Direct asymmetric reduction of levulinic acid to gamma-valerolactone: synthesis of a chiral platform molecule

Levulinic acid was directly converted to optically active (S)-gamma-valerolactone, a proposed biomass-based chiral platform molecule. By using a SEGPHOS ligand-modified ruthenium catalyst in methanol as a co-solvent, eventually, 100% chemoselectivity, and 82% enantioselectivity were achieved. The effect of the catalyst composition and reaction parameters on the activity and selectivity was investigated in detail. The conversion of a “real” biomass derived levulinic acid to optically active GVL without decreasing the enantioselectivity was also demonstrated

Model requirements for Biobank Software Systems

Biobanks are essential tools in diagnostics and therapeutics research and development related to personalized medicine. Several international recommendations, standards and guidelines exist that discuss the legal, ethical, technological, and management requirements of biobanks. Today's biobanks are much more than just collections of biospecimens. They also store a huge amount of data related to biological samples which can be either clinical data or data coming from biochemical experiments. A well-designed biobank software system also provides the possibility of finding associations between stored elements. Modern research biobanks are able to manage multicenter sample collections while fulfilling all requirements of data protection and security. While developing several biobanks and analyzing the data stored in them, our research group recognized the need for a well-organized, easy-to-check requirements guideline that can be used to develop biobank software systems. International best practices along with relevant ICT standards were integrated into a comprehensive guideline: The Model Requirements for the Management of Biological Repositories (BioReq), which covers the full range of activities related to biobank development. The guideline is freely available on the Internet for the research community

Geno viewer, a SAM/BAM viewer tool

The ever evolving Next Generation Sequencing technology is calling for new and innovative ways of data processing and visualization. Following a detailed survey of the current needs of researchers and service providers, the authors have developed GenoViewer: a highly user-friendly, easy-to-operate SAM/BAM viewer and aligner tool. GenoViewer enables fast and efficient NGS assembly browsing, analysis and read mapping. It is highly customized, making it suitable for a wide range of NGS related tasks. Due to its relatively simple architecture, it is easy to add specialised visualization functionalities, facilitating further customised data analysis. The software's source code is freely available; it is open for project and task-specific modifications

Használt gumiabroncsok oldószeres kezelésének vizsgálata

Cikkünkben bemutatunk egy új koncepciót, amely megközelítés szerint a használt gumiabroncs oldószerbe történő áztatásával kedvezően befolyásolhatjuk a gumi tulajdonságait, ezáltal megkönnyítve a gumi elasztomer és az abroncs fém részeinek elválasztását. Bemutatjuk a duzzadási kísérleteinkhez használt oldószereket, és a mért tömeg- és térfogat növekedéseket, emellett ismertetjük, hogy az oldószerek milyen szerves és szervetlen komponenseket oldottak ki a gumiból. Rávilágítunk arra, hogy a vizsgált oldószerek a megbontották a gumi kén- hidrogén és kék-kén keresztkötéseit. A kísérletekhez használt oldószereket desztillációs eljárással regeneráltuk, újbóli felhasználás céljára

Microwave-Assisted Valorization of Biowastes to Levulinic Acid

The valorization of cheap and readily available biomass-based wastes such as various straws, husks, shells and peels, more- over, so far unprecedented, commercial and household wastes produced on large scale, i.e. spent coffee grounds and cooked tea leaves waste were processed as raw materials for the production of levulinic acid, a C5-platform molecule. The results obtained by applying conventional and microwave dielectric heating at 170 8C were compared. It was revealed that depend- ing on the source, the average product yields were 10–25 wt% when 2 M aqueous sulfuric acid solution was used. By applying microwave irradiation the reaction time can be significantly reduced (30 min instead of 8 h) without a decrease in product formation. The influence of the feedstock’s water content on the formation of levulinic acid was investigated revealing that the drying process having significant energy needs can be eliminated from the procedure