Acute oral toxicity and brine shrimp lethality of Elaeis guineensis Jacq., (oil palm leaf) methanol extract

Elaeis guineensis (Arecaceae) is widely used in West African traditional medicine for treating various ailments. An evaluation on the toxicity of extracts of this plant is crucial to support the therapeutic claims. The acute oral toxicity and brine shrimp lethality of a methanolic extract of this plant was tested. Oral administration of crude extract at the highest dose of 5,000 mg/kg resulted in no mortalities or evidence of adverse effects, implying that E. guineensis is nontoxic. Normal behavioral pattern, clinical signs and histology of vital organs confirm this evidence. The E. guineensis extracts screened for toxicity against brine shrimp had 50% lethal concentration (LC??) values of more than 1.0 mg/mL (9.00 and 3.87 mg/mL, at 6 and 24 h, respectively), confirming that the extract was not toxic. Maximum mortalities occurred at 100 mg/mL concentration while the least mortalities happened to be at 0.195 mg/mL concentration. The results of both tests confirm that E. guineensis is nontoxic and hence safe for commercial utilization.     

LC-MS/MS determination and pharmacokinetic study of albiflorin and paeoniflorin in rat plasma after oral administration of Radix Paeoniae Alba extract and Tang-Min-Ling-Wan

A rapid, sensitive and selective liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method (LC‐MS/MS) was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of albiflorin and paeoniflorin in rat plasma using geniposide as an internal standard. Plasma samples were extracted by solid‐phase extraction. Chromatographic separation was carried out on a Zorbax SB‐C₁₈ analytical column (150 × 2.1 mm × 5 µm) with 0.1% formic acid–acetonitrile (70:30, v/v) as the mobile phase. Detection was performed by multiple reaction monitoring mode using electrospray ionization in the positive ion mode. The total run time was 3.0 min between injections. The calibration curves were linear over a range of 1–1000 ng/mL for albiflorin and 2–2000 ng/mL for paeoniflorin. The overall precision and accuracy for all concentrations of quality controls and standards were better than 15%. Mean recovery was determined to be 87.7% for albiflorin and 88.8% for paeoniflorin. The validated method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of albiflorin and paeoniflorin in rat plasma after oral administration of Radix Paeoniae Alba extract and Tang‐Min‐Ling‐Wan. The pharmacokinetic parameters showed that albiflorin and paeoniflorin from Tang‐Min‐Ling‐Wan were absorbed more rapidly with higher concentrations in plasma than that from Radix Paeoniae Alba extract. The results provided a meaningful basis for evaluating the clinical applications of traditional Chinese medicine. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

d-glucose Enhanced 5-Aminolevulinic Acid Production in Recombinant Escherichia coli Culture

In this study, we introduced a new strategy, feeding d-glucose, to overproduce extracellular 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) in the recombinant Escherichia coli. We investigated that the d-glucose concentration is dependent on extracellular ALA production. The results indicated that increasing d-glucose concentration in bacteria culture enhanced final cell density and ALA yield and simultaneously decreased the activities of ALA synthase (ALAS) and ALA dehydratase (ALAD); then, the inhibitory effect of d-glucose on ALAS activity was relieved with the metabolism of d-glucose. when 4.0 g/L d-glucose was added at late exponential phase; 1.46 g/L ALA was achieved in shaking culture, which is 47% or 109% higher than the ALA yields with 30 mM levulinic acid of ALAD inhibitor or no inhibitor. In jar fermenter, final extracellular ALA concentration reached 3.1 g/L by feeding with d-glucose.     

LC Analysis of Hexafluorophosphate on a Monolithic Column: Application to the Analysis of Ionic Liquids

A silica-based monolithic column with tetrabutylammonium hydroxide–phthalic acid–acetonitrile as mobile phase has been used for LC analysis of hexafluorophosphate with direct conductivity detection. The effects of mobile phase composition, column temperature, and flow rate on retention of hexafluorophosphate were investigated and the optimum chromatographic conditions were selected. Common anions and tetrafluoroborate did not interfere with analysis of hexafluorophosphate. The detection limit (S/N = 3) for hexafluorophosphate was 6.2 mg L^?1. Relative standard deviation (n = 5) for peak area was 0.1%. The method was successfully used for analysis of hexafluorophosphate in ionic liquids.     

Resonance Rayleigh scattering method for the determination of polyvinylpyrrolidone using eosin Y as the probe

The intensities of resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS) of poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and of eosin Y (EY) are weak in solutions of pH 2.9 to 3.4. If reacted with each other, the intensities of RRS are largely enhanced and new RRS bands appear at 276 nm and 320 nm. The intensity at 276 nm is linearly related to the concentration of PVP in the range from 0.10 to 1.6 μg mL^-1. The correlation coefficient is 0.9987, and the detection limit is 28.7 ng mL^-1. The binding mode between PVP and EY was studied by RRS, and by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The optimum reaction conditions and some potential interferences were investigated. The method displays good selectivity and was applied to the determination of PVP in beer.     

Blue‐light‐emitting polyfluorene functionalized with triphenylamine and cyanophenylfluorene bipolar side chains

A new bipolar conjugated polyfluorene copolymer with triphenylamine and cyanophenylfluorene as side chains, poly{[9,9‐di(triphenylamine)fluorene]‐[9,9‐dihexyl‐fluorene]‐[2,7‐bis(4′‐cyanophenyl)‐9,9′‐spirobifluorene]} ( PTHCF ), was synthesized for studying the polymer backbone emission. Its absolute weight‐average molecular weight was determined as 4.85 × 10⁴ by using gel permeation chromatography with a multiangle light scattering detector. In contrast to the electronic absorption spectrum in dilute solution, the absorbance of PTHCF in thin film was slightly blue shifted. By comparison of the solution and thin‐film photoluminescence (PL) spectra, a red shift of Δλ = 8–9 nm was observed in the thin‐film PL spectrum. The HOMO and LUMO energy levels of the resulting polymer were electrochemically estimated as ?5.68 and ?2.80 eV, respectively. Under the electric‐field intensity of 4.8 × 10⁵ V cm^?1, the obtained hole and electron mobilities were 2.41 × 10^?4 and 1.40 × 10^?4 cm² V^?1 s^?1, respectively. An electroluminescence device with configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/ PTHCF _70%+PBD_30%/CsF/Ca/Al exhibited a deep‐blue emission as a result of excitons formed by the charges migrating along the full‐fluorene main chain. The incorporation of the bipolar side chains into the polymer structure prevented the intermolecular interaction of the fluorene moieties, balance charge injection/transport, and thereby improve the polymer backbone emission. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010     

Synthesis,Structure, and Magnetic Properties of Three Novel Sandwich‐type Tungstobismuthates with Triethanolamine

Three novel sandwich‐type polyoxotungstates ( 1 – 3 ) were synthesized in good yield using an in‐situ conventional solution synthesis method by reaction in aqueous media below 80 °C. Compounds 1 – 3 represent the first structurally characterized β‐B‐BiW₉ sandwich‐type polyoxometalates with triethanolamine cations. All three compounds have the same building unit [(X(H₂O)₃)₂(X_0.5W_0.5O)₂(β‐B‐BiW₉O₃₃)₂)]^10– [X = Mn^II ( 1 ), Co^II ( 2 ), Ni^II ( 3 )]. The adjacent units of 1 or 2 are joined by Na⁺ cations in different ways to construct 1D chains or 2D sheets. A 3D supramolecular structure is further formed by hydrogen bond interactions among water molecules and protonated triethanolamine cations. Meanwhile only compound 3 shows a 0D structure. The compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, TG analysis, and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. Magnetic measurements on a sample of 1 show the presence of paramagnetic interactions.     

The dielectric and leakage current behavior of CoFe2O4-BaTiO3 composite films prepared by combining method of sol-gel and electrophoretic deposition

Composite CoFe₂O₄-BaTiO₃ films were prepared by combining method of sol-gel and electrophoretic deposition. CoFe₂O₄ thick films were prepared by electrophoretic deposition method and then BaTiO₃ precursor solution was spin-coated on these thick films to obtain dense structure. X-ray diffraction indicated that the films consisted of both spinel CoFe₂O₄ and perovskite BaTiO₃ phase. Dielectric properties and leakage current conduction of the films were studied. Leakage current characterization of the films exhibits an Ohmic conduction behavior at lower electric field and space charge limited conduction behavior at higher electric field, respectively.     

Polyimide/polyoxometalate copolymer thin films: synthesis,thermal and dielectric properties

A mono‐lancunary keggin‐type decatungstosilicate (SiW₁₁) polyoxometalate (POM) modified by γ‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane (KH550) was incorporated into polyimide (PI) through copolymerization. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), fourier transition infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and wide angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD) were used to characterize the structure and composition of the polyoxometalate–organosilane hybrid (SiW₁₁KH550) and PI/SiW₁₁KH550 copolymers. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies indicate that the glass transition temperature (T_g) of PI/SiW₁₁KH550 copolymers increases from 330°C (for neat PI) to 409°C (for the copolymer sample with 10 wt% of SiW₁₁KH550). Dielectric measurement showed that both the dielectric constant and the dielectric loss for the copolymer thin films decreased with the increase in SiW₁₁KH550 content, and the dielectric constant and dielectric loss values decreased to 2.1 and 3.54 × 10^?3, respectively, for the copolymer sample with 10 wt% of SiW₁₁KH550. The incorporation of SiW₁₁KH550 into polymer matrices is a promising approach to prepare PI films with a low dielectric constant and low dielectric loss. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.