Determination of phenol by flow-injection with chemiluminescence detection based on the hemin-catalysed luminol-hydrogen peroxide reaction

This study established a novel flow injection (FI) methodology for the determination of phenol in aqueous samples based on luminol chemiluminescence (CL) detection. The method was based on the inhibition that phenol caused on the hemin-catalysed chemiluminescence reaction between luminol and hydrogen peroxide in alkaline solution. Optimum conditions and possible mechanisms have been investigated. The linear range was 2.0×10(-9) to 4.0×10(-7)gmL(-1) for phenol. The proposed method is sensitive with a detection limit of 4.0×10(-10)gmL(-1). The relative standard deviation for 11 measurements was 2.3% for 1.0×10(-7)gmL(-1) phenol. The method was applied for the determination of phenol in waste water samples. The results obtained compared well with those by an official method.     

A Novel endo-1,4-β-Mannanase from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bispora antennata</Emphasis> with Good Adaptation and Stability over a Broad pH Range

An endo-β-1,4-mannanase encoding gene, man5, was cloned from Bispora antennata CBS 126.38, which was isolated from a beech stump. The cDNA of man5 consists of 1,299 base pairs and encodes a 432-amino-acid protein with a theoretical molecular mass of 46.6 kDa. Deduced MAN5 exhibited the highest amino acid sequence identity of 58% to a β-mannanase of glycoside hydrolase family 5 from Aspergillus aculeatus. Recombinant MAN5 was expressed in Pichia pastoris and purified to electrophoretic homogeneity. The specific activity of the final preparation towards locust bean gum was 289 U mg⁻¹. MAN5 showed optimal activity at pH 6.0 and 70 °C and had good adaptation and stability over a broad range of pH values. The enzyme showed more than 60% of peak activity at pH 3.0–8.0 and retained more than 80% of activity after incubation at 37 °C for 1 h in both acid and alkaline conditions (pH 4.0–11.0). The K _m and V _max values were 1.33 mg ml⁻¹ and 444 μmol min⁻¹ mg⁻¹ and 1.17 mg ml⁻¹ and 196 μmol min⁻¹ mg⁻¹ for locust bean gum and konjac flour, respectively. Of all tested metal ions and chemical reagents, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, and β-mercaptoethanol enhanced the enzyme activity at 1 mM, whereas other chemicals had no effect on or partially inhibited the enzyme activity. MAN5 was highly resistant to acidic and neutral proteases (trypsin, α-chymotrypsin, collagenase, subtilisin A, and proteinase K). By virtue of the favorable properties of MAN5, it is possible to apply this enzyme in the paper and food industries.     

Differentiation of Resina Draconis from Sanguis Draconis by CE

A simple, accurate method based on capillary electrophoresis with electrochemical detection (CE–ED) has been developed to determine loureirin A, loureirin B and dracorhodin for differentiation of Resina Draconis from Sanguis Draconis. The effects of some important factors such as acidity and concentration of running buffer, separation voltage, injection time, and applied potential on the CE–ED working electrode were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, the three analytes could be well separated within 30 min in a 75 cm capillary at a separation voltage of 14 kV in a 80 mmol L^?1 borate buffer (pH 9.24). The working electrode was a 300-μm-diameter carbon disc electrode positioned opposite the outlet of the capillary in a wall-jet configuration and was set at a potential of 0.90 V (vs. SCE). Excellent linearity was established over two orders of magnitude with detection limits (S/N = 3) ranging from 3 × 10^?7 g mL^?1 to 1 × 10^?6 g mL^?1 for all three analytes. The relative standard deviations of peak current and migration times of loureirin A, loureirin B and dracorhodin were 2.1, 1.7, 4.4 and 2.9, 2.8, 3.3% (n = 5), respectively. The recoveries of three constituents ranged from 98.8 to 101.8%. The methodology has been successfully applied to analyze and differentiate the actual samples with satisfactory assay results.     

Curing behavior and toughening performance of epoxy resins containing hyperbranched polyester

The effects of the hyperbranched polyester with hydroxyl end groups (HBPE‐OH) on the curing behavior and toughening performance of a commercial epoxy resin (diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A, DGEBA) were presented. The addition of HBPE‐OH into DGEBA strongly increased its curing rate and conversion of epoxide group due to the catalytic effect of hydroxyl groups in HBPE‐OH and the low viscosity of the blend at curing temperature. The improvements on impact strength and critical stress intensity factor (or fracture toughness, K_1c) were observed with adding HBPE‐OH. The impact strength was 8.04 kJ m^?1 when HBPE‐OH reached 15 wt% and the K_1c value was approximately two times the value of pure epoxy resin when HBPE‐OH content was 20 wt%. The morphology of the blends was also investigated, which indicated that HBPE‐OH particles, as a second phase in the epoxy matrix, combined with each other as the concentration of HBPE‐OH increased. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prolongation of the active lifetime of a biomolecular motor for in vitro motility assay by using an inert atmosphere

Over the last few decades, the in vitro motility assay has been performed to probe the biophysical and chemo-mechanical properties as well as the self-organization process of biomolecular motor systems such as actin-myosin and microtubule-kinesin. However, aggression of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and concomitant termination of the activity of biomolecular motors during investigation remains a drawback of this assay. Despite enzymatic protection that makes use of a combination of glucose, glucose oxidase, and catalase, the active lifetime of biomolecular motors is found to be only a few hours and this short lifetime restricts further study on those systems. We have solved this problem by using a newly developed system of the in vitro motility assay that is conducted in an inert nitrogen gas atmosphere free of ROS. Using microtubule-kinesin as a model system we have shown that our system has prolonged the active lifetime of the biomolecular motor until several days and even a week by protecting it from oxidative damage.     

Synthesis and photovoltaic properties of alternating conjugated polymers derived from indolo[3,2-<Emphasis Type="Italic">b</Emphasis>]carbazole and thiophene/thieno[3,2-<Emphasis Type="Italic">b</Emphasis>]thiophene-cored benzoselenadiazole

Two alternating narrow band gap (NBG) copolymers derived from 5,11-di(N-9-heptadecanyl)-indolo[3,2-b]carbazole (ICZ) and 4,7-di(thien-2-yl)-2′,1′,3′-benzoselenadiazole (DSeBT) or 4,7-di(thieno[3,2-b]thien-2-yl)-2′,1′,3′-benzoselenadiazole (DTSeBT), were synthesized and named PICZ-DSeBT and PICZ-DTSeBT, respectively. The PICZ-DSeBT shows good solubility in common organic solvent, and the PICZ-DTSeBT is soluble in hot o-dichlorobenzene (ODCB) and not good soluble in chloroform, toluene etc. The chemical structure, molecular weight and fundamental physical properties of the copolymers were characterized by ¹H NMR, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), cyclic voltammetry (CV), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) etc. Potential application of the copolymers to be employed as electron donor material and PC61BM ([6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁ butyric acid methyl ester) for photovoltaic solar cells (PSCs), were investigated. PSCs based on the blends of PICZ-DSeBT/PC₆₁BM (w: w; 1: 2) or PICZ-DTSeBT/PC₆₁BM (w: w; 1: 2) with devices configuration as ITO/PEDOT: PSS/blend/Al, show the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 1.06% and 1.52%, with the open circuit voltage (V _oc) of 0.75 V and 0.70 V, short circuit current densities (J _sc) of 3.45 mA/cm² and 5.30 mA/cm² under an AM1.5 simulator (100 mW/cm²) and the photocurrent response on-set wavelength extending up to 760 nm and 800 nm, respectively. It indicates that the NBG copolymers are viable electron donor materials for PSCs.     

Coulomb explosion of nitrogen and oxygen molecules through non-Coulombic states

We have systematically studied Coulomb explosion of nitrogen and oxygen molecules in intense 8 and 24 fs laser pulses. In the experiment, we explicitly separated all explosion pathways through coincident measurements. The high resolution kinetic energy releases (KERs) and the exotic angular distributions of atomic ions provide direct evidence that Coulomb explosion occurs through non-Coulombic states. In the theory, we calculated dissociation potential energy curves (PECs) of nitrogen and oxygen molecules and their multicharged molecular ions using multiconfiguration second-order perturbation theory. The results indicate that Coulomb potentials are close to the accurate PECs of multicharged molecular ions only when the internuclear distance is larger than 3 ?. In comparison with the experimental observations and the theoretical calculations, we determined the internuclear distance when Coulombic explosion occurs. It is near the equilibrium distance of the neutral molecules in the case of 8 fs laser pulses and expands gradually with the increase of the charge state of the molecular ions in the case of 24 fs laser pulses.     

The molecular diversity of three-component reactions of 4-dimethylamino- or 4-methoxypyridine with acetylenedicarboxylates and arylidene cyanoacetates

The three-component reactions of 4-dimethylamino- or 4-methoxypyridine with acetylenedicarboxylates and arylidene cyanoacetates showed very interesting molecular diversity. The polysubstituted 1,8,9,9a-tetrahydro-4H-1,4-ethanoquinolizines, 2H-pyran-2,3-dicarboxylates, and buta-1,3-diene-1,2,4-tricarboxylates derivatives can be formed in high yields and with good diastereoselectivity depending on the substrates and reaction conditions.     

PNPP Hydrolysis Catalyzed by Manganese(III) Complexes with Crowned Salicylaldimine Schiff Base Ligand

Four manganese(III) complexes (MnL¹Cl, MnL²Cl, MnL⁴₂Cl, MnL⁵₂Cl) with a crowned salicylaldimine Schiff base ligand have been synthesized and employed as models to mimic hydrolase in the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl picolinate (PNPP). The kinetics and mechanism of catalytic PNPP hydrolysis have been investigated. The kinetic mathematical model of PNPP cleavage catalyzed by these complexes has been proposed. The effects of the ligand structure and crown ether ring in complexes, and the reactive temperature on the rate of catalytic PNPP hydrolysis have been also examined. The results show that compared with the crown-free analogous MnL³Cl and MnL⁶₂Cl, the crowned Schiff base manganese(III) complexes, MnL¹Cl, MnL²Cl, MnL⁴₂Cl and MnL⁵₂Cl, exhibit more high catalytic activity, which follow the order: MnL¹Cl >MnL²Cl >MnL⁴₂Cl >MnL⁵₂Cl >MnL³Cl >MnL⁶₂Cl; the pseudo-first-order-rate (k_obs) for the PNPP hydrolysis catalyzed by the complex MnL¹Cl containing three crown ether rings is highest among six complexes and is 1.81 times that of MnL³Cl, 1.49 × 10³ times that of spontaneous hydrolysis of PNPP, respectively, at pH = 7.00, [S] = 2.0 × 10⁻⁴ mol dm⁻³.