Green Synthesis of d,l-Phenylalanine using 2-Methylhydrofuron

Abstract: Green Synthesis of d,l-Phenylalanine using 2-Methyltetrahdrofuron Johnay Fanning, Nicole Blanshan, Rachel Scherrer Phenylalanine is an amino acid with many uses. The two forms, d, and l interact differently with chiral enzymes. The d form is found in compounds such as aspirin and salicylic acid, and is used to combat pain. The l form is used as a stimulant, appetite suppressant, and mood enhancer. Interestingly, the two forms together are used by the brain to produce norepinephrine, an important neurotransmitter. It also helps to replace dopamine. This three step synthesis started with the saponification of diethyl benzylmalonate to create benzylmalonic acid. This was then converted to bromobenzylmalonic acid via an SN2 reaction. This second step was also attempted using a greener solvent by changing from diethyl ether to 2-methyltetrahydrofuron. Finally, the bromobenzylmalonic acid was decarboxylated to produce the final product phenylalanine

Shifting fundamental frequency in simulated electric-acoustic listening

Previous experiments have shown significant improvement in speech intelligibility under both simulated [Brown, C. A., and Bacon, S. P. (2009a). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125, 1658–1665; Brown, C. A., and Bacon, S. P. (2010). Hear. Res. 266, 52–59] and real [Brown, C. A., and Bacon, S. P. (2009b). Ear Hear. 30, 489–493] electric-acoustic stimulation when the target speech in the low-frequency region was replaced with a tone modulated in frequency to track the changes in the target talker’s fundamental frequency (F0), and in amplitude with the amplitude envelope of the target speech. The present study examined the effects in simulation of applying these cues to a tone lower in frequency than the mean F0 of the target talker. Results showed that shifting the frequency of the tonal carrier downward by as much as 75 Hz had no negative impact on the benefit to intelligibility due to the tone, and that even a shift of 100 Hz resulted in a significant benefit over simulated electric-only stimulation when the sensation level of the tone was comparable to that of the tones shifted by lesser amounts

Boronic acid and guanidinium based synthetic receptors: new applications in differential sensing

textIn the field of supramolecular chemistry a common goal is to design a receptor that is highly selective for a targeted analyte. While this is a worthwhile goal, many of these synthetic receptors are less selective than their natural counterparts such as enzymes or antibodies. Many aspects of the work shown herein demonstrate that these less selective synthetic receptors are still useful chemosensors. Just as Nature utilizes differential receptors in our sense of taste and smell, synthetic sensor arrays can be developed to achieve similar results. Chapter 1 is an overview of the development of a sensor. It begins with the aspects of binding carboxylates and diols, specifically by guanidiniums and boronic acids. Next, signaling motifs of a sensor are discussed, leading to the advantages of using an indicator displacement assay. Finally, differential sensors are discussed, introducing the idea of incorporating non-selective synthetic sensors for the detection of multiple analytes with the use of pattern recognition. Chapter 2 discusses the use of non-selective synthetic receptors in a number of sensing schemes. First a receptor was used to bind a class of age related analytes found in scotch whiskies. A correlation was found between the age of the scotch and the sensing ensemble’s response to the beverage. In another sensing application, a high degree of selectivity was achieved by using two receptors and two indicators together in solution. Due to the differential response of the receptors to the indicators and the guests, the simultaneous quantification of tartrate and malate was achieved with the aid of pattern recognition. Finally, initial efforts were put forth for incorporating the receptor into a differential sensing array by immobilizing the receptor on a solid support. The selectivity of the receptor was investigated, showing that the receptor still had a higher affinity for tartrate over malate. Chapter 3 investigated the thermodynamics of guanidiniums and boronic acids binding carboxylates and diols, respectively. Four hosts were investigated with a variety of guests. The association constants were determined through UV/vis analysis, while the entropy and enthalpy were determined with isothermal titration calorimetry. The binding of boronic acids to more than just aliphatic diols was also investigated. Chapter 4 discussed the development of new sensor for catechol containing analytes. The sensor’s design is based on iron binding siderophores. The iron is both the binding site and the signaling motif for the sensor. Upon addition of catechol guests, a signal modulation did occur.Chemistry and BiochemistryChemistr

Chromosomal translocations t(4;14), t(11;14) and proliferation rate stratify patients with mature plasma cell myelomas into groups with different survival probabilities: a molecular epidemiologic study on tissue microarrays

Plasma cell myelomas (PMs) exhibit clinical and molecular heterogeneity. To date, morphology and immunohistochemistry on bone marrow trephines are of limited value to stratify patients into different prognostic categories. However, some chromosomal translocations are of prognostic and/or of predictive importance in PMs. In this study, the prognostic significance of morphology, CyclinD1 expression, proliferation index (Mib1) and presence of the translocations FGFR3/IgH [t(4;14)] and CCND1/IgH [t(11;14)] are compared in 119 patients with PM. Immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis were carried out on a tissue microarray containing bone marrow trephines. Hundred and one PMs showed a mature morphology whereas 10 were immature. All but one PM carrying a translocation showed a mature morphology. Patients with a t(4;14) (12%) had a statistically significant shorter 1-year survival (P=0.004), whereas those with a t(11;14) (21%) had a trend towards a better clinical outcome. CyclinD1 protein expression was not significantly associated with survival. Besides the t(4;14), an immature morphology (P<0.001) and a proliferation index (Mib1) of more than 10% (P=0.002) were associated with a significantly worse outcome. A high occurrence of strong CyclinD1 protein expression in the tumor cells was predictive of either a t(11;14) or of a low level amplification of the CCND1 gene, suggesting that different molecular mechanisms may have lead to an over-expression of the CyclinD1 protein in PMs. These findings demonstrate that a high proliferation rate and translocations involving the IgH locus can stratify mature PMs into groups with distinct survival probabilities

Recent CEDRE Applications

International audienceA selection of recent CEDRE applications in the aerospace field are presented to illustrate various functionalities of the code. These applications have been selected to cover a wide application field in aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics and combustion. Many of them are “multiphysics”, in the sense that they are based on the coupling of independent solvers for, respectively, gas flow, condensed phase transport, solidconduction, radiation, etc. Some of them include an external coupling to other codes.The presentation of each application includes the objectives of the computation, the methodology (modeling, numerics, grid, etc.) and some significant results