Triplet excitation dynamics of β-carotene studied in three solvents by ns flash photolysis spectroscopy

Upon anthracene-sensitizing, triplet excitation dynamics of β-carotene(β-Car) were studied in nhexane, in methanol, and in acetonitrile, respectively, by ns flash photolysis spectroscopy. In n-hexane,only the bleaching of the ground state absorption(GSB) and the excitation triplet(~3Car*) absorption were observed, and there were no cationic species detected. In both methanol and acetonitrile, similar excitation dynamics were observed, i.e.,~3Car* having a similar lifetime to that in n-hexane, and the immediate generation of the cation dehydrodimer(~#[Car]2~+) upon excitation following transformation into the radical cation Car*~+, since Car*~+ has much longer lifetime in acetonitrile than in methanol. The results prove that both solvent and carotenoid structure determine the triplet excitation mechanism.     

Unprecedented C_(19)-diterpenoid alkaloid glycosides from an aqueous extract of “fu zi”: Neoline 14-O-L-arabinosides with four isomeric L-anabinosyls

Four structurally unprecedented aconitane-type C_(19)-diterpenoid alkaloid glycosides with isomeric arabinosyls, named aconicarmichosides A–D(1–4), were isolated from an aqueous extract of "fu zi", the lateral roots of Aconitum carmichaelii. Their structures were determined as neoline 14-O-a-and 14-O-b-L-arabinopyranosides(1 and 2) and 14-O-a-and 14-O-b-L-arabinofuranosides(3 and 4), by spectroscopic and chemical methods including 2D NMR experiments and acid hydrolysis. Compounds 1–4 represent the first examples of glycosidic diterpenoid alkaloids.     

Polyethylene glycol phospholipids encapsulated silicon 2,3-naphthalocyanine dihydroxide nanoparticles (SiNcOH-DSPEPEG(NH2) NPs) for single NIR laser induced cancer combination therapy

Currently, the combination of photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as a powerful technique for cancer treatment. However, most examples of combined PTT and PDT reported use multi-component nanocomposites under excitation of separate wavelength, resulting in complex treatment process. In this work, a novel theranostic nanoplatform (SiNcOH-DSPE-PEG(NH₂) NPs) has been successfully developed by coating silicon 2,3-naphthalocyanine dihydroxide (SiNcOH) with DSPE-PEG and DSPE-PEG-NH₂ for photoacoustic (PA) imaging-guided PTT and PDT tumor ablation for the first time. The as-prepared single-agent SiNcOH-DSPE-PEG(NH₂) NPs not only have good water solubility and biocompatibility, but also exhibit high photothermal conversion efficiency and singlet oxygen generation capability upon 808 nm NIR laser irradiation. In addition, owing to their high absorption at NIR region, the SiNcOH-DSPE-PEG(NH₂) NPs can also be employed as an effective diagnostic nanoagent for photoacoustic (PA) imaging. In vitro and in vivo experimental results clearly indicated that the simultaneously combined PTT and PDT under the guidance of PA imaging with single NIR laser excitation can effectively kill cancer cells or eradicate tumor tissues. Taking facile synthesis and high efficiency in cancer treatment by SiNcOH-DSPE-PEG(NH₂) NPs into consideration, our study provides a promising strategy to realize molecular imaging-guided combination therapy.     

Design,synthesis and insecticidal activities of novel anthranilic diamides containing polyfluoroalkyl pyrazole moiety

In order to discover new molecules with good insecticidal activities, a series of anthranilic diamides containing polyfluoroalkyl pyrazole were designed and synthesized, and their structures were characterized by ¹H NMR and HRMS. Bioassays demonstrated that some of the title compound exhibited excellent insecticidal activities. The larvicidal activities of compound 8a, 8c, 8g, 8k and 8l against Mythimna separata Walker were 100% at 0.8 mg/L. The insecticidal activities of compound 8a, 8c, 8e, 8g, 8k and 8l against Plutella xylostella Linnaeus were 100% at 0.4 mg/L. Surprisingly compounds 8a and 8c still showed 100% larvicidal activities against Plutella xylostella Linnaeus at 0.08 mg/L comparable to the commercialized Chlorantraniliprole. The LC₅₀ of compound 8a and 8c against M. separata is 0.048 and 0.043 mg/L respectively.     

Assessment of Reproducibility of Laser Electrospray Mass Spectrometry using Electrospray Deposition of Analyte

A nonresonant, femtosecond (fs) laser is employed to desorb samples of Victoria blue deposited on stainless steel or indium tin oxide (ITO) slides using either electrospray deposition (ESD) or dried droplet deposition. The use of ESD resulted in uniform films of Victoria blue whereas the dried droplet method resulted in the formation of a ring pattern of the dye. Laser electrospray mass spectrometry (LEMS) measurements of the ESD-prepared films on either substrate were similar and revealed lower average relative standard deviations for measurements within-film (20.9%) and between-films (8.7%) in comparison to dried droplet (75.5% and 40.2%, respectively). The mass spectral response for ESD samples on both substrates was linear (R²?>?0.99), enabling quantitative measurements over the selected range of 7.0?×?10^?11 to 2.8?×?10^?9 mol, as opposed to the dried droplet samples where quantitation was not possible (R²?=?0.56). The limit of detection was measured to be 210 fmol.

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Antibacterial membranes based on chitosan and quaternary ammonium salts modified nanocrystalline cellulose

Etherification of nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) with three kinds of quaternary ammonium salts epoxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride, N,N‐dimethyl‐N‐dodecyl‐N‐(1,2‐epoxypropyl) ammonium chloride (DMDEPAC), and N,N‐dimethyl‐N‐octadecyl‐N‐(1,2‐epoxypropyl) ammonium chloride (DMOEPAC) was successfully performed via a nucleophilic addition reaction. The synthesized DMDEPAC and DMOEPAC were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance. The modified NCC particles, NCC epoxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride, NCC‐DMDEPAC, and NCC‐DMOEPAC, were characterized by energy dispersive spectrometer. Nanocomposite films based on chitosan (CS) containing quaternary ammonium salts modified NCC were prepared with nanoparticle loadings of 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0%, respectively. The effect of nanoparticle content on the tensile strength of composite films was studied. The results indicated that the films with 5.0% nanoparticle loading exhibited the biggest increase in tensile strength. Surface morphology, smoothness, and antibacterial properties of composite films containing 5% modified NCC were also studied. CS/NCC‐DMDEPAC‐5.0 and CS/NCC‐DMOEPAC‐5.0 displayed excellent biocidal abilities against both Gram‐positive Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538) and Gram‐negative Escherichia coli O157:H7 (ATCC 43895). The bio‐based nanocomposite films with increased mechanical strength and excellent antibacterial properties show great potential as food packaging materials. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Low Order Nonconforming Mixed Finite Element Method for Non-Stationary Incompressible Magnetohydrodynamics System

A low order nonconforming mixed finite element method (FEM) is established for the fully coupled non-stationary incompressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) problem in a bounded domain in 3D. The lowest order finite elements on tetrahedra or hexahedra are chosen to approximate the pressure, the velocity field and the magnetic field, in which the hydrodynamic unknowns are approximated by inf-sup stable finite element pairs and the magnetic field by $H^1(\Omega)$-conforming finite elements, respectively. The existence and uniqueness of the approximate solutions are shown. Optimal order error estimates of $L^2(H^1)$-norm for the velocity field, $L^2(L^2)$-norm for the pressure and the broken $L^2(H^1)$-norm for the magnetic field are derived.     

Effect of Intercalated LiF on Interface Contact Characteristics of MoS2 Field Effect Transistor: A First-Principles Study

Based on the first-principles calculation, the effect of intercalated LiF on the contact characteristics of the interface between Au electrode and MoS₂ layer is studied. It is found that adding LiF film can change the contact type between metal electrode Au and MoS₂ layer from Schottky contact to ohmic contact, which is accompanied by interfacial charge transfer from LiF layer to MoS₂ layer and the downward movement of d (d_xy and d_z2) orbital of Mo atom and p (p_x and p_y) orbital of S atom to Fermi level. And the interlayer spacing between LiF layer and Au electrode has a great impact on the interface contact characteristics. The electric field effect and stress effect of interface contact of Au, LiF and MoS₂ (Au/LiF/MoS₂)is more obvious than that of interface contact of Au and MoS₂ (Au/MoS₂). Au/LiF/MoS₂ shows ohmic contact with the interlayer spacing between Au layer and LiF layer less than 3.05 Å and with the electric field less than 0.15 VÅ⁻¹, respectively, while Au/MoS₂ still shows N-type Schottky contact. These findings are helpful to control the contact resistance and have guiding significance for high performance MoS₂ field effect transistor and other electronic components.     

Manipulating Nonlinear Photocurrent from Interlayer Coupling in Bilayer Metamaterials for Polarized Terahertz Generation

Polarized terahertz (THz) wave generation is of great significance for chiral and anisotropic sensing applications. However, how to manipulate amplitude, polarization, and ellipticity of the THz generation is still a fundamental challenge. Herein, polarized THz wave generation is achieved from a bilayer metamaterial consisting of T-shaped structure (TSS) and split resonator rings (SRRs) by combining Maxwell and hydrodynamic equations. The elliptically polarized THz wave can be synthetized directly from horizontally and vertically polarized THz components due to the orthogonal nonlinear photocurrents along the arm-directions of TSS and SRRs, respectively. Besides, the ellipticity and the orientation angle of the THz polarization ellipse can be modulated by the twist angle between the SRRs and TSS layers. The maximum ellipticity can reach 0.34 while the orientation angle is tunable from −0.45 to 0.48π by tuning the twist angle. This work proposes an interlayer coupling method for the polarized THz sources based on metamaterials in potential circular dichroism and chiral sensing applications.     

Improving Data Quality in Traditional Low-Dose Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Imaging

It has become very important to study and find optimal conditions for imaging electron-beam (e-beam) sensitive materials in scanning transmission electron microscopy under low electron-dose with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Convergence and collection angles and electron-probe current are essential parameters. However, these parameters have rarely been discussed in a systematic way. In this paper, the illumination and collection conditions are optimized according to the resolution requirement of different materials by adjusting the condenser and intermediate lenses in a commercial transmission electron microscope. To demonstrate the significance of optimizing these parameters, two examples, zeolite MFI and metal–organic framework (MOF) MIL-101, are taken among the sensitive materials, with the most important electron incidences along the [010] and <110> directions, respectively. High SNR atomic resolution images of MFI are obtained with e-beam current as low as 0.50 pA, reaching information transfer for reflection up to 18 0 2 corresponding to d-spacing of 0.11 nm, close to the resolution limit of 0.098 nm from resolvable diffraction limit. MOF MIL-101 is characterized under an even lower e-beam 0.2 pA to avoid severe beam damage. High-quality annular dark and bright field images are obtained, which proves the wide applicability of this method on more e-beam sensitive materials.