Spontaneous Ga incorporation in ZnO nanowires epitaxially grown on GaN substrate

Surface‐diffusion‐induced spontaneous Ga incorporation process is demonstrated in ZnO nanowires grown on GaN substrate. Crucially, contrasting distributions of Ga atoms in axial and radial directions are experimentally observed. Ga atoms uniformly distribute along the ～10 μm long ZnO nanowire and show a rapidly gradient distribution in the radial direction, which is attributed substantially to the difference between surface and volume diffusion. The understanding on the incorporation process can potentially modulate doping and properties in semiconductor nanomaterials.

     

Ordered Mesoporous Carbon and Thiolated Polyaniline Modified Electrode for Simultaneous Determination of Cadmium(II) and Lead(II) by Anodic Stripping Voltammetry

The fabrication and evaluation of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC), 2‐mercaptoethanesulfonate (MES)‐tethered polyaniline (PANI) and bismuth for simultaneous determination of trace Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺ by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV) are presented here. The morphology and electrochemical properties of the fabricated electrode were respectively characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Experimental parameters such as PANI disposition, preconcentration potential, preconcentration time and bismuth concentration were optimized. Under optimum conditions, the fabricated electrode exhibited linear calibration curves ranged from 1 to 120 nM for Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺. The limits of detection (LOD) were 0.26 nM for Cd²⁺ and 0.16 nM for Pb²⁺ (S/N=3), respectively. Additionally, repeatability, reproducibility, interference and application were also investigated, and the proposed electrode exhibited excellent performance. The proposed method could be extended for the development of other new sensors for heavy metal determination.     

Synthesis and Characterizations of Strongly Phosphorescent Copper(I) Halide Complexes with Bridged Bis[2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl]ether Ligand

A series of strongly phosphorescent copper(I) halide complexes, namely [Cu(μ-X)POP]₂ (X = Cl (1), Br (2), I (3), Br_0.5Cl_0.5 (4), POP = bis[2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl]ether), have been synthesized by reacting CuX with the diphosphine ligand in 1:1 molar ratio. All complexes were characterized by spectroscopic analysis (IR, UV–Vis), elemental analysis, and photoluminescence study. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that complex 2 is a dinuclear structure which is constructed by two μ-X bridges and two POP ligands as μ₂ bridges. Other complexes were determined as isologues of complex 2 by powder X-ray diffraction and elemental analysis. All complexes exhibit intense blue-green phosphorescence with a lifetime of ~1 μs in the solid state. The halogen-mixed complex presents a lightly change in the luminescence comparing to that of parent complexes. The excited states of all complexes have been assigned as halide-to-ligand charge transfer state mixed metal-to-ligand charge transfer character based on the time-dependent density functional theory calculations. All complexes are thermally stable according to thermogravimetric analysis so that they are suitable for applying in luminescent devices.     

Discrimination of Thermoplastic Polyesters by MALDI-TOF MS and Py-GC/MS

The aim of this work is to discriminate thermoplastic polyester-polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), and polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), which cannot be easily identified by many methods. Both matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) were applied to identify these polyesters owing to their analytical ability to determining polymers' chemical structure. The three thermoplastic polyesters can be easily distinguished by MALDI-TOF MS according to their different repeated units. Py-GC/MS was used to analyze their specific pyrolyzates. The three polyesters can be identified through their characteristic pyrolysis products as well.     

Mechanical properties and degradation studies of poly(D,L‐lactide‐co‐glycolide) 50:50/graphene oxide nanocomposite films

Poly(D,L‐lactide‐co‐glycolide) 50:50 (PLGA)/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposite films were prepared with various GO weight fractions. A significant enhancement of mechanical properties of the PLGA/GO nanocomposite films was obtained with GO weight fractions. The incorporation of only 5 wt% of GO resulted in an ~2.5‐fold and ~4.7‐fold increase in the tensile strength and Young's modulus of PLGA, respectively. The thermomechanical behaviors of composite films were investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis. Results indicated that the values of T_g and storage moduli of the PLGA/GO composites were higher than those of the pristine PLGA. The improvement in oxygen barrier properties of composites was presumably attributed to the filler effect of the randomly dispersed GO throughout the PLGA matrix. In this work, we also studied in vitro biodegradation behavior. PLGA/GO composite films were hydrolyzed at 37°C for periods up to 49 days. Because of the presence of GO nanosheets, degradation of composite films took place more slowly with increasing GO amounts. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Low C24‐OH and C22‐OH sulfatides in human renal cell carcinoma

Histopathologic diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) may sometimes be difficult with small biopsy samples. We applied histology‐directed matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry to RCC samples to evaluate whether and how lipid profiles are different between RCC and normal tissue. We evaluated 59 RCC samples and 24 adjacent normal tissue samples collected from patients who underwent surgery. Five peaks were significantly differently expressed (p < 10^?7) between RCCs and adjacent normal tissue samples. C24‐OH sulfatide (ST‐OH {18:1/24:0}[M‐H]^?; m/z 906.7 in the negative ion mode) and C22‐OH sulfatide (ST‐OH {18:1/22:0}[M‐H]^?; m/z 878.6 in the negative ion mode) were most significantly underexpressed in RCC samples, compared with adjacent normal tissue samples. With 100 random training‐to‐test partitions within these samples, the median prediction accuracy (RCC vs. normal) ranged from 96.3% to 100% at p cutoff values for feature selection ranging from 0.001 to 10^?7. Two oncocytoma samples were predicted as normal tissue by five lipids that were differentially expressed between RCC and normal tissue at p < 10^?7. Clear‐cell, papillary, and chromophobe RCCs were different in lipid profiles. Permutation p‐ values for 0.632+ bootstrap cross‐validated misclassification rates were less than 0.05 for all the classifiers. Thus, lipid profiles differentiate RCC from normal tissue and may possibly classify the histology of RCC. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Mass Spectrometry published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CDK5-dependent inhibitory phosphorylation of Drp1 during neuronal maturation

Mitochondrial functions are essential for the survival and function of neurons. Recently, it has been demonstrated that mitochondrial functions are highly associated with mitochondrial morphology, which is dynamically changed by the balance between fusion and fission. Mitochondrial morphology is primarily controlled by the activation of dynamin-related proteins including dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), which promotes mitochondrial fission. Drp1 activity is regulated by several post-translational modifications, thereby modifying mitochondrial morphology. Here, we found that phosphorylation of Drp1 at serine 616 (S616) is mediated by cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) in post-mitotic rat neurons. Perturbation of CDK5 activity modified the level of Drp1^S616 phosphorylation and mitochondrial morphology in neurons. In addition, phosphorylated Drp1^S616 preferentially localized as a cytosolic monomer compared with total Drp1. Furthermore, roscovitine, a chemical inhibitor of CDKs, increased oligomerization and mitochondrial translocation of Drp1, suggesting that CDK5-dependent phosphorylation of Drp1 serves to reduce Drp1''s fission-promoting activity. Taken together, we propose that CDK5 has a significant role in the regulation of mitochondrial morphology via inhibitory phosphorylation of Drp1^S616 in post-mitotic neurons.