Artematrovirenolides A—D and Artematrolides S—Z,Sesquiterpenoid Dimers with Cytotoxicity against Three Hepatoma Cell Lines from Artemisia atrovirens

Inspired by the intriguing structures and remarkable activities of sesquiterpenoid dimers,12 new sesquiterpenoid dimers,artematrovirenolides A—D(1—4)and artematrolides S—Z(8—12),were isolated from the EtOAc fraction of Artemisia atrovirens through a bioactivity-guided approach.Their structures were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic data and absolute configuration was assigned based on single crystal X-ray diffraction data and ECD calculations.Structurally,all compounds are presumably formed via[4+2]cycloaddition involving three connecting model.Compounds 1—4 are four novel hetero-dimeric[4+2]Diels-Alder adducts dimerized from a rotundane-type unit and a guaiane-type monomer,and compounds 5—12 are eight new homo-dimeric[4+2]adducts derived from two guaianolide moieties.A putative biosynthetic pathway for compounds 1—4 was also proposed.Compounds 4,6,7,and 10 demonstrated moderate cytotoxicity against HepG2,SMMC-7721,and Huh7 cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 9.3 to 62.3μmol/L.Interestingly,compounds 5 and 11 manifested cytotoxicity with IC50 values of 13.6 and 12.8(HepG2),18.5 and 13.1(SMMC-7721),and 16.5 and 19.4μmol/L(Huh7),respectively,which were equivalent to the positive control,sorafenib.This investigation suggests that compounds 5 and 11 might be considered as potent antihepatoma candidates and deserve further structural modification and mechanism study.     

Nonmetal Doping as a Robust Route for Boosting the Hydrogen Evolution of Metal-Based Electrocatalysts

Recently, nonmetal doping has exhibited its great potential for boosting the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of transition-metal (TM)-based electrocatalysts. To this end, this work overviews the recent achievements made on the design and development of the nonmetal-doped TM-based electrocatalysts and their performance for the HER. It is also shown that by rationally doping nonmetal elements, the electronic structures of TM-based electrocatalysts can be effectively tuned and in turn the Gibbs free energy of the TM for adsorption of H* intermediates (ΔG_H*) optimized, consequently enhancing the intrinsic activity of TM-based electrocatalysts. Notably, we highlight that concurrently doping two nonmetal elements can continuously and precisely regulate the electronic structures of the TM, thereby maximizing the activity for HER. Moreover, nonmetal doping also accounts for enhancing the physical properties of the TM (i.e. surface area). Therefore, nonmetal doping is a robust strategy for simultaneous regulation of the chemical and physical features of the TM.     

Pharmacokinetic study of tanshinol and ligustrazine in rat plasma after intravenous administration of tanshinol and Danshen Chuanxiongqin Injection

To investigate the effect of ligustrazine on the pharmacokinetic profile of tanshinol after intravenous administration in rats, a sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for quantitative determination of tanshinol and ligustrazine in rat plasma. After prepared by protein precipitation, the analytes were separated on a Waters Acquity HSS T3 column (100 × 2.1 mm, 1.8μm) and eluted by 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.4 ml/min. The precursor–product ion transitions were m/z 197.0 → 135.0 for tanshinol, m/z 417.1 → 255.1 for liquiritin (internal standard) in negative ion mode and m/z 137.1 → 55.0 for ligustrazine in positive ion mode. To avoid the interference of tanshinol metabolite transformation, the stability of analytes in samples collected after administration was assessed. The validated method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study after intravenous administration of single tanshinol and Danshen Chuanxiongqin Injection. After Danshen Chuanxiongqin injection administration, the values of elimination half-time, area under the concentration–time curve and C_o were 0.36 ± 0.13 h, 1.29 ± 0.37 μg/ml h and 10.51 ± 2.58 μg/ml for male rats, respectively. In the single tanshinol group, the corresponding values were 0.56 ± 0.24 h, 1.85 ± 0.44 μg/ml h and 14.11 ± 2.26 μg/ml for male rats—30–40% higher than those for the Danshen Chuanxiongqin Injection group. There was a significant different between male and female rats. This study provided information on the influence of ligustrazine on the pharmacokinetic characteristics of tanshinol after intravenous administration of Danshen Chuanxiongqin Injection in rats, which will be helpful for its clinical application.     

Zn–Co Sulfide Microflowers Anchored on Three-Dimensional Graphene: A High-Capacitance and Long-Cycle-Life Electrode for Asymmetric Supercapacitors

Zinc–cobalt double-metal sulfides (ZCS) as Faradic electrode materials with high energy density have great potential for supercapacitors, but their poor transfer efficiency for electrons and ions hinders their electrochemical response. Herein, ZnCo₂(CO₃)_1.5(OH)₃@ZCS microflower hybrid arrays consisting of thin nanolayer petals were anchored on three-dimensional graphene (ZnCo₂(CO₃)_1.5(OH)₃@ZCS/3DG) by a simple hydrothermal method and additional ion-exchange process. A ZnCo₂(CO₃)_1.5(OH)₃@ZCS/3DG electrode delivered high capacitance (2228 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹) and long cycling life (85.7 % retention after 17 000 cycles), which are ascribed to the multicomponent structural design. The 3DG conductive substrate improves the electron-transfer dynamics of the electrode material. Meanwhile, the microflowers consisting of thin nanolayer petals could not only provide many active sites for ions to improve the capacitance, but also alleviate the volume expansion to ensure the structural stability. Furthermore, an all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor based on a ZnCo₂(CO₃)_1.5(OH)₃@ZCS/3DG electrode achieved a high energy density of 27 W h kg⁻¹ at 528.3 W kg⁻¹ and exhibits exceptional cyclic stability for 23 000 cycles. Its ability to light a blue LED for 9 min verified the feasibility of its application for energy storage devices.     

Vibration suppression of a geometrically nonlinear beam with boundary inertial nonlinear energy sinks

Nonlinear Dynamics - As a simplified model of structures of many kinds, the Euler Bernoulli beam has proved useful for studying vibration suppression. In order to meet engineering design...     

Tolerance factor and phase stability of the garnet structure. Corrigendum

An error in an equation in the paper by Song et al. [ Acta Cryst. (2019), C 75 , 1353–1358 ] is corrected.     

Strong Squeezing of Duffing Oscillator in a Highly Dissipative Optomechanical Cavity System

In the conventional scheme of generating strong mechanical squeezing by the joint effect between mechanical parametric amplification and sideband cooling, the resolved sideband condition is required so as to overcome the quantum backaction heating. In the unresolved sideband regime, to suppress the quantum backaction, a χ⁽²⁾ nonlinear medium is introduced to the cavity. The result shows that the quantum backaction heating effect caused by unwanted counter-rotating term can be completely removed. Hence, the strong mechanical squeezing can be obtained even for the system far from the resolved-sideband regime.