New Polypeptides from Chinese Mistletoe, Viscum coloratum （Kom.） Nakai

Mistletoes are perennial evergreen, semi-parasitic plants growing on branches or stems of deciduous trees. As a medical plant, mistletoe has the reputation of “magic herb” in Europe and has been used for numerous conditions. Its aqueous extractions have…     

TB-curve, a New 2-D Graphical Representation of DNA Sequences

Based on the classifications of the four nucleic acid bases, we introduce a new 2-D method of DNA representation: TB-curve, which avoids loss of information accompanying alternative 2-D representation in which the curve standing for DNA overlaps and intersects itself. The method is illustrated on the coding sequence of the first exon of human beta-globin gene.     

Synthesis, crystal structures, luminescent and magnetic properties of homodinuclear lanthanide complexes with a flexible tripodal carboxylate ligand

Six new homodinuclear lanthanide(III) complexes with a flexible tripodal carboxylate ligand (H(3)L), of formulae [Ln(2)L(2)(DMF)(4)]·4DMF (Ln = La (1), Nd (2), Eu (3), Gd (4), Tb (5), Dy (6), DMF = N, N-Dimethylformamide) have been synthesized. Among them, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which crystallized in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/n with a = 13.309(2) ?, b = 27.404(4) ?, c = 16.686(3) ?, β = 105.115(2) and V = 5875.2(17) ?(3) for 1, a = 13.3016(5) ?, b = 27.1952(12) ?, c = 16.6339(7) ?, β = 105.030(2) and V = 5811.3(4) ?(3) for 2, a = 13.2797(10) ?, b = 27.072(2) ?, c = 16.6564(13) ?, β = 104.9390(10) and V = 5785.7(8) ?(3) for 3, a = 13.2855(3) ?, b = 27.0074(6) ?, c = 16.6357(3) ?, β = 104.9790(10) and V = 5766.2(2) ?(3) for 4, a = 13.2837(5) ?, b = 26.9105(10) ?, c = 16.6066(6) ?, β = 104.917(2) and V = 5736.3(4) ?(3) for 6. The crystal structures reveal that these complexes are isostructural, and molecules are connected from 0D to 3D supramolecular structures by hydrogen bonds. All of them were characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, XRD and TGA. Unusually, non-luminescent Tb(III) complex was obtained. The photophysical property of the Eu(III) complex and the magnetic property of Gd(III) complex are investigated and discussed in detail.     

Ring-closing and dehydrogenation reactions of highly excited cis-stilbene: ultrafast spectroscopy and structural dynamics

The ultrafast dynamics of highly excited cis-stilbene (CS) in a molecular beam is explored using femtosecond time-resolved mass spectrometry and structure-sensitive photoelectron spectroscopy. cis-Stilbene is initially pumped by a 6 eV photon to the 7(1)B state and the reaction is followed by ionization with a time-delayed 3 eV probe pulse. Upon excitation, cis-stilbene rapidly decays to the 3(1)B state, where it undergoes a ring-closing reaction to form 4a,4b-dihydrophenanthrene (DHP). Whereas 14% of the ionized CS molecules dissociate one hydrogen atom to form hydrophenanthrene, the ionized DHP molecules completely dehydrogenate in the ion state to produce hydrophenanthrene and phenanthrene with a 1:1 ratio. We determined the lifetimes of the 7(1)B state and the 3(1)B state of CS to be 167 and 395 fs, respectively.     

Semiconductor quantum dots photosensitizing release of anticancer drug

A new photo-controlled anticancer drug release system is reported based on the photo-induced electron transfer (PET) between semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and N-methyl-4-picolinium (NAP) ester 1 under the excitation of visible light.     

Plasmonic gold nanocrosses with multidirectional excitation and strong photothermal effect

We report a facile chemical synthesis of well-defined gold nanocrosses through anisotropic growth along both <110> and <001>, whereas gold nanorods grow only along either <110> or <001>. The multiple branching was achieved by breaking the face-centered-cubic lattice symmetry of gold through copper-induced formation of single or double twins, and the resulting gold nanocrosses exhibited pronounced near-IR absorption with a great extension to the mid-IR region. As studied by discrete dipole approximation (DDA) simulations, the entire nanocross gets excited even when one of the branches is exposed to incident light. The above properties make them useful as octopus antennas for capturing near-IR light for effective photothermal destruction of cells. The cell damage process was analyzed using the Arrhenius model, and its intrinsic thermodynamic characteristics were determined quantitatively. Besides effective photothermal treatment and two-photon luminescence imaging, the near- and mid-IR-absorbing gold nanocrosses may also find applications in IR sensing, thermal imaging, telecommunications, and the like.     

Precursor-directed fungal generation of novel halogenated chaetoglobosins with more preferable immunosuppressive action

Precursor-fed cultivation of endophytic Chaetomium globosum 1C51 afforded nine novel "unnatural" halogenated chaetoglobosins including those with more preferable immunosuppressive activity.     

Simultaneous Determination of Cimaterol, Salbutamol, Terbutaline and Ractopamine in Feed by SPE Coupled to UPLC

An ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method was established for the simultaneous determination of cimaterol, salbutamol, terbutaline, and ractopamine in feed. Target compounds were extracted with methanol and centrifuged. The supernatant was then transferred and concentrated, and applied to a solid phase extraction MCX cartridge for clean-up before UPLC analysis. The calibration curves for the four ??-agonists were good linear in concentration range of 0.05?C1.0 ??g mL^?1 with the correlation coefficients (r) over 0.999. The average recoveries were in the range of 90.1?C101.4% with relative standard deviation values lower than 8.0%.     

Colorimetric ��naked-eye�� sensor for anions based on conformational flexible tripodal receptor

A new tripodal receptor for anion sensing based on amide-pyridinium as recognition site and nitro-benzene as signaling unit was designed and successfully synthesized. This receptor showed high selectivity and strong binding affinity toward AcO^? over the investigated anions, especially over H₂PO₄ ^?. Addition of AcO^? induced clear color change of solution from colorless to yellow, realizing the ??naked-eye?? detection. UV?CVis and ¹H NMR experiments indicated the selectivity might origin from the synergistic effects arising from hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interactions and conformational change.     

Zeolite micro fuel cell

Microfabricated HZSM-5 micromembranes were successfully employed as a proton-exchange membrane in a micro fuel cell and the energy generation is strongly dependent on the Al-content of the HZSM-5.