Chemical Characterization of Phenolic Compounds in Erigeron Injection by Rapid-Resolution LC Coupled with Multi-Stage and Quadrupole-TOF-MS

Rapid-resolution liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ion trap multistage mass spectrometry (ESI-MS ⁿ ) and electrospray quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-Q-TOF) has been utilized to separate and characterize the phenolic components in Erigeron injections. After extensive separation on the column, each peaks’ potential structures were obtained based on their accurate mass supplied by ESI-Q-TOF and chemical database retrieval, and confirmed by ESI-MS ⁿ . A total of 44 compounds were identified or tentatively characterized and fifteen of them reported for the first time. In addition, the developed method was applied to monitor the elimination of phenolic compounds in rats after intravenous administration of 4 mL kg^?1 Erigeron injection. The caffeoylquinic acids and flavonoids of the Erigeron injection were quickly degraded and most of them reached the low limit of detection (SNR < 3) at 2 h post-injection.     

Non-adiabatic dynamics of pyrrole: Dependence of deactivation mechanisms on the excitation energy

Non-adiabatic dynamics simulations were performed for pyrrole at time-dependent density functional theory level using the trajectory surface hopping approach. Initial conditions were prepared based on the UV-absorption spectrum so as to simulate monochromatic absorption in three distinct spectral regions. The results showed predominance of the NH-stretch mechanism for excited-state relaxation. With increasing initial energy, however, other mechanisms are activated as well, even though they still occurred for a minor fraction of the trajectories. Dynamics starting at the origin of the absorption spectrum exhibited internal conversion to the ground state with a time constant of 20 fs. In contrast, dynamics starting at higher energies gave rise to much longer time constants for internal conversion near 200 fs.     

Tuning the band-gap energy of TiO2-xCx nanoparticle for high performance photo-catalyst

We describe a method tuning the band-gap energy (E_g) of visible light sensitive TiO_2-xC_x nanoparticle. E_g tends to become smaller with the increase in the amount of carbon dopant in TiO_2-xC_x nanoparticle due to the increase in excess electrons. Photo-catalytic oxidative activity, however, did not depend on only the value of E_g, but also the energy level of valence band. TiO_1.96C_0.04 nanoparticle having E_g of 2.6 eV showed outstanding performance in oxidative decomposition of phenol under the irradiation of visible light.     

Theoretical studies of decomposition kinetics of CF3CCl2O radical

The unimolecular decomposition reaction of CF₃CCl₂O radical has been investigated using theoretical methods. Two most important channels of decomposition occurring via C–C bond scission and Cl elimination have been considered during the present investigation. Ab initio quantum mechanical calculations are performed to get optimized structure and vibrational frequencies at DFT and MP2 levels of theory. Energetics are further refined by the application of a modified Gaussian-2 method, G2M(CC,MP2). The thermal rate constants for the decomposition reactions involved are evaluated using Canonical Transition State Theory (CTST) utilizing the ab initio data. Rate constants for C–C bond scission and Cl elimination are found to be 6.7 × 10⁶ and 1.1 × 10⁸ s^?1, respectively, at 298 K and 1 atm pressure with an energy barrier of 8.6 and 6.5 kcal/mol, respectively. These values suggest that Cl elimination is the dominant process during the decomposition of the CF₃CCl₂O radical. Transition states are searched on the potential energy surface of the decomposition reactions involved and are characterized by the existence of only one imaginary frequency (NIMAG = 1) during frequency calculation. The existence of transition states on the corresponding potential energy surface is further ascertained by performing intrinsic reaction coordinate (IRC) calculation.     

Efficient isolation and purification of five products from microbial biotransformation of cinobufagin by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

An efficient separation method of using high‐speed counter‐current chromatography was successfully established to directly purify cytotoxic transformed products of cinobufagin by Cordyceps militaris. The two‐phase solvent system composed of n‐hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (4:6:3:4, v/v) was used in high‐speed counter‐current chromatography. A total of 9 mg of 4β,12α‐dihydroxyl‐cinobufagin ( 1 ), 15 mg of 12β‐hydroxyl‐cinobufagin ( 2 ), 8 mg of 5β‐hydroxyl‐cinobufagin ( 3 ), 12 mg of deacetylcinobufagin ( 4 ) and 6 mg of 3‐keto‐cinobufagin ( 5 ) were obtained in a one‐step separation from 400 mg of the crude extract with purity of 98.7, 97.2, 90.6, 99.1 and 99.4%, respectively, as determined by HPLC. Their chemical structures were identified on the basis of ¹H‐NMR and ¹³C‐NMR technology. All products ( 1 – 5 ) showed the potent activities against human carcinoma cervicis (Hela) and malignant melanoma (A375) cells in vitro.     

Raman spectroscopic study of the uranyl sulphate mineral zippeite: low wavenumber and U–O stretching regions

The uranyl sulphate mineral zippeite was studied by Raman spectroscopy. The phase purity of the sample was initially checked by X-ray powder diffraction and its chemical composition was defined by electron microprobe (wavelength dispersive spectroscopy, WDS) analysis. The Raman spectroscopy research focused on the low wavenumber and uranyl stretching vibration regions. Vibration bands down to 50 cm^–1 were tentatively assigned. The U–O bond lengths were calculated based on empirical relations. Inferred values are consistent with those obtained from the crystal structure analysis of synthetic zippeite. Number of bands was interpreted on the basis of factor group analysis.     

An SPR biosensor for the detection of microcystins in drinking water

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor for the detection of microcystins (MCs) in drinking water has been developed. Several assay formats have been evaluated. The selected format is based on a competitive inhibition assay, in which microcystin-LR (MCLR) has been covalently immobilized onto the surface of an SPR chip functionalized with a self-assembled monolayer. The influence of several factors affecting sensor performance, such as the nature and concentration of the antibody, the composition of the carrier buffer, and the blocking and regeneration solutions, has been evaluated. The optimized SPR biosensor provides an IC₅₀ 0.67 ± 0.09 μg L⁻¹, a detection limit of 73 ± 8 ng L⁻¹, and a dynamic range from 0.2 to 2.0 μg L⁻¹ for MCLR. Cross-reactivity to other related MCs, such as microcystin-RR (88%) and microcystin-YR (94%), has also been measured. The SPR biosensor can perform four simultaneous determinations in 60 min, and each SPR chip can be reused for at least 40 assay–regeneration cycles without significant binding capacity loss. The biosensor has been successfully applied to the direct analysis of MCLR in drinking water samples, below the provisional guideline value of 1 μg L⁻¹ established by the World Health Organization for drinking water.     

Interaction of bis-aryl functionalized molecules with nucleosides and nucleic acids

A series of novel molecules with a cyclen(1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane) moiety appended on and bearing different aromatic fragments in the structures were synthesized and characterized.The binding activities of these compounds towards DNA were systematically studied by spectroscopic,viscometric and gel electrophoresis methods.The results suggest that the stacking interaction plays an important role in improving the DNA binding ability of the compounds.The binding modes of the compounds towards DNA are als...     

Study of <Emphasis Type="Italic">cis</Emphasis>–<Emphasis Type="Italic">trans</Emphasis> isomerization mechanism of 3,3′-azobenzene disulphonate in the lowest singlet and triplet electronic states by density functional theory

Abstract  

The cis–trans isomerization pathways of 3,3′-azobenzene disulphonate in the S₀ and T₁ states are studied by DFT method at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level. In the S₀ state, the cis–trans isomerization concerns the complex pathway that is characterized by the inversion of one NNC angle combined with rotation around the NC bond, and the three sequential transition states are also found on the potential energy profile. Therefore, the cis–trans isomerization of 3,3′-azobenzene disulphonate can be understood in terms of a pathway involving successive rotation, inversion, and rotation processes. The energy barrier of the S₀ state is 22.79 kcal mol⁻¹. In the T₁ state, the isomerization mainly concerns the rotational pathway around the NN double bond, and the two isomers are connected through only one transition state. The isomerization of the T₁ state is related to a lower energy barrier, 5.02 kcal mol⁻¹, but requires a change in spin-multiplicity.