Triterpenoids with Cytotoxicity from Abelia engleriana

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Development and testing of a Frisch-Grid Ionization Chamber for the measurement of low activity of alpha-particle emitters

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - A Frisch-grid Ionization Chamber (FGIC) for the measurement of low activity of alpha-particle emitters has been built. The design and performance...     

ZIF-derived mesoporous carbon materials prepared by activation via Na2SiO3 for supercapacitor

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) derived carbonaceous materials have a wide range of applications in the fields of energy storage, catalysis, adsorption and separation, etc. Especially, zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) is an excellent candidate to synthesize porous carbon due to the large surface area and high nitrogen content. However, the dominated microporous structure of ZIF-8-derived carbon significantly hinders ionic mass transfer, limiting the improvement of performance. Herein, MOF-derived mesoporous carbon was prepared using ZIF-8 as carbon precursor and cheap sodium silicate (Na₂SiO₃) as activator. The introduction of Na₂SiO₃ created rich mesoporous structure and increased specific surface area, as well as the effects of pyrolysis temperature and Na₂SiO₃ dosage on performance was also investigated. The obtained ZIF-derived porous carbon exhibits good electrochemical performance with specific capacitance of 263 F/g at 1 A/g and excellent cycle life (96.07% after 10,000 GCD cycles) in supercapacitor. The use of cheap Na₂SiO₃ activator provides a new orientation for the preparation of MOF-derived carbons with rich pores, high surface area, and facilitates the large-scale application of MOF-derived carbons.     

Enhanced Oral Absorption of Icaritin by Using Mixed Polymeric Micelles Prepared with a Creative Acid-Base Shift Method

The purpose of this study was to develop mixed polymeric micelles with high drug loading capacity to improve the oral bioavailability of icaritin with Soluplus^® and Poloxamer 407 using a creative acid-base shift (ABS) method, which exhibits the advantages of exclusion of organic solvents, high drug loading and ease of scaling-up. The feasibility of the ABS method was successfully demonstrated by studies of icaritin-loaded polymeric micelles (IPMs). The prepared IPMs were characterized to have a spherical shape with a size of 72.74 ± 0.51 nm, and 13.18% drug loading content. In vitro release tests confirmed the faster release of icaritin from IPMs compared to an oil suspension. Furthermore, bioavailability of icaritin in IPMs in beagle dogs displayed a 14.9-fold increase when compared with the oil suspension. Transcellular transport studies of IPMs across Caco-2 cell monolayers confirmed that the IPMs were endocytosed in their intact forms through macropinocytosis, clathrin-, and caveolae-mediated pathways. In conclusion, the results suggested that the mixed micelles of Soluplus^® and Poloxamer 407 could be a feasible drug delivery system to enhance oral bioavailability of icaritin, and the ABS method might be a promising technology for the preparation of polymeric micelles to encapsulate poorly water-soluble weakly acidic and alkaline drugs.     

Clickable amino acid tuned self-assembly of a nucleus-selective multi-component nanoplatform for synergistic cancer therapy

Nucleus-targeted therapy holds great promise in cancer treatment; however, a lack of effective nucleus-specific delivery significantly limits its application potential. Here, we report a nucleus-targeted synergistic chemo-photodynamic therapy based on the self-assembly of chlorin e6 (Ce6) and doxorubicin (DOX) tuned by clickable dibenzocyclooctyne (DIBO) functionalized lysine (D-K) and subsequent reaction with crosslinkers. The assembled nanodrugs with high loading efficiency and long-term stability show enhanced cellular uptake and accumulation in the nucleus, resulting in greatly improved in vitro and in vivo chemo-photodynamic efficacy. Notably, D-K can promote the rapid self-assembly of Ce6 and DOX in aqueous solution, avoiding the introduction of organic solvents or tedious preparations. In addition, the introduction of the DIBO group can effectively expand the types of self-assembly material and enhance the self-assembly behaviour through a copper-free click reaction. Therefore, we present an effective nucleus-targeted combination drug delivery strategy, which has great potential in the treatment of many diseases.

A highly efficient nucleus-targeted multi-drug delivery nanoplatform based on clickable amino acid tuned self-assembly of chlorin e6 and doxorubicin has been prepared for enhanced photodynamic therapy and chemotherapy.     

Wave Propagation in Rotating Functionally Graded Microbeams Reinforced by Graphene Nanoplatelets

This paper presents a study on wave propagation in rotating functionally graded (FG) microbeams reinforced by graphene nanoplatelets (GPLs). The graphene nanoplatelets (GPLs) are considered to distribute in the diameter direction of the micro-beam in a gradient pattern, which leads to the functionally graded structure. By using the Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model and the rule of mixture, the effective material properties of the microbeam are determined. According to the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and nonlocal elasticity theory, the rotating microbeams are modeled. A comprehensive parametric study is conducted to examine the effects of rotating speed, GPL distribution pattern, GPL length-to-thickness ratio, GPL length-to-width ratio, and nonlocal scale on the wavenumber, phase speed and group speed of the microbeam. The research findings can play an important role on the design of rotating graphene nanoplatelet (GPL) reinforced microbeams for better structural performance.     

HSA-Lys-161 covalent bound fluorescent dye for in vivo blood drug dynamic imaging and tumor mapping

The specific combination of human serum albumin and fluorescent dye will endow superior performance to a coupled fluorescent platform for in vivo fluorescence labeling. In this study, we found that lysine-161 in human serum albumin is a covalent binding site and could spontaneously bind a ketone skeleton quinoxaline–coumarin fluorescent dye with a specific turn-on fluorescence signal for the first time. Supported by the abundant drug binding domains in human serum albumin, drugs such as ibuprofen, warfarin and clopidogrel could interact with the fluorescent dye labeled human serum albumin to feature a substantial enhancement in fluorescence intensity (6.6-fold for ibuprofen, 4.5-fold for warfarin and 5-fold for clopidogrel). The drug concentration dependent fluorescence intensity amplification realized real-time, in situ blood drug concentration monitoring in mice, utilizing ibuprofen as a model drug. The non-invasive method avoided continuous blood sample collection, which fundamentally causes suffering and consumption of experimental animals in the study of pharmacokinetics. At the same time, the coupled fluorescent probe can be efficiently enriched in tumors in mice which could map a tumor with a high-contrast red fluorescence signal and could hold great potential in clinical tumor marking and surgical resection.

HSA lysine-161 covalent bound quinoxaline–coumarin based fluorescent dye realized in situ blood drug concentration monitoring and tumor visualization.     

用毛细管电泳-激光诱导荧光-增强型电荷耦合检测器测定痕量氨基酸

本文对用毛细管电泳－激光诱导荧光－增强型电荷耦合检测器测定氨基酸衍生物进行了研究。考察了荧光黄异疏氰酸酯衍生氨基酸的各种条件。在优化条件下，10－8～10－6mol／L浓度范围内精氨酸与其衍生物的荧光强度呈良好的线性关系，最小可衍生化的精氨酸浓度为5×10－10mol／L。     

有机试剂结构与性质的研究XII有机试剂的pKa与改进的Swain－Lupton参数

有机试剂的ｐＫ０ａ是其重要的物化参数，它是有机试剂酸碱性的度量，决定其配合物的稳定性．根据Ｓｗａｉｎ－Ｌｕｐｔｏｎ的工作，每个取代基的效应可用两个参数：场／诱导效应参数与共振效应参数来描述．本文应用Ｈａｎｓｃｈ改进的参数值研究了ｐＫａ与取代基常数的相关性，建立了下式．ｐＫａ＝ｐＫ０ａ＋ｒ１Ｆ＋ｒ２Ｒ     

近红外光谱结合化学计量学评价胚胎发育潜能

使用近红外光谱分析方法测量培养后的胚胎培养液,结合偏最小二乘判别分析对胚胎发育潜能进行评价,鉴别具有妊娠能力与不具妊娠能力的胚胎。为了提高模型的判别能力,消除无信息变量对模型稳定性影响,分别采用基于蒙特卡罗的无信息变量消除法(MC-UVE)、竞争性自适应加权抽样法(CARS)与基于变量稳定性的竞争性自适应加权抽样法(SCARS),对光谱进行波长选择。结果表明,与采用全谱74%的正判率相比较,采用这3种波长选择方法,模型独立检验集的正判率分别提高至74.24%,77.12%与80.10%,建模使用变量数降至50以内。比较发现,SCARS的模型优化能力和稳定性均好于MC-UVE和CARS方法。采用近红外光谱结合化学计量学方法预测胚胎的发育潜能是可行的。