Tracing novel hemostatic compounds from heating products of total flavonoids in Flos Sophorae by spectrum–effect relationships and column chromatography

Flos Sophorae and its processed product have been clinically used to treat hemorrhage. In this study, the total ion chromatographic fingerprints of the heating products of total flavonoids in Flos Sophorae were established by high‐performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry and the hemostatic activities were studied by hemostatic screening tests in vivo. The spectrum–effect relationships between fingerprints and hemostatic activities were investigated using canonical correlation analysis to trace the peaks responsible for the hemostatic effects. The predicted active peaks in fingerprints were isolated by column chromatography and their structures were identified by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The hemostatic activities of them were verified by platelet aggregation and procoagulation assays in vitro. Canonical correlation analysis results showed that peak 8 and peak 11 were correlated most closely, thus probably being the main hemostatic compounds. Through column chromatography separation, peak 8 (compound I) and peak 11 (compound II) were obtained with purities of 95.61 and 93.38%, respectively, and were discovered new hemostatic compounds named as huaicarbon A (I) and huaicarbon B (II), respectively. This study provides a universal model to trace the active compounds of other herbs which have bioactivity enhancement after processing by spectrum–effect relationships and column chromatography.     

Vortex‐assisted liquid–liquid microextraction using a low‐toxicity solvent for the determination of five organophosphorus pesticides in water samples by high‐performance liquid chromatography

Vortex‐assisted liquid–liquid microextraction followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography with UV detection was applied to determine Isocarbophos, Parathion‐methyl, Triazophos, Phoxim and Chlorpyrifos‐methyl in water samples. 1‐Bromobutane was used as the extraction solvent, which has a higher density than water and low toxicity. Centrifugation and disperser solvent were not required in this microextraction procedure. The optimum extraction conditions for 15 mL water sample were: pH of the sample solution, 5; volume of the extraction solvent, 80 μL; vortex time, 2 min; salt addition, 0.5 g. Under the optimum conditions, enrichment factors ranging from 196 to 237 and limits of detection below 0.38 μg/L were obtained for the determination of target pesticides in water. Good linearities (r > 0.9992) were obtained within the range of 1–500 μg/L for all the compounds. The relative standard deviations were in the range of 1.62–2.86% and the recoveries of spiked samples ranged from 89.80 to 104.20%. The whole proposed methodology is simple, rapid, sensitive and environmentally friendly for determining traces of organophosphorus pesticides in the water samples.     

Rational Design of Selenadiazole Derivatives to Antagonize Hyperglycemia‐Induced Drug Resistance in Cancer Cells

Hyperglycemia is an important factor for chemoresistance of hepatocellular carcinoma patients with diabetes to therapeutics. In the present study, a series of selenadiazole derivatives have been rationally designed, synthesized, and found be able to antagonize drug resistance in HepG2 cells to doxorubicin (DOX) under simulated diabetes conditions. Hyperglycemia could promote the cell proliferation through upregulation of ERK and AKT phosphorylation. However, the synthetic selenadiazole derivatives effectively potentiated the cellular uptake of DOX and enhanced the antiproliferative activity of DOX on HepG2 cells by induction of apoptosis, via regulation of ROS‐mediated AMPK activation, inhibition of mTORC1, and an increase in DNA damage. The selenadiazole derivatives that possess an increased lipophilicity could enhance the cellular uptake and anticancer efficacy of DOX. Taken together, this study provides a rational design strategy of selenadiazole derivatives to overcome hyperglycemia‐induced drug resistance.     

Operando X-ray absorption and EPR evidence for a single electron redox process in copper catalysis

An unprecedented single electron redox process in copper catalysis is confirmed using operando X-ray absorption and EPR spectroscopies. The oxidation state of the copper species in the interaction between Cu(ii) and a sulfinic acid at room temperature, and the accurate characterization of the formed Cu(i) are clearly shown using operando X-ray absorption and EPR evidence. Further investigation of anion effects on Cu(ii) discloses that bromine ions can dramatically increase the rate of the redox process. Moreover, it is proven that the sulfinic acids are converted into sulfonyl radicals, which can be trapped by 2-arylacrylic acids and various valuable β-keto sulfones are synthesized with good to excellent yields under mild conditions.     

Rapid and ultrasensitive colorimetric detection of mercury(II) by chemically initiated aggregation of gold nanoparticles

The article describes a method for rapid and visual determination of Hg(II) ion using unmodified gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs). It involves the addition of Au-NPs to a solution containing Hg(II) ions which, however, does not induce a color change. Next, a solution of lysine is added which induces the aggregation of the Au-NPs and causes the color of the solution to change from wine-red to purple. The whole on-site detection process can be executed in less than 15 min. Other amines (ethylenediamine, arginine, and melamine) were also investigated with respect to their capability to induce aggregation. Notably, only amines containing more than one amino group were found to be effective, but a 0.4 μM and pH 8 solution of lysine was found to give the best results. The detection limits for Hg (II) are 8.4 pM (for instrumental read-out) and 10 pM (for visual read-out). To the best of our knowledge, this LOD is better than those reported for any other existing rapid screening methods. The assay is not interfered by the presence of other common metal ions even if present in 1000-fold excess over Hg(II) concentration. It was successfully applied to the determination of Hg(II) in spiked tap water samples. We perceive that this method provides an excellent tool for rapid and ultrasensitive on-site determination of Hg(II) ions at low cost, with relative ease and minimal operation.

Rapid and ultrasensitive detection of mercury ions using gold nanoparticle based label-free colorimetric method with excellent sensitivity, easy operation and low cost.

     

Clean and Efficient Synthesis of Pyrazole Derivatives in Aqueous Media

A series of 5‐aryl‐1H‐pyrazole derivatives were synthesized via the reaction of 3‐(dimethylamino)‐1‐arylprop‐2‐en‐1‐one with hydrazine in aqueous media without using any catalyst. This method has the advantages of easier work‐up, mild reaction condition, high yields, and an environmentally benign procedure.     

Functional graphene-gold nano-composite fabricated electrochemical biosensor for direct and rapid detection of bisphenol A

In this research, the graphene with excellent dispersity is prepared successfully by introducing gold nanoparticle to separate the individual sheets. Various techniques are adopted to characterize the prepared graphene and graphene-gold nanoparticle composite materials. This fabricated new composite material is used as the support material to construct a novel tyrosinase based biosensor for detection of bisphenol A (BPA). The electrochemical performances of the proposed new enzyme biosensor were investigated by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) method. The proposed biosensor exhibited excellent performance for BPA determination with a wide linear range (2.5 × 10⁻³–3.0 μM), a highly reproducible response (RSD of 2.7%), low interferences and long-term stability. And more importantly, the calculated detection limit of the proposed biosensor was as low as 1 nM. Compared with other detection methods, this graphene-gold nanoparticle composite based tyrosinase biosensor is proved to be a promising and reliable tool for rapid detection of BPA for on-site analysis of emergency BPA related pollution affairs.     

Magnetic graphene oxide modified with choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvent for the solid-phase extraction of protein

Four kinds of green deep eutectic solvents (DESs) based on choline chloride (ChCl) have been synthesized and coated on the surface of magnetic graphene oxide (Fe₃O₄@GO) to form Fe₃O₄@GO-DES for the magnetic solid-phase extraction of protein. X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) were employed to characterize Fe₃O₄@GO-DES, and the results indicated the successful preparation of Fe₃O₄@GO-DES. The UV–vis spectrophotometer was used to measure the concentration of protein after extraction. Single factor experiments proved that the extraction amount was influenced by the types of DESs, solution temperature, solution ionic strength, extraction time, protein concentration and the amount of Fe₃O₄@GO-DES. Comparison of Fe₃O₄@GO and Fe₃O₄@GO-DES was carried out by extracting bovine serum albumin, ovalbumin, bovine hemoglobin and lysozyme. The experimental results showed that the proposed Fe₃O₄@GO-DES performs better than Fe₃O₄@GO in the extraction of acidic protein. Desorption of protein was carried out by eluting the solid extractant with 0.005 mol L⁻¹ Na₂HPO₄ contained 1 mol L⁻¹ NaCl. The obtained elution efficiency was about 90.9%. Attributed to the convenient magnetic separation, the solid extractant could be easily recycled.