Detection of caffeine and its main metabolites for early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease using micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography

Caffeine (CA) is a common xanthine alkaloid found in tea leaves, coffee beans, and other natural plants, and is the most widely used psychotropic substance in the world. Accumulating evidence suggests that low plasma levels of CA and its metabolites may serve as reliable diagnostic markers for early Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. In this study, we demonstrated a new MEKC method for determining CA and its three main downstream metabolites, paraxanthine (PX), theobromine (TB), and theophylline (TP), in human plasma. Plasma samples were collected, and analyzed using MEKC, after SPE. The running buffer was composed of 35 mM phosphate, pH of 10.5, and 25 mM SDS. The separation voltage was 15 kV and the detection wavelength was at 210 nm. Under the optimum conditions, four distinct analytes were completely separated and detected in less than 12 min. Method limits of detection were as low as 7.5 ng/mL for CA, 5.0 ng/mL for TB, and 4.0 ng/mL for both PX and TP. The recoveries were between 88.0% and 105.9%. This method was successfully applied to 27 human plasma samples. The results indicate that the plasma concentrations of the four analytes are significantly lower in patients with early PD than in control subjects (p < 0.05). The area under curve was improved to 0.839 when CA and its three main metabolites were included, suggesting that MEKC testing of CA, TP, TB, and PX may serve as a potential method for early diagnosis of PD.     

Longitudinal 3D Blood Flow Distribution Provided by Diffuse Correlation Tomography during Bone Healing in a Murine Fracture Model

Noninvasive monitoring of vascularization can potentially diagnose impaired bone healing earlier than current radiographic methods. In this study, a noncontact diffuse correlation tomography (DCT) technique was employed to measure longitudinal blood flow changes during bone healing in a murine femoral fracture model. The three-dimensional distribution of the relative blood flow was quantified from one day pre-fracture to 48 days post-fracture. For three mice, frequent DCT measurements were performed every other day for one week after fracture, and then weekly thereafter. A decrease in blood flow was observed in the bone fracture region at one day post-fracture, followed by a monotonic increase in blood flow beyond the pre-injury baseline until five to seven days post-fracture. For the remaining 12 mice, only weekly DCT measurements were performed. Data collected on a weekly basis show the blood flow for most mice was elevated above baseline during the first two post-fracture weeks, followed by a subsequent decrease. Torsional strength of the excised femurs was measured for all 15 mice after 7 weeks of healing. A metric based on the early blood flow changes shows a statistically significant difference between the high strength group and the low strength group.     

Radical Acylfluoroalkylation of Olefins through N-Heterocyclic Carbene Organocatalysis

Fluorinated ketones are widely prevalent in numerous biologically interesting molecules, and the development of novel transformations to access these structures is an important task in organic synthesis. Herein, we report the multicomponent radical acylfluoroalkylation of a variety of olefins in the presence of various commercially available aromatic aldehydes and fluoroalkyl reagents through N-heterocyclic carbene organocatalysis. With this protocol, over 120 examples of functionalized ketones with diverse fluorine substituents have been synthesized in up to 99 % yield with complete regioselectivity. The generality of this catalytic strategy was further highlighted by its successful application in the late-stage functionalization of pharmaceutical skeletons. Excellent diastereoselectivity could be achieved in the reactions forging multiple stereocenters. In addition, preliminary results have been achieved on the catalytic asymmetric variant of the olefin difunctionalization process.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of new mono naphthalimide platinum(IV) derivatives as antitumor agents with dual DNA damage mechanism

Naphthalimide has emerged as an interesting DNA intercalator and possessed attracting antitumor properties. In this context, naphthalimide group was linked to platinum(IV) core to construct a series of new mono naphthalimide platinum(IV) derivatives. The title compounds exert effective antitumor activities to the tested tumor cells lines in vitro, especially the one with propionyl chain displays comparable or even better bioactivities than platinum(II) reference drugs cisplatin and oxaliplatin. Moreover, the mono naphthalimide platinum(IV) derivative displays comparable tumor growth inhibitory competence against CT26 xenograft tumors in BALB/c mice in vivo without severe toxic effects in contrast to oxaliplatin. A dual DNA damage mechanism was proven for the title complex. Both naphthalimide ligand and the liberated platinum(II) moiety could generate DNA lesions to tumor cells synergistically and active the apoptotic pathway by up-regulating the expression of caspase 9 and caspase 3. Meanwhile, the conversion of platinum(II) drug into tetravalent form by incorporating naphthalimide moiety increases the uptake of platinum in whole cells and DNA remarkably. All these facts might be the factors for the title platinum(IV) complexes to overcome platinum(II) drug resistance. Additionally, the mono naphthalimide platinum(IV) complex could interact with human serum albumin by hydrogen bond and van der Waals force which would further influence their storage, transport and bioactivities.     

Porphyrin/Quinoidal-Bithiophene-Based Macrocycles and Their Dications: Template-Free Synthesis and Global Aromaticity

We report the template-free synthesis and characterization of a new type of porphyrin/quinoidal-bithiophene-based conjugated macrocycle. X-ray crystallographic analysis of the dimer ( 2MC ) revealed a cyclophane-like geometry with large dihedral angles between the porphyrin and the neighboring thiophene rings, and NMR measurements and theoretical calculations confirmed a localized aromatic character of the porphyrin/thiophene rings and quinoidal character of the bithiophene linkers. Restricted rotation of the thiophene rings linked to the porphyrin unit was observed by variable-temperature NMR measurements. The dication ( 2MC²⁺ ) adopts a chair-shaped conformation to facilitate π-electron delocalization around the whole macrocycle. As a result, the molecule is globally aromatic, with a dominant 54 π conjugation pathway. The trimer ( 3MC ) also shows localized aromatic character of porphyrin rings and conformational flexibility, but its dication ( 3MC²⁺ ) is rigid and globally aromatic with a dominant 82 π conjugation pathway.     

Self-Assembly of Highly Stable Zirconium(IV) Coordination Cages with Aggregation Induced Emission Molecular Rotors for Live-Cell Imaging

The self-assembly of highly stable zirconium(IV)-based coordination cages with aggregation induced emission (AIE) molecular rotors for in vitro bio-imaging is reported. The two coordination cages, NUS-100 and NUS-101, are assembled from the highly stable trinuclear zirconium vertices and two flexible carboxyl-decorated tetraphenylethylene (TPE) spacers. Extensive experimental and theoretical results show that the emissive intensity of the coordination cages can be controlled by restricting the dynamics of AIE-active molecular rotors though multiple external stimuli. Because the two coordination cages have excellent chemical stability in aqueous solutions (pH stability: 2–10) and impressive AIE characteristics contributed by the molecular rotors, they can be employed as novel biological fluorescent probes for in vitro live-cell imaging.     

“Self-Lockable” Liquid Crystalline Diels–Alder Dynamic Network Actuators with Room Temperature Programmability and Solution Reprocessability

Novel main-chain liquid crystalline Diels—Alder dynamic networks (LCDANs) were prepared that exhibit unprecedented ease for actuator programming and reprocessing compared to existing liquid crystalline network (LCN) systems. Following cooling from 125 °C, LCDANs are deformed with aligned mesogens self-locked at room temperature by slowly formed Diels–Alder (DA) bonds, which allows for the formation of solid 3D actuators capable of reversible shape change, and strip walker and wheel-capable light-driven locomotion upon either thermally or optically induced order–disorder phase transition. Any actuator can readily be erased at 125 °C and reprogrammed into a new one under ambient conditions. Moreover, LCDANs can be processed directly from melt (for example, fiber drawing) and from solution (for example, casting tubular actuators), which cannot be achieved with LCNs using exchangeable covalent bonds. The combined attributes of LCDANs offer significant progress toward developing easily programmable/processable LCN actuators.     

基于磁珠-适配体的高效液相色谱-串联质谱法检测食品中的黄曲霉毒素B1

本文构建了特异性识别黄曲霉毒素B₁(AFB₁)的磁珠-适配体,并与高效液相色谱-串联质谱联用(LC-MS/MS),建立食品中AFB₁的定量检测方法。 利用碳二亚胺盐酸盐(EDC)活化法,将羧基磁珠进行活化。 活化后的羧基磁珠与5'端氨基修饰的适配体进行孵育结合,通过酰胺反应将适配体共价连接在羧基磁珠表面,固定在磁珠表面的适配体作为捕捉探针将样品提取液中的AFB₁分离,通过LC-MS/MS对AFB₁进行定性和定量分析。 检测结果表明:AFB₁在浓度0.25～25 ng/mL呈良好的线性关系,相关系数R²=0.999,定量检出限为0.25 ng/mL,回收率达到80.3%～92.5%,相对标准偏差(RSD)低于8%。 该方法操作简单、快速便捷、可痕量地检测AFB₁,所制备的磁珠-适配体可重复利用,为定量检测AFB₁提供了另一种技术支持。     

两种表征核酸适配体-靶蛋白亲和作用的毛细管电泳方法比较

适配体-靶分子间的亲和作用表征是理解和应用核酸适配体发挥特异亲和作用的基本前提,CE技术则为上述表征提供了多模式的简捷途径,但多种模式体系间的结果往往存在差异,导致CE亲和评价可靠性和进一步应用受到限制,亟须建立多CE方法测定适配体-靶分子间亲和作用的系统比较研究。该研究以凝血酶及其特异性作用于肝素结合位点的适配体29mer为模型体系,基于CE-激光诱导荧光检测,引入CE-迎头分析（FA）评价方法,并比较其与预平衡-毛细管区带电泳（PE-CZE）的异同。首先进行了CE-FA方法分离条件的优化,37 ℃、0.5 h孵育完全后进样,进样时间为30 s,在较低工作温度（15 ℃）、较短毛细管长度（30 cm）及生物相容性好的缓冲体系2×TG（Tris-甘氨酸缓冲液,pH 8.5）条件下,经15 kV分离时,得到了稳定的荧光标记29mer（F29mer）-凝血酶复合物及游离F29mer平台峰。加入1 g/L牛血清白蛋白（BSA）,有效提高了CE-FA平台峰高及迁移时间的重复性。详细讨论了两种方法下6种拟合方式的结果及特点。针对CE-FA和PE-CZE法,以结合适配体/游离适配体的浓度比对游离适配体浓度非线性拟合、平台峰高变化对浓度间的非线性拟合、平衡混合物的非平衡CE（NECEEM）计算等进行拟合。结果表明,6种拟合结果中5种不存在显著性差异,得到的解离常数（K_d）值均介于24~64 nmol/L范围。CE-FA法中的3种拟合结果符合度较好,说明CE-FA法易于在非平衡的CE分离体系下保持适配体-复合物间的结合-解离平衡,所测得K_d准确度较高。PE-CZE法中,借由降低的游离F29mer峰高对凝血酶浓度间的非线性拟合所得K_d值偏差过大;选择凝血酶浓度为F29mer浓度的0.5~2倍,且观察到明显的两峰间"指数桥"为前提,可经NECEEM法进行数据计算求解得到较为准确的K_d值。CE-FA法可与PE-CZE法互为印证,提高了亲和作用评价的可靠性。首选推荐使用多浓度平台峰高变化进行非线性拟合的CE-FA法,可相对有效克服高压电场对复合物稳定性的影响,具有适用范围广、方法稳定、结果拟合简便准确等特点。