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Solid-phase chemistry, organic synthesis, and an apparatus for multiple, simultaneous synthesis have been combined to generate libraries of organic compounds ("diversomers"). Arrays of compounds were synthesized over two to three steps incorporating chemically diverse building blocks on a polystyrene-based solid support in a multiple, simultaneous manner. The generality of this approach is illustrated by the syntheses of dipeptides, hydantoins, and benzodiazepines.

Part of the RNA synthesized from nucleoside triphosphate precursors by partially purified RNA synthetase, an enzyme induced in Escherichia coli by the RNA-containing phage MS 2, is resistant to hydrolysis by ribonuclease. Upon heating in 0.15M sodium chloride, 0.015M sodium citrate followed by fast cooling the material becomes ribonuclease-sensitive with a sharp transition at 102 degrees to 104 degrees C. The suggestion that the ribonuclease-resistant product is double-stranded RNA is reinforced by restoration of the ribonuclease resistance of the heat-denatured material by reannealing at temperatures just below the transition point and by its buoyant density in cesium sulfate. It is suggested that double-stranded RNA is the replicative form of MS 2 phage RNA.

Two new antibiotics, structurally related to cephalothin, have been given the generic names cephaloglycin and cephaloridine. Cephaloglycin is the dipolar ion of 7-(d-alpha-aminophenylacetamido)-cephalosporanic acid. Cephaloridine is 7-[alpha-(2-thiophene)acetamido]-3-(1-pyridylmethyl)-3-cephem-4-carboxylic acid betaine. These new compounds were evaluated simultaneously. The broad spectrum of activity observed in vitro and in vivo with both antibiotics, the good oral absorption obtained with cephaloglycin, and the stability of cephaloridine are emphasized. The data suggest that both antibiotics merit clinical trial in humans.