Search techniques reagents

All those design alternatives require a virtual library as a fundamental basis, which refers to an electronic description of all possible compounds, which might be synthesized by a short sequence of specific transformations with particular reagents and one or multiple scaffolds. Appropriate fast and relevant searching techniques are available today, which can be used for selection and design of actual synthesis subsets in accordance with the level of biological knowledge [27,28] from such a parent library. 

A significant aid in the preparation of the second edition was the tremendous resources now available on the Internet for searching references to virtually any subject or key word within the scientific literature. For this reason, adding endless references to each chapter probably only would increase the size of the book by hundreds of pages, but add very little real value. Far better is for the reader to make use of pertinent Internet databases to search for key words, structure names, or reagent acronyms which can provide lists of hundreds or even thousands of additional references or links regarding any bioconjugation technique of interest. 

Today, nearly every important reagent or method reported in the literature has a patent or patent application associated with it, especially if it has potential commercial value. A search of the patent databases, such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (http //www. uspto.gov/) or the European Patent Office (http //ep.espacenet.com/) for key words or the potential names of inventors can provide a list of any existing issued patents or patent applications related to a bioconjugate technique or compound. In addition, a fee-based service such as Delphion is particularly effective at finding patents related to any subject matter (http //www. delphion.com/). 

The search for more rapid and sensitive methods of protein detection after electrophoresis led to the development of fluorescent staining techniques. Two commonly used fluorescent reagents are fluorescamine and anilinonaphthalene sulfonate. New dyes based on silver salts (silver diamine or silver-tungstosilicic acid complex) have been developed for protein staining. They are 10 to 100 times more sensitive than Coomassie Blue (Fig. 4.7). 

Blood and bloodstain analysis. The Aerospace Corporation has completed a survey and technical assessment of the state-of-the-art of forensic serological practices in the United States. Problems have been defined which currently limit the utilization of blood characterization techniques, and approaches have been identified which have the potential of solving these problems. This assessment was accomplished primarily through contacts with criminalistics laboratories, blood banks, industrial organizations which manufacture instrumentation and reagents for blood identification, and through an extensive search of the literature. 

Where peptide chemistry can make a contribution toward the proof of protein structure is in the application and continued formulation of degrada-tive techniques. Since fragmentation of the protein molecule to smaller peptides is probably the key reaction in degradative processes, the search for specific reagents for the selective cleavage of various peptide bonds and the standardization of existing techniques is of prime importance (Katsoyannis, 1961). 

Concentration techniques can be used, especially if the search is to determine the presence or absence of certain specific elements. Chemical separations by any one or a variety of methods may be employed. Reagents that precipitate a group of elements are particularly useful. Standard references on chemical separations should be consulted if this method appears desirable. 

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