Fast preparation of nanocrystalline cellulose by microwave-assisted hydrolysis

In this work we report on the procedure for fast and controlled preparation of nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) from commercially available microcrystalline cellulose using microwave-assisted hydrolysis. By varying the sulfuric acid concentration and hydrolysis temperature, an average hydrodynamic diameter of NCC between 126 and 1,310 nm with corresponding yields between 16 and 82 %, respectively, was obtained in a very short reaction time of 10 min. An additional advantage of the described procedure is its high reproducibility and ability to fine-tune the average NCC particle size by adjusting the reaction conditions, i.e., the sulfuric acid concentration and/or reaction temperature.     

Synthesis,absorption spectra,and luminescence properties of dihydrobenzoacridinone derivatives

9,9-Dimethyl-12-[(5-aryl-2-furyl) (or 5-aryl-2-thienyl, or 5-aryl-1-methyl-1H-pyrrolyl)]-7,8,9,10,11,12-hexahydrobenzo[a]acridin-11-ones were synthesized, and their absorption and luminescence spectrum characteristics in ethanol at room temperature and at 77 K were studied. The spectra suggest the existence of these compounds in a liquid solution as mixtures of conformers, each of which is characterized by its own absorption and fluorescence spectra.     

Contribution of sulfonyl-aromatic and sulfonic acid-aromatic interactions in novel sulfonyl/sulfonic acid-embedded reversed phase materials

Two novel sulfonyl-embedded reversed phase materials with sulfonic acid moieties (SO(X)-RP) were prepared by a simple oxidation of two silica-based sulfur-embedded RP-phases (S-RP). The chromatographic behavior of the resultant sulfonyl/sulfonic acid-embedded phase C3-SO(2)-C18/SO(3)H and the sulfonyl-embedded phase C3-SO(2)-C14 e.c. (silanol endcapped) was extensively elucidated with a number of well-established as well as self-assembled column tests. These SO(X)-RP phases were also compared with their corresponding S-RP phases as well as with two commercial carbonyl-containing RP phases (CO-RP) with amide- and urea-embedding. The SO(X)-RP phases were found to exhibit exceptionally high planar recognition ability for polyaromatic analytes at comparable retention times to the investigated CO-RP phases and highly reduced retention compared to the parent, non-oxidized S-RP-materials. The results of this study suggest that the selectivity enhancement observed with the S-oxidized phases is due to sulfonyl-pi and sulfonic acid-pi interactions. Furthermore these novel SO(X)-RP phases proved to be fully applicable under 100% aqueous mobile-phase conditions making them a useful alternative to conventional RP as well as polar-embedded CO-RP phases.     

Chiral selector with multiple hydrogen-bonding sites in a macrocyclic cavity

Chiral macrocycles with the hydrogen bond donor/acceptor sites in the cavity were synthesized and covalently bonded to silica gel to give chiral stationary phases (CSPs), which showed excellent abilities to resolve various chiral compounds, such as benzoin and Co(acac)3, in HPLC. Various organic solvents could be used as the mobile phase to optimize the resolution efficiency of CSPs, and in some cases, even MeCN, MeOH, and CO(2) could be used for the complete resolution of enantiomers.     

Biomimetic trifunctional organocatalyst showing a great acceleration for the transesterification between vinyl ester and alcohol

Trifunctional organocatalysts and mimicking the active site of serine hydrolases showed high catalytic activity with up to a 3,700,000-fold acceleration for the acyl-transfer reactions from vinyl trifluoroacetate to alcohol.     

Appearance of a liquid crystalline nematic-isotropic critical point in a mixture system of rod- and bent-shaped molecules

Heat capacity measurements have been made on a liquid-crystal mixture system formed from bent-shaped molecule 1,3-phenylene bis[4-(4-8-alkoxyphenyliminomethyl)benzoates] (P-8-O-PIMB) and rod-shaped molecule n-pentyl-cyanobiphenyl (5CB). The obtained results can be understood assuming that the addition of P-8-O-PIMB molecules to the 5CB system affects as a field conjugate to the nematic order parameter. The B(X)-B(4) transition can be viewed as the nematic-isotropic transition of 5CB, which is embedded in a framework of the B(4) structure of P-8-O-PIMB molecules. The present mixture system offers a rare example of the nematic-isotropic critical point, whose critical behavior has not been studied yet in detail.     

Direct Identification of Urinary Tract Pathogens by MALDI-TOF/TOF Analysis and De Novo Peptide Sequencing

For mass spectrometry-based diagnostics of microorganisms, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is currently routinely used to identify urinary tract pathogens. However, it requires a lengthy culture step for accurate pathogen identification, and is limited by a relatively small number of available species in peptide spectral libraries (≤3329). Here, we propose a method for pathogen identification that overcomes the above limitations, and utilizes the MALDI-TOF/TOF MS instrument. Tandem mass spectra of the analyzed peptides were obtained by chemically activated fragmentation, which allowed mass spectrometry analysis in negative and positive ion modes. Peptide sequences were elucidated de novo, and aligned with the non-redundant National Center for Biotechnology Information Reference Sequence Database (NCBInr). For data analysis, we developed a custom program package that predicted peptide sequences from the negative and positive MS/MS spectra. The main advantage of this method over a conventional MALDI-TOF MS peptide analysis is identification in less than 24 h without a cultivation step. Compared to the limited identification with peptide spectra libraries, the NCBI database derived from genome sequencing currently contains 20,917 bacterial species, and is constantly expanding. This paper presents an accurate method that is used to identify pathogens grown on agar plates, and those isolated directly from urine samples, with high accuracy.     

Comprehensive reversed-phase×chiral two-dimensional liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry with post-first dimension flow splitting for untargeted enantioselective amino acid analysis

This work describes a comprehensive achiral × chiral two-dimensional liquid chromatography separation for enantioselective amino acid analysis coupled to electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry detection using data-independent acquisition. Flow splitting after the first and second dimension separation was utilized for volumetric flow reduction and for enabling a multi-detector approach (with ultraviolet, fluorescence, charged aerosol, and MS detection), respectively. Derivatization with 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate provided a chromophore, a fluorophore, and an efficient mass tag for efficient ionization in positive electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry. Chiral columns often have limitations in terms of their chemoselectivity, which may be a problem when complex sample mixtures with structurally related compounds need to be separated. It can be alleviated by a reversed-phase×chiral two-dimensional-liquid chromatography setup, in which the first dimension provides the chemoselectivity and a chiral tandem column constituted of quinine-carbamate derived weak anion-exchanger and zwitterionic ion-exchanger in the second dimension separation of D- and L-amino acid enantiomers. The method was used to control the stereointegrity of the therapeutic peptide octreotide. After hydrolysis, all amino acid constituents were detected with the correct configuration and composition. Some options for flow splitting and integration of destructive detectors in the first dimension separation are outlined.