Highly selective detection of Cu2+ based on a thiosemicarbazone triphenylacetylene fluorophore

A novel thiosemicarbazone fluorophore (3) was successfully synthesized in 3 steps via Sonogashira coupling and Knoevenagel condensation using baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as a biocatalyst. Compound 3 contains triphenylacetylene, which acts as a fluorophore, and thiosemicarbazone, which acts as a copper probe. Compound 3 exhibited highly selective detection of Cu²⁺ ions based on photoinduced electron transfer (PET) in 10 mM HEPES buffer pH 7.4/propylene glycol (70% (v/v)). A linear relationship was observed for Cu²⁺ concentrations between 0.1 nM and 10 μM, and the detection limit of the method was 0.14 nM. Additionally, 3 was utilized to detect Cu²⁺ in wastewater with satisfactory results, which highlighted its potential for real sample applications.     

Use of electrostatic precipitation for excess ion trapping in an electrical aerosol detector

In this paper, the technique of electrostatic precipitation was used to remove excess ions from a mixture with charged particles before collection on a filter in a Faraday cup electrometer of an electrical aerosol detector. The ion precipitator part of the detector was designed, constructed, and evaluated. An analytical model was developed to investigate ion and particle transports due to diffusion and space charge effects inside the ion precipitator. Experimental investigations were carried out for positive ions, the positively applied voltage at the wire electrode ranged from 10 to 150 V, ion flow rates ranged from 5 to 15 L/min, and the radial distance of the inlet was 0.15 and 14 mm at a fixed separation between the wire and outer electrodes. The calculation results showed that all charged particles of 10 nm in diameter could pass through the ion precipitator smoothly without precipitation at the outer electrode. For all ion flow rates, an increase in ion trap voltage produced an increase in ion collection efficiency of the precipitator. Experiments confirmed that the efficiency of the ion precipitator could increase to 99% at an ion trap voltage larger than 100 V for all ion flow rates.     

Effect of needle cone angle and air flow rate on electrostatic discharge characteristics of a corona-needle ionizer

In this study, the corona-needle ionizer was designed, constructed, and characterized. Experimental characterizations of the electrostatic discharge in terms of current–voltage relationships of the corona ionizer, including the effects of discharge electrode cone angle and air flow rate were presented. It was found that the charging current and ion concentration in the charging zone increased monotonically with corona voltage. Conversely, discharge currents decreased with increasing angle of the needle cone. The negative corona was found to have higher current than the positive corona. At higher air flow rates, the ion current and concentration were found to be relatively high for the same corona voltage. The effect of air flow rate was more pronounced than the corona voltage. It was also shown that the ion penetration through the ionizer decreased with increasing corona voltage, and increased with increasing air flow rate. The highest ion penetration through the ionizer of the 10° needle cone angle was found to be about 93.7 and 7.7% for positive and negative coronas, respectively. The highest ion penetration for the needle cone angle of 20° was found to be 96.6 and 6.1% for positive and negative coronas, respectively.     

FRET detection of proteins using fluorescently doped electrospun nanofibers and pattern recognition

This paper reports the fabrication of solid-state nanofiber sensor arrays and their use for detection of multiple proteins using principal component analysis (PCA). Four cationic and anionic fluorescently embedded nanofibers are generated by an electrospinning method, yielding unique patterns of fluorescence change upon interaction with protein samples. Five metal and nonmetal containing proteins, i.e., hemoglobin, myoglobin, cytochrome c, BSA, and avidin, have been investigated; and the results show that distinct fluorescent patterns can be formed upon the addition of protein samples to the array of solid nanofiber substrates, allowing their unambiguous identification. The nanofiber films are highly repeatable with a batch-to-batch variation of approximately 5% and demonstrated outstanding reusability with less than a 15% loss of fluorescence intensity signal after 5 regenerations of test cycles. For a more practical visualization, a cluster map was generated using PCA of the change-in-fluorescence (ΔI) composite patterns, demonstrating the potential of the method for diagnostic applications.     

低阶煤与生物质在热溶剂提质萃取过程中的相互作用

作者前期工作中提出了一种针对生物质废弃物或低阶煤的热溶提质萃取方法，该方法可以在350℃下实现生物质或低阶煤的提质及多级分离，获得高附加值的萃取物。与生物质的热溶提质萃取比较，低阶煤的萃取物收率较低。本研究提出对生物质和低阶煤混合物进行热溶提质萃取，通过两者的物理化学相互作用，来提高其萃取收率。研究结果表明，对两者混合物热溶剂提质分离得到萃取物的产率及元素组成与理论计算结果略有不同，理论计算结果是假设生物质与煤之间无交互作用而得到的。煤中的矿物质对生物质热分解起催化作用，导致收率有所增加。煤、生物质及其混合物通过热溶剂提质分离得到的萃取物的元素组成、分子量分布、化学结构、热分解和热塑性非常相似。总体而言，低阶煤与生物质在热溶剂提质萃取过程的交互作用较小。但是，本研究证明了热溶提质萃取方法不仅适用于煤或生物质，也适用于它们的混合物。这意味着热溶剂提质萃取法可以在不改变任何工艺条件参数的情况下，以煤、生物质及其混合物作为原料。     

Synthesis of Sm-doped strontium barium niobate crystals in glass by samarium atom heat processing

New glasses giving the crystallization of Sm³⁺-doped Sr_xBa_1−xNb₂O₆ (SBN) ferroelectrics have been developed in the Sm₂O₃−SrO−BaO−Nb₂O₅−B₂O₃ system, and the formation of SBN crystal dots and lines by continuous wave Nd:YAG laser (wavelength:1064 nm, power: 1 W) irradiations, i.e., samarium atom heat processing, has been examined. The formation of Sm³⁺-doped SBN non-linear optical crystals is confirmed from X-ray diffraction analyses, micro-Raman scattering spectra, second harmonic generations, and photoluminescence spectra. Sm³⁺-doped SBN crystal dots with the diameters of 20-70 μm and lines with the widths of 20-40 μm are written at the surface of some glasses such as 10Sm₂O₃·10SrO·10BaO·20Nb₂O₅·50B₂O₃ (mol%) by Nd:YAG laser irradiations with the irradiation times of 20-70 s for the dots and with the scanning speeds of 1-5 μm/s for the lines. The present study suggests that the samarium atom heat processing has a potential for the patterning of optical waveguides consisting of ferroelectric SBN crystals in glass substrates.     

Beneficial Effects of Cyclic Ether 2-Butoxytetrahydrofuran from Sea Cucumber Holothuria scabra against Aβ Aggregate Toxicity in Transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans and Potential Chemical Interaction

The pathological finding of amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregates is thought to be a leading cause of untreated Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this study, we isolated 2-butoxytetrahydrofuran (2-BTHF), a small cyclic ether, from Holothuria scabra and demonstrated its therapeutic potential against AD through the attenuation of Aβ aggregation in a transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans model. Our results revealed that amongst the five H. scabra isolated compounds, 2-BTHF was shown to be the most effective in suppressing worm paralysis caused by Aβ toxicity and in expressing strong neuroprotection in CL4176 and CL2355 strains, respectively. An immunoblot analysis showed that CL4176 and CL2006 treated with 2-BTHF showed no effect on the level of Aβ monomers but significantly reduced the toxic oligomeric form and the amount of 1,4-bis(3-carboxy-hydroxy-phenylethenyl)-benzene (X-34)-positive fibril deposits. This concurrently occurred with a reduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the treated CL4176 worms. Mechanistically, heat shock factor 1 (HSF-1) (at residues histidine 63 (HIS63) and glutamine 72 (GLN72)) was shown to be 2-BTHF’s potential target that might contribute to an increased expression of autophagy-related genes required for the breakdown of the Aβ aggregate, thus attenuating its toxicity. In conclusion, 2-BTHF from H. scabra could protect C. elegans from Aβ toxicity by suppressing its aggregation via an HSF-1-regulated autophagic pathway and has been implicated as a potential drug for AD.     

Progress in unipolar corona discharger designs for airborne particle charging: A literature review

Particle motion induced by electrical forces is the basis for important class of measuring instruments. Charging is important in aerosol size measurement. Unipolar charger is a crucial component in the aerosol particle sizing system by electrical mobility analysis. For an electrical mobility analyzer, the charging is aimed to impose a known net charge distribution on each aerosol size. The charger performance depends on the charging efficiency and stable operation. A well-designed unipolar charger should provide high charging efficiency and stability that can be accurately determined for any given operating conditions. This article presents and discusses progress on the development of existing unipolar aerosol chargers based on corona discharge technique. The operating principles as well as detailed physical characteristics of these chargers, including the corona-wire and corona-needle chargers, are described with extensive list of references.     

Effects of temperature and holding time during torrefaction on the pyrolysis behaviors of woody biomass

Torrefaction is the thermal treatment techniques performed at relatively low temperature (<300 °C) in an inert atmosphere, which aims to improve the fuel properties attractively. In this study, woody biomass (Leucaena leucocephala) was torrefied at various temperatures and holding times and the pyrolysis behaviors of the torrefied wood were examined in detail by using TG-MS technique. It was found that the carbon content and the calorific value of the torrefied leucaena increased significantly when temperature and holding time during the torrefaction increased. From the TG-MS analysis, the pyrolysis behaviors of the torrefied leucaena were significantly different from those of the raw leucaena. The char yield at 800 °C for the torrefied leucaena was increased when increasing the holding time during the torrefaction. On the other hand, the tar yield during the pyrolysis decreased significantly with the increase in the holding time during the torrefaction. Through the results from the TG-MS analysis, it was concluded that the structure of leucaena was changed by the torrefaction at temperature below 275 °C and the cross-linking reactions occurred during the pyrolysis resulting in increase in char yields and decrease in tar yields. It was also suggested that the longer the holding time during the torrefaction, the more the cross-linking reactions proceed during the pyrolysis. The results obtained from the study provide the basic information for the pyrolyser and/or gasifier design by using torrefied biomass as a fuel.