Metabolic profiles of dioscin in rats revealed by ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Dioscin (DIS), one of the most abundant bioactive steroidal saponins in Dioscorea sp., is used as a complementary medicine to treat coronary disease and angina pectoris in China. Although the pharmacological activities and pharmacokinetics of DIS have been well demonstrated, information regarding the final metabolic fates is very limited. This study investigated the in vivo metabolic profiles of DIS after oral administration by ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry method. The structures of the metabolites were identified and tentatively characterized by means of comparing the molecular mass, retention time and fragmentation pattern of the analytes with those of the parent compound. A total of eight metabolites, including seven phase I and one phase II metabolites, were detected and tentatively identified for the first time. Oxidation, deglycosylation and glucuronidation were found to be the major metabolic processes of the compound in rats. In addition, a possible metabolic pathway on the biotransformation of DIS in vivo was proposed. This study provides valuable and new information on the metabolism of DIS, which will be helpful for further understanding its mechanism of action. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Molecular structure and properties of click hydrogels with controlled dangling end defect

In this study, controlled amount of dangling ends is introduced to the two series of poly(ethylene glycol)‐based hydrogel networks with three and four crosslinking functionality by using click chemistry. The structure of the gels with regulated defect percentage is confirmed by comparing the results of low‐field NMR characterization and Monte Carlo simulation. The mechanical properties of these gels were characterized by tensile stress–strain behaviors of the gels, and the results are analyzed by Gent model and Mooney–Rivlin model. The shear modulus of the swollen gels is found to be dependent on the functionality of the network, and decreases with the defect percentage. Furthermore, the value of shear modulus well obeys the Phantom model for all the gels with varied percentage of the defects. The maximum extension ratio, obtained from the fitting of Gent model, is also found to be dependent on the functionality of the network, and does not change with the defect percentage, except at very high defect percentage. The value of the maximum extension ratio is between that predicted from Phantom model and the Affine model. This indicates that at the large deformation, the fluctuation of the crosslinking points is suppressed for some extend but still exists. Polymer volume fractions at various defect percentages obtained from prediction of Flory–Rehner model are found to be in well agreement with the swelling experiment. All these results indicate that click chemistry is a powerful method to regulate the network structure and mechanical properties of the gels. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 1227–1236     

Post‐Synthetic Polymerization of UiO‐66‐NH2 Nanoparticles and Polyurethane Oligomer toward Stand‐Alone Membranes for Dye Removal and Separation

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are widely used as porous materials in the fields of adsorption and separation. However, their practical application is largely hindered by limitations to their processability. Herein, new UiO‐66‐Urea‐based flexible membranes with MOF loadings of 50 ( 1 ), 60 ( 2 ), and 70 wt % ( 3 ) were designed and prepared by post‐synthetic polymerization of UiO‐66‐NH₂ nanoparticles and a polyurethane oligomer under mild conditions. The adsorption behavior of membrane 3 towards four hydrophilic dyes, namely, eosin Y (EY), rhodamine B (RB), malachite green (MG), and methylene blue (MB), in aqueous solution was studied in detail. It exhibits strong adsorption of EY and RB but weak adsorption of MG and MB in aqueous solution. Owing to the selective adsorption of these hydrophilic dyes, membrane 3 can remove EY and RB from aqueous solution and completely separate EY/MB, RB/MG, and RB/MB mixtures in aqueous solution. In addition, the membrane is uniformly textured, easily handled, and can be reused for dye adsorption and separation.     

星载海洋激光雷达最佳工作波长分析

星载激光雷达是实现海洋垂直剖面探测的有效工具,也是目前迫切需求的海洋光学遥感手段。对星载海洋激光雷达的波长参数进行评估对保证探测有效性具有重要意义。本文从探测深度和信噪比两方面分析了星载海洋激光雷达探测全球海洋的最佳波长。利用MODIS 10个波段的水体光学特性数据,估算全球海水探测深度及相应的最优波长;并根据太阳夫琅禾费暗线特性,对信号信噪比进行优化。结果表明:在探测深度方面,最优探测波长在488 nm波段的海洋占全球海洋面积的70%左右,并且全球95%以上的海域在488 nm波段的探测深度优于0.8倍的真光层深度;在信噪比方面,相对于488 nm波段,486.134 nm夫琅禾费暗线处采用0.1 nm带宽的滤光片可以将背景光强度降低70%,相应地回波信噪比整体提升了约5.0%。就全球海洋探测来说,使用486.134 nm作为探测波长可以提高探测深度,有效抑制太阳背景光,提高信噪比,因此,486.134 nm是星载海洋激光雷达的最佳工作波长。     

Phosphoric-Acid Retention in High-Temperature Proton-Exchange Membranes

Great efforts have been conducted to develop high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) due to its features of enhanced electrocatalyst reactivity, simplified hydrothermal management system and high CO tolerance of catalysts, and remarkable progress has been achieved. However, the easy leaching of phosphoric acid (PA) from the membranes during operation limits its commercial scale-up in complicated environments. This concept here mainly focuses on the recent developments for mitigation of PA loss in PEMs. The probable mechanisms of PA loss are proposed. The approaches to improve PA retention for example via introduction of phosphonic acid by covalent bond, using ion-pairs interaction and siphoning effect, and blending with inorganic nanoparticles are described in detail. Among these strategies, the siphoning effect from the intrinsic microporous PEMs is the most efficient and enables the cell to operate flexibly within a broad temperature range. Therefore, this concept may provide new ideas for the scientists to retain PA, to improve the cell performance and expand the potential applications of PA doped PEMs at elevated humidity and wide temperature range.     

Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange by Ca doped β-In2S3 with varying Ca concentration

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Industrial wastewater is becoming a universal environmental problem, wherein toxic organic compounds are important sources of pollution. For the degradation...     

Bioactive Chemical Constituents of Cercis chinensis

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

HL-2M装置等离子体放电反馈控制系统

通过对HL-2M装置极向场线圈的参数和初始等离子放电控制需求的分析，基于实时采集系统和反射内存实时数据传输的先进控制集成技术，完成了整个HL-2M初始等离子体放电反馈控制系统的设计。新系统实现了稳定的1ms控制周期和实时数据传输，同时解决了实时控制周期和数据传输的延迟。实验结果表明新设计的等离子控制系统能满足初始等离子体极向场线圈电流控制的需求。