Dispersed fluorescence spectroscopy of jet-cooled HCF and DCF: Vibrational structure of the X 1A' state

We recorded dispersed fluorescence (DF) spectra following excitation of the pure bending levels 2(0) (n) and the combination states 1(0) (1)2(0) (n) and 2(0) (n)3(0) (1) in the A 1A"<--X 1A' system of HCF and DCF. Spectra were measured with a 0.3 m spectrograph equipped with a gated intensified charge coupled device (CCD) detector and obtained under jet-cooled conditions using a pulsed discharge source. The DF spectra reveal rich detail concerning the vibrational structure of the X state up to 10 000 cm(-1). For HCF, resonances among the nearly degenerate levels 1(1)2n, 2n+13(1), and 2n+2 produce a polyadlike structure in the spectrum, and the usual effective spectroscopic Hamiltonian (Dunham expansion) poorly reproduces the experimental term energies. In contrast, this Hamiltonian works well for the term energies of DCF. Density functional calculations of the ground state vibrational frequencies were performed; the results are in excellent agreement with the experimentally derived vibrational parameters. The search for perturbations involving the low-lying a 3A" state is described.     

Ce10Cl4Ga5 and Ln3ClGa4 (Ln = La,Ce): reduced halides or oxidized intermetallics?

The compounds Ce(10)Cl(4)Ga(5) and Ln(3)ClGa(4) (Ln = La, Ce) were synthesized from stoichiometric mixtures of Ln, LnCl(3), and Ga under Ar atmosphere in sealed Ta ampules at 910-1020 degrees C for 25-26 days. Ce(10)Cl(4)Ga(5) is isostructural to La(10)Cl(4)Ga(5) (space group I4/mcm, No. 140) with lattice constants a = 7.9546(11) A, c = 31.793(6) A. Ln(3)ClGa(4) represents a new structural type, also in the space group I4/mcm, with a = 8.1955(8) and 8.1123(11) A, c = 11.363(2) and 11.229(2) A, respectively, for Ln = La and Ce. Ce(10)Cl(4)Ga(5) features building blocks of Ga-centered Ce(6) trigonal prisms and distinctive two-dimensional intermetallic CuAl(2) and U(3)Si(2) type nets. Its electronic structure falls within the realm of reduced rare-earth halides. Ln(3)ClGa(4) also contains the intermetallic CuAl(2) type nets, but the interstitials are inverted: The building blocks are Cl-centered Ln(6) octahedra. Its electronic structure is characterized by strong peripheral Ln-Ga bonding stabilizing the Ln(6)Cl octahedron which normally would have its Ln-Ln antibonding orbitals filled with electrons from interstitials beyond chalcogen. Magnetic susceptibility and conductivity measurements confirm the metallic nature of all three compounds.     

Simulation of large-scale production of a soluble recombinant protein expressed in Escherichia coli using an intein-mediated purification system

Inteins are self-cleavable proteins that under reducing conditions can be cleaved from a recombinant target protein. Industrially, an intein-based system could potentially reduce production costs of recombinant proteins by facilitating a highly selective affinity purification using an inexpensive substrate such as chitin. In this study, SuperPro Designer was used to simulate the large-scale recovery of a soluble recombinant protein expressed in Escherichia coli using an intein-mediated purification process based on the commercially available IMPACT system. The intein process was also compared with a conventional process simulated by SuperPro. The intein purification process initially simulated was significantly more expensive than the conventional process, primarily owing to the properties of the chitin resin and high reducing-agent (dithiothreitol [DTT]) raw material cost. The intein process was sensitive to the chitin resin binding capacity, cleavage efficiency of the intein fusion protein, the size of the target protein relative to the intein tag, and DTT costs. An optimized intein purification process considerably reduced costs by simulating an improved chitin resin and alternative reducing agents. Thus, to realize the full potential of intein purification processes, research is needed to improve the properties of chitin resin and to find alternative, inexpensive raw materials.     

Determination of cefdinir levels in rat plasma and urine by high‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry: application to pharmacokinetics after oral and intravenous administration of cefdinir

A selective and sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method (LC‐MS/MS) was developed and validated for the determination of cefdinir in rat plasma and urine. Following a simple protein precipitation using methanol, chromatographic separation was achieved with a run time of 10 min using a Synergi 4 µ polar‐RP 80A column (150 × 2.0 mm, 4 µm) with a mobile phase consisting of 0.1% formic acid in water and methanol (65:35, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The protonated precursor and product ion transitions for cefdinir (m/z 396.1 → 227.2) and cefadroxil, an internal standard (m/z 364.2 → 208.0) were monitored in the multiple reaction monitoring in positive ion mode. The calibration curves for plasma and urine were linear over the concentration range 10–10,000 ng/mL. The lower limit of quantification was 10 ng/mL. All accuracy values were between 95.1 and 113.0% and the intra‐ and inter‐day precisions were <13.0% relative standard deviation. The stability under various conditions in rat plasma and urine was also found to be acceptable at three concentrations. The developed method was applied successfully to the pharmacokinetic study of cefdinir after oral and intravenous administration. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rapid LC‐MS/MS determination and pharmacokinetic application of linarin in rat plasma

A sensitive, selective and robust liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) method was developed for the rapid determination of linarin in rat plasma. Separation of the analyte and warfarin as internal standard (IS) from 100 μL rat plasma was carried out by simple protein precipitation treatment. Chromatographic separation of the analyte was performed on a Diamonsil® C₁₈ column (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) using isocratic mobile phase consisting of methanol–0.5% formic acid (80:20, v/v). The flow rate was 0.6 mL/min and the total run time was not more than 4.0 min. The method was validated over a wide dynamic concentration range of 1.00–1000 ng/mL for linarin. The precision and accuracy values for linarin met the acceptance criteria according to US Food and Drug Administration guidelines. Linarin was stable in the stability studies including a long‐term test (?80°C for 43 days), a short‐term test (ambient for 2 h and autosampler for 8 h) and three freeze–thaw cycles (?80–25°C). The developed assay method was applied to the pharmacokinetic study in rats after a single intramuscular administration of 713 µg/kg linarin. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Li-ion-conductive Li2TiO3-coated Li[Li0.2Mn0.51Ni0.19Co0.1]O2 for high-performance cathode material in lithium-ion battery

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Li2TiO3 is used as a novel coating material to modify Li(Li0.2Mn0.51Ni0.19Co0.1)O2 electrode to enhance the electrochemical performance of the host...     

Amorphous High-Entropy Hydroxides of Tunable Wide Solar Absorption for Solar Water Evaporation

The high-entropy materials have raised much attention in recent years due to their extraordinary performances in mechanical, catalysis, energy storage fields. Herein, a new type of high-entropy hydroxides (e.g., NiFeCoMnAl(OH)_x) that are amorphous and capable of broad solar absorption is reported. A facile one-pot co-precipitation method is employed to synthesize these amorphous high-entropy hydroxides (a-HEHOs) under ambient conditions. The a-HEHOs thus obtained display widely tunable bandgap (e.g., from 2.6 to 1.1 eV) due to their high-entropy and amorphous characteristics, enabling efficient light absorbance and photothermal conversion in the solar regime. Further solar water evaporation measurements show that the a-HEHOs delivered a considerable energy conversion efficiency of 55%, comparable to black titanium oxides that are synthesized using more complex and expensive methods.