Development,validation and application of a UHPLC–MS/MS method for quantification of the adiponectin-derived active peptide ADP355 in rat plasma

A UHPLC–MS/MS method for the quantification of ADP355, an adiponectin-derived active peptide, was developed and validated. The extraction method employed simple protein precipitation using methanol and chromatographic separation was achieved on anAccucore™ RP-MS C₁₈ column (100 × 2.1 mm, 2.6 μm, 80 Å), using 0.1% formic acid in both water and acetonitrile with gradient elution at the flow rate of 400 μl/min within 4.0 min. Detections were performed under positive ion mode with multiple reaction monitoring ion transitions m/z 1109.2 → 309.8 and 871.4 → 310.1 for ADP355 and Jt003 respectively at unit resolution. The linearity range of the calibration curve was 2–1,000 ng/ml with a lower limit detection of 0.5 ng/ml. The selectivity, linearity, precision, accuracy, recovery, matrix effect and stability were validated, and all items met the requirement of US Food and Drug Administration guidance. This method was successfully applied to an intravenous pharmacokinetic study of ADP355 in rats and the in-vitro stability in rat serum, plasma and whole blood was also assessed.     

Enzyme-catalyzed asymmetric domino aza-Michael/aldol reaction for the synthesis of 1,2-dihydroquinolines using pepsin from porcine gastric mucosa

An unprecedented enzyme-catalyzed asymmetric domino aza-Michael/aldol reaction of 2-aminobenzaldehyde and a,b-unsaturated aldehydes is achieved. Pepsin from porcine gastric mucosa provided mild and efficient access to diverse substituted 1,2-dihydroquinolines in yields of 38%–97% with 6%–24%enantiomeric excess(ee). This work not only provides a novel method for the synthesis of dihydroquinoline derivatives, but also promotes the development of enzyme catalytic promiscuity.     

Complex dynamics in equilibrium asset pricing models with boundedly rational,heterogeneous agents

We study a simple model based upon the Lucas framework where heterogeneous agents behave rationally in a fully intertemporal setting but do not know other investors' personal preferences, wealth or investment portfolios. As a consequence, agents initially do not know the equilibrium asset pricing function and must make guesses, which they update via adaptive learning with constant gain. We demonstrate that even in this simple environment the economy can, depending on parameters, exhibit either stable convergence to equilibrium, or chaotic dynamical behavior of asset prices and trading volume without converging to the rational expectations equilibrium of the Lucas model. This contradicts the assertion that the Lucas model is stable in the face of modest deviations from the strong assumptions required to compute the equilibrium. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 19: 38–55, 2014     

Synthesis and Design of Aggregation‐Induced Emission Surfactants: Direct Observation of Micelle Transitions and Microemulsion Droplets

The direct visualization of micelle transitions is a long‐standing challenge owing to the intractable aggregation‐caused quenching of light emission in the micelle solution. Herein, we report the synthesis of a surfactant with a tetraphenylethene (TPE) core and aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics. The transition processes of surfactant micelles and the microemulsion droplets (MEDs) formed by the surfactant with a TPE core were clearly visualized by a high‐contrast fluorescence imaging method. The fluorescence intensity of the MEDs decreased as the size of MEDs increased as a result of weakening of the restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR). The results of this study deepen our understanding of micelle‐transition processes and provide solid evidence in favor of the hypothesis that the AIE phenomenon has its origin in the RIR of fluorophores in the aggregate state.     

介孔分子筛MCM-48的氮化与表面胺化及其碱催化反应性能

以介孔分子筛MCM-48为前驱体,通过表面胺化和高温NH3氮化方法制备出两种碱性分子筛.采用X射线衍射(XRD)、N2-吸附脱附、透射电镜(TEM)、红外光谱(FT-IR)、热重分析(TG)和哈密特指示剂法对上述分子筛的结构及表面酸碱性进行了详细表征,并通过苯甲醛与丙二腈的Knoevenagel缩合反应对其碱催化活性及稳定性进行了考察和对比.结果表明,表面胺化和高温氮化的方法均可制备出碱性介孔分子筛,且均在Knoevenagel碱性探针反应中表现出较好的碱催化活性,但与后者相比,前者制备的碱性分子筛具有更强的表面碱性和更好的反应稳定性.     

Highly stable and reusable imprinted artificial antibody used for in situ detection and disinfection of pathogens

Sandwich ELISA methods have been widely used for biomarker and pathogen detection because of their high specificity and sensitivity. However, the main drawbacks of this assay are the cost, the time-consuming procedure for the isolation of antibodies and their poor stability. To overcome these restrictions, we herein fabricated artificial antibodies based on imprinting technology and developed a sandwich ELISA for pathogen detection. Both the capture and detection antibodies were obtained via an in situ method, with simplicity, rapidity and low cost. The peroxidase mimics, the CeO₂ nanoparticles, as signal generators were integrated with the detection antibody. The fabricated artificial antibodies exhibited not only natural antibody-like binding affinities and selectivities, but also superior stability and reusability. The detection limit was about 500 CFU mL^–1, which is much lower than that of traditional ELISA methods (10⁴ to 10⁵ CFU mL^–1). Furthermore, the capture antibody can disinfect pathogens in situ.     

Convergence analysis for second‐order accurate schemes for the periodic nonlocal Allen‐Cahn and Cahn‐Hilliard equations

In this paper, we provide a detailed convergence analysis for fully discrete second‐order (in both time and space) numerical schemes for nonlocal Allen‐Cahn and nonlocal Cahn‐Hilliard equations. The unconditional unique solvability and energy stability ensures ? ⁴ stability. The convergence analysis for the nonlocal Allen‐Cahn equation follows the standard procedure of consistency and stability estimate for the numerical error function. For the nonlocal Cahn‐Hilliard equation, because of the complicated form of the nonlinear term, a careful expansion of its discrete gradient is undertaken, and an H ^?1 inner‐product estimate of this nonlinear numerical error is derived to establish convergence. In addition, an a priori bound of the numerical solution at the discrete level is needed in the error estimate. Such a bound can be obtained by performing a higher order consistency analysis by using asymptotic expansions for the numerical solution. Following the technique originally proposed by Strang (eg, 1964), instead of the standard comparison between the exact and numerical solutions, an error estimate between the numerical solution and the constructed approximate solution yields an O (s ³+h ⁴) convergence in norm, in which s and h denote the time step and spatial mesh sizes, respectively. This in turn leads to the necessary bound under a standard constraint s ≤C h . Here, we also prove convergence of the scheme in the maximum norm under the same constraint.     

Lewis酸催化纤维素制乳酸机理研究

Because fossil fuels are continuously depleted, valorization of biomass into valuable liquid products and chemicals is of great significance yet it remains challenging. Among many biomass-derived products, lactic acid is one of the most important renewable monomers for preparing the degradable polymer polylactic acid. The use of raw biomass to produce lactic acid through catalytic conversion is an attractive approach. In this work, the catalytic reaction performance and mechanism of different Lewis acids (Y³⁺, Sc³⁺, and Al³⁺) for the production of lactic acid from cellulose were investigated in detail by isotopic nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry. The production of lactic acid from cellulose includes tandem and competing reactions. The order of catalytic activity for the one-pot conversion of cellulose into lactic acid is as follows: Y³⁺ > Al³⁺ > Sc³⁺. The main tandem reactions involve the hydrolysis of cellulose into glucose, the isomerization of glucose into fructose (the order of catalytic activity, the same below: Y³⁺ > Al³⁺, Y³⁺ > Sc³⁺), the cleavage of fructose via a retro-aldol reaction to glyceraldehyde (GLY) and 1, 3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA) (Sc³⁺ > Y³⁺ > Al³⁺), and the conversion of DHA or GLY to the final product lactic acid (Al³⁺ > Y³⁺ > Sc³⁺). It was found that the process of glucose isomerization to fructose was the key step to the final selectivity of the tandem reaction of cellulose conversion to lactic acid, and it was clarified that the production of lactic acid from DHA underwent a keto-enol (K-E) tautomerization process rather than a classical 1, 2-shift process. First, DHA was transformed into GLY via the isomerization process, then the adjacent hydroxyl group of GLY was removed in the form of water to produce an α, β-unsaturated species. After that, the α, β-unsaturated species underwent K-E tautomerization to generate unsaturated aldehyde-ketone intermediates. Meanwhile, a molecule of water was added to aldehyde-ketone intermediates to obtain a diol product, the hydrogen atom at the methine position was transferred and the lactic acid was finally obtained through the K-E tautomerization process. The in-depth understanding of the reaction mechanism presented in this work will help to design more selective catalysts for cellulose conversion into value-added oxygen-containing small molecule chemicals.