Incorporation of graphene oxide nanosheets into boronate‐functionalized polymeric monolith to enhance the electrochromatographic separation of small molecules

Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were incorporated into an organic polymer monolith containing 3‐acrylamidophenylboronic acid (AAPBA) and pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETA) to form a novel monolithic stationary phase for CEC. The effects of the mass ratio of AAPBA/PETA, the amount of GO, and the volume of porogen on the morphology, permeability and pore properties of the prepared poly(AAPBA‐GO‐PETA) monoliths were investigated. A series of test compounds including amides, alkylbenzenes, polycyclic aromatics, phenols, and anilines were used to evaluate and compare the separation performances of the poly(AAPBA‐GO‐PETA) and the parent poly(AAPBA‐co‐PETA) monoliths. The results indicated that incorporation of GO into monolithic column exhibited much higher resolutions (>1.5) and column efficiency (62 000 ～ 110 000 plates/m for toluene, DMF, formamide, and thiourea) than the poly(AAPBA‐co‐PETA). The successful application in isocratic separation of peptides suggests the potential of the GO incorporated monolithic column in complex sample analysis. In addition, the reproducibility and stability of the prepared poly(AAPBA‐GO‐PETA) monolith was assessed. The run‐to‐run, column‐to‐column and batch‐to‐batch reproducibilities of this monolith for alkylbenzenes’ retention were satisfactory with the RSDs less than 1.8% (n = 5), 3.7% and 5.6% (n = 3), respectively, indicating the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method.     

A new construction of the Clifford-Fourier kernel

In this paper, we develop a new method based on the Laplace transform to study the Clifford-Fourier transform. First, the kernel of the Clifford-Fourier transform in the Laplace domain is obtained. When the dimension is even, the inverse Laplace transform may be computed and we obtain the explicit expression for the kernel as a finite sum of Bessel functions. We equally obtain the plane wave decomposition and find new integral representations for the kernel in all dimensions. Finally we define and compute the formal generating function for the even dimensional kernels.     

Species-specific and inhibitor-dependent conformations of LpxC: implications for antibiotic design

LpxC is an essential enzyme in the lipid A biosynthetic pathway in gram-negative bacteria. Several promising antimicrobial lead compounds targeting LpxC have been reported, though they typically display a large variation in potency against different gram-negative pathogens. We report that inhibitors with a diacetylene scaffold effectively overcome the resistance caused by sequence variation in the LpxC substrate-binding passage. Compound binding is captured in complex with representative LpxC orthologs, and structural analysis reveals large conformational differences that mostly reflect inherent molecular features of distinct LpxC orthologs, whereas ligand-induced structural adaptations occur at a smaller scale. These observations highlight the need for a molecular understanding of inherent structural features and conformational plasticity of LpxC enzymes for optimizing LpxC inhibitors as broad-spectrum antibiotics against gram-negative infections.     

New dendritic gelator bearing carbazole in each branching unit: selected response to fluoride ion in gel phase

A new dendritic gelator with carbazole as the building block (HBCD) was synthesized. It was found that H-bonding between the amide groups and π-π interaction between the aromatic rings played predominant roles in the gel formation. Meanwhile, significant aggregation-induced emission enhancement was observed in the gel state due to the formation of J-aggregates and the restricted molecular motion. Notably, the gel state of HBCD can be destroyed upon addition of F(-), accompanied by fluorescence enhancement on account of the formation of N-HF(-), which could further lead to the increased coplanarity of HBCD. The sensory capability of HBCD exhibited a high selectivity towards F(-) instead of the Cl(-), Br(-), I(-) and AcO(-) anions, which could be explained by the fact that the steric hindrance of the dendrimer would go against the interactions between the larger anions and HBCD.     

A covalently-linked microporous organic-inorganic hybrid framework containing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane moieties

By a Yamamoto-type of Ullmann cross-coupling reaction, a well-defined covalently-linked microporous organic-inorganic hybrid framework polyoctaphenylsilsesquioxane (JUC-Z1) was effectively prepared from the nano building block p-iodio-octaphenylsilsesquioxane (I8OPS) with a yield of ca. 100%. The structure of JUC-Z1 was characterized by (13)C CP/MAS NMR and (29)Si MAS NMR experiments. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was performed to confirm the presence of functions in the framework. The results showed that inorganic silsesquioxane cubes were linearly covalently-linked by biphenyls, offering a highly cross-coupling framework. The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) pattern and transmission electron microscope (TEM) image show that JUC-Z1 is spherical with uniform micropores. N(2) adsorption results suggest that the hybrid framework has a narrow pore size distribution from 11.8 to 20.0 ?, with a BET surface area of 283 m(2)g(-1) and a pore volume of 0.226 cm(3)g(-1). A thermogravimetric (TG) analysis indicates the thermal stability of JUC-Z1 up to 397 °C in air. Moreover, a liquid sorption experiment reveals the favorable sorption of benzene and water.     

气相/凝聚炸药爆轰合成的碳包铜纳米颗粒特征

采用凝聚炸药爆轰和气相爆轰分别制备碳包铜纳米颗粒,并利用XRD,Raman和TEM等方法对合成纳米产物进行对比分析。其中凝聚炸药爆轰法以柠檬酸铜干凝胶、油酸和黑索金为原料按照一定比例配成爆炸源,在氮气的保护氛围中引爆;而气相爆轰法以乙酰丙酮铜为原料,分别以H2和O2,H2和空气为爆炸源,在负氧条件下引爆。通过XRD,Raman和TEM分析结果表明,两类爆轰法均可得到分散性良好的碳包覆铜纳米颗粒,碳壳石墨化程度较高。气相爆轰可以合成10 nm以下的纳米晶粒,而凝聚炸药爆轰合成的晶粒尺寸在20~40 nm,且存在较多空壳结构;气相爆轰产物其碳壳尺寸在2~3 nm,凝聚炸药爆轰产物其碳壳尺寸在2~5 nm。     

Application of Dried Blood Spots and Serum Samples for the Determination of Vitamin D Metabolites in the Group of Healthy Women and with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Chromatographia - The relationship between Hashimoto's thyroiditis and vitamin D concentration was already presented in many studies. The aim of this study was to analyze the differences in the...     

Security Analysis of DBTRU Cryptosystem

DBTRU was proposed by Thang and Binh in 2015. As a variant of NTRU, the integer polynomial ring is replaced by two binary truncated polynomial rings GF(2)[x]/(xn+1). DBTRU has some advantages over NTRU in terms of security and performance. In this paper, we propose a polynomial-time linear algebra attack against the DBTRU cryptosystem, which can break DBTRU for all recommended parameter choices. The paper shows that the plaintext can be achieved in less than 1 s via the linear algebra attack on a single PC.     

磷脂膜的相行为对氧化石墨烯与磷脂膜相互作用的影响

通过使用不同相变温度的磷脂分子并调节二者的比例构筑了不同相态的磷脂膜,并利用表面增强红外光谱和激光共聚焦显微镜研究了磷脂膜的相行为对氧化石墨烯和磷脂膜相互作用的影响.结果表明,氧化石墨烯对磷脂膜中磷脂分子的抽提作用具有显著的相态选择性,其选择性地抽提流动相的磷脂分子;氧化石墨烯对流动相磷脂的抽提作用受到膜中凝胶相磷脂存在比例的影响,只有在流动相磷脂分子占磷脂膜中磷脂分子的绝大部分时才能够发生抽提作用,且只有流动相的磷脂分子被抽提.     

Thermostability Improvement of L-Asparaginase from Acinetobacter soli via Consensus-Designed Cysteine Residue Substitution

To extend the application range of L-asparaginase in food pre-processing, the thermostability improvement of the enzyme is essential. Herein, two non-conserved cysteine residues with easily oxidized free sulfhydryl groups, Cys8 and Cys283, of Acinetobacter soli L-asparaginase (AsA) were screened out via consensus design. After saturation mutagenesis and combinatorial mutation, the mutant C8Y/C283Q with highly improved thermostability was obtained with a half-life of 361.6 min at 40 °C, an over 34-fold increase compared with that of the wild-type. Its melting temperature (T_m) value reaches 62.3 °C, which is 7.1 °C higher than that of the wild-type. Molecular dynamics simulation and structure analysis revealed the formation of new hydrogen bonds of Gln283 and the aromatic interaction of Tyr8 formed with adjacent residues, resulting in enhanced thermostability. The improvement in the thermostability of L-asparaginase could efficiently enhance its effect on acrylamide inhibition; the contents of acrylamide in potato chips were efficiently reduced by 86.50% after a mutant C8Y/C283Q treatment, which was significantly higher than the 59.05% reduction after the AsA wild-type treatment. In addition, the investigation of the mechanism behind the enhanced thermostability of AsA could further direct the modification of L-asparaginases for expanding their clinical and industrial applications.