XANES/EPR Evidence of the Oxidation of Nickel(II) Quinolinylpropioamide and Its Application in Csp3−H Functionalization

An in situ generated oxidation species of nickel quinolinylpropioamide intermediate was produced. Characterization by X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and EPR provides complementary insights into this oxidized nickel species. With aliphatic amides and isocyanides as substrates, a nickel-catalyzed facile synthesis of structurally diverse five-membered lactams could be achieved.     

Stable isotope dilution assay for the accurate determination of tricaine in fish samples by HPLC–MS–MS

Tricaine methanesulfonate is one of most commonly used anesthetics in fish during blood sampling, artificial propagation and long‐distance transportation. In this study, an accurate method for the quantitative determination of tricaine in fish samples by a stable isotope dilution assay coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography–triple quadrupole mass spectrometry was developed. Tricaine‐D₅ was synthesized and used as an isotopically labeled internal standard for the determination of tricaine. The analytical performance of the method was validated for tricaine determination in marine fish and freshwater fish. The determination of tricaine was linear in the range of 2.0–200.0 μg L^?1. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation for fish muscle tissues were 1.0 and 4.0 μg kg^?1, respectively. Good recoveries were obtained in the range of 92.08–97.50%. The inter‐ and intra‐assay relative standard deviations (RSD values) were investigated, and the values were 0.39–3.01 and 0.85–2.77%, respectively. The values of CCα and CCβ were 10.21–10.43 and 10.42–10.87 μg kg^?1, respectively. The clearance of MS‐222 from grass carp was further studied using our method. The results demonstrate that MS‐222 could be well absorbed and rapidly eliminated after bath administration.     

New insights on the role of ROS in the mechanisms of sonoporation-mediated gene delivery

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are hypothesized to play a role in the sonoporation mechanisms. Nevertheless, the acoustical phenomenon behind the ROS production as well as the exact mechanisms of ROS action involved in the increased cell membrane permeability are still not fully understood. Therefore, we investigated the key processes occurring at the molecular level in and around microbubbles subjected to ultrasound using computational chemistry methods. To confirm the molecular simulation predictions, we measured the ROS production by exposing SonoVue® microbubbles (MBs) to ultrasound using biological assays. To investigate the role of ROS in cell membrane permeabilization, cells were subjected to ultrasound in presence of MBs and plasmid encoding reporter gene, and the transfection level was assessed using flow cytometry. The molecular simulations showed that under sonoporation conditions, ROS can form inside the MBs. These radicals could easily diffuse through the MB shell toward the surrounding aqueous phase and participate in the permeabilization of nearby cell membranes. Experimental data confirmed that MBs favor spontaneous formation of a host of free radicals where HO was the main ROS species after US exposure. The presence of ROS scavengers/inhibitors during the sonoporation process decreased both the production of ROS and the subsequent transfection level without significant loss of cell viability. In conclusion, the exposure of MBs to ultrasound might be the origin of chemical effects, which play a role in the cell membrane permeabilization and in the in vitro gene delivery when generated in its proximity.     

Thermally Stable and Organo-soluble Polyamides Containing Triazine Rings and Ether Linkages in the Main Chain: Synthesis and Characterization

In order to synthesize new polyamide(PA) 5 and copolyamides(Co PA) 7a-7d, a new-type of dicarboxylic acid containing triazine ring was successfully synthesized from 2,4-dichloro-6-methoxy-s-triazine 1 and 4-aminobenzoic acid. New polyamide 5 containing triazine moiety was prepared from 4,4'-(6-methoxy-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diyl)bis(azanediyl)dibenzoic acid 3 and 4,4′-diaminodiphenylether by direct polycondensation reaction. Then new series thermally stable copolyamides 7a-7d with high solubility in common organic solvents were synthesized from the direct polycondensation reaction of diacid 3 as a first monomer, aliphatic-aromatic diacids 6a-6d as second diacids and 4,4′-diaminodiphenylether. All of the above polymers were fully characterized by 1H-NMR and FTIR spectroscopy, elemental analysis(CHN), inherent viscosity, solubility tests, gel permeation chromatography(GPC), differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis(TGA). The resulted Co PAs 7a-7d have shown good inherent viscosities, solubility and thermal properties.     

Impact of the Oxygen Defects and the Hydrogen Concentration on the Surface of Tetragonal and Monoclinic ZrO2 on the Reduction Rates of Stearic Acid on Ni/ZrO2

The role of the specific physicochemical properties of ZrO₂ phases on Ni/ZrO₂ has been explored with respect to the reduction of stearic acid. Conversion on pure m‐ZrO₂ is 1.3 times more active than on t‐ZrO₂, whereas Ni/m‐ZrO₂ is three times more active than Ni/t‐ZrO₂. Although the hydrodeoxygenation of stearic acid can be catalyzed solely by Ni, the synergistic interaction between Ni and the ZrO₂ support causes the variations in the reaction rates. Adsorption of the carboxylic acid group on an oxygen vacancy of ZrO₂ and the abstraction of the α‐hydrogen atom with the elimination of the oxygen atom to produce a ketene is the key to enhance the overall rate. The hydrogenated intermediate 1‐octadecanol is in turn decarbonylated to heptadecane with identical rates on all catalysts. Decarbonylation of 1‐octadecanol is concluded to be limited by the competitive adsorption of reactants and intermediate. The substantially higher adsorption of propionic acid demonstrated by IR spectroscopy and the higher reactivity to O₂ exchange reactions with the more active catalyst indicate that the higher concentration of active oxygen defects on m‐ZrO₂ compared to t‐ZrO₂ causes the higher activity of Ni/m‐ZrO₂.     

Establishment and validation of an SIL-IS LC–MS/MS method for the determination of ibuprofen in human plasma and its pharmacokinetic study

In this work, we developed and validated a highly sensitive, rapid and stable LC–MS/MS method for the determination of ibuprofen in human plasma with ibuprofen-d3 as a stable isotopically labeled internal standard (SIL-IS). Human plasma samples were prepared by one-step protein precipitation. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a Poroshell 120 EC-C₁₈ (2.1 × 50 mm, 2.7 μm). Aqueous solution (containing 0.05% acetic acid and 5 mm NH₄Ac) and methanol were selected as the mobile phase with gradient elution. An electrospray ionization source was applied and operated in negative ion mode. Multiple reaction monitoring mode was used for quantification using target fragment ions m/z 205.0 → 161.1 for ibuprofen and m/z 208.0 → 164.0 for SIL-IS, respectively. This method exhibited a linear range of 0.05–36 μg/ml for ibuprofen with correlation coefficient >0.99. Mean recoveries of ibuprofen in human plasma ranged from 78.4 to 80.9%. The RSD of intra- and inter-day precision were both < 5%. The accuracy was between 88.2 and 103.67%. The matrix effect was negligible in human plasma, including lipidemia and hemolytic plasma. A simple, efficient and accurate LC–MS/MS method was successfully established and applied to a pharmacokinetic study in healthy Chinese volunteers after a single oral administration of ibuprofen granules.     

Engineering nanostructures of CuO-based photocatalysts for water treatment: Current progress and future challenges

Nowadays, increasing extortions regarding environmental problems and energy scarcity have stuck the development and endurance of human society. The issue of inorganic and organic pollutants that exist in water from agricultural, domestic, and industrial activities has directed the development of advanced technologies to address the challenges of water scarcity efficiently. To solve this major issue, various scientists and researchers are looking for novel and effective technologies that can efficiently remove pollutants from wastewater. Nanoscale metal oxide materials have been proposed due to their distinctive size, physical and chemical properties along with promising applications. Cupric Oxide (CuO) is one of the most commonly used benchmark photocatalysts in photodegradation owing to the fact that they are cost-effective, non-toxic, and more efficient in absorption across a significant fraction of solar spectrum. In this review, we have summarized synthetic strategies of CuO fabrication, modification methods with applications for water treatment purposes. Moreover, an elaborative discussion on feasible strategies includes; binary and ternary heterojunction formation, Z-scheme based photocatalytic system, incorporation of rare earth/transition metal ions as dopants, and carbonaceous materials serving as a support system. The mechanistic insight inferring photo-induced charge separation and transfer, the functional reactive radical species involved in a photocatalytic reaction, have been successfully featured and examined. Finally, a conclusive remark regarding current studies and unresolved challenges related to CuO are put forth for future perspectives.     

GOSs-稀土配合物紫外增强材料的光谱分析与稳定性研究

氧化石墨烯薄片(GOSs)作为一种新型的二维片状材料,具有较高的比表面积、丰富的表面含氧官能团以及良好的光热稳定性。而稀土配合物通过无机稀土元素与有机配体的结合表现出优异的荧光特性。为了将两类材料具有的物化特性结合起来应用于紫外光谱探测领域。选取了合适的有机配体啉菲罗啉(1,10-邻二氮杂菲,phen)、2’2-联嘧啶(bpm)作为桥联分子,把氧化石墨烯(GOSs)与稀土配合物通过氢键自组装作用进行复合,制备了高效稳定可调的GOSs-稀土配合物复合荧光材料GOSs-Eu(BA)3phen和GOSs-Eu(TTA)3bpm,并且制备了相应的聚乙烯醇(PVA)共混紫外增强薄膜,对其光谱特性与稳定性进行了深入的研究。采用红外光谱、扫描电镜和金相显微镜等方法,对紫外增强材料进行了性能表征。采用吸收光谱,荧光光谱等方法,对紫外增强薄膜进行了性能表征。此外,通过热重测试(TGA)表征了GOSs氢键复合前后紫外增强材料的热稳定性,通过荧光强度-紫外光照次数表征了GOSs氢键复合前后紫外增强薄膜的光稳定性。红外光谱分析发现,进行配位前后有机配体的特征峰产生了频移,表明稀土配合物中Eu 3+与配体之间存在着明显的配位作用。在进行复合之后,桥联配体的特征峰也产生了偏移,表明GOSs与稀土配合物通过桥联分子的氢键作用进行了进行复合。吸收光谱与荧光光谱测定结果表明增强薄膜吸收峰在200~400 nm,荧光主峰在612 nm左右,为Eu 3+特征红色荧光峰,且不同配体可以实现不同范围的吸收产生差异化的荧光表现。扫描电镜和金相显微镜清晰地展示了稀土配合物复合前后的微观形貌,即颗粒状稀土配合物附着在石墨烯薄片上。光稳定性测试表明经过GOSs氢键复合之后,Eu(BA)3phen和Eu(TTA)3bpm稀土配合物荧光材料在进行25次荧光强度测试后光漂白程度分别下降了4.26%和6.41%,提高了其光稳定性。热重测试也表明在经过GOSs氢键复合之后,稀土配合物的热稳定性有了很大提高。总之,得益于GOSs和稀土配合物的特性结合,所制备的紫外增强材料表现出优异的荧光特性与稳定性,必将在紫外探测方面有着广阔的应用前景。