Reversible solubilisation through hydrogen-bond-mediated assembly

A novel approach was developed to improve the solubility of non-soluble compounds by introducing solubilising molecules peripherally through hydrogen-bond-mediated assembly. The solubilisation process can be reversed by adding competing hydrogen bonding moieties and removing the solubilising molecules. This method may potentially facilitate device fabrication.     

Numerical simulation of solitons switching and propagating in asymmetric directional couplers

A numerical investigation, based on the use of split step Fourier transformation algorithm, of all-optical solitons switching in asymmetric directional couplers is presented. The numerical algorithm is described in details. The analysis highlights the influence of the different effective mode area, the phase- and group–velocity mismatch, the different dispersion between two cores on the switching and propagation of short pulses. The investigation indicates that the phase velocity mismatch and the different effective mode area can reduce the coupling length while the different group velocity and the different dispersion between two cores do not change the coupling length. We have also found that the increase of effective mode area ratio can lead to an increase of the switching threshold power but improve significantly the switching steepness, the increase of the phase velocity mismatch can cause a decrease of the switching threshold power but degrade the switching steepness, the increase of the ratio of dispersion can result in a decrease of the switching threshold power and vary the switching steepness, the increase of group velocity mismatch can give rise to an increase of the switching threshold power but improve obviously the switching steepness. Furthermore, the group velocity mismatch can induce solitons pulse to walk off or stretch in the asymmetric directional coupler.     

气相色谱-质谱法检测白酒和黄酒中18种邻苯二甲酸酯类增塑剂

建立了白酒和黄酒中增塑剂的液液萃取法提取,气相色谱-质谱法检测技术,内标法定量。考察了基质效应,萃取方法等主要条件,并最终确定正己烷为提取溶剂的液液萃取技术,并且提取过程中加入NaCl和H2O。在优化的条件下,18种增塑剂均具有较好的线性相关性,线性相关系数均大于0.9978,白酒和黄酒的添加回收率、相对标准偏差分别为75.7%~97.5%、2.3%~6.7%和74.8%~96.0%、1.9%~7.1%;检出限均小于0.05 mg/kg。方法可为酒中增塑剂检测的标准方法的建立提供参考。     

Urinary metabonomic study using a CUMS rat model of depression

Chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) is a well‐validated model of depression. In this study, a urinary metabonomics method based on the NMR spectrometry was used to study the metabolic perturbation in CUMS‐induced rat depression model. With pattern recognition analysis, a clear separation of CUMS rats and healthy controls was achieved, and nine endogenous metabolites contributing to the separation were identified. CUMS‐treated rats were characterized by the increase of glycine, pyruvate, glutamine, and asparagines, as well as the decrease of 2‐oxoglutarate, dimethylglycine, citrate, succinate, and acetate. The urinary biochemical changes related to the metabolic disturbance in CUMS induced depression, and the possible correlations with live qi stagnation in traditional Chinese medicine are discussed. The work shows that CUMS is a reliable model for studying depression, and the noninvasive urinary metabolomic method is a valuable tool to investigate the biochemical pertubations in depression as an early diagnostic means. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite-time H ∞ control for a class of Markovian jump delayed systems with input saturation

This work considers the finite-time control problem for a class Markovian jump delayed systems with partially known transition rates subject to saturating actuators. By employing local sector conditions and an appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovkii function, an observer-based state feedback controller is designed to guarantee that the resulted closed-loop constrained system is mean-square locally asymptotically finite-time stabilizable. Some sufficient conditions for the solution to this problem are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, a numerical example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method.     

Structure‐guided RP‐HPLC chromatography of diastereomeric α‐helical peptide analogs substituted with single amino acid stereoisomers

An α‐helical model peptide (Ac‐EAEKAAKE‐X‐EKAAKEAEK‐amide) was used as a template to examine the efficacy of conventional reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography (RP‐HPLC) in separating peptide analogs with single substitutions (at position X) of diasteromeric amino acids Ile, allo‐Ile, d ‐Ile and d ‐allo‐Ile. We compared differences in peptide retention behavior on a C₈ column and a C₁₈ column at different temperatures. We demonstrated how subtle differences in peptide secondary structure affected by the different substitutions of amino acids with identical overall hydrophobicity enabled effective resolution of these peptide analogs. We also demonstrated the ability of RP‐HPLC to separate Ile‐ and allo‐Ile‐substituted analogs of a 26‐residue α‐helical antimicrobial peptide (AMP), with the substitution site towards the C‐terminus of the α‐helix. These peptides show different values of antibacterial activity and hemolytic activity, and different selectivity against bacteria and human cells. Our results underline the ability of RP‐HPLC to resolve even difficult diasteromeric peptide mixtures as well as its value in monitoring very subtle hydrophobicity changes in de novo‐designed AMP. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.