Green Electrospun Silk Fibroin Nanofibers Loaded with Cationic Ethosomes for Transdermal Drug Delivery

Transdermal drug delivery system(TDDS) facilitates the controlled release of active ingredients penetrating through the skin, avoiding the liver first pass effect. Electrospinning is a simple process to fabricate ultrafine fibers with a higher specific surface area, making them excellent candidates for drug delivery. In current work, a novel silk fibroin(SF) nanofiber loaded with cationic ethosomes(CEs) was prepared via green electrospinning. The data of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR) and laser scanning confocal microscopy(LSCM) confirmed the existence of CEs in the SF nanofibers. The morphology of the nanofibers was not significantly affected by the incorporation of CEs as shown by scanning electron microscopy(SEM) images. The CEs-loaded SF nanofibrous patch (CEs-SFnP) showed good cytocompatibility as proved by both cell counting Kit-8(CCK-8) assay and SEM. Using doxorubicin hydrochloride(Dox) as a model drug, the transdermal performance of CEs-SFnP was evaluated through Franz diffusion cell against mouse skin. The results indicated that CEs-SFnP can effectively deliver drug into the skin, with a much higher permeation rate than the normal nanofibers without CEs. The as-spun CEs-SFnP in this study could find promising applications in TDDS.     

Is there any group additive rules in the calculation of electron correlation energies of long straight chain alkane molecules?

According to the definition in the text, the correlation energy of 1s2C of carbon atoms, the primary and secondary C-H bonding electron pairs in some CH3, CH2 fragments and CH3(CH2)mCH3 (m=1-5) linear alkane molecules are calculated and analyzed. The transferability of the correlation energies of these electron pairs in the linear alkanes is investigated. The results indicate that the correlation energy of 1s2C is perfectly transferable in the respective methyl and methylene groups, while the correlation energies of the primary and secondary C-H bonding electron pairs are approximately transferable in methyl and methylene groups. The analysis of the results of group correlation energy shows that both of the correlation energies of methyl and methylene groups are transferable in these linear alkanes. The correlation energies of methylene group in CH3(CH2)mCH3 (m=1-5) molecules are slightly decreasing showing a converging trend to a "standard" methylene group in linear alkanes. The excellent fitting relationship between the total correlation energy and the number of methylene groups of the linear alkanes shows that the total correlation energy is a linear function of the number of methylene groups, which means that the total correlation energies of large linear alkanes can be reproduced and predicted by counting the numbers of methylene groups. In this way, total correlation energy of large linear alkane molecule can be approximately calculated using this simple group additive scheme with substantial saving in computational time.     

Nd(III) and Gd(III) Sorption on Mesoporous Amine-Functionalized Polymer/SiO2 Composite

The strong demand for rare-earth elements (REEs) is driven by their wide use in high-tech devices. New processes have to be developed for valorizing low-grade ores or alternative metal sources (such as wastes and spent materials). The present work contributed to the development of new sorbents for the recovery of rare earth ions from aqueous solutions. Functionalized mesoporous silica composite was synthesized by grafting diethylenetriamine onto composite support. The physical and chemical properties of the new sorbent are characterized using BET, TGA, elemental analysis, titration, FTIR, and XPS spectroscopies to identify the reactive groups (amine groups: 3.25 mmol N g⁻¹ and 3.41 by EA and titration, respectively) and their mode of interaction with Nd(III) and Gd(III). The sorption capacity at the optimum pH (i.e., 4) reaches 0.9 mmol Nd g⁻¹ and 1 mmol Gd g⁻¹. Uptake kinetics are modeled by the pseudo-first-order rate equation (equilibrium time: 30–40 min). At pH close to 4–5, the sorbent shows high selectivity for rare-earth elements against alkali-earth elements. This selectivity is confirmed by the efficient recovery of REEs from acidic leachates of gibbsite ore. After elution (using 0.5 M HCl solutions), selective precipitation (using oxalate solutions), and calcination, pure rare earth oxides were obtained. The sorbent shows promising perspective due to its high and fast sorption properties for REEs, good recycling, and high selectivity.     

Intramolecular C-H...Ccarbene hydrogen bonds and competing interactions in monoprotonated tripodal carbenes

The anionic tripodal N-heterocyclic carbene (C3N2H3)3BH- first prepared by Fehlhammer, together with three neutral variants, (C3N2H3)3CH, (C3N2H3)3P, and (C3N2H3)3SiH, have been studied using quantum chemical methods. Isodesmic reactions are used to deduce that the phosphine-bridgehead species in particular has a large-resonance stabilization energy. All the podands undergo substantial conformational change on excitation to the lowest triplet electronic state, with effective localization of the excitation on one of the heterocyclic rings, dearomatizing it. On monoprotonation of the ground states, three of these species display intramolecular C-H...Ccarbene hydrogen bonding: The nature and strength of these interactions is explored using model (intermolecularly hydrogen-bonded) complexes, isodesmic reactions, and GIAO calculations of chemical shifts. One surprising result is that C-H...Ccarbene hydrogen bonds involving ethenic hydrogens can be almost as strong as those involving the imidazolium proton (first identified by Arduengo). The case of the monoprotonated carbon bridgehead species is in particular intriguing. It is stabilized by a competitive Ccarbene...N interaction of sufficient strength to override the C-H...Ccarbene bonding motif observed in the other structures.     

Atomic decomposition of identity: General formalism for population analysis and energy decomposition

The concept of “atomic resolution of identity” has been introduced, leading to a very simple general formalism for generating different decomposition schemes of molecular quantities. Thus, different population analysis and energy partitioning schemes can be treated as special cases of a common framework. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005     

Valence of elements in HgBa2Can-1CunO2n+2+d (n=1, 2, 3, 4)

Valence of elements in HgBa2Can-1CunO2n+2+d (n=1, 2, 3, 4) (both argon and oxygen annealed samples) were calculated. The result indicated for both argon and oxygen annealed samples, Hg had the lowest valence for the highest Tc sample. For fixed n, the valence of Cu in oxygen annealed samples was larger than that in argon annealed samples, indicating that oxygen annealed samples produce more carriers than argon annealed samples.     

A Platform for Preparation of Monodispersed Fluorescent Conjugated Polymer Microspheres with Core‐Shell Structures

A strategy to prepare stable monodispersed fluorescent microspheres is developed by modifying the Wessling method to synthesize poly(p‐phenylenevinylene) (PPV) on the surface of a highly crosslinked polymer core. The positively charged PPV polymer precursors (pre‐PPV) are adsorbed onto the core with negative charges on the surface and then the insoluble fluorescent PPVs form after thermal elimination. Each individual sphere is found to possess a very smooth surface with an even distribution of fluorescence by microscopic techniques. Very small coefficient of variance (CV) values of emission intensity (<4.0%) and size (<2.3%) are realized for microspheres prepared in the same batch. The spheres are demonstrated to have good thermal stability and photostability.     

Novel synthesis approach and antiplatelet activity evaluation of 6-alkylamino-2,4-dialkyl(aryl)thiopyrimidines

A new and efficient procedure has been designed for the preparation of 6-alkylamino-2,4-dialkyl(aryl)thiopyrimidines. The first alkylthio group was introduced into the pyrimidine ring by S-alkylation. The introduction of the second one was successfully achieved using the diazotization-alkylthionation method to afford 2,4-dialkyl(aryl)thio-6-chloropyrimidines. Subsequent nucleophilic displacement by the corresponding amines conveniently gave a series of the target compounds. Thus, the two same or different alkylthio groups were easily introduced into the pyrimidine ring through the two different approaches. The human anti-platelet aggregation activity of the newly synthesized compounds is also described.     

Study of adsorption behavior of bilirubin on human-albumin monolayer using a quartz crystal microbalance

The quartz crystal microbalance was employed to study the adsorption behavior of bilirubin on human-albumin layer, which was chemically bound to the self-assembled monolayer of 4-aminothiophenol on the surface of a gold electrode of the crystal via glutaraldehyde. A long-time adsorption process of bilirubin that took place on a human-albumin-modified surface was observed, and the adsorption kinetic parameters were estimated from the in situ frequency measurements. The amount of adsorbed bilirubin increased with increasing of both hydrogen ions and bilirubin concentration and was larger than that estimated based on the conclusion that there are two affinity sites for bilirubin per albumin molecule. With the present method, the displacement of bilirubin from an albumin layer caused by aspirin was also examined. QCM measurement provides a facile method for in situ monitoring of the adsorption/desorption of bilirubin on proteins layers.     

Single‐Molecule Measurement of Adsorption Free Energy at the Solid–Liquid Interface

Adsorption plays a critical role in surface and interface processes. Fractional surface coverage and adsorption free energy are two essential parameters of molecular adsorption. However, although adsorption at the solid–gas interface has been well‐studied, and some adsorption models were proposed more than a century ago, challenges remain for the experimental investigation of molecular adsorption at the solid–liquid interface. Herein, we report the statistical and quantitative single‐molecule measurement of adsorption at the solid–liquid interface by using the single‐molecule break junction technique. The fractional surface coverage was extracted from the analysis of junction formation probability so that the adsorption free energy could be calculated by referring to the Langmuir isotherm. In the case of three prototypical molecules with terminal methylthio, pyridyl, and amino groups, the adsorption free energies were found to be 32.5, 33.9, and 28.3 kJ mol^?1, respectively, which are consistent with DFT calculations.