Combinatorial Screening of Water/Proton Permeation of Self-Assembled Pillar[5]arene Artificial Water Channel Libraries

Artificial water channels (AWCs) that selectively transport water and reject ions through bilayer membranes have potential to act as synthetic Aquaporins (AQPs). AWCs can have a similar osmotic permeability, better stability, with simpler manufacture on a larger-scale and have higher functional density and surface permeability when inserted into the membrane. Here, we report the screening of combinatorial libraries of symmetrical and unsymmetrical rim-functionalized PAs A – D that are able to transport ca. 10⁷–10⁸ water molecules/s/channel, which is within 1 order of magnitude of AQPs’ and show total ion and proton rejection. Among the four channels, C and D are 3–4 times more water permeable than A and B when inserted in bilayer membranes. The binary combinations of A – D with different molar ratios could be expressed as an independent (linear ABA ), a recessive (inhibition AB , AC , DB , ACA ), or a dominant (amplification, DBD ) behavior of the water net permeation events.     

H-ZSM-5分子筛不同孔道处的酸位在甲醇制烯烃反应中的催化作用

甲醇制烯烃(MTO)作为一条由煤、天然气和生物质等含碳资源制备重要有机化学品的非石油路线,近年来备受关注.作为MTO催化剂,分子筛的骨架拓扑结构和酸性质对于其催化活性、反应路径和产物分布等具有重要的影响.H-ZSM-5分子筛是一种典型的MTO反应催化剂,酸位可以分布在MFI拓扑结构的直孔道、正弦孔道和交叉位点处.虽然目前已普遍认可MTO反应遵循芳烃/烯烃双循环烃池机理,分子筛的催化性能与其骨架中酸中心的位置相关,但对于H-ZSM-5分子筛不同孔道位置处的酸中心在甲醇制烯烃反应中的催化作用仍缺乏足够认识.本文采用密度泛函理论计算和分子动力学模拟方法,对H-ZSM-5分子筛不同孔道处(包括正弦孔道、直孔道和交叉腔)酸位中心上的MTO反应网络(包括芳烃循环、烯烃循环和芳构化)及甲醇原料和烯烃/芳烃产物的扩散行为进行了比较研究.结果表明,与正弦孔道和直孔道相比,芳烃循环和芳构化反应在交叉腔的酸中心上因具有较低的能垒而更易进行.相比之下,在正弦孔道和直孔道中,多甲基苯的生成受到显著限制,而烯烃循环却可以在三种酸中心(正弦孔道、直孔道和交叉腔)上以相近的能垒和相似的几率进行.芳烃循环生成乙烯和丙烯的几率相近,而烯烃循坏产物以丙烯和较高的烯烃产物为主.落位于H-ZSM-5交叉腔的酸中心能促进芳烃中间体如多甲基苯的生成,推动芳烃循环,提高乙烯选择性,而正弦孔道和直孔道中的酸中心则能增强烯烃循环,生成较多的丙烯和较高的烯烃产物.因此,H-ZSM-5分子筛对MTO的催化性能(包括活性和产物选择性等),可以通过有目的地调节酸中心在分子筛骨架中的位置分布(即铝落位)而得到有效调变和提升.本文阐明了H-ZSM-5分子筛酸中心在MTO反应中的催化作用与其骨架中的落位之间的有机联系,为高效甲醇转化分子筛催化剂的设计和性能提升提供了参考思路.     

SC-ICP-MS法测定金属元素的方法研究

为了使用单细胞电感耦合等离子体质谱(SC-ICP-MS)方法准确测定单个细胞中的铬(Cr)、锰(Mn)、铁(Fe)、铜(Cu)和锌(Zn)等多种内源性金属元素,该文基于动态反应池(DRC)模式对目标分析物的反应气流量和极杆抑制参数q(RPq)进行了优化,并研究了进样速度、细胞密度、驻留时间等因素对SC-ICP-MS检测的影响。分别采用细胞悬液直接进样、使用超声波探头使细胞悬液中的细胞破碎后进样和使用浓硝酸消解细胞后进样的ICP-MS测定结果对SC-ICP-MS定量结果的准确性进行验证分析。实验结果表明,可采用超声波破碎细胞的ICP-MS测定结果评估SC-ICP-MS测定的单细胞内Zn和Cu含量的准确性,采用酸消解细胞的ICP-MS检测结果验证单细胞内Fe和Cr的含量。缺少细胞标准物质时对SC-ICP-MS方法定量结果进行多角度验证是必要的。研究表明,使用SC-ICP-MS法可以较好地进行单细胞元素相关分析。     

Inherent Ethyl Acetate Selectivity in a Trianglimine Molecular Solid

Ethyl acetate is an important chemical raw material and solvent. It is also a key volatile organic compound in the brewing industry and a marker for lung cancer. Materials that are highly selective toward ethyl acetate are needed for its separation and detection. Here, we report a trianglimine macrocycle ( TAMC ) that selectively adsorbs ethyl acetate by forming a solvate. Crystal structure prediction showed this to be the lowest energy solvate structure available. This solvate leaves a metastable, “templated” cavity after solvent removal. Adsorption and breakthrough experiments confirmed that TAMC has adequate adsorption kinetics to separate ethyl acetate from azeotropic mixtures with ethanol, which is a challenging and energy-intensive industrial separation.     

Soluble Congeners of Prior Insoluble Shape-Persistent Imine Cages

One of the most applied reaction types to synthesize shape-persistent organic cage compounds is the imine condensation reaction and it is assumed that the formed cages are thermodynamically controlled products due to the reversibility of the imine condensation. However, most of the synthesized imine cages reported are formed as precipitate from the reaction mixture and therefore rather may be kinetically controlled products. There are even examples in literature, where resulting cages are not soluble at all in common organic solvents to characterize or study their formation by NMR spectroscopy in solution. Here, a triptycene triamine containing three solubilizing n-hexyloxy chains has been used to synthesize soluble congeners of prior insoluble cages. This allowed us to study the formation as well as the reversibility of cage formation in solution by investigating exchange of building blocks between the cages and deuterated derivatives thereof.     

DCE-MRI定量参数对子宫内膜癌的诊断价值及与临床病理因素的相关性

本文选取了子宫内膜癌患者108例作为观察组,另选取子宫内膜良性病变患者105例作为对照组,均行DCE-MRI检查后发现,观察组容量转移常数(K trans)、速率常数(K ep)、血管外细胞外间隙容积比值(V e)高于对照组(P<0.05);K trans、K ep、V e值联合诊断子宫内膜癌的曲线下面积(AUC)为0.841;K trans、K ep、V e值与临床分期、肌层浸润程度呈正相关,与分化程度呈负相关(P<0.05)。本研究结果提示DCE-MRI定量参数对子宫内膜癌具有一定鉴别诊断价值,有助于进一步区分子宫内膜癌患者肌层浸润程度、临床分期、分化程度。     

Dynamic Visualization of Free Radicals at Single Oxygen Bubbles using Chemiluminescence

The generation of free radicals is a key process in the formation and the collapse of the bubbles in water, however, the direct and dynamic observation of the radicals in this process at single bubbles has never been achieved. Here, the hydroxyl (OH^.) and oxygen (O₂^.−) radicals at single oxygen bubbles are continuously traced using chemiluminescence (CL), in which these radicals at the bubble react with the surrounding luminol in the solution emitting the light. Varied increase trends of luminescence are observed in the generation of a bubble, floating, short parking at the water/air interface and the final explosion, revealing the complexity in the distribution of radicals at the bubble unprecedentedly. Despite more radicals are observed at the bubble generated at a deep position under the water for the stabilization, almost the same amount of radicals are included in the bubbles that is independent on the water pressure during the production of the bubble. This rich information collected from the dynamic study of bubbles illustrates the complicated generation and distribution process of radicals at the bubbles, and will facilitate the understanding of the function about the bubbles.     

Characterization of Functional Groups in Estuarine Dissolved Organic Matter by DNP-enhanced 15N and 13C Solid-State NMR

Estuaries are key ecosystems with unique biodiversity and are of high economic importance. Along the estuaries, variations in environmental parameters, such as salinity and light penetration, can modify the characteristics of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Nevertheless, there is still limited information about the atomic-level transformations of DOM in this ecosystem. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy provides unique insights into the nature of functional groups in DOM. A major limitation of this technique is its lack of sensivity, which results in experimental time of tens of hours for the acquisition of ¹³C NMR spectra and generally precludes the observation of ¹⁵N nuclei for DOM. We show here how the sensitivity of solid-state NMR experiments on DOM of Seine estuary can be enhanced using dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) under magic-angle spinning. This technique allows the acquisition of ¹³C NMR spectra of these samples in few minutes, instead of hours for conventional solid-state NMR. Both conventional and DNP-enhanced ¹³C NMR spectra indicate that the ¹³C local environments in DOM are not strongly modified along the Seine estuary. Furthermore, the sensitivity gain provided by the DNP allows the detection of ¹⁵N NMR signal of DOM, in spite of the low nitrogen content. These spectra reveal that the majority of nitrogen is in the amide form in these DOM samples and show an increased disorder around these amide groups near the mouth of the Seine.     

Dynamic polarizability of two‐electron ions under Debye screening

The effect of plasma screening on the dynamic dipole polarizability (DPP) of two‐electron ions Be²⁺, B³⁺, and C⁴⁺ has been investigated using highly correlated exponential wave functions within the framework of pseudostate summation technique and Debye screening concept. Plasma‐screening effect on the oscillator strengths (OS) of the ultraviolet and visible series has also been investigated for the systems Li⁺, Be²⁺, B³⁺, C⁴⁺. The DPP are reported as functions of screening parameters. The OS for S‐P transitions are also reported for various screening parameters. The OS and dynamic polarizability show interesting behavior with increasing screening strength and nuclear charge. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.