Numerical simulation and experimental validation of a direct current air corona discharge under atmospheric pressure

Air corona discharge is one of the critical problems associated with high-voltage equipment. Investigating the corona mechanism plays a key role in enhancing the electrical insulation performance. An improved self-consistent multi-component two-dimensional plasma hybrid model is presented for the simulation of a direct current atmospheric pressure corona discharge in air. The model is based on plasma hydrodynamic and chemical models, and includes 12 species and 26 reactions. In addition, the photoionization effect is introduced into the model. The simulation on a bar-plate electrode configuration with an inter-electrode gap of 5.0 mm is carried out. The discharge voltage-current characteristics and the current density distribution predicted by the hybrid model agree with the experimental measurements. In addition, the dynamics of volume charged species generation, discharge current waveform, current density distribution at an electrode, charge density, electron temperature, and electric field variations are investigated in detail based on the model. The results indicate that the model can contribute valuable insights into the physics of an air plasma discharge.     

High stability of the goldalloy fullerenes：A density functional theory investigation of M_（12）@Au_（20）（M=Na,Al,Ag,Sc,Y,La,Lu,and Au） clusters

Discovering highly stable metal fullerenes such as the celebrated C 60 is interesting in cluster science as they have potential applications as building blocks in new nanostructures.We here investigated the structural and electronic properties of the fullerenes M 12 @Au 20（M=Na,Al,Ag,Sc,Y,La,Lu,and Au）,using a first-principles investigation with the density functional theory.It is found that these compound clusters possess a similar cage structure to the icosahedral Au 32 fullerene.La 12 @Au 20 is found to be particularly stable among these clusters.The binding energy of La 12 @Au 20 is 3.43 eV per atom,1.05 eV larger than that in Au 32.The highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital（HOMO-LUMO） gap of La 12 @Au 20 is only 0.31 eV,suggesting that it should be relatively chemically reactive.     

Thermalization time of thin metal film heated by short pulse laser

Based on the hyperbolic two-step heat conduction model, using the Laplace transform and numerical inverse transform method (Riemann-sum approximation method), the thermal behaviour of thin metal films has been studied during femtosecond pulse laser heating. Also the thermalization time, which is the time for the electron gas and solid lattice to reach thermal balance, has been studied in detail. The values of thermalization time for silver (Ag), gold (Au), copper (Cu) and lead (Pb) are obtained. The effects of material parameters of the thin metal film on the thermalization time are considered for the four kinds of metals by changing one of the parameters and regarding the other parameters as constant. For a typical metal material, the order of the thermalization time is of the order of hundreds of picoseconds. The thermalization time decays exponentially with the increase of phonon－electron coupling factor or electron gas thermal conductivity, and it increases linearly with the increase of the ratio of lattice heat capacity to electron gas heat capacity. However, the relaxation time of the electron gas has very little effect on the thermalization time.     

Isolation and characterization of an antibacterial peptide fraction from the pepsin hydrolysate of half-fin anchovy (Setipinna taty)

Enzymatic proteolysis of food proteins is considered a promising method to generate antibacterial peptides. The objective of the present study was to isolate and characterize peptide fraction from the pepsin hydrolysate of half-fin anchovy (Setipinna taty) with antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. The most active peptide fraction HAHp2-3-I was isolated by a series of chromatographic methods, including Sephadex G-25 chromatography, reverse high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and Source 5RPC ST. Peptides identification of HAHp2-3-I was carried out using UPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer. HAHp2-3-I contained five cationic peptides (MLTTPPHAKYVLQW, SHAATKAPPKNGNY, PTAGVANALQHA, QLGTHSAQPVPF and VNVDERWRKL) and three anionic peptides (LATVSVGAVELCY, NPEFLASGDHLDNLQ and PEVVYECLHW). Prediction of peptide secondary structure indicated that these anionic peptides should have extended strand and random coil structures, whereas cationic peptides PTAGVANALQHA and VNVDERWRKL could form alpha helixes. In addition, results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that treatment by HAHp2-3-I could cause the morphological changes of E. coli and destruction of the cell integrity via irreversible membrane damage. The results could provide information for investigating the antibacterial model of antibacterial peptides derived from fish protein hydrolysates.     

Electron-Positron Pair Production in an Arbitrary Polarized Ultrastrong Laser Field

Electron-positron pair production in an arbitrary polarized ultrastrong laser field is investigated in the first order perturbation approximation in which the Volkov states are used for convenient calculation of scattering amplitude and cross section. It is found surprisingly that the optimal pair production depends strongly on the polarization. For some cases of field parameters, the optimal field is elliptically polarized or evenly circularly polarized one, rather than the usual linear polarization as indicated by previous works. Some insights into pair generation are given and some interesting unexpected features are also discussed briefly.     

Rhodium promoted intramolecular [4 + 2] cycloaddition of 2-azidodiene with alkyne: A transition metal catalysis approach to challenging fused bicyclic vinyl azide

Although vinyl azide is an important class of functional group that possesses diverse reactivities and is a convenient synthon for N-heterocycles, cyclic vinyl azide remains underdeveloped due to difficult preparation. This work discloses a rhodium catalyzed intramolecular [4?+?2] cycloaddition reaction that can afford challenging fused bicyclic vinyl azides efficiently in ambient conditions and paves a facile route for the research in the chemistry of cyclic vinyl azides.     

Poly(adenine) DNA-Templated Gold Nanocluster-Based Fluorescent Strategy for the Determination of Thiol-Containing Pharmaceuticals

The fluorescence intensity of poly(adenine) DNA-templated gold nanoclusters was shown to be significantly quenched by N-acetylcysteine through the formation of the Au-S metal-ligand bonds. On the basis of the fluorescence quenching phenomenon, a sensitive, turn-off, and label-free fluorescence method has been designed for the determination of thiol-containing pharmaceuticals using poly(adenine) DNA-templated gold nanoclusters as fluorescent probes. The assay exhibited sensitive determination of N-acetylcysteine with a linear dynamic range from 10?nM to 10?μM and a limit of detection of 3?nM. Furthermore, the proposed strategy was successfully applied for the determination of N-acetylcysteine levels in acetylcysteine granule samples. Thus, the method could provide a sensitive, simple, and rapid fluorescent sensing platform for the determination of thiol-containing pharmaceuticals.     

Click synthesis and dye extraction properties of novel thiacalix[4]arene derivatives with triazolyl and hydrogen bonding groups

Using a click reaction between alkynylthiacalix[4]arene and ethyl 2-azidoacetate followed by an ammonolysis with ethanolamine,leucinol and hydrazine hydrate,respectively,three novel thiacalix [4]arene derivatives 4,5 and 6 with triazolyl and hydrogen bonding groups(NH and OH) were synthesized in high yields.They exhibited excellent extraction capability for six anionic and cationic dyes.The flexible cavity,π-triazole rings and hydrogen bonding groups all play crucial roles in dye complexation.     

Highly Efficient Self-Assembly of Metallacages and Their Supramolecular Catalysis Behaviors in Microdroplets

Developing a new strategy to improve the self-assembly efficiency of functional assemblies in a confined space and construct hybrid functional materials is a significant and fascinating endeavor. Herein, we present a highly efficient strategy for achieving the supramolecular self-assembly of well-defined metallacages in microdroplets through continuous-flow microfluidic devices. The high efficiency and versatility of this approach are demonstrated by the generation of five representative metallacages in different solvents containing water, DMF, acetonitrile, and methanol in a few minutes with nearly quantitative yields, in contrast to the yields obtained with the hour-scale reaction time in a batch reactor. A ring-opening catalytic reaction of the metallacages was selected as a model reaction for exploring supramolecular catalysis in microdroplets, whereby the catalytic yield was enhanced by 2.22-fold compared to that of the same reaction in the batch reactor. This work illustrates a new promising approach for the self-assembly of supramolecular systems.