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Selected AbstractsTwo-phase flow electrosynthesis: Comparing N -octyl-2-pyrrolidone,aqueous and acetonitrile,aqueous three-phase boundary reactionsJOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, Issue 1 2009Stuart M. MacDonald Abstract A microfluidic double channel device is employed to study reactions at flowing liquid,liquid junctions in contact with a boron-doped diamond (BDD) working electrode. The rectangular flow cell is calibrated for both single-phase liquid flow and biphasic liquid,liquid flow for the case of (i) the immiscible N -octyl-2-pyrrolidone (NOP),aqueous electrolyte system and (ii) the immiscible acetonitrile,aqueous electrolyte system. The influence of flow speed and liquid viscosity on the position of the phase boundary and mass transport-controlled limiting currents are examined. In contrast to the NOP,aqueous electrolyte case, the acetonitrile,aqueous electrolyte system is shown to behave close to ideal without ,undercutting' of the organic phase under the aqueous phase. The limiting current for three-phase boundary reactions is only weakly dependent on flow rate but directly proportional to the concentration and the diffusion coefficient in the organic phase. Acetonitrile as a commonly employed synthetic solvent is shown here to allow effective three-phase boundary processes to occur due to a lower viscosity enabling faster diffusion. N -butylferrocene is shown to be oxidised at the acetonitrile,aqueous electrolyte interface about 12 times faster when compared with the same process at the NOP,aqueous electrolyte interface. Conditions suitable for clean two-phase electrosynthetic processes without intentionally added supporting electrolyte in the organic phase are proposed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Spectroscopic ellipsometry study of thin diffusion barriers of TaN and Ta for Cu interconnects in integrated circuitsPHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (A) APPLICATIONS AND MATERIALS SCIENCE, Issue 4 2008S. Rudra Abstract The objective of this work is to study the optical and electrical properties of tantalum nitride and tantalum barrier thin films used against copper diffusion in Si in integrated circuits using spectroscopic ellipsometry in the VUV and UV,visible range. Single layers of tantalum nitride and bilayer films of Ta/TaN were produced by reactive magnetron sputtering on Si(100) substrates covered with a native oxide layer. Ellipsometric measurements were performed in the energy range from 0.73,8.7 eV and the dielectric functions were simulated using Drude,Lorentz model and effective medium approximation (EMA) in order to obtain information regarding film thickness, film composition, free carrier plasma energy, mean relaxation time and electrical resistivity. The film thickness clearly affects the electrical resistivity and the electron mean free path. It was observed that for films of Ta on TaN even after maintaining the deposition condition suitable for the ,-phase of Ta, it turned out to be a mixture of ,- and ,-phases with higher contribution of the ,-phase. It is shown that even a very small intermixture of two different phases of Ta can be determined accurately using ellipsometry. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Megaplasmids in Gram-negative, moderately halophilic bacteriaFEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 1 2003Montserrat Argandoña Abstract We have discovered that many Halomonas species harbour large extrachromosomal DNA elements. Using currently available protocols it is technically very difficult to identify large plasmids in bacteria, and even more so when they are coated in mucous polysaccharide. We used culture conditions suitable for both halophilic and halophilic exopolysaccharide-producing bacteria and applied a modified gel electrophoresis method to locate and visualise the megaplasmids. Almost all the species of Halomonas studied harbour two plasmids of about 70 kb and 600 kb and some species carry other smaller extrachromosomal DNA elements. The common presence of these megaplasmids may well be related to the survival strategies of the bacteria in their special surroundings. [source] Glacial refugia of temperate trees in Europe: insights from species distribution modellingJOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2008Jens-Christian Svenning Summary 1The Pleistocene is an important period for assessing the impact of climate change on biodiversity. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 21 000 years ago), large glaciers and permafrost reached far south in Europe. Trees are traditionally thought to have survived only in scattered Mediterranean refugia (southern refugia hypothesis), but a recent proposal suggests that trees may have been much more widely and northerly distributed (northern refugia hypothesis). 2In this study, the southern vs. northern refugia hypotheses were investigated by estimating the potential LGM distributions of 7 boreal and 15 nemoral widespread European tree species using species distribution modelling. The models were calibrated using data for modern species distributions and climate and projected onto two LGM climate simulations for Europe. Five modelling variants were implemented. 3Models with moderate to good predictive ability for current species range limits and species richness patterns were developed. 4Broadly consistent results were obtained irrespective of the climate simulation and modelling variant used. Our results indicate that LGM climatic conditions suitable for boreal species existed across Central and Eastern Europe and into the Russian Plain. In contrast, suitable climatic conditions for nemoral tree species were largely restricted to the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. Large proportions of these northern and southern regions would have been suitable for a number of boreal or boreal plus nemoral tree species, respectively. 5These findings are consistent with recent palaeoecological and phylogeographic data regarding LGM distributions of trees and other boreal and nemoral taxa. 6Synthesis. It is clear that the view of the LGM landscape in Europe as largely treeless, especially north of the Alps, needs to be revised. Trees were probably much more widespread during the LGM than hitherto thought, although patchily distributed at low densities due to low atmospheric CO2 concentrations and high wind-speeds. The findings presented here help explain the occurrence of mammal assemblages with mixtures of forest, tundra and steppe species at many localities in southern Central and Eastern Europe during the LGM, as well as the phylogeographic evidence for the extra-Mediterranean persistence of many boreal species. [source] Substrate and cofactor requirements for RNA editing of chloroplast transcripts in Arabidopsis in vitroTHE PLANT JOURNAL, Issue 1 2005Carla E. Hegeman Summary None of the macromolecular components of the chloroplast RNA editing apparatus has yet been identified. In order to facilitate biochemical purification and characterization of the chloroplast RNA editing apparatus, we have identified conditions suitable for production of chloroplast extracts from the model plant Arabidopsis that are capable of editing exogenous substrates produced by in vitro transcription. A simple poisoned primer extension assay readily quantified editing extent of mutated and wild-type substrates. Maximum editing efficiency typically varied from 10 to 40% with different chloroplast preparations. Substrates carrying as little as 47 nt surrounding the psbE editing site were as efficiently edited as longer substrates. Editing activity was stimulated when either ATP, CTP, or dCTP was provided to the extract, an unusual observation also recently seen with plant mitochondrial editing extracts. Editing was sensitive to a zinc chelator, also a characteristic of the mammalian APOBEC editing enzyme, which is a zinc-dependent cytidine deaminase. [source] Fens and floodplains of the temperate zone: Present status, threats, conservation and restorationAPPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE, Issue 2 2006Rudy van Diggelen Abstract. This Special Feature focuses on lowland fens and flood plains. In this introduction we discuss the most important mire-related terms, present status, threats and conservation and restoration attempts. Floodplains and especially lowland fens are rare and vulnerable ecosystems. They are highly threatened all over the world because of direct conversion to agricultural land and especially the lack of appropriate management and altered catchment hydrology. Finally we present a framework for the conservation and restoration of these ecosystems. This consists of (1) optimising abiotic conditions; (2) safeguarding propagule availability of the target species; (3) creating and maintaining conditions for (re)establishment of these species, and (4) appropriate management to keep the conditions suitable. [source] Redirecting the inactivation pathway of penicillin amidase and increasing amoxicillin production via a thermophilic molecular chaperoneBIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 2 2009Lisa M. Bergeron Abstract We have previously shown that a single-subunit thermosome from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii (rTHS) can stabilize enzymes in semi-aqueous media (Bergeron et al., 2008b). In the present study, rTHS was used to stabilize penicillin amidase (PGA) in methanol,water mixtures. Including methanol in the reaction medium for amoxicillin synthesis can suppress unwanted hydrolysis reactions but inactivate PGA. Inactivation and reactivation pathways proposed for PGA illustrate the predictability of enzyme stabilization by rTHS in co-solvents. Calcium was necessary for reversible dissociation of the two PGA subunits in methanol,water and the presence of calcium resulted in an enhancement of chaperone-assisted stabilization. rTHS also acted as a stabilizer in the enzymatic synthesis of the ,-lactam antibiotic amoxicillin. rTHS stabilized PGA, increasing its half-life in 35% methanol by fivefold at 37°C. Stabilization by rTHS was enhanced but did not require the presence of ATP. Including rTHS in fed-batch reactions performed in methanol,water resulted in nearly 4 times more amoxicillin than when the reaction was run without rTHS, and over threefold higher selectivity towards amoxicillin synthesis compared to aqueous conditions without rTHS. The thermosome and other thermophilic chaperones may thus be generally useful for stabilizing enzymes in their soluble form and expanding the range of conditions suitable for biocatalysis. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009;102: 417,424. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] |