Sulfonate-based fluorescent probes for imaging hydrogen peroxide in living cells

Based on the mechanism of H₂O₂-mediated hydrolysis of sulfonates, two fluorescein disulfonates compounds (FS-1 and FS-2) were designed and synthesized as the highly selective and sensitive fluorescent probes for imaging H₂O₂ in living cells. The probes were detected with elemental analysis, IR, ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR. Upon reaction with H₂O₂, the probes exhibit strong fluorescence responses and high selectivity for H₂O₂ over other reactive oxygen species and some biological compounds. Furthermore, the sulfonate-based probes, as novel fluorescent reagents, are cell-permeable and can detect micromolar changes in H₂O₂ concentrations in living cells by using confocal microscopy. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB936000), the National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar (Grant No. 20725518), Major Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 90713019), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20875057), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (Grant No. Y2007B02), and the Science and Technology Development Programs of Shandong Province, China (Grant No. 2008GG30003012)     

DFT and TDDFT investigations on the ground and excited states for polynuclear platinum(II) complexes containing the rigid phenylacetylide ligand

We have studied the ground and excited states of the three dendritic polynuclear Pt(II) complexes 1-[Cl(PH3)2PtC≡≡ C]-3,5-[HC≡≡ C]C6H3 (1), 1,3-[Cl(PH3)2PtC≡≡ C]2-5-[HC≡≡ C]C6H3 (2), and 1,3,5-[Cl(PH3)2- PtC≡≡ C]3C6H3 (3), by using the B3LYP and UB3LYP methods, respectively. TDDFT approach with the PCM model was performed to predict the emission spectra properties of 1―3 in CH2Cl2 solution. We first predicted the excited-state geometries for the three complexes. With the change of the number of Pt(II) atom, 1―3 show the different geometry structures in both the ground and excited states; fur- thermore, the increase of the metal density from 1 to 3 results in the red shift of the lowest-energy emissions along the series. The luminescent properties of 1 are somewhat different from those of 2 and 3. The emission properties of 2 and 3 are richer than 1. Our conclusion can give a good support for designing the high efficient luminescent materials.     

Properties of meso-tetrakis (4- n -alkanoyloxyphenyl) porphyrin liquid crystal Co and Ni complexes

Six series of meso-tetrakis (4-n-alkanoyloxyphenyl) porphyrin Co and Ni complexes (12 kinds) were reported. Nine of the compounds were found to exhibit liquid crystal properties and display a hexagonal columnar discotic columnar (Col_h) phase. Molecular structure of all synthesized compounds was confirmed by IR, UV, MS, ¹H NIVR, and elemental analysis. These liquid crystalline compounds have been studied by cyclic voltammetry, luminescence, and surface photovoltage spectroscopy. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 59783001), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. Y2006B41), the Foundation of Shandong Provincial Education Department (Grant No. J06A53), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong University of Technology (Grant No. 2004KJM15) and Doctor Foundation of Shandong University of Technology     

The enzyme-amplified amperometric DNA sensor using an electrodeposited polymer redox mediator

A highly sensitive method for the detection of a breast cancer-associated BRCA-1 gene is reported. The detection is based on a classical sandwich-type assay using horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as a catalytic label and electrodeposited Os^2+/3+ conducting polymer (PAA-PVI-Os) as a redox mediator. Target DNA could be detected by the HRP-catalyzed reduction of H₂O₂, leading to a limit of detection as low as 10 fM. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 20725516, 20704043, 20873175 & 20805055), Shanghai Municipal Commission for Science and Technology (Grant Nos. 0752nm021 & 07ZR14136), Ministry of Science and Technology (Grant Nos. 2006CB933000, 2007CB936000 & 2007AA06A406), Ministry of Health (Grant No. 2009ZX10603), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation and Shanghai Postdoctoral Scientific Program (Grant No. 07R214160).     

Hydrate film growth at the interface between gaseous CO2 and sodium chloride solution

Greenhouse gas CO₂ has become a serious problem for human beings. The hydrate technology has been considered as a possible approach to sequester CO₂. In this work, the lateral growth rates of a CO₂ hydrate film in aqueous NaCl solutions of different concentrations were measured by means of suspending a single gas bubble in liquid. The results show that the film growth rates depended on not only the driving force, but also the NaCl concentration, and the film growth rates decreased with the increasing NaCl concentration. The simple relationship v_f∝ΔT ^5/2 could be used to correlate the hydrate film growth rate of a CO₂ + NaCl + water system by introducing a NaCl concentration-dependent coefficient. The film thickness was investigated experimentally and evaluated theoretically; the results show that it became thicker at a higher NaCl concentration when the temperature and pressure were specified. In addition, a series of interesting phenomena, such as the occurrence of double hydrate films, were displayed and discussed. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 20676145 & U0633003) and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant No. NCET-07-0842)     

Theoretical studies on cation-π interactions (I)—Densityfunctional theory investigation on the configurations and interaction for ammonium cation-benzene complex

Density-functional theory (DFT) approach of B3LYP/6-31G* has been employed to calculate the six possible configurations of ammonium cation-benzene complex (NH₄ ⁺ -C₆H₆). The calculation result released that the asymmetrical configuration of this complex with two hydrogen atoms pointing to the benzene ring was the most stable structure. Structural characteristics, molecular interaction fashion and thermodynamic parameters indicated that NH₄ ⁺ was bound to benzene through hydrogen bonding interaction. Project supported by the “863” High Technology Program of China (Grant No. 863-103-04-01) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 29403027)     

Chiral assembly of achiral pseudoisocyanine with D- and L-phenylalanine

Supramolecular chirality and molecular self-assembly are important and interesting phenomena in living and non-living systems.In this work,supramolecular chirality of achiral pseudoisocyanine(PIC) J-aggregates was successfully induced by D-,L-phenylalanine(Phe) and other amino acids in NaCl solution.The chiral J-aggregates showed a characteristic,induced circular dichroism(ICD) in the visible region of J-band chromophore which depends on the absolute configuration,concentration and side groups of α-amino ac...     

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes based catalyst plasmon resonance light scattering analysis of tetracycline hydrochloride

It was found that multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) could catalyze the redox reaction between chlorauric acid (HAuCl4) and reductive drugs such as tetracycline hydrochloride (TC), producing gold nanoparticles (Au NPs). By measuring the plasmon resonance light scattering (PRLS) signals of the resulting Au NPs, tetracycline hydrochloride can be detected simply and rapidly with a linear range of 4―26 μmol/L, a correlated coefficient (r ) of 0.9955, and a limit of detection (3σ) of 6.0 nmol/L. This method has been successfully applied to the detection of tetracycline hydrochloride tablets in clinic with the recovery of 101.9% and that of fresh urine samples with the recovery of 98.3%―102.0%.     

PdCl2-catalyzed heterocyclotrimerization in MeOH/scCO2: A versatile approach to dimethyl pyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate from methyl acrylate and urea

A novel and green method for the synthesis of dimethyl pyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate has been developed. It is PdCl₂-catalyzed heterocyclotrimerization of methyl acrylate with urea in methanol/supercritical carbon dioxide. The target compound was obtained with a 75% isolated yield under the optimized conditions. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 20332030, 20572027, 20625205 and 20772034) and Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 07118070)     

Photoelectrocatalytic oxidation of GMP on an ITO electrode modified with clay/[Ru(phen)<Subscript>2</Subscript>(dC18bpy)]<Superscript>2+</Superscript> hybrid film

An indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode modified with monolayer clay/[Ru(phen)₂(dC18bpy)]²⁺ (phen=1,10-phenanthroline, dC18bpy = 4,4′-dioctadecyl-2,2′ bipyridyl) hybrid film has been fabricated by the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) method. Atomic force microscopy revealed that the single-layered hybrid film of clay/[Ru(phen)₂(dC18bpy)]²⁺ (denoted as Clay-Ru) was closely packed at a surface pressure of 25 mN·m⁻¹ and had a thickness of 3.4±0.5 nm. Cyclic voltammograms showed that the redox current of Ru(II) complex decreased when incorporated into the clay film, suggesting that the clay layer acts as a barrier against electron transfer. When applied to oxidizing the mononucleotide of guanosine 5′-monophosphate (GMP), a large catalytic oxidative current was achieved on the Clay-Ru(II) modified ITO electrode at the external potential above 900 mV (vs. Ag|AgCl|KCl) and, more significantly, this response was further enhanced by light irradiation (λ>360 nm), in which the photocurrent is increased about 11 times in comparison with that of a bare ITO. Mechanism of the photoelectrocatalytic effect was proposed in terms of the reduction of the photoelectrochemically generated Ru(III) complex in the Clay-Ru film by GMP. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 20471043 and 20843007), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant Nos. Y404118 and Y408177), the “151” Distinguished Person Foundation of Zheji-ang Province of China, Zhejiang Technology Project Foundation (Grant No. 2007C21134) and Wenzhou Technology Project Foundation (Grant No. N2004B040)     

An indirect method for the electrosynthesis of monochloroamine

An indirect two-stage method for the electrosynthesis of NH₂Cl was elaborated. In the first stage, NH₄Cl was electrolyzed in a nondivided cell in the NaCl (aqueous solution)—CCl₄ heterophase system to give NCl₃ as a solution in CCl₄. Under the optimum conditions, the yield of NCl₃ was 80%, and the current efficiency 60%. In the second stage, the obtained solution reacted with an aqueous solution of NH₃ to give an aqueous solution of NH₂Cl in 50% yield (converted to NH₃). Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 2011–2014, October, 1998.     

A dynamical Lie algebraic mehtod for quantum reactive scattering

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Synthesis of Fréchet-type dendritic homotriptycenes

A rapid and efficient synthesis of novel dendrimer homotriptycenes is presented. The dendronized 9,10-dihydroanthracen-9-ols 4, having high electron densities in the benzene rings of the Fréchet-type dendrons, exhibited in the presence of acid a quantitative transannular ring closure to the corresponding dendritic homotriptycenes. The electron-donating Fréchet-type dendrons enabled the intramolecular FC alkylation by a regioselective 1,7-elimination of H2O.     

New bienzymatic strategy for glucose determination by immobilized-gold nanoparticle-enhanced chemiluminescence

Bienzymatic biosensor for the determination of glucose by flow injection chemiluminescence (CL) detection was proposed. Hybrids of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and chitosan were chosen as the immobilization matrix of glucose oxidase (GOD) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to fabricate the biosensors with silane-pretreated glass microbeads. After the enzyme catalyzing oxidation of glucose in GOD biosensor, the produced H₂O₂ flowed into HRP biosensor to react with luminol. The doped GNPs in chitosan were found to enhance the classical CL reaction of luminol-H₂O₂-HRP. The CL enhancement was investigated in detail by CL and UV-visible spectrum. Under the optimized experimental conditions, glucose could be determined in a linear range from 0.01 to 6.0 mmol/L with a detection limit of 5.0 μmol/L at 3σ. The accuracy of the proposed method was examined by detecting the glucose level in four clinical serum samples from hospital. The proposed method provides a new alternative to determine glucose. Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. Q2007B03), the Doctoral Fund of Qingdao University of Science and Technology (Grant No. 0022141), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20775038)     

Preparation of polymer-supported hydrated ferric oxide based on Donnan membrane effect and its application for arsenic removal

In the present study a novel technique was proposed to prepare a polymer-supported hydrated ferric oxide (D201-HFO) based on Donnan membrane effect by using a strongly basic anion exchanger D201 as the host material and FeCl3-HCl-NaCl solution as the reaction environment. D201-HFO was found to exhibit higher capacity for arsenic removal than a commercial sorbent Purolite ArsenX. Furthermore, it presents favorable adsorption selectivity for arsenic removal from aqueous solution, as well as satis- factory kinetics. Fixed-bed column experiments showed that arsenic sorption on D201-HFO could re- sult in concentration of this toxic metalloid element below 10 μg/L, which was the new maximum con- centration limit set recently by the European Commission and imposed by the US EPA and China. Also, the spent D201-HFO is amenable to efficient regeneration by NaOH-NaCl solution.     

Quantum dynamics of dissociative adsorption of H2 and D2: The time-dependent wave packet method

A time-dependent quantum wave packet method was used to study the dynamics of dissociative adsorption of H₂ and D₂ on a flat and static surface. The molecule-surface interaction is described using a modified London-Eyring-Polanyi-Sato (LEPS) type potential for the H₂/Ni(100) system. The three-dimensional (3-D) dissociation probabilities were calculated for different initial rovibrational states as a function of initial incident energies. Our results show that the dissociation of the diatomic rotational states whose quantum numbers satisfyj+m = odd is forbidden at low energies for the homonuclear H_z and D₂ due to the selection rule. The effect of the rotational orientation of diatoms on adsorption predicts that the in-plane rotation (m = j) is more favorable for dissociation than the out-of-plane rotation (m = 0). Enhanced dissociation for vibrationally excited molecules and the significant enhancement of the dissociation probability of H2 when compared to D₂ were explained reasonably in terms of quantum mechanical zero-point energies, the tunneling effect and the reflection from an activation barrier. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 19694033) and partially by the Science Foundation for Overseas Chinese Scholars and Students, administered by the State Education Commission of China (Grant No. 1992), by the State Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry of Jilin University at Changchun (Grant No. 98011, and by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. Y96B03022)     

Statistical theory for hydrogen bonding fluid system of AaDd type (Ⅱ): Properties of hydrogen bonding networks

Making use of the invariant property of the equilibrium size distribution of the hydrogen bonding clusters formed in hydrogen bonding system of A_aD_d type, the analytical expressions of the free energy in pregel and postgel regimes are obtained. Then the gel free energy and the scaling behavior of the number of hydrogen bonds in gel phase near the critical point are investigated to give the corresponding scaling exponents and scaling law. Meanwhile, some properties of intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonds in the system, sol and gel phases are discussed. As a result, the explicit relationship between the number of intramolecular hydrogen bonds and hydrogen bonding degree is obtained. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 20303006 and 20574016), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (Grant Nos. B2006000959 and B2004000093) and the Natural Science Foundation of Education Committee of Hebei Province (Grant No. 2003101)     

Resonance scattering spectral detection of ultratrace IgG using immunonanogold-HAuCl<Subscript>4</Subscript>-NH<Subscript>2</Subscript>OH catalytic reaction

Nanogold particles of 10 nm were used to label goat anti-human IgG (GIgG) to obtain nanogold-labeled GIgG (AuGIgG). In a citrate-HCI buffer solution of pH 2.27, AuGIgG showed a strong catalytic effect on the reaction between HAuCl₄ and NH₂OH to form big gold particles that exhibited a resonance scattering (RS) peak at 796 nm. Under the chosen conditions, AuGIgG combined with IgG to form immunocomplex AuGIgG-IgG that can be removed by centrifuging at 16000 r/min. AuGIgG in the centrifuging solution also showed catalytic effect on the reaction. On those grounds, an immunonanogold catalytic RS assay for IgG was designed. With addition of IgG, the amount of AuGIgG in the centrifuging solution decreased; the RS intensity at 796 nm (I _{796 nm}) decreased linearly. The decreased intensity ΔI _{796 nm} was linear with respect to the IgG concentration in the range of 0.08–16.0 ng · mL⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.02 ng · mL⁻¹. This assay was applied to analysis of IgG in sera with satisfactory sensitivity, selectivity and rapidity. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20667001), Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province (Grant No. 0728213), and the Foundation of New Century Ten-Hundred-Thousand Talents of Guangxi Province     

Removal of nitrate from groundwater by heterotrophic denitrification using the solid carbon source

Removal of nitrate from groundwater was investigated using biodegradable meal box(BMB) and poly(ε-caprolactone)(PCL) as carbon source and biofilm carrier.The experimental results show that nitrate in groundwater can be effectively removed using BMB and PCL as carbon source.Denitrification rates supported by BMB and PCL were 52.80 and 42.77 mg(NO3-N)/(m2h),respectively,at 30 ℃ and pH 7.5.The pH value of effluent ranged from 7 to 8,and NO2-N concentration was less than 0.1 mg/L.Compared with BMB,PCL could dec...