Optimization of microplate-based phenol-sulfuric acid method and application to the multi-sample measurements of cellulose nanofibers.

The phenol-sulfuric acid (PSA) method is a widely used colorimetric method for determining the total saccharides. Microplate-based PSA methods have been developed to handle a large number of samples and reduce the use of hazardous chemicals. However, the optimal procedures and measurement conditions for this method have not yet been fully established.

Development of highly cytotoxic and actin-depolymerizing biotin derivatives of aplyronine A.

Tied up: a PEG-linked biotin derivative of marine macrolide aplyronine A (ApA) is shown to exhibit potent cytotoxicity and cause actin disassembly in tumor cells. This method of introducing a PEG linker at the end of the aliphatic tail should offer perspectives for developing and using versatile actin-targeting molecular probes. PEG=poly(ethylene glycol).