Optimization of extraction and quantification technique for phenolics content of garlic (Allium sativum): An application for comparative phytochemical evaluation based on cultivar origin

A range of conventional, i.e. maceration, percolation, ultrasonic assisted, Soxhlet and Soxtec extraction (STE), to advanced extraction techniques of accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) was utilized for the first time in order to optimize the extract yield and recovery of phenolics—gallic acid (GA), rutin (RT) and quercetin (QT)—quantified via ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (UHPLC–DAD). The effect of solvents (n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol) and temperature (60, 80 and 100°C) upon extraction yield, phenolic content and antioxidant activity (DPPH, ABTS and DPPH) was studied, and the method was validated in commercial food samples from Saudi Arabia, China and India. A high extract yield with percentage recovery was observed for STE (1221.10 mg/5 g; 24.42%) and ASE techniques (91.50 mg/1 g; 9.15%) in methanol at 100°C. UHPLC–DAD showed retention times (min) of 0.67, 1.93 and 1.90 for GA, RT and QT, respectively in the shortest runtime of 3 min. The yield for phenolics was higher for STE/ASE (ppm): 15.27/15.29 (GA), 85.24/37.56 (RT) and 52.20/33.40 (QT), respectively. In terms of antioxidant activities, low IC₅₀ values (μg/ml) of 1.09/1.18 (DPPH), 2.11/5.32 (ABTS) and 4.35/7.88 (phenazine methosulfate–nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) were observed for STE and ASE, respectively. Multivariate analysis for STE showed a significant (P = 0.000) correlation for extraction type vs. extract yield and phenolics content; however, there was no significance for antioxidant activities vs. extraction type. ASE showed a positive correlation for solvent vs. extraction yield, phenolics and antioxidant activity; however, there was no correlation for extraction yield and DPPH activity. Principal component analysis for STE showed a major variability (52.02%) for extraction yield and phenolics in PC1 followed by PC2 (38.30%) for antioxidant activities. For ASE, PC1 (48.68%) showed a positive correlation for solvent vs. extraction yield and phenolics while PC2 (33.12%) showed a positive correlation for temperature and antioxidant activities. STE and ASE were the optimized extraction techniques for the garlic food sample while a significant effect of solvent and temperature was observed upon extraction yield, phenolics and antioxidant activity.     

Complementarity between micro-micro and micro-macro entanglement in a Bose–Einstein condensate with two Rydberg impurities

We theoretically study complementarity between micro-micro and micro-macro entanglement in a Bose–Einstein condensate with two Rydberg impurities. We investigate quantum dynamics of micro-micro and micro-macro entanglement in the micro-macro system. It is found that strong micro-macro entanglement between Rydberg impurities and the BEC can be generated by the use of initial micro-micro entanglement between two Rydberg impurities, which acts as the seed entanglement to create micro-macro entanglement. We demonstrate a curious complementarity relation between micro-micro and micro-macro entanglement, and find that the complementarity property can be sustained to some extent even though in the presence of the BEC decoherence.     

Analysis,design and simulation of MIM plasmonic filters with different geometries for technical parameters improvement

In this paper, four optical filter topologies based on metal–insulator–metal waveguides are proposed and the designed structures are investigated numerically using finite-difference timedomain method. Triangular-shaped adjunctions have been added to the filter structures to improve their transmission spectrum. These improved structures consist of air as the insulator and silver as the metal. The relative permittivity of metal has been described via the Drude,Drude–Lorentz, and Palik models. The first filter's transmission spectrum shows an acceptable transmittance. In the second optimized filter, the transmission spectrum has been improved. The transmittance spectrum can be tuned through adjusting the edge of the triangle in these four optimized filters. As a result, the bandwidths of resonance spectra can be adjusted. The theory of such tapered structures will be investigated by the tapered transmission line and will be solved with the transfer matrix method. This method shows a better performance and higher transmission efficiency in comparison with the basic structures. On the other hand, the final filter has been chosen as the best one because of its hexagonal resonator. The main reason for having a better result is due to a longer interaction length in comparison with the circular resonator. This in turn creates much better energy coupling and results in higher transmission.     

第三族金属氧化物离子对二氧化碳转化的红外光谱研究

本文利用红外光解离光谱研究了第三族金属氧化物离子对二氧化碳分子的转化机制. 研究表明，对于[ScO(CO₂)_n]⁺体系，在n≤4时，形成了溶剂化结构；在n=5时，形成了碳酸盐结构，实现了二氧化碳的转化. 对于[YO(CO₂)_n]⁺体系，需要4个二氧化碳分子就可以实现二氧化碳的转化. 而在[YO(CO₂)_n]⁺体系中，只发现了溶剂化结构，没有观察到碳酸盐结构. 理论计算表明，[YO(CO₂)_n]⁺体系拥有最小的溶剂化结构向碳酸盐结构转化能垒，[LaO(CO₂)_n]⁺体系拥有最大的溶剂化结构向碳酸盐结构转化能垒. 本文从分子水平揭示了不同金属氧化物离子对二氧化碳分子转化的影响规律.     

Composite host lattices of 4,4′‐sulfonyldibenzoate water/boric acid in two tetrapropylammonium inclusion compounds

Two novel inclusion compounds of 4,4′‐sulfonyldibenzoate anions and tetrapropylammonium cations with different ancillary molecules of water and boric acid, namely bis(tetrapropylammonium) 4,4′‐sulfonyldibenzoate dihydrate, 2C₁₂H₂₈N⁺·C₁₄H₈O₆S²⁻·H₂O ( 1 ), and bis(tetrapropylammonium) 4,4′‐sulfonyldibenzoate bis(boric acid), 2C₁₂H₂₈N⁺·C₁₄H₈O₆S²⁻·2H₃BO₃ ( 2 ), were prepared and characterized using single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. In the two salts, the host 4,4′‐sulfonyldibenzoic acid molecules, which are converted to the corresponding anions under basic conditions, can be regarded as proton acceptors which link different proton donors of the ancillary molecules of water or boric acid. In this way, an isolated hydrogen‐bonded tetramer is constructed in salt 1 and a ribbon is constructed in salt 2 . The tetramers and ribbons are then packed in a repeating manner to generate various host frameworks, and the tetrapropylammonium guest counter‐ions are contained in the cavities of the host lattices to give the final stable crystal structures. In these two salts, although the host anion and guest cation are the same, the difference in the ancillary small molecules results in different structures, indicating the significance of ancillary molecules in the formation of crystal structures.     

考虑制动力影响的大型客车舒适性分析

利用有限元法和动力平衡原理,建立了具有层间接触的沥青路面和13个自由度的大型客车人体三维模型。以不平顺作为激励,随机模拟车流分布,在不同制动情况下,从时域和频域两方面分析人-车-路耦合振动下车辆和人体的动力响应。时域分析采用客观评价标准和主观烦恼率相结合的方法,频域分析考虑人体共振、人的心理和生理因素。结果表明:随着制动力增大,人体的竖向加速度幅值不变,俯仰、侧倾加速度幅值都增大,但是俯仰加速度增幅远大于侧倾加速度的情况,人的舒适性变差,烦恼率增高;在紧急制动时,主频段对人体共振、心理和生理产生的影响很小,但是次主频段与人体某些器官固有频段重合,对人体共振、心理和生理产生的影响是不容忽视的。     

On-chip multiphoton Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state based on integrated frequency combs

One of the most important multipartite entangled states, Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state (GHZ), serves as a fundamental resource for quantum foundation test, quantum communication and quantum computation. To increase the number of entangled particles, significant experimental efforts should been invested due to the complexity of optical setup and the difficulty in maintaining the coherence condition for high-fidelity GHZ state. Here, we propose an ultra-integrated scalable on-chip GHZ state generation scheme based on frequency combs. By designing several microrings pumped by different lasers, multiple partially overlapped quantum frequency combs are generated to supply as the basis for on-chip polarization-encoded GHZ state with each qubit occupying a certain spectral mode. Both even and odd numbers of GHZ states can be engineered with constant small number of integrated components and easily scaled up on the same chip by only adjusting one of the pump wavelengths. In addition, we give the on-chip design of projection measurement for characterizing GHZ states and show the reconfigurability of the state. Our proposal is rather simple and feasible within the existing fabrication technologies and we believe it will boost the development of multiphoton technologies.     

Mechanism of [3+2] Cycloaddition of Alkynes to the [Mo3S4(acac)3(py)3][PF6] Cluster

A study, involving kinetic measurements on the stopped‐flow and conventional UV/Vis timescales, ESI‐MS, NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations, has been carried out to understand the mechanism of the reaction of [Mo₃S₄(acac)₃(py)₃][PF₆] ([ 1 ]PF₆; acac=acetylacetonate, py=pyridine) with two RC?CR alkynes (R=CH₂OH (btd), COOH (adc)) in CH₃CN. Both reactions show polyphasic kinetics, but experimental and computational data indicate that alkyne activation occurs in a single kinetic step through a concerted mechanism similar to that of organic [3+2] cycloaddition reactions, in this case through the interaction with one Mo(μ‐S)₂ moiety of [ 1 ]⁺. The rate of this step is three orders of magnitude faster for adc than that for btd, and the products initially formed evolve in subsequent steps into compounds that result from substitution of py ligands or from reorganization to give species with different structures. Activation strain analysis of the [3+2] cycloaddition step reveals that the deformation of the two reactants has a small contribution to the difference in the computed activation barriers, which is mainly associated with the change in the extent of their interaction at the transition‐state structures. Subsequent frontier molecular orbital analysis shows that the carboxylic acid substituents on adc stabilize its HOMO and LUMO orbitals with respect to those on btd due to better electron‐withdrawing properties. As a result, the frontier molecular orbitals of the cluster and alkyne become closer in energy; this allows a stronger interaction.     

Study of blood collection and sample preparation for analysis of vitamin D and its metabolites by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

The analysis of vitamin D status, with special emphasis on 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, is gaining interest in clinical studies due to the classical and non-classical effects attributed to this prohormone. In this research, the influence of the two steps preceding determination (viz. sample collection and preparation) on the quantitative analysis of vitamin D and its more important metabolites has been studied. Two preparation approaches, deproteination and solid-phase extraction (SPE), have been evaluated in terms of sensitivity to delimit their application, thus establishing that detection of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D cannot be addressed by protein precipitation. Concerning sample collection, serum and plasma reported high accuracy (above 83.3%) for vitamin D and metabolites, while precision, expressed as relative standard deviation, was below 12.9% for all analytes in both samples. Statistical analysis revealed that serum and plasma provided similar physiological levels for vitamin D₃, 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ and 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃, while significantly different levels were obtained for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃, always higher in plasma than in serum. Sample collection and treatment have proved to be significant in the analysis of vitamin D and its relevant metabolites.