Temperature-sensitive membranes prepared from blends of poly(vinylidene fluoride) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamides) microgels

In this study, temperature-sensitive membranes were prepared by phase transition of the mixture of the temperature-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamides) (PNIPAAM) microgels and poly(vinylidene fluoride). The results of Fourier transformed infrared spectrometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and scanning electron microscope photographs indicate that the PNIPAAM microgels are distributed more in the inner membrane than on the surface. The scanning electron microscope photographs reveal the blend membranes having porous surfaces with nanometer sizes and porous cross-sections with micrometer sizes. The addition of the PNIPAAM microgels is found to improve the porosity, the pore size, water flux, as well as to enhance the hydrophilicity and anti-fouling property of the blend membranes. The blend membrane shows temperature-sensitive permeability and protein rejection with the most dramatic change at around 32 °C which is the lower critical solution temperature of PNIPAAM, when water or bovine serum albumin solution flow through. Specifically, below 32 °C, the blend membrane shows a high protein rejection ratio which decreases with increasing temperature and a low water flux which increases with increasing temperature; above 32 °C, the blend membrane shows a low protein rejection ratio which decreases with increasing temperature and a high water flux which increases with increasing temperature.     

Total synthesis of Daphnodorin A

A total synthesis of Daphnodorin A, a member of the Daphnodorins, was accomplished. Key features of the synthetic strategy include construction of 2-substituted-3-functionalized benzofuran via intramolecular Heck reaction and a mild Barton–McCombie deoxygenation process mediated by triethylborane. The total synthesis provided Daphnodorin A in 19.7% or 5.6% overall yield over 7 or 15 steps.     

Specific ion effects on the electrophoretic mobility of small,highly charged peptides: A modeling study

In this work, we use coarse‐grained modeling to study the free solution electrophoretic mobility of small highly charged peptides (lysine, arginine, and short oligos thereof (up to nonapeptides)) in NaCl and Na₂SO₄ aqueous solutions at neutral pH and room temperature. The experimental data are taken from the literature. A bead modeling methodology that treats the electrostatics at the level of the nonlinear Poisson Boltzmann equation developed previously in our laboratory is able to account for the mobility of all peptides in NaCl, but not Na₂SO₄. The peptide mobilities in Na₂SO₄ can be accounted for by including sulfate binding in the model and this is proposed as one possible explanation for the discrepancy. Oligo arginine peptides bind more sulfate than oligo lysines and sulfate binding increases with the oligo length.     

Ultra‐fast LC–ESI‐MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of six highly toxic Aconitum alkaloids from Aconiti kusnezoffii radix in rat plasma and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

A fast, sensitive, and efficient ultra‐fast LC–ESI‐MS/MS method was developed for the simultaneous quantitation of six highly toxic Aconitum alkaloids, that is, aconitine, mesaconitine, hypaconitine, benzoylaconine, benzoylmesaconine, and benzoylhypaconine, in rat plasma after oral administration of crude ethanol extracts from Aconiti kusnezoffii radix by ultrasonic extraction, reflux extraction for 1 h, and reflux extraction for 3 h, respectively. The separation of six Aconitum alkaloids and aminopyrine (internal standard) was performed on an InertSustain® C₁₈ column, and the quantification of the analytes was performed on a 4000Q ultra‐fast LC–MS/MS system with turbo ion spray source in the positive ion and multiple‐reaction monitoring mode. Absolute recoveries ranged within 65.06–85.1% for plasma samples. The intra‐ and interday precision and accuracy of analytes were satisfactory. The methods were validated with sensitivity reaching the lower LOQ for aconitine, mesaconitine, hypaconitine, benzoylaconine, benzoylmesaconine, and benzoylhypaconine, which were 0.025, 0.025, 0.050, 0.025, 0.025, and 0.100 ng/mL, respectively. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of six Aconitum alkaloids in rat plasma after oral administration of crude ethanol extracts from the raw root of Aconitum kusnezoffii Reichb. by three different extraction processes.     

Determination of 12 potential nephrotoxicity biomarkers in rat serum and urine by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry and its application to renal failure induced by Semen Strychni

In previous nephrotoxicity metabonomic studies, several potential biomarkers were found and evaluated. To investigate the relationship between the nephrotoxicity biomarkers and the therapeutic role of Radix Glycyrrhizae extract on Semen Strychni‐induced renal failure, 12 typical biomarkers are selected and a simple LC–MS method has been developed and validated. Citric acid, guanidinosuccinic acid, taurine, guanidinoacetic acid, uric acid, creatinine, hippuric acid, xanthurenic acid, kynurenic acid, 3‐indoxyl sulfate, indole‐3‐acetic acid, and phenaceturic acid were separated by a Phenomenex Luna C₁₈ column and a methanol/water (5 mM ammonium acetate) gradient program with a runtime of 20 min. The prepared calibration curves showed good linearity with regression coefficients all above 0.9913. The absolute recoveries of analytes from serum and urine were all more than 70.4%. With the developed method, analytes were successfully determined in serum and urine samples within 52 days. Results showed that guanidinosuccinic acid, guanidinoacetic acid, 3‐indoxyl sulfate, and indole‐3‐acetic acid (only in urine) were more sensitive than the conventional renal function markers in evaluating the therapeutic role of Radix Glycyrrhizae extract on Semen Strychni‐induced renal failure. The method could be further used in predicting and monitoring renal failure cause by other reasons in the following researches.     

Environmentally green approach to synthesize azo dyes based on 1-naphthol using nano BF3·SiO2 under solvent-free conditions

A series of azo dyes were efficiently synthesized by mixing aromatic amines and NaNO₂ in the presence of nano silica supported boron trifluoride (nano BF₃·SiO₂) and then diazo coupling with 1-naphthol under solvent-free conditions at room temperature. The present methodology has proven to be simple, rapid, environmentally benign, green, and cost-effective compared with previous synthetic methods. Also, by using this procedure, aryl diazonium salts supported on nano BF₃·SiO₂ were very stable to be kept at room temperature for several months without any special conditions.     

Gamma spectrum analysis for in situ automatic monitoring of radioactivity in seawater

The NaI(Tl) detector has been an important research topic and application in the field of in situ marine radioactive automatic monitoring because of its advantages of low power consumption, low cost, and good efficiency. However, its energy resolution is not high enough. This paper investigated an analytical method: spectrum de-noising, background correction based on the SNIP operator, peak search based on the top-hat transform and peak fitting using Gaussian distribution. Simulation and gamma spectra measured from seawater showed that the established energy spectrum analysis method presents satisfactory automatic analytical ability for identification and quantitatively analysis.

     

三维还原氧化石墨烯/β-环糊精复合物的合成及其电化学检测水中左氧氟沙星北大核心CSCD

成功构筑了β-环糊精修饰的三维还原氧化石墨烯复合材料(3D-rGO/β-CD),并对该复合材料进行扫描电子显微镜、傅里叶红外光谱、热重分析和拉曼光谱分析等一系列的表征,分析了其形貌和结构的特征。进一步将其修饰到玻碳电极(GCE)表面,构建了一种新型电化学传感器(3D-rGO/β-CD/GCE)。利用3D-rGO/β-CD/GCE电化学传感器,通过微分脉冲伏安法(DPV)对左氧氟沙星(LEV)进行了检测。其中,具有多孔结构的三维还原氧化石墨烯具有优异的导电性能、比表面积大、化学稳定性好等优良的性质,而修饰的β-环糊精能在其环形腔内与客体分子结合形成超分子包合物,进而可以对LEV进行有效识别。研究结果显示,在最优实验条件下,3D-rGO/β-CD/GCE对左氧氟沙星的检测具有较宽的线性范围(1~150μmol/L),且检测限可达0.33μmol/L,同时该修饰电极还表现出良好的选择性和稳定性。此外,成功将其应用于实际水样中LEV的检测,表明该传感器具有一定的应用潜力。     

Extraction of parabens by melamine sponge with determination by high-performance liquid chromatography

In the present study, we propose a novel method for the extraction of parabens in personal care products. A new, simple adsorptive material was obtained by combining metal-organic frameworks and melamine sponges using the adhesive property of polyvinylidene fluoride. This new material, metal-organic frameworks/melamine sponges, was found to be particularly suitable for solid-phase extraction. The structural characteristics of metal-organic frameworks/melamine sponges were first analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. Subsequently, solid-phase extraction was performed on sample solutions, and the extracted substances were then analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Following optimization of important experimental conditions, excellent recovery rates were obtained. Our novel method was then applied to the extraction of four parabens (methylparahydroxybenzoates, ethylparahydroxybenzoates, propylparahydroxybenzoates, and butylparahydroxybenzoates) from real samples. The results yielded limits of detection of 0.26–0.41 ng/mL. The inter- and intra-day recoveries were 104.0–109.7% and 91.2–98.1%, respectively (relative standard deviation, <13.8%).