AAPH-mediated antioxidant reactions of secoisolariciresinol and SDG

Secoisolariciresinol (SECO ) is the major lignan found in flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) and is present in a polymer that contains secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG ). SECO, SDG and the polymer are known to have a number of health benefits, including reduction of serum cholesterol levels, delay in the onset of type II diabetes and decreased formation of breast, prostate and colon cancers. The health benefits of SECO and SDG may be partially attributed to their antioxidant properties. To better understand their antioxidant properties, SECO and SDG were oxidized using 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane), an in vitro model of radical scavenging. The major lignan radical-scavenging oxidation products and their formation over time were determined. SDG was converted to four major products, which were the result of a phenoxyl radical intermediate. One of these products, a dimer of SDG, decomposed under the reaction conditions to form two of the other major products, and . SECO was converted to five major products, two of which were also the result of a phenoxyl radical intermediate. The remaining products were the result of an unexpected alkoxyl radical intermediate. The phenol oxidation products were stable under the reaction conditions, whereas two of the alcohol oxidation products decomposed. In general, only one phenol group on the lignans was oxidized, suggesting that the number of phenols per molecule may not predict radical scavenging antioxidant ability of lignans. Finally, SECO is a superior antioxidant to SDG, and it may be that the additional alcohol oxidation pathway contributes to its greater antioxidant ability.     

New Data on the Ability of Alumina–Platinum Systems to Catalyze the Methane Aromatization Reaction under Nonoxidizing Conditions

The state and size of the metal on the surface of aluminum oxide and the acidic properties of the support depending on the concentration of supported platinum were studied in this work. The effect of the Pt content of the alumina–platinum catalyst on the activation (chemisorption) of methane was investigated, and the composition of hydrocarbon fragments formed in this case was calculated. The sample most active in a reaction of the joint conversion of methane with n-pentane, which was performed for the production of aromatic hydrocarbons under nonoxidizing conditions, was established. The effect of the temperature of n-pentane supply to the reaction atmosphere was studied for the 0.6%Pt/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The degree of enrichment of the resulting aromatic hydrocarbons and the quantity of incorporated methane activated on the catalyst surface were determined with the use of isotope mass spectrometry.     

Capillary ion electrophoresis, an environmental method for the determination of anions in water

Capillary ion electrophoresis has recently been introduced as a new separations technique for the analysis of of inorganic anions. Among its many attributes are rapid, highly efficient separations with different selectives (compared to ion chromatography), simplicity, and economy.

This paper demonstrates the ability of capillary ion electrophoresis to analyze primary and secondary anionic contaminants as well as other ions of environmental concern in drinking water, groundwater, and wastewater. Analysis time is less than five minutes. A comparison of the data to ion chromatography shows excellent correlation.     

Addition of carbon to anatase TiO2 by n-hexane treatment—surface or bulk doping?

Anatase TiO₂ can be sensitized to visible light by adding carbon as a dopant. Towards this end, TiO₂ photoelectrodes were subjected to a thermal treatment in a hexane-rich environment. By comparing the optical and photoelectrochemical characteristics of both thin film and nanocrystalline nanoporous photoelectrodes, carbon is found to be located mainly at the surface of the TiO₂. The amount of carbon that diffuses into the bulk of the material is too small to significantly enhance the visible light response and only a small shift of the absorption edge towards higher wavelengths is observed. The presence of carbon in TiO₂ shifts the anatase-to-rutile transformation temperature beyond 800 °C, and X-ray diffraction shows that spray deposition of TiO₂ under a CO₂ atmosphere results in a higher bulk carbon concentration than a post-deposition thermal treatment in a hexane-rich environment.     

The coumarin psoralidin enhances anticancer effect of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)

Coumarins are a very common type of secondary plant metabolites with a broad spectrum of biological activities. Psoralidin is a naturally occurring furanocoumarin isolated from Psoralea corylifolia possessing anticancer and chemopreventive properties. Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) triggers apoptosis in cancer cells with no toxicity toward normal tissues. Endogenous TRAIL plays an important role in immune surveillance and defence against cancer cells. Coumarins can modulate TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in cancer cells. We examined the cytotoxic and apoptotic activities of psoralidin in combination with TRAIL on HeLa cancer cells. The cytotoxicity was measured by MTT and LDH assays. The apoptosis was detected using annexin V-FITC staining and mitochondrial membrane potential was evaluated using DePsipher staining by fluorescence microscopy. Death receptor (TRAIL-R1/DR4 and TRAIL-R2/DR5) expression was analyzed using flow cytometry. Psoralidin enhanced TRAIL-induced apoptosis in HeLa cells through increased expression of TRAIL-R2 death receptor and depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential. Our study indicated that psoralidin augmented the anticancer effects of TRAIL and confirmed a potential use of coumarins in cancer chemoprevention.     

Hybrid method for detecting cascades produced by ultrahigh-energy cosmic particles using a circumlunar satellite

A hybrid method for detecting cosmic rays and neutrino cascades using the radio method and the conventional method for detecting cascade particles was proposed. Cascades produced in the lunar soil near the surface by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos in the energy range of 1 GeV–100 TeV, coming from above at different angles, were calculated. The calculated energy and angular distributions were extrapolated to the energy region of 10²⁰ eV. Using these results, the detection threshold was estimated as 10²⁰ eV which is approximately identical to the threshold for the radio detector previously considered by the authors.