Functionalization of nanofibrillated cellulose with silver nanoclusters: fluorescence and antibacterial activity

Native cellulose nanofibers are functionalized using luminescent metal nanoclusters to form a novel type of functional nanocellulose/nanocluster composite. Previously, various types of cellulose fibers have been functionalized with large, non-luminescent metal nanoparticles. Here, mechanically strong native cellulose nanofibers, also called nanofibrillatedcellulose (NFC), microfibrillatedcellulose (MFC) ornanocellulose, disintegrated from macroscopic cellulose pulp fibers are used as support for small and fluorescent silver nanoclusters. The functionalization occurs in a supramolecular manner, mediated by poly(methacrylic acid) that protects nanoclusters while it allows hydrogen bonding with cellulose, leading to composites with fluorescence and antibacterial activity.     

3-Deoxygalactosone, a new glucose degradation product in peritoneal dialysis fluids: Identification, quantification by HPLC/DAD/MSMS and its pathway of formation

Heat sterilization of peritoneal dialysis (PD) fluids leads to the formation of glucose degradation products (GDPs), which considerably impair long-term application of PD. Knowledge of the exact composition of GDPs present in a PD fluid is important to improve the biocompatibility of dialysis solutions. The present study conducted a targeted screening for novel GDPs with α-dicarbonyl structure in PD fluids. Thus, 3-deoxygalactosone (3-DGal) was identified for the first time in PD fluids. Quantification of 3-DGal was achieved by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/DAD/MSMS after derivatization with o-phenylendiamine to yield the quinoxaline derivative. Baseline separation of all α-dicarbonyl GDPs, particularly of the diastereomers 3-deoxyglucosone (3-DG) and 3-DGal, required the application of a polar, phenyl-based RP column for HPLC and additional pH-gradient elution. Concentrations of 3-DGal ranged between 55.8 and 136.9 μM in single-chamber PD fluids, and between 2.5 and 12.4 μM in double-chamber PD fluids. In solutions containing glucose, 3-DGal is formed from 3-DG via the intermediate 3,4-dideoxyglucosone-3-ene (3,4-DGE). Further studies are now required to determine the (patho-)physiological properties of 3-DGal.     

A cobalt complex of a microbial arene oxidation product

ABSTRACT: We report the first synthesis of a cobalt Cp diene complex wherein the diene is derived by microbial dearomatising dihydroxylation of an aromatic ring. The complex has been characterised crystallographically and its structure is compared to that of an uncomplexed diene precursor.     

Luminscent graphene quantum dots for organic photovoltaic devices

Recent research in organic photovoltaic (OPV) is largely focused on developing low cost OPV materials such as graphene. However, graphene sheets (GSs) blended conjugated polymers are known to show inferior OPV characteristics as compared to fullerene adduct blended with conjugated polymer. Here, we demonstrate that graphene quantum dots blended with regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) or poly(2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4phenylenevinylene) polymer results in a significant improvement in the OPV characteristics as compared to GSs blended conjugated polymers. This work has implications for inexpensive and efficient solar cells as well as organic light emitting diodes.     

Sharp convex Lorentz–Sobolev inequalities

New sharp Lorentz–Sobolev inequalities are obtained by convexifying level sets in Lorentz integrals via the L ^p Minkowski problem. New L ^p isocapacitary and isoperimetric inequalities are proved for Lipschitz star bodies. It is shown that the sharp convex Lorentz–Sobolev inequalities are analytic analogues of isocapacitary and isoperimetric inequalities.     

Multireference coupled-cluster theory: the easy way

The multi-ionization equation-of-motion coupled-cluster (CC) method is developed for multireference (MR) problems. It is operationally single reference, depending upon a formal matrix diagonalization step to define the coefficients in the wavefunction in an unbiased way that allows for important MR character. The method is illustrated for the autoisomerization of cyclobutadiene, which has a very large multireference effect and compared to other MR-CC results. The newly implemented methods are also used to obtain the vertical double ionization (DI) potentials of several small molecules (H(2)O, CO, C(2)H(2), C(2)H(4)). Also, the performance of the new methods is analyzed by plotting the potential energy curve for twisted ethylene as a function of a dihedral angle between two methylenes. Evaluation of the total molecular energy via MR-DI-CC calculations makes it possible to avoid an unphysical cusp.     

The start-to-end chemometric image processing of 2D thin-layer videoscans

The purpose of the research was to recommend a unified procedure of image preprocessing of 2D thin layer videoscans for further supervised or unsupervised chemometric analysis. All work was done with open source software. The videoscans saved as JPG files underwent the following procedures: denoising using a median filter, baseline removal with the rollerball algorithm and nonlinear warping using spline functions. The application of the proposed procedure enabled filtration of random difference between images (background intensity changes and spatial differences of the spots location). After the preprocessing only spot intensities have an influence on the performed PCA or other techniques. The proposed technique was successfully applied to recognize the differences between three Carex species from the 2D videoscans of the extracts. The proposed solution may be of value for the any chemometric task--both unsupervised and supervised.     

Vibrational transitions of the 7LiH+ ion calculated without the Born-Oppenheimer approximation and with leading relativistic corrections

We recently presented very accurate calculations of the fundamental vibrational frequency of the (7)LiH(+) and (3)He(4)He(+) ions [Stanke et al. Phys. Rev. A 79, 060501(R) (2009)] performed without the Born-Oppenheimer approximation and included leading relativistic corrections. The accuracy of those calculations was estimated to be of the order of 0.06 cm(-1). In the present work we extend the calculations to the remaining pure vibrational states of (7)LiH(+) and similarly accurate results are generated. They may lead to the experimental search for still unidentified lines corresponding to those transitions.     

Chemoselective and enantioselective analysis of proteinogenic amino acids utilizing N-derivatization and 1-D enantioselective anion-exchange chromatography in combination with tandem mass spectrometric detection

D-Amino acid analysis in biological samples still poses a challenge to analytical chemists. In higher developed species trace amounts of d-amino acids have to be detected in vast excesses of the corresponding L-enantiomers. This method utilizes an easy-to-carry-out derivatization step on the amino group with an iron ferrocenyl propionate hydroxy succinimide ester followed by one-dimensional enantioselective anion exchange chromatography with cinchona alkaloid based chiral stationary phases (CSPs). MS detection is carried out in the highly sensitive SRM (selected reaction monitoring) mode, which allows a chemoselective differentiation of amino acid derivatives as well as their enantioselective separation in one step. Application of this method allows LOD (limits of detection) in the low μmol L(-1) range and baseline enantioseparation for all proteinogenic amino acids except for Pro, Arg and His. The D-enantiomers of isomeric Leu and Ile were separated chromatographically and pose an example for the complementary selectivities of LC and MS. A successful application of this procedure to unprocessed human urine indicated the eligibility to analyse biological samples.     

Observation of B(s)⁰→J/ψf₀(980) and evidence for B(s)⁰→J/ψf₀(1370)

We report the observation of B(s)?→J/ψf?(980) and evidence for B(s)?→J/ψf?(1370), which are CP eigenstate decay modes. These results are obtained from 121.4 fb?1 of data collected at the Υ(5S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB e(+)e? collider. We measure the branching fractions B(B(s)?→J/ψf?(980); f?(980)→π(+)π?)=(1.16(-0.19)(+0.31)(stat)(-0.17)(+0.15)(syst)(-0.18)(+0.26)(N(B(s)((*))B(s)((*)))))×10?? with a significance of 8.4σ, and B(B(s)?→J/ψf?(1370); f?(1370)→π(+)π?)=(0.34(-0.14)(+0.11)(stat)(-0.02)(+0.03)(syst)(-0.05)(+0.08)(N(B(s)((*))B(s)((*)))))×10?? with a significance of 4.2σ. The last error listed is due to uncertainty in the number of produced B(s)((*))B(s)((*)) pairs.