A QM/MM study on the catalytic mechanism of pyruvate decarboxylase

Pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) is a typical thiamin diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzyme with widespread applications in industry. Though studies regarding the reaction mechanism of PDC have been reported, they are mainly focused on the formation of ThDP ylide and some elementary steps in the catalytic cycle, studies about the whole catalytic cycle of PDC are still not completed. In these previous studies, a major controversy is whether the key active residues (Glu473, Glu50′, Asp27′, His113′, His114′) are protonated or ionized during the reaction. To explore the catalytic mechanism and the role of key residues in the active site, three whole-enzyme models were considered, and the combined QM/MM calculations on the nonoxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetaldehyde catalyzed by PDC were performed. According to our computational results, the fundamental reaction pathways, the complete energy profiles of the whole catalytic cycle, and the specific role of key residues in the common steps were obtained. It is also found that the same residue with different protonation states will lead to different reaction pathways and energy profiles. The mechanism derived from the model in which the residues (Glu473, Glu50′, Asp27′, His113′, His114′) are in their protonated states is most consistent with experimental observations. Therefore, extreme care must be taken when assigning the protonation states in the mechanism study. Because the experimental determination of protonation state is currently difficult, the combined QM/MM method provides an indirect means for determining the active-site protonation state.     

Effects of Preparation Method on the Performance of Ni/Al2O3 Catalysts for Hydrogen Production by Bio-Oil Steam Reforming

Steam reforming of bio-oil derived from the fast pyrolysis of biomass is an economic and renewable process for hydrogen production. The main objective of the present work has been to investigate the effects of the preparation method of Ni/Al₂O₃ catalysts on their performance in hydrogen production by bio-oil steam reforming. The Ni/Al₂O₃ catalysts were prepared by impregnation, co-precipitation, and sol?Cgel methods. XRD, XPS, H₂-TPR, SEM, TEM, TG, and N₂ physisorption measurements were performed to characterize the texture and structure of the catalysts obtained after calcination and after their subsequent use. Ethanol and bio-oil model compound were selected for steam reforming to evaluate the catalyst performance. The catalyst prepared by the co-precipitation method was found to display better performance than the other two. Under the optimized reaction conditions, an ethanol conversion of 99% and a H₂ yield of 88% were obtained.     

Growth,characterization and upconversion properties of erbium-doped potassium lithium tantalate niobate single crystals under 975 nm laser excitation

Potassium lithium tantalate niobate single crystals doped with erbium ions are grown by top-seeded solution growth method. The crystals are characterized by X-ray diffraction and differential thermal analysis. The refractive indices of the crystal are measured using ellipsometry method and fitted by Sellmeier equation. The as-grown crystals are tetragonal phase tungsten bronze-type structure with Curie temperature of 271.3 °C. Characteristic Er^3 + absorption bands are observed from 350 to 1100 nm in ultraviolet–visible-near infrared absorption spectra. These crystals emit brightly green and red upconversion fluorescence under 975 nm LD laser excitation, and the steady state upconversion spectra are obtained at room temperature. The red emission intensity increases as the erbium ions concentration increases in crystals. Processes of excited state absorption and energy transfer are responsible for upconversion luminescence. The emission intensities are quadratic dependences on pump power from pump power dependence analyses and deduction of transition rate equation model.     

Volumetric and Viscosity Properties for the Binary Mixtures of 1-Octyl-3-methylimidazolium Tetrafluoroborate with Butanone or Alkyl Acetates

In this work, densities and viscosities for the binary mixtures of 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, [C₈mim][BF₄], with butanone, methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, propyl acetate and butyl acetate have been determined at 298.15?K. These data were used to calculate the excess molar volumes $ V_{m}^{\text{E}} $ and the viscosity deviations (ln??)^E for the mixtures. It is shown that values of $ V_{m}^{\text{E}} $ are negative, while those of (ln??)^E are positive in the whole concentration range. The $ V_{m}^{\text{E}} $ values show their minimum at the composition of x _IL ????0.3, and the (ln??)^E values exhibit a maximum at the same mole fraction. For the binary systems, the absolute values of $ V_{m}^{\text{E}} $ decrease in the order: butanone?>?methyl acetate?>?ethyl acetate?>?propyl acetate?>?butyl acetate, whereas those of (ln??)^E decrease in the order: methyl acetate?>?ethyl acetate?>?propyl acetate?>?butyl acetate?>?butanone. The results are discussed in terms of the ion?Cdipole interactions between cations of the ionic liquid and the organic molecules and hydrogen bonding interactions between anions of the ionic liquid and the organic compounds.     

A novel, universal and sensitive lateral-flow based method for the detection of multiple bacterial contamination in platelet concentrations

In the present study, we aimed to develop a nucleic acid lateral-flow method for the rapid and sensitive detection of multiple bacteria that contaminate platelet concentrations (PCs). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplicons were produced by a set of board-range primers that recognize the conserved region of bacteria 16S rDNA, followed by hybridization with both an FITC (fluorescein isothiocyanate)-labelled probe and biotin-labelled probe, and then a nucleic acid lateral-flow dipstick (LFD) assay. The LFD accurately identified 7 species of bacteria, but had no cross-reactivity with human genomic DNA. The limit of detection (LOD) of the LFD assay was as low as 10(1) copies/μL of 16S rDNA for plasmid. In the case of spiked PCs without enrichment, the detection limit of LFD for K. pneumonia was 5 CFU/mL, 6.5 × 10(4) CFU/mL for the S. epidermidis and 35 CFU/mL for P. aeruginosa.     

Trace determination of dichlorvos in environmental samples by room temperature ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid-phase microextraction combined with HPLC

Using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexa?uorophosphate ([BMIM][PF6]) room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) as extraction solvent, tetrahydrofuran (THF) as disperser solvent, the organophosphorus pesticide dichlorvos in water was determined by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) combined with high-performance liquid chromatography. Factors affecting RTIL-DLLME (type of disperser solvent, amount of RTIL, volume of disperser solvent, percentage of NaCl and volume and pH of water sample) were optimized by the single-factor method, obtaining the most favorable results when using 65 μL of [BMIM][PF6] and 260 μL of THF to extract the compound from an 8-mL water sample at pH 5.0 containing 25% (w/v) of NaCl. Under these optimum conditions, an enrichment factor of 215-fold was obtained. The calibration curves were linear in the concentration range of 2-1,000 μg/L. The limit of detection calculated at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 was 0.2 μg/L. The relative standard deviations (RSD) for six replicate experiments at 20, 100 and 200 μg/L concentration levels were 1.8%, 1.3% and 1.3 %, respectively. Then the proposed method was applied to the analysis of three different water sample sources (tap, farm and rain water) and the relative recoveries and RSD of spiked water samples were 95.6-102.4% and 0.6-3.1%, respectively, at three different concentration levels of 20, 100 and 200 μg/L.     

Dynamics explore of an improved HR neuron model under electromagnetic radiation and its applications

The influence of electromagnetic field to neuron firing rhythm is not negligible. In order to investigate the behavior mechanism, a five-dimensional neuron model based on the Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction is improved by introducing magnetic flux variables and electric field variables on the three-dimensional Hindmarsh–Rose (HR) neuron model, and then, its rich dynamics and application in image encryption are discussed. Specifically, the equilibrium point distribution is analyzed using Matcont software and it is found that there are subcritical Hopf bifurcation and coexisting mode firing first. Second, numerical simulations are performed in terms of two-parameter bifurcation, ISI bifurcation, the maximum Lyapunov exponent and firing sequences, and the experimental results show that the new model exhibits various firing rhythms. The rich dynamic behaviors make the model more suitable for application in image encryption. So in the end, a grayscale image encryption scheme containing five parts called sparse, compression calculation, forward diffusion, rank scrambling and backward diffusion is designed by combining with the compressive sensing theory. The security analysis results show that the designed encryption scheme not only has excellent compression performance and high security, but also displays faster encryption speed. That is to say, the algorithm can be applied to the field of real encryption owning to the advantages of the lower costs of data transmission and higher efficiency of encryption. It is worth mentioning that the influence of different dimensional compression methods on the encryption and reconstruction effects is analyzed for the first time. The research results of this paper provide some ideas for perfecting the neuron model, revealing the influence of electromagnetic field on biological nervous system, and the excellent performance of the new neuron model provides theoretical guidance and experimental basis for the practical application of digital image encryption.

     

聚氨酯泡沫富集-ICP-AES法测定土壤及水系沉积物中铊含量

本文建立了一种以聚氨酯泡沫富集-ICP-AES法测定土壤及水系沉积物中铊含量的分析方法,利用正交实验,确定最佳实验条件,方法的检出限为0.01mg/L,经对土壤及水系沉积物成分分析标准物质的检测,结果与推荐值相符,相对误差小于10%,相对标准偏差(RSD,n=10)在1.9%-4.9%之间。     

微波等离子体炬发射光谱法测定高温合金中非金属元素

研究了微波等离子体炬原子发射光谱(MPT-AES)法测定高温合金中非金属元素(As、B、P、Si)的分析方法,考察此方法对高温合金行业非金属检测需求的适应性。对镍基高温合金样品进行酸溶解处理,选择适用的微波等离子体炬分析谱线,进行检出限、精密度测定。4种非金属元素的检出限在0.03~0.12μg/mL,10次数据的相对标准偏差(RSD,n=10)为0.88%~1.9%,此方法可用于高温合金中非金属元素的测定。     

惰气熔融-红外光谱法测定镨钕镝中的氧

研究了惰性气体-红外光谱法测定镨钕镝合金中的氧,采用石墨套坩埚和高纯镍篮,在4500W的分析功率下,对0.1g实际样品进行分析,取得了满意的效果。实验结果表明,样品释放完全,测定结果相对标准偏差(RSD,n=5)为1.9%,以GSBH40104—1996标准样品(ω(O)/%=0.00943)进行加标回收实验,回收率测量结果为95%～108%。