Structure‐guided RP‐HPLC chromatography of diastereomeric α‐helical peptide analogs substituted with single amino acid stereoisomers

An α‐helical model peptide (Ac‐EAEKAAKE‐X‐EKAAKEAEK‐amide) was used as a template to examine the efficacy of conventional reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography (RP‐HPLC) in separating peptide analogs with single substitutions (at position X) of diasteromeric amino acids Ile, allo‐Ile, d ‐Ile and d ‐allo‐Ile. We compared differences in peptide retention behavior on a C₈ column and a C₁₈ column at different temperatures. We demonstrated how subtle differences in peptide secondary structure affected by the different substitutions of amino acids with identical overall hydrophobicity enabled effective resolution of these peptide analogs. We also demonstrated the ability of RP‐HPLC to separate Ile‐ and allo‐Ile‐substituted analogs of a 26‐residue α‐helical antimicrobial peptide (AMP), with the substitution site towards the C‐terminus of the α‐helix. These peptides show different values of antibacterial activity and hemolytic activity, and different selectivity against bacteria and human cells. Our results underline the ability of RP‐HPLC to resolve even difficult diasteromeric peptide mixtures as well as its value in monitoring very subtle hydrophobicity changes in de novo‐designed AMP. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling the deformation behavior of nanocrystalline alloy with hierarchical microstructures

A mechanism-based plasticity model based on dislocation theory is developed to describe the mechanical behavior of the hierarchical nanocrystalline alloys. The stress–strain relationship is derived by invoking the impeding effect of the intra-granular solute clusters and the inter-granular nanostructures on the dislocation movements along the sliding path. We found that the interaction between dislocations and the hierarchical microstructures contributes to the strain hardening property and greatly influence the ductility of nanocrystalline metals. The analysis indicates that the proposed model can successfully describe the enhanced strength of the nanocrystalline hierarchical alloy. Moreover, the strain hardening rate is sensitive to the volume fraction of the hierarchical microstructures. The present model provides a new perspective to design the microstructures for optimizing the mechanical properties in nanostructural metals.     

Crystal structure of meso‐substituted pyrazolyl porphyrin complexes and their highly active catalyst for oxidation of alkylbenzenes

During the past few years, a great deal of effort has been devoted to the anchoring of catalytic oxidation. In this work, three new catalysts CuPp, MnPp and ZnPp by solvothermal methods with 5, 10, 15, 20‐tetrakis(4‐N‐pyrazolyl)‐phenyl porphyrin (H₂Pp) and the corresponding metal salts have been synthesized and structurally characterized. The single crystal structures determined by X‐ray diffraction show the bond distances of M‐N in porphyrin cores determined the conformation of porphyrin rings. We explored the catalytic activity of CoPp, CuPp, MnPp and ZnPp for oxidation of alkylbenzenes. The experimental results display these products exhibit high catalytic activities and selectivities for oxidation of ethylbenzene to acetophenone, and can be reused by filtration without appreciable decrease in catalytic activity and selectivity.     

Ni/TPC催化剂的制备、表征及在秸秆热解燃气重整中的应用

以废弃汽车外轮胎热解后的副产物轮胎热解焦（Tyre pyrolysis char，TPC）为原料，利用均匀沉淀法制备以轮胎焦为载体的负载型Ni/TPC催化剂，采用EDX、SEM、XRD、TG、BET手段对催化剂进行了表征与分析，同时使用管式炉测试了Ni/TPC催化剂在秸秆热解燃气重整中的催化性能，并考察了热解温度、保温时间、镍负载量及催化时间对秸秆热解燃气重整效果的影响。研究结果表明，TPC富含焦和金属，Ni/TPC催化剂分散均匀，热稳定性好，比表面积为62 m²/g。催化剂活性测试显示，Ni/TPC催化剂用于作物秸秆热解燃气重整具有很强的催化活性，可显著提高燃气中可燃气体含量；热解温度在750℃、保温时间10 min、30%的Ni负载量时Ni/TPC催化剂的催化效率最高，连续使用850 min后，燃气中的H₂含量仍相对提高到50%以上，长时间使用后活性结构由Ni₃ZnC_0.7转变成FeNi₃，催化活性依然较强且趋于稳定，TPC可以作为良好的新型镍基催化剂载体。     

A concise review on microbial remediation cells (MRCs) in soil and groundwater radionuclides remediation

Currently, the existing microbial radionuclides transformations processes are not completely understood. Bacteria, however, solubilize radionuclides by direct enzymatic reduction, or indirectly by its metabolites and by facilitating electrochemical redox systems. Microbes exchange electrons from proteins, organelles, metabolites to metals and electrodes have strengthened the novel bioremediation methods. In contrast, MRCs based on this redox behavior has offered considerable value over traditional treatment because of growing renewable and conception of energy incentives methods. Moreover, MRCs provides a flexible platform that enables us to access integrated treatment process of generating power and for recovering valuable resources from the contaminated sites.     

Study on an optical system with coherent laser array source and phase optimization in turbulent atmosphere

Model of an optical system with coherent laser array source and the piston phase optimized by the stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm is established. With this model, theory of beam propagation through the optical system in turbulent atmosphere is analyzed, and the analytical formulas of the beam average intensity along the propagation path are derived. Strehl ratio of the received beam induced by intensity disorderly distribution and power efficiency of the received beam are introduced to evaluate performance of the optical system. Under the H-V 5/7 atmospheric turbulent model, performance of an optical system with determinate parameters was calculated, and the influences of the propagation distance and the laser wavelength were numerically analyzed, respectively.     

Phosphorylation of graphehe oxide to improve adsorption of U(VI) from aquaeous solutions

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The graphene oxide (GO) was functionalized with phosphate groups and applied as an effective adsorbent for the removal of uranium from aqueous...