Fluorescent Rhodamines and Fluorogenic Carbopyronines for Super‐Resolution STED Microscopy in Living Cells

A range of bright and photostable rhodamines and carbopyronines with absorption maxima in the range of λ=500–630 nm were prepared, and enabled the specific labeling of cytoskeletal filaments using HaloTag technology followed by staining with 1 μm solutions of the dye–ligand conjugates. The synthesis, photophysical parameters, fluorogenic behavior, and structure–property relationships of the new dyes are discussed. Light microscopy with stimulated emission depletion (STED) provided one‐ and two‐color images of living cells with an optical resolution of 40–60 nm.     

Detection and validated quantification of nine herbal phenalkylamines and methcathinone in human blood plasma by LC-MS/MS with electrospray ionization

The herbal stimulants Ephedra species, Catha edulis (khat), and Lophophora williamsii (peyote) have been abused for a long time. In recent years, the herbal drug market has grown owing to publicity on the Internet. Some ingredients of these plants are also ingredients of cold remedies. The aim of the presented study is to develop a multianalyte procedure for detection and validated quantification of the phenalkylamines ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, norpseudoephedrine, methylephedrine, methylpseudoephedrine, cathinone, mescaline, synephrine (oxedrine), and methcathinone in plasma. After mixed-mode solid-phase extraction of 1 ml of plasma, the analytes were separated using a strong cation exchange separation column and gradient elution. They were detected using a Q-Trap LC-ESI-MS/MS system (MRM mode). Calibration curves were used for quantification using norephedrine-d3, ephedrine-d3, and mescaline-d9 as internal standards. The method was validated according to international guidelines. The assay was selective for the tested compounds. It was linear from 10 to 1000 ng/ml for all analytes. The recoveries were generally higher than 70%. Accuracy ranged from - 0.8 to 20.0%, repeatability from 2.5 to 12.3%, and intermediate precision from 4.6 to 20.0%. The lower limit of quantification was 10 ng/ml for all analytes. No instability was observed after repeated freezing and thawing or in processed samples. The applicability of the assay was tested by analysis of authentic plasma samples after ingestion of different cold medications containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, and after ingestion of an aqueous extract of Herba Ephedra. After ingestion of the cold medications, only the corresponding single alkaloids were detected in human plasma, whereas after ingestion of the herb extract, all six ephedrines contained in the plant were detected. The presented LC-MS/MS assay was found applicable for sensitive detection and accurate and precise quantification of all studied analytes in plasma.     

Border effect corrections for diagonal line based recurrence quantification analysis measures

Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) defines a number of quantifiers, which base upon diagonal line structures in the recurrence plot (RP). Due to the finite size of an RP, these lines can be cut by the borders of the RP and, thus, bias the length distribution of diagonal lines and, consequently, the line based RQA measures. In this letter we investigate the impact of the mentioned border effects and of the thickening of diagonal lines in an RP (caused by tangential motion) on the estimation of the diagonal line length distribution, quantified by its entropy. Although a relation to the Lyapunov spectrum is theoretically expected, the mentioned entropy yields contradictory results in many studies. Here we summarize correction schemes for both, the border effects and the tangential motion and systematically compare them to methods from the literature. We show that these corrections lead to the expected behavior of the diagonal line length entropy, in particular meaning zero values in case of a regular motion and positive values for chaotic motion. Moreover, we test these methods under noisy conditions, in order to supply practical tools for applied statistical research.     

Les dithiaphospho(III)lanes-1,3,2, noveaux precurseurs de derives du phosphore penta- et dicoordine

The synthesis of new spirodithiaphospholans is described. Lability of these compounds allows to obtain by an orginally way dicoordinated phosphorus derivatives.     

SCF LCAO MO studies on the hydration of ions: The system F− · 2H2O

The energy surface of the dihydrated fluoride anion (F·2H₂O)^–1 is studied for a number of different geometry points near the equilibrium structure within the SCF LCAO MO framework, using an extended gaussian basis set to approximate the molecular wavefunctions. For the first and second hydration step of the fluoride anion the corresponding hydration energies are calculated to beB ₁ ^scf =24.1 kcal/mole andB ₂ ^SCF =20.8 kcal/mole (experimental measurements: 23.3 kcal/mole and 16.6 kcal/mole, respectively). The hydration energies and equilibrium bond distances obtained for the dihydrated fluoride anion (F·2H₂O)^– are compared with those found for the monohydrate (FHOH)^– and with corresponding results of the dihydrated lithium cation (Li · 2H₂O)⁺. The system (F·2H₂O)^– is taken as a very simple model to discuss some basic features of the hydration process of small ions and to study the influence of a negative ion on an adjacent hydrogen bond.We would like to thank our technical staff for valuable help in carrying out these calculations.     

SCF-CI studies on the electronic ground state of water: Potential energy hypersurface and spectroscopic constants

Large-scale Hartree-Fock self-consistent field calculations, employing extended Gaussian basis sets, and configuration interaction studies are performed to calculate the energy hypersurface of the electronic ground state of the water molecule and to investigate the accuracy requirements in view of the determination of molecular spectroscopic constants. From the calculated points on the hypersurface the theoretical equilibrium geometry, the force field through fourth order, the spectroscopic constants _i, x_ij, _i as well as the Darling-Dennison and Fermi resonance constants are evaluated. The CI surface yields an equilibrium structure for H₂O withr _e = 0.9501 Å and _e=105.33 ° (r _exp = 0.9572 Å and _exp = 104.52 °). The vibrational levels are obtained with a systematic error of about 2 percent and the rotational constants to about 1 percent compared to spectroscopic data. The relative energy maximum corresponding to the linear structure with = is calculated to be 11890cm^–1, within the error limits of the values deduced from experimental measurements.     

Classical trajectory study on an ab initio CI vibrotor potential energy surface for Li+-CO differential cross sections

A previous rigid rotor potential surface for Li⁺-CO has been improved by computing surface points for two additional CO bond lengths at three different angles of orientation. The CI calculations including all single and double excitations which can be generated within the Hartree-Fock SCF molecular orbital basis have been improved by taking certain quadruple excitations into account in an approximate way. Classical trajectories computed on this surface have been used to determine differential cross sections at scattering angles of 37.1°, 43.2° and 49.2°, and for a relative kinetic energy of 4.23 eV. Comparison with experiment shows that inclusion of CO vibrations does not account for the discrepancy found previously between the classical rigid rotor and the experimental results. When summed over all final vibrational levels the vibrotor results are nearly identical to the rigid rotor cross sections.