Voltammetric studies of the effect of Cisplatin-liposome on Hela cells

In this paper, the voltammetric method was used for the first time to study the effect of Cisplatin-liposome on Hela cells. The results showed the voltammetric behavior of Hela cells was irreversible and the peak current had linear relationship with the cell number. With both Cisplatin-liposome concentration and treating time increasing, the peak current decreased. The peak current decreasing was in accordance with the nuclear damage and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential revealed by two-photon laser scanning microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy. This voltammetric method may provide a simple way to study the electron-transfer mechanism in drug-treating cells.     

Isolation of water-soluble organic matter from atmospheric aerosol

The development of a solid phase extraction (SPE) method is presented, which is capable of isolating approx. 60% of the water-soluble organic compounds from aerosol samples. The aqueous extracts of the filter samples were acidified then passed through an SPE column. Four silica-based and two polymeric reversed phase columns were tested and similar recoveries of the organic carbon were found. The isolated organic matter was nearly free from inorganic ions, which are major constituents of atmospheric aerosol. This fraction accounted for a major part of the UV absorption above 250 nm and fluorescence activity of the aerosol extract. The precision of the method was tested by performing three parallel sample preparations with Oasis HLB columns. It was found that the relative standard deviation of the carbon content of the isolated organic matter was better than 7%, which indicated the reliability of the method. In the atmospheric aerosol research the newly developed sample preparation method facilitates the physical and chemical characterisation of water-soluble organic compounds without the interference of inorganic constituents.     

Identification and determination of active components in Angelica dahurica Benth and its medicinal preparation by capillary electrophoresis

A micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) method for the separation of three active components, imperatorin (IM), isoimperatorin (IO) and scopoletin (SC), in Angelica dahurica Benth and its preparation was developed. The optimum separation for these analytes was achieved using 10 mM borate, 20 mM SDS and 10%(v/v) acetonitrile, with applied voltage of 22 kV. All experiments were performed using a 50.0 cm (42.5 cm effective length)x75 mum I.D. fused-silica capillary. The linear calibration range was 12.0-800.0 mug ml(-1) for IM, 10.0-850.0 mug ml(-1) for IO and 3.5-600.0 mug ml(-1) for SC. The recoveries of three constituents were from 91.3 to 108.7%. Also, the dissociation constant (pKa) of SC was determined by the CE method established in this paper.     

Dehydrogenative coupling of phenanthroline under hydrothermal conditions: crystal structure of a novel layered vanadate complex constructed of 4,8,10-net sheets: [(2,2'-biphen)Co]V3O8.5

2,2'-Biphenanthroline (2,2'-biphen) formed from 1,10-phenanthroline when a new two-dimensional layered vanadium oxide metal coordination complex, [(2,2'-biphen)Co]V3O8.5, which contains novel 4,8,10-net sheets, was hydrothermally synthesized.     

Application of ab initio molecular dynamics for a priori elucidation of the mechanism in unimolecular decomposition: the case of 5-nitro-2,4-dihydro-3H-1,2,4-triazol-3-one (NTO).

We have tested a new and general approach for the theoretical study of unimolecular decomposition. By combining the power of the ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) and ab initio molecular orbital (MO) methods, our approach requires no prior experimental knowledge or intuitive assumptions about the decomposition. Instead, the reaction channels are first sampled theoretically by simulating a molecule at high temperature in a number of trajectories, using the density functional theory (DFT) based ab initio MD method with a planewave basis set and pseudopotentials. Each type of these channels is then further examined by well-established ab initio MO method to locate the energy barrier and transition structure and to verify the ab initio MD results. The power of such an approach is demonstrated in a case study for the complicated unimolecular thermal decomposition of NTO (5-nitro-2,4-dihydro-3H-1,2,4-triazol-3-one), with several interesting new features uncovered. The C-NO2 homolysis is indeed the dominant channel at high temperature, while the departing NO2 could capture a H atom from the NTO ring to form HONO, by either a concerted bond breaking mechanism or by a bimolecular reaction between the NO2 group and the triazol ring. At lower temperature, the dissociation channels initiated by hydrogen migrations should be activated first. The channel with hydrogen migration followed by ring opening and then by HONO loss has an energy barrier of 38.0 kcal/mol at the rate-determining step, being the lowest among all the investigated dissociation paths and much lower than previously thought. The energy barrier for nitro-nitrite rearrangement is lower than that for the C-NO2 homolysis but makes only a minor contribution due to the entropy factor. And the NTO ring could rupture in the two C-N bonds connected to the carbonyl carbon, and the energy barriers for such processes are only 2-4 kcal/mol higher than that for the C-NO2 homolysis.     

Modeling the active sites in metalloenzymes. 3. Density functional calculations on models for [Fe]-hydrogenase: structures and vibrational frequencies of the observed redox forms and the reaction mechanism at the Diiron Active Center.

Optimized structures for the redox species of the diiron active site in [Fe]-hydrogenase as observed by FTIR and for species in the catalytic cycle for the reversible H(2) oxidation have been determined by density-functional calculations on the active site model, [(L)(CO)(CN)Fe(mu-PDT)(mu-CO)Fe(CO)(CN)(L')](q)(L = H(2)O, CO, H(2), H(-); PDT = SCH(2)CH(2)CH(2)S, L' = CH(3)S(-), CH(3)SH; q = 0, 1-, 2-, 3-). Analytical DFT frequencies on model complexes (mu-PDT)Fe(2)(CO)(6) and [(mu-PDT)Fe(2)(CO)(4)(CN)(2)](2)(-) are used to calibrate the calculated CN(-) and CO frequencies against the measured FTIR bands in these model compounds. By comparing the predicted CN(-) and CO frequencies from DFT frequency calculations on the active site model with the observed bands of D. vulgaris [Fe]-hydrogenase under various conditions, the oxidation states and structures for the diiron active site are proposed. The fully oxidized, EPR-silent form is an Fe(II)-Fe(II) species. Coordination of H(2)O to the empty site in the enzyme's diiron active center results in an oxidized inactive form (H(2)O)Fe(II)-Fe(II). The calculations show that reduction of this inactive form releases the H(2)O to provide an open coordination site for H(2). The partially oxidized active state, which has an S = (1)/(2) EPR signal, is an Fe(I)-Fe(II) species. Fe(I)-Fe(I) species with and without bridging CO account for the fully reduced, EPR-silent state. For this fully reduced state, the species without the bridging CO is slightly more stable than the structure with the bridging CO. The correlation coefficient between the predicted CN(-) and CO frequencies for the proposed model species and the measured CN(-) and CO frequencies in the enzyme is 0.964. The proposed species are also consistent with the EPR, ENDOR, and M?ssbauer spectroscopies for the enzyme states. Our results preclude the presence of Fe(III)-Fe(II) or Fe(III)-Fe(III) states among those observed by FTIR. A proposed reaction mechanism (catalytic cycle) based on the DFT calculations shows that heterolytic cleavage of H(2) can occur from (eta(2)-H(2))Fe(II)-Fe(II) via a proton transfer to "spectator" ligands. Proton transfer to a CN(-) ligand is thermodynamically favored but kinetically unfavorable over proton transfer to the bridging S of the PDT. Proton migration from a metal hydride to a base (S, CN, or basic protein site) results in a two-electron reduction at the metals and explains in part the active site's dimetal requirement and ligand framework which supports low-oxidation-state metals. The calculations also suggest that species with a protonated Fe-Fe bond could be involved if the protein could accommodate such species.     

A two-dimensional (magnetic field and concentration) electron paramagnetic resonance method for analysis of multispecies complex equilibrium systems. information content of EPR spectra

A two-dimensional simulation method has been developed for the interpretation of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra consisting of a multitude of strongly overlapping signal components. The set of EPR spectra for complex equilibrium systems is analyzed simultaneously as a function of metal and ligand concentrations and pH. The formation constants of the various species are adjusted together with the magnetic parameters of the component EPR spectra. At most 10 EPR-active and 5 EPR-silent species can be involved to simulate a maximum of 36 experimental spectra, while the number of adjusted parameters is at most 100. Statistical parameters are suggested to give the confidence intervals for parameter estimation and to distinguish alternative speciation models. The efficiency of the program is demonstrated for the copper(II)--L-asparagine system, in which 10 species, including 3 pairs of isomers, are characterized with magnetic parameters and formation constants. On the basis of the magnetic parameters, a structural assignment is made for the detected species. The two-dimensional approach can also supply the formation constant of the EPR-silent species, as demonstrated for the copper(II)--glycyl-L-serine system.     

Separation of lidocaine and its metabolites by capillary electrophoresis using volatile aqueous and nonaqueous electrolyte systems

The separation of the basic drug lidocaine and six of its metabolites has been investigated both by using volatile aqueous electrolyte system, at low pH and by employing non-aqueous electrolyte systems. In aqueous systems, the best separation of the compounds under the investigated conditions was achieved by using the electrolyte 60 mM trifluoroacetic acid (TFA)/triethylamine (TEA) at pH 2.5 containing 15% methanol. With this electrolyte, all seven compounds were well separated with high efficiency and migration time repeatability. The separations with bare fused-silica capillaries and polyacrylamide-coated capillaries were compared with higher separation efficiency with the latter. On the other hand, near baseline separation of all the seven compounds was also obtained by employing the non-aqueous electrolyte, 40 mM ammonium acetate in methanol and TFA (99:1, v/v), with comparable migration time repeatability but lower separation efficiency relative to the aqueous system.     

A theoretical prediction of potentially observable lithium compounds with planar tetracoordinate carbons

Several potentially experimentally accessible lithiated heterocyclic and heteroatom compounds with planar tetracoordinate carbons (ptC) have been predicted computationally. These utilize the strong electron-donating ability and the bridging proclivity of lithium to achieve the ptC preferences. As the p orbitals on the central carbons are only partially occupied, their electronic structures are similar to those of the related carbenes, e.g. imidazole-2-ylidene, rather than to the other ptC compounds such as dilithiocyclopropane.