DNAzyme amplification of molecular beacon signal

This paper reports an improved catalytic molecular beacon. Addition of the target oligonucleotide activates a DNA enzyme (DNAzyme), which, in turn, activates multiple copies of molecular beacons (MB) and gives rise to a strong fluorescence signal. In a previous design, the activated DNAzyme could oligomerize, especially dimerize, and result in inactivation of the DNAzyme. The current design avoids this problem, upon activated by the target DNA, the DNAzyme will stay constantly active. With the improved method, a detection of 10 pM DNA has been demonstrated, which is 1000 times more sensitive than the method previously reported.     

两个双核铁（Ⅲ）和三足配体的配合物的合成和晶体结构

运用三足四齿配体三（2－甲基吡啶）胺（TPA）或三（2－甲基苯丙咪唑）胺（TBA）,得到两个双核铁(III)配合物，[Fe₂L₂(μ₂-O)(μ₂-p-NH₂-C₆H₄COO)]³⁺ (L = TPA, 1 和 L = TBA, 2)。两个配合物均为单斜晶系，空间群为P2(1)/c.晶胞参数 1: a = 1.4529(4), b = 1.6622(5), c = 2.0625(6) nm, β= 100.327(5)º, V = 4.900(3) nm³, z = 4, F(000) = 2344, 分子量M_r = 1142.91, Dc = 1.549 g/cm³, R₁ = 0.0544, R₂ = 0.0962. 2: a = 1.3378(4), b = 2.1174(7), c = 2.4351(7) nm, β= 97.315(6)º, V = 6.842(4) nm³, z = 4, F (000) = 3116, 分子量M_r = 1505.08, Dc = 1.444 g/cm³, R₁ = 0.0793, R₂ = 0.1623. 在两个双核铁(III)配合物中，中心的三价铁和配体TPA或TBA上的四个氮原子和两个氧原子通过不同的桥形成一个畸变的八面体构型。     

Preparation of PdCo Bimetallic Hollow Nanospheres and its Electrocatalytic Activity for Oxidation of Formic Acid

The performance of the direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC) is considerably higher than the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) because of some characteristics of formic acid1. For example, formic acid is non-toxic. Formic acid has two orders of magnitude smaller crossover flux through a Nafion membrane than methanol2. In DFAFC, the concentration of formic acid can be as high as 20 mol/L, while the best concentration of methanol in DMFC is only about 2 mol/L3. Thus, the power density of …     

Aortic elastin fluorescence afterin vivo labeling with Congo red

Congo red (CR) is an azo dye which not only preferentially binds to elastin, an extracellular matrix protein found in the media of arterial vessel walls, but also fluoresces when it binds to this protein. Protein solubilization data following laser irradiation of elastin:CR suspensions determined that the amount of elastin solubilized by laser irradiation increased with the increase in CR. The saturation point of CR to elastin was attained when 400 g CR was added to 20 mg elastin suspension. When 20 ml of a 5% CR solution in 5% dextrose was administered intravenously, the CR was absorbed in levels sufficient to produce fluorescence of the main arteries in rabbits. Layers of tissue both in the media of the vessels and at the endothelial/intimal interface were clearly differentiated. Therefore, the elastin:CR complex appears to be an ideal system in which the elastin fluorescence could aid in distinguishing between normal and diseased tissue in certain pathological conditions, such as atherosclerosis and some types of breast tumors.     

N,N,N,′N′-四丁基丁二酰胺的合成及其萃取稀土离子Pr(Ⅲ)的研究

合成了四取代双酰胺萃取剂N,N,N,′N′-四丁基丁二酰胺(TBSA),并对萃取剂的结构进行了表征。研究了其萃取Pr(Ⅲ)的性能,考察了硝酸浓度、萃取剂浓度、硝酸锂浓度以及温度等对萃取分配比的影响。萃取反应在298K时,TBSA以甲苯为稀释剂时的热力学焓变为-12.83 kJ/mol。萃合物的组成结构为Pr(NO3)3.3TBSA。     

Organic functionalization of the sidewalls of carbon nanotubes by diels-alder reactions: a theoretical prediction

[structure: see text] The viability of the Diels-Alder (DA) cycloaddition of conjugated dienes onto the sidewalls of single-wall carbon nanotubes is assessed by means of a two-layered ONIOM(B3LYP/6-31G:AM1) approach. Whereas the DA reaction of 1,3-butadiene on the sidewall of an armchair (5,5) nanotube is found to be unfavorable, the cycloaddition of quinodimethane is predicted to be viable due to the aromaticity stabilization at the corresponding transition states and products.     

A multiple coupling approach to produce high-performance SERS substrates

In this work, large area gold-nanoparticle-cluster pillar array with a gold mirror as high-performance SERS substrate was facilely fabricated by combined use of nanosphere lithography and self-assembly approach.     

A preliminary study of background concentrations of elements in plants of the Xizang Plateau

A total of 29 major and trace elements have been determined in 43 plant samples collected from the Xizang (Tibet) Plateau using INAA at a SLOWPOKE mini-reactor in order to study elemental background concentration values in Xizang plants. In this paper are reported elemental concentrations of different parts of the plants compared to average values of plants worldwide. The preliminary results suggest that nutritional, plant elements in this region are quite low indicative of a state of malnutrition, while the contents of Al, Ti, Cr and Ba are comparatively high. These findings indicate that the concentrations of most elements in the plants are mainly affected by local soil geochemical characteristics. Some variation in elemental distribution within the plants was also evident: in general, higher concentrations were found in stems compared to roots, and, differences for nutritional elements among the plant species were much greater than found for other elements.