Carsten H. Jessen

Intercalating Nucleic Acids: The Influence of Linker Length and Intercalator Type on Their Duplex Stabilities

Six new examples of intercalating nucleic acids were synthesized in order to evaluate the dependence of the length of the linker between oligo and intercalator on the thermal stability of their corresponding duplexes and triplexes. †In honour and celebration of the 70th birthday of Professor Leroy B. Townsend. ††A research center funded by The National Danish Research Foundation for studies on nucleic acid chemical biology.

RoboMusicKids Music Education with Robotic Building Blocks

Being able to express oneself musically and experiment with music composition is traditionally determined by onepsilas ability to play an actual instrument with a certain degree of craftsmanship. The lack of skills often makes it difficult to make children and young people experience the joy of musical creativity, which is an essential element in music education. This paper presents a pilot project where modular robotics is used to create a platform for creative musical expression that allows users to experiment with musical genres without any prior musical knowledge or skills.

Synthesis and evaluation of new potential HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. New analogues of MKC-442 containing Michael acceptors in the C-6 position

Analogues of MKC-442 capable of undergoing Michael addition reactions were synthesised in order to investigate the activity against the HIV-1 mutant (Y181C). An improved activity was postulated on the basis of a possible covalent binding to the mercapto group of Cys181. Lithiation of the C-6 position of 1-ethoxymethyl-5-ethyl-1H-pyrimidine-2,4-dione (5) was followed by reaction with alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes and oxidation of the alcohols formed to give the alkenoyl analogues 1a-3a. Analogues 1b-3b containing an allyloxymethyl group in the N-1 position instead of the ethoxymethyl group could not be synthesised due to isomerisation of the allylic group during the metallation reaction. The NMR data for compounds 1a-3a showed a hindered rotation, which was more pronounced for the 6-cyclohexenylcarbonyl derivative 3a than for the propenyl derivatives 1a and 2a. Moderate activity against wild type HIV-1 was observed for the alcohol 8 and the ketones 2a-3a. However, no activity was observed against the Y181C mutant.

RoboMusic with modular playware

Based on the concepts of RoboMusic and modular playware, we developed a system composed of modular playware devices which allow any user to perform music in a simple, interactive manner. The key features exploited in the modular playware approach are modularity, flexibility, construction, immediate feedback to stimulate engagement, creative exploration of play activities, and in some cases activity design by end-users (e.g., DJs). We exemplify the approach with the development of 11 rock genres and 6 pop music pieces for modular I-BLOCKS, which are exhibited and in daily use at the Rock Me exhibition, and have been used at several international music events in Japan and the USA. A key finding is that professional music design is essential for the development of primitives in a musical behavior-based system, and this professional esthetics is necessary to engage the users in the activity of assembling and coordinating these “professional” musical primitives. This article describes, explores, and discusses this concept.