RETRACTED ARTICLE: Microenvironment characterization for a novel biocompatible hybrid carbon-silicon material

The compatible carbon-silicon complex materials originated from precursor diglycerylsilane (DGS) and sugar-modified silane N-(3-triethoxysilylpropyl)gluconamide (GLS) have gained substantial popularity by demonstrating admirable properties to stabilize entrapped biomolecules. The microenvironment inside these materials, especially the distribution of sugar moieties inside the matrix, which is likely the most critical factor determining compatibility of these materials, still remains unclear. To deeply investigate the biocompatibility mechanism of these materials, we have adopted two different preparation routes for these materials by introducing GLS into the starting DGS sol stage, but things are different after the DGS gel is formed. A fluorescence probe rhodamine 6G is introduced herein in the DGS sol to monitor the distribution of GLS moieties, as well as the evolution of the microenvironment inside resulting materials. All in all, the findings demonstrated that the timing of GLS addition plays a critical role in controlling the evolution of the inner structure of materials, suggesting that this factor provides a promising route to tune the properties of the resulting materials. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20876176), Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars by the State Education Ministry, Key Project of Chinese Ministry of Education (Grant No. 109100), Doctoral Project of Shandong Province (Grant No. 2008BS09013), Research Foundation of Key Laboratory of Carbon Materials, Institute of Coal Chemistry, CAS (Grant No. KFJJ0506), and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. Q2007B02)     

Alkaloids from the Leaves and Stems of Daphniphyllum calycinum

One new alkaloid, named caldaphnidine H ( 1 ), together with eight known ones, daphnioldhanin G ( 2a ), methyl homosecodaphniphyllate ( 3 ), daphnezomine M ( 4 ), daphniyunine A ( 5 ), calyciphylline A ( 6 ), deoxycalyciphylline B ( 7 ), deoxyisocalyciphylline B ( 8 ), and calyciphylline B ( 9 ) was isolated from the leaves and stems of Daphniphyllum calycinum. The structure of 1 was established by spectral methods, especially 2D‐NMR techniques. The structure of daphnioldhanin G ( 2b ) reported previously was revised to 2a mainly by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and spectral analysis.     

Toxicokinetics and the related metabolites in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) after exposure to decabromodiphenyl ether

Decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE209) is poorly absorbed by mammals, and little information is available on the toxicokinetics of BDE209 and its metabolites in fish. In the present study, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were administered to 100 ng/g and 500 ng/g body wet weight of BDE209 via a single intraperitoneal injection and parent BDE209 and its metabolites were sequentially monitored for 28 days. The results showed that toxicokinetic profiles of BDE209 could be described by the one-compartment model. In the higher dose group (500 ng/g wet weight), the calculated half-life (t _1/2) and elimination rate (k _e) were 17.7 d and 0.039/d in the liver, and 100.3 d and 0.007/d in the muscle, respectively. Three major methoxylated brominated diphenyl ethers (MeO-BDEs) were detected with 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromo-5-methoxydiphenyl ether (5-MeO-BDE47) being detected in all tissue samples. There was no significant temporal change of 5-MeO-BDE47 concentration in the muscle, whereas an exponential increase was observed in the liver. Therefore, the metabolism rate of BDE209 depended on the administered dose. BDE209 was hardly accumulated in the muscle of rainbow trout, while the liver was a primary metabolic organ. MeO-BDEs were formed via metabolism of BDE209, which probably played a significant role in fish toxicology as a potential indicator.     

Reaction pathway and phase transitions in Al–Ti–Si system during differential thermal analysis

The present paper mainly studied the phase formation and reaction pathway of the Al–Ti–Si system in detail by thermal analysis combined with XRD and SEM observations. The phase formation sequence in Al–Ti–Si system from starting mixtures to final products with increasing temperature can be described as following: Al_(l) + Ti_(s) + Si_(s) → (Al–Si)_(l) + Ti_(s) + Si_(s) → Ti(Al,Si)_3(s) + Si_(s)Ti₅(Si,Al)₃ + Al_(l). More importantly, the solubility of Si in Ti(Al,Si)₃ decreased gradually while that of Al in Ti₅(Si,Al)₃ increased with temperature increasing, suggesting the transportation of Si atoms from intermediate aluminides Ti(Al,Si)₃ to final stable silicides Ti₅(Si,Al)₃ and hence further confirming the formation of Ti₅(Si,Al)₃ at the expense of Ti(Al,Si)₃.     

Three New Illudalane Sequiterpenoids from Pteris semipinnata

The chemical investigation of the aerial parts of Pteris semipinnata resulted in the isolation of three illudalane sesquiterpenoids, namely (2R)‐norpterosin B ( 1 ), (2R)‐12‐O‐β‐D ‐glucopyranosylnorpterosin B ( 2 ), and semipterosin A ( 3 ), along with three known compounds. The structures of 1 – 3 were established by spectroscopic methods, including extensive 2D‐NMR and CD analyses.     

An online method combining a Gasbench II with continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry to determine the content and isotopic compositions of minor amounts of carbonate in silicate rocks

An online method using continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF‐IRMS) interfaced with a Gasbench II device was established to analyze carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions and to estimate the content of minor amounts of carbonate in silicate rocks. The mixtures of standard materials and high‐purity quartz are firstly used to calibrate different quantities of carbonate in silicates. The results suggest that the accuracy and precision of the online analysis are both better than those obtained using an offline method. There is a positive correlation between the carbonate weight and the Mass44 ion beam intensity (or peak area). When the weight of carbonate in the mixtures is greater than 70 µg (equal to ～1800 mV Mass44 ion beam intensity), the δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values of samples usually have accuracy and precision of ±0.1‰ and ±0.2‰ (1σ), respectively. If the weight is less than 70 µg, some limitations (e.g., not perfectly linear) are encountered that significantly reduce the accuracy and precision. The measured δ¹⁸O values are systematically lower than the true values by ?0.3 to ?0.7‰; the lower the carbonate content, the lower the measured δ¹⁸O value. For samples with lower carbonate content, the required phosphoric acid doses are higher and more oxygen isotope exchanges with the water in the phosphoric acid. To guarantee accurate results with high precision, multiple analyses of in‐house standards and an artificial MERCK sample with δ¹³C values from ?35.58 to 1.61‰ and δ¹⁸O from 6.04 to 18.96‰ were analyzed simultaneously with the unknown sample. This enables correction of the measured raw data for the natural sample based on multiple‐point normalization. The results indicate that the method can be successfully applied to a range of natural rocks. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Syntheses and characterizations of poly[2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate]–poly(propylene oxide)–poly[2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] ABA triblock copolymers

A novel, near‐monodisperse, well‐defined ABA triblock copolymer, poly[2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate]‐b‐poly(propylene oxide)‐b‐poly[2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate], was synthesized via oxyanion‐initiated polymerization. The initiator was a telechelic‐type potassium alcoholate prepared from poly(propylene glycol) and KH in dry tetrahydrofuran. The copolymers produced were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, ¹H NMR, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). GPC and ¹H NMR analyses showed that the products obtained were the desired copolymers, with narrow molecular weight distributions (ca. 1.09–1.11) very close to that of the original poly(propylene glycol). ¹H NMR, surface tension measurements, and dynamic light scattering all indicated that the triblock copolymer led to interesting aqueous solution behaviors, including temperature‐induced micellization and very high surface activity. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 624–631, 2002; DOI 10.1002/pola.10144     

Tirucallane‐Type Triterpenoids from Celastrus stylosus Wall.

Two new tirucallane‐type triterpenoids, (24Z)‐tirucalla‐7,24‐diene‐3β,11β,26‐triol ( 1 ) and (3S,24R)‐tirucall‐7‐ene‐3,24,25‐triol ( 2 ), along with the known compound celastrol ( 3 ), were isolated from the root barks of Celastrus stylosus Wall . The structures of 1 – 3 were established by spectroscopic methods, including extensive 2D NMR and MS analyses. It is the first report on tirucallane‐type triterpenoids from the genus Celastrus and may be of vital chemotaxonomic significance.     

How polydispersity of network polymers influences strain-induced crystal nucleation in a rubber

Network polymers in a rubber or a gel often contain non-uniform chain lengths. By means of dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of polymer mixtures with various compositions of two chain lengths, we investigated how the factor of polydispersity influences their strain-induced crystal nucleation. Under a high temperature and a high strain rate, the stretching of both polymers revealed that crystal nucleation is mainly accelerated by the presence of short-chain polymers; nevertheless, both polymers join together in the nucleation process. Further analysis proved that crystal nucleation is initiated from those highly stretched short segments, which are rich on the short-chain polymers.     

Purification and Characterization of a Urethanase from Penicillium variabile

Urethanase produced by Penicillium variabile was purified through ultrasonication, concentration by polyethylene glycol 20,000, and Superdex G-200 gel filtration chromatography. The molecular weight of urethanase was determined to be around 96 kDa by gel filtration. The purified enzyme showed a single band in SDS-PAGE with the molecular weight of ~13.7 kDa, which suggests that the enzyme has a multimeric structure composed of the same subunits. Peptide map fingerprinting analysis was then carried out by MALDI/TOF-TOF MS. Within the known sequences in NCBI, glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase get high score as compared with urethanase. Sequence analysis informs that N-terminal sequence of urethanase is GTNTADNDAA. The Minchaelis constant (K _m) and maximum reaction rate (V _m) of urethanase are 27.2 mmol/L and 156.25 μmol/L min, respectively.