Microextraction techniques for the determination of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds from plants: A review

Vegetables and fruits are necessary for human health, and traditional Chinese medicine that uses plant materials can cure diseases. Thus, understanding the composition of plant matrix has gained increased attention in recent years. Since plant matrix is very complex, the extraction, separation and quantitation of these chemicals are challenging.     

Synthesis of polyphenol microsphere‐supported palladium complex and evaluation of its catalytic performance for Heck reaction

Polyphenol microspheres were prepared by template polymerization of phenol in the presence of horseradish peroxidase as bio‐enzyme catalyst and aqueous 1,4‐dioxane as solvent. The morphology of polyphenol microspheres thus obtained was observed with a scanning electron microscope. Further, polyphenol microspheres as obtained were loaded with palladium to generate polyphenol microsphere‐supported Pd complex. Resultant Pd complex catalyst supported by polyphenol microspheres was characterized by means of Fourier transformation infrared spectrometry, X‐ray diffraction, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and its thermal stability was examined. Moreover, the catalytic activity of polyphenol microsphere‐supported Pd catalyst as synthesized for the Heck reactions of acrylic acid with aryl iodides was evaluated. Results indicate that the polyphenol microsphere as obtained has a diameter of about 500 nm. Polyphenol microsphere‐supported Pd catalyst, as synthesized, at a dosage of 0.37 mol% Pd, possesses good catalytic activity for the Heck reactions of acrylic acid with aryl iodides in air at a low temperature of 50°C, and it also exhibits catalytic activity for bromide and activated chlorobenzene. The polyphenol microsphere‐supported Pd complex has good thermal stability, and it can be readily separated and reused; the yield of the reaction of iodobenzene with acrylic acid remains at 82% after five recycle runs, showing promising potential as a catalyst for Heck reactions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wander of a Gaussian-Beam Wave Propagated Through a Non-Kolmogorov Turbulent Atmosphere

Both increasing experimental evidence and some results of theoretical investigation have shown that there exist two kinds of turbulence in the aerosphere, Kolmogorov and non-Kolmogorov turbulence. Thus, it is necessary to improve the theory of optical wave propagation through atmospheric turbulence, namely, study the laser-beam propagation in non-Kolmogorov turbulence, before analyzing the joint influence of the Kolmogorov turbulence and non-Kolmogorov one on satellite laser communication. The beam wander will lead to the performance degradation of satellite laser communication systems and exert an influence on the achievement and stability of its links. In this paper, we consider a theoretical power spectrum of refractive-index fluctuations with a generalized power law in order to derive the variance of Gaussian-beam wave wander in weak turbulence for a horizonal path and analyze the influence of spectral power-law variations on the beam wander. We show that the expression for the beam-wander variance is of concise closed form and independent of the optical wavelength.     

Phase retrieval from fringe pattern with 1-D discrete wavelet transform

This paper proposes a novel method to obtain frequency modulation (FM) signals from a single fringe pattern for phase retrieval. First, a 1D discrete Meyer wavelet is employed to decompose the pattern image signal row by row and the soft-thresholding approach is applied to remove noise. The low frequency coefficients of the wavelet decomposition are then set to 0, and the signal is reconstructed. Moreover, the optimal wavelet decomposition level is adaptively determined using a cost function-based method. The reconstructed signal, which no longer contains a background component, is normalized using a nonlinear and piecewise normalization method. The proposed method is faster and more accurate than some other phase retrieval approaches, which is illustrated with two test cases.     

Complementary MS Methods Assist Conformational Characterization of Antibodies with Altered S–S Bonding Networks

As therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) become a major focus in biotechnology and a source of the next-generation drugs, new analytical methods or combination methods are needed for monitoring changes in higher order structure and effects of post-translational modifications. The complexity of these molecules and their vulnerability to structural change provide a serious challenge. We describe here the use of complementary mass spectrometry methods that not only characterize mutant mAbs but also may provide a general framework for characterizing higher order structure of other protein therapeutics and biosimilars. To frame the challenge, we selected members of the IgG2 subclass that have distinct disulfide isomeric structures as a model to evaluate an overall approach that uses ion mobility, top-down MS sequencing, and protein footprinting in the form of fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP). These three methods are rapid, sensitive, respond to subtle changes in conformation of Cys?→?Ser mutants of an IgG2, each representing a single disulfide isoform, and may be used in series to probe higher order structure. The outcome suggests that this approach of using various methods in combination can assist the development and quality control of protein therapeutics.      

Synthesis, structure, and activity evaluation of two silver(I) complexes as Helicobacter pylori urease inhibitors

Two silver(I) compounds, [Ag(R,R-hxn)](C₇H₄BrO₂) · 2H₂O (I) (Chxn = 1,2-diaminocyclohexane) and [Ag(C₅H₆N₂)₂]₂(C₈H₄O₄) · 10H₂O (II), were synthesized and complex I was structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. Compound I contains a catena-(trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane) silver polycation ([Ag(Chxn)]_∞) in a roughly linear fashion, while II possesses a linear-type silver monocation. Compounds I and II were evaluated for their inhibitory activities against Helicobacter pylori urease in vitro. Both were found to have strong inhibitory activities against H. pylori urease comparable to that of acetohydroxamic acid.     

Biochemical and Structural Studies of Conserved Maf Proteins Revealed Nucleotide Pyrophosphatases with a Preference for Modified Nucleotides

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Hierarchical ZSM-11 with intergrowth structures:Synthesis,characterization and catalytic properties

Hierarchical ZSM-11 microspheres with intercrystalline mesoporous properties and rod-like crystals intergrowth morphology have been synthesized using a spot of tetrabutylammonium as a single template.XRD,FTIR,SEM,TEM and N2 adsorption analysis revealed that each individual particle was composed of nanosized rod crystals inserting each other and the intercrystalline voids existing among rods gave a significant mesopore size distribution.Steam treatment result demonstrated the excellent hydrothermal stability of samples.Various crystallization modes including constant temperature crystallization (one-stage crystallization) and two-stage temperature-varying crystallization with different 1st stage durations were investigated.The results suggested that the crystallization modes were mainly responsible for the adjustable particle size and textural properties of samples while the small amount of tetrabutylammonium bromide was mainly used to direct the formation of both ZSM-11 framework and its intergrowth morphology.Furthermore,the performance of optimal ZSM-11 as an active component for the catalytic pyrolysis of heavy oil was also investigated.Compared with the commercial pyrolysis catalyst,the hierarchical ZSM-11 catalyst exhibited a high selectivity to desired products(LPG+gasoline+diesel),as well as a much lower dry gas and coke yield,plus a high selectivity and yield of light olefins(C=3 C=4)and very poor selectivity to benzene.Therefore,fully open micropore-mesopore connectivity would make such hierarchically porous ZSM-11 zeolites very attractive for applications in clean petrochemical catalysis field.