From HCOOH to CO at Pd electrodes: a surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy study

The decomposition of HCOOH on Pd surfaces over a potential range of practical relevance to hydrogen production and fuel cell anode operation was probed by combining high-sensitivity in situ surface-enhanced IR spectroscopy with attenuated total reflection and thin-layer flow cell configurations. For the first time, concrete spectral evidence of CO(ad) formation has been obtained, and a new main pathway from HCOOH to CO(ad) involving the reduction of the dehydrogenation product of HCOOH (i.e., CO(2)) is proposed.     

Coexistence of magnetic and electric orderings in the metal-formate frameworks of [NH4][M(HCOO)3

A family of three-dimensional chiral metal-formate frameworks of [NH(4)][M(HCOO)(3)] (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Zn) displays paraelectric to ferroelectric phase transitions between 191 and 254 K, triggered by disorder-order transitions of NH(4)(+) cations and their displacement within the framework channels, combined with spin-canted antiferromagnetic ordering within 8-30 K for the magnetic members, providing a new class of metal-organic frameworks showing the coexistence of magnetic and electric orderings.     

Separation of exenatide analogue mono-PEGylated with 40 kDA polyethylene glycol by cation exchange chromatography

Random PEGylation usually resulted in product mixtures composed of mono-PEGylated isomers and multi-PEGylated attachments. Generally in PEGylation research, separation of the mono-PEGylated isomers was the prerequisite for finding the optimal PEGylation site. However, when peptides or proteins were PEGylated with polyethylene glycol as large as 40 kDA, the physicochemical properties like hydrophobicity and molecular size of the isomers would become too similar to make the routine separation methods, like RP-HPLC, size-exclusion chromatography, SDS-PAGE and capillary isoelectric focusing invalid. This article presented a useful method of successfully separating exenatide analogue (an incretin for diabetic therapy) isomers mono-PEGylated with 40 kDA polyethylene glycol by cation exchange chromatography, which would be a powerful tool for the PEGylation research.     

Non-hemolytic α-AApeptides as antimicrobial peptidomimetics

We report a new class of peptide mimetics, α-AApeptides, that display broad-spectrum activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and fungi. With non-hemolytic activity, resistance to protease hydrolysis, and easy sequence programmability, α-AApeptides may emerge as a novel class of antibiotics.     

Epoxidation of soybean oil catalyzed by [pi-C5H5NC16H33]3[PW4O16] with hydrogen peroxide and ethyl acetate as solvent

A new environmentally benign and highly efficient catalytic system [pi-C5H5NC16H33]3[PO4(WO3)4]/H2O2/CH3COOC2H5 for the epoxidation of soybean oil displayed excellent activity and high recovery. The change of the catalyst during the reaction was investigated by elemental analysis, FT-IR and 31P NMR.     

Contents of heavy metals in lotus seed from REEs mining area

At rare earth mining area, the pollution of heavy metals has been paid little attention. In lotus seeds and soil samples sampled from a typical rare earth elements mining area were detected the contents of eight kinds of heavy metals (Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg and Pb) to investigate the pollution from rare earth elements mining by ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry). The results showed that the contents of the heavy metals Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg and Pb in lotus seeds were 0.25, 86.94, 8.32, 19.76, 0.13, 0.08, 0.01, and 0.20 μg/g in lotus seeds, respectively, and corresponding contents in soil were 27.68, 168.71, 20.23, 47.16, 1.83, 0.13, 0.04, and 23.15 μg/g. These data showed that the contents of heavy metals in lotus seeds from REEs mining area are no higher than reference area and meet national food safety standards of China.     

Kinetic study of acrylamide radical polymerization initiated by the horseradish peroxidase–mediated system

The polymerization kinetics of acrylamide (AAM) in water initiated by a ternary enzymatic system of horseradish peroxidase (HRP)/H₂O₂/acetylacetone (ACAC) was investigated. Conversion–time plots were obtained by dilatometry under different conditions of reaction temperatures and initial concentrations of HRP, ACAC, H₂O₂, and AAM. The results showed that the effect of the initial concentration of ACAC on the inhibition period was significant. The inhibition period decreases with increasing the initial concentration of ACAC. The inhibition period can be even eliminated by the use of a comparatively large amount of ACAC. From the conversion–time plots, the polymerization rate equation was obtained. Some kinetic features were explained on the basis of analysis of the reaction mechanism. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 44: 475–481, 2012     

Effect of hydrolysis degree of hydrolyzed polyacrylamide grafted carboxymethyl cellulose on dye removal efficiency

In this present work, a series of hydrolyzed polyacrylamide grafted carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-g-HPAM) was prepared. The structure and solution properties of CMC-g-HPAM were characterized by FTIR, ¹H-NMR, elemental analysis and zeta potential measurements. The graft copolymers were applied as flocculants to remove methylene blue (MB), a cationic dye, from aqueous solutions. In comparison with its precursors, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and polyacrylamide CMC-g-PAM, CMC-g-HPAM exhibited higher removal efficiencies. Furthermore, the flocculation performance of the copolymers was significantly improved with the increase of the hydrolysis degree, and the MB removal efficiency was more than 90 % when the hydrolysis degree of CMC-g-HPAM was higher than 80 %. More importantly, image analysis in combination with fractal theory demonstrated that the graft copolymers could produce notably denser and larger flocs, which was of great significance in practical water treatment. The improved flocculation performance was ascribed to both charge neutralization and bridging effects.     

Fast Determination of Phenanthrene in Soil by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Using Chemometric Resolution and Standard Addition Method

A method for fast determination of the component in complex samples by using gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS) was developed and used for quantitative analysis of phenanthrene in soils. In the method, window independent component analysis (WICA) was used for resolving the mass spectrum and non‐negative immune algorithm (NNIA) was employed for obtaining the chromatographic profile. Therefore, spectral and chromatographic information of a specific component can be obtained from the measured GC‐MS data of overlapping and high background. Six soil samples collected from different places were analyzed. The tedious pretreatments in preparing the samples and the elution in the separation were simplified for speeding up the analysis. Due to the complexity of the matrix, standard addition method was adopted for the final quantification. The applicability of the method was validated with a spiked sample and the results of the six samples are reasonable.