An analytical method for measuring α‐amylase activity in starch‐containing foods

The quality of starch‐containing foods may be significantly impaired by contamination with very small amounts of α‐amylase, which can enzymatically hydrolyze the starch and cause viscosity loss. Thus, for quality control, it is necessary to have an analytical method that can measure low amylase activity. We developed a sensitive analytical method for measuring the activity of α‐amylase (from Bacillus subtilis) in starch‐containing foods. The method consists of six steps: (1) crude extraction of α‐amylase by centrifugation and filtration; (2) α‐amylase purification by desalting and anion‐exchange chromatography; (3) reaction of the purified amylase with boron‐dipyrromethene (BODIPY)‐labeled substrate, which releases a fluorescent fragment upon digestion of the substrate, thus avoiding interference from starch derivatives in the sample; (4) stopping the reaction with acetonitrile; (5) reversed‐phase solid‐phase extraction of the fluorescent substrate to remove contaminating dye and impurities; and (6) separation and measurement of BODIPY fluorescence by HPLC. The proposed method could quantify α‐amylase activities as low as 10 mU/mL, which is enough to reduce the viscosity of starch‐containing foods. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Substituent effects on the photophysical properties of amino-aurone-derivatives

ABSTRACT

Aurones are potential candidates to be employed as fluorescent probes or as pharmacophores for biological applications. This work describes a density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent -DFT study at the PBE0/6-31?+?G(d) level of theory to analyse the structural, electronic and photophysical properties of a series of new proposed 4′-amine-aurone derivatives in its E and Z isomeric conformations. The maximum absorption wavelength of the proposed aurones appears in the range 390???514?nm, while the most allowed emission pathways were computed in the range 493–530?nm. The bathochromic shift of these compounds with respect to the non-substituted aurone is modulated by the acceptor strength of the added 4-substituents, in addition to the ability of the substituents to localise the frontier molecular orbitals over the acceptor benzofuranone moiety without losing the tricyclic planarity, which favours the push–pull nature of these molecules. The influence of the 4-substituent is also evidenced in the Stokes shifts for the whole series; as the electron-withdrawing character of the 4-substituents enhances, higher is the polarisation of the structure resulting in higher Stokes shifts. As a result, -CF₃ and -NO₂ substituents were responsible of larger Stokes shifts, then compounds containing these substituents are proposed as potential fluorescence probes for useful applications in biological systems.     

Hexanuclear 3d − 4f metal–organic cages assembled from a carboxylic acid‐functionalized tris‐triazamacrocycle for highly selective fluorescent sensing of picric acid

Two Ln^III ions are sandwiched by dinuclear Co^II building blocks derived from a tris‐triazamacrocyclic ligand bearing pendant carboxylic acid functionality, 1,3,5‐tris((4,7‐bis(2‐carboxyethyl)‐1,4,7‐triazacyclonon‐1‐yl)methyl)‐benzene (H₆L), giving rising to two nanoscale heterometallic metal–organic cages formulated as [Co₄Ln₂(LH_2.5)₂(H₂O)₄]·(ClO₄)₆·NO₃·nH₂O [Ln = Dy, n = 12 ( 1 ); Ln = Yb, n = 9 ( 2 )], whose internal cavity accommodates a guest NO₃^? anion. Their hexanuclear cage‐like architectures are maintained both in solution and solid states as confirmed by mass spectrum as well as X‐ray diffraction experiments. These two cages display ligand‐based fluorescence emissions and therefore both were chosen to be operated as fluorescent chemosensors for the detection of nitroaromatic compounds. Attractively, these metal–organic cages allow highly selective and sensitive detection of picric acid (PA) over other nitroaromatics in solution and suspension, and the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the cage probes and PA is mainly responsible for the remarkable detection efficiency.     

非晶CS/RB纳米薄膜的荧光性质

采用低真空物理气相沉积法制备单组份氰基对称二苯代乙烯(CS)纳米薄膜和罗丹明B(RB)纳米薄膜以及CS/RB叠层纳米薄膜。使用荧光分光光度计、X射线衍射仪(XRD)和扫描电子显微镜(SEM)表征薄膜样品的荧光性质、结构和表面形貌。与粉末晶态样品相比,薄膜样品的荧光发射峰数量变多,发射波长范围拓宽到120 nm。有机小分子的非晶聚集态和纳米叠层结构的的纳米效应导致了样品的荧光性质的变化。     

Sustainable alternative in environmental monitoring using carbon nanoparticles as optical probes

Environmental monitoring is getting more important nowadays due to the greater stress faced by the natural environment in the era of urbanisation and industrialisation. To accomplish the task, rapid and reliable analytical probes are essentially needed to perform the monitoring at real time basis with high sensitivity and accuracy. In view of this, analytical probes developed using carbon nanoparticles are one of the latest alternatives that are proven with capability to detect various analytes of the environment. Carbon nanoparticles portray good fluorescence property that enables the integration onto optical sensing transducers. Further engineering via surface functionalization can be performed in the interest to improve the selectivity and sensitivity of the probes. There are several advantages of using carbon nanoparticles and the most significant benefit is the sustainability prospect as compared to other groups of fluorophores. Carbon nanoparticles can be synthesised with greener approach via simple pyrolysis or hydrolysis processes that involve minimum use of toxic or harmful starting precursors, besides able to tap on using renewable resources such as carbon rich agricultural wastes. The synthesis is often performed under mild condition and produces less or no side chemical products. Carbon nanoparticles by nature show low toxicity effect to the environment. This review focuses specifically of the sustainable significances, advantages and achievements in adopting carbon nanoparticles as an alternative for environmental monitoring.     

Two novel d10 transition metal complexes based on 1H‐benzimidazole‐5,6‐dicarboxylic acid: Synthesis,structure and multifunctional luminescence detection

Two new coordination complexes based on benzimidazole dicarboxylic acid, Zn(Hbidc)?H₂O ( 1 ) and Cd(Hbidc)(H₂O) ( 2 ), have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. The complexes were characterized using elemental analysis, infrared and UV–visible spectroscopies, powder X‐ray diffraction, thermogravimetry and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. Structural analyses showed that the crystal structures of 1 and 2 are different, due to the various modes of linking of the benzimidazole dicarboxylic acid. Complex 1 has a two‐dimensional network structure and 2 has a three‐dimensional network structure. In addition, we studied the performance of the fluorescence response of two complexes. Results showed that the complexes can be used as chemical sensors for multifunctional testing, such as for UO₂²⁺, xanthine and Fe³⁺ ions. Even if the concentration is very low, they could also be detected, showing that coordination complexes 1 and 2 have very high fluorescence sensitivity. The detection limit for UO₂²⁺ is 5.42 nM ( 1 ) and 0.02 nM ( 2 ), that for xanthine is 1.37 nM ( 1 ) and 0.28 nM ( 2 ), and that for Fe³⁺ ions is 0.76 nM ( 1 ) and 0.62 nM ( 2 ).     

Potent Anticancer Efficacy of First-In-Class CuII and AuIII Metaled Phosphorus Dendrons with Distinct Cell Death Pathways

First-in-class Cu^II and Au^III metaled phosphorus dendrons were synthesized and showed significant antiproliferative activity against several aggressive breast cancer cell lines. The data suggest that the cytotoxicity increases with reducing length of the alkyl chains, whereas the replacement of Cu^II with Au^III considerably increases the antiproliferative activity of metaled phosphorus dendrons. Very interestingly, we found that the cell death pathway is related to the nature of the metal complexed by the plain dendrons. Cu^II metaled dendrons showed a potent caspase-independent cell death pathway, whereas Au^III metaled dendrons displayed a caspase-dependent apoptotic pathway. The complexation of plain dendrons with Au^III increased the cellular lethality versus dendrons with Cu^II and promoted the translocation of Bax into the mitochondria and the release of Cytochrome C (Cyto C).     

Multi-emissive 1D Cd(II) polymers with a biphenyl bridged bisazamacrocycle for ratiometric discrimination of nitroaromatics and selective visual detection of picric acid

Three one-dimensional ladder-like coordination polymers consisting of Cd₆ metalloring as the building unit, {[Cd₄LCl₄]·3H₂O}_n ( 1 ), {[Cd₃L(ClO₄)(H₂O)]ClO₄·3H₂O}_n ( 2 ), and {[Cd₆(L)₂(NO₃)₂(CH₃OH)(H₂O)](NO₃)₂·2CH₃OH·5H₂O}_n ( 3 ), were solvothermally constructed from a carboxylic functionalized bisazamacrocyclic ligand 4,4′-bis((4,7-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-1,4,7-triazacyclonon-1-yl)methyl)-1,1′-biphenyl (H₄L). These compounds dispersed in ethanol show the multiple emissions originating from the monomeric and intramolecularly overlapping biphenyl moieties which could be sensitively quenched by picric acid (PA) and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) through the effective fluorescence resonance energy transfer process. The differential fluorescent responses of each compound on exposure to PA and 4-NP individually make the convenient ratiometric discrimination of two analytes based on the fluorescent intensity ratio (I₃₂₀/I₃₆₀) attainable, and 1 and 2 as ratiometric chemosensors for PA present a broad linear detection range from 4 to 300 μM with detection limits of 0.84 and 0.93 μM, respectively. Furthermore, the blue light emission of 1 under an ultraviolet lamp could be selectively quenched by PA even in the presence of all other interfering nitroaromatic pollutants, which empowers the fast visual detection of PA by naked eye.