Malva sylvestris L. extract suppresses desferrioxamine‐induced PGE2 and PGD2 release in differentiated U937 cells: the development and validation of an LC‐MS/MS method for prostaglandin quantification

Malva sylvestris is a species used worldwide as an alternative to anti‐inflammatory therapies; however, its mechanism of action remains unknown. In this paper, the anti‐inflammatory effects of M. sylvestris alcoholic extracts were evaluated by measuring the pro‐inflammatory mediators PGE₂ and PGD₂ in desferrioxamine‐stimulated phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate‐differentiated U937 cells. An HPLC‐DAD fingerprint of the M. sylvestris extract was performed and caffeic acid, ferulic acid and scopoletin were identified and quantified. An HPLC‐MS/MS method was developed and validated to separate and measure the prostaglandins. The lower limits of detection (~0.5 ng/mL for PGE₂ and PGD₂) and quantification (1.0 ng/mL for PGE₂ and PGD₂) indicated that the method is highly sensitive. The calibration curves showed excellent coefficients of correlation (r > 0.99) over the range of 1.0–500.0 ng/mL, and at different levels, the accuracy ranged from 96.4 to 106.4% with an RSD < 10.0% for the precision study. This method was successfully applied using U937‐d cells. A significant dose‐dependent reduction of PGE₂ and PGD₂ levels occurred using 10 µg/mL (10.74 ± 2.86 and 9.60 ± 6.89%) and 50 µg/mL of extract (48.37 ± 3.24 and 53.06 ± 6.15%), suggesting that the anti‐inflammatory mechanisms evoked by M. sylvestris may be related to modulation of these mediators. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Particle plasmon‐induced charge trapping at heterointerfaces in PCDTBT:PC70BM blends

We investigate the influence of particle plasmons on exciton and charge generation and recombination processes in the blend of poly (9‐(1‐octylnonyl)‐9H‐carbazole‐benzothiadiazole‐4,7‐diyl‐2,5‐thiophenediyl) (PCDTBT) and [6,6]‐phenyl‐C₇₀butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₀BM). The particle plasmons are generated from gold nanoparticles, which are embedded into PCDTBT:PC₇₀BM blend. For the blend with gold nanoparticles, we observe enhance light harvesting. Despite the enhanced light collection, we find that the quasi‐steady‐state charge generation has not been influenced by the particle plasmons. However, the generation and recombination of long‐lived (sub‐millisecond) polaron paris have been significantly enhanced: from untrapped state in the pristine blend to the trapped state in the gold nanoparticle‐embedded blend. This result implies that the plasmon‐influenced polarons are trapped at the broadband geminate polaron pair (GPP) state. This state acts as an intermediate state, which either leads to the formation of charge transfer excitons (CTXs) or free charge carriers. In our case, the particle plasmon‐influenced polarons are trapped in the GPP state, which leads to the formation of CTXs. For this reason, we do not observe the enhanced charge generation in PCDTBT:PC₇₀BM blend with particle plasmon resonance. Finally, we revealed that the long‐lived polarons mainly resulted from the localization by particle plasmons. The macroscopic modification in the blend film made negligible contributions to this influence. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 940–947     

Thermal degradation mechanism for citalopram and escitalopram

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Citalopram, [(R,S)-1-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]-1-(4-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydroisobenzofuran-5-carbonitrile] hydrobromide and its S-isomer, escitalopram...     

Chromium complexes based on thiophene–imine ligands for ethylene oligomerization

A new set of Cr(III) complexes, {L}CrCl₃(THF), based on thiophene–imine ( 2a , L = PhOC₆H₄(N═CH)‐2‐SC₄H₃; 2b , L = PhOC₂H₄(N═CH)‐2‐SC₄H₃; 2c , L = Ph(NH)C₂H₄(N═CH)‐2‐SC₄H₃; 2d , L = PhOC₆H₄(N═CH)‐2‐SC₄H₂‐5‐Ph; 2e , L = Ph(NH)C₂H₄(N═CH)‐2‐SC₄H₂‐5‐Ph) have been prepared and characterized using elemental analysis and infrared spectroscopy. Upon activation with methylaluminoxane, all the chromium complexes generated active systems affording a nonselective distribution of α‐olefins with turnover frequencies in the range 9500–93 500 (mol ethylene) (mol Cr)^?1 h^?1, and producing mostly oligomers (95.0–99.3 wt% of total products). Small amounts of polymer were produced in these oligomerization reactions (0.8–8.2 wt%). The catalytic activities were quite sensitive to the ligand environment. Moreover, the effects of oligomerization parameters (temperature, [Al]/[Cr] molar ratio, time) on the activity and on the product distribution were examined.     

Existence of solutions for the 3D-micropolar fluid system with initial data in Besov–Morrey spaces

In this paper, we show a local-in-time existence result for the 3D micropolar fluid system in the framework of Besov–Morrey spaces. The initial data class is larger than the previous ones and contains strongly singular functions and measures.     

Synthesis and characterization of new galactosylated-based N2O-donors tridentate ligands

The synthesis and characterization of three novel N₂O-donor ligands containing the group 4-[1-β-d-2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-galactosyl)]benzaldehyde are presented. The insertion of this group was designed to increase the absorption of the prodrug in tumor cells, and is part of an ongoing work in our group with tridentate ligands to develop potential cobalt(III) prodrugs. The synthetic route described here allowed the isolation of pure ligands with yields ranged 81–89%. Finally, compounds were characterized by IR, NMR and HRMS (ESI⁺).