High‐performance liquid chromatographic column packings with different particle sizes: Chromatographic behavior for the quality analysis of HuanglianShangqing pill

The chromatographic separation of traditional Chinese medicines is still a highly challenging task in analytical science with respect to its hundreds and thousands of chemical compounds, while increase of separation efficiency can greatly improve the separation power of chromatographic column for traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, 13 bioactive components in HuanglianShangqing pill were selected as an index to optimize the separation conditions and evaluate the system suitability of three commercially available columns packed with 1.8, 3.5, and 5.0 μm particles. The chromatographic separations were obtained by the most appropriate Eclipse Plus C₁₈ column (100 × 2.1 mm, 3.5 μm) within 45 min using gradient elution with aqueous‐ammonium acetate (10 mmol/L, pH 5.0) and acetonitrile, at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min and an operating temperature of 30°C. The quality of HuanglianShangqing pill was assessed through combining simultaneous quantification of 13 compounds with fingerprint analysis. For the qualitative analysis, mass spectrometry was used to confirm the 13 compounds. All the validation data conformed to the acceptable requirements. For the fingerprint analysis, 32 peaks were selected as the common peaks at 254 nm to evaluate the similarities among HuanglianShangqing pills obtained from ten manufacturers.     

Separation and purification of five alkaloids from Aconitum duclouxii by counter‐current chromatography

C₁₉‐diterpenoid alkaloids are the main components of Aconitum duclouxii Levl. The process of separation and purification of these compounds in previous studies was tedious and time consuming, requiring multiple chromatographic steps, thus resulted in low recovery and high cost. In the present work, five C₁₉‐diterpenoid alkaloids, namely, benzoylaconine ( 1 ), N‐deethylaconitine ( 2 ), aconitine ( 3 ), deoxyaconitine ( 4 ), and ducloudine A ( 5 ), were efficiently prepared from A. duclouxii Levl (Aconitum L.) by ethyl acetate extraction followed with counter‐current chromatography. In the process of separation, the critical conditions of counter‐current chromatography were optimized. The two‐phase solvent system composed of n‐hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water/NH₃·H₂O (25%) (1:1:1:1:0.1, v/v) was selected and 148.2 mg of 1 , 24.1 mg of 2 , 250.6 mg of 3 , 73.9 mg of 4, and 31.4 mg of 5 were obtained from 1 g total Aconitum alkaloids extract, respectively, in a single run within 4 h. Their purities were found to be 98.4, 97.2, 98.2, 96.8, and 96.6%, respectively, by ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography analysis. The presented separation and purification method was simple, fast, and efficient, and the obtained highly pure alkaloids are suitable for biochemical and toxicological investigation.     

High-internal-phase-emulsion polymeric monolith coupled with liquid chromatography–electrospray tandem mass spectrometry for enrichment and sensitive detection of trace cytokinins in plant samples

High-internal-phase-emulsion polymers (polyHIPEs) show great promise as solid-phase-extraction (SPE) materials because of the tremendous porosity and highly interconnected framework afforded by the high-internal-phase-emulsion (HIPE) technique. In this work, polyHIPE monolithic columns as novel SPE materials were prepared and applied to trace enrichment of cytokinins (CKs) from complex plant samples. The polyHIPE monoliths were synthesized via the in-situ polymerization of the continuous phase of a HIPE containing styrene (STY) and divinylbenzene (DVB) in a stainless column, and revealed highly efficient and selective enrichment ability for aromatic compounds. Under the optimized experimental conditions, a method using a monolithic polyHIPE column combined with liquid chromatography–electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS–MS) was developed for the simultaneous extraction and sensitive determination of trans-zeatin (tZ), meta-topolin (mT), kinetin (K), and kinetin riboside (KR). The proposed method had good linearity, with correlation coefficients (R ²) from 0.9957 to 0.9984, and low detection limits (LODs, S/N?=?3) in the range 2.4–47 pg mL^?1 for the four CKs. The method was successfully applied to the determination of CKs in real plant samples, and obtained good recoveries ranging from 68.8 % to 103.0 % and relative standard deviations (RSDs) lower than 16 %.     

Development and validation of polymerized high internal phase emulsion monoliths coupled with HPLC and fluorescence detection for the determination of trace tetracycline antibiotics in environmental water samples

A polymerized high internal phase emulsion monolith was used as a novel sorbent for solid‐phase extraction coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection for the determination of oxytetracycline, tetracycline, doxycycline, and chlorotetracycline in environmental water samples. The polymerized high internal phase emulsion monolithic column was prepared by the in situ polymerization of the continuous phase of a high internal phase emulsion containing glycidyl methacrylate, styrene, and divinylbenzene in pipette tips, and then functionalized with iminodiacetic acid. The resulting monolith exhibited highly interconnected porosity and large surface areas, making it an excellent candidate as an solid‐phase extraction sorbent for the enrichment of trace tetracycline antibiotics. Several factors affecting the extraction performance of polymerized high internal phase emulsion monoliths, including the pH of sample solution, the eluting solvents, the sample loading flow rate and volume, were investigated, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, the mean recoveries of oxytetracycline, tetracycline, doxycycline, and chlorotetracycline spiked in pond and farm wastewater samples ranged from 78.1 to 119.3% with relative standard deviation less than 15%. The detection limits (S/N = 3) of the proposed method were in the range of 51–137 pg/mL. This study demonstrated that the monolithic polymerized high internal phase emulsion would be promising solid‐phase extraction sorbents in the extraction and proconcentration of trace analytes from complex samples.     

Selective adsorption of metronidazole on conjugated microporous polymers

Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) have recently received extensive attention in oil/organic solvent-water separation field as a kind of ideal porous absorbents with tunable porosity, large surface areas, and super-hydrophobicity. However, reports on the application of CMPs in adsorption of hydrophilic contaminants from water are very few. In this work, we studied the adsorption of metronidazole (MNZ), a polar antibiotic, by two kinds of CMPs. The adsorption characteristics of MNZ by the CMPs, including adsorption kinetics, mechanism, and isotherm parameters were calculated. The adsorption kinetics of MNZ was well expressed by the pseudo-second-order model, and the adsorption process was found to be mainly controlled by film diffusion. The adsorption isotherm data agreed well with the Langmuir isotherm model, and the values of free energy E indicated that the adsorption nature of MNZ on the CMPs was physisorption. Increasing dispersion degree of the CMPs in MNZ solution resulted in greater adsorption. This work may provide fundamental guidance for the removal of antibiotics by CMPs.     

Synthesis,characterization and crystal structures of new Zinc(II) and Nickel(II) complexes containing morpholine moiety and their antibacterial studies

The ligand 1,2-dimorpholinoethane (DME) was used to prepare Zn(II) and Ni(II) complexes of the general formulation MLX₂ (L = DME, X = Cl or NO₃). Zinc(II) complex exhibits spectral properties indicative of a distorted tetrahedral geometry, with DME coordinating through two nitrogen atoms and two chlorides completing the tetrahedron. This is in contrast to the six-coordinated, distorted octahedral geometry exhibited by nickel(II) complex of DME when NO₃ was used as counter ions. The X-ray diffraction confirms the structures of two complexes and shows that the ligand coordinates through two nitrogen atoms while the two ether linkages are not involved in complexation, which would have been the case if the morpholine rings were in the boat form. The ligand and related complexes have antibacterial activity against the five Gram-positive bacteria: Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Bacillus cereus NRRL-B-3711, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 and Streptococcus pyogenes and also against the three Gram-negative bacteria: Escherichia coli ATCC 11230, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 15442 and Klebsiella pneumonia ATCC 70063. The results showed that in some cases the antibacterial activity of the complexes exceeded the one of sulfisoxazole used as a standard.     

Preparation and Electrochemical Properties of Tin–Iron–Carbon Nanocomposite as the Anode of Lithium‐Ion Batteries

Tin–iron–carbon nanocomposite is successfully prepared by a sol–gel method followed by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process with acetylene gas as the carbon source. The structural properties, morphology, and electrochemical performances of the nanocomposite are comprehensively studied in comparison with those properties of tin–carbon and iron–carbon nanocomposites. Sheet‐like carbon architecture and different carbon contents are induced thanks to the catalytic effect of iron during CVD. Among three nanocomposites, tin–iron–carbon demonstrates the highest reversible capacity of 800 mA h g^?1 with 96.9 % capacity retention after 50 cycles. It also exhibits the best rate capability with a discharge capacity of 420 mA h g^?1 at a current density of 1000 mA g^?1. This enhanced performance is strongly related to the carbon morphology and content, which can not only accommodate the large volume change, but also improve the electronic conductivity of the nanocomposite. Hence, the tin–iron–carbon nanocomposite is expected to be a promising anode for lithium‐ion batteries.