Pushing up the size limit of chalcogenide supertetrahedral clusters: two- and three-dimensional photoluminescent open frameworks from (Cu(5)In(30)S(54))(13-) clusters

Direct band gap copper indium chalcogenides are of great technological importance in part because of their high photovoltaic conversion efficiency. Covalent superlattices constructed from copper indium chalcogenide clusters are of particular interest because they may combine open framework architecture with semiconducting properties. Here two photoluminescent covalent superlattices built from core-shell type copper indium sulfide supertetrahedral clusters are reported. Each cluster consists of 35 metal cations and is so far the largest known supertetrahedral cluster with a metal-to-metal distance of 1.6 nm. In addition, this is the first example of supertetrahedral clusters in heterometallic copper indium chalcogenides. The preparation of these large clusters has narrowed down the size gap between colloidal nanoclusters and small supertetrahedral clusters and revealed new possibilities in the construction of nanoporous semiconducting superlattices with tunable pore size. Through the combination of metal ions with different oxidation states to provide both overall and local charge neutrality, an effective approach has been demonstrated in the rational synthesis of chalcogenide open framework materials with large and unprecedented supertetrahedral clusters.     

Anodic oxidation of hydrazine at carbon nanotube powder microelectrode and its detection

Carbon nanotube powder microelectrodes (CNTPMEs) were used to study the anodic oxidation of hydrazine at Carbon nanotube (CNT)-the novel carbon material. It was found that the electrochemical behaviours were greatly improved at CNTs, indicating that the anodic oxidation could be catalyzed at CNTs. The kinetics parameters of this process were calculated, the heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant k was 0.0019 cm s(-1), (1-alpha)n(alpha) was 0.22. The CNTPMEs were also found with high sensitivity for hydrazine detection, could be used as hydrazine sensors.     

Formal [4+2]-annulation of chiral crotylsilanes: synthesis of the C19-C28 fragment of phorboxazoles

A stereoselective synthesis of the C19-C28 fragment of phoborxazole A and B is described. The key step is an enantioselective [4 + 2]-annulation of a crotylsilane 10 with a propargylic aldehyde 11 affording a functionalized dihydropyran 12. A solvent-dependent stereoselective epoxidation of dihydropyrans is also documented.     

Estimation of the aqueous solubility of organic molecules by the group contribution approach

Several group contribution methods to estimate the aqueous solubility of organic molecules are proposed and evaluated for their ability to predict the water solubility of new molecules. The learning set consisted of 1168 organic compounds with experimental data taken from the literature after critical evaluation. The best method, based on a new fragment atom scheme, leads to a squared correlation coefficient of 0.95 and an average absolute calculation error of 0.50 log unit, which is superior to other group contribution methods currently available. One of the advantages of this model is that it has upper and lower limits so that the predicted solubilities cannot be unrealistily high or low.     

Singlet exciplexes between a thioxanthone derivative and substituted aromatic quenchers: role of the resonance integral

Fluorescence quenching of a thioxanthone derivative by methyl- and methoxy-substituted benzenes (MeB and MeOB, respectively) is performed in solvents of different polarity. Emissive exciplexes are observed even in polar solvents and provide kinetic and spectroscopic data over a large scale of solvent polarity. These data were subsequently analyzed by use of a new theoretical model that leads to a thermodynamic relationship between exciplex and electron-transfer driving forces Delta G(exc) and Delta G(et), respectively. The remarkable agreement found between this model and both kinetic and spectroscopic data supports its validity. Moreover, the difference observed between MeB and MeOB compounds in quenching efficiency is analyzed by this model and provides the main parameters governing exciplex features, especially the resonance integral between locally excited and charge-transfer states.     

Effect of photothermal therapy on breast tumor vascular contents: noninvasive monitoring by near-infrared spectroscopy

The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of photothermal laser irradiation on rat breast tumor (DMBA-4) vascular contents. An 805-nm diode laser was used in our experiment with a power density ranging from 0.32 to 1.27 W/cm2. The dynamic changes of oxygenated hemoglobin and total hemoglobin concentrations, delta[HbO2] and delta[Hb]total, in rat tumors during photothermal irradiation were noninvasively monitored by a near-infrared spectroscopy system. A multichannel thermal detection system was also used simultaneously to record temperatures at different locations within the tumors. Our experimental results showed that: (1) photoirradiation did have the ability to induce hyperthermic effects inside the rat breast tumors in a single exponential trend; (2) the significant changes (P < 0.005) of delta[HbO2] and delta[Hb]total in response to a low dosage of laser irradiation (0.32 W/cm2) have a single exponential increasing trend, similar to that seen in the tumor interior temperature; and (3) the increase in magnitude of delta[HbO2] is nearly two times greater than that of delta[Hb]total, suggesting that photoirradiation may enhance tumor vascular oxygenation. The last observation may be important to reveal the hidden mechanism of photoirradiation on tumors, leading to improvement of tumor treatment efficiency.     

Analysis of guanidine in high salt and protein matrices by cation-exchange chromatography and UV detection

A simple and sensitive HPLC method for quantitative determination of guanidine in high salt and protein matrices was developed. The HPLC system consisted of an Agilent 1100 pump with an online degasser, a UV detector, an autosampler, and Dionex CS 14 cation-exchange guard (4 mm x 50 mm) and analytical (4 mm x 250 mm) columns. The mobile phase was 3.75 mM methanesulfonic acid (MSA) with a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The other analysis parameters were: 50 microL injection volume, 195 nm UV detection, and 21 min runtime. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) for guanidine HCl was determined to be 0.25 mg/L and the standard curve ranged from 0.25 mg/L to 10 mg/L. Sample preparation was required for the samples containing high protein concentrations. Proteins were removed by centrifuging a sample in a 30 K NanoSep centrifugal filter at 15,300 x g for 20 min. The method could determine guanidine accurately in sample matrices containing up to 200 mM sodium ion or up to 50 mM potassium ion. The method can be used for clearance testing of guanidine in biopharmaceutical products.     

Quantitation in capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry

CE-MS has evolved into a strong alternative to LC-MS. Most of CE-MS applications deal with characterization and identification. However, quantitative aspects have gained importance in, e.g., pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications. Here we summarize and evaluate various methodological aspects in order to achieve sensitive and reproducible results. Similar to LC-MS, aspects of matrix influence on the electrospray process need to be carefully addressed when quantitative results are intended by CE-MS. Due to a more complicated coupling special emphasis needs to be put on the CE-MS interface. Generally linearity over more than three orders of magnitude can be achieved by CE-ESI-MS. Furthermore, a literature survey has been performed in order to give an overview over quantitative measurements performed by CE-MS. The precision can be doubled when changing from a structural related to an isotopically labeled internal standard. Thus a level of precision better than 5% RSD can be achieved.     

High-throughput protein crystallography and drug discovery

Single crystal X-ray diffraction is the technique of choice for studying the interactions of small organic molecules with proteins by determining their three-dimensional structures; however the requirement for highly purified protein and lack of process automation have traditionally limited its use in this field. Despite these shortcomings, the use of crystal structures of therapeutically relevant drug targets in pharmaceutical research has increased significantly over the last decade. The application of structure-based drug design has resulted in several marketed drugs and is now an established discipline in most pharmaceutical companies. Furthermore, the recently published full genome sequences of Homo sapiens and a number of micro-organisms have provided a plethora of new potential drug targets that could be utilised in structure-based drug design programs. In order to take maximum advantage of this explosion of information, techniques have been developed to automate and speed up the various procedures required to obtain protein crystals of suitable quality, to collect and process the raw X-ray diffraction data into usable structural information, and to use three-dimensional protein structure as a basis for drug discovery and lead optimisation.This tutorial review covers the various technologies involved in the process pipeline for high-throughput protein crystallography as it is currently being applied to drug discovery. It is aimed at synthetic and computational chemists, as well as structural biologists, in both academia and industry, who are interested in structure-based drug design.     

Standardisation of elemental analytical techniques applied to provenance studies of archaeological ceramics: an inter laboratory calibration study

Chemical analysis is a well-established procedure for the provenancing of archaeological ceramics. Various analytical techniques are routinely used and large amounts of data have been accumulated so far in data banks. However, in order to exchange results obtained by different laboratories, the respective analytical procedures need to be tested in terms of their inter-comparability. In this study, the schemes of analysis used in four laboratories that are involved in archaeological pottery studies on a routine basis were compared. The techniques investigated were neutron activation analysis (NAA), X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). For this comparison series of measurements on different geological standard reference materials (SRM) were carried out and the results were statistically evaluated. An attempt was also made towards the establishment of calibration factors between pairs of analytical setups in order to smooth the systematic differences among the results.