Alkali and alkaline earth metal salts of 2,2′,4,4′,6,6′-hexanitrodiphenylamine (HND) were extracted into nitrobenzene in the absence or presence of several crown ethers or cryptands which differ from one another in hole size. The quantity of water transferred to the nitrobenzene phase was determined by means of the Karl-Fischer method. The NMR and near-infrared spectra show that the coextraction of water is caused by the hydration of the cations. The number of water molecules attached to the cations increases upon going from Cs+ (0.6) to Li+ (5.6) and from Ba2+ (10.5) to Ca2+ (13.0). The complexation between these cations and the crown ethers causes a clear decrease in the hydration number; e.g., in the 1:1 metal–crown ether complexes, more than half of the water molecules are removed, and in the 1:1 metal–cryptand complexes, less than one water molecule remains unremoved. The complexes of a 1:2 stoichiometry are also found; some are stable and carry virtually no water molecules. The number and type of donor atoms have no significant effect on the coextraction of water. The presence of fused benzo rings on the crown ether also has no influence on the number of water molecules.

Recombinant Escherichia coli strains harboring pAG1, pAG2, pKBB100, and pKBB101 were cloned by using antiserum constructed against 130-kDa crystal protein antigen of Bacillus thuringiensis serovar japonensis strain Buibui. DNAs in the recombinant strains hybridized to the 26-base oligonucleotide probe corresponding to N-terminal amino acids of the 130-kDa crystal protein of strain Buibui. Cultures of the recombinant strains were toxic to larvae of the cupreous chafer, Anomala cuprea. Furthermore, the production of the 130-kDa polypeptide was demonstrated in the cells harboring pAG1 and pAG2 by immunoblot analysis with antiserum against the 130-kDa crystal protein. Southern hybridization analysis showed that the 130-kDa crystal protein gene is located on the chromosomal DNA of strain Buibui. On the other hand, DNA probes derived from cryIA(a) and cryIIIA genes did not hybridize to the DNA of strain Buibui.

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