Screening and Identification of a Fungal β-Glucosidase and the Enzymatic Synthesis of Gentiooligosaccharide

After screening with 0.1% esculoside and 0.03% FeCl₃, we identified from rotten wood a fungal isolate HML0366 that produces high amount of β-glucosidase. Phenotypic and rDNA internal transcribed spacer sequence analyses indicated that the isolate belongs to Aspergillus oryzae. The β-glucosidase produced by HML0366 had an activity of 128 U/g. high performance liquid chromatography analysis also demonstrated a high transglycosylation activity of the crude enzyme. The β-glucosidase was stable between pH 4–10 at 60 °C. A gentiobiose yield of 30.86 g/L was achieved within 72 h of the enzymatic reaction at pH 5 and 55 °C using 50% glucose as the substrate. For the first time, we report here the isolation of an A. oryzae strain producing β-glucosidase with high hydrolytic activities. The crude enzyme has a high transglycosylation activity, which enables the enzymatic synthesis of gentiooligosaccharides.     

Internal standard tracked dilution to overcome challenges in dried blood spots and robotic sample preparation for liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry assays

Dried blood spot (DBS) technology is an emerging alternative for sample collection in bioanalysis. Dilution for DBS samples is a challenge due to its solid sample format. Currently, DBS samples requiring dilution were first extracted as regular samples and then diluted with extracted blank samples containing internal standard (IS). Since the dilution step is a volume-critical step, extra care has to be taken to achieve accurate dilution when dealing with limited volume extracted samples. Here, we introduce an alternative sample dilution for liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) assays using IS to track the dilution step. Dilution factor-adjusted IS working solution was first added to the sample requiring dilution before sample processing; subsequently, the processed sample was approximately diluted into the assay linear response range before LC/MS/MS analysis. We define this approach as "IS-tracked dilution". The advantage of this approach is that the diluting step is tracked by the IS and is no longer a volume-critical step. Another recognized challenge related to sample dilution is automatic sample dilution using a liquid handler. This "IS-tracked dilution" may also help address some of the challenges for automatic sample dilution of liquid samples. This new dilution approach was proven to be effective and convenient in both plasma assays and DBS assays using omeprazole as a probe compound.     

Synthesis of heteroarylidene malonate derived bis(thiazolines) and their application in the catalyzed Friedel–Crafts reaction

A series of novel heteroarylidene malonate derived bis(thiazoline) ligands 1 and 2 were synthesized and applied to a Friedel-Crafts reaction between indole and alkylidene malonate. The Cu(OTf)₂ complex of ligand 2b bearing a benzyl group afforded moderate to excellent enantioselectivity for the adducts (up to >99% ee).     

Properties of cellulose films prepared from NaOH/urea/zincate aqueous solution at low temperature

Cellulose films were successfully prepared from NaOH/urea/zincate aqueous solution pre-cooled to −13 °C by coagulating with 5% H₂SO₄. The cellulose solution and regenerated cellulose films were characterized with dynamic rheology, ultraviolet–visible spectroscope, scanning electron microscopy, wide angle X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer, thermogravimetry and tensile testing. The results indicated that at higher temperature (above 65 °C) or lower temperature (below −10 °C) or for longer storage time, gels could form in the cellulose dope. However, the cellulose solution remained a liquid state for a long time at 0–10 °C. Moreover, there was an irreversible gelation in the cellulose solution system. The films with cellulose II exhibited better optical transmittance, high thermal stability and tensile strength than that prepared by NaOH/urea aqueous solution without zincate. Therefore, the addition of zincate in the NaOH/urea aqueous system could enhance the cellulose solubility and improve the structure and properties of the regenerated cellulose films.     

Ru0.7Si0.3O2/Ti电极电催化氧化处理硝基苯废水

制备了Ru0.7Si0.3O2/Ti电极,并以该电极作为氧化阳极,不锈钢为阴极,电催化氧化降解废水中硝基苯。 实验结果表明,当硝基苯初始质量浓度为220 mg/L时,最佳条件为：电流密度25×10-3 A/cm2;Na2SO4作为电解质时加入量为8 g/L;溶液初始pH=2。 在此最佳条件下,硝基苯去除率大于85%,TOC去除率大于50%,表明Ru0.7Si0.3O2/Ti阳极能有效去除废水中有机污染物;对中间产物的检测结果表明,硝基苯的降解是阴阳两极协同作用的结果。     

氟喹诺酮类抗生素与赤藓红的共振瑞利散射光谱研究及其分析应用

在Ph4.0～5.0的BR缓冲介质中,赤藓红(Ery)与莫西沙星(MXFX)和加替沙星(GTF)等氟喹诺酮类抗生素(FLQs)相互作用形成1:1离子缔合物,体系反应导致共振瑞利散射(RRS)显著增强并出现新的RRS光谱.两种药物的反应产物具有相似的光谱特征,最大散射波长位于568nm处,并在342nm和378nm处有2个较小的散射峰.在342nm处一定浓度的抗生素与散射增强成正比,两种氟喹诺酮类药物的线性范围分别是0.02～2.7μg/mL(MXFX)和0.06～10.2μg/mL(GTF).据此建立了测定氟喹诺酮类药物的新方法,已用于胶囊和人尿液中的FLQs测定,并对反应机理和RRS增强的原因作了讨论.     

Aggregation-induced emission of tetraphenylethene derivative as a fluorescence method for probing the assembling/disassembling of amphiphilic molecules

The aggregation-induced emission (AIE) of a 1,2-diphenyl-1,2-di(p-tolyl)ethene (TPE) was explored as a novel fluorescence method for probing the assembling/disassembling of amphiphilic molecules. The fluorescence intensity was able to monitor the formation of micelles and determine the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of surfactants. The temperature-dependent micellization of the pharmaceutically important PEO-PPO-PEO copolymer, Pluronic F127, was further studied by using the TPE fluorescence spectrum intensity. Our results showed good agreement with those reported in the literature by using other methods. The special advantage of the AIE probe method was further explored to determine the assembling/disassembling process of the colored amphiphilic molecule, 1-[4-(3-phenylazophenoxy)butyl]triethylamine bromide (AzoC4), whose CMC value has not previously been described. Since the TPE fluorescence signal mainly comes from the aqueous phase, not from the inside of hydrophobic core, it provides a possible platform to study the CMC of those colored surfactants. Based on the novel fluorescence properties of TPE in the aggregated and dispersed states, one can conclude that the TPE method is a promising method for the determination of the CMC and critical micellization temperature (CMT), particularly having a special advantage to determine the assembling/disassembling process of colored amphiphilic molecules.     

Noise incorporated subwindow permutation analysis for informative gene selection using support vector machines

Selecting a small subset of informative genes plays an important role in accurate prediction of clinical tumor samples. Based on model population analysis, a novel variable selection method, called noise incorporated subwindow permutation analysis (NISPA), is proposed in this study to work with support vector machines (SVMs). The essence of NISPA lies in the point that one noise variable is added into each sampled sub-dataset and then the distribution of variable importance of the added noise could be computed and serves as the common reference to evaluate the experimental variables. Further, by using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test, a P value can be assigned to each variable which describes to what extent the distributions of the gene variable and the noise variable are different. According to the computed P values, all the variables could be ranked and then a small subset of informative variables could be determined to build the model. Moreover, by NISPA, we are the first to distinguish the variables into a more detailed classification as informative, uninformative (noise) and interfering variables in comparison with other methods. In this study, two microarray datasets are employed to evaluate the performance of NISPA. The results show that the prediction errors of SVM classifiers could be significantly reduced by variable selection using NISPA. It is concluded that NISPA is a good alternative of variable selection algorithm.     

A fully automated system with on-line micro solid-phase extraction combined with capillary liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for high throughput analysis of microcystins and nodularin-R in tap water and lake water

Microcystins and nodularins are cyclic peptide hepatotoxins and tumour promoters from cyanobacteria. The present study describes the development, validation and practical application of a fully automated analytical method based on on-line micro solid-phase extraction-capillary liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the simultaneous determination of seven microcystins and nodularin-R in tap water and lake water. Aliquots of just 100 μL of water samples are sufficient for the detection and quantification of all eight toxins. Selected reaction monitoring was used to obtain the highest sensitivity. Good linear calibrations were obtained for microcystins (50-2000ng/L) and nodularin-R (25-1000 ng/L) in spiked tap water and lake water samples. Excellent interday and intraday repeatability were achieved for eight toxins with relative standard deviation less than 15.7% in three different concentrations. Acceptable recoveries were achieved in the three concentrations with both tap water matrix and lake water matrix and no significant matrix effect was found in tap water and lake water except for microcystin-RR. The limits of detection (signal to noise ratio=3) of toxins were lower than 56.6 ng/L which is far below the 1 μg/L defined by the World Health Organization provisional guideline for microcystin-LR. Finally, this method was successfully applied to lake water samples from Tai lake and proved to be useful for water quality monitoring.