Seedling Resistance to Stagonospora nodorum Blotch in Wheat Genotypes

In two independent experiments set up in the greenhouse the seedling resistance to Stagonospora nodorum blotch was investigated in 92 varieties, breeding lines and genotypes with a known genetic background. The greatest area under the disease progress curve calculated from lesion type was 37.06, while in the case of the most resistant genotype this value was 0.38. Many of the lines and varieties bred in Martonvásár proved to have excellent resistance in terms of both percentage of infected leaf area and lesion type. Observations indicate that, depending on the aim of the experiment, the efficient selection of breeding lines is possible in the seedling stage either on the basis of the area under the disease progress curve calculated for lesion types, or on the basis of lesion types scored 7, 11 or 14 days after inoculation

Crystal structure of zwitterionic 3,3′-[1,1′-(butane-1,4-diyl)bis(1 H -imidazol-3-ium-3,1-diyl)]bis(propane-1-sulfonate) dihydrate

The crystal structure of the title compound, C16H26N4O6S2·2H2O, a water-soluble di-N-heterocyclic carbene ligand precursor was determined using a single crystal grown by the slow cooling of a hot N,N-di­methyl­formamide solution of the compound. The dihydrate crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c, with half of the zwitterionic mol­ecule and one water mol­ecule of crystallization in the asymmetric unit. The remaining part of the mol­ecule is completed by inversion symmetry. In the mol­ecule, the imidazole ring planes are parallel with a plane-to-plane distance of 2.741 (2) Å. The supra­molecular network is consolidated by hydrogen bonds of medium strength between the zwitterionic mol­ecules and the water mol­ecules of crystallization, as well as by π–π stacking inter­actions between the imidazole rings of neighbouring mol­ecules and C—H...O hydrogen-bonding inter­actions

Comparative solution and structural studies of half-sandwich rhodium and ruthenium complexes bearing curcumin and acetylacetone

Half-sandwich organometallic complexes of curcumin are extensively investigated as anticancer compounds. Speciation studies were performed to explore the solution stability of curcumin complexes formed with [Rh(η 5 -C 5 Me 5 )(H 2 O) 3 ] 2+ . Acetylacetone (Hacac), as the simplest β-diketone ligand bearing (O,O) donor set, was involved for comparison and its Ru(η 6 ‑p‑cymene), Ru(η 6 ‑toluene) complexes were also studied. 1 H NMR, UV–visible and pH-potentiometric titrations revealed a clear trend of stability constants of the acac complexes: Ru(η 6 ‑p‑cymene) > Ru(η 6 ‑toluene) > Rh(η 5 -C 5 Me 5 ). Despite this order, the highest extent of complex formation is seen for the Rh(η 5 -C 5 Me 5 ) complexes at pH 7.4. Formation constant of [Rh(η 5 -C 5 Me 5 )(H 2 curcumin)(H 2 O)] + reveals similar solution stability to that of the acac complex. Additionally, structures of two complexes were determined by X-ray crystallography. The in vitro cytotoxicity of curcumin was not improved by the complexation with these organometallic cations. © 201

Impact of copper and iron binding properties on the anticancer activity of 8-hydroxyquinoline derived Mannich bases

The anticancer activity of 8-hydroxyquinolines relies on complex formation with redox active copper and iron ions. Here we employ UV-visible spectrophotometry and EPR spectroscopy to compare proton dissociation and complex formation processes of the reference compound 8-hydroxyquinoline (Q-1) and three related Mannich bases to reveal possible correlations with biological activity. The studied derivatives harbor a CH2-N moiety at position 7 linked to morpholine (Q-2), piperidine (Q-3), and chlorine and fluorobenzylamino (Q-4) substituents. Solid phase structures of Q-3, Q-4·HCl·H2O, [(Cu(HQ-2)2)2]·(CH3OH)2·Cl4·(H2O)2, [Cu(Q-3)2]·Cl2 and [Cu(HQ-4)2(CH3OH)]·ZnCl4·CH3OH were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In addition, the redox properties of the copper and iron complexes were studied by cyclic voltammetry, and the direct reaction with physiologically relevant reductants (glutathione and ascorbic acid) was monitored. In vitro cytotoxicity studies conducted with the human uterine sarcoma MES-SA/Dx5 cell line reveal the significant cytotoxicity of Q-2, Q-3, and Q-4 in the sub- to low micromolar range (IC50 values 0.2-3.3 μM). Correlation analysis of the anticancer activity and the metal binding properties of the compound series indicates that, at physiological pH, weaker copper(ii) and iron(iii) binding results in elevated toxicity (e.g.Q4: pCu = 13.0, pFe = 6.8, IC50 = 0.2 μM vs.Q1: pCu = 15.1, pFe = 13.0 IC50 = 2.5 μM). Although the studied 8-hydroxyquinolines preferentially bind copper(ii) over iron(iii), the cyclic voltammetry data revealed that the more cytotoxic ligands preferentially stabilize the lower oxidation state of the metal ions. A linear relationship between the pKa (OH) and IC50 values of the studied 8-hydroxyquinolines was found. In summary, we identify Q-4 as a potent and selective anticancer candidate with significant toxicity in drug resistant cells. © The Royal Society of Chemistry

Alapvető kölcsönhatások és egzotikus magállapotok vizsgálata lézerekkel és részecske nyalábokkal = Study of fundamental interactions and exotic nuclear states with lasers and particle beams

Az OTKA által támogatott kutatások eredményeként 1 db. MTA doktori értekezés, 1 db. PhD értekezés és 6 db. egyéb értekezés született. Jelentős fejlesztési munkákat végeztünk, amelyek gyakran nagyon időigényesek voltak, de hosszabb távon remélhetőleg meg fognak térülni. Az elért legfontosabb tudományos eredményeink a következők: 1. Kiemelkedő eredménynek tekinthető, hogy elsőként sikerült izoskalár (T=0) típusú proton-neutron párkölcsönhatás, illetve ilyen módon csatolódott nukleonpárokból összeálló pn-kvartett állapotok létére utaló kísérleti adatokat kapni (NATURE publ.). 2. Feloldottuk a 239Pu fűtőanyag kísérleti és elméleti reaktor-hője között régóta fennálló ellentmondást (Phys. Rev. Lett. Publ.). 3. Új hiperdeformált rotációs sávokat és átmeneti állapotokat azonosítottunk az 232U és a 232Pa atommagokban (Phys. Rev C publikációk). 4. A 190Hg atommag szuperdeformált (SD) állapotai tanulmányozásával kimutattuk, hogy az alacsonyabb Coulomb-gát és teljes kötési energia ellenére a két-proton szeparációs energiák az SD állapotokban nagyobbak, mint a normáldeformált (ND) állapotokban (Phys. Rev. Lett. Publ.). 5. Új királis-jelölt sávszerkezetet azonosítottunk a 134Pr atommagban, amelyben ezen kívül számos új forgási sávot találtunk (Phys. Rev. C Publ.). 6. Kísérleti adatokat kaptunk a 234Pa atommag igazi hármas hasadására. 7. Egy új módszert dolgoztunk ki az atommagok neutronbőr-vastagságának pontos meghatározására (beküldve a Phys. Rev. Lett-hez). | As a result of research supported by the OTKA one doctoral thesis (Dr. of the Hung. Acad. of Sci.), one PhD, and six other dissertations were completed. Significant development work has been done as well, which are often very time consuming but hopefully will be recovered in the longer term. The most important scientific results achieved include the following: 1. The experiment on 92Pd has confirmed the existence of a spin-aligned isoscalar (T=0) band of states. Isoscalar proton-neutron pairing and pnpn quartet states formed out of the pn pairs were identified for the first time (published in NATURE). 2. An outstanding result is that a long-standing contradiction between the experimental and theoretical decay heat values of 239Pu in nuclear reactors has been resolved. 3. New hyperdeformed bands have been identified in 232U and in 232Pa. 4. By studying the superdeformed states in 190Hg we demonstrated that two-proton separation energies are higher in the superdeformed state than in the normal state, despite the lower Coulomb barrier and lower total binding energy. 5. New chiral-candidate band and other rotational bands have been identified in 134Pr . 6. We have published experimental results on the genuine ternary fission of 234Pa. 7. A new method has been developed for the precise determination of the neutron-skin thickness of atomic nuclei