IMPEDANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF POLYFURAN FILMS

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was first used for the characterization of polyfuran (PFu) films thathad been formed electrochemically on an Au electrode. The polyfuran was measured in high oxidation state, intermediateoxidation state and reduction state, respectively. As the oxidation level is increased, the ionic conductivity of PFu/BF_4~-increases. And impedance studies on PFu show that the anion BF_4~- appears to be mobile with a high diffusion coefficient ofapproximately 10~(-8)cm~2· s~(-1).     

Aptamer-wrapped gold nanoparticles for the colorimetric detection of omethoate

Organophosphorous pesticide(OP) contamination has serious adverse effects on human health and the environment. Due to the toxicity of OPs and the threat presented by their accidental or intentional release in populated areas, the determination and monitoring of these OPs in food products and environment is of great importance. OPs are present in very small quantities and therefore, methods for their detection need to be highly sensitive and selective. Here, we aimed to develop a simple and selective aptamer-based colorimetric assay for the detection of omethoate, which is one of the commonly used OPs. The principle of the assay is that single-stranded DNA(ss DNA)-wrapped gold nanoparticles(Au NPs) are resistant to salt-induced aggregation. By employing an "artificial antibody" organophosphorous pesticide-binding aptamer(OBA) as the recognition element, aptamer-wrapped Au NPs(Au-apta) show high selectivity towards omethoate, resulting in the disconnection of aptamers from Au NPs and the aggregation of Au NPs. As there is a significant color change from the interparticle plasmon coupling during the aggregation of Au NPs, the established assay showed good linearity between 0.1 and 10 μmol/L, with a low detection limit of 0.1 μmol/L. Other OPs such as profenofos, phorate, and isocarbophos would not interfere with the detection of omethoate despite having similar structures. Thus, the colorimetric method shows potential for use in the detection of omethoate in real soil samples.     

Hetero-assembly of gold nanoparticles on a DNA origami template

Hetero-assembling of spherical building blocks with well-defined spatial distribution holds great significance in developing chiral nanostructures. Herein, a strategy for hetero-assembling of gold nanoparticles(Au NPs) was demonstrated using rigid bifacial DNA origami as templates. By tuning the sizes and the fixed location of Au NPs on DNA origami, right-handed and left-handed Au NPs nanostructures were respectively constructed. Gel electrophoresis indicated the formation of the DNA origami-Au NPs complex and transmission electron microscopy(TEM) visually displayed the arrangement of Au NPs in these two chiral structures. The spatial configuration and 3D geometry of Au NPs were further illustrated by the stereographic TEM with tilting angles from ?30° to 30°. This strategy provides a universal approach to construct the asymmetrical 3D geometries, which may have potential applications in biomimicking and nanophotonics.     

Dimethylformamide as a carbon monoxide source in fast palladium-catalyzed aminocarbonylations of aryl bromides

Dimethylformamide (DMF) acts as an efficient source of carbon monoxide and dimethylamine in the palladium-catalyzed aminocarbonylation (Heck carbonylation) of p-tolyl bromide to provide the dimethylamide. Addition of amines to the reaction mixture in excess delivers the corresponding aryl amides in good yields. The amines employed, benzylamine, morpholine, and aniline, all constitute good reaction partners. The reaction proceeds smoothly with bromobenzene and more electron-rich aryl bromides, but electron-deficient aryl bromides fail to undergo aminocarbonylation. The reactions are conducted at 180-190 degrees C for 15-20 min with microwave heating in a reaction mixture containing imidazole and potassium tert-butoxide: the latter is required to promote decomposition of the DMF solvent at a suitable rate. The beneficial effects of controlled microwave irradiation as an energy source for the rapid heating of the carbonylation reaction mixture are demonstrated. The carbonylation procedure reported herein, which relies on the in situ generation of carbon monoxide, serves as a convenient alternative to other carbonylation methods and is particularly applicable to small-scale reactions where short reaction times are desired and the direct use of carbon monoxide gas is impractical.     

Regulation of lithospermic acid B and shikonin production in Lithospermum erythrorhizon cell suspension cultures

Cell suspension cultures of Lithospermum erythrorhizon produced a large amount of lithospermic acid B, a caffeic acid tetramer, as well as shikonin derivatives (each ca. 10% of dry wt.) when cultured in shikonin production medium M-9. Various culture factors for increasing the production of lithospermic acid B were investigated. Lithospermic acid B production was inhibited by 2, 4-D or NH4+, whereas it was stimulated by Cu2+. These regulatory patterns were similar to those for the production of shikonin derivatives in these cell cultures, suggestive of close relations and similar metabolic regulation between the production of these compounds. Cultivation under light illumination, however, showed that these metabolisms were independently regulated. In particular, blue light showed a stimulatory effect on lithospermic acid B production, while shikonin production was strongly inhibited, indicative of an effective condition for lithospermic acid B production.     

Illustration of a simple and versatile scheme for reversing enantiomeric elution order and facilitating enantiomeric impurity determination in capillary electrophoresis

Determination of enantiomeric purity is most often done under overload conditions, which leads to deformed peaks. In general, the best resolutions are obtained when the small peak appears before the large peak in the electropherogram. To be able to determine the R(+)-impurity in the S(-)-form as well as the S(-)-impurity in the R(+)-form the elution orders have to be reversed. The present paper describes reversal of enantiomeric elution order for the basic analyte propranolol and the acidic analyte ibuprofen. For propranolol, a charged heptakis-(6-sulfo)-beta-cyclodextrin (CD) is used in the background electrolyte. For ibuprofen, a mix of the charged heptakis-(6-sulfo)-beta-CD and the uncharged heptakis-(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-beta-CD is used in the background electrolyte. The use of a coated capillary and reversal of the polarity shift the elution order, buffer composition is unchanged in both cases. The enantiomers of propranolol and ibuprofen are well separated on both the coated and uncoated capillaries. Detection limits of enantiomer impurities are investigated using spiked samples of both propranolol and ibuprofen.     

Characteristics of electroosmotic flow and migration of neutral solutes under stepwise gradient elution of capillary electrochromatography

A theoretical study on the velocity of electroosmotic flow (EOF) and the retention times of neutral solutes under multiple-step gradient of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) was carried out, focusing on that with three kinds of mobile phases. Through the model computations, the detaining time of the second kind of mobile phase in the column was proved to play an important role in affecting EOF. The variation speed of EOF was shown to be determined by the differences among dead times in different steps. In addition, the prediction of the retention times of 13 aromatic compounds under gradient mode was performed with the deduced equations. A relative error below 3.3% between the calculated and experimental values was obtained, which demonstrated the rationality of the theoretical deduction. Our study could not only improve the comprehension of stepwise gradient elution, but also be of significance for the further optimization of separation conditions in the analysis of complex samples.     

Ni/C催化剂上山梨醇氢解反应中碱对乳酸形成的影响

山梨醇是重要的生物基平台化合物,其选择加氢裂解制备乙二醇和1,2-丙二醇等低碳二元醇,是一个具有重要科学意义和应用前景的催化过程.山梨醇氢解反应涉及C-C键和C-O键等化学键的裂解,裂解选择性尤为关键.通常情况下,添加NaOH,KOH,Ca(OH)2,CaO和Ba(OH)2等碱性物质可增加糖醇转化率和二元醇选择性,但也会生成大量乳酸等副产物.研究乳酸的生成途径,探索抑制乳酸生成的方法,对于提高山梨醇加氢裂解制备低碳二元醇的选择性具有重要意义.本文以Ni/C催化剂上山梨醇加氢裂解反应为模型反应,研究了碱性化合物添加剂类型及其用量对乳酸生成的影响.根据加氢裂解机理分析可知,糖醇氢解主要涉及以下关键步骤:在碱的存在下,多元醇在金属催化剂上发生脱氢反应生成相应的羰基中间体;然后,羰基中间体在碱性介质中通过逆羟醛缩合反应,发生C-C键断裂.因此,在糖醇氢解反应和C-C键断裂中,添加碱性化合物将会不可避免地生成乳酸.结果表明,以NaOH和Ca(OH)2为添加剂时,山梨醇加氢裂解生成乳酸的选择性分别为15.1％和8.9％.而以La(OH)3为添加剂时,生成乳酸的选择性仅为0.1％.以Ca(OH)2和La(OH)3为添加剂时反应具有高活性,山梨醇转化率均可达到99％以上.分别以Ca(OH)2和La(OH)3为添加剂,研究了碱性添加剂用量对山梨醇氢解反应的影响.结果表明,以Ca(OH)2为添加剂时,山梨醇转化率和乳酸选择性均随着Ca(OH)2用量增加而增加;当OH-投料量为11.06 mmol时,乳酸选择性可达11.7％.而以La(OH)3为添加剂时,即使La(OH)3用量仅为0.08 mmol时,山梨醇转化率也可高达99％;继续增加La(OH)3用量,对乳酸的选择性影响不大;当OH-投料量为11.06 mmol时,乳酸选择性也只有0.3％.对山梨醇加氢裂解反应分析可知,与Ca(OH)2相比,La(OH)3添加剂可使C2和C4产物的总选择性从20.0％增加到24.5％.上述结果表明La(OH)3可高效促进山梨醇加氢转化.为了探索Ca(OH)2或La(OH)3为添加剂时山梨醇加氢裂解产物分布不同的本质原因,以Ni/C催化剂催化的丙酮醛加氢转化为探针反应,探讨了乳酸形成的可能路径.结果表明,丙酮醛可能是山梨醇氢解反应的关键中间体之一.在仅以Ni/C催化加氢时,丙酮醛容易被转化为1,2-丙二醇;当只存在碱性添加剂时,丙酮醛可发生重排并被转化为乳酸主产物,这可能是乳酸生成的主要原因.进一步研究表明,以Ca(OH)2为添加剂时,乳酸选择性是以La(OH)3为添加剂时的1.9倍.在Ni/C催化剂和碱性添加剂共存时,由于碱性添加剂的区别,则会得到不同选择性的1,2-丙二醇和乳酸.结果表明,通过丙酮醛催化加氢可得到1,2-丙二醇,也可以通过重排反应生成乳酸;这两类反应是竞争性的.在山梨醇氢解反应中,以Ca(OH)2为添加剂时,加氢反应和重排反应均可发生.而以La(OH)3为添加剂时,丙酮醛加氢反应占主导,仅生成微量乳酸.该研究对提高山梨醇催化加氢裂解选择性具有参考意义.