On-line characterisation of apple polyphenols by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and ultraviolet absorbance detection

Apple polyphenols were characterised by means of hyphenated techniques such as HPLC coupled to UV photodiode array detection (LC-DAD) and to mass spectrometry (LC-MS). LC-MS using atmospheric pressure ionisation (APCI) in the positive ion mode provided the molecular weight, the number of hydroxyl groups, the number of sugars and an idea about the substitution pattern of the polyphenols. LC-DAD with postcolumn addition of UV shift reagents afforded precise structural information about the position of the free hydroxyl groups in the polyphenolic nucleus. Five isorhamnetin glycosides, two hydroxyphloretin glycosides and quercetin were reported in apple peel for the first time. Postcolumn addition of UV shift reagents in LC-DAD analysis confirmed the presence of isorhamnetin glycosides and not the isomeric glycosides of rhamnetin. Moreover, isorhamnetin-3-O-rhamnoglucoside was identified unambiguously by comparison with a standard. These results are relevant not only from a chemotaxonomic point of view, but also in the control of authenticity of fruit derived products in order to detect fraudulent admixtures.     

Acute and chronic MRI changes in the spine and spinal cord after surgical stem cell grafting in patients with definite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Post-infusion injuries are unrelated with clinical impairment

ObjectiveTo report MRI spinal changes after surgical infusion of bone marrow stem cells (BMSc) in ALS patients and assess their correlation with clinical events and functional performance.MethodsBMSc were surgically injected in the thoracic spinal cord of 11 ALS patients (6/5 male/female; median age 46 years). We performed first-week and third, sixth, ninth and twelfth post-surgical months spinal MRIs. The spinal changes in the postsurgical week and follow-up MRIs, as well as clinical events, functional scales and respiratory and electromyography data, were longitudinally monitored. Correlations between the imaging and clinical data were evaluated with the Spearman's test.ResultsTransient extradural fluid collections (100%), transient spinal cord T2 hyperintensity (81.8%), and chronic spinal cord deformities (63.6%) were the dominating MRI changes. Spinal cord hemorrhages (27.3%) and cystic myelomalacia (1/11 patients) were important although unusual findings. During the follow-up, minor adverse events of mild to moderate intensity eventually improved. Initial and follow-up imaging scores showed a strongly positive correlation (r 0.879, P < 0.001). The initial and delayed clinical scores did not correlate. There was no significant correlation between any of the imaging scores and clinical data.ConclusionsInfusion of BMSc produces a variety of spinal changes apparently unrelated with clinical events and disease worsening.     

Xanthone Receptors as Oxyanion‐Hole Mimics in Artificial Enzymes

Different xanthone‐based receptors ( 2 – 10 ) for lactones and lactams have been prepared, and the feasibility of these compounds to mimic the known enzymatic ‘oxyanion‐hole’ structure is discussed. The self‐association of the receptors was found to pose a serious drawback for complex formation. X‐Ray crystal structures of receptor dimers allowed us to understand the reasons for their self‐association and to improve the design of the catalysts. The catalytic activity of the receptors has been tested towards the nucleophilic addition of pyrrolidine to unsaturated lactones. Since the resulting complexes were very weak in organic solvents, new receptors were developed for lactams, which showed better stabilities, and their catalytic activities were studied.     

Cofinalities of Borel ideals

We study the possible values of the cofinality invariant for various Borel ideals on the natural numbers. We introduce the notions of a fragmented and gradually fragmented ideal and prove a dichotomy for fragmented ideals. We show that every gradually fragmented ideal has cofinality consistently strictly smaller than the cardinal invariant and produce a model where there are uncountably many pairwise distinct cofinalities of gradually fragmented ideals.     

Preparation of cyclic boramides from salicylaldehydes,ammonium acetate and sodium borohydride

Borohydride reduction of salicylaldehyde imines yields surprisingly a cyclic boramide. This is a fairly stable compound, and X-ray analysis shows it has a tetrahedral boron atom. Mechanistic studies show a reaction pathway through an oxazaborinane intermediate. The reaction also works with halogen substituted salicylaldehydes and for the preparation of non-symmetrical boramides.     

Cycloalkane-1,2-diamine derivatives as chiral solvating agents. Study of the structural variables controlling the NMR enantiodiscrimination of chiral carboxylic acids

A family of pincer-like receptors (2-5) has been synthesized and tested for the NMR enantiodiscrimination (CSA) of chiral carboxylic acids. Starting from a previous design (1), different structural variables have been mapped on the receptor frame. The splitting of the signals of the acids upon the addition of the CSAs largely depends on these structural variables. Thus, we concluded that the C₂ symmetrical pyridine-2,6-biscarboxamide moiety is a key structural feature for the efficiency of the CSA. Structural studies by NMR and molecular modeling showed that this moiety promotes the U-shape-folded pincer-like conformation by intramolecular H-bonds. On the other hand, we also observed that the cyclohexane-1,2-diamine derivative 5 is a more versatile CSA than its cyclopentane analogue 1, as 5 shows a better performance for more structurally different acids. However, the original cyclopentane derivative (1) remained the best for the arylpropionic acids. Finally, combination of NMR and modeling studies allowed us to propose a reasonable model for the interaction and, accordingly, for the observed NMR enantiodiscrimination.     

Polyvinylpyrrolidone and arsenic-induced changes in biological responses of model aquatic organisms exposed to iron-based nanoparticles

The efficiency of zero-valent iron particles used in the remediation of contaminated groundwater has, with the emergence of nanotechnology, stimulated interest on the use of nano-size particles to take advantage of high-specific surface area and reactivity characteristics of nanoparticles (NPs). Accordingly, engineered iron-NPs are among the most widely used nanomaterials for in situ remediation. However, while several ecotoxicity studies have been conducted to investigate the adverse impacts of these NPs on aquatic organisms, research on the implications of spent iron-based NPs is lacking. In this study, a comparative approach is used, in which the biological effects of three iron-based NPs (Fe₃O₄ and γ-Fe₂O₃ NPs with particle sizes ranging from 20 to 50 nm, and Fe⁰-NPs with an average particle size of 40 nm) on Raphidocelis subcapitata (formely known as Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata) and Daphnia magna were investigated using both as-prepared and pollutant-doped Fe-based NPs. For the latter, arsenic (As) was used as example sorbed pollutant. The results show that improved degree of NP dispersion by use of polyvinylpyrrolidone overlapped with both increased arsenic adsorption capacity and toxicity to the tested organisms. For R. subcapitata, Fe-oxide NPs were more toxic than Fe⁰-NPs, due primarily to differences in the degree of NPs aggregation and ability to produce reactive oxygen species. For the invertebrate D. magna, a similar trend of biological responses was observed, except that sorption of As to Fe⁰-NPs significantly increased the toxic response when compared to R. subcapitata. Overall, these findings point to the need for research on downstream implications of NP-pollutant complexes generated during water treatment by injection of NPs into aquatic systems.     

Direct aerosol synthesis of carboxy-functionalized iron oxide colloids displaying reversible magnetic behavior

A simple and rapid synthetic strategy for fabricating carboxy-functionalized iron oxide colloidal particles displaying reversible magnetic behavior is reported. The method is based on the pyrolysis of aerosols generated from ethanol/water solutions containing iron inorganic salts and mono- or polysaccharides. Essential to the success of the method are the use of hybrid (organo-inorganic) aerosols and the temperature of pyrolysis. The resulting material could be used in advanced biotechnological applications such as the magnetically assisted chemical separation of biocompounds.     

A biocatalytic approach to synthesizing optically active orthogonally protected trans-cyclopentane-1,2-diamine derivatives

A straightforward chemoenzymatic synthesis of optically active trans-N,N-dialkylcyclopentane-1,2-diamines has been efficiently developed starting out from their analogous (+/-)-trans-2-(N,N-dialkylamino)cyclopentanols. The route involves the one-pot stereospecific transformation of the racemic amino alcohols into racemic diamines and a subsequent kinetic resolution by means of lipase-B from Candida antarctica-catalyzed acylation reactions. The careful selection of both the alkyl substituents present in the diamine and the derivatization strategy applied to the enzymatic reaction enabled the easy preparation of other synthetically valuable optically active trans-cyclopentane-1,2-diamines derivatives.