Experimental study of photocatalytic oxidation of formaldehyde and its by-products

Formaldehyde is one of the most harmful pollutants that endanger occupants' health and the way of its effective removal has become a focus in the field of air quality. This paper studies the static photocatalytic removal of formaldehyde experimentally and finds out that carbon monoxide, which is more harmful to occupants' health than the formaldehyde itself, is one of the by-products in the process of photocatalytic oxidation of formaldehyde. The increase of carbon monoxide concentration should be taken into consideration in the photocatalytic application. The photocatalyst surface at room temperature can weakly adsorb CO and CO₂, which can deactivate the photocatalysts.     

Which electron count rules are needed for four-center three-dimensional aromaticity?

A series of charged and neutral four-center n-electron (4c-ne, n = 1-4) molecules based on the adamantane framework, but which include combinations of boron, nitrogen, and phosphorus atoms at bridgehead positions, were studied computationally at the B3LYP/6-31G* level of density functional theory (DFT). The three-dimensional aromaticity, observed earlier for the 1,3,5,7-bisdehydroadamantane dication (1), is found to be general for 4c-2e electron systems. The degree of electron delocalization, evaluated by energetic, geometric, and various magnetic criteria, is quite independent of the molecular symmetry (point groups vary from Td to Cs), the degeneracy of the orbitals, the molecular charges, and the nature of the atoms participating in the delocalized bonding. Although the multiple positive (e.g., in 1 and some of the heteroatom systems) and multiple negative charges are strongly repulsive, the rigid adamantane frameworks help hold the bridgehead atoms within bonding distances with the fewer available electrons. The corresponding 4c-1e doublets are approximately half as aromatic as the 4c-2e singlets based on the same criteria. However, the three-electron systems may either adopt distorted but still four-center delocalized structures, or alternative 3c-2e two-dimensional arrangements in which the fourth bridgehead atom is more distant. There is no need to derive special rules for each point group for 4c-ne systems. Although the three-dimensional stabilization is computed to be quite appreciable, ranging between 10 and 50 kcalmol(-1), this delocalization energy is generally not sufficient to overcome distortion due to strain in higher homologues of 1 and in analogous noncage systems. Among the various 4c-2e homoadamantanedehydro dications studied, only the 1,8-dehydrohomoadamandiyl-3,6-dication forms a three-dimensional aromatic system.     

Identification of ochratoxin A in food samples by chemical derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The contamination of foods with ochratoxin A can be determined very sensitively by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. A novel procedure is described to confirm OA-positive results quantitatively down to the HPLC detection limit of 0.1 ppb. For this, ochratoxin A in the sample extract is converted into its O-methylochratoxin A methyl ester derivative, which is identified subsequently by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry negative-ion chemical ionization and multiple ion detection modes using the hexadeuterated O-methyl-d3-ochratoxin A methyl-d3 ester derivative as internal standard for quantification. In the analysis of more than 60 contaminated samples, the procedure was found to be very accurate.     

Monitoring of the conversion from triptolide to tripchlorolide in Triptergium wilfordii by micellar electrokinetic caillary chromatography

A novel concocting method to convert Triptolide (T) into Tripchlorolide (T(4)) in the traditional Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F. and a micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatographic (MEKC) approach by which the conversion of Triptolide (T) and Tripchlorolide (T(4)) was identified and determined had been established. Investigations of the influence of different pH values of boric acid and borax buffer and of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and organic additive concentrations had been carried out, and the optimum separation for T and T(4) was achieved using boric acid and borax of pH 7.0 with 30 mM SDS and 20% (volume ratio) methanol as the running buffer. It was found that MEKC exhibited good accuracy, precision and repeatability and the content of T(4) was greatly increased in the herb that was treated by the new concocting method.     

熔融织构生长强磁浮YBCO超导块材的取向和结构

采用熔融织构生长法结合顶部Ｓｍ１２３籽晶技术，成功地制备了直径为２０ｍｍ的ＹＢＣＯ超导块材。该块材具有极强的磁性能。用Ｘ射线θ／２θ扫描和Φ扫描分析其结构表明，样品在三维方向上具有很强的择优取向，其ｃ、ａ、ｂ轴方向分别与Ｓｍ１２３籽晶的ｃ、ａ、ｂ轴方向一致，并具有类似单晶的结构特点。     

Chiral separation of N-(trans-4-isopropylcyclohexylcarbonyl)-D,L-phenylalanine isomers by high performance liquid chromatography

Summary A high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the chiral separation of a new anti-diabetic agent, N-(trans-4-isopropylcyclohexylcarbonyl)-D-phenylalanine, and its L-enantiomer. The separation was performed on a Sumichiral OA-3300 column. Optimized mobile phase was 0.025 mol.L⁻¹ ammonium acetate in methanol solution. UV detection was at 210 nm. Baseline chiral separation was obtained within 12 minutes. The detection limits are 80 pg for the D-enantiomer and 120 pg for the L-enantiomer. RSD of the method was below 1% (n=5).     

Synthesis of a new PET/layered niobate hybrid material

A new organic/inorganic hybrid material was prepared by the polymerization of bis(hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) with a layered niobate compound, H₄Nb₆O₁₇, modified by 11-aminoundecanoic acid (AUA). The hybrid polymer films of BHET with H₄Nb₆O₁₇/AUA exhibited favorable characteristics, particularly of being optically clear, indicating the exfoliation and homogeneous dispersion of H₄Nb₆O₁₇ into the PET/niobate hybrid.     

LC Determination of Podophyllum Lignans and Flavonoids in Podophyllum emodi Wall.var.chinesis Sprague

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous separation and determination of nine podophyllum lignans and two flavonoids in Podophyllum emodi Wall.var.chinesis Sprague was established. The separation was performed with the following condition: column, Kromasil-C18, 5 μm, 15 × 0.46 cm; solvent A, 25 mM phosphate buffer, pH 2.5; solvent B, methanol; gradient, 50/50/70% B at 0/13/33 min; flow rate, 0.8 mL min^?1; detection, UV 270 nm. β-Apopicropodophyllin was used as the internal standard. The samples of P. emodi Wall.var.chinesis Sprague from different sources were examined by the developed method. In addition, three methods for sample preparation were discussed. It is shown from the results that refluxing in chloroform displays high extraction efficiency.