Novel synthesis of highly active Pt/C cathode electrocatalyst for direct methanol fuel cell

A 40 wt% Pt/C cathode electrocatalyst with controlled Pt particle size of approximately 2.9 nm showing better performance than commercial catalyst for direct methanol fuel cell was prepared by a polyol process with water but without using stabilizing agent.     

IR, MS studies on (+/-)-1-[3-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-2-hydroxypropyl]-4-[(2,6-dimethylphenyl)aminocarbonylmethyl]piperazine dihydrochloride salt

The vibration spectrum and FAB mass spectrum of (+/-)-1-[3-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-2-hydroxypropyl]-4-[(2,6-dimethylphenyl)aminocarbonylmethyl]piperazine dihydrochloride salt was studied. By comparing with the spectra of free base, different bands of IR were found in the NH+ stretching, the NH+ deformation motion, the CH2 of NCH2 group symmetric stretching, the CH2 of N-CH2 group twisting and the CN stretching. FAB shows the basic peak is M + H. Other m/e peaks are consistent with the structure.     

Highly Direct alpha-Selective Glycosylations of 3,4-O-Carbonate-Protected 2-Deoxy- and 2,6-Dideoxythioglycosides by Preactivation Protocol

A new efficient pre-activation method for the highly alpha-stereoselective glycosylation of 2-deoxysugars and 2,6-dideoxysugars has been developed using 2-deoxy- and 2,6-dideoxythioglycosides as glycosyl donors. The approach allows a wide range of glycosyl acceptors and donors to be used; the alpha-selectivity is very good to excellent.     

Different EDC/NHS activation mechanisms between PAA and PMAA brushes and the following amidation reactions

Infrared spectroscopy was applied to investigate the well-known EDC/NHS (N-ethyl-N'-(3-(dimethylamino)propyl)carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide) activation details of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) brushes grafted on porous silicon. Succinimidyl ester (NHS-ester) is generally believed to be the dominant intermediate product, conveniently used to immobilize biomolecules containing free primary amino groups via amide linkage. To our surprise, the infrared spectral details revealed that the EDC/NHS activation of PMAA generated anhydride (estimated at around 76% yield and 70% composition), but not NHS-ester (around 5% yield and 11% composition) under the well-documented reaction conditions, as the predominant intermediate product. In contrast, EDC/NHS activation of PAA still follows the general rule, i.e., the expected NHS-ester is the dominant intermediate product (around 45% yield and 57% composition), anhydride the side product (40% yield and 28% composition), under the optimum reaction conditions. The following amidation on PAA-based NHS-esters with a model amine-containing compound, L-leucine methyl ester, generated approximately 70% amides and 30% carboxylates. In contrast, amidation of PAA- or PMAA-based anhydrides with L-leucine methyl ester only produced less than 30% amides but more than 70% carboxylates. The above reaction yields and percentage compositions were estimated by fitting the carbonyl stretching region with 5 possible species, NHS-ester, anhydride, N-acylurea, unreacted acid, unhydrolyzed tert-butyl ester, and using the Beer-Lambert law. The different surface chemistry mechanisms will bring significant effects on the performance of surface chemistry-derived devices such as biochips, biosensors, and biomaterials.     

Monolithic silica capillary column with coated cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) for capillary electrochromatographic separation of enantiomers

Monolithic silica capillary columns were prepared by a sol-gel process in fused-silica capillaries with an inner diameter of 50 microm and were modified by coating of cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate). Influences of the factors in the modification process on enantiomer separations were investigated. The prepared columns were used to perform enantiomer separations by CEC. Fifteen and two pairs of enantiomers were separated under aqueous and nonaqueous mobile phases, respectively, and most of them were baseline-separated with very high column efficiencies. The Van Deemter curve was found flat under high linear velocity of the mobile phase, which indicated favorable kinetic properties of the prepared columns. Baseline separation of a pair of enantiomers was achieved in 90 s with high-column efficiency by short-end separation under high voltage.     

Theoretical study of the surface energy and electronic structure of pyrite FeS2 (100) using a total-energy pseudopotential method, CASTEP

The geometric and electronic structures of FeS(2) (100) surface have been studied by a quantum-mechanical calculation using a total-energy pseudopotential code, CASTEP. The (100) surface is very stable and does not give any significant geometric relaxation. The electronic structure of FeS(2) (100) surface is characterized by the appearance of new native surface states in the bulk band gap, which correspond to antibonding mixed Fea-Ssp(3) states. These surface states play an important role as mediators of electron transfer on both anodic and cathodic sites in the incipient oxidation of pyrite. Moreover, the (100) surface has small band gaps and shows some metallic character. It is predicted that the rate of cathodic reductive reaction of O(2) in the incipient oxidation of pyrite is much faster than previously considered. The transport of electrons from the anodic sites to the cathodic sites on the (100) surface is faster and hole injection of anodic sites is not the rate-determining step. So we can deduce that the rate-determining step of incipient oxidation for pyrite consists of both electron transfer of pyrite/aqueous O(2) interface and the splitting of H(2)O.     

Label-free detection of nucleic acids by turn-on and turn-off G-quadruplex-mediated fluorescence

In this study we have used two fluorescent probes, tetrakis(diisopropylguanidino)-zinc-phthalocyanine (Zn-DIGP) and N-methylmesoporphyrin IX (NMM), to monitor the reassembly of “split” G-quadruplex probes on hybridization with an arbitrary “target” DNA. According to this approach, each split probe is designed to contain half of a G-quadruplex-forming sequence fused to a variable sequence that is complementary to the target DNA. Upon mixing the individual components, both base-pairing interactions and G-quadruplex fragment reassembly result in a duplex–quadruplex three-way junction that can bind to fluorescent dyes in a G-quadruplex-specific way. The overall fluorescence intensities of the resulting complexes were dependent on the formation of proper base-pairing interactions in the duplex regions, and on the exact identity of the fluorescent probe. Compared with samples lacking any “target” DNA, the fluorescence intensities of Zn-DIGP-containing samples were lower, and the fluorescence intensities of NMM-containing samples were higher on addition of the target DNA. The resulting biosensors based on Zn-DIGP are therefore termed “turn-off” whereas the biosensors containing NMM are defined as “turn-on”. Both of these biosensors can detect target DNAs with a limit of detection in the nanomolar range, and can discriminate mismatched from perfectly matched target DNAs. In contrast with previous biosensors based on the peroxidase activity of heme-bound split G-quadruplex probes, the use of fluorescent dyes eliminates the need for unstable sensing components (H₂O₂, hemin, and ABTS). Our approach is direct, easy to conduct, and fully compatible with the detection of specific DNA sequences in biological fluids. Having two different types of probe was highly valuable in the context of applied studies, because Zn-DIGP was found to be compatible with samples containing both serum and urine whereas NMM was compatible with urine, but not with serum-containing samples.     

Determination of tanshinone I in rat plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography and its application to pharmacokinetic studies

This paper describes a rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the determination of the concentration of tanshinone I in rat plasma, and applies the method to pharmacokinetic study. The plasma is deproteinized with acetonitrile containing an internal standard (estradiolbenzoate). The HPLC assay is carried out using a Cosmosil C18 column. The mobile phase is acetonitrile, 0.05 mol/L(-1) ammonium acetate buffer with 1% acetic acid (66:34, v/v). The flow rate is 1.0 mL/min. The detection wavelength is set at 263 nm. The assay accuracy is better than 92%, and the precision of tanshinone I at low to high concentrations is better than 9% and 11% for intra-day and inter-day assays, respectively. The recovery of the method exceeds 88.3% for tanshinone I. The assay shows good linearity (r = 0.9998) over a relatively wide concentration range from 0.05 to 10.0 microg/mL. The method is used to determine the concentration-time profiles of tanshinone I in plasma following an intravenous injection of tanshinone I solution, and the pharmacokinetic parameters of tanshinone I are calculated for the first time by the Drug and Statistics 1.0 program. This assay is successfully applied to the determination of tanshinone I in rat plasma, and the developed method is applied to pharmacokinetic studies for the first time.     

Asymmetric synthesis of hydrobenzofuranones via desymmetrization of cyclohexadienones using the intramolecular Stetter reaction

Dearomatization of phenols followed by oxidation affords cyclohexadienyloxyacetaldehydes, which produce hydrobenzofuranones via asymmetric intramolecular Stetter reaction in good to excellent yield. Quaternary as well as up to three contiguous stereocenters may be formed in good to excellent enantioselectivities and high diastereoselectivities.