Isolation of chemical constituents from Enicosanthum cupulare (King) Airy-Shaw

Six chemical constituents were isolated from Enicosanthum cupulare (King) Airy-Shaw. The structures of the isolated compounds were determined using 1D, 2D-NMR and were found to be identical to those previously reported for these compounds. Three aporphine alkaloids, O-methylmoschatoline, liriodenine and oxostephanine were isolated from this plant for the first time. In addition, we examined the effects of these compounds on melanogenesis in murine B16 melanoma cells; O-methylmoschatoline increased melanin content in these cells.     

Light-enhanced catalysis by pyridoxal phosphate-dependent aspartate aminotransferase

The mechanisms of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzymes require substrates to form covalent "external aldimine" intermediates, which absorb light strongly between 410 and 430 nm. Aspartate aminotransferase (AAT) is a prototypical PLP-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the reversible interconversion of aspartate and α-ketoglutarate with oxalacetate and glutamate. From kinetic isotope effects studies, it is known that deprotonation of the aspartate external aldimine C(α)-H bond to give a carbanionic quinonoid intermediate is partially rate limiting in the thermal AAT reaction. We show that excitation of the 430-nm external aldimine absorption band increases the steady-state catalytic activity of AAT, which is attributed to the photoenhancement of C(α)-H deprotonation on the basis of studies with Schiff bases in solution. Blue light (250 mW) illumination gives an observed 2.3-fold rate enhancement for WT AAT activity, a 530-fold enhancement for the inactive K258A mutant, and a 58600-fold enhancement for the PLP-Asp Schiff base in water. These different levels of enhancement correlate with the intrinsic reactivities of the C(α)-H bond in the different environments, with the less reactive Schiff bases exhibiting greater enhancement. Time-resolved spectroscopy, ranging from femtoseconds to minutes, was used to investigate the nature of the photoactivation of C(α)-H bond cleavage in PLP-amino acid Schiff bases both in water and bound to AAT. Unlike the thermal pathway, the photoactivation pathway involves a triplet state with a C(α)-H pK(a) that is estimated to be between 11 and 19 units lower than the ground state for the PLP-Val Schiff base in water.     

Ozone-induced dissociation on a modified tandem linear ion-trap: Observations of different reactivity for isomeric lipids

Ozone-induced dissociation (OzID) exploits the gas-phase reaction between mass-selected lipid ions and ozone vapor to determine the position(s) of unsaturation. In this contribution, we describe the modification of a tandem linear ion-trap mass spectrometer specifically for OzID analyses wherein ozone vapor is supplied to the collision cell. This instrumental configuration provides spatial separation between mass-selection, the ozonolysis reaction, and mass-analysis steps in the OzID process and thus delivers significant enhancements in speed and sensitivity (ca. 30-fold). These improvements allow spectra revealing the double-bond position(s) within unsaturated lipids to be acquired within 1 s: significantly enhancing the utility of OzID in high-throughput lipidomic protocols. The stable ozone concentration afforded by this modified instrument also allows direct comparison of relative reactivity of isomeric lipids and reveals reactivity trends related to (1) double-bond position, (2) substitution position on the glycerol backbone, and (3) stereochemistry. For cis- and trans-isomers, differences were also observed in the branching ratio of product ions arising from the gas-phase ozonolysis reaction, suggesting that relative ion abundances could be exploited as markers for double-bond geometry. Additional activation energy applied to mass-selected lipid ions during injection into the collision cell (with ozone present) was found to yield spectra containing both OzID and classical-CID fragment ions. This combination CID-OzID acquisition on an ostensibly simple monounsaturated phosphatidylcholine within a cow brain lipid extract provided evidence for up to four structurally distinct phospholipids differing in both double-bond position and sn-substitution.     

ENHANCED MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYPROPYLENE/SILICA NANOCOMPOSITES WITH SURFACE MODIFICATION OF NANO-SILICA VIA IN SITU COPOLYMERIZATION OF METHYL METHACRYLATE AND BUTYL ACRYLATE

Nano-sized silica particles were modified with methacryloxy-propyltrimethoxysilane(MPS) followed by in situ copolymerization of methyl methacrylate(MMA) and butyl acrylate(BA).These modified nanoparticles were compounded with polypropylene(PP) to prepare PP/silica nanocomposites.PMMA grafted on nano-silica enhances the dispersion of the nanoparticles and interfacial adhesion,decreases the size of PP spherulites in nanocomposites and leads to increasing the Young's modulus and toughness of PP/silica nanoc...     

Hyper-Raman scattering enhanced by anisotropic dimer plasmons on artificial nanostructures

Silver nanodimers with a small gap of a few nanometers aligned on glass substrates were used to enhance hyper-Raman scattering of crystal violet dye molecules. When localized surface plasmon of the dimer array was resonantly excited along the interparticle axis, hyper-Raman intensity was significantly enhanced. Moreover, the spectral appearance was slightly different between the two excitation polarizations, suggesting a possibility of two resonance contributions at one-photon and two-photon energies. Since the plasmonic property of dimer arrays can be controlled by the dimer geometry, the dimer arrays are expected to be well-defined substrates for surface-enhanced hyper-Raman spectroscopy.     

溶胶-凝胶法制备的纳米PrOy-ZrO2固溶体的表层和体相结构

用改进的柠檬酸溶胶-凝胶法制备了纳米PrOy-ZrO2固溶体. 采用XRD, Raman和TEM等技术对纳米PrOy-ZrO2进行了表征. 结果表明, 改进的柠檬酸溶胶-凝胶法制备的PrOy-ZrO2固溶体于650 ℃焙烧后晶粒大小在5~10 nm之间; 于950 ℃焙烧(Pr>16%)后晶粒大小在20 nm左右. Pr能有效地使ZrO2稳定在四方或立方晶相. 随Pr含量的增加, PrOy-ZrO2固溶体的物相结构从单斜相逐步向四方和立方相转变. XRD和Raman得到的物相结构的差别表明, PrOy-ZrO2固溶体表层和体相结构存在不一致性, 随Pr含量增加, 体相逐步按照m→t→c的物相转变, 表层按照m→t→t"的物相转变. 表层更易生成低对称性和无序结构.     

多壁碳纳米管-Nafion复合膜修饰玻碳电极测定硝苯地平的研究

研制了以Nafion分散羧基化多壁碳纳米管的化学修饰电极(Nafion-MWCNTs/GC),研究了硝苯地平(NIF)在修饰电极上的电化学行为和测定方法。实验结果表明,在0.1mol/LNH3-NH4Cl(pH9.6)溶液中,Nafion-MWCNTs/GC,对NIF具有明显的催化和增敏作用,还原峰电位由-0.85V(裸电极)正移到-0.75V(vs.AgCl/Ag)(修饰电极),灵敏度增加约7倍。对各种实验条件进行了优化。定量测定的线性范围为2.5×10-7~4.5×10-5mol/L,r为0.9974;检出限为8.0×10-8mol/L。探讨了NIF在Nafion-MWCNTs/GC上的电极过程和反应机理,测得在本体系中参与反应的质子数和电子转移数均为4,电子转移系数α为0.41。对NIF药片进行了测定,回收率为94.5%~101.0%。     

Y2O3涂层负载Pd整体式催化剂的制备和催化性能

以Y(NO3)3为前驱体制备了Y2O3涂层的堇青石蜂窝陶瓷载体.扫描电子显微镜、X射线能谱和超声波振荡等表征结果表明,Y2O3涂层不但具有良好的抗振荡性和粘结强度,而且具有很强的吸附催化剂活性组分(H2PdCl4)的能力,适合制备负载型Pd催化剂.以甲苯和乙酸乙酯完全燃烧为模型反应考察了催化剂的活性,发现以Y2O3涂层堇青石蜂窝陶瓷为载体的整体式Pd/Y2O3催化剂具有良好的催化活性和热稳定性,甲苯和乙酸乙酯催化燃烧的T99分别为210和300℃;催化剂经900℃焙烧4 h后,T99仅提高20℃,表明催化剂具有很高的热稳定性.催化剂的X射线衍射、拉曼光谱和程序升温还原结果表明,Pd/Y2O3催化剂经低温焙烧时,Y2O3和PdO均高度分散在堇青石蜂窝陶瓷的表面,而高温焙烧使催化剂活性组分PdO晶粒增大,从而导致催化剂活性下降.     

Gold nanoparticle aggregation-based highly sensitive DNA detection using atomic force microscopy

The potential ability of atomic force microscopy (AFM) as a quantitative bioanalysis tool is demonstrated by using gold nanoparticles as a size enhancer in a DNA hybridization reaction. Two sets of probe DNA were functionalized on gold nanoparticles and sandwich hybridization occurred between two probe DNAs and target DNA, resulting in aggregation of the nanoparticles. At high concentrations of target DNA in the range from 100 nM to 10 μM, the aggregation of gold nanoparticles was determined by monitoring the color change with UV-vis spectroscopy. The absorption spectra broadened after the exposure of DNA–gold nanoparticles to target DNA and a new absorption band at wavelengths >600 nm was observed. However, no differences were observed in the absorption spectra of the gold nanoparticles at low concentrations of target DNA (10 pM to 10 nM) due to insufficient aggregation. AFM was used as a biosensing tool over this range of target DNA concentrations in order to monitor the aggregation of gold nanoparticles and to quantify the concentration of target DNA. Based on the AFM images, we successfully evaluated particle number and size at low concentrations of target DNA. The calibration curve obtained when mean particle aggregate diameter was plotted against concentration of target DNA showed good linearity over the range 10 pM to 10 nM, the working range for quantitative target DNA analysis. This AFM-based DNA detection technique was three orders of magnitude more sensitive than a DNA detection method based on UV-vis spectroscopy.