A sensitive method for determination of salvianolic acid A in rat plasma using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

Salvianolic acid A (SAA), a major effective constituent of Salvia miltiorrhizas, is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. A sensitive rapid analytical method was established and validated for SAA in rat plasma, which was further applied to assess the pharmacokinetics of SAA in rats receiving a single oral dose of SAA. The method used liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode with chloramphenicol as the internal standard. A simple liquid-liquid extraction based on ethyl acetate was employed. The combination of a simple sample cleanup and short chromatographic run time (3 min) increased the throughput of the method substantially. The method was validated over the range 1.4-1000 ng/mL with a correlation coefficient >0.99. The lower limit of quantification was 1.4 ng/mL for SAA in plasma. Intra- and inter-day accuracies for SAA were 95-113 and 98-107%, and the inter-day precision was less than 12%. This method is more sensitive and faster than previous methods. After a single oral dose of 100 mg/kg of SAA, the mean peak plasma concentration (Cmax) of SAA was 318 ng/mL at 0.5 h, the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC0-12 h) was 698 +/- 129 ng.h/mL, and the elimination half-life (T1/2) was 3.29 h.     

Single cell determination of nitric oxide release using capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection

Measurements of nitric oxide (NO) release at single cell level are fundamental to understand the diverse physiological functions of this remarkable molecule. To achieve this purpose, capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF) was originally described for the sensitive determination of NO release in individual neuron and mammalian cell after 8-(3,4-diaminophenyl)-2,6-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-4,4-difluoro-1,3,5,7-tetramethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (DAMBO-P(H)) was chosen as the fluorescent probe. Various parameters affecting NO trapping in vivo and CE separation were systematically studied. Under the optimal conditions, complete and fast separation of the resulted targeted high-fluorescent triazole (DAMBO-P(H)-T) was achieved in about 3 min (2.89 min), and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) values of migration time and peak area were less than 5% and 9% for intra-day and inter-day assays, respectively. The detection limit was 42 amol (at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3). The feasibility of application of the developed method was validated by successfully applied to the measurements of NO release from four single cell study models. This original application of this method in diverse samples represents a powerful tool to study the kinetics of NO release by neuronal cells during neurotransmission, as well as for the understanding of the pathobiological and therapeutic basis of this molecule for cardiovascular diseases and under oxidative stress.     

卤化物固态电解质研究进展

全固态电池因其高能量密度和高安全性而成为具有发展前景的下一代储能技术。开发具有高室温离子电导率、优异化学/电化学稳定性、良好正/负极兼容性的固态电解质是实现全固态电池实用化的关键。卤化物固态电解质因其优异的电化学窗口、高正极稳定性、可接受的室温锂离子电导率等优势,受到了广泛的关注。本文通过对近年来卤化物电解质的相关研究进行总结,综述了该类电解质的组成、结构、离子传导路径及制备方法,并分析了金属卤化物电解质的电导率、稳定性特点,归纳了近年来该电解质在全固态电池中具有代表性的应用,并基于以上总结和分析,指出了卤化物固态电解质的研究难点及发展方向。     

Anion Storage Chemistry of Organic Cathodes for High-Energy and High-Power Density Divalent Metal Batteries

Multivalent batteries show promising prospects for next-generation sustainable energy storage applications. Herein, we report a polytriphenylamine (PTPAn) composite cathode capable of highly reversible storage of tetrakis(hexafluoroisopropyloxy) borate [B(hfip)₄] anions in both Magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) battery systems. Spectroscopic and computational studies reveal the redox reaction mechanism of the PTPAn cathode material. The Mg and Ca cells exhibit a cell voltage >3 V, a high-power density of ∼∼3000 W kg⁻¹ and a high-energy density of ∼∼300 Wh kg⁻¹, respectively. Moreover, the combination of the PTPAn cathode with a calcium-tin (Ca−Sn) alloy anode could enable a long battery-life of 3000 cycles with a capacity retention of 60 %. The anion storage chemistry associated with dual-ion electrochemical concept demonstrates a new feasible pathway towards high-performance divalent ion batteries.     

Enhancing Built-in Electric Fields for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution by Encapsulating C60 Fullerene into Zirconium-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks

High-efficiency photocatalysts based on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are often limited by poor charge separation and slow charge-transfer kinetics. Herein, a novel MOF photocatalyst is successfully constructed by encapsulating C₆₀ into a nano-sized zirconium-based MOF, NU-901. By virtue of host-guest interactions and uneven charge distribution, a substantial electrostatic potential difference is set-up in C₆₀@NU-901. The direct consequence is a robust built-in electric field, which tends to be 10.7 times higher in C₆₀@NU-901 than that found in NU-901. In the catalyst, photogenerated charge carriers are efficiently separated and transported to the surface. For example, photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaches 22.3 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ for C₆₀@NU-901, which is among the highest values for MOFs. Our concept of enhancing charge separation by harnessing host-guest interactions constitutes a promising strategy to design photocatalysts for efficient solar-to-chemical energy conversion.     

In Situ Polymerized 1,3-Dioxolane Electrolyte for Integrated Solid-State Lithium Batteries

Solid-state lithium batteries are promising and safe energy storage devices for mobile electronics and electric vehicles. In this work, we report a facile in situ polymerization of 1,3-dioxolane electrolytes to fabricate integrated solid-state lithium batteries. The in situ polymerization and formation of solid-state dioxolane electrolytes on interconnected carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and active materials is the key to realizing a high-performance battery with excellent interfacial contact among CNTs, active materials and electrolytes. Therefore, the electrodes could be tightly integrated into batteries through the CNTs and electrolyte. Electrons/ions enable full access to active materials in the whole electrode. Electrodes with a low resistance of 4.5 Ω □⁻¹ and high lithium-ion diffusion efficiency of 2.5×10⁻¹¹ cm² s⁻¹ can significantly improve the electrochemical kinetics. Subsequently, the batteries demonstrated high energy density, amazing charge/discharge rate and long cycle life.     

Lithium Ferrocyanide Catholyte for High-Energy and Low-cost Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries**

Aqueous redox flow batteries (ARFBs) are a promising technology for grid-scale energy storage, however, their commercial success relies on redox-active materials (RAM) with high electron storage capacity and cost competitiveness. Herein, a redox-active material lithium ferrocyanide (Li₄[Fe(CN)₆]) is designed. Li⁺ ions not only greatly boost the solubility of [Fe(CN)₆]⁴⁻ to 2.32 M at room temperature due to weak intermolecular interactions, but also improves the electrochemical performance of [Fe(CN)₆]^4−/3−. By coupling with Zn, ZIRFBs were built, and the capacity of the batteries was as high as 61.64 Ah L⁻¹ (pH-neutral) and 56.28 Ah L⁻¹ (alkaline) at a [Fe(CN)₆]⁴⁻ concentration of 2.30 M and 2.10 M. These represent unprecedentedly high [Fe(CN)₆]⁴⁻ concentrations and battery energy densities reported to date. Moreover, benefiting from the low cost of Li₄[Fe(CN)₆], the overall chemical cost of alkaline ZIRFB is as low as $11 per kWh, which is one-twentieth that of the state-of-the-art VFB ($211.54 per kWh). This work breaks through the limitations of traditional electrolyte composition optimization and will strongly promote the development of economical [Fe(CN)₆]^4−/3−-based RFBs in the future.     

Promoting Photocatalytic H2 Evolution through Retarded Charge Trapping and Recombination by Continuously Distributed Defects in Methylammonium Lead Iodide Perovskite

Inspired by its great success in the photovoltaic field, methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (MAPbI₃) has recently been actively explored as photocatalysts in H₂ evolution reactions. However, the practical application of MAPbI₃ photocatalysts remains hampered by the intrinsically fast trapping and recombination of photogenerated charges. Herein, we propose a novel strategy of regulating the distribution of defective areas to promote charge-transfer dynamics of MAPbI₃ photocatalysts. By deliberately designing and synthesizing the MAPbI₃ photocatalysts featuring a unique continuation of defective areas, we demonstrate that such a feature enables retardation of charge trapping and recombination via lengthening the charge-transfer distance. As an outcome, such MAPbI₃ photocatalysts turn out to achieve an impressive photocatalytic H₂ evolution rate as high as 0.64 mmol ⋅ g⁻¹ ⋅ h⁻¹, one order of magnitude higher than that of the conventional MAPbI₃ photocatalysts. This work establishes a new paradigm for controlling charge-transfer dynamics in photocatalysis.