Synthesis and Characterization of Mesoporous Silica Templated by Amphiphilic RTILs

This article reports a novel preparation of mesoporous silica with series of 1-alky-3-methylimidazolium bromide (C_nMIM)Br (n = 12, 14, 16), a kind of amphiphilic room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), as a template via a sol-gel nanocasting technique. The pore morphology and structures of these mesoporous silica were characterized by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the RTIL bearing longer alkyl chain is preferred to form the mesoporous silica material with bigger pores. (C₁₆MIM)Br has been chosen to study how the various influencing factors affect the synthesis and structure of the mesoporous silica material, such as the acid concentration, the solling time, the gelling time and the calcination time. N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms measurement was used to characterize the pore size distribution and BET surface area. The results indicate that all of the factors can make an influence on the preparation of the mesoporous silica, which is more sensitive to the concentration of the acid.     

A quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics study on the hydrolysis mechanism of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1

New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) has emerged as a major global threat to human health for its rapid rate of dissemination and ability to make pathogenic microbes resistant to almost all known β-lactam antibiotics. In addition, effective NDM-1 inhibitors have not been identified to date. In spite of the plethora of structural and kinetic data available, the accurate molecular characteristics of and details on the enzymatic reaction of NDM-1 hydrolyzing β-lactam antibiotics remain incompletely understood. In this study, a combined computational approach including molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations was performed to characterize the catalytic mechanism of meropenem catalyzed by NDM-1. The quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics results indicate that the ionized D124 is beneficial to the cleavage of the C–N bond within the β-lactam ring. Meanwhile, it is energetically favorable to form an intermediate if no water molecule coordinates to Zn2. Moreover, according to the molecular dynamics results, the conserved residue K211 plays a pivotal role in substrate binding and catalysis, which is quite consistent with previous mutagenesis data. Our study provides detailed insights into the catalytic mechanism of NDM-1 hydrolyzing meropenem β-lactam antibiotics and offers clues for the discovery of new antibiotics against NDM-1 positive strains in clinical studies.     

Initial‐Boundary Value Problems for the Coupled Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation on the Half‐Line

Initial‐boundary value problems for the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation on the half‐line are investigated via the Fokas method. It is shown that the solution can be expressed in terms of the unique solution of a matrix Riemann–Hilbert problem formulated in the complex k‐plane, whose jump matrix is defined in terms of the matrix spectral functions and that depend on the initial data and all boundary values, respectively. If there exist spectral functions satisfying the global relation, it can be proved that the function defined by the above Riemann–Hilbert problem solves the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation and agrees with the prescribed initial and boundary values. The most challenging problem in the implementation of this method is to characterize the unknown boundary values that appear in the spectral function . For a particular class of boundary conditions so‐called linearizable boundary conditions, it is possible to compute the spectral function in terms of and given boundary conditions by using the algebraic manipulation of the global relation. For the general case of boundary conditions, an effective characterization of the unknown boundary values can be obtained by employing perturbation expansion.     

广义sine-Gordon方程高精度隐式紧致差分方法

本文研究一类二维非线性的广义sine-Gordon(简称SG)方程的有限差分格式.首先构造三层时间的紧致交替方向隐式差分格式,并用能量分析法证明格式具有二阶时间精度和四阶空间精度.然后应用改进的Richardson外推算法将时间精度提高到四阶.最后,数值算例证实改进后的算法在空间和时间上均达到四阶精度.     

Synthesis and characterization of π-extended thienoacenes with up to 13 fused aromatic rings

π-Extended thienoacenes that comprise alternatively arranged anthracene and thieno[3,2-b]thiophene moieties and have 8 or 13 aromatic rings were synthesized. The delocalization of their HOMO and LUMO orbitals is over the entire molecules, and low-lying HOMO levels endow them good stability.     

纳米白藜芦醇脂质体的物理化学稳定性研究

纳米载药脂质体的物理化学稳定性,是其实际应用中的关键问题。文章采用薄膜旋转蒸发法-超声法制备了白藜芦醇纳米脂质体（RES-Lip）,采用透射电子显微镜观察其微观形貌,并考察RES-Lip的物理化学稳定性。通过电导法测定了RES-Lip的相变温度（Tm）,及其在凝聚过程的凝聚速率常数（Kco）和表观活化能（Eco）;采用动态透析-紫外分光光度法,研究了温度和pH对RES-Lip降解的影响。结果表明,RES-Lip为球形囊泡结构,粒径小于100 nm;RES-Lip的相变温度为64℃;凝聚速率常数Kco随体系温度升高而升高;表观活化能Eco为86.056 kJ/mol;RES-Lip的降解符合一级动力学模型,降解的表观活化能Ea为59.3157 kJ/mol,降解过程是吸热、自发、熵增过程。本实验制备得到的RES-Lip在4℃、pH=7.40的条件下储存,稳定性较好。     

Antibacterial cotton fabric prepared by a “grafting to” strategy using a QAC copolymer

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) have outstanding antimicrobial effect, but covalent immobilization of plentiful QAC onto cotton fiber surface to realize a durable function remains a challenge. Herein, a quaternary ammonium monomer, [2-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride (DMC) was co-polymerized with methyl acrylate (MA) to prepare an antibacterial copolymer, poly(DMC-co-MA). To graft the copolymer with an improved grafting efficiency, cotton fabric was treated using carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) to establish an amino-functionalized fiber surface first. This treatment allows the amidation reactions between the amino groups and the pendant ester groups in the poly(DMC-co-MA) to take place, achieving a durable anionic polymer coating onto the fiber surfaces with remarkably antibacterial effect. Characterization results indicated that when DMC/MA monomer ratio was 100:1, the resulting copolymer endows the modified cotton fabric with antibacterial capability that inactivates all Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Even after 50 laundering cycles, more than 98.0% of the antibacterial rate could still be retained. Moreover, the wearing comfort properties such as softness, water absorption and air permeability of the finishing cotton fabrics have been insignificantly changed by comparing to the untreated cotton fabric.

     

金属草酸盐基负极材料——离子电池储能材料的新选择

商业化锂离子电池石墨负极和锂盐过渡金属氧化物正极材料的储锂容量都已接近各自的理论值,探索下一代高能量密度电极材料是解决现阶段锂离子电池容量限制的关键。近年来,新型金属草酸基负极材料,借助其在金属离子电池中多元化储能机制诱发的较高储能效应在碱金属离子电池绿色储能材料领域备受关注。本文就金属草酸基材料在锂、钠、钾金属离子电池方面的最新研究进行了综述,着重介绍了材料的晶型结构、多元化储能机制及储能过程中的动力学特征,简单阐述了材料在电化学储能中存在的问题,分析了金属草酸基负极材料在形貌晶型控制、界面碳复合改性和金属元素掺杂方面的改性策略。最后,预测了金属草酸基负极材料在碱金属离子电池体系的发展方向。     

Convergent architecting of multifunction-in-one hydrogels as wound dressings for surgical anti-infections

Surgical procedures are susceptible to the cause of infections, which could induce delayed wound healing, oxidative stress and tissue ischemia. Multifunctional wound dressings (e.g., hydrogels) without the induction of antibiotics is promising for the elimination of surgical site infections and the associated complications. Herein, we report a reductionism approach for the fabrication of bioactive hydrogels to recapitulate antibacterial functions as well as antioxidant, pro-angiogenic and hemostatic properties in surgical infection treatments. The hydrogels composed of naturally derived Cirsium setosum extracts (CE, a traditional medicinal herb) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CS) show their capacity for surgical anti-infections on three different models (i.e., infectious random skin flap model, infectious skin defect model and infectious femur fracture model). Due to the innate bioactivities of CE and CS, CECS hydrogels can also reduce the bleeding loss (85% reduction) on a hemorrhaging liver model and improve the vascularization for skin flap regeneration. Overall, bioactive CECS hydrogels integrated with the ease and scalability of assembly process and biological activities without the addition of antibiotics is promising to act as multifunctional wound dressings for surgical anti-infections.