An indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for determination of norfloxacin in waters using a specific polyclonal antibody

A specific polyclonal anti-norfloxacin antibody was obtained, and a sensitive indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA) was developed for determining trace amounts of norfloxacin in various waters. Good linearity was achieved in the range from 0.1 to 10 μg L⁻¹. The average IC₅₀ value was determined to be 2.2 μg L⁻¹ and the limit of detection was 0.016 μg L⁻¹ at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 in phosphate-buffered saline buffer. Recoveries of norfloxacin at various spiking levels ranged from 74 to 105% in groundwater, surface water, treated and untreated wastewater samples, with relative standard deviations of 3–5%. The assay was applied for determining norfloxacin in municipal wastewater, surface water, and groundwater collected in a metropolis of China. Raw wastewater samples were only submitted to filtration and pH adjustment while the other water samples were pre-concentrated by solid phase extraction prior to the icELISA assay. Good agreement of the results obtained by the icELISA and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry further confirmed the reliability and accuracy of the icELISA for rapid detection of norfloxacin in waters.     

In vivo noninvasive detection of chlorophyll distribution in cucumber (Cucumis sativus) leaves by indices based on hyperspectral imaging

The objective of this study was to investigate the spectral behavior of the relationship between reflectance and chlorophyll content and to develop a technique for non-destructive chlorophyll estimation and distribution in leaves using hyperspectral imaging. The hyperspectral imaging data cube of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) leaves in the range of 450-850 nm was investigated and preprocessed. Sixty optical signatures or indices as a function of the associated reflectance (R(λ)) at the special wavelength (λ) nm which proposed in the literatures were used to predict the total chlorophyll content in cucumber leaves. Finally, R(710)/R(760), (R(780)-R(710))/(R(780)-R(680)), (R(750)-R(705))/(R(750)+R(705)), (R(680)-R(430))/(R(680)+R(430)), R(860)/(R(550)×R(708)), (R(695-705))(-1)-(R(750-800))(-1), and REP-LEM (a index based on red edge position and estimated with a linear extrapolation method) were identified as optimum indices. Red-edge waveband (680-780 nm) appeared in all these optimum indices, indicating the importance of REP (red edge position) in chlorophyll estimation. When (R(695-705))(-1)-(R(750-800))(-1), the best index was applied to an independent validation set, chlorophyll content (r=0.8286) were reasonably well predicted, indicating model robustness. Depending on the sample, this technique enables to identify and characterize the relative content of various chlorophyll that distribution in the cucumber leaves. The map shows a relatively low level of chlorophyll at margins. Higher level can be noticed in the regions along the main veins and in some areas exhibiting dark green tissue. Our results indicate that hyperspectral imaging has considerable promise for predicting pigments in leaves and, the pigments can be detected in situ in living plant samples non-destructively.     

Quantitative Structure�CRetention Relationship Study on Nitrogen-Containing Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds by Using Molecular Electronegativity Interaction Vector

The molecular structures of 117 nitrogen-containing polycyclic aromatic compounds (N-PACs) were described by a method of molecular structural characterization (MSC) called molecular electronegativity interaction vector (MEIV). The samples were divided into a training set and a test set. For the training set, a quantitative structure?Cretention relationship (QSRR) model was built up by multiple linear regression (MLR) and the model was evaluated by performing the cross validation with the leave-one-out (LOO) procedure. The correlation coefficient (R) and the cross-verification correlation coefficient (R _CV) of the model were 0.992 and 0.991, respectively. Moreover, the model was evaluated by the test set and satisfactory results with a correlation coefficient (R _test) of 0.993 were obtained. The results suggested good stability and predictability of the model.     

Synthesis of raspberry-like monodisperse magnetic hollow hybrid nanospheres by coating polystyrene template with Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2) particles

A new inorganic/organic hybrid material containing silsesquioxane was prepared by the reaction of caged octa (aminopropyl silsesquioxane) (POSS-NH(2)) with n-butyl glycidyl ether (nBGE) and 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDGE). The copolymers of POSS, nBGE, and BDGE could be obtained with varied feed ratio of POSS-NH(2), nBGE, and BDGE in the preparation. The hybrid material was added into an epoxy resin (E51) for enhancing the toughening and thermal properties of the epoxy resin. The results showed that the toughening and the thermal properties of the cured epoxy resin were greatly improved by the addition of the hybrid. The enhancement was ascribed to nano-scale effect of the POSS structure and the formation of anchor structure in the cured network. The investigation of kinetics for the curing process of the hybrid-modified epoxy resin revealed that two kinds of curing reactions occurred in different temperature ranges. They were attributed to the reactions between amino groups of the curing agent with epoxy groups of E51 and with residue epoxy groups in the hybrid. The reacting activation energies were calculated based on Kissinger's and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa's methods, respectively.     

Theoretical study on influence of ligand and solvent to CdS clusters

Based on the experimental zinc blende and wurtzite structures of CdS nanocrystals, five new CdS clusters (Cd₃S₃, (Cd₃S₃)₂, (Cd₃S₃)₃, Cd₄S₄ with C_2V, and Cd₄S₄ with T_D symmetry) are investigated via optimization of their original structures at B3LYP/Lanl2dz theoretical level. Through considering integration influence of solvent and ligand, our calculated Raman and absorption spectra can be consistent with the reported experimental results. First, our calculated Raman peaks of Cd₃S₃, Cd₄S₄ (T_D), (Cd₃S₃)₂, and (Cd₃S₃)₃ are within the range of 260–290 cm^?1, which is also reported by experiment. Subsequently, for deep researching five clusters, the absorption spectra of them are calculated using time‐dependent DFT method. The wavelengths of the absorption peaks, which is calculated in solvent, increase in the order Cd₃S₃, Cd₄S₄ (T_D), (Cd₃S₃)₂, and (Cd₃S₃)₃. Moreover, the wavelengths of absorption peaks shift to blue in solvent, compared with those without solvent. Furthermore, our clusters are smaller than the size of the smallest CdS nanocrystals, the calculated absorption spectra of five clusters in solvent show obvious blue shift than the wavelengths of absorption spectra of reported CdS nanocrystals. This is induced by the quantum size effect. Besides, we further investigated the influence of ligands to CdS unit in aqueous condition. Through structures and characters analysis of S? Cd? SR, we discovered that ligands took important role during the formation of CdS nanocrystals in aqueous synthesis. Calculated results of spectra, bond length, and Wiberg bond index (WBI) values show that different ligands have similar influence on CdS unit. Moreover, using WBI values, we also confirm that Cd atom has stronger interaction with S in nanocrystals than that with S atom in ligand. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

Theoretical studies of the N2O van der Waals dimer: ab initio potential energy surface, intermolecular vibrations and rotational transition frequencies

Theoretical studies of the potential energy surface and bound states were performed for the N(2)O dimer. A four-dimensional intermolecular potential energy surface (PES) was constructed at the CCSD(T) level with aug-cc-pVTZ basis set supplemented with bond functions. Three co-planar local minima were found on this surface. They correspond to a nonpolar isomer with slipped-antiparallel planar structure and two equivalent polar isomers with slipped-parallel planar structures. The nonpolar isomer is energetically more stable than the polar ones by 162 cm(-1). To assign the fundamental vibrational frequencies for both isomers, more than 150 vibrational bound states were calculated based on this PES. The orientation of the nodal surface of the wave functions plays an important role in the assignment of disrotation and conrotation vibrational modes. The calculated vibrational frequencies are in good agreement with the available experimental data. We have also found a quantum tunneling effect between the two equivalent polar structures in the higher vibrational excited states. Rotational transition frequencies of the polar structure were also calculated. The accuracy of the PES is validated by the good agreement between theoretical and experimental results for the transition frequencies and spectroscopic parameters.     

One pot iridium-catalyzed asymmetrical double allylations of sodium sulfide: a fast and economic way to construct chiral C2-symmetric bis(1-substituted-allyl)sulfane

One pot asymmetrical double allylations of sodium sulfide catalyzed by an iridium complex along with a combination of caesium fluoride and water in dichloromethane have been realized and the double allylation products with two C-S bond chiral centers were obtained in 67-99% yields with b/l 81/19-99/1, dr 85/15-99/1, and 96-99% ee.     

Ag cluster-aptamer hybrid: specifically marking the nucleus of live cells

Silver cluster-aptamer hybrids were mineralized via an artificially designed aptamer. The hybrids gave red emission when excited by light, and they successfully targeted the nucleus of live cells. This method is an effective approach to make cell target probes.     

Facile fabrication of robust multilayer films: visible light-triggered chemical cross-linking by the catalysis of a ruthenium(II) complex

Highly stable covalently attached multilayer films were constructed by visible-light irradiation of hydrogen-bonding directed multilayer films of poly(allylamine) and poly(4-vinylphenol).     

One-pot reduction of graphene oxide at subzero temperatures

We report a new reducing agent system: hydriodic acid with trifluoroacetic acid, which can chemically convert graphene oxide into reduced graphene oxide at temperatures below 0 °C in solution. This is the first achievement to produce reduced graphene oxide at subzero temperature with a mass production.