Simultaneous determination of 22 phthalate esters in polystyrene food‐contact materials by ultra‐performance convergence chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

A method for the determination of 22 phthalate esters in polystyrene food‐contact materials has been established using ultraperformance convergence chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. In this method, 22 phthalate esters were analyzed in <3.5 min on an ACQUITY Tours 1‐AA column by gradient elution. The mobile phase, the compensation solvent, the flow rate of mobile phase, column temperature, and automatic back pressure regulator pressure were optimized, respectively. There was a good linearity of 20 phthalate esters with a range of 0.05–10 mg/L, diisodecyl phthalate and diisononyl phthalate were 0.25–10 mg/L, and the correlation coefficients of all phthalates were higher than 0.99 and those of 16 phthalates were higher than 0.999. The limits of detection and the limits of quantification of 15 phthalates were 0.02 and 0.05 mg/kg, meanwhile diallyl phthalate, diisobutyl phthalate, dimethyl phthalate, di‐n‐butyl phthalate, and di(2‐ethylhexyl) phthalate were 0.05 and 0.10 mg/kg, and diisodecyl phthalate and diisononyl phthalate were 0.10 and 0.25 mg/kg. The spiked recoveries were in the range of 76.26–107.76%, and the relative standard deviations were in the range of 1.78–12.10%. Results support this method as an efficient alternative to apply for the simultaneous determination of 22 phthalate esters in common polystyrene food‐contact materials.     

Enantioselective separation of the carfentrazone‐ethyl enantiomers in soil,water and wheat by HPLC

A simple enantioselective HPLC method was developed for measuring carfentrazone‐ethyl enantiomers. The separation and determination was accomplished on an amylose tris[(S)‐α‐methylbenzylcarbamate] (Chiralpak AS) column using n‐hexane/ethanol (98:2, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min with UV detection at 248 nm. The effects of mobile‐phase composition and column temperature on the enantioseparation were discussed. The accuracy, precision, linearity, LODs, and LOQ of the method were also investigated. LOD was 0.001 mg/kg in water, 0.015 mg/kg in soil and wheat, with an LOQ of 0.0025 mg/kg in water and 0.05 mg/kg in soil and wheat for each enantiomer of carfentrazone‐ethyl. SPE was used for the enrichment and cleanup of soil, water, and wheat samples. Recoveries for two enantiomers were 88.4–106.7% with RSD_r of 4.2–9.8% at 0.1, 0.5, and 1 mg/kg levels from soil, 85.8–99.5% with the RSD_r of 4.4?9.6% at 0.005, 0.025, and 0.05 mg/kg levels from water, and from wheat the recoveries were 86.3?91.3% with RSD_r below 5.0% at 0.2, 0.5, and 1 mg/kg levels. This method could be used to identify and quantify the carfentrazone‐ethyl enantiomers in food and environment.     

Analysis of short‐chain aliphatic amines in food and water samples using a near infrared cyanine 1‐(ε‐succinimydyl‐hexanoate)‐1′‐methyl‐3,3,3′,3′‐tetramethyl‐indocarbocyanine‐5,5′‐disulfonate potassium with CE–LIF detection

Precolumn derivatization of six short‐chain aliphatic amines by a near‐infrared dye, 1‐(ε‐succinimydyl‐hexanoate)‐1′‐methyl‐3,3,3′,3′‐tetramethyl‐indocarbocyanine‐5,5′‐ disulfonate potassium (MeCy5‐OSu), followed by MEKC–CE–LIF detection has been developed as a method for the determination of aliphatic amines in environmental water and food. Optimum derivatization was operated nicely in pH 9.0 borate buffer at 20°C for 30 min. Well separated peaks were observed with a pH 9.5 BGE containing 10 mmol L^?1 phosphoric acid, 20 mmol L^?1 SDS, and 7% methanol buffered with 1.0 mol L^?1 NaOH. The separation procedure was rapidly achieved within 11 min and the matrix interferences could be effectively eliminated. A linear calibration graph was obtained for 5–200 nmol L^?1 analytes with a correlation coefficient in the range 0.9933–0.9995 for amines. This method was successfully utilized to determine aliphatic amines in lake, sewage water, and red wine with recoveries ranging from 96.4 to 105% and the RSDs ranging from 0.9 to 2.9%. Near‐infrared, LIF‐detector‐compatible MeCy5‐OSu was proved suitable for the accurate, sensitive, and rapid separation and determination of aliphatic amines in water and food samples.     

Isolation and purification of macrocyclic components from Penicillium fermentation broth by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

In this paper, high‐speed counter‐current chromatography (HSCCC), assisted with ESI‐MS, was first successfully applied to the preparative separation of three macrolide antibiotics, brefeldin A (12.6 mg, 99.0%), 7′‐O‐formylbrefeldin A (6.5 mg, 95.0%) and 7′‐O‐acetylbrefeldin A (5.0 mg, 92.3%) from the crude extract of the microbe Penicillium SHZK‐15. Considering the chemical nature and partition coefficient (K) values of the three target compounds, a two‐step HSCCC isolation protocol was developed in order to obtain products with high purity. In the two‐step method, the crude ethyl acetate extract was first fractionated and resulted in two peak fractions by HSCCC using solvent system n‐hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (HEMWat) (3:7:5:5 v/v/v/v), then purified using solvent systems HEMWat (3:5:3:5 v/v/v/v) and HEMWat (7:3:5:5 v/v/v/v) for each fraction. The purities and structures of the isolated compounds were determined by HPLC, X‐ray crystallography, ESI‐MS and NMR. The results demonstrated that HSCCC is a fast and efficient technique for systematic isolation of bioactive compounds from the microbes.     

A new,validated HPLC‐MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of the anti‐cancer agent capecitabine and its metabolites: 5′‐deoxy‐5‐fluorocytidine, 5′‐deoxy‐5‐fluorouridine, 5‐fluorouracil and 5‐fluorodihydrouracil,in human plasma

A rapid and selective liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric method was developed for the simultaneous determination of capecitabine and its metabolites 5′‐deoxy‐5‐fluorocytidine (5′‐DFCR), 5′‐deoxy‐5‐fluorouracil (5′‐DFUR), 5‐fluorouracil (5‐FU) and dihydro‐5‐fluorouracil (FUH₂) in human plasma. A 200 μL human plasma aliquot was spiked with a mixture of internal standards fludarabine and 5‐chlorouracil. A single‐step protein precipitation method was employed using 10% (v/v) trichloroacetic acid in water to separate analytes from bio‐matrices. Volumes of 20 μL of the supernatant were directly injected onto the HPLC system. Separation was achieved on a 30 × 2.1 mm Hypercarb (porous graphitic carbon) column using a gradient by mixing 10 mm ammonium acetate and acetonitrile–2‐propanol–tetrahydrofuran (1 : 3 : 2.25, v/v/v). The detection was performed using a Finnigan TSQ Quantum Ultra equipped with the electrospray ion source operated in positive and negative mode. The assay quantifies a range from 10 to 1000 ng/mL for capecitabine, from 10 to 5000 ng/mL for 5′‐DFCR and 5′‐DFUR, and from 50 to 5000 ng/mL for 5‐FU and FUH₂ using a plasma sample of 200 μL. Correlation coefficients (r²) of the calibration curves in human plasma were better than 0.99 for all compounds. At all concentration levels, deviations of measured concentrations from nominal concentration were between ?4.41 and 3.65% with CV values less than 12.0% for capecitabine, between ?7.00 and 6.59% with CV values less than 13.0 for 5′‐DFUR, between ?3.25 and 4.11% with CV values less than 9.34% for 5′‐DFCR, between ?5.54 and 5.91% with CV values less than 9.69% for 5‐FU and between ?4.26 and 6.86% with CV values less than 14.9% for FUH₂. The described method was successfully applied for the evaluation of the pharmacokinetic profile of capecitabine and its metabolites in plasma of treated cancer patients. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pharmacokinetics of luteolin and tetra‐acetyl‐luteolin assayed by HPLC in rats after oral administration

Accurate and reproducible HPLC methods were developed and validated for the determination of concentrations of luteolin (LT) and tetra‐acetyl‐luteolin (TALT) in rat plasma. HPLC analyses were performed on an Agilent TC‐C₁₈ column protected by a guard Agilent Zorbax Eclipse Plus. The mobile phase for LT was a binary mixture of acetonitrile–water (40:60, v/v) containing 0.5% phosphoric acid at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, and that for TALT was a binary mixture of methanol–water (70 : 30, v/v) containing 0.5% glacial acetic acid at the same flow rate. The UV detection wavelength for both analytes was set at 350 nm. The calibration curve was linear over the range of 40–1800 ng/mL, the lower limit of quantitation was 40 ng/mL and the lower limit of detection was 20 ng/mL for both LT and TALT. The intra‐ and inter‐day precision (RSD) values for all samples were within 7.9%. The concentration–time curves of LT and TALT after oral administration (30 mg/kg) were both fitted to a two‐compartment model. The pharmacokinetic characteristics of TALT were better than that of LT in the maximum plasma concentration (C_max) and the area under the concentration–time curve (AUC). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development and validation of an ultra high‐performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of a diastereomeric impurity in (+)‐pinoresinol diglucoside chemical reference substance

(+)‐Pinoresinol 4,4′‐di‐O‐β‐D ‐glucopyranoside ((+)‐PDG) is one of the major lignans with various pharmacological activities which could be isolated from Duzhong and other plant species. In this study, a diastereomeric impurity, (?)‐pinoresinol 4,4′‐di‐O‐β‐D ‐glucopyranoside ((?)‐PDG), the main impurity was identified in (+)‐PDG chemical reference substance (CRS) and a reliable chromatographic method for rapid purity determination of (+)‐PDG CRS was firstly developed. The optimal chromatographic condition was found to be using ACN/1,4‐dioxane–water (2.5:6:91.5, v/v/v) as mobile phase on a Waters Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column (2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.8 μm) with column temperature of 37°C. The method was validated and applied to determine the chromatographic purity of five (+)‐PDG CRS samples. The content of (?)‐PDG in four commercial (+)‐PDG CRS was 8.47–20.30%, whereas no (?)‐PDG was detected in our in‐house prepared (+)‐PDG CRS in which purity was confirmed to be 99.80%. The above results confirmed that this method is fast and highly efficient for purity determination of the (+)‐PDG CRS.     

Quantification of β‐eudesmol in rat plasma using LC–MS/MS and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

A sensitive and specific LC–MS/MS assay for determination of β ‐eudesmol in rat plasma was developed and validated. After liquid–liquid extraction with ethyl ether , the analyte and IS were separated on a Capcell Pak C₁₈ column (50 × 2.0 mm, 5 μm) by isocratic elution with acetonitrile—water–formic acid (77.5:22.5:0.1, v /v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. An ESI source was applied and operated in positive ion mode; a selected reaction monitoring scan was used for quantification by monitoring the precursor–product ion transitions of m/z 245.1 → 163.1 for β ‐eudesmol and m/z 273.4 → 81.2 for IS. Good linearity was observed in the concentration range of 3–900 ng/mL for β ‐eudesmol in rat plasma. Intra‐ and inter‐day precision and accuracy were both within ±14.3%. This method was applied for pharmacokinetic studies after intravenous bolus of 2.0 mg/kg or intragastric administration of 50 mg/kg β ‐eudesmol in rats.     

Rapid determination of nitrite in foods in acidic conditions by high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

In this study, a simple, rapid, and sensitive method for the determination of nitrite (NO₂^?) in food samples by high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection in acidic conditions had been developed. The derivatization of the nitrite with 2,3‐diaminonaphthalene was performed in acidic conditions to yield the highly fluorescent 2,3‐naphthotriazole, which was directly analyzed by high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection without adjusting the solution to alkaline. The analysis column was reversed‐phase C₈ column. A constant flow rate of 1.0 mL/min was employed using water/acetonitrile as the mobile phase in isocratic mode (70:30, v/v). Fluorescence was monitored with excitation at 375 nm and emission at 415 nm. The standard calibration curves were linear for nitrite in different matrixes in the concentration range of 0–100 μg/L, and the correlation coefficients ranged from 0.9978 to 0.9998. The limits of detection and quantification were in the ranges of 0.012–0.060 and 0.040–0.20 mg/kg, respectively. The recoveries of nitrite from samples spiked at three different concentrations were 74.0–113.2%, and the relative standard deviations of the recovery results (n = 6) were 1.67–10.8%. The proposed method has good repeatability and is very sensitive and simple. It has been successfully used to determine nitrite in foods.     

Preparative isolation of ganoderic acid S,ganoderic acid T and ganoderol B from Ganoderma lucidum mycelia by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Ganoderic acid S, ganoderic acid T and ganoderal B are the main bioactive triterpenes of Ganoderma lucidum. In this study, mycelia of G. lucidum were obtained by two‐stage fermentation and then extracted by ethanol and petroleum ether sequentially to obtain crude triterpenes. The crude sample was further purified by recycling high‐speed counter‐current chromatography with n‐hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (7:12:11:5, v/v/v/v) as the optimized two‐phase solvent system. A 16.4 mg aliquot of ganoderol B with a purity of 90.4% was separated from 300 mg of the crude sample in a single run. After employing the recycling elution mode of HSCCC with n‐hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (6:10:8:4.5, v/v/v/v) for five cycles, 25.7 mg ganoderic acid T and 3.7 mg ganoderic acid S with purities of 97.8 and 83.0%, respectively, were obtained. The purities of three compounds were determined by high‐performance liquid chromatography and their chemical structures were identified by NMR and MS data.     

Rapid preparative separation of six bioactive compounds from Gentiana crassicaulis Duthie ex Burk. using microwave‐assisted extraction coupled with high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

A rapid method combining microwave‐assisted extraction (MAE) and high‐speed counter‐current chromatography (HSCCC) was applied for preparative separation of six bioactive compounds including loganic acid ( I ), isoorientin‐4′‐O‐glucoside ( II ), 6′‐O‐β‐d ‐glucopyranosyl gentiopicroside ( III ), swertiamarin ( IV ), gentiopicroside ( V ), sweroside ( VI ) from traditional Tibetan medicine Gentiana crassicaulis Duthie ex Burk. MAE parameters were predicted by central composite design response surface methodology. That is, 5.0 g dried roots of G. crassicaulis were extracted with 50 mL 57.5% aqueous ethanol under 630 W for 3.39 min. The extract (gentian total glycosides) was separated by HSCCC with n‐butanol/ethyl acetate/methanol/1% acetic acid water (7.5:0.5:0.5:3.5, v/v/v/v) using upper phase mobile in tail‐to‐head elution mode. 16.3, 8.8, 12., 25.1, 40.7, and 21.8 mg of compounds I–VI were obtained with high purities in one run from 500 mg of original sample. The purities and identities of separated components were confirmed using HPLC with photo diode array detection and quadrupole TOF‐MS and NMR spectroscopy. The study reveals that response surface methodology is convenient and highly predictive for optimizing extraction process, MAE coupled with HSCCC could be an expeditious method for extraction and separation of phytochemicals from ethnomedicine.     

Three different fluoro‐ or chloro‐substituted 1′‐deoxy‐1′‐phenyl‐β‐D‐ribofuranoses

Crystal structures are reported for three fluoro‐ or chloro‐substituted 1′‐deoxy‐1′‐phenyl‐β‐D‐ribofuranoses, namely 1′‐deoxy‐1′‐(2,4,5‐trifluorophenyl)‐β‐D‐ribofuranose, C₁₁H₁₁F₃O₄, (I), 1′‐deoxy‐1′‐(2,4,6‐trifluorophenyl)‐β‐D‐ribofuranose, C₁₁H₁₁F₃O₄, (II), and 1′‐(4‐chlorophenyl)‐1′‐deoxy‐β‐D‐ribofuranose, C₁₁H₁₃ClO₄, (III). The five‐membered furanose ring of the three compounds has a conformation between a C2′‐endo,C3′‐exo twist and a C2′‐endo envelope. The ribofuranose groups of (I) and (III) are connected by intermolecular O—H...O hydrogen bonds to six symmetry‐related molecules to form double layers, while the ribofuranose group of (II) is connected by O—H...O hydrogen bonds to four symmetry‐related molecules to form single layers. The O...O contact distance of the O—H...O hydrogen bonds ranges from 2.7172 (15) to 2.8895 (19) Å. Neighbouring double layers of (I) are connected by a very weak intermolecular C—F...π contact. The layers of (II) are connected by one C—H...O and two C—H...F contacts, while the double layers of (III) are connected by a C—H...Cl contact. The conformations of the molecules are compared with those of seven related molecules. The orientation of the benzene ring is coplanar with the H—C1′ bond or bisecting the H—C1′—C2′ angle, or intermediate between these positions. The orientation of the benzene ring is independent of the substitution pattern of the ring and depends mainly on crystal‐packing effects.     

Ultrasound‐assisted extraction and solid‐phase extraction for the simultaneous determination of five amide herbicides in fish samples by gas chromatography with electron capture detection

An efficient sample extraction and clean‐up method was developed for simultaneous determination of five amide herbicides (alachlor, acetochlor, propisochlor, metazachlor, and butachlor) in fish samples. The protocol consisted of ultrasound‐assisted solvent extraction and solid‐phase extraction clean‐up. In detail, aliquots of homogenized fish flesh were thoroughly mixed with 20 mL of n‐hexane and then extracted with ultrasonication for 40 min. Each sample was centrifuged and the supernatant was collected for the subsequent clean‐up. For the sample preparation, the above supernatant was processed with a C₁₈ column with 3 mL of dichloromethane/n‐hexane (1:1, v/v) as the eluant. Then the samples were analyzed by gas chromatography with electron capture detection. The correlation coefficients of the five calibration curves were 0.9976–0.9998 (n = 3). The limits of detection (S/N = 3, n = 11) and limits of quantification (S/N = 10, n = 11) were 0.19–0.42 and 0.63–1.39 μg/kg, respectively. The recoveries of this method were 71.2–92.6% with good precision (<4.7% relative standard deviations, n = 6). The developed method was successfully applied to monitor the five amide herbicides in fish samples collected from different cities.     

HILIC LC‐MS for the determination of 2′‐C‐methyl‐cytidine‐triphosphate in rat liver

A very accurate and selective LC‐MS/MS method was developed and validated for the quantification of 2′‐C‐modified nucleoside triphosphate in liver tissue samples. An efficient pretreatment procedure of liver tissue samples was developed, using a fully automated SPE procedure with 96‐well SPE plate (weak anion exchange sorbent, 30 mg). Nucleotide hydrophilic interaction chromatography has been performed on an aminopropyl column (100 mm×2.0 mm, 3 μm) using a gradient mixture of ACN and ACN/water (5:95 v/v) with 20 mM ammonium acetate at pH 9.45 as mobile phase at 300 μL/min flow rate. The 2′‐C‐modified nucleoside triphosphate was detected in the negative ESI mode in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Calibration curve was linear over the 0.05–50 μM concentration range. Satisfying results, confirming the high reliability of the established LC‐MS/MS method, were obtained for intraday precision (CV = 2.5–9.1%) and accuracy (92.6–94.8%) and interday precision (CV = 9.6–11.5%) and accuracy (94.4–102.4%) as well as for recovery (82.0–112.6%) and selectivity. The method has been successfully applied for pharmacokinetic studies of 2′‐C‐methyl‐cytidine‐triphosphate in liver tissue samples.     

Preparative isolation and purification of anti‐tumor agent ansamitocin P‐3 from fermentation broth of Actinosynnema pretiosum using high‐performance counter‐current chromatography

Ansamitocin P‐3 is a potent anti‐tumor maytansinoid found in Actinosynnema pretiosum. However, due to the complexity of the fermentation broth of Actinomycete, how to effectively separate ansamitocin P‐3 is still a challenge. In this study, both analytical and preparative high‐performance counter‐current chromatography were successfully used to separate and purify ansamitocin P‐3 from fermentation broth. A total of 28.8 mg ansamitocin P‐3 with purity of 98.4% was separated from 160 mg crude sample of fermentation broth in less than 80 min with the two‐phase solvent system of hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (0.6:1:0.6:1, v/v/v/v). The purity and structural identification were determined by HPLC, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and mass spectroscopy.     

New sulfonate composite functionalized with multiwalled carbon nanotubes with cryogel solid‐phase extraction sorbent for the determination of β‐agonists in animal feeds

A new mixed‐mode cation‐exchange sulfonate composite functionalized with multiwalled carbon nanotubes with polyvinyl alcohol cryogel was fabricated and used for the first time as a solid‐phase extraction sorbent for the determination of β‐agonists in animal feeds. Feed samples were extracted with 0.20 M phosphoric acid and methanol (1:4, v/v) using ultrasonication, cleaned‐up using the developed sorbent to which the β‐agonists bound then finally eluted with 5.0% ammonia in methanol and analyzed by high‐performance liquid chromatography. Various parameters that affected the extraction efficiency were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the developed sorbent strongly interacted with β‐agonists by cationic exchange and hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions, that provided a high extraction efficiency in the range of 92.8 ± 3.7–104.4 ± 2.3% over a range of 0.04–2.0 mg/kg for salbutamol and ractopamine, and 0.40–8.0 mg/kg for clenbuterol. The relative standard deviations were less than 6.0%. The developed method was successfully applied for the determination of β‐agonists in various types of animal feed and effectively reduced any matrix interference.     

Analysis of 16 phthalic acid esters in food simulants from plastic food contact materials by LC‐ESI‐MS/MS

An RP LC‐ESI‐MS/MS method for the determination of the migration of 16 primary phthalic acid esters from plastic samples has been developed using distilled water, 3% acetic acid, 10% alcohol, and olive oil as food simulants. Detection limits were 1.6–18.5 μg/kg in distilled water, 1.4–17.3 μg/kg in 3% acetic acid, 1.4–19.2 μg/kg in 10% alcohol, and 31.9–390.8 μg/kg in olive oil. The RSDs were in the range of 0.07–11.28%. The real plastic products inspection showed that only few analyzed samples were phthalates contaminated. Bis‐2‐ethylhexyl ester and dibutyl phthalate were the common items migrated from the plastic products into food and feeds, but the migration concentrations were far below the limits set by European Union (1.5 mg/kg for bis‐2‐ethylhexyl ester and 0.3 mg/kg for dibutyl phthalate).     

Preparative enantioseparation of propafenone by counter‐current chromatography using di‐n‐butyl l‐tartrate combined with boric acid as the chiral selector

This paper extends the research of the utilization of borate coordination complexes in chiral separation by counter‐current chromatography (CCC). Racemic propafenone was successfully enantioseparated by CCC with di‐n‐butyl l ‐tartrate combined with boric acid as the chiral selector. The two‐phase solvent system was composed of chloroform/ 0.05 mol/L acetate buffer pH 3.4 containing 0.10 mol/L boric acid (1:1, v/v), in which 0.10 mol/L di‐n‐butyl l ‐tartrate was added in the organic phase. The influence of factors in the enantioseparation of propafenone were investigated and optimized. A total of 92 mg of racemic propafenone was completely enantioseparated using high‐speed CCC in a single run, yielding 40–42 mg of (R)‐ and (S)‐propafenone enantiomers with an HPLC purity over 90–95%. The recovery for propafenone enantiomers from fractions of CCC was in the range of 85–90%.     

LC‐MS/MS profiling of polyphenol‐enriched leaf,stem and root extracts of Korean Humulus japonicus Siebold & Zucc and determination of their antioxidant effects

Polyphenols from ethyl acetate extracts from the leaves, stems and roots of Korean Humulus japonicus were comprehensively profiled using liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry. A total of 36 polyphenols were detected, of which 26 were structurally characterized based on their [M − H]⁻ peak, tandem mass spectrometry fragmentation pattern, UV–vis absorption and published data. Validation data provided satisfactory results for the evaluated parameters. The determination coefficients were ≥0.9812. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.017–0.573 and 0.056–1.834 mg/L, respectively, indicating good performance limits. The accuracy (expressed as percentage recovery) at 50 and 100 mg/L was 71.4–99.7 and 75.1–105.1%, with precisions (expressed as relative standard deviation) of 1.5–7.3 and 0.8–4.1%, respectively, indicating acceptable accuracy and precision values. The leaves were rich in total polyphenols (3089.9 ± 6.4 mg/kg of fresh sample) followed by the stems (1313.9 ± 6.4 mg/kg of fresh sample) and roots (655.2 ± 2.7 mg/kg of fresh sample). Antioxidant activity, determined by α,α‐diphenyl‐β‐picrylhydrazyl, 2,2′‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid) scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power assay, revealed the lowest EC₅₀ value for the leaf extracts, indicating a higher scavenging activity in this tissue followed by the roots and stems. Overall, the results indicated that H. japonicus is rich in polyphenols and could be a potential alternative to Humulus lupulus (hop plant) in the brewery industry.     

Phosphinated phenols from acid‐fragmentation of bisphenols and their unsymmetrical diamine derivatives for copolyimides

Four novel diamines (9–12) were prepared by a two‐step procedure from phosphinated phenols (1–4) that were prepared from acid‐fragmentation of four bisphenols, including bisphenol A, 4,4′‐isopropylidenebis(2,6‐dimethylphenol), cis(4‐hydroxyphenyl)cyclohexane, and 9,9′‐bis(4‐hydroxyphenyl)fluorene, followed by nucleophilic addition of 9,10‐dihydro‐oxa‐10‐phosphaphenanthrene‐10‐oxide (DOPO). Copolyimides based on (9–12) /4,4′‐diaminodiphenyl ether (ODA)/dianhydride were prepared. The structure‐property relationship on the copolyimides was discussed. Due to the structural similarity, (9) /ODA‐based copolyimides were compared with (10) /ODA‐based copolyimides, while (11) /ODA‐based copolyimides were compared with (12) /ODA‐based copolyimides. The dimethyl substitutents cause (10) /ODA‐based copolyimides to display higher T_g, modulus, dimensional stability, contact angle, and better solubility than (9) /ODA‐based copolyimides. (12) /ODA‐based copolyimides that exhibit fluorene moieties display higher T_g and thermal stability, but a lower contact angle and poorer solubility than (11) /ODA‐based copolyimides that exhibit cyclohexane moieties. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 390–400