Determination of sulfa antibiotic residues in river and particulate matter by field-amplified sample injection-capillary zone electrophoresis

In the present research, field-amplified sample injection–CZE (FASI–CZE) coupled with a diode array detector was established to determine trace level sulfa antibiotic. Sulfathiazole, sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine, sulfadimethoxine, sulfamethoxazole, and sulfisoxazole were selected as analytes for the experiments. The background electrolyte solution consisted of 70.0 mmol/L borax and 60.0 mmol/L boric acid (including 10% methanol, pH 9.1). The plug was 2.5 mmol/L borax, which was injected into the capillary at a pressure of 0.5 psi for 5 s. Then the sample was injected into the capillary at an injection voltage of –10 kV for 20 s. The electrophoretic separation was carried out under a voltage of +19 kV. The capillary temperature was maintained at 20˚C throughout the analysis, and six sulfonamides were completely separated within 35 min. Compared with pressure injection-CZE, the sensitivity of FASI-CZE was increased by 6.25–10.0 times, and the LODs were reduced from 0.2–0.5 to 0.02–0.05 μg/mL. The method was applied to the determination of sulfonamides in river water and particulate matter samples. The recoveries were 78.59–106.59%. The intraday and interday precisions were 2.89–7.35% and 2.77–7.09%, respectively. This provides a simpler and faster method for the analysis of sulfa antibiotic residues in environmental samples.     

Trends in the detection of pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds by Field-Effect Transistors (FETs)

Field-effect transistors (FETs) are one of the most widely-used electronic sensors for continuous monitoring and detection of contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds at low concentrations. FETs have been successfully utilized for the rapid analysis of these environmental pollutants due to their advantageous material properties like the disposability, rapid responses and simplicity. This paper presented an up-to-date overview of applied strategies with different bio-based materials in order to enhance the analytical performances of the designed sensors. Comparison and discussion were made between characteristics of recently engineered FET bio-sensors used for the detection of famous and selected pharmaceutical compounds in the literature. The recent progress in environmental research applications, comments on interesting trends, current challenge for future research in endocrine-disrupting chemicals’ (EDCs) detection using FETs biosensors were highlighted.     

Manufacturing,thermal stability,and flammability properties of polypropylene containing new single molecule intumescent flame retardant

Melamine salt of pentaerythritol phosphate kaolin (MPPK) was synthesized by the reaction of pentaerythritol phosphate with kaolin (K) and melamine. The structure of MPPK was confirmed by EDXS, ¹H NMR, FTIR, and XRD. MPPK was blended with polypropylene (PP) at different loading levels. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results showed that MPPK improved the thermal stability of PP at high temperatures in all PP composites. Vertical burning rate test manifested that PP composites can achieve V0 at 20% and 25% MPPK loading levels. Cone calorimeter data exhibited that addition of 25% MPPK to PP reduced peak of heat release rate (pHRR) and total heat release (THR) by 86% and 76% and increased the char residue after test to 67%. The results of PP/25% MPPK composite were compared with the data obtained from PP containing 25% K and 25% of traditional intumescent flame retardant composed of melamine phosphate (MP), pentaerythritol (PE), and K. The outcomes indicated that MPPK was more efficient in flame retardancy than the other systems. The digital photographs and SEM images for char residue demonstrated that MPPK succeeded in forming cellular and coherent char layer on the PP surface. The main advantage of adding 25% MPPK to PP was its ability to preserve nearly the inner half of the sample without burning after cone calorimeter test.     

Method validation,residue analysis and dietary risk assessment of trifloxystrobin and trifloxystrobin acid in milk,eggs and pork

Trifloxystrobin (TFS) is a widely used strobilurin fungicide and its residues accumulating in animal-derived food could result in potential harm to consumers. By optimization of extraction solvents and cleanup sorbents, a residue analysis method for TFS and its metabolite trifloxystrobin acid (TFSA) was established in milk, eggs and pork based on QuEChERS sample preparation and LC–MS/MS. The calibration curves exhibited good linearity with determination coefficients (R²) >0.9930 over the range of 0.5–250 ng/ml for both TFS and TFSA. The recoveries of the two analytes were 81–100% with RSD 3–10% and 76–96% with RSD 2–13%, respectively. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 1 ng/g for both analytes. The milk, egg and pork samples, 30 each, were collected from the 30 main producing regions in China, and residues of TFS and TFSA were analyzed. The concentrations of both analytes were lower than the corresponding LOQs and maximum residue limits. Long-term dietary risk assessment showed that the hazard quotients were 0.001–0.003%, indicating an absence of unacceptable risks in milk, eggs and pork to the health of common consumers in China.     

Characterizing the protonation states of the catalytic residues in apo and substrate-bound human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 protease

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) protease is an attractive target when developing inhibitors to treat HTLV-1 associated diseases. To study the catalytic mechanism and design novel HTLV-1 protease inhibitors, the protonation states of the two catalytic aspartic acid residues must be determined. Free energy simulations have been conducted to study the proton transfer reaction between the catalytic residues of HTLV-1 protease using a combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) molecular dynamics simulation. The free energy profiles for the reaction in the apo-enzyme and in an enzyme – substrate complex have been obtained. In the apo-enzyme, the two catalytic residues are chemically equivalent and are expected to be both unprotonated. Upon substrate binding, the catalytic residues of HTLV-1 protease evolve to a singly protonated state, in which the OD1 of Asp32 is protonated and forms a hydrogen bond with the OD1 of Asp32′, which is unprotonated. The HTLV-1 protease–substrate complex structure obtained from this simulation can serve as the Michaelis complex structure for further mechanistic studies of HTLV-1 protease while providing a receptor structure with the correct protonation states for the active site residues toward the design of novel HTLV-1 protease inhibitors through virtual screening.     

Ionic‐liquid‐based,manual‐shaking‐ and ultrasound‐assisted,surfactant‐enhanced emulsification microextraction for the determination of three fungicide residues in juice samples

A novel manual‐shaking‐ and ultrasound‐assisted surfactant‐enhanced emulsification microextraction method was developed for the determination of three fungicides in juice samples. In this method, the ionic liquid, 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide, instead of a volatile organic solvent was used as the extraction solvent. The surfactant, NP‐10, was used as an emulsifier to enhance the dispersion of the water‐immiscible ionic liquid into an aqueous phase, which accelerated the mass transfer of the analytes. Organic dispersive solvent typically required in common dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction methods was not necessary. In addition, manual shaking for 15 s before ultrasound to preliminarily mix the extraction solvent and the aqueous sample could greatly shorten the time for dispersing the ionic liquid into aqueous solution by ultrasound irradiation. Several experimental parameters affecting the extraction efficiency, including type and volume of extraction solvent, type and concentration of surfactant, extraction time, and pH, were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, good linearity with the correlation coefficients (γ) higher than 0.9986 and high sensitivity with the limit of detection ranging from 0.4 to 1.6 μg/L were obtained. The average recoveries ranged from 61.4 to 86.0% for spiked juice, with relative standard deviations from 1.8 to 9.7%. The proposed method was demonstrated to be a simple, fast, and efficient method for the analysis of the target fungicides in juice samples.     

Study of acidified ignitable liquid residues in fire debris by solid‐phase microextraction with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry

The detection and identification of ignitable liquid residues in fire debris can be meaningful in fire investigations. However, background pyrolysis products and weathering hinder the identification and classification steps. In addition to those processes, the acidification of the ignitable liquids before the combustion process could make those tasks even more difficult. Nevertheless, there are no systematic studies assessing the extraction, analysis, and composition of acidified ignitable liquid residues obtained from fire debris. In this work, a method for the study of acidified ignitable liquid residues in fire debris by solid‐phase microextraction with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry is proposed. This methodology has been evaluated, first with simulated solutions (gasoline/sulfuric acid mixtures set on fire under controlled conditions), and then with analysis of samples from real fire debris obtained from 18 chemical ignition Molotov cocktails made with sulfuric acid and three different ignitable liquids (two types of gasoline and diesel fuel). In addition, the extensive modifications observed in chromatograms of acidified ignitable liquid residues regarding neat and weathered samples were studied. These alterations were produced by the combustion and acidification processes. As a consequence, tert‐butylated compounds are proposed as diagnostic indicators for the identification of acidified gasoline in fire debris, even in strongly weathered samples.     

Disruption of redox catalytic functions of peroxiredoxin-thioredoxin complex in Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv using small interface binding molecules

Mycobacterium tuberculosis has distinctive ability to detoxify various microbicidal superoxides and hydroperoxides via a redox catalytic cycle involving thiol reductants of peroxiredoxin (Prx) and thioredoxin (Trx) systems which has conferred on it resistance against oxidative killing and survivability within host. We have used computational approach to disrupt catalytic functions of Prx-Trx complex which can possibly render the pathogen vulnerable to oxidative killing in the host. Using protein–protein docking method, we have successfully constructed the Prx-Trx complex. Statistics of interface region revealed contact area of each monomer less than 1500 Å² and enriched in polar amino acids indicating transient interaction between Prx and Trx. We have identified ZINC40139449 as a potent interface binding molecule through virtual screening of drug-like compounds from ZINC database. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies showed differences in structural properties of Prx-Trx complex both in apo and ligand bound states with regard to root mean square deviation (RMSD), radius of gyration (Rg), root mean square fluctuations (RMSF), solvent accessible surface area (SASA) and number of hydrogen bonds (NHBs). Interestingly, we found stability of two conserved catalytic residues Cys61 and Cys174 of Prx and conserved catalytic motif, WCXXC of Trx upon binding of ZINC40139449. The time dependent displacement study reveals that the compound is quite stable in the interface binding region till 30 ns of MD simulation. The structural properties were further validated by principal component analysis (PCA). We report ZINC40139449 as promising lead which can be further evaluated by in vitro or in vivo enzyme inhibition assays.     

凝胶渗透色谱-气相色谱-离子阱质谱法测定桔梗原药和当归提取物中101种农药残留

建立了凝胶渗透色谱（GPC）-气相色谱-离子阱质谱同时检测桔梗原药和当归提取物中101种农药残留的分析方法。方法采用乙腈超声辅助提取桔梗原药和当归提取物,浓缩提取液至近干后用乙酸乙酯-环己烷（1∶1, v/v）复溶,采用凝胶渗透色谱法（选取40 cm长、内径20 mm的凝胶渗透色谱柱）对样品进行净化,弃去前段含脂类、色素等杂质的流出液,收集17~30 min洗脱液并旋转蒸发浓缩至近干,甲苯1 mL定容上机。选用DB-5MS毛细管色谱柱分离待测物,通过离子阱质谱实现对101种农药残留的高效检测。方法通过优化前处理条件和离子阱二级质谱参数,有效降低了复杂中药基质对待测化合物的干扰,最大限度提高了样品中农药的定量准确性和回收率,101种农药3水平添加的平均回收率为58.3%~108.9%,每个添加水平10次独立重复测定的相对标准偏差为0.4%~16.5%,检出限（LOD）范围为0.2~40.0 μg/kg,可满足当前韩国、日本、欧洲规定的最大残留限量（maximum residue limits, MRLs）要求。方法具有操作简单快速、灵敏度高、重复性好等特点,凝胶渗透色谱技术的应用克服了固相萃取小柱净化容量不足的弊端,离子阱技术的应用可以进一步排除共流出基体杂质的干扰,提高定量和定性的准确性,检测效果优于常用的气相色谱-质谱法,是对中药中同时分析多种农药残留检测方法的有益补充。