Design,Synthesis and Bioactivity of Novel Low Bee-Toxicity Compounds Based on Flupyrimin

Neonicotinoids are important insecticides for controlling aphids in agriculture. Growing research suggested that neonicotinoid insecticides are a key factor causing the decline of global pollinator insects, such as bees. Flupyrimin (FLP) is a novel nicotinic insecticide with unique biological properties and no cross-resistance, and is safe for pollinators. Using FLP as the lead compound, a series of novel compounds were designed and synthesized by replacing the amide fragment with a sulfonamideone. Their structures were confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and HRMS spectra. Bioassay results showed that compound 2j had good insecticidal activity against Aphis glycines with an LC₅₀ value of 20.93 mg/L. Meanwhile, compound 2j showed significantly lower acute oral and contact toxicity to Apis mellifera. In addition, compound 2j interacted well with the protein in insect acetylcholine binding protein (AChBP). The molecular docking on honeybee nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) indicated that the sulfonamide group of compound 2j did not form a hydrogen bond with Arg173 of the β subunit, which conforms to the reported low bee-toxicity conformation. In general, target compound 2j can be regarded as a bee-friendly insecticide candidate.     

Inhibitory Effects of Myriocin on Non-Enzymatic Glycation of Bovine Serum Albumin

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are the compounds produced by non-enzymatic glycation of proteins, which are involved in diabetic-related complications. To investigate the potential anti-glycation activity of Myriocin (Myr), a fungal metabolite of Cordyceps, the effect of Myr on the formation of AGEs resulted from the glycation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and the interaction between Myr and BSA were studied by multiple spectroscopic techniques and computational simulations. We found that Myr inhibited the formation of AGEs at the end stage of glycation reaction and exhibited strong anti-fibrillation activity. Spectroscopic analysis revealed that Myr quenched the fluorescence of BSA in a static process, with the possible formation of a complex (approximate molar ratio of 1:1). The binding between BSA and Myr mainly depended on van der Waals interaction, hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bond. The synchronous fluorescence and UV-visible (UV-vis) spectra results indicated that the conformation of BSA altered in the presence of Myr. The fluorescent probe displacement experiments and molecular docking suggested that Myr primarily bound to binding site 1 (subdomain IIA) of BSA. These findings demonstrate that Myr is a potential anti-glycation agent and provide a theoretical basis for the further functional research of Myr in the prevention and treatment of AGEs-related diseases.     

Alkaloid Derivative (Z)-3β-Ethylamino-Pregn-17(20)-en Inhibits Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Metastasis and Angiogenesis by Targeting HSP90α

Metastasis is an important cause of cancer-related death. Previous studies in our laboratory found that pregnane alkaloids from Pachysandra terminalis had antimetastatic activity against breast cancer cells. In the current study, we demonstrated that treatment with one of the alkaloid derivatives, (Z)-3β-ethylamino-pregn-17(20)-en (1), led to the downregulation of the HIF-1α/VEGF/VEGFR2 pathway, suppressed the phosphorylation of downstream molecules Akt, mTOR, FAK, and inhibited breast cancer metastasis and angiogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the antimetastasis and antiangiogenesis effects of 1 treatment (40 mg/kg) were more effective than that of Sorafenib (50 mg/kg). Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis was performed and the result suggested that HSP90α was a direct target of 1. Taken together, our results suggested that compound 1 might represent a candidate antitumor agent for metastatic breast cancer.     

Research Progress of Polymers/Inorganic Nanocomposite Electrical Insulating Materials

With the rapid development of power, energy, electronic information, rail transit, and aerospace industries, nanocomposite electrical insulating materials have been begun to be widely used as new materials. Polymer/inorganic nanocomposite dielectric materials possess excellent physical and mechanical properties. In addition, numerous unique properties, such as electricity, thermal, sound, light, and magnetic properties are exhibited by these materials. First, the macroscopic quantum tunneling effect, small-size effect, surface effect, and quantum-size effect of nanoparticles are introduced. There are a few anomalous changes in the physical and chemical properties of the matrix, which are caused by these effects. Second, the interaction mechanism between the nanoparticles and polymer matrix is introduced. These include infiltration adsorption theory, chemical bonding, diffusion theory, electrostatic theory, mechanical connection theory, deformation layer theory, and physical adsorption theory. The mechanism of action of the interface on the dielectric properties of the composites is summarized. These are the interface trap effect, interface barrier effect, and homogenization field strength effect. In addition, different interfacial structure models were used to analyze the specific properties of nanocomposite dielectric materials. Finally, the research status of the dielectric properties of nanocomposite dielectric materials in the electrical insulation field is introduced.     

An expeditious FeCl3-catalyzed cascade 1,4-conjugate addition/annulation/1,5-H shift sequence for modular access of all-pyrano-moiety-substituted chromenes

ortho-Alkynyl quinone methides are well-known four-atom synthons for direct [4 + n] cycloaddition in constructing useful oxa-heterocyclic compounds owing to their high reactivity as well as the thermodynamically favored aromatization nature of this process. Herein we report an operationally simple and eco-friendly protocol for the modular and regioselective access of (E)-4-(vinyl or aryl or alkynyl)iminochromenes from propargylamines and S-methylated β-ketothioamides in the presence of FeCl₃, and particularly under undried acetonitrile and air atmosphere conditions. This method exhibits a broad substrate scope and displays nice functional group compatibility, thus providing an efficient access of 3,4-disubstituted iminochromenes.

An operationally simple protocol is described for the facile, modular and regioselective access of all-pyrano-moiety-substituted iminochromenes, particularly under undried acetonitrile and air atmosphere.     

Torsionally broken symmetry assists infrared excitation of biomimetic charge-coupled nuclear motions in the electronic ground state

The concerted interplay between reactive nuclear and electronic motions in molecules actuates chemistry. Here, we demonstrate that out-of-plane torsional deformation and vibrational excitation of stretching motions in the electronic ground state modulate the charge-density distribution in a donor-bridge-acceptor molecule in solution. The vibrationally-induced change, visualised by transient absorption spectroscopy with a mid-infrared pump and a visible probe, is mechanistically resolved by ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Mapping the potential energy landscape attributes the observed charge-coupled coherent nuclear motions to the population of the initial segment of a double-bond isomerization channel, also seen in biological molecules. Our results illustrate the pivotal role of pre-twisted molecular geometries in enhancing the transfer of vibrational energy to specific molecular modes, prior to thermal redistribution. This motivates the search for synthetic strategies towards achieving potentially new infrared-mediated chemistry.

Channelling vibrational excitation energy to achieve ground-state charge-transfer (CT)-assisted isomerization in a donor-bridge-acceptor molecule in solution.     

Analysis and evaluation of nucleosides,nucleobases, and amino acids in safflower from different regions based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple‐quadrupole linear ion‐trap tandem mass spectrometry

Safflower has both medicinal and edible values but research on its nutrient composition is still lacking. This study was established for the quantitative determination of 28 nucleosides, nucleobases, and amino acids based on the ultra‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple‐quadrupole linear ion‐trap tandem mass spectrometry. Analysis of 30 batches of safflower from different producing areas indicated that the contents of l ‐proline, l ‐asparagine, l (+)‐arginine, l ‐serine, l ‐histidine, uracil, guanosine, and uridine was high in safflower. Principle component analysis and cluster analysis found that samples from different regions could be distinguished well, and samples from the same area could be clustered into one class, different geographical environments may cause the differences of nucleosides, nucleobases, and amino acids in safflower. The analysis of principal component analysis, cluster analysis, and counter propagation artificial neural network show similar results. Then the content of nucleosides, nucleobases, and essential amino acids were compared, and found that the content in safflower from Gansu was higher than those from other regions, and there was a little difference between the samples from Xinjiang, Sichuan, and Yunnan. This research revealed the composition of nucleosides, nucleobases, and amino acids in safflower, and provided a theoretical basis for utilization of safflower.     

Preparation and Biological Evaluation of [99mTc]Tc-CNGU as a PSMA-Targeted Radiotracer for the Imaging of Prostate Cancer

Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a well-established biological target that is overexpressed on the surface of prostate cancer lesions. Radionuclide-labeled small-molecule PSMA inhibitors have been shown to be promising PSMA-specific agents for the diagnosis and therapy of prostate cancer. In this study, a glutamate-urea-based PSMA-targeted ligand containing an isonitrile (CNGU) was synthesized and labeled with ^99mTc to prepare [^99mTc]Tc-CNGU with a high radiochemical purity (RCP). The CNGU ligand showed a high affinity toward PSMA (K_i value is 8.79 nM) in LNCaP cells. The [^99mTc]Tc-CNGU exhibited a good stability in vitro and hydrophilicity (log P = −1.97 ± 0.03). In biodistribution studies, BALB/c nude mice bearing LNCaP xenografts showed that the complex had a high tumor uptake with 4.86 ± 1.19% ID/g, which decreased to 1.74 ± 0.90% ID/g after a pre-injection of the selective PSMA inhibitor ZJ-43, suggesting that it was a PSMA-specific agent. Micro-SPECT imaging demonstrated that the [^99mTc]Tc-CNGU had a tumor uptake and that the uptake was reduced in the image after blocking with ZJ-43, further confirming its PSMA specificity. All of the results in this work indicated that [^99mTc]Tc-CNGU is a promising PSMA-specific tracer for the imaging of prostate cancer.     

Adsorption Site Regulation to Guide Atomic Design of Ni–Ga Catalysts for Acetylene Semi-Hydrogenation

Atomic regulation of metal catalysts has emerged as an intriguing yet challenging strategy to boost product selectivity. Here, we report a density functional theory-guided atomic design strategy for the fabrication of a NiGa intermetallic catalyst with completely isolated Ni sites to optimize acetylene semi-hydrogenation processes. Such Ni sites show not only preferential acetylene π-adsorption, but also enhanced ethylene desorption. The characteristics of the Ni sites are confirmed by multiple characterization techniques, including aberration-corrected high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption spectrometry measurements. The superior performance is also confirmed experimentally against a Ni₅Ga₃ intermetallic catalyst with partially isolated Ni sites and against a Ni catalyst with multi-atomic ensemble Ni sites. Accordingly, the NiGa intermetallic catalyst with the completely isolated Ni sites shows significantly enhanced selectivity to ethylene and suppressed coke formation.