• Proceedings of the Korean Biophysical Society Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.75-75
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• 2003

We report here the results on N-acetyl-N'-dimethylamide of proline (Ac-Pro-NM $e_2$) calculated using the ab initio molecular orbital method with the self-consistent reaction field (SCRF) theory at the HF level with the 6-31+G(d) basis set to investigate the conformational preference of polyproline depending on the cis/trans peptide bonds and down/up puckerings along the backbone torsion angle $\square$ in the gas phase, chloroform, and water. In the gas phase, Ac-Pro-NM $e_2$ has seven local minima of tFd, tFu, cFd, cFu, cAu, tAu, and cAd conformations. In particular, polyproline conformations tFd, tFu, cFd, and cFu are found to be more stable than $\square$-helical conformations cAu, tAu, and cAd. In contrast, Ac-Pro-NHMe has seven local minima of tCd, tCu, cBd, cAu, tAu, cFd, and cFu conformations. Conformations tCd and tCu are found to be most stable, which is ascribed to the intramolecular hydrogen bond between C=O of acetyl group and $N^{~}$ H of N'-methyl amide group. The stability of the cFd conformation (i.e., the polyproline I structure) in chloroform is somewhat increased, relative to that in water, although tFd and tFu conformations (i.e., the polyproline II structure) are dominate both in chloroform and water. The population of backbone conformations feasible in chloroform and water is consistent with the experiments. This work is supported by a Korea Research Foundation Grant (KRF-2002-041-C00129).

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2011

Degree of unsaturation in fatty acid molecules plays an important role in the formation of vesicles. Vesicle formation from C18 fatty acids with different amount of double bonds such as oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid with the incorporation of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[methoxy(polyethylene glycol)-2000] (DPPE-PEG2000) have been examined by TEM. Critical vesicular concentrations (CVC) of the vesicle suspension are determined by turbidity and surface tension methods. The CVC of fatty acids increases when the amount of unsaturation in the alkyl chain increases. On the other hand, stability of vesicle suspension has been examined by using particle size and zeta potential at $30^{\circ}C$. There was a dramatic decrease in particle size measurement from mono-unsaturation to tri-unsaturation which could be due to the effect of fluidity in the membrane bilayer caused by different degree of unsaturation. The values of zeta potential for vesicles that were formed without the incorporation of DPPE-PEG2000 were in the range of -70 mV to -100 mV. It has been observed that the incorporation of DPPEPEG2000 to the vesicle reduces the magnitude of zeta potential. However, this phenomenon does not obviously seen in fatty acid vesicles formed by linoleate-linoleic acid and linolenate-linolenic acid. We therefore conclude that the addition of DPPE-PEG2000 does not effectively improve the stability of the linoleate-linoleic acid and linolenatelinolenic acid vesicle at pH 9.0 after the evaluation of their particle size and zeta potential over a period of 30 days. Although the vesicles formed were not stable for more than 10 days, they have displayed the potential in encapsulating the active ingredients such as vitamin E and calcein. The results show that the loading efficiencies of vitamin E are of encouraging value.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.838-842
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• 2004

Amyloid peptide (A${\beta}$) is the major component of senile plaques found in the brain of patient of Alzheimer's disease. ${\beta}$-amyloid peptide (25-35) (A${\beta}$25-35) is biologically active fragment of A${\beta}$. The three-dimensional structure of A${\beta}$25-35 in aqueous solution with 50% (vol/vol) TFE determined by NMR spectroscopy previously adopts an ${\alpha}$-helical conformation from $Ala^{30}$ to $Met^{35}$. It has been proposed that A${\beta}$(25-35) exhibits pH- and concentration-dependent ${\alpha}-helix{\leftrightarrow}{\beta}$sheet transition. This conformational transition with concomitant peptide aggregation is a possible mechanism of plaque formation. Here, in order to gain more insight into the mechanism of ${\alpha}$-helix formation of A${\beta}$25-35 peptide by TFE, which particularly stabilizes ${\alpha}$-helical conformation, we studied the secondary-structural elements of A${\beta}$25-35 peptide by molecular dynamics simulations. Secondary structural elements determined from NMR spectroscopy in aqueous TFE solution are preserved during the MD simulation. TFE/water mixed solvent has reduced capacity for forming hydrogen bond to the peptide compared to pure water solvent. TFE allows A${\beta}$25-35 to form bifurcated hydrogen bonds to TFE as well as to residues in peptide itself. MD simulation in this study supports the notion that TFE can act as an ${\alpha}$-helical structure forming solvent.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.408-415
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• 1993

Systematic ab initio SCF calculations have been performed on the hydrogen-bonded dimers of fluoromethanes involving $CH_4,\;CH_3F,\;CH_2F_2\;and\;CHF_3$ with ammonia and water applying basis sets of 9s5p/5s and 9s5p1d/5p1d. Various ground state properties of these stable dimeric complexes have been evaluated. We compared these with corresponding properties of isolated monomers. We report equilibrium geometries, stabilization energies, dipole moments and force constants of intermolecular bonds. The effects arising as a consequence of the non-additive behavior of hydrogen bonding in chain-like oligomers are discussed. Systematic, methodical errors due to the use of the SCF approximation and the basis set dependence of the computed results are pointed out.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.2461-2465
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• 2013

Pd-$Ce/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3-TiO_2$ catalysts were prepared by combined sol-gel and impregnation methods. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, $H_2$-temperature-programmed reduction, $O_2$-temperature-programmed desorption, and ethanol oxidation experiments were conducted to determine the properties of the catalysts. Addition of an optimal amount of Ce improved the performance of the $Pd/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3-TiO_2$ catalyst in promoting the complete oxidation of ethanol. The catalyst with 1% Ce exhibited the highest activity, and catalyzed complete oxidation of ethanol at $175^{\circ}C$; its selectivity to $CO_2$ reached 87%. Characterization results show that addition of appropriate amount of Ce could enrich the PdO species, and weaken the Pd-O bonds, thus enhancing oxidation ability of the catalyst. Meanwhile, the introduction of $CeO_2$ could make PdO better dispersed on ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3-TiO_2$, which is beneficial for the improvement of the catalytic oxidation activity.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2016.05a
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• pp.41-41
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• 2016

Influenza viruses are RNA viruses that belong to the Orthomyxoviridae family, and those can be divided into three types; A, B, and C, which based on the differences of the inner nucleoproteins and genomic structures. All three genera differ in their genomic structure and nucleoprotein content, they are further classified into various serotypes based on the two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). These glycoproteins play crucial roles in viral infection and replication. Hemagglutinin mediates binding of virions to sialic acid receptors on the surfaces of target cells at the initial stage of infection. Neuraminidase cleaves the glycosidic bonds of sialic acids from the viral and cell surfaces to release the mature virions from infected cells, after viral replication. Because NA plays an important role in the viral life cycle, it is considered an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of influenza. The methanolic extracts of Phellinus baumii and Phellinus igniarius exhibited significant activity in the neuraminidase inhibition assay. Polyphenolic compounds were isolated from the methanolic extracts. The structures of these compounds were determined to be hispidin, hypholomine B, inoscavin A, davallialactone, phelligridin D, phelligridin E, and phelligridin G by spectroscopic methods. Compounds inhibited the H1N1 neuraminidase activity in a dose-dependent manner with $IC_{50}$ values of 50.9, 22.9, 20.0, 14.2, 8.8, 8.1 and $8.0{\mu}M$, respectively. Moreover, these compounds showed anti-influenza activity in the viral cytopathic effect (CPE) reduction assay using MDCK cells. These results suggests that the polyphenols from P. baumii and P. igniarius are promising candidates for prevention and therapeutic strategies against viral infection.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.26-31
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• 2006

In order to effectively improve interfacial adhesion strength between polypropylene (PP) and jute fiber, we particularly incorporated maleic anhydride grafted PP (MAPP) into the matrix through the environment-friendly process without an additional method of process and had better mechanical performances by providing the alignment into the natural fiber than those of the conventional fabrication technology such as an extrusion or injection molding. We also proposed hot pressing method which applied relatively low shear to the composites and confirmed the chemical bonds among the functional groups of MAPP and jute using FT-IR approach. The concentration of MAPP for maximum tensile strength and modulus was optimized at 3 wt%. Flexural properties had no noticeable tendency to increase with MAPP contents compared to tensile strength, which could probably be explained by the degree in wetting of PP/MAPP matrix.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.155-158
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• 2017

In this paper, ZnO Thin Film Transistors (TFTs) were fabricated by a sol-gel method using a low-temperature process, and their physical and electrical characteristics were analyzed. To lower the process temperature to $200^{\circ}C$, we used a zinc nitrate hydrate ($Zn(NO_3)_2{\cdot}xH_2O$) precursor. Thermo Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) analysis showed that the zinc nitrate hydrate precursor solution had 1.5% residual organics, much less than the 6.5% of zinc acetate dihydrate at $200^{\circ}C$. In the sol-gel method, organic materials in the precursor disrupt formation of a high-quality film, and high-temperature annealing is needed to remove the organic residuals, which implies that, by using zinc nitrate hydrate, ZnO devices can be fabricated at a much lower temperature. Using an X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD) and an X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS), $200^{\circ}C$ annealed ZnO film with zinc nitrate hydrate (ZnO (N)) was found to have an amorphous phase and much more oxygen vacancy ($V_o$) than Zn-O bonds. Despite no crystallinity, the ZnO (N) had conductance comparable to that of ZnO with zinc acetate dihydrate (ZnO (A)) annealed at $500^{\circ}C$ as in TFTs. These results show that sol-gel could be made a potent process for low-cost and flexible device applications by optimizing the precursors.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1166-1172
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• 1997

[FeⅢ(BLPA)DBC]BPh4, a new functional model for the catechol dioxygenases, has been synthesized, where BLPA is bis((6-methyl-2-pyridyl)methyl)(2-pyridylmethyl)amine and DBC is 3,5-di-tert-butylcatecholate dianion. The BLPA complex has a structural feature that iron center has a six-coordinate geometry with N4O2 donor set. It exhibits EPR signals at g=5.5 and 8.0 which are typical values for the high-spin FeⅢ (S=5/2) complex with axial symmetry. The BLPA complex reacts with O2 within a few hours to afford intradiol cleavage (75%) and extradiol cleavage (15%) products which is very unique result of all [Fe(L)DBC] complexes studied. The iron-catecholate interaction of BLPA complex is significantly stronger, resulting in the enhanced covalency of the metal-catecholate bonds and low energy catecholate to FeⅢ charge transfer bands at 583 and 962 nm in CH3CN. The enhanced covalency is also reflected by the isotropic shifts exhibited by the DBC protons, which indicate increased semiquinone character. The greater semiquinone character in the BLPA complex correlates well with its high reactivity towards O2. Kinetic studies of the reaction of the BLPA complex with 1 atm O2 in CH3OH and CH2Cl2 under pseudo-first order conditions show that the BLPA complex reacts with O2 much slower than the TPA complex, where TPA is tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine. It is presumably due to the steric effect of the methyl substituent on the pyridine ring. Nevertheless, both the high specificity and the fast kinetics can be rationalized on the basis of its low energy catecholate to FeⅢ charge transfer bands and large isotropic NMR shifts for the BLPA protons. These results provide insight into the nature of the oxygenation mechanism of the catechol dioxygenases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1144-1153
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• 2021

A released exopolysaccharide (rEPS)-producing strain (LM187) with good acid resistance, bile salt resistance, and cholesterol-lowering properties was isolated from Sichuan paocai and identified as Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides. The purified rEPS, designated as rEPS414, had a uniform molecular weight of 7.757 × 10⁵ Da. Analysis of the monosaccharide composition revealed that the molecule was mainly composed of glucose. The Fourier transform-infrared spectrum showed that rEPS414 contained both α-type and β-type glycosidic bonds. ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra analysis showed that the purified rEPS contained arabinose, galactose, and rhamnose, but less uronic acid. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that the exopolysaccharide displayed a large number of scattered, fluffy, porous cellular network flake structures. In addition, rEPS414 exhibited strong in vitro antioxidant activity. These results showed that strain LM187 and its rEPS are promising probiotics with broad prospects in industry.