• KSBB Journal
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.257-262
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• 2012

The gene encoding Thermus thermophilus HJ6 laccase (Tt-laccase) was cloned, sequenced, and comprised of 1,389 nucleotides encoding a protein (462 amino acids) with a predicted molecular mass of 51,049 Da. The deduced amino acid sequence of Tt-laccase showed 99.7% and 44.3% identities to the Thermus thermophilus HB27 laccase and Synechococcus sp. RS9917 laccase, respectively. Tt-laccase gene was expressed as a fusion protein with six histidine residues in E. coli Rosetta-gami (DE3) cells, and the recombinant protein was purified to homogeneity. UV-Vis spectrum analysis revealed that the enzyme has copper atoms, a type I Cu(II) and a type III binuclear Cu(II). The optimum pH for the oxidation of guaiacol was 5.0 and the optimum temperature was $90^{\circ}C$ The half-life of heat inactivation was about 120 min at $90^{\circ}C$ The enzyme reaction was inhibited by sodium azide, L-cystein, EDTA, dithiothreitol, tropolone, and kojic acid. The enzyme oxidized various known laccase substrates, its lowest $K_m$ value being for 4-hydroxyindole, highest $k_{cat}$ value for syringaldazine, and highest $k_{cat}/K_m$ for guaiacol.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.589-593
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• 2014

AlNO multi-layer thin films on aluminum substrates were prepared by DC reactive magnetron sputtering method. $Al_2O_3$/AlNO(LMVF)/AlNO(HMVF)/Al/substrate of 4 multi-layer has been prepared in an Ar and ($N_2+O_2$) gas mixture, and $Al_2O_3$ of top layer is anti-reflection layer on double AlNO(LMVF)/AlNO(HMVF) layers and Al metal of infrared reflection layer. In this study, the roughness and surface properties of AlNO thin films were estimated by field emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM). The grain size of AlNO thin films increased with increasing sputtering power. The composition of thin films has been systematically investigated using electron probe microanalysis(EPMA). The optical properties with wavelength spectrum were recorded by UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometry at a range of 200~1,500 nm. The absorptance of AlNO films shows the increasing trend with swelling ($N_2+O_2$) gas mixture in HMVF and LMVF deposition. The excellent optical performance showed above 98% of absorptance in visible wavelength region.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1129-1135
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• 2015

The synthesis of gold nanoparticles has gained tremendous attention owing to their immense applications in the field of biomedical sciences. Although several chemical procedures are used for the synthesis of nanoparticles, the release of toxic and hazardous by-products restricts their use in biomedical applications. In the present investigation, gold nanoparticles were synthesized biologically using the culture filtrate of the filamentous fungus Alternaria sp. The culture filtrate of the fungus was exposed to three different concentrations of chloroaurate ions. In all cases, the gold ions were reduced to Au(0), leading to the formation of stable gold nanoparticles of variable sizes and shapes. UV-Vis spectroscopy analysis confirmed the formation of nanoparticles by reduction of Au³⁺ to Au⁰. TEM analysis revealed the presence of spherical, rod, square, pentagonal, and hexagonal morphologies for 1 mM chloroaurate solution. However, quasi-spherical and spherical nanoparticles/heart-like morphologies with size range of about 7-13 and 15-18 nm were observed for lower molar concentrations of 0.3 and 0.5 mM gold chloride solution, respectively. The XRD spectrum revealed the face-centered cubic crystals of synthesized gold nanoparticles. FT-IR spectroscopy analysis confirmed the presence of aromatic primary amines, and the additional SPR bands at 290 and 230 nm further suggested that the presence of amino acids such as tryptophan/tyrosine or phenylalanine acts as the capping agent on the synthesized mycogenic gold nanoparticles.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1061-1068
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• 2010

The biological synthesis of nanoparticles has gained considerable attention in view of their excellent biocompatibility and low toxicity. We isolated and purified rhamnolipids from Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS-161R, and these purified rhamnolipids were used to synthesize silver nanoparticles. The purified rhamnolipids were further characterized and the structure was elucidated based on one- and two-dimensional $^1H$ and $^{13}C$ NMR, FT-IR, and HR-MS spectral data. Purified rhamnolipids in a pseudoternary system of n-heptane and water system along with n-butanol as a cosurfactant were added to the aqueous solutions of silver nitrate and sodium borohydride to form reverse micelles. When these micelles were mixed, they resulted in the rapid formation of silver nanoparticles. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The nanoparticles formed had a sharp adsorption peak at 410 nm, which is characteristic of surface plasmon resonance of the silver nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were monodispersed, with an average particle size of 15.1 nm (${\sigma}={\pm}5.82$ nm), and spherical in shape. The EDS analysis revealed the presence of elemental silver signal in the synthesized nanoparticles. The formed silver nanoparticles exhibited good antibiotic activity against both Grampositive and Gram-negative pathogens and Candida albicans, suggesting their broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.1120-1127
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• 2017

Marasmius scorodonius secretes an extracellular laccase in potato dextrose broth, and this enzyme was purified up to 206-fold using $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ precipitation and a Hi-trap Q Sepharose column. The molecular mass of the purified laccase was estimated to be ~67 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The UV/vis spectrum of the enzyme was nontypical for laccases, and metal content analysis revealed that the enzyme contains 1 mole of Fe and Zn and 2 moles of Cu per mole of protein. The optimal pH for the enzymatic activity was 3.4, 4.0, and 4.6 with 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), guaiacol, and 2,6-dimethoxy phenol as the substrate, respectively. The optimal temperature of the enzyme was $75^{\circ}C$ with ABTS as the substrate. The enzyme was stable in the presence of some metal ions such as $Ca^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Ni^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Mn^{2+}$, $Ba^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$, and $Zn^{2+}$ at a low concentration (1 mM), whereas $Fe^{2+}$ completely inhibited the enzymatic activity. The enzymatic reaction was strongly inhibited by metal chelators and thiol compounds except for EDTA. This enzyme directly decolorized Congo red, Malachite green, Crystal violet, and Methylene green dyes at various decolorization rates of 63-90%. In the presence of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole as a redox mediator, the decolorization of Reactive orange 16 and Remazol brilliant blue R was also achieved.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1354-1367
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• 2014

In the present work, we describe a simple, cheap, and unexplored method for "green" synthesis of silver nanoparticles using cell extracts of the cyanobacterium Anabaena doliolum. An attempt was also made to test the antimicrobial and antitumor activities of the synthesized nanoparticles. Analytical techniques, namely UV-vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and TEM-selected area electron diffraction, were used to elucidate the formation and characterization of silver-cyanobacterial nanoparticles (Ag-CNPs). Results showed that the original color of the cell extract changed from reddish blue to dark brown after addition of silver nitrate solution (1 mM) within 1 h, suggesting the synthesis of Ag-CNPs. That the formation Ag-CNPs indeed occurred was also evident from the spectroscopic analysis of the reaction mixture, wherein a prominent peak at 420 nm was noted. TEM images revealed well-dispersed, spherical Ag-CNPs with a particle size in the range of 10-50 nm. The X-ray diffraction spectrum suggested a crystalline nature of the Ag-CNPs. FTIR analysis indicated the utilization of a hydroxyl (-OH) group in the formation of Ag-CNPs. Ag-CNPs exhibited strong antibacterial activity against three multidrug-resistant bacteria. Additionally, Ag-CNPs strongly affected the survival of Dalton's lymphoma and human carcinoma colo205 cells at a very low concentration. The Ag-CNPs-induced loss of survival of both cell types may be due to the induction of reactive oxygen species generation and DNA fragmentation, resulting in apoptosis. Properties exhibited by the Ag-CNP suggest that it may be used as a potential antibacterial and antitumor agent.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.11.2-11.2
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• 2011

Polymer based organic photovoltaics have attracted a great deal of attention due to the potential cost-effectiveness of light-weight and flexible solar cells. However, most BHJ polymer solar cells are not thermally stable as subsequent exposure to heat drives further development of the morphology towards a state of macrophase separation in the micrometer scale. Here we would like to show three different approaches for developing new electroactive polymers to improve the thermal stability of the BHJ solar cells, which is a critical problem for the commercialization of these solar cells. For one of the examples, we report a new series of functionalized polythiophene (PT-x) copolymers for use in solution processed organic photovoltaics (OPVs). PT-x copolymers were synthesized from two different monomers, where the ratio of the monomers was carefully controlled to achieve a UV photo-crosslinkable layer while leaving the ${\pi}-{\pi}$ stacking feature of conjugated polymers unchanged. The crosslinking stabilizes PT-x/PCBM blend morphology preventing the macro phase separation between two components, which lead to OPVs with remarkably enhanced thermal stability. The drastic improvement in thermal stabilities is further characterized by microscopy as well as grazing incidence X-ray scattering (GIXS). In the second part of talk, we will discuss the use of block copolymers as active materials for WOLEDs in which phosphorescent emitter isolation can be achieved. We have exploited the use of triarylamine (TPA) oxadiazole (OXA) diblock copolymers (TPA-b-OXA), which have been used as host materials due to their high triplet energy and charge-transport properties enabling a balance of holes and electrons. Organization of phosphorescent domains in TPA-b-OXA block copolymers is demonstrated to yield dual emission for white electroluminescence. Our approach minimizes energy transfer between two colored species by site isolation through morphology control, allowing higher loading concentration of red emitters with improved device performance. Furthermore, by varying the molecular weight of TPA-b-OXA and the ratio of blue to red emitters, we have investigated the effect of domain spacing on the electroluminescence spectrum and device performance.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.194-198
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• 2005

Two antioxidative compounds were isolated from the methanolic extract of Eleutherococcus senticosus Max. plantlets and identified as chlorogenic acid and 1,4-di-o-caffeoyl-quinic acid on the basis of mass spectroscopy, $^1H-NMR$ and $^{13}C-NMR$ data. The DPPH free radical scavenging activities of chlorogenic acid $(RC_{50}\;:\;1.2\;{\mu}g)$ and 1,4-di-o-caffeoyl-quinic acid $(RC_{50}\;:\;0.4\;{\mu}g)$ were more effective than those of ${\alpha}-tocopherol\;(RC_{50}\;:\;12\;{\mu}g)$. Of them, 1,4-di-o-caffeoyl-quinic acid compound were isolated for the first time from this plant.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.195-206
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• 2007

Objectives : The aim of this study is to investigate the safety of Acupuncture needles made from duplex stainless steel. Methods : In order to check the safety concern of the DSS Acupuncture needle, we employed biochemical measures, DSS and SS304 Acupuncture needles were tested for pH level, heavy metals and UV absorbance spectrum along with cytotoxicity and hemolysis. As a guideline, we have referred to the 'standards for acupuncture needles', 'standards for disposable needles' and 'standards and experimental procedures for stents' for the Korean Food & Drug Administration(KFDA). Results & Conclusions : The DSS Acupuncture needle extract satisfied these requirements. There was no significant difference between the DSS and SS304 Acupuncture needle extract. In conclusion, the DSS Acupuncture needle displayed biochemical safety.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 2001

Spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER) was fabricated and used to characterize pulses from a Ti:sapphire oscillator. In the SPIDER apparatus, two replicas of the input pulse were generated with a time delay of 200 fs and were upconverted by use of sum-frequency generation with a strongly chirped pulse using a 8-cm-long SFIO glass block at a 30-11m-thick type II BBO (p-BaBz04) crystal. The resulting interferogram was recorded with a UV-enhanced CCD array in the spectrometer. The spectral phase was retrieved by SPIDER algorithm in combination with independently measured pulse spectrum and the corresponding temporal intensity profile was reconstructed with a duration of 19 fs. As an independent cross-check of the accuracy of the method, we compared the interferometric autocorrelation (lAC) signal calculated from the SPIDER data with a separately measured lAC. The conventional, but unjustified, method of fitting a sechz pulse to the autocorrelation deceivingly yielded a pulse duration of 15 fs. This systematic underestimation of the pulse duration affirms the need for a complete characterization method. From the consideration in this paper, we concluded that the SPIDER could provide an accurate characterization of femtosecond pulses. ulses.