Green microfluidic devices made of corn proteins

An alternative green microfluidic device made of zein, a prolamin of corn, can be utilized as a disposable environmentally friendly microchip especially in agriculture applications. Using standard soft lithography and stereo lithography techniques, we fabricated thin zein films with microfluidic chambers and channels. These were bonded to both a glass slide and another zein film. The zein film with microfluidic features bonds irreversibly with other surfaces by vapor-deposition of ethanol to create an adhesive layer resulting in very little or no trapped air and small shape distortion. Zein-zein and zein-glass microfluidic devices demonstrated sufficient strength to facilitate fluid flow in a complex microfluidic design that showed no leakage under high hydraulic pressure. Zein-glass microfluidic devices with serpentine mixing design showed successful fluid manipulation as a concentration gradient of Rhodamine B solution was generated. The ease of fabrication and bonding and the flexibility and moldability of zein offer attractive possibilities for microfluidic device design and manufacturing. These devices can include several unit operations with mixing being one of the most commonly used. The zein-based microfluidic devices, made entirely from a biopolymer from agricultural origin, offer alternative environmentally friendly material choices that are less dependent on limited petroleum based polymer resources.     

Transimination reactions in [b-3C-im][NTf2] ionic liquid

Compared to conventional molecular solvents, the ionic liquid [b-3C-im][NTf(2)] was found to promote transimination reactions with up to ～100-fold rate enhancement. This rate effect observed at ambient temperature might be explained by the fact that the ionic liquid displays weak Lewis acidity with very low, if any, nucleophilicity and its imidazolium cation is expected to interact by associating with, and thus electrophilically activating, the C=N bond of the starting imine, leading to increased stabilization of the polar, charged intermediate species and ultimately, rapid product formation. Moreover, the presence of 1 mol% Sc(OTf)(3) in [b-3C-im][NTf(2)] further facilitates the transimination reactions studied.     

Ruthenium-catalyzed oxidation of a carbon-carbon triple bond: facile syntheses of alkenyl 1,2-diketones from alkynes

A new oxidation procedure of alkynes catalyzed by Tp(PPh(3))(CH(3)CN)Ru-Cl is presented, which provides an efficient way to obtain alkenyl 1,2-diketones via ruthenium alkenyl 1,2-diketone intermediates. In contrast, the analogous reactions with Tp(PPh(3))(PhCN)Ru-Cl gave rise to the ruthenium metallacycle complexes.     

High-throughput 3D spheroid culture and drug testing using a 384 hanging drop array

Culture of cells as three-dimensional (3D) aggregates can enhance in vitro tests for basic biological research as well as for therapeutics development. Such 3D culture models, however, are often more complicated, cumbersome, and expensive than two-dimensional (2D) cultures. This paper describes a 384-well format hanging drop culture plate that makes spheroid formation, culture, and subsequent drug testing on the obtained 3D cellular constructs as straightforward to perform and adapt to existing high-throughput screening (HTS) instruments as conventional 2D cultures. Using this platform, we show that drugs with different modes of action produce distinct responses in the physiological 3D cell spheroids compared to conventional 2D cell monolayers. Specifically, the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has higher anti-proliferative effects on 2D cultures whereas the hypoxia activated drug commonly referred to as tirapazamine (TPZ) are more effective against 3D cultures. The multiplexed 3D hanging drop culture and testing plate provides an efficient way to obtain biological insights that are often lost in 2D platforms.     

Synthesis and Crystal Structures of the Molybdenum(II) Complexes with the N,N‐dimethylthiocarbamoyl Containing Ligand: Crystal Structures of [Mo(CO)2(η2‐S2COEt)(η2‐SCNMe2)(PPh3)] and [Mo(CO)2(η2‐S2CNC4H8)(η2‐SCNMe2)(PPh3)]

The reaction of the thiocarbamoyl‐molybdenum complex [Mo(CO)₂(η²‐SCNMe₂)(PPh₃)₂Cl] 1 , with EtOCS2K and C4H8NCS2NH4 in dichloromethane at room temperature yielded the seven coordinated ethyldithiocarbonate thiocarbamoyl‐molybdenum complex [Mo(CO)₂(η²‐S₂COEt)(η²‐SCNMe₂)(PPh₃)] 2 , and the dithiocarbamate thiocarbamoyl‐molybdenum complex [Mo(CO)₂(η²‐S₂CNC₄H₈)(η²‐SCNMe₂)(PPh₃)] 3 . The geometry around the metal atom of compounds 2 and 3 are capped octahedrons as revealed by X‐ray diffraction analyses. The thiocarbamoyl and ethyldithiocarbonate or pyrrolidinyldithiocarbamate ligands coordinate to the molybdenum metal center through the carbon and sulfur and two sulfur atoms, respectively. Structure parameters, NMR, IR and Mass spectra are in agreement with the crystal chemistry of the two compounds.     

Using Size-Exclusion Chromatography to Evaluate Changes in the Sizes of Au and Au/Pd Core/Shell Nanoparticles Under Thermal Treatment

In this study, we used size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) to evaluate the sizes of Au and Au/Pd core/shell nanoparticles (NPs) that had been subjected to thermal treatment, with the eluted NPs monitored through diode array detection (DAD) of the surface plasmon (SP) absorption of the NPs. In the absence of an adequate stabilizer, thermal treatment resulted in longer retention times for the Au NPs and shorter retention times for the Au/Pd core/shell NPs in the SEC chromatograms. Thus, thermal treatment influenced the sizes of these Au and Au/Pd core/shell NPs, through digestive ripening and Ostwald-type growth, respectively. In addition, the trends in the SP absorption phenomena of the NPs in the eluted samples, as measured using DAD, were consistent with the trends of their size variations, as measured from their elution profiles. In the presence of 3A-amino-3A-deoxy-(2AS,3AS)-??-cyclodextrin (H₂N-??-CD) as a stabilizer, the retention times and SP absorptions of the eluted Au and Au/Pd NP samples remained constant. Thus, H₂N-??-CD is a good stabilizer against size variation duration the thermal treatment of Au and Au/Pd core/shell NPs. A good correlation existed between the sizes obtained using SEC and those provided by transmission electron microscopy. Therefore, this SEC strategy is an effective means of further searching for suitable stabilizers for NPs, especially those exposed to harsh reaction conditions (e.g., in catalytic reactions).     

Dynamic information for cardiotoxin protein desorption from a methyl-terminated self-assembled monolayer using steered molecular dynamics simulation

Dynamic information, such as force, structural change, interaction energy, and potential of mean force (PMF), about the desorption of a single cardiotoxin (CTX) protein from a methyl-terminated self-assembled monolayer (SAM) surface was investigated by means of steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulations. The simulation results indicated that Loop I is the first loop to depart from the SAM surface, which is in good agreement with the results of the nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiment. The free energy landscape and the thermodynamic force of the CTX desorption process was represented by the PMF and by the derivative of PMF with respect to distance, respectively. By applying Jarzynski's equality, the PMF can be reconstructed from the SMD simulation. The PMFs, calculated by different estimators based upon Jarzynski's equality, were compared with the conventional umbrella sampling method. The best estimation was obtained by using the fluctuation-dissipation estimator with a pulling velocity of v = 0.25 nm/ns for the present study.     

Environment-dependent ultrafast photoisomerization dynamics in azo dye

Azoaromatic dyes have been extensively investigated over the past decade due to their potential use in a variety of optical devices that exploit their ultrafast photoisomerization processes. Among the azoaromatic dyes, Disperse Red 19 is a commercially available azobenzene nonlinear optical chromophore with a relatively high ground-state dipole moment. In the present study, we used ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy to clarify the dynamics of a push-pull substituted azobenzene dye. Solution and film samples exhibited different ultrafast dynamics, indicating that the molecular environment affects the photoisomerization dynamics of the dye.     

Generation of the CF3 radical from trifluoromethylsulfonium triflate and its trifluoromethylation of styrenes

The CF(3) radical was generated from the reaction of S-(trifluoromethyl)diphenylsulfonium triflate with Na(2)S(2)O(4) or HOCH(2)SO(2)Na under suitable conditions without further reduction. Based on this, a method for the synthesis of α-trifluoromethylated ketones has been successfully developed.