Two new triterpenoid saponins from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lysimachia davurica</Emphasis>

Two new saponins were isolated from an ethanol extract of the whole plants of Lysimachia davuria. The new saponins were respectively characterized as 3-O-{β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-[β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)]-α-L-arabinopyranosyl}-3β,28-dihydroxyolean-12-en-30-oic acid-O-[β-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-glucopyranosyl]-ester (1) and 3-O-{ β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-[β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)]-α-L-arabinopyranosyl}-3β,28-dihydroxyolean-12-en-30-oic acid-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-ester (2). Their structures were determined by 1D, 2D NMR and MS techniques. Published in Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 466–468, September–October, 2007.     

PLASMA POLYMERIZATION OF HEXAMETHYLCYCLOTRISILOXANE

In a capacitively coupled RF discharge system with external electrodes ,hexamethyicyclotrisiloxane was polymerized, and the effects of discharge power and plasma gas on polymer deposition rate were studied. The polymer structures and properties were studied by IR spectroscopy, XPS measurement, PGC/MS combined technique, TG analysis and contact angle measuring. The results showed that the polymers prepared in H_2 or O_2 have higher C/Si ratio in comparison with those prepared in inert gases. PGC/MS results revealed the existence of many short carbon chains in the polymer structure .TG analysis suggested that the polymers prepared in the inert gas would possess better thermal stabilities.     

Primal and dual multi-objective linear programming algorithms for linear multiplicative programmes

Multiplicative programming problems (MPPs) are global optimization problems known to be NP-hard. In this paper, we employ algorithms developed to compute the entire set of nondominated points of multi-objective linear programmes (MOLPs) to solve linear MPPs. First, we improve our own objective space cut and bound algorithm for convex MPPs in the special case of linear MPPs by only solving one linear programme in each iteration, instead of two as the previous version indicates. We call this algorithm, which is based on Benson’s outer approximation algorithm for MOLPs, the primal objective space algorithm. Then, based on the dual variant of Benson’s algorithm, we propose a dual objective space algorithm for solving linear MPPs. The dual algorithm also requires solving only one linear programme in each iteration. We prove the correctness of the dual algorithm and use computational experiments comparing our algorithms to a recent global optimization algorithm for linear MPPs from the literature as well as two general global optimization solvers to demonstrate the superiority of the new algorithms in terms of computation time. Thus, we demonstrate that the use of multi-objective optimization techniques can be beneficial to solve difficult single objective global optimization problems.     

Approximating the nondominated set of an MOLP by approximately solving its dual problem

The geometric duality theory of Heyde and Löhne (2006) defines a dual to a multiple objective linear programme (MOLP). In objective space, the primal problem can be solved by Benson’s outer approximation method (Benson 1998a,b) while the dual problem can be solved by a dual variant of Benson’s algorithm (Ehrgott et al. 2007). Duality theory then assures that it is possible to find the (weakly) nondominated set of the primal MOLP by solving its dual. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to solve the dual MOLP approximately but within specified tolerance. This approximate solution set can be used to calculate an approximation of the weakly nondominated set of the primal. We show that this set is a weakly ε-nondominated set of the original primal MOLP and provide numerical evidence that this approach can be faster than solving the primal MOLP approximately.     

A new phenothiazine-based fluorescence sensor for imaging Hg2+ in living cells

A new phenothiazine-based sensor PHE-Ad for monitoring Hg²⁺ has been designed and synthesized based on the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) mechanism. The probes were characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR, and HRMS, and their optical properties were detected by UV and FL. It's showed the probes detection of Hg²⁺ compared to other metal ions (Mg²⁺, Cu²⁺, Hg²⁺, Ag⁺, Co²⁺, Cr³⁺, Al³⁺, Ni²⁺, Zn²⁺, Ca²⁺, Fe³⁺, Fe²⁺, K⁺, Na⁺, and Cd²⁺) based on the test results. Besides, the detection limits were determined to be 2.12 × 10⁻⁸ M through the standard curve plot. In addition, sensor PHE-Ad shows high selectivity and sensitivity for Hg²⁺ with a fast response in a suitable pH range. Furthermore, taking into account its good “turn-on” fluorescent sensing behavior and low cell cytotoxicity, PHE-Ad was successfully applied to detect and image Hg²⁺ in real water samples and living cells, which shows great potentials for application in environmental and biological systems.     

A fluorescence switch based on a controllable photochromic naphthopyran group

A fluorescence switch based on photoisomerization of naphthopyran (NP) has been designed by employing 2-(pyridin-2-yl)-benzimidazole (BPI) and the naphthopyran containing two pyran rings (NP) as fluorescent dye and photochromic compound, respectively. The fluorescence switch of benzimidazole derivative can be modulated either by controlling the irradiation time of UV light or by adjusting the amount ratio of fluorescent benzimidazole derivative to photochromic naphthopyran in both solution and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) film. The experimental results indicated that the decrease of fluorescence intensity of benzimidazole derivative is attributed to the interaction of benzimidazole with naphthopyran.     

Moment estimates for weak solutions to the Navier–Stokes equations in half‐space

We establish the moment estimates for a class of global weak solutions to the Navier–Stokes equations in the half‐space. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.