Use of a porous silicon–gold plasmonic nanostructure to enhance serum peptide signals in MALDI-TOF analysis

Small peptides in serum are potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of cancer and other diseases. The identification of peptide biomarkers in human plasma/serum has become an area of high interest in medical research. However, the direct analysis of peptides in serum samples using mass spectrometry is challenging due to the low concentration of peptides and the high abundance of high-molecular-weight proteins in serum, the latter of which causes severe signal suppression. Herein, we reported that porous semiconductor-noble metal hybrid nanostructures can both eliminate the interference from large proteins in serum samples and significantly enhance the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) yields of peptides captured on the nanostructure. Serum peptide fingerprints with high fidelity can be acquired rapidly, and successful discrimination of colorectal cancer patients based on peptide fingerprints is demonstrated.     

Boosting Hydrogen Evolution at Visible Light Wavelengths by Using a Photocathode with Modal Strong Coupling between Plasmons and a Fabry-Pérot Nanocavity

Hot-hole injection from plasmonic metal nanoparticles to the valence band of p-type semiconductors and reduction by hot electrons should be improved for efficient and tuneable reduction to obtain beneficial chemical compounds. We employed the concept of modal strong coupling between plasmons and a Fabry-Pérot (FP) nanocavity to enhance the hot-hole injection efficiency. We fabricated a photocathode composed of gold nanoparticles (Au−NPs), p-type nickel oxide (NiO), and a platinum film (Pt film) (ANP). The ANP structure absorbs visible light over a broad wavelength range from 500 nm to 850 nm via hybrid modes based on the modal strong coupling between the plasmons of Au−NPs and the FP nanocavity of NiO on a Pt film. All wavelength regions of the hybrid modes of the modal strong coupling system promoted hot-hole injection from the Au−NPs to NiO and proton/water reduction by hot electrons. The incident photon-to-current efficiency based on H₂ evolution through water/proton reduction by hot electrons reached 0.2 % at 650 nm and 0.04 % at 800 nm.     

Comparison between the loading capacities of columns packed with partially and totally porous fine particles. What is the effective surface area available for adsorption?

The adsorption isotherms of phenol, caffeine, insulin, and lysozyme were measured on two C(18)-bonded silica columns. The first one was packed with classical totally porous particles (3 microm Luna(2)-C(18)from Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA), the second one with shell particles (2.7 microm Halo-C(18) from Advanced Materials Technology, Wilmington, DE, USA). The measurements were made at room temperature (T=295+/-1K), using mainly frontal analysis (FA) and also elution by characteristic points (FACP) when necessary. The adsorption energy distributions (AEDs) were estimated by the iterative numerical expectation-maximization (EM) procedure and served to justify the choice of the best adsorption isotherm model for each compound. The best isotherm parameters were derived from either the best fit of the experimental data to a multi-Langmuir isotherm model (MLRA) or from the AED results (equilibrium constants and saturation capacities), when the convergence of the EM program was achieved. The experiments show than the loading capacity of the Luna column is more than twice that of the Halo column for low-molecular-weight compounds. This result was expected; it is in good agreement with the values of the accessible surface area of these two materials, which were calculated from the pore size volume distributions. The pore size volume distributions are validated by the excellent agreement between the calculated and measured exclusion volumes of polystyrene standards by inverse size exclusion chromatography (ISEC). In contrast, the loading capacity ratio of the two columns is 1.5 or less with insulin and lysozyme. This is due to a significant exclusion of these two proteins from the internal pore volumes of the two packing materials. This result raises the problem of the determination of the effective surface area of the packing material, particularly in the case of proteins. This area is about 40 and 30% of the total surface area for insulin and for lysozyme, respectively, based on the pore size volume distribution validated by the ISEC method. The ISEC experiments showed that the largest and the smallest mesopores have rather a cylindrical and a spherical shape, respectively, for both packing materials.     

Lipidology and lipidomics--quo vadis? A new era for the physical chemistry of lipids

Our picture of lipid membranes has come a long way since Gorter and Grendel in 1925 formulated the lipid bilayer hypothesis. Most modern textbook models of membranes are based on the Singer-Nicolson model from 1972, although we have in recent years seen significant amendments to this model, not least fuelled by the finding of lipid membrane domains and the subsequent 'raft rush'. The science of lipids, lipidology, has now become an established discipline, acknowledging that lipids organize in space and time and display emergent physico-chemical properties that are beyond the chemical nature of the individual molecules and which collectively control membrane function. Recently, lipidomics has been followed as a new discipline in the omics-sequel, characterized by an explosion in detailed data for lipid profiles of tissues, cells, and subcellular components. The focus is now swinging toward enumerating individual lipid species, determining their identity, and quantitating their amount. Time is ripe to marry the two disciplines, both in order to take lipidomics beyond the stage of 'stamp collection' and in order to incorporate into the lipidology approach the new knowledge about the individual lipid species. As an important matchmaker for this marriage, the physical chemistry of lipids in lipid bilayers and membranes is entering a new era of renaissance.     

A comparison of sulfur loading method on the electrochemical performance of porous carbon/sulfur cathode material for lithium–sulfur battery

To get a high sulfur loaded porous carbon/sulfur cathode material with an excellent performance, we investigated four different sulfur loading treatments. The samples were analyzed by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We proved that it is more effective to introduce the sulfur into the pores of porous carbon at 300 °C than at 155 °C. Especially, the porous carbon/sulfur composite heated in a sealed reactor at 300 °C for 8 h presents a fine sulfur load with sulfur content of 78 wt.% and exhibits an excellent electrochemical performance. The discharge capacity is 760, 727, 744, 713, and 575 mAh g^?1 of sulfur at a current density of 80, 160, 320, 800, and 1,600 mA g^?1 based on the sulfur/carbon composite, respectively. What is more, there is almost no decay at the current density of 800 mA g^?1 for 50 cycles and coulombic efficiency remains over 95 %.     

The reductionist paradox: are the laws of chemistry and physics sufficient for the discovery of new drugs?

Reductionism is alive and well in drug-discovery research. In that tradition, we continually improve experimental and computational methods for studying smaller and smaller aspects of biological systems. Although significant improvements continue to be made, are our efforts too narrowly focused? Suppose all error could be removed from these methods, would we then understand biological systems sufficiently well to design effective drugs? Currently, almost all drug research focuses on single targets. Should the process be expanded to include multiple targets? Recent efforts in this direction have lead to the emerging field of polypharmacology. This appears to be a move in the right direction, but how much polypharmacology is enough? As the complexity of the processes underlying polypharmacology increase will we be able to understand them and their inter-relationships? Is “new” mathematics unfamiliar in much of physics and chemistry research needed to accomplish this task? A number of these questions will be addressed in this paper, which focuses on issues and questions not answers to the drug-discovery conundrum.     

Characterization of a titanium(IV)–porphyrin complex as a highly sensitive and selective reagent for the determination of hydrogen peroxide: a computational chemistry approach and a critical review

The Ti–TPyP reagent, i.e. an acidic aqueous solution of the oxo[5,10,15,20-tetra(4-pyridyl)porphyrinato] titanium(IV) complex, TiO(tpyp), was developed as a highly sensitive and selective spectrophotometric reagent for determination of traces of hydrogen peroxide. Using this reagent, determination of hydrogen peroxide was performed by flow-injection analysis with a detection limit of 0.5 pmol per test. The method was actually applied to determination of several constituents of foods, human blood, and urine mediated by appropriate oxidase enzymes. The reaction specificity of the TiO(tpyp) complex for hydrogen peroxide was clarified from the viewpoint of the reaction mechanisms and molecular orbitals based on ab initio calculations. The results provided a well-grounded argument for determination of hydrogen peroxide using the Ti–TPyP reagent experimentally. This review deals with characterization of the high sensitivity and reaction specificity of the Ti–TPyP reagent for determination of hydrogen peroxide, to prove its reliability in analytical applications. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Intermolecular interactions and electrostatic properties of the β-hydroquinone apohost: implications for supramolecular chemistry

The crystal structure of the β-polymorph of hydroquinone (β-HQ), the apohost of a large family of clathrates, is reported with a specific focus on intermolecular interactions and the electrostatic nature of its cavity. Hirshfeld surface analysis reveals subtle close contacts between two interconnecting HQ networks, and the local packing and related close contacts were examined by breakdown of the fingerprint plot. An experimental multipole model containing anisotropic thermal parameters for hydrogen atoms has been successfully refined against 15(2) K single microcrystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction data. The experimental electron density model has been compared with a theoretical electron density calculated with the molecule embedded in its own crystal field. Hirshfeld charges, interaction energies and the electrostatic potential calculated for both models are qualitatively in good agreement, but small differences in the electrostatic potential persist due to charge transfer from all hydrogen atoms to the oxygen atoms in the theoretical model. The electrostatic potential in the center of the cavity is positive, very shallow and highly symmetric, suggesting that the inclusion of polar molecules in the void will involve a balance between opposing effects. The electric field is by symmetry zero in the center of the cavity, increasing to a value of 0.0185 e/?(2) (0.27 V/?) 1 ? along the 3-fold axis and 0.0105 e/?(2) (0.15 V/?) 1 ? along the perpendicular direction. While these values are substantial in a macroscopic context, they are quite small for a molecular cavity and are not expected to strongly polarize a guest molecule.     

Cell-bound nanoparticles for tissue targeting and immunotherapy: Engineering of the particle–membrane interface

Nanoparticles (NPs) have been developed as vehicles for delivering a variety of payloads including small molecules, nucleic acids, and proteins. To overcome the non-specific biodistribution of nanomaterials and target specific sites in vivo, there has been a surge of interest in using autologous cells as NP carriers. To design cell– NP constructs for active targeting, an understanding of the physicochemical interactions that underline NP adhesion, detachment, and uptake is necessary. In this article, we critically analyze the various properties that affect cell–nanomaterial interactions. We describe how physical properties of the cellular plasma membrane such as curvature, membrane tension, and lipid composition affect the attachment of NPs. We discuss the effect of NP properties including size, shape, stiffness, and chemical composition as well as the environmental conditions on the cell–NP interactions. We conclude with an overview of recent applications of cell–NP constructs including cellular hitchhiking, backpacking, and responsive surface attachment for drug delivery.     

Engineering of a bis-chelator motif into a protein α-helix for rigid lanthanide binding and paramagnetic NMR spectroscopy

Attachment of two nitrilotriacetic acid-based ligands to a protein α-helix in an i, i + 4 configuration produces an octadentate chelating motif that is able to bind paramagnetic lanthanide ions rigidly and with high affinity, leading to large pseudocontact shifts and residual dipolar couplings in the NMR spectrum.     

A study on the influence of a local thermal non-equilibrium on the onset of Darcy–Bénard convection in a liquid-saturated anisotropic porous medium

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The present study investigates the onset of Darcy–Bénard convection in a liquid-saturated anisotropic porous medium when phases are in local...     

DFT and IsoStar Analyses to Assess the Utility of σ- and π-Hole Interactions for Crystal Engineering

The interpretation of 36 charge neutral ‘contact pairs’ from the IsoStar database was supported by DFT calculations of model molecules 1 – 12 , and bimolecular adducts thereof. The ‘central groups’ are σ-hole donors (H₂O and aromatic C−I), π-hole donors (R−C(O)Me, R−NO₂ and R−C₆F₅) and for comparison R−C₆H₅ (R=any group or atom). The ‘contact groups’ are hydrogen bond donors X−H (X=N, O, S, or R₂C, or R₃C) and lone-pair containing fragments (R₃C−F, R−C≡N and R₂C=O). Nearly all the IsoStar distributions follow expectations based on the electrostatic potential of the ‘central-’ and ‘contact group’. Interaction energies (ΔE^BSSE) are dominated by electrostatics (particularly between two polarized molecules) or dispersion (especially in case of large contact area). Orbital interactions never dominate, but could be significant (∼30 %) and of the n/π→σ*/π* kind. The largest degree of directionality in the IsoStar plots was typically observed for adducts more stable than ΔE^BSSE≈−4 kcal⋅mol⁻¹, which can be seen as a benchmark-value for the utility of an interaction in crystal engineering. This benchmark could be met with all the σ- and π-hole donors studied.     

Evaluations of the BET, I-point, and α-plot procedures for the routine determination of external specific surface areas of highly dispersed and porous silicas

Nitrogen adsorption isotherms of silicas and other oxidic materials are distorted by the presence of micropore adsorption and capillary condensation. This distortion affects the determination of the specific area of the material, depending on the chosen calculation procedure. Correction of the initial (total) isotherm for micropore capacity decreases or eliminates this source of error to give a useful estimate of the external surface area. In the present work, 26 silica-based adsorbent materials were studied to obtain total and external specific surface areas by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), I-point, and α-plot procedures, using the micropore capacities from the α-plots to obtain the corrected (external) isotherms. Errors in the specific surface areas due to the presence of micropores are given by the equation ΔsA = 3.267 (m(2)/cm(3) STP) sV(mic), where sA is the specific surface area in m(2)/g and sV(mic) is the micropore capacity in cm(3) STP/g. A consistent set of conversion factors was obtained by which the external specific surface area obtained using one of these procedures can be converted, with part-per-thousand precision, to either of the others. Although the I-point procedure presents the advantage of not requiring a defined p/p(0) range, the α-plot procedure is recommended for routine determinations of external specific areas of silicas and other oxidic materials, except for cases in which the shapes of the adsorption isotherms of the sample and the reference differ significantly from one another in the p/p(0) range used for the determination.     

Ring-closing metathesis as a new strategy for the C–C coupling of monosaccharide derivatives via silicon tethering

Suitable carbohydrate-derived terminal olefins have been coupled by ring-closing metathesis reaction following a silicon tethering strategy, generating very long contiguous chains of carbon atoms each equipped with specific stereochemistry and functionality.     

An oxidation system for green chemistry – synthesis of bi-metallic schiff base complexes and oxidation of phenols in the presence of the complexes –

Bimetallic copper complexes were synthesized from the schiff bases which were obtained by the reaction between bis(3-aminophenyl) sulphone and salicylaldehyde and the derivatives in order to clarify the active site of the immobilized polymer catalyst. The complex-H₂O₂ system showed effective oxiation of phenols. The active site was elucidated by UV spectrum.     

“Salt in a porous matrix” adsorbents: Design of the phase composition and sorption properties

This review formulates the concept of target-oriented synthesis of two-component “salt in a porous matrix” (SPM) adsorbents designed for processes such as gas dewatering, moisture control, heat conversion in adsorption heat pumps, and equilibrium shifting in catalytic reactions. In terms of this approach, the requirements imposed on an ideal adsorbent, which is optimal for a particular application, are initially formulated; then, a material with nearly optimal properties is synthesized. Methods for the target-oriented synthesis of SPM adsorbents with the required properties are considered. The effects of the nature of the salt and the matrix, the salt content, the pore size of the matrix, and the synthesis conditions on the phase composition and adsorption properties of the SPM adsorbents are studied.     

The preparation and chemistry of (r)-(1-naphthyl)phenylmethylsilylmethyllithium: stereochemistry at silicon in the elimination of β-hydroxysilanes.

(R)-(1-naphthyl)phenylmethylsilylmethyllithium has been prepared from 1-naphthylphenylmethyl-silylmethyltri-n-butyltin, which is in turn prepared in four steps from (R)-(1-naphthyl)phenylmethylsilane. The title lithium reagent was reacted with benzaldehyde, pivaldehyde, acrolein and 2-methylcyclohexanone to produce the corresponding β-hydroxysilanes in good yield, but with only a 3–4% diastereomeric excess. Unfortunately, these diastereomers proved impossible to separate. Model studies employing the methyldiphenylsilyl group showed that these β-hydroxysilanes could be protiodesilylated to give the corresponding methyl alcohol. The products from the adduct with pivaldehyde and acrolein were used to investigate the stereochemistry at silicon of the β-elimination of the β-hydroxysilanes. This was found to occur with inversion of configuration at silicon when the elimination is carried out with boron fluoride etherate, sulfuric acid or acetic acid/sodium acetate, but with retention of configuration when carried out with potassium hydride.     

Redox-active π-conjugated polymer nanotubes with viologen for encapsulation and release of fluorescent dye in the nanospace

We report the encapsulation of negatively charged Au nanoparticles and anionic fluorescent (FL) dye in the inner cavity of redox-active cationic polymer nanotubes with viologen via electrostatic interaction and the release of the FL dye from the FL dye confined in the cavity of the polymer nanotubes by electrochemical and chemical reduction.