The purity of the endosulfan-II was finally assigned to be ($99.17{\pm}0.14$)%. Details of the mass balance method including interpretation and evaluating uncertainties of results from each individual methods and the finally assayed purity were also described.

$Ag@SiO_2@SiO_2$(FITC) nanocomposites were prepared by the simple polyol process and St$\ddot{o}$ber method. Fluorescence enhancement of fluorescein moiety (fluorescein isothiocyanate, FITC) was investigated in the presence of silver nanoparticles in $Ag@SiO_2@SiO_2$(FITC) system with varying thickness (X nm) of first silica shell. Maximum enhancement factor of 4.3 fold was achieved in $Ag@SiO_2@SiO_2$(FITC) structure with the first silica shell thickness of 8 nm and the average separation distance of 11 nm between the surface of silver nanoparticle and fluorescein moiety. The enhancement is believed to be originated from increased excitation rate of fluorescein moiety due to concentrated local electromagnetic field which was improved by interaction of light with silver nanoparticles.

It has been shown that calculating atomic charges using quantum mechanical level theory greatly improves the accuracy of docking. A protocol was developed and shown to be effective. That this protocol works is just a manifestation of the fact that electrostatic interactions are important in protein-ligand binding. In order to investigate how the same protocol helps in prediction of binding affinities, we took a series of known cocrystal structures of influenza neuraminidase inhibitors with the receptor and performed docking with Glide SP, Glide XP, and QPLD, the last being a workflow that incorporates QM/MM calculations to replace the fixed atomic charges of force fields with quantum mechanically recalculated ones at a given docking pose, and predicted the binding affinities of each cocrystal. The correlation with experimental binding affinities considerably improved with QPLD compared to Glide SP/XP yielding $r^2$ = 0.83. The results suggest that for binding sites, such as that of neuraminidase, which are laden with hydrophilic residues, protocols such as QPLD which utilizes QM-based atomic charges can better predict the binding affinities.

An efficient and alternative synthesis of enantiomerically pure (+)-(S)-4-(4-((4-chlorophenyl)(pyrid-2-yl)methoxy]piperidin-1-yl)butanoic acid, bepotastine (1) is described. The key resolution of (R/S)-bepotastine l-menthyl ester (3) is achived via diastereomeric salt crystallization using N-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-aspartic acid (NCbzLAA) as the resolving agent to provide (S)-bepotastine l-menthyl ester (S)-3. Hydrolysis of (S)-bepotastine l-menthyl ester (S)-3 afforded the desired bepotastine (1) with good yields and enantiopurity (> 99%). Finally, bepotastine besilate (4) and bepotastine calcium (5) are achived by salt formation of bepotastine (1) with benzene sulfonic acid and calcium salt respectively. The reaction conditions were optimized to make suitable for commercial scale production.

The stretching vibration of OH of ice Ih is studied by Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics in regarding the effect of mixed H/D contamination while the vibrational spectrum is considered by velocity-velocity autocorrelations of the sampled ensemble. When hydrogen atoms are immersed randomly into the deuterated ice, a typical vibrational frequency of OH stretching mode is observed to be similar to that from the pure $H_2O$ ice. When focusing on the correlation of isolated neighboring OH stretching, a narrower and blue shifted peak is observed at the high frequency range as a result of the screening from the complex many body correlations by $D_2O$ environment. It is also specifically related to the symmetric intermolecular correlations between neighboring OH stretching modes. More enhanced high frequency range can be explained by the expansion of such two body correlations to collective many body correlations among all possible OH stretching modes. This contribution becomes important when it involves in chemical interactions via excitation of such vibrational states.

A simple and effective method is introduced to synthesize a series of polystyrene-b-poly(oligo(ethylene oxide) monomethyl ether methacrylate)-b-polystyrene (PSt-b-POEOMA-b-PSt) triblock copolymers. The structures of PSt-b-POEOMA-b-PSt copolymers were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance ($^1H$ NMR) spectroscopy. The molecular weight and molecular weight distribution of the copolymer were measured by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Furthermore, the self-assembling and drug-loaded behaviours of three different ratios of PSt-b-POEOMA-b-PSt were studied. These copolymers could readily self-assemble into micelles in aqueous solution. The vitamin E-loaded copolymer micelles were produced by the dialysis method. The micelle size and core-shell structure of the block copolymer micelles and the drug-loaded micelles were confirmed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The thermal properties of the copolymer micelles before and after drug-loaded were investigated by different scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results show that the micelle size is slightly increased with increasing the content of hydrophobic segments and the micelles are still core-shell spherical structures after drug-loaded. Moreover, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of polystyrene is reduced after the drug loaded. The drug loading content (DLC) of the copolymer micelles is 70%-80% by ultraviolet (UV) photolithography analysis. These properties indicate the micelles self-assembled from PSt-b-POEOMA-b-PSt copolymers would have potential as carriers for the encapsulation of hydrophobic drugs.

Acetyl-CoA carboxylases (ACCs) play critical roles in fatty acid synthesis and oxidation by the catalytic activity of the carboxylation of acetyl-CoA to malonyl-CoA. It is known that ACCs are inactivated through reversible phosphorylation by AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and allosterically activated by citrate. Here, we determined the crystal structures of biotin carboxylase (BC) domain of human ACC2 phosphorylated by AMPK in the presence of citrate in order to elucidate the activation mechanism by citrate. This structure shows that phosphorylated Ser222 is released from the dimer interface, and thereby facilitating the dimerization or oligomerization of the BC domain allosterically. This structural explanation is coincident with the experimental result that the phosphorylated Ser222 was dephosphorylated more easily by protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) as the citrate concentration increases.

In this study, activated carbon fabric was prepared from a cellulose-based polymer (viscose rayon) via a combination of physical and chemical activation (mixed activation) processes by means of $CO_2$ as a gasifying agent and surface and adsorption properties were evaluated. Experiments were performed to investigate the consequence of activation temperature (750, 800, 850 and $925^{\circ}C$), activation time (15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes) and $CO_2$ flow rate (100, 200, 300 and 400 mL/min) on the surface and adsorption properties of ACF. The nitrogen adsorption isotherm at 77 K was measured and used for the determination of surface area, total pore volume, micropore volume, mesopore volume and pore size distribution using BET, t-plot, DR, BJH and DFT methods, respectively. It was observed that BET surface area and TPV increase with rising activation temperature and time due to the formation of new pores and the alteration of micropores into mesopores. It was also found that activation temperature dominantly affects the surface properties of ACF. The adsorption of iodine and $CCl_4$ onto ACF was investigated and both were found to correlate with surface area.

In this work, the friction and diffusion coefficients of a tracer in a mesoscopic solvent are evaluated as a function of the tracer size by a hybrid molecular dynamics simulation where solute molecules evolve by Newton's equations of motion but the solvent evolves through the multi-particle collision dynamics. The friction coefficient is shown to scale linearly with the tracer size for larger tracers in accord with predictions of hydrodynamic theories. The diffusion coefficient of tracer is found to be inversely proportional to tracer size. The behavior of Stokes-Einstein formula is validated as a function of tracer size.

In this study, we synthesized functional dendrimer derivatives as nonviral gene delivery vectors. Poly(amidoamine) dendrimer (PAMAM, generation 4) was modified to possess functional amino acids to enhance gene transfection efficiency. PAMAM G4 derivatives conjugated with L-arginine (Arg) and ${\gamma}$-aminobutyric acid (GABA) showed higher transfection efficiency and lower cytotoxicity compared to the native PAMAM G4 dendrimer. The polyplex of the PAMAM G4 derivative/pDNA was evaluated using an agarose gel retardation assay and Picogreen reagent assay. Additionally, the MTT assay was performed to examine the cytotoxicity of synthesized polymers. All PAMAM G4 derivatives showed lower cytotoxicity than PEI25kD. Particularly, PAMAM G4-GABA-Arg displayed enhanced transfection efficiency compared to the native PAMAM G4 dendrimer.

Optically active N-benzyl-2-methyl-2H-benzo[b][1,4]oxazin-3(4H)-ones and N-benzyl-2-methyl-2H-benzo[b][1,4]thiazin-3(4H)-ones with potential synthetic and pharmacological interest were prepared via Smiles rearrangement in conventional as well as microwave irradiation conditions in one-pot from inexpensive (S)-2-chloropropionic acid. Most of the compounds displayed good inhibition against Gram positive bacteria and fungi in the antibiotic test.

Semiconductor CdSe nanowires (NWs) can serve as model systems for investigating the physical properties of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures and have great potential for applications in electronics and photonic nanodevices. With numerous attractions arisen from their physical properties, CdSe NWs have been synthesized by vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) methods, but they have some limitations of high reaction temperature and low production. Here, we synthesized CdSe NWs via the solution-liquid-solid (SLS) mechanisms using bismuth (Bi) covered substrates as a low-melting point catalyst and compared the products after injecting identical amount of Se and different amount of tributylphosphine (TBP). CdSe NWs have similar diameters but longer lengths with decreasing TBP, so we proposed the role of TBP as a solvent and capping agent of Se.

The coordination of pyridyl-N to pentacyanoferrate for the detection of small organic antigens in solution is presented. The unique contribution of this paper is the direct conjugation of pyridyl-N in small organic antigens to pentacyanoferrate. Pentacyanoferrate is promising as an electrochemical label owing to its good electro-chemical properties, which can be utilized to generate an electrical signal in homogeneous electrochemical immunoassays. The facilely synthesized pyridyl-N to pentacyanoferrate was characterized by the electrochemical and spectroscopic methods. Hippuric acid (HA) has been detected competitively on the interaction of free HA and pentacyanoferrate-(4-aminomethylpyridine-hippuric acid) (Fe-HA) to its antibody, with the detection limit of 0.50 ${\mu}g\;mL^{-1}$. While pentacyanoferrate-based immunoassay is in its simplicity and infancy, the proposed immunoassay offers attractive opportunities for developing pyridyl-N-based the electrochemical detection of small organic antigens in the health care area.

Amide analogs of tridecapeptide ${\alpha}$-factor (WHWLQLKPGQPMYCONH$_2$) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in which Trp at position 1 and 3 were replaced with other residues, were synthesized to ascertain whether cooperative interactions between two Trp residues occurred upon binding with its receptor. Analogs containing Ala or Aib at position 3 of the peptide $[Ala_3]{\alpha}$-factor amide (2) and $[Aib_3]{\alpha}$-factor amide (5) exhibited greater decreases in bioactivity than analogs with same residue at position one $[Ala^1]{\alpha}$-factor amide (1) and $[Aib^1]{\alpha}$-factor amide (4), reflecting that $Trp^3$ may plays more important role than $Trp^1$ for agonist activity. Analogs containing Ala or Aib in both position one and three 3, 6 exhibited complete loss of bioactivity, emphasizing both the essential role and the combined role of two indole rings for triggering cell signaling. In contrast, double substituted analog with D-Trp in both positions 9 exhibited greater activity than single substituted analog with D-Trp 8 or deleted analog 7, reflecting the combined contribution of two tryptophane residues of ${\alpha}$-factor ligand to activation of Ste2p through interaction with residue $Tyr^{266}$ and importance of the proper parallel orientation of two indole rings for efficient triggering of signal G protein coupled activation. Among ten amide analogs, $[Ala^{1,3}]{\alpha}$-factor amide (3), $[Aib^{1,3}]{\alpha}$-factor amide (6), [D-$Trp^3]{\alpha}$-factor amide (8) and [des-$Trp^1,Phe^3]{\alpha}$-factor amide (10) were found to have antagonistic activity. Analogs 3 and 6 showed greater antagonistic activity than analogs 8 and 10.

Extended H$\ddot{u}$ckel tight-binding band structure calculations are used to address the chemical bonding and elastic properties of $Zr_2AC$ (A=Al, Si, P, and S). Elastic properties are interpreted by analyzing the density of states and the crystal orbital overlap population for the respective phases. Our results show that the bulk modulus of these ternary compounds is determined by the strength of Zr-A bonds.

Solvolyses of isobutyl chloroformate (4) in 43 binary solvent mixtures including highly aqueous media, water, $D_2O$, $CH_3OD$, 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) as well as aqueous 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-isopropanol (HFIP) solvents were performed at $45^{\circ}C$, in order to further investigate the recent results of D'Souza, M. $J^1$. et al.; solvolyses of 4 are found to be consistent with the proposed mechanism ($Ad_E$). The variety of solvent systems was extended to comprise highly ionizing power solvent media ($Y_{Cl}$ > 2.7 excepted for aqueous fluorinated solvents and pure TFE solvent) to investigate whether a mechanistic change occurs as solvent compositions are varied. However, in case of 18-solvent ranges having aqueous fluorinated solvent systems (TFE-$H_2O$ and HFIP-$H_2O$) and/or having $Y_{Cl}$ > 2.7 solvent systems, the solvent effect on reactivity for those of 4 are evaluated by the multiple regression analysis as competition with $S_N2$ - type mechanism. And in pure TFE and 97 w/w % HFIP solvents with high $Y_{Cl}$ and weak $N_T$, these solvolyses are understood as reactions which proceed through an ionization ($S_N1$) pathway.

Nanocrystalline spinel lithium manganese oxide ($LiMn_2O_4$) powders with narrow-size-distribution, pure-phase particles, and high crystallinity with an average crystallite size of about 70 nm were synthesized at $600^{\circ}C$ for 6 h in air by freeze drying method. Spinel $LiMn_2O_4$ is also prepared by sol-gel using citric acid as a chelating agent. The influence of different parameters such as pH conditions, solvent, molar ratio of citric acid to total metal ions, calcination temperature, starting material on the structure, morphology and purity of this oxide was investigated. The results of sol-gel method show that pure $LiMn_2O_4$ with average crystallite size of about 130 nm can be produced from nitrate salts as starting materials at $800^{\circ}C$ for 6 h in air. The optimum pH and molar ratio of chelating agent to total metal ions are $4{\leq}pH{\leq}6$ and 1.0, respectively. A possible mechanism on the formation of the nanocrystallines synthesized by sol-gel was also discussed. At the end a comparison of the differences between two methods was made on the basis of x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) tests.

Many properties of inorganic compounds are sensitive to changes in the point-defect concentrations. In minerals, such changes are influenced by temperature, pressure, and chemical impurities. Olivines form an important class of minerals and are magnesium-rich solid solutions consisting of the orthosilicates forsterite $Mg_2SiO_4$ and the fayalite $Fe_2SiO_4$. Orthosilicates have an orthorhombic crystal structure and exhibit anisotropic electronic and ionic transport properties. We examined the anisotropy of the electrical conductivity of $Fe_2SiO_4$ under the assumption that the electronic conduction in $Fe_2SiO_4$ occurs via a small polaron hopping mechanism. The anisotropic electrical conductivity is well explained by the electron transfer integrals obtained from the spin dimer analysis based on tight-binding calculations. The latter analysis is expected to provide insight into the anisotropic electrical conductivities of other magnetic insulators of transition metal oxides.