Mass spectrometry-based chemical mapping and profiling toward molecular understanding of diseases in precision medicine

Precision medicine has been strongly promoted in recent years. It is used in clinical management for classifying diseases at the molecular level and for selecting the most appropriate drugs or treatments to maximize efficacy and minimize adverse effects. In precision medicine, an in-depth molecular understanding of diseases is of great importance. Therefore, in the last few years, much attention has been given to translating data generated at the molecular level into clinically relevant information. However, current developments in this field lack orderly implementation. For example, high-quality chemical research is not well integrated into clinical practice, especially in the early phase, leading to a lack of understanding in the clinic of the chemistry underlying diseases. In recent years, mass spectrometry (MS) has enabled significant innovations and advances in chemical research. As reported, this technique has shown promise in chemical mapping and profiling for answering “what”, “where”, “how many” and “whose” chemicals underlie the clinical phenotypes, which are assessed by biochemical profiling, MS imaging, molecular targeting and probing, biomarker grading disease classification, etc. These features can potentially enhance the precision of disease diagnosis, monitoring and treatment and thus further transform medicine. For instance, comprehensive MS-based biochemical profiling of ovarian tumors was performed, and the results revealed a number of molecular insights into the pathways and processes that drive ovarian cancer biology and the ways that these pathways are altered in correspondence with clinical phenotypes. Another study demonstrated that quantitative biomarker mapping can be predictive of responses to immunotherapy and of survival in the supposedly homogeneous group of breast cancer patients, allowing for stratification of patients. In this context, our article attempts to provide an overview of MS-based chemical mapping and profiling, and a perspective on their clinical utility to improve the molecular understanding of diseases for advancing precision medicine.

An overview of MS-based chemical mapping and profiling, indicating its contributions to the molecular understanding of diseases in precision medicine by answering "what", "where", "how many" and "whose” chemicals underlying clinical phenotypes.     

Tutorial: Capillary Electrophoresis

In recent years a number of exciting developments have emerged in the area of scientific computational tools for classroom use. Computer Algebra Systems (CASs), for example, Maple, are at the forefront of this arena. Such tools have been long sought by teachers of physical chemistry, inherently a mathematics intensive subject. With a CAS at hand, students can look forward to taking college science courses, like physical chemistry, without the usual mathematics anxiety. These tools can be used to do numerical and symbolic mathematics including calculus and linear algebra. In addition, they have wonderful graphics capabilities that include three-dimensional plots, contour plots, and animations. This paper describes the implementation of Maple in two junior-level physical chemistry courses. The materials used for beginning workshops are presented here and additional examples of Maples graphic and algebraic capabilities are described.     

Synthesis, crystal structure and magnetic property of the novel dinuclear nickel(II) complex with 4-(p-methoxyphenyl)-3,5-bis(pyridine-2-yl)-1,2,4-triazole

A novel dinuclear nickel(II) complex, [Ni₂(MOBPT)₂Cl₂(H₂O)₂]Cl₂ · 7H₂O (MOBPT = 4-(p-methoxyphenyl) −3,5-bis(pyridine-2-yl)-1,2,4-triazole), has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR and single crystal X-ray diffraction methods. The crystal structure determination shows that the dinuclear Ni₂N₈ unit is almost planer in which each Ni^II ion is coordinated by four nitrogen atoms from MOBPT equatorially and a water molecule and a chloride ion axially in a distorted octahedral geometry. Magnetic measurements reveal a relatively weak antiferromagnetic exchange in the complex.     

A small molecule with osteogenesis-inducing activity in multipotent mesenchymal progenitor cells

Purmorphamine, which is a 2,6,9-trisubstituted purine compound, was discovered through cell-based high-throughput screening from a heterocycle combinatorial library. It differentiates multipotent mesenchymal progenitor cells into an osteoblast lineage. It will serve as a unique chemical tool to study the molecular mechanisms of osteogenesis of stem cells and bone development.     

Near-infrared fluorimetric determination of nucleic acids by shifting the ion-association equilibrium between heptamethylene cyanine and Alcian blue 8GX

A new method based on near-infrared (near-IR) fluorescence recovery, employing a two-reagent system which is composed of an anionic heptamethylene cyanine (HMC) and a polycationic phthalocyanine dye, Alcian blue 8GX, is presented for the determination of nucleic acids. With a maximum excitation wavelength at 766 nm and a maximum emission wavelength at 796 nm, the fluorescence recovery is linear with the concentration of nucleic acids added. Factors including the acidity of the medium, the reaction time, the optimal ratio of the two reagents, as well as the influence of foreign substance were all investigated. Meanwhile, the mechanism of fluorescence recovery was also studied. Under the optimal conditions, the linear ranges of the calibration curves were 10-250 ng ml⁻¹ for calf thymus DNA (CT DNA) and 10-200 ng ml⁻¹ for yeast RNA. The detection limits were 6.8 ng ml⁻¹ for CT DNA and 6.3 ng ml⁻¹ for yeast RNA, respectively. The method has been applied to the analysis of practical samples and the recovery results were satisfactory.     

Optical properties of ZnO and ZnO:In nanorods assembled by sol-gel method

Self-assembled zinc oxide (ZnO) and indium-doping zinc oxide (ZnO:In) nanorod thin films were synthesized on quartz substrates without catalyst in aqueous solution by sol-gel method. The samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman-scattering spectroscopy, room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and temperature-dependent PL spectra measurements. XRD and Raman spectra illustrated that there were no single In2O3 phase in ZnO lattice after indium doping. The PL spectra of ZnO showed a strong UV emission band located at 394 nm and a very weak visible emission associated with deep-level defects. Indium incorporation induced the shift of optical band gap, quenching of the near-band-edge photoluminescence and enhanced LO mode multiphonon resonant Raman scattering in ZnO crystals at different temperatures. Abnormal temperature dependence of UV emission integrated intensity of ZnO and ZnO:In samples is observed. The local state emission peak of ZnO:In samples at 3.37 eV is observed in low-temperature PL spectra. The near-band-edge emission peak at room temperature was a mixture of excitons and impurity-related transitions for both of two samples.     

Synthesis and stereochemical assignment of 7-arylidene and 7-heteroarylidene morphinan-6-ones

A number of (E)-7-arylidenenaltrexones were synthesized by azeotropic distillation of water from a benzene solution of naltrexone and an aromatic aldehyde (benzaldehyde, 4-chloro- and 4-fluorobenzaldehyde, 3-and 4-pyridinecarboxaldehyde and 1-methyl-2-imidazolecarboxaldehyde) using piperidine as a catalyst. In addition, (E)-7-benzylidenenaloxone was prepared by the previously published Claisen-Schmidt condensation using sodium hydroxide in methanol. The stereochemistry of these arylidene derivatives 3–9 was determined to be (E) by means of nuclear Overhauser enhancement experiments. The ¹³C nmr spectra of (E)- 3–9 are recorded in deuteriochloroform and those of the hydrochlorides in deuteriodimethyl sulfoxide.     

互贯磺酸树脂的离子交换平衡性质

本文研究凝胶型互贯磺酸树脂的热力学性质。测定了一系列第一网和第二网重量比及交联度不同的互贯磺酸树脂对多种离子交换反应的△G~0、△H~0和△S~0值。归纳了二重网重量比和交联度对△H~0、△S~0值变化影响规律。提出了用积分持水量来表达互贯磺酸树脂的平衡常数与持水量关系,并探讨了这类树脂在离子交换色谱等方面应用的可能性。     

纳米分辨率的三维形貌检测仪

从光干涉方式，瞳窗关系和光源带宽等基本关系出发，利用空间不变系统理论解析了相移显微干涉检测系统中衍射效应的影响。为了减小横向分辨率对纵向分辨率的影响，利用相关信息提取或数字滤波的方法，获得了纳米分辨率的三维形貌。