Examination of colour inkjet printing inks by capillary electrophoresis

The possibility of comparing inkjet printing inks by micellar electrokinetic capillary electrophoresis (MECC) with diode array detection was studied. An analytical procedure was designed and successfully applied to discriminate between the electrophoretic profiles of inks (extracted from paper) produced by five well-known manufacturers. The separation process was conducted in a polyimide-coated fused silica capillary (ID 50 μm, 60 cm total/50 cm effective length) with +30 kV high voltage applied. Background electrolyte was used of the following optimum composition: 40 mM sodium borate buffer, 20 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate(IV) (SDS) and 10% (v/v) acetonitrile (pH 9.56). The experimental conditions were adjusted in terms of resolution and analysis time. The best results were obtained at 10 and 25 °C storage and capillary temperature, respectively, using 25 dots (ø 0.8 mm) cut from printouts as the sample and BGE diluted with water (1:99, v/v) as the injecting solution. The MECC separation of main printing ink components by the proposed method showed excellent precision - the RSD value of the migration time calculated for each of the investigated peaks did not exceed 3.3%. The optimized method was applied to group identification and differentiation of: (a) three colours of printing inks, (b) inks from different manufacturers (Hewlett-Packard, Epson, Brother, Lexmark and Canon) and (c) inks from different printer models. In all these cases, inks were successfully differentiated on the basis of position (migration time) and shape of their characteristic peaks.     

An automatic system for acidity determination based on sequential injection titration and the monosegmented flow approach

An automatic sequential injection system, combining monosegmented flow analysis, sequential injection analysis and sequential injection titration is proposed for acidity determination. The system enables controllable sample dilution and generation of standards of required concentration in a monosegmented sequential injection manner, sequential injection titration of the prepared solutions, data collecting, and handling. It has been tested on spectrophotometric determination of acetic, citric and phosphoric acids with sodium hydroxide used as a titrant and phenolphthalein or thymolphthalein (in the case of phosphoric acid determination) as indicators. Accuracy better than |4.4|% (RE) and repeatability better than 2.9% (RSD) have been obtained. It has been applied to the determination of total acidity in vinegars and various soft drinks. The system provides low sample (less than 0.3 mL) consumption. On average, analysis of a sample takes several minutes.     

LigDockCSA: protein-ligand docking using conformational space annealing

Protein–ligand docking techniques are one of the essential tools for structure‐based drug design. Two major components of a successful docking program are an efficient search method and an accurate scoring function. In this work, a new docking method called LigDockCSA is developed by using a powerful global optimization technique, conformational space annealing (CSA), and a scoring function that combines the AutoDock energy and the piecewise linear potential (PLP) torsion energy. It is shown that the CSA search method can find lower energy binding poses than the Lamarckian genetic algorithm of AutoDock. However, lower‐energy solutions CSA produced with the AutoDock energy were often less native‐like. The loophole in the AutoDock energy was fixed by adding a torsional energy term, and the CSA search on the refined energy function is shown to improve the docking performance. The performance of LigDockCSA was tested on the Astex diverse set which consists of 85 protein–ligand complexes. LigDockCSA finds the best scoring poses within 2 Å root‐mean‐square deviation (RMSD) from the native structures for 84.7% of the test cases, compared to 81.7% for AutoDock and 80.5% for GOLD. The results improve further to 89.4% by incorporating the conformational entropy. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011     

1-(2-Picolyl)-substituted 1,2,3-triazole as novel chelating ligand for the preparation of ruthenium complexes with potential anticancer activity

The 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole ligand prepared by click chemistry 1-(2-picolyl)-4-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole (ppt) was investigated as novel chelating ligand for Ru(II) complexes with potential antitumor activity. The preparation and structural characterization, mainly by NMR spectroscopy in solution and by X-ray crystallography in the solid state, of four new Ru(II) complexes is reported: two isomeric Ru-dmso compounds, trans,cis-[RuCl(2)(dmso-S)(2)(ppt)] (1) and cis,cis-[RuCl(2)(dmso-S)(2)(ppt)] (2), and two half-sandwich Ru-[9]aneS(3) coordination compounds, [Ru([9]aneS(3))(dmso-S)(ppt)][CF(3)SO(3)](2) (3) and [Ru([9]aneS(3))Cl(ppt)][CF(3)SO(3)] (4). In all compounds ppt firmly binds to ruthenium in a bidentate fashion through the pyridyl nitrogen atom and the triazole N2, thus forming a puckered six-membered ring. The chemical behavior in aqueous solution of the water-soluble complexes 3 and 4 was studied by UV-Vis and NMR spectroscopy and compared to that of the previously described organometallic analogue [Ru(η(6)-p-cymene)Cl(ppt)][Cl] (5) in view of their potential antitumor activity. Compounds 3-5 were tested also in vitro for cytotoxic activity against two human cancer cell lines, one sensitive and one resistant to cisplatin, in comparison with cisplatin. Compound 4, the one that aquates faster, was found to be more cytotoxic than cisplatin against human lung squamose carcinoma cell line (A-549).     

Endothelial progenitor cell transplantation decreases lymphangiogenesis and adverse myocardial remodeling in a mouse model of acute myocardial infarction

Cardiac lymphatic system in the remodeling after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been overlooked. We wanted to investigate the role of bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and their contribution to lymphatic distribution in myocardial remodeling after AMI. Mouse (C57bl/6J) MI models were created by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery and were treated with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) or EPCs. Real-time RT-PCR with 2- to 4-week myocardial tissue samples revealed that lymphangiogenetic factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C (8.5 fold, P < 0.05), VEGF-D (6.1 fold, P < 0.05), Lyve-1 (15 fold, P < 0.05), and Prox-1 (11 fold, P < 0.05) were expressed at significantly higher levels in the PBS group than the EPC group. The PBS group also showed a significantly higher density of lymphatic vessels in the peri-infarction area. Echocardiography showed that from 2 weeks after the treatment, left ventricle (LV) dimensions at both systole and diastole were significantly smaller in the EPC group than in the PBS group (P < 0.01) and LV fractional shortening was higher in the EPC group accordingly (P < 0.01). Lymphangiogenic markers increased in a mouse MI model. EPC transplantation decreased lymphangiogenesis and adverse ventricular remodeling after AMI. These novel findings suggest that new lymphatic vessels may be formed in severely damaged myocardium, and may be involved in adverse myocardial remodeling after AMI.     

Size-modulated catalytic activity of enzyme-nanoparticle conjugates: a combined kinetic and theoretical study

A series of experiments were performed to systematically analyze the effect of nanoparticle (NP) size on the catalytic behavior of enzyme-NP conjugates, and a shielding model based on diffusion-collision theory was developed to explain the correlation between the size effects and the kinetic responses.     

Evidence of multiple pathways capable of emitting peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence using a charge coupled device spectrometer

Peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence (PO-CL) spectra obtained simultaneously and continuously using a CCD spectrometer provide evidence of the complexity of PO-CL reactions.     

Non-aqueous approach to the preparation of reduced graphene oxide/α-Ni(OH)2 hybrid composites and their high capacitance behavior

Reduced graphene oxide/α-Ni(OH)(2) composites present high electrochemical properties, with specific capacitance of 1215 F g(-1) at 5 mV s(-1) scan rate, since graphene as conductive matrix provides electronic conduction pathway.     

Synthesis of annulated thiophene perylene bisimide analogues: their applications to bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

Annulated thiophene perylene bisimides and their triphenyl-amine based oligomers have been synthesized. One of the oligomers FPTTPA has been demonstrated to be an efficient electron donor in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells, giving a power conversion efficiency of 1.42%.