Antibacterial Activity of Aureonuclemycin Produced by Streptomyces aureus Strain SPRI-371

Actinomycetes play a vital role as one of the most important natural resources for both pharmaceutical and agricultural applications. The actinomycete strain SPRI-371, isolated from soil collected in Jiangsu province, China, was classified as Streptomyces aureus based on its morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular biological characteristics. Its bacterial activity metabolites were identified as aureonuclemycin (ANM), belonging to adenosine derivatives with the molecular formula C₁₆H₁₉N₅O₉ for ANM A and C₁₀H₁₃N₅O₃ for ANM B. Simultaneously, the industrial fermentation process of a mutated S. aureus strain SPRI-371 was optimized in a 20 m³ fermentation tank, featuring a rotation speed of 170 rpm, a pressure of 0.05 MPa, an inoculum age of 36–40 h and a dissolved oxygen level maintained at 1–30% within 40–80 h and at >60% in the later period, resulting in an ANM yield of >3700 mg/L. In the industrial separation of fermentation broth, the sulfuric acid solution was selected to adjust pH and 4# resin was used for adsorption. Then, it was resolved with 20% ethanol solution and concentrated in a vacuum (60–65 °C), with excellent results. Antibacterial experiments showed that ANM was less active or inactive against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola and most bacteria, yeast and fungi in vitro. However, in vivo experiments showed that ANM exhibited extremely significant protective and therapeutic activity against diseases caused by X. oryzae pv. oryzae and X. oryzae pv. oryzicola in rice and X. citri in oranges and lemons. In field trials, ANM A 150 gai/ha + ANM B 75 gai/ha exhibited excellent therapeutic activity against rice bacterial leaf blight, citrus canker and rice bacterial leaf streak. Furthermore, as the dosage and production cost of ANM are lower than those of commercial drugs, it has good application prospects.     

Enantioselective Hydrogenation of Endocyclic Enones:the Solution to a Historical Problem

The enantioselective hydrogenation of endocyclic enones has been a historical problem for homogeneous catalysis.We herein report an efficient method to reduce e...     

Compositions and Biological Activities of Pomegranate Peel Polyphenols Extracted by Different Solvents

Pomegranate peel extract (PPE), which is abundant in polyphenols, holds immerse prospects for the treatment of airway infection. In this study, water and ethanol of 30%, 50%, and 80% were used to prepare PPE. A total of 18 phenols belonging to 8 categories of polyphenols were identified in PPE by HPLC-MS/MS. The PPE from the four extraction solvents possessed different antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory activities. Principal component analysis revealed that though total flavonoids (TFs), total polyphenols (TPs), and total tannins (TTs) were responsible for the reducing power of PPE, only TFs contributed to the effect of PPE in inhibiting lipid membrane peroxidation. TPs, TTs, and punicalagin were positively correlated with the antibacterial strength against S. aureus while TTs alone contributed to the inhibition of methicillin-resistant S. aureus, implying the crucial role of TT in suppressing bacteria. Meanwhile, TTs was associated with the prevention of IL-6 release. The PPE with higher contents of TPs, TTs, and punicalagin had a weaker capacity to decrease nitric oxide secretion. PPE of 30% ethanol gained the highest integrated score due to its stronger antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory activities. It is a suitable candidate for the therapy of respiratory tract infection.     

An exsolution constructed FeNi/NiFe2O4 composite: preferential breaking of octahedral metal–oxygen bonds in a spinel oxide

Exsolution is an ingenious strategy for the in situ construction of metal- or alloy-decorated oxides and, due to its promising energy related catalysis applications, has advanced from use in perovskites to use in spinels. Despite its great importance for designing target composites, the ability to identify whether active metal ions at octahedral or tetrahedral sites will preferentially exsolve in a spinel remains unexplored. Here, an inverse spinel NiFe₂O₄ (NFO) was employed as a prototype and FeNi/NFO composites were successfully constructed via exsolution. The preferential breaking of octahedral metal–oxygen bonds in the spinel oxide was directly observed using Mössbauer and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. This was further verified from the negative segregation energies calculated based on density-functional theory. One exsolved FeNi/NFO composite exhibits enhanced electrochemical activity with an overpotential of 283 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and a long stability time for the oxygen evolution reaction. This work offers a unique insight into spinel exsolution based on the preferential breaking of chemical bonds and may be an effective guide for the design of new composite catalysts where the desired metal ions are deliberately introduced to octahedral and/or tetrahedral sites.

The preferential breaking of octahedral metal–oxygen bonds is exploited to construct an exsolved FeNi/NFO composite for an efficient oxygen evolution reaction.     

Luminescence interference-free lifetime nanothermometry pinpoints in vivo temperature

Luminescence nanothermometry makes non-invasive and real-time temperature readings possible in living animals. However,the spectral fluctuation in tissues and fluids, as well as the interaction between fluorophores and environment hinders accuracy of the thermometry. Here, we report a luminescence lifetime-based nanothermometry which specifically addresses this problem. A temporal based calibration(lifetime sensing) in the NIR range, an endogenous thermal response as well as a polymer encapsulation evading environmental factors, altogether help to pinpoint temperature in vivo. Thanks to the highly condensed NdYb ions in a well-protected tiny core-shell nanocrystal(overall 11 nm), a temperature sensitivity about 2.07% K~(-1)(with 5% Yb~(3+) doped nanoparticles) and an accuracy of 0.27 K(with 25% Yb~(3+) doped nanoparticles) in biological fluids are achieved.Hopefully, combining thermally activated energy transfer nanothermometer with anti-interference lifetime thermometry would provide a more accurate temperature measurement for biological and preclinical studies.     

Asymmetric synthesis of chromanone lactones via vinylogous conjugate addition of butenolide to 2-ester chromones

Chiral chromanone lactones are a class of natural products with important biological activity. We report a direct diastereo- and enantioselective vinylogous conjugate addition of butenolide to 2-ester substituted chromones. The transformation proceeded well in the presence of as low as 1 mol% of a chiral N,N′-dioxide/Sc^III complex, 3 Å MS and a catalytic amount of hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP). The scope of Michael acceptors includes a variety of substituted chromones at different positions, and the desired chromanone lactones upon reduction are afforded in good yield and diastereoselectivity, and excellent enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee). The strategy could be used in the concise synthesis of blennolide C and gonytolide A, C and G.

We report a direct, diastero- and enantioselective vinylogous 1,4-addition of butanolide to 2-ester chromones. A chiral Sc^III complex enabled the reaction to proceed smoothly to give a variety of chraomanone lactones.     

Parameter and state estimation algorithm for single-input single-output linear systems using the canonical state space models

This paper presents a new parameter and state estimation algorithm for single-input single-output systems based on canonical state space models from the given input–output data. Difficulties of identification for state space models lie in that there exist unknown noise terms in the formation vector and unknown state variables. By means of the hierarchical identification principle, those noise terms in the information vector are replaced with the estimated residuals and a new least squares algorithm is proposed for parameter estimation and the system states are computed by using the estimated parameters. Finally, an example is provided.     

Speeding up generation of photon Fock state in a superconducting circuit via counterdiabatic driving

Optimal creation of photon Fock states is of importance for quantum information processing and state engineering.Here an efficient strategy is presented for speeding up generation of photon Fock state in a superconducting circuit via counterdiabatic driving.A transmon qubit is dispersively coupled to a quantized electrical field.We address a ∧-configuration interaction between the composite system and classical drivings.Based on two Gaussian-shaped drivings,a single-photon Fock state can be generated adiabatically.Instead of adding an auxiliary counterdiabatic driving,our concern is to modify these two Rabi drivings in the framework of shortcut to adiabaticity.Thus an accelerated operation with high efficiency can be realized in a much shorter time.Compared with the adiabatic counterpart,the shortcut-based operation is significantly insusceptible to decoherence effects.The scheme could offer a promising way to deterministically prepare photon Fock states with superconducting quantum circuits.     

Spatial, temporal and spectral emission characteristics from electron oscillation driven by an intense circularly polarized few-cycle laser pulse

The spatial, temporal and spectral emission characteristics of radiation generated from electron oscillations driven by an intense circularly polarized few-cycle laser pulse have been investigated theoretically and numerically using a single electron model. For a femtosecond driving laser pulse with duration of one optical cycle, the maximal radiation emitted by the electron comprises only one electromagnetic pulse having durations much shorter than the optical cycle and belonging to the attosecond range. It is discovered that the influence of the initial phase on the process of full spatial characteristics of the radiation is apparent for intense few-cycle laser pulse. The characteristics can be used to measure the initial phase of intense circularly polarized few-cycle laser pulse in experiments.     

Dissipative particle dynamics simulation for the effect of interaction on the self-assembly behaviours of heterogemini surfactant in aqueous solution

Self-assembly behaviours of heterogemini surfactant in aqueous solution have been explored by means of dissipative particle dynamics simulation. Five kinds of heterogemini molecules are involved and a variety of novel morphologies have been obtained. Results based on detailed analyses show that head–tail and tail–water interactions play different roles in the formation of six kinds of self-assembly morphologies. The key factors are tail–water and head–tail repulsions separately for morphology with small (sphere) and relatively large scales (rod, planar grid, lamella and tunnels). Besides, the appearance of network in only one system can be regarded as a particular type of intermediate state. Coexistence of several sphere micelles in an amplified dissipative particle dynamics system gives us a better understanding of interactions inside the soft matter. Our simulation results can provide a theoretical guide to further research towards self-assembly behaviours of heterogemini surfactants and practical applications of these matters.