Germany. Both amide and imide forms of these new polymers have been tested in the retention process of Cr (III) ions. Experimental results referring mainly to the retention capacity and retention efficiency, for different values of the working parameters: contact procedure, batch time, concentration of chelators, and pH, are

presented. The polymer structures and their Dactolisib in vitro metal complexes were characterized by IR spectroscopy. IR spectra proved that the metal was coordinated by nitrogen from TETA. The thermal properties of modified polymers and polychelates were also examined. Based on these experimental results and literature data, we discuss a possible PF-03084014 inhibitor binding mechanism and suggest the polychelate structures. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 121:1867-1874, 2011″
“Many protein functions can be directly linked to conformational changes. Inside cells, the equilibria and transition rates between different conformations may be affected by macromolecular crowding. We have recently developed a new approach

for modeling crowding effects, which enables an atomistic representation of “”test” proteins. Here this approach is applied to study how crowding affects the equilibria and transition rates between open and closed conformations of seven proteins: yeast protein disulfide isomerase (yPDI), adenylate kinase (AdK), orotidine phosphate click here decarboxylase (ODCase), Trp repressor (TrpR), hemoglobin, DNA

beta-glucosyltransferase, and Ap(4)A hydrolase. For each protein, molecular dynamics simulations of the open and closed states are separately run. Representative open and closed conformations are then used to calculate the crowding-induced changes in chemical potential for the two states. The difference in chemical-potential change between the two states finally predicts the effects of crowding on the population ratio of the two states. Crowding is found to reduce the open population to various extents. In the presence of crowders with a 15 A radius and occupying 35% of volume, the open-to-closed population ratios of yPDI, AdK, ODCase and TrpR are reduced by 79%, 78%, 62% and 55%, respectively. The reductions for the remaining three proteins are 20-44%. As expected, the four proteins experiencing the stronger crowding effects are those with larger conformational changes between open and closed states (e. g., as measured by the change in radius of gyration). Larger proteins also tend to experience stronger crowding effects than smaller ones [e. g., comparing yPDI (480 residues) and TrpR (98 residues)]. The potentials of mean force along the open-closed reaction coordinate of apo and ligand-bound ODCase are altered by crowding, suggesting that transition rates are also affected.