Novel Synthetic Approach Toward C‐Substituted Piperazine Derivatives via C‐N Bonds Formation of α‐Bromoarylethanones and Ethanolamine

A new method for the synthesis of novel C‐substituted piperazine derivatives bearing aryl substituents on 2,6‐C positions has been developed by one‐pot three‐component sequential reaction of α‐bromoarylethanones with ethanolamine in the presence of formic acid. The structure of the novel compounds was established by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), mass spectrometry (MS), and elemental analysis. In addition, the crystal structure of 4e was determined by single X‐ray crystallography and a possible reaction mechanism was proposed.     

Specific interaction between fluorine atoms and thiol groups accounting for higher domain purity and photostability in narrowband BHJ systems

In order to explore the role of fluorine atoms on photostability as well as morphology control of active layer in the presence of 1,4‐butanedithiol (BT), the four polymers with or without fluorine atoms in the backbones including polythieno[3,4‐b]thiophene/benzodithiophene, poly[(4,8‐bis‐(2‐ethylhexyloxy)‐benzo(1,2‐b:4,5‐b9)dithiophene)‐2,6‐diyl‐alt‐(4‐(2‐ethylhexanoyl)‐thieno[3,4‐b]thiophene‐)‐2‐6‐diyl)], poly[4,8‐bis(5‐(2‐ethylhexyl)thiophen‐2‐yl)benzo[1,2‐b;4,5‐b′]dithiophene‐2,6‐diyl‐alt‐(4‐(2‐ethylhexyl)‐3‐fluorothieno[3,4‐b]thiophene‐)‐2‐carboxylate‐2‐6‐diyl)], and poly[4,8‐bis‐(2‐ethyl‐hexyl‐thiophene‐5‐yl)‐benzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b0]dithiophene‐2,6‐diyl]‐alt‐[2‐(20‐ethyl‐hexanoyl)‐thieno [3,4‐b]thiophen‐4,6‐diyl] were selected for comparison. It is found that the specimens containing fluorine atoms in polymer backbones showed of higher stability after illumination for 1 h in the presence of BT additive, contributing to the higher domain purity. The specific interaction between fluorine atoms and thiol groups was demonstrated by the appearance of novel absorption peak at 2663.1 cm^?1, in addition to the broadening of peak at 2556.2 cm^?1 ascribing to S? H stretching vibration as confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The finding may guide the accurate use of thiols as effective solvent additive in morphology and stability optimization. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 941–951     

The Linear Optical Unambiguous Discrimination of Hyperentangled Bell States Assisted by Time Bin

A linear optical unambiguous discrimination of hyperentangled Bell states is proposed for two‐photon systems entangled in both the polarization and momentum degrees of freedom (DOFs) assisted by time bin. This unambiguous discrimination scheme can completely identify 16 orthogonal hyperentangled Bell states using only linear optical elements, where the function of the auxiliary entangled Bell state is replaced by time bin. Moreover, the possibility of extending this scheme for distinguishing hyperentangled Bell states in n DOFs is discussed, and it shows that $2^{n+k+1}$ hyperentangled Bell states in n ( $n\ge 2$) DOFs can be distinguished with k ( $k<n$) auxiliary entangled states of additional DOFs by introducing a time delay, which decreases the auxiliary entanglement resource required for unambiguous discrimination of hyperentangled Bell state. Therefore, this scheme provides a new way for distinguishing hyperentangled states with current technology, which will extend the application of discrimination of hyperentangled states via linear optics to other quantum information protocols besides hyperdense coding schemes in the future.     

Serum pharmacochemistry combined with multiple data processing approach to screen the bioactive components and their metabolites in Mutan Cortex by ultra‐performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Root cortex of Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews (Paeoniaceae), known as Moutan Cortex (MC), is known to have anti‐allergic and anti‐inflammatory properties. However, the constituents absorbed into blood after oral administration of MC remain unknown. A sensitive and rapid method by ultra‐high‐pressure liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–quadrupole‐time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (UPLC‐ESI‐Q‐TOF‐MS) technology and the MetaboLynx^TM software combined with multiple data processing approach (Mdpa) was established to investigate the absorbed constituents in rats after oral administration of MC, providing unique high‐throughput capabilities for drug metabolism study. A hyphenated electrospray ionization and quadrupole‐time‐of‐flight analyzer was used for the determination of accurate mass of the fragment ion in negative mode, with excellent MS mass accuracy and enhanced data acquisition. This rapid automated analysis method was successfully applied for screening and identification of the constituents absorbed and metabolized studies of MC after oral administration to rats. A total of 46 peaks were obtained from MC, 41 of which were tentatively characterized. In the VIP‐plot of orthogonal partial least‐squares discriminant analysis, 23 interesting ions in serum samples were extracted, and 16 parent components and seven metabolites were detected in vivo. The integrative serum pharmacochemistry technique, UPLC‐ESI‐Q‐TOF‐MS, and Mdpa method were successfully applied for rapid discovery of multiple components from MC. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Traveling Waves in Spatial SIRS Models

We study traveling wavefront solutions for two reaction–diffusion systems, which are derived respectively as diffusion approximations to two nonlocal spatial SIRS models. These solutions characterize the propagating progress and speed of the spatial spread of underlying epidemic waves. For the first diffusion system, we find a lower bound for wave speeds and prove that the traveling waves exist for all speeds bigger than this bound. For the second diffusion system, we find the minimal wave speed and show that the traveling waves exist for all speeds bigger than or equal to the minimal speed. We further prove the uniqueness (up to translation) of these solutions for sufficiently large wave speeds. The existence of these solutions are proved by a shooting argument combining with LaSalle’s invariance principle, and their uniqueness by a geometric singular perturbation argument.     

Half‐sandwich Ruthenium (II) complexes with triphenylamine modified dipyridine skeleton and application in biology/luminescence imaging

Four half‐sandwich ruthenium^II (Ru^II) complexes with triphenylamine‐modifed dipyridine frameworks were synthesized and characterized. The cytotoxicity of target complexes toward A549 (lung cancer cells), HeLa (cervical cancer cells) and HepG2 (hepatoma cells) were obtained by the MTT assay, which were superior to cisplatin with the IC₅₀ values changed from 2.4 ± 0.1 μM to 9.2 ± 2.7 μM. Meanwhile, complexes possess the ability of antimetastasis to cancer cells. Ru^II complexes could be transported by serum albumin, catalyze the conversion of NADH (the reduced state of nicotinamide‐adenine dinucleotide) to NAD⁺ and induce the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, which confirmed the antineoplastic mechanism of oxidation. Ru^II complexes could enter A549 cells followed by a non‐energy dependent cellular uptake mechanism, target lysosomes with the Pearson's colocalization coefficient of 0.75, lead to lysosomal damage, disturb the cell cycle (S phase), and eventually induce apoptosis. The results demonstrate that these Ru^II complexes are potential anticancer agents with dual functions, including metastasis inhibition and lysosomal damage.     

Analytical layer-element solutions of Biot’s consolidation with anisotropic permeability and incompressible fluid and solid constituents

Based on the governing equations of 2D plane-strain Biot’s consolidation, the relationship between generalized displacements and stresses of a single soil layer with anisotropic permeability and incompressible fluid and solid constituents is described by an analytical layer-element, which is deduced in the Laplace–Fourier transform domain by using the eigenvalue approach. Taking the boundary conditions and the continuity of the soil layers into consideration, a global stiffness matrix is subsequently assembled and solved. As to the 3D case, the same derivation is employed after the application of a decoupling transformation. The actual solutions in the physical domain can further be acquired by inverting the Laplace–Fourier transform. Finally, numerical examples are carried out to verify the presented theory and discuss the influence of the anisotropic permeability on the consolidation behavior.