• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1262-1266
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• 2010

In this study, we investigated the use of liquid crystals to selectively detect the activity of enzymes at interfaces decorated with oligopeptide-based membranes. We prepared a mixed monolayer of tetra(ethylene glycol)-terminated lipids and carboxylic acid-terminated lipids at the aqueous-liquid crystal (LC) interface. The 17 amino-acid oligopeptide SNFKTIYDEANQFATYK was then immobilized onto this mixed monolayer through N-hydroxysuccinimide-activation of the carboxylic acid groups. We examined the orientational behavior of nematic 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) after conjugation of the 17 amino-acid oligopeptide with the mixed monolayer assembled at the interface. Immobilization of the oligopeptide caused orientational transitions in 5CB, with a change from homeotropic (perpendicular) to tilted alignment, which was primarily due to the reorganization of the monolayer. The orientation of the 5CB molecules returned to its homeotropic state after contacting the interface containing ${\alpha}$-chymotrypsin, which can cleave the immobilized oligopeptide. Control experiments confirmed that the enzymatic activity of ${\alpha}$-chymotrypsin triggered the ordering transitions in the LC. These results suggest that the LC can provide a facile method for selective detection of enzymatic activity.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1177-1181
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• 2010

The synthesis and characterization of gold nanoparticles coated by Gd-chelate (GdL@Au) is described, where L is a conjugate of DTPA (DTPA = diethylenetriamine-N,N,N',N",N"-pentaacetic acid) and 4-aminothiophenol. These particles are obtained by the replacement of citrate from the gold nanoparticle surfaces with gadolinium chelate (GdL). The average size of GdL@Au is 12 nm with a loading of GdL reaching up to $1.4{\times}10^3$ per particles, and they demonstrate very high r1 relaxivity (${\sim}10^4mM^{-1}s^{-1}$) and the r1 relaxivity per [Gd] is as high as $10mM^{-1}s{-1}$. Here, we also describe the use of bimodality of this contrast agent (CA) as a highly efficient CT contrast agent based on gold nanoparticles (GNPs) that overcome the limitations of iodine based contrast agent. The MTT assay performed on this CAs reveals the cytotoxicity as low as that for Omniscan$^{(R)}$ in the concentration range required to obtain intensity enhancement in the in vivo MRI study.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.1211-1216
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• 2008

A series of DTPA-bis(amides) functionalized by pyridine (1a-c) and N-phenylpicolinamide) (1d-e) and their Gd(III)-complexes of the type [Gd(1)($H_2O$)]·x$H_2O$ (2a-e) were prepared and characterized by analytical and spectroscopic techniques. Potentiality of 2a-e as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI CA) was investigated by measuring relevant physicochemical properties and relaxivities and compared with [Gd(DTPA-BMA)($H_2O$)] (DTPA-BMA=N,N''-di(methylcarbamoylmethyl)diethylenetriamine-N,N',N''-triacetate) ($Omniscan^{(R)}$). The R1 relaxivities of aqueous solutions of 2a-c are in the range of 3.33 -5.02 $mM^{-1}$$sec^{-1}$, which are comparable with those of $Omniscan^{(R)}$ (r1=4.58 $mM^{-1}sec^{-1}$). Complexes 2d-e, insoluble in water, exhibit relatively higher R1 values (8.1- 8.3 $mM^{-1}sec^{-1}$) in HP-$\beta$-CD solutions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.2725-2730
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• 2013

Single C-reactive protein (CRP) molecules, which are non-specific acute phase markers and products of the innate immune system, were quantitatively detected on a gold-nanopatterned biochip using evanescent field-enhanced fluorescence imaging. The $4{\times}5$ gold-nanopatterned biochip (spot diameter of 500 nm) was fabricated by electron beam nanolithography. Unlabeled CRP molecules in human serum were identified with single-molecule sandwich immunoassay by detecting secondary fluorescence generated by total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. With decreased standard CRP concentrations, relative fluorescence intensities reduced in the range of 33.3 zM-800 pM. To enhance fluorescence intensities in TIRF images, the distance between biochip surface and CRP molecules was optimally adjusted by considering the quenching effect of gold and the evanescent field intensity. As a result, TIRF only detected one single-CRP molecule on the biochip the first time.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2018

Iron oxide nanoparticles excite researcher interest in biomedical applications due to their low cost, biocompatibility and superparamagnetism properties. Magnetic iron oxide especially magnetite ($Fe_3O_4$) possessed a superparamagnetic behaviour at certain nanosize which beneficial for drug and gene delivery, diagnosis and imaging. The properties of nanoparticles mainly depend on their synthesis procedure. There has been a massive effort in developing the best synthetic strategies to yield appropriate physico-chemical properties namely co-precipitation, thermal decomposition, microemulsions, hydrothermal and sol-gel. In this review, it is discovered that magnetite nanoparticles are best yielded by co-precipitation method owing to their simplicity and large production. However, its magnetic saturation is within range of 70-80 emu/g which is lower than thermal decomposition and hydrothermal methods (80-90 emu/g) at 100 nm. Dimension wise, less than 100 nm is produced by co-precipitation method at $70^{\circ}C-80^{\circ}C$ while thermal decomposition and hydrothermal methods could produce less than 50 nm but at very high temperature ranging between $200^{\circ}C$ and $300^{\circ}C$. Thus, co-precipitation is the optimum method for pre-compliance magnetite nanoparticles preparation (e.g., 100 nm is fit enough for biomedical applications) since thermal decomposition and hydrothermal required more sophisticated facilities.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1651-1655
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• 2007

Rod-like polymerizable LC molecules having two different reactive groups, i.e. acryl and diacetylene groups were prepared. 4-Hydroxyphenyldiacetylenes were synthesized by the coupling reaction of 1-bromoalkynes with 4-ethynylphenol and then reacted with 4-(6-acryloyloxyalkyloxy)benzoic acid to give polymerizable LC molecules 4a-d. The mesomorphic properties of compounds 4a-d were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, polarized optical microscopy and X-ray diffractometry. Compounds 4a-c exhibited smectic and nematic phases, but compound 4d having a longest alkyl tail among the series formed only a smectic phase. Photopolymerizability of acryl and diacetylene groups was investigated by IR spectroscopy. An anisotropic polymer film could be prepared by selective polymerization of acryl groups with 365 nm UV light in the presence of a photoinitiator (2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone). The subsequent reaction of diacetylene groups with 254 nm UV light disrupted the anisotropic structure, suggesting that these LC molecules could be used for imaging on the film.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.232-237
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• 2009

$Ag/Al_2O_3$ 촉매하에 디젤 엔진에서 배출되는 NOx를 정화하기 위하여, 수소가 풍부한 바이오디젤을 환원제로 사용하였다. Ag 전구체 함침과정에서 촉매기공이 부분적으로 폐쇄되는 것을 BET 실험을 통하여 관찰하였다. 2% $Ag/Al_2O_3$ 촉매의 형상과 조성은 산처리 과정을 거치더라도 변화하지 않는 것을 SEM과 EDXS 분석으로부터 확인하였다. $Ag/Al_2O_3$ 촉매 표면에서 생성되는 -NCO 와 -CN을 in-Situ DRIFT 방법을 사용하여 관찰하여 HC-SCR에서의 NOx 제거 반응구조를 확인하였다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.928-933
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• 2007

Cameleon is a genetically engineered $Ca^{2+}$ sensing molecule consisting of two variants of the green fluorescent protein (GFP), calmodulin and calmodulin-binding protein, M13. HEK-293 cells stably expressing three types of cameleons, yellow cameleon-2, cameleon-3er, and cameleon-2nu, were constructed, and the expression and localization of these cameleons were confirmed by fluorescent imaging. Among the cameleons, the yellow cameleon-2 was selected for analyzing the change in $Ca^{2+}$ induced by the olfactory receptor-mediated signal transduction, because it is localized in the cytosol and binds to cytosolic $Ca^{2+}$ ions. Cells stably expressing yellow cameleon-2 were transfected with each of the test olfactory receptor genes, odr-10 and 17, and the expression of the olfactory receptor genes were examined using immunocytochenmical methods and RT-PCR. Stimulating each olfactory receptor with its specific odorant caused an increase in the intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ level, which was measured using yellow cameleon-2. These results demonstrate that yellow cameleon-2 can be conveniently used to examine the function of the olfactory receptors expressed in heterologous cells.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.835-840
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• 2020

A position-sensitive CsI(Tl) crystal array coupled with the multi-anode position sensitive photomultiplier tube (PS-PMT), Hamamatsu H8500C, has been developed at the Institute of Modern Physics. An effective, fast, and economical readout circuit based on discretized positioning circuit (DPC) bridge was designed for the 64-channel multi-anode flat panel PSPMT. The horizontal and vertical position resolutions are 0.58 mm and 0.63 mm respectively for the 1.0 × 1.0 × 5.0 ㎣ CsI(Tl) array, and the horizontal and vertical position resolutions are 0.86 mm and 0.80 mm respectively for the 2.0 × 2.0 × 10.0 ㎣ CsI(Tl) array. These results show that the CsI(Tl) crystal array with low cost could be applied in the fields of medical imaging and high-resolution gamma camera.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.2623-2627
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• 2011

We investigated the surface structure and wetting behavior of octaneselenolate self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au(111) formed in a 50 ${\mu}M$ ethanol solution according to immersion time, using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and an automatic contact angle (CA) goniometer. Closely-packed, well-ordered alkanethiol SAMs would form as the immersion time increased; unexpectedly, however, we observed the structural transition of octaneselenolate SAMs from a molecular row phase with a long-range order to a disordered phase with a high density of vacancy islands (VIs). Molecularly resolved STM imaging revealed that the missing-row ordered phase of the SAMs could be assigned as a $(6{\times}{\surd}3)R30^{\circ}$ superlattice containing three molecules in the rectangular unit cell. In addition, CA measurements showed that the structural order and defect density of VIs are closely related to the wetting behaviors of octaneselenolate SAMs on gold. In this study, we clearly demonstrate that interactions between the headgroups and gold surfaces play an important role in determining the physical properties and surface structure of SAMs.