Hydrogen bond donors and acceptors are generally depolarized in α-helices as revealed by a molecular tailoring approach

Hydrogen-bond (H-bond) interaction energies in α-helices of short alanine peptides were systematically examined by precise density functional theory calculations, followed by a molecular tailoring approach. The contribution of each H-bond interaction in α-helices was estimated in detail from the entire conformation energies, and the results were compared with those in the minimal H-bond models, in which only H-bond donors and acceptors exist with the capping methyl groups. The former interaction energies were always significantly weaker than the latter energies, when the same geometries of the H-bond donors and acceptors were applied. The chemical origin of this phenomenon was investigated by analyzing the differences among the electronic structures of the local peptide backbones of the α-helices and those of the minimal H-bond models. Consequently, we found that the reduced H-bond energy originated from the depolarizations of both the H-bond donor and acceptor groups, due to the repulsive interactions with the neighboring polar peptide groups in the α-helix backbone. The classical force fields provide similar H-bond energies to those in the minimal H-bond models, which ignore the current depolarization effect, and thus they overestimate the actual H-bond energies in α-helices. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Computational Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Improved calibration transfer between near-Infrared (NIR) spectrometers using canonical correlation analysis

The application of mobile near-infrared (NIR) spectrometers in field measurements is growing. Calibration transfer techniques offer simple solutions for enabling models constructed on benchtop instruments for use on mobile spectrometers. Since different types of spectrometers with different components, scanning ranges and resolutions cause great differences in the spectral response, calibration transfer is difficult to apply. In this paper, we focus on calibration transfer among benchtop, portable and handheld spectrometers by a method of calibration transfer based on canonical correlation analysis (CTCCA). Its capability was illustrated by the example of a group of NIR spectra dataset for predicting reducing sugars, total sugar, and nicotine contents in tobacco leaves. The experimental results showed that the transferability of CTCCA was superior to other conventional calibration transfer methods, including piecewise direct standardization, spectral space transformation, calibration transfer based on independent component analysis, and calibration transfer based on the weight matrix. Moreover, the best transfer results were obtained in the three cases by canonical correlation analysis method executing transfer while the spectra were not interpolated, which shows that this approach has the advantage of easy implementation for calibration transfer. Therefore, CTCCA without interpolation calculation offers a new and simple solution for transferring the spectra acquired by mobile spectrometers to the optimized spectral models built on benchtop devices to improve the accuracy of the results. Additionally, the results show that the benchtop spectrometer is more suitable as the master instrument for calibration transfer with more accurate prediction than using a portable device as the master.     

光催化氧化还原体系中硝酮与芳香叔胺的自由基偶联反应

通过氮α-位碳自由基构造氮α-位碳-碳键是合成含氮有机化合物的重要方法. 近期, 利用可见光催化氧化芳香叔胺—氮α-位去质子化形成氮α-位碳自由基的原理发展了一系列新颖的自由基加成(偶联)反应, 成为氮α-位碳自由基化学发展的重要方向. 本文应用Ir-催化剂, 实现了光催化氧化还原体系中硝酮与芳香叔胺的自由基偶联反应, 高效地合成β-氨基羟胺化合物. 该反应条件温和、操作简单, 具有较高的原子经济性, 且对于各种链状、环状以及手性硝酮都具有良好的适用性, 产物可方便地转化为重要的邻二胺化合物.     

α-Cu_2Se精细结构的球差校正扫描透射电镜表征

目前学界对Cu_2Se低温α相的结构仍未认识清楚,而解决这一问题对理解Cu_2Se在相变过程中热电性能提升等特性具有重要意义。本文首次报道了由球差校正扫描透射电镜(STEM)拍摄到的沿■带轴的原子级分辨率高角环形暗场(HAADF)像,揭示了由Se原子以多种形式有序起伏产生的复杂结构。结合电子衍射图谱,分析了包含不同层数、通过相互组合构成α-Cu_2Se晶体的多种结构变体。使用QSTEM软件对构建的结构变体进行高分辨图像模拟,得到了与实验对应的HAADF像。该工作为更全面地理解α-Cu_2Se的结构提供了新的重要信息。     

麻——八大味之一

The spicy taste is stimulated by sanshool when eating Sichuan pepper. α-Hydroxy sanshool is one of the main components of the sanshool derivatives. In this paper, in form of a short story, we introduced the basic properties, physiological functions and synthetic method of α-hydroxy sanshool and the mechanism of spicy taste which is stimulated by α-hydroxy sanshool.     

凝固漂浮有机液滴-分散液液微萃取结合高效液相色谱法同时测定自来水中氯代多环芳烃与多环芳烃

建立了自来水中6种氯代多环芳烃和15种多环芳烃的凝固漂浮有机液滴-分散液液微萃取高效液相色谱分析方法,并探讨了萃取剂种类和用量、分散剂种类和用量、氯化钠含量及涡旋振荡时间等因素对萃取效率的影响。优化后的萃取实验条件为:10μL十二醇为萃取溶剂,500μL甲醇为分散溶剂,6%NaCl,涡旋振荡时间2 min。目标化合物经多环芳烃专用柱(SUPELCOSILTMLC-PAH,150 mm×4.6 mm,5μm)分离后,外标法定量。结果表明,21种目标化合物在一定质量浓度范围内线性良好,相关系数均不低于0.999;在低、中、高3个加标水平下的回收率为70.6%～98.7%,相对标准偏差(RSD)为2.0%～10%;方法的检出限(LOD,S/N=3)为0.000 7～0.009μg/L,定量下限(LOQ,S/N=10)为0.002 2～0.028μg/L。可用于自来水中氯代多环芳烃和多环芳烃的分析检测。     

DNA Interaction with 17α‐Ethinylestradiol Studied Using Electrochemical Biosensors and Biosensing in Solution

The synthetic estrogen 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE2) is an active component of oral contraceptives. It is considered as an endocrine disrupting compound that, once incorporated into an organism, affects the hormonal balance of animals and humans. In this study we characterized the DNA‐EE2 interaction using an electrochemical biosensor and biosensing in solution phase with the double stranded DNA from salmon sperm and deoxyguanosine monophosphate (dGMP). Differential pulse voltammetry method has been applied based on voltammetric anodic responses of the deoxyguanine (dGuo) and deoxyadenine (dAdo) as well as EE2 in the medium of phosphate buffer solution pH 7.0. Binding of EE2 to the nucleobases leads to a decrease of their anodic signals. Association constant for DNA‐EE2 interaction has been estimated to be about 1.1 ? 10³ L mol^?1 and 1.4 ? 10³ L mol^?1 for dGuo and dAdo responses, respectively. The association is reversible as indicated by decrease of the EE2 response in pure buffer solution due to leaching of EE2 from the surface attached DNA. The DNA‐EE2 association has been confirmed also by UV‐vis spectrometric experiments.     

Rapid Determination of Phenolic Compounds in Water Samples: Development of a Paper‐based Nanobiosensor Modified with Functionalized Silica Nanoparticles and Potato Tissue

In this study, we present a fast, simple, low‐cost and disposable method for determination of phenolic content in water samples, using a paper based polyphenol oxidase biosensor. The propylamine functionalized silica nanoparticles was dropped onto a paper sheet. After drying at room temperature, the potato tissue extract including polyphenol oxidase was immobilized on the paper via physical and chemical adsorption. The modified paper was placed on the top of the graphite screen printed electrode. To construct of an electrochemical nanobiosensor, the electrochemical behavior of the modified electrode in different steps was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods. After being optimized the effective parameters, the changes in the biosensor electrochemical response vs. to the different concentrations of the substrate (phenol solution) were monitored by differential pulse voltammetry and amperometry methods. The linear relationships for phenol detection were obtained in the concentration ranges of 0.01–160 μM and 0.1–300 μM with a detection limit of 0.007 μM and 0.042 μM with DPV and amperometry methods, respectively. This method was successfully used in the voltammetric determination of the phenol content in the real samples, like the river water and the wastewater of wood factory.     

A mussel‐inspired method to fabricate a novel reduced graphene oxide/Bi12O17Cl2 composites membrane for catalytic degradation and oil/water separation

In this study, a novel dopamine modified graphene‐based photocatalytic membrane with Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ inserted was fabricated to modify the commercial cellulose acetate membrane via vacuum filtration method. Results showed the reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/poly(dopamine) (PDA)/Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂‐CA photocatalytic composite membrane exhibited 98% removal efficiency for methylene blue (MB) within 100 minutes and 96% removal efficiency for 4‐CP within 160 minutes. Importantly, the photocatalytic composite membrane can simultaneously achieve dye degradation and oil‐water separation in only one device within a short time. And the as‐prepared membrane displayed great antifouling performance and recyclability after 10 cycles. Meanwhile, the membrane showed excellent stability in the agitated water bath or different pH conditions. In summary, the photocatalytic membrane investigated in this study opens new avenue for treatment of wastewater.