Anionic synthesis of binary random in-chain multi-functionalized poly(styrene/butadiene/isoprene and dimethyl [4-phenylvinyl)-phenyl]silane)(PS-DPESiH,PB-DPESiH,PI-DPESiH) copolymers

The binary random in-chain silyl-hydride multi-functionalized poly(styrene/butadiene/isoprene and dimethyl[4-(1-phenylvinyl) phenyl]silane)(PS-DPESiH,PB-DPESiH,PI-DPESiH) copolymers were successfully synthesized.These functionalized copolymers were prepared in hexane with n-BuLi as the initiator at 50℃for 4 h.The silyl-hydride groups were introduced into polymer backbones quantitatively by living anionic polymerization.The copolymers were determined through ’H NMR,size exclusion chromatography(SEC) and differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) techniques,while the number of silyl-hydride groups was calculated and discussed.     

Minimizers of the Lawrence–Doniach Functional with Oblique Magnetic Fields

We study minimizers of the Lawrence–Doniach energy, which describes equilibrium states of superconductors with layered structure, assuming Floquet-periodic boundary conditions. Specifically, we consider the effect of a constant magnetic field applied obliquely to the superconducting planes in the limit as both the layer spacing s → 0 and the Ginzburg–Landau parameter \({\kappa = \epsilon^{-1} \to \infty}\), under the hypotheses that \({s=\epsilon^\alpha}\) with 0 < α < 1. By deriving sharp matching upper and lower bounds on the energy of minimizers, we determine the lower critical field and the orientation of the flux lattice, to leading order in the parameter \({\epsilon}\). To leading order, the induced field is characterized by a convex minimization problem in \({\mathbb {R}^3}\). We observe a “flux lock-in transition”, in which flux lines are pinned to the horizontal direction for applied fields of small inclination, and which is not present in minimizers of the anisotropic Ginzburg–Landau model. The energy profile we obtain suggests the presence of “staircase vortices”, which have been described qualitatively in the physics literature.     

Plant cystoliths: a complex functional biocomposite of four distinct silica and amorphous calcium carbonate phases

Plant cystoliths are mineralized objects that are formed by specialized cells in the leaves of certain plants. The main mineral component of cystoliths by volume is amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) and the minor component is silica. We show that the silica stalk is formed first and is essential for ACC formation. Furthermore, the cystolith is shown to be composed of four distinct mineral phases with different chemical properties: an almost pure silica phase grades into a Mg-rich silica phase. This Mg-rich silica is overlaid by a relatively stable ACC phase. A bulky and less stable ACC phase encapsulates the first ACC phase. This architecture poses interesting questions about the role of Mg in the silica phase and suggests a strategy for ACC stabilization that takes advantage of a precise regulation of the mineral-growth microenvironment.     

甲基-β-环糊精与普拉洛芬的包结作用

采用紫外光谱法研究了甲基-β-环糊精与普拉洛芬的包结作用,通过相溶解度法确定了甲基-β-环糊精与普拉洛芬的包合比是1∶1;通过加入乙醇、改变溶剂的离子强度和pH对包合机理进行了探讨,发现离子强度的增大有利于包合反应的发生,而乙醇比例和pH越大,包合作用越弱;采用热力学方法研究了温度对包合反应的影响,包合过程的熵变ΔS为-4.26J.m o-l 1.K-1、焓变ΔH为-18.96kJ.m o-l 1及自由能变化ΔG均为负值,说明包合反应是放热反应且能自发进行,焓变是主要驱动力;用荧光分光光度计和差示扫描量热分析(DTA)对包合物进行了表征,结果表明,普拉洛芬与甲基-β-环糊精形成了包合物。     

Synthesis and application of a hydrophobic hypercrosslinked polymeric resin for removing VOCs from humid gas stream

A hydrophobic hypercrosslinked polymeric resin LC-1 was prepared and characterized.The properties of LC-1 resin were compared with those of a commercial hypercrosslinked polymer NDA-201 resin.In addition,the dynamic adsorption of trichloroethylene(TCE)onto LC.1 under dry and humid conditions at 303 K was investigated,the result shows that LC-1possesses high hydrophobic property and can remove TCE from gas stream without effect of high humidity efficiently.     

Viability of Using Glycerin as a Co-substrate in Anaerobic Digestion of Sugarcane Stillage (Vinasse): Effect of Diversified Operational Strategies

Vinasse, from sugar and ethanol production, stands out as one of the most problematic agroindustry wastes due to its high chemical oxygen demand, large production volume, and recalcitrant compounds. Therefore, the viability of using glycerin as a co-substrate in vinasse anaerobic digestion was tested, to increase process efficiency and biogas productivity. The effect of feeding strategy, influent concentration, cycle length, and temperature were assessed to optimize methane production. Glycerin (1.53% v/v) proved to be a good co-substrate since it increased the overall methane production in co-digestion assays. CH₄ productivity enhanced exponentially as influent concentration increased, but when temperature was increased to 35 °C, biogas production was impaired. The highest methane productivity and yield were achieved using fed-batch mode, at 30 °C and at an organic loading rate of 10.1 kg COD m⁻³ day⁻¹: 139.32 mol CH₄ m⁻³ day⁻¹, 13.86 mol CH₄ kg COD_applied, and 15.30 mol CH₄ kg COD_removed. Methane was predominantly produced through the hydrogenotrophic route. In order to treat all the vinasse produced by a mid-size sugar and ethanol plant, nine reactors with 7263.4 m³ each would be needed. The energy generated by burning the biogas in boilers would reach approximately 92,000 MW h per season and could save up to US$ 240,000.00 per month in diesel oil demand.

     

Untargeted Metabolomics in Forensic Toxicology: A New Approach for the Detection of Fentanyl Intake in Urine Samples

The misuse of fentanyl, and novel synthetic opioids (NSO) in general, has become a public health emergency, especially in the United States. The detection of NSO is often challenged by the limited diagnostic time frame allowed by urine sampling and the wide range of chemically modified analogues, continuously introduced to the recreational drug market. In this study, an untargeted metabolomics approach was developed to obtain a comprehensive “fingerprint” of any anomalous and specific metabolic pattern potentially related to fentanyl exposure. In recent years, in vitro models of drug metabolism have emerged as important tools to overcome the limited access to positive urine samples and uncertainties related to the substances actually taken, the possible combined drug intake, and the ingested dose. In this study, an in vivo experiment was designed by incubating HepG2 cell lines with either fentanyl or common drugs of abuse, creating a cohort of 96 samples. These samples, together with 81 urine samples including negative controls and positive samples obtained from recent users of either fentanyl or “traditional” drugs, were subjected to untargeted analysis using both UHPLC reverse phase and HILIC chromatography combined with QTOF mass spectrometry. Data independent acquisition was performed by SWATH in order to obtain a comprehensive profile of the urinary metabolome. After extensive processing, the resulting datasets were initially subjected to unsupervised exploration by principal component analysis (PCA), yielding clear separation of the fentanyl positive samples with respect to both controls and samples positive to other drugs. The urine datasets were then systematically investigated by supervised classification models based on soft independent modeling by class analogy (SIMCA) algorithms, with the end goal of identifying fentanyl users. A final single-class SIMCA model based on an RP dataset and five PCs yielded 96% sensitivity and 74% specificity. The distinguishable metabolic patterns produced by fentanyl in comparison to other opioids opens up new perspectives in the interpretation of the biological activity of fentanyl.     

Syntheses of 5′‐Nucleoside Monophosphate Derivatives with Unique Aminal,Hemiaminal, and Hemithioaminal Functionalities: A New Class of 5′‐Peptidyl Nucleotides

A number of synthetically useful transformations have been developed to generate novel 5′‐peptidyl nucleoside monophosphate analogues that incorporate sensitive phosphoaminal, ‐hemiaminal or ‐hemithioaminal functionalities. The strategies adopted entailed the coupling between dipeptides, which enclose a reactive Cα‐functionalized glycine residue and phosphate or phosphorothioate moieties. These developments led to potentially powerful and general methodologies for the preparation of α‐phosphorylated pseudopeptides as well as nucleoside monophosphate mimics. The resulting conjugates are of interest for a variety of important applications, which range from drug development to synthetic biology, as pronucleotides or artificial building blocks for the enzymatic synthesis of xenobiotic information systems. The potential of all dipeptide‐TMP conjugates as pyrophosphate mimics in the DNA polymerization reaction was tested, and the influence of the nature of the linker was evaluated by in vitro chain elongation assay in the presence of wild‐type microbial DNA polymerases.