Salt-induced acceleration of chemical reactions in cellulose nanopores

Chemical reactions in charged nanopores, such as present in cellulose fibers, can be accelerated by adding an inert salt, that does not participate in the reaction. Due to a Donnan-like equilibrium between ions inside and outside the pores, the concentration of co-ions in the nanopores (having a charge of the same sign as that of the pore wall), is lower than the concentration in the bulk. The co-ion concentration in pores can be increased by adding an inert salt, which shifts the Donnan equilibrium. The increased concentration of reactants in pores results in faster reaction kinetics. Reactions of cellulose with periodate confirm these predictions.     

Ga8Ir4B – ein Gallium-Iridiumborid mit isolierten,annähernd quadratisch planaren Ir4B-Gruppen in einer vom CaF2-Typ abgeleiteten Struktur

Ga₈Ir₄B – a Gallium Iridium Boride with isolated, nearly square planar Ir₄B Groups in a Structure derived from the CaF₂ Type The new compound Ga₈Ir₄B (tetragonal, I4₁/acd, a = 853.69(2) pm, c = 2 105.69(6) pm, Z = 8, 614 reflections, 31 parameters, R = 0.034) was prepared by reaction of the elements at 1 100°C. The structure is derived from the CaF₂ type. It contains isolated Ir₄B groups with boron in an unusual, nearly square planar coordination.     

Bis(diphenylphosphano)alkan- und 1-(Diphenylphosphano)-2-(2-pyridino)ethan-N-Arylsulfinylamin-Nickel(0)-Komplexe

Bis(diphenylphosphano)alkane- and 1-Diphenylphosphano-2-(2-pyridino)ethane-N-arylsulfinylamine Nickel(0) Complexes Synthesis and properties of the bis(diphenylphosphano)alkane-N-phenyl-sulfinylamine-nickel(0) complexes [Ni{Ph₂P(CH₂)_nPPh₂}(PhNSO)] (n = 2 dppe, n = 3 dppp, n = 4 dppb) as well as of the 1-(diphenylphosphano)-2-(2-pyridino)ethane nickel(0) complexes [Ni(dpppe)₂], [Ni(dpppe)(p-TolNSO)] and [Ni(dpppe)(PPh₃)₂] are described. These compounds have been characterized by i. r. and ³¹P n.m.r. spectroscopy. The N-arylsulfinylamine ligands are η²-(N, S)-side on coordinated.     

Detection of peginesatide in equine serum using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for doping control purposes

Erythropoietin (EPO) and its recombinant analogues are suspected to be illicitly administered to horses for performance enhancing purposes and, consequently, prohibited in equine sports. Recently, a new erythropoiesis-stimulating agent, peginesatide (Omontys, formerly referred to as Hematide), belonging to the upcoming class of EPO-mimetic peptides, received approval for the treatment of anaemia in humans with chronic kidney disease on dialysis. As the pegylated dimeric peptide of approximately 45 kDa without sequence homology to EPO is not detectable by conventional EPO detection assays, specific methods are bound to be established for horse sports drug testing. Thus, by fortifying equine serum with peginesatide, an approach consisting of a proteolytic digestion with subtilisin after protein precipitation was developed, eventually targeting a proteotypic and xenobiotic pentapeptide which is easily accessible to liquid chromatography- tandem mass spectrometry analysis. The method was validated for qualitative purposes and demonstrated to be specific, precise (relative standard deviations below 14%), sensitive (limit of detection 10 ng mL(-1)) and linear. Being simple, cost-effective and readily transferable to other doping control laboratories, a mass spectrometric assay for the detection of therapeutic concentrations of peginesatide in equine serum is, in terms of preventive doping research, applicable to routine analysis shortly after approval of the drug.     

Microfluidic platform for combinatorial synthesis in picolitre droplets

This paper presents a droplet-based microfluidic platform for miniaturized combinatorial synthesis. As a proof of concept, a library of small molecules for early stage drug screening was produced. We present an efficient strategy for producing a 7 × 3 library of potential thrombin inhibitors that can be utilized for other combinatorial synthesis applications. Picolitre droplets containing the first type of reagent (reagents A(1), A(2), …, A(m)) were formed individually in identical microfluidic chips and then stored off chip with the aid of stabilizing surfactants. These droplets were then mixed to form a library of droplets containing reagents A(1-m), each individually compartmentalized, which was reinjected into a second microfluidic chip and combinatorially fused with picolitre droplets containing the second reagent (reagents B(1), B(2), …, B(n)) that were formed on chip. The concept was demonstrated with a three-component Ugi-type reaction involving an amine (reagents A(1-3)), an aldehyde (reagents B(1-7)), and an isocyanide (held constant), to synthesize a library of small molecules with potential thrombin inhibitory activity. Our technique produced 10(6) droplets of each reaction at a rate of 2.3 kHz. Each droplet had a reaction volume of 3.1 pL, at least six orders of magnitude lower than conventional techniques. The droplets can then be divided into aliquots for different downstream screening applications. In addition to medicinal chemistry applications, this combinatorial droplet-based approach holds great potential for other applications that involve sampling large areas of chemical parameter space with minimal reagent consumption; such an approach could be beneficial when optimizing reaction conditions or performing combinatorial reactions aimed at producing novel materials.     

Kinetic (T = 201-298 K) and equilibrium (T = 320-420 K) measurements of the C3H5 + O2 ⇆ C3H5O2 reaction

The kinetics and equilibrium of the allyl radical reaction with molecular oxygen have been studied in direct measurements using temperature-controlled tubular flow reactor coupled to a laser photolysis/photoionization mass spectrometer. In low-temperature experiments (T = 201-298 K), association kinetics were observed, and the measured time-resolved C(3)H(5) radical signals decayed exponentially to the signal background. In this range, the determined rate coefficients exhibited a negative temperature dependence and were observed to depend on the carrier-gas (He) pressure {p = 0.4-36 Torr, [He] = (1.7-118.0) × 10(16) cm(-3)}. The bimolecular rate coefficients obtained vary in the range (0.88-11.6) × 10(-13) cm(3) s(-1). In higher-temperature experiments (T = 320-420 K), the C(3)H(5) radical signal did not decay to the signal background, indicating equilibration of the reaction. By measuring the radical decay rate under these conditions as a function of temperature and following typical second- and third-law procedures, plotting the resulting ln K(p) values versus 1/T in a modified van't Hoff plot, the thermochemical parameters of the reaction were extracted. The second-law treatment resulted in values of ΔH(298)° = -78.3 ± 1.1 kJ mol(-1) and ΔS(298)° = -129.9 ± 3.1 J mol(-1) K(-1), with the uncertainties given as one standard error. When results from a previous investigation were taken into account and the third-law method was applied, the reaction enthalpy was determined as ΔH(298)° = -75.6 ± 2.3 kJ mol(-1).     

Physical Properties and Erosion Behavior of Poly(trimethylene carbonate‐co‐ε‐caprolactone) Networks

Form‐stable resorbable networks are prepared by gamma irradiating trimethylene carbonate (TMC)‐ and ε‐caprolactone (CL)‐based (co)polymer films. To evaluate their suitability for biomedical applications, their physical properties and erosion behavior are investigated. Homopolymer and copolymer networks that are amorphous at room temperature are flexible and rubbery with elastic moduli ranging from 1.8 ± 0.3 to 5.2 ± 0.4 MPa and permanent set values as low as 0.9% strain. The elastic moduli of the semicrystalline networks are higher and range from 61 ± 3 to 484 ± 34 MPa. The erosion behavior of (co)polymer networks is investigated in vitro using macrophage cultures, and in vivo by subcutaneous implantation in rats. In macrophage cultures, as well as upon implantation, a surface erosion process is observed for the amorphous (co)polymer networks, while an abrupt decrease in the rate and a change in the nature of the erosion process are observed with increasing crystallinity. These resorbable and form‐stable networks with tuneable properties may find application in a broad range of biomedical applications.

     

A new approach to untargeted integration of high resolution liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry data

Because of its high sensitivity and specificity, hyphenated mass spectrometry has become the predominant method to detect and quantify metabolites present in bio-samples relevant for all sorts of life science studies being executed. In contrast to targeted methods that are dedicated to specific features, global profiling acquisition methods allow new unspecific metabolites to be analyzed. The challenge with these so-called untargeted methods is the proper and automated extraction and integration of features that could be of relevance. We propose a new algorithm that enables untargeted integration of samples that are measured with high resolution liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). In contrast to other approaches limited user interaction is needed allowing also less experienced users to integrate their data. The large amount of single features that are found within a sample is combined to a smaller list of, compound-related, grouped feature-sets representative for that sample. These feature-sets allow for easier interpretation and identification and as important, easier matching over samples. We show that the automatic obtained integration results for a set of known target metabolites match those generated with vendor software but that at least 10 times more feature-sets are extracted as well. We demonstrate our approach using high resolution LC–MS data acquired for 128 samples on a lipidomics platform. The data was also processed in a targeted manner (with a combination of automatic and manual integration) using vendor software for a set of 174 targets. As our untargeted extraction procedure is run per sample and per mass trace the implementation of it is scalable. Because of the generic approach, we envision that this data extraction lipids method will be used in a targeted as well as untargeted analysis of many different kinds of TOF-MS data, even CE- and GC–MS data or MRM. The Matlab package is available for download on request and efforts are directed toward a user-friendly Windows executable.