Application of chromatography technology in the separation of active alkaloids from Hypecoum leptocarpum and their inhibitory effect on fatty acid synthase

A method that involved the combination of pH‐zone‐refining counter‐current chromatography and semipreparative reversed‐phase liquid chromatography has been established for the preparative separation of alkaloids from Hypecoum leptocarpum. From 1.2 g of crude sample, 31 mg N‐feruloyltyramine, 27 mg oxohydrastinine, 47 mg hydroprotopine, 25 mg leptopidine, and 18 mg hypecocarpine have been obtained. The structure of the new compound, hypecocarpine, is confirmed based on the analysis of spectroscopic data, including NMR, UV, and IR spectroscopy and positive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The known chemical structures were characterized on the basis of ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The purities of the five alkaloids are all over 92.7% as determined by high‐performance liquid chromatography. The alkaloids’ cytotoxicity in breast cancer cells is assessed by using a Cell Counting Kit assay and their inhibitory effect on fatty acid synthase expression is assessed by a Western blot assay. These results suggest that leptopidine could suppress growth and induce cytotoxicity in breast cancer cells and that the cytotoxicity of leptopidine may be related to its inhibitory effect on fatty acid synthase expression.     

Direct electrochemical oxidation of a pesticide, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid,at the surface of a graphite felt electrode: Biodegradability improvement

Pesticides’ biorecalcitrance can be related to the presence of a complex aromatic chains or of specific bonds, such as halogenated bonds, which are the most widespread. In order to treat this pollution at its source, namely in the case of highly concentrated solutions, selective processes, such as electrochemical processes, can appear especially relevant to avoid the possible generation of toxic degradation products and to improve biodegradability in view of a subsequent biological mineralization. 2,4-D was found to be electroactive in oxidation, but not in reduction, and the absence of hydroxyl radicals formation during the electrochemical step was demonstrated, showing that the pretreatment can be considered as a “direct” electrochemical process instead of an advanced electrochemical oxidation process. The presence of several degradation products in the oxidized effluent showed that the pretreatment was not as selective as expected. However, the relevance of the proposed combined process was confirmed since the overall mineralization yield was close to 93%.     

Simultaneous determination of acetaminophen,dopamine and ascorbic acid using a PbS nanoparticles Schiff base-modified carbon paste electrode

A highly sensitive method was investigated for the simultaneous determination of acetaminophen (AC), dopamine (DA), and ascorbic acid (AA) using a PbS nanoparticles Schiff base-modified carbon paste electrode (PSNSB/CPE). Differential pulse voltammetry peak currents of AC, DA and AA increased linearly with their concentrations within the ranges of 3.30 × 10⁻⁸–1.58 × 10⁻⁴ M, 5.0 × 10⁻⁸–1.2 × 10⁻⁴ M and 2.50 × 10⁻⁶–1.05 × 10⁻³ M, respectively, and the detection limits for AC, DA and AA were 5.36 × 10⁻⁹, 2.45 × 10⁻⁹ and 1.86 × 10⁻⁸ M, respectively. The peak potentials recorded in a phosphate buffer solution (PBS) of pH 4.6 were 0.672, 0.390, and 0.168 V (vs Ag/AgCl) for AC, DA and AA, respectively. The modified electrode was used for the determination of AC, DA, and AA simultaneously in real and synthetic samples.     

普鲁士蓝/氧化锆复合材料的电化学行为及对H_2O_2的电催化

通过一步电沉积技术制备了普鲁士蓝/氧化锆修饰玻碳电极。采用电化学阻抗技术表征修饰电极。采用循环伏安法研究了pH值和扫描速率对该修饰电极的电化学行为的影响。结果表明:普鲁士蓝的峰电流与其扫描速率的一次方在一定范围内呈良好的线性关系。此外,该修饰电极在含有KCl(1.0mol/L)的磷酸盐缓冲溶液(0.1mol/L,pH=7.0)中,对H2O2具有明显的电催化作用,在无酶检测H2O2领域具有潜在的应用价值。     

翻转课堂教学模式下知识迁移能力的培养*——以“复杂氧化还原电对电极电势的计算”为例

“复杂氧化还原电对电极电势的计算”一直是大学化学教学的难点,以此为例开展翻转课堂教学:教师引导学生归纳、类比,厘清难溶盐电极、配合物电极与“金属电极”之间的渊源,完成知识的内化;通过课堂翻转,学生将内化的知识在课堂实践中加以展现与深化,掌握复杂电极在标准状态下电极电势的计算方式。实践表明,该教学模式避免了学生线上学习存在的刷屏、刷题、心理浮躁等现象,有助于推动学生进行深度学习,将碎片化的知识迁移、串联、整合成体系,达到学以致用的目的。     

电极电势:从电化学势说起*

对于原电池,电极电势的本质是化学体系对电极材料上电子势能的影响,其正负极电势差反映化学能向电能转化的趋势。电极界面上化学物质的氧化/还原反应是通过何种途径影响到电极上电子势能的,现有的教材和论著没有给出明确的解释。本文基于相间电化学势平衡原则阐明了固液界面上离子平衡与电极上电子电势的关系,并由此给出了标准电势的物理含义:它是构成电极体系一系列物性参数的组合,包括被测电极的电子、离子化学势,工作电极电解液的离子化学势,参比电极的电子、离子化学势和参比电极电解液的离子化学势等。     

定量的复合金属锂作为三维泡沫锂电极用于锂电池的研究

金属锂作为电池的负极材料具有极高的比容量和极低的氧化还原电位,能够显著提升电池的能量密度。然而,金属锂负极在实际应用中所面临的主要问题是锂枝晶、界面副反应和电极体积变化大的难题。在本文中,我们提出了一种通过将定量的金属锂与三维骨架进行复合形成三维泡沫锂负极的策略,并利用三维泡沫锂来抑制锂枝晶的生长和缓解电极的体积变化。因此,三维泡沫锂电极有利于金属锂负极的高效利用,并能借助其与平面锂箔相比更高的比表面积和更多的反应位点来提升电池的倍率性能。因此,通过采用三维泡沫锂,对称电池的循环寿命和倍率性能都得到了有效的提升。EIS数据结果表明,三维泡沫锂能够减小对称电池的电荷转移阻抗。而且,将三维泡沫锂作为负极组装的LTO全电池,与锂箔作为负极相比,循环1000周平均放电比容量从65 mAh·g^-1提升至121 mAh·g^-1。     

Fabrication of a Simple and Cheap Screen-printed Silver/Silver Chloride (Ag/AgCl) Quasi-reference Electrode

In this work, a silver/silver chloride ink is fabricated using two steps. First the silver ink is prepare using silver, nail polish and acetone. Then the silver ink is painted in a paper substrate and a silver chloride layer is deposited using a bleach solution. The result is the silver/silver chloride conductive ink. The silver ink is cheap ($2.49/g), well-dispersive and very easy to fabricate. The materials were characterized by SEM and XRD. The Ag ink showed the formation of a continuous network throughout the silver ink film with fewer agglomeration. The effective chlorination process was also observed in the Ag/AgCl characterization. Since the Ag/AgCl substrate will be used as a quasi-reference electrode, it is important to investigate the electrical properties. The Ag ink showed an average ohmic resistance of 2.27 Ω. The addition of the AgCl layer decreases the conductivity, as expected. In summary, the Ag/Ag/Cl ink developed is simple, well-dispersed, cheap and with good conductivity. Therefore, it can be used as a conductive ink in the fabrication of quasi-reference electrodes.     

Optimization of Square Wave Voltammetry (SWV) Parameters by Design of Experiment (DoE) Methodologies for the Determination of Mifepristone at Glassy Carbon Electrode (GCE)

In the present study, an electroanalytical method that permits the optimization of factors affecting SWV for sensitive detection of mifepristone at glassy carbon electrode (GCE) using response surface methodology (RSM) with desirability function (DF) is presented. Factors selected for optimization after screening using full factorial design were frequency (X₁), amplitude (X₂), and pH (X₃). The central composite design as a response surface methodology with desirability function (DF) was applied for obtaining the optimum level. The optimum conditions were obtained as follows: Frequency (X₁=50 Hz), amplitude (X₂=33.4 mV), and pH (X₃=9.4), with an overall desirability function of 0.97. Subsequently, confirmatory experiments were performed in triplicates to validate the optimum conditions. The results obtained were satisfactory and agreed well with less only 11.9 % deviation from the values predicted by the model. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be 0.54 and 1.80 ppm, respectively. The proposed method was applied for a quantitative determination of mifepristone in spiked tap water samples. The recovery tests showed that the detection of mifepristone at GC could be evaluated on environmental samples.     

Development of a Diamond Nanoparticles-based Nanosensor for Detection and Determination of Antiviral Drug Favipiravir

This study developed a nanosensor for the detection and determination of favipiravir, a presumed drug that has potential therapeutic efficacy in treating COVID-19 patients, from tablets and serum samples. This nanosensor was obtained by adding the optimum amount of diamond nanoparticles into carbon paste. For the determination of favipiravir adsorptive stripping differential pulse (AdSDPV) and adsorptive stripping square wave voltammetry (AdSSWV) were used. Limit of detection values were found as 4.83×10⁻⁹ M and 2.44×10⁻⁷ M for bulk and 5.18×10⁻⁸ M and 4.38×10⁻⁸ M for serum samples using AdSDPV and AdSSWV, respectively. Recovery studies made of the tablet and serum produced satisfactory results.