Creation of bioorthogonal redox systems depending on nicotinamide flucytosine dinucleotide

Many enzymes catalyzing biological redox chemistry depend on the omnipresent cofactor, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). NAD is also involved in various nonredox processes. It remains challenging to disconnect one particular NAD-dependent reaction from all others. Here we present a bioorthogonal system that catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of l-malate with a dedicated abiotic cofactor, nicotinamide flucytosine dinucleotide (NFCD). By screening the multisite saturated mutagenesis libraries of the NAD-dependent malic enzyme (ME), we identified the mutant ME-L310R/Q401C, which showed excellent activity with NFCD, yet marginal activity with NAD. We found that another synthetic cofactor, nicotinamide cytosine dinucleotide (NCD), also displayed similar activity with the ME mutants. Inspired by these observations, we mutated d-lactate dehydrogenase (DLDH) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) to DLDH-V152R and MDH-L6R, respectively, and both mutants showed fully active with NFCD. When coupled with DLDH-V152R, ME-L310R/Q401C required only a catalytic amount of NFCD to convert l-malate. Our results opened the window to engineer bioorthogonal redox systems for a wide variety of applications in systems biology and synthetic biology.     

Self‐Assembly of Anionic Porphyrins and Alkaline or Alkaline Earth Metal Ions Mediated by Cucurbit[7,8]uril

Nanoscaled coordination polymers based on biologically prevalent ions have potential applications in drug delivery and biomedical imaging. Herein, coordination polymer nanoparticles of anionic porphyrins, including meso‐tetra(4‐carboxyphenyl)‐porphyrin (H₂TCPP^4?) and meso‐tetra(4‐sulfonatophenyl)‐porphyrin (H₂TPPS^4?), and alkaline or alkaline earth metal cations, such as K⁺ and Ca²⁺, were constructed in aqueous solution in the presence of cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) or cucurbit[8]uril (CB8). UV/Vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron spectroscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were applied to explore the assembly and particle formation of porphyrin anions and metal cations mediated by CBn. The particle size depends on the kinds of CBn and metal cations and their concentrations. The uptake of H₂TPPS^4? particles by tumor cells (A549 cells) was found to be more efficient than H₂TPPS^4? at 37 °C, showing the application potential of such assembled particles in biology and medicine.     

Hollow fiber supported liquid membrane extraction for ultrasensitive determination of trace lead by portable tungsten coil electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Hollow fiber supported liquid membrane extraction (HF-SLME) was used to separate and enrich trace lead from a large volume of 250 mL water sample to a final tiny volume of 30 μL of 1-octanol, 5 μL of which was inject into a tungsten coil electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometer (W-coil ET-AAS) for determination of lead. Some important parameters that influenced the extraction and determination were investigated in detail, such as the concentration of ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC), pH of sample solution, stirring rate, extraction time, pyrolysis current, atomization current, carrier gas flow rate, as well as interferences. Under the optimized conditions, a practical enrichment factor of 499 and a limit of detection (3σ) of 0.2 ng mL^{− 1} were obtained. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.5–10 ng mL^{− 1}. The relative standard deviation (RSD) was 5.6% for five measurements of a 4 ng mL^{− 1} lead standard solution. The accuracy of this method was examined by the analysis of certified reference water samples (GBW(E)080398 and GSBZ(E) 50009-88) for lead. Finally, the proposed method was applied to the determination of lead in local tap water, pond water and river water, with recoveries in the range of 96–109% for spiked samples.     

Cu Nanoparticles Embedded in N‐Doped Carbon Materials for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Development of eco‐friendly, cost‐effective, and high‐performance electrocatalysts to replace precious metal platinum for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has received increasing attention. Herein, we adopt a facile one‐pot strategy to embed Cu nanoparticles onto N‐doped carbon‐graphene (Cu@NC‐700). The Cu@NC‐700 exhibits robust and efficient ORR catalysis with positive half‐wave potential (~0.86 V vs. RHE) and low Tafel slope (33.9 mV?dec^–1) in 0.1 M KOH solution. Meanwhile, it manifests remarkable electrochemical stability, and strong tolerance to methanol crossover and carbon monoxide poisoning. The synergistic effect between Cu‐N‐C sites, Cu nanoparticles, and N‐doped carbon support speeds up ORR electrocatalysis.     

Selective extraction of uranium from uranium–beryllium ore by acid leaching

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Both uranium and beryllium are very important strategic metals and have been applied to many fields, such as nuclear industries, atomic energy,...     

Making JP‐10 Superfuel Affordable with a Lignocellulosic Platform Compound

The synthesis of renewable jet fuel from lignocellulosic platform compounds has drawn a lot of attention in recent years. So far, most work has concentrated on the production of conventional jet fuels. JP‐10 is an advanced jet fuel currently obtained from fossil energy. Due to its excellent properties, JP‐10 has been widely used in military aircraft. However, the high price and low availability limit its application in civil aviation. Here, we report a new strategy for the synthesis of bio‐JP‐10 fuel from furfuryl alcohol that is produced on an industrial scale from agricultural and forestry residues. Under the optimized conditions, bio‐JP‐10 fuel was produced with high overall carbon yields (≈65 %). A preliminary economic analysis indicates that the price of bio‐JP‐10 fuel can be greatly decreased from ≈7091 US$/ton (by fossil route) to less than 5600 US$/ton using our new strategy. This work makes the practical application of bio‐JP‐10 fuel forseeable.     

Rapid isolation of plutonium in environmental solid samples using sequential injection anion exchange chromatography followed by detection with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

This paper reports an automated analytical method for rapid determination of plutonium isotopes (²³⁹Pu and ²⁴⁰Pu) in environmental solid extracts. Anion exchange chromatographic columns were incorporated in a sequential injection (SI) system to undertake the automated separation of plutonium from matrix and interfering elements. The analytical results most distinctly demonstrated that the crosslinkage of the anion exchanger is a key parameter controlling the separation efficiency. AG 1-×4 type resin was selected as the most suitable sorbent material for analyte separation. Investigation of column size effect upon the separation efficiency revealed that small-sized (2 mL) columns sufficed to handle up to 50 g of environmental soil samples. Under the optimum conditions, chemical yields of plutonium exceeded 90% and the decontamination factors for uranium, thorium and lead ranged from 10³ to 10⁴. The determination of plutonium isotopes in three standard/certified reference materials (IAEA-375 soil, IAEA-135 sediment and NIST-4359 seaweed) and two reference samples (Irish Sea sediment and Danish soil) revealed a good agreement with reference/certified values. The SI column-separation method is straightforward and less labor intensive as compared with batch-wise anion exchange chromatographic procedures. Besides, the automated method features low consumption of ion-exchanger and reagents for column washing and elution, with the consequent decrease in the generation of acidic waste, thus bearing green chemical credentials.     

A Novel Heat-resisting Surfactant for the Modification of Alumina Nanoparticles

An casy preparation of controlled alumina nanoparticles by the solution precipitate method has been carried out using dendrimer as surfactant.The effects of the amount and size of surfactant on morphological control of powder have also been discussed.     

A Luminescent Cage‐Like Complex Constructed by Bidentate Pyridine‐Containing Ligand and Silver Nitrate

The cage‐like complex, Ag₄L₄(NO₃)₄ ( 1 ) [L = 1, 4‐bis(pyridine‐2‐ylmethoxy)benzene] was synthesized by the reaction of the flexible bidentate ligand and silver nitrate. It was characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, TG, and single‐crystal X‐ray analysis. Complex 1 is reported as the first cage‐like cluster constructed by four nitrate anions bridging two [2+2] macrocycles. A blue luminescent emission and luminescent enhancement effect are observed in complex 1 .     

Efficient synthesis of aminomethylated azaindoles and corresponding pyrrole-fused derivatives by copper-catalyzed domino multicomponent coupling and cyclization

Efficient methods for the synthesis of aminomethylated azaindole derivatives via domino copper-catalyzed multicomponent coupling and cyclization have been developed. Using various secondary amines and aldehydes, N-substituted 3-ethynyl-4-aminopyridine was converted to substituted azaindoles in moderate to excellent yields. By use of a 3,4-diaminopyridine derivative bearing two alkynyl groups, the corresponding pyrrole-fused azaindoles were synthesized by controlled stepwise cyclization.