Reactions of dichloride anion radicals with pyrimidine and its derivatives.
Rate constants for the reactions of dichloride anion radicals with pyrimidine and its derivatives were determined by a conventional flash photolysis. Kinetic treatment was carried out by assuming that second-order self decay of the anion radicals and the reaction with a substrate proceed simultaneously. Values of the rate constants were found within 1.1 × 107 to 4.1 × 109 M-1 s-1; the lowest reactivity was observed for pyrimidine and the highest for 2, 4, 6triaminopyrimidine. Comparison of the rate constants with those for hydroxyl radicals suggests that the dichloride anion radicals undergo a different reaction with pyrimidine bases from that of the hydroxyl radicals. A transient absorption due to an intermediate produced in the reaction with the anion radicals was observed for 5-aminouracil. This is only a case where relatively long-lived absorption was observed. The absorption was used to determine the rate constants for the reactions with the anion radicals.
Reactivity of aliphatic peptides toward hydroxyl radicals in aqueous solution.
Rate constants for the hydrogen abstraction reactions of hydroxyl radicals from aliphatic peptides and N-acetyl amino acids were determined by the p-nitrosodimethylaniline method in gamma-irradiated solutions. For peptides, enhancement of reactivity toward hydroxyl radicals was expected, because of disappearance of suppression by NH3+ group. The expectation was confirmed by the obtained rate constants. In order to estimate the partial rate constants for peptides, partial rate constants for the hydrogen abstraction reactions from amino acids were corrected by the factors calculated on the basis of effect of peptide bond formation. The rate constants of peptides and N-acetyl amino acids calculated from the corrected partial rate constants were in good agreement with the experimentally obtained ones.
The Bastille: A History of a Symbol of Despotism and Freedom
This book is both an analysis of the Bastille as cultural paradigm and a case study on the history of French political culture. It examines in particular the storming and subsequent fall of the Bastille in Paris on July 14, 1789 and how it came to represent the cornerstone of the French Revolution, becoming a symbol of the repression of the Old Regime. Lusebrink and Reichardt use this semiotic reading of the Bastille to reveal how historical symbols are generated; what these symbols’ functions are in the collective memory of societies; and how they are used by social, political, and ideological groups.

To facilitate the symbolic nature of the investigation, this analysis of the evolving signification of the Bastille moves from the French Revolution to the nineteenth century to contemporary history. The narrative also shifts from France to other cultural arenas, like the modern European colonial sphere, where the overthrow of the Bastille acquired radical new signification in the decolonization period of the 1940s and 1950s. The Bastille demonstrates the potency of the interdisciplinary historical research that has characterized the end of this century, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, and taking its methodological tools from history, sociology, linguistics, and cultural and literary studies.