In common globular proteins, the native form is n its most stable state. However, the native form of inhibitory serpins (serine protease inhibitors) and some viral membrane fusion proteins is in a metastable state. Metastability in these proteins is critical to their biological functions. Our previous studies revealed that unusual interactions, such as side-chain overpacking, buried polar groups, surface hydrophobic pockets, ad internal cavities are the structural basis of the native metastability. To understand the mechanism by which these structural defects regulate protein functions, cavity-filling mutations of $\alpha$1-antitrypsin, a prototype serpin, were characterized. Increasing conformational stability is correlated with decreasing inhibitory activity. Moreover, the activity loss appears to correlate with the decrease in the rate of the conformational switch during complex formation with a target protease. We also increased the stability of $\alpha$1-antitrypsin greatly via combining various stabilizing single amino acid substitutions that were distributed throughout the molecule. The results showed that a substantial increase of stability, over 13 kcal/mol, affected the inhibitory activity with a correlation of 11% activity loss per kcal/mol. The results strongly suggest that the native metastability of proteins is indeed a structural design that regulates protein functions and that the native strain of $\alpha$1-antitrypsin distributed throughout the molecule regulates the inhibitory function in a concerted manner.

Orthorhombic type LiCo$_{x}$Mn$_{1-x}$ O$_2$(0$\leq$x$\leq$0.14) oxides have been synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of (Co$_{x}$Mn$_{1-x}$ )$_3$O$_4$precursors and LiOH aqueous solution at 17$0^{\circ}C$. As-synthesized powders showed well-ordered $\beta$-MaMnO$_2$structures, and the products were single crystalline particle oxides from TEM observations. The particle size decreased with increasing the amount of Co substituent. Much more improved capacity upon 100 cyclings was clearly seen in orthorhombic LiCo$_{0.1}$Mn$_{0.9}$O$_2$, comparing to orthorhombic LiMnO$_2$./TEX>.EX>.

반도체 동작시에 파워 손실을 최소화하는 것은 2000년대의 에너지, 산업전자, 정보통신 산업분야에서의 가장 주요한 요구 사항중의 하나이다. 실리콘계 반도체 소자들은 완전히 새로운 구동기구의 소자가 개발되지 않는 한, 실리콘 재료의 낮은 열전도율이나 낮은 절연파괴전계와 같은 물리적 특성한계 때문에 이러한 요구를 만족시키는 것이 불가능한 실정이다. 따라서 21세기를 위한 대안으로 고열전도율의 WBG(Wide Band-Gap) 물질 그 중에서도 탄화규소(SiC) 반도체가 제시되고 있다. SiC 반도체는 실리콘에 비하여 밴드 갭(band gap: E$_{g}$)이 높을 뿐만이 아니라 절연파괴강도(E$_{B}$)가 한 자릿수 이상 그리고 전자의 포화 drift 속도, V$_{s}$ 및 열전도도 k가 3배 가량 크다. 따라서 SiC는 고온 동작 내지는 고내압, 대전류, 저손실 반도체를 제작하는데 아주 유리하다. 본고에서는 응용성이 넓고, 단결정 제조가 비교적 용이한 SiC 반도체의 기술현황에 대하여 살펴보고자 한다.