Asymmetric Synthesis, Antifungal Activity and Molecular Modeling of Iodiconazole Isomers

Iodiconazole is a novel antifungal agent that was developed in its racemic form. In order to investigate the ef- fects of the chiral center on the antifungal activity, R- and S-isomers of iodiconazole were prepared on the basis of the asymmetric Sharpless epoxidation. （S）-Iodiconazole was proved to have better antifungal activity than the （R）- isomer. The binding modes of the two isomers with lanosterol 14~z-demethylase were clarified by molecular dock- ing.     

Direct conversion of fructose-based carbohydrates to 5-ethoxymethylfurfural catalyzed by AlCl3·6H2O/BF3·(Et)2O in ethanol

Direct conversion of fructose-based carbohydrates to 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) catalyzed by Lewis acid in ethanol was investigated. It was found that BF₃·(Et)₂O was favorable for 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) etherification to EMF. BF₃·(Et)₂O combination with AlCl₃·6H₂O with the molar ratio of 1 was an effective catalyst system for synthesis of EMF from fructose-based carbohydrates. 55.0%, 45.4% and 23.9% of EMF yields were obtained from fructose, inulin and sucrose under optimized conditions, respectively.     

Development of a Sensitive Method for the Determination of 4‐(Methylnitrosamino)‐1‐(3‐pyridyl)‐1‐butanol in Human Urine Using Solid‐phase Extraction Combined with Ultrasound‐assisted Dispersive Liquid–liquid Microextraction and LC‐MS/MS Detection

An efficient and sensitive analytical method based on molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction (MISPE) and reverse‐phase ultrasound‐assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (USA‐DLLME) coupled with LC–MS/MS detection was developed and validated for the analysis of urinary 4‐(methylnitrosamino)‐1‐(3‐pyridyl)‐1‐butanol (NNAL), a tobacco‐specific nitrosamine metabolite. The extraction performances of NNAL on three different solid‐phase extraction (SPE) sorbents including the hydrophilic‐lipophilic balanced sorbent HLB, the mixed mode cationic MCX sorbent and the molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) sorbent were evaluated. Experimental results showed that the analyte was well retained with the highest extraction recovery and the optimum purification effect on MIP. Under the optimized conditions of MIP and USA‐DLLME, an enrichment factor of 23 was obtained. Good linearity relationship was obtained in the range of 5‐1200 pg/mL with a correlation coefficient of 0.9953. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.35 pg/mL. The recoveries at three spiked levels ranged between 88.5% and 93.7%. Intra‐ and inter‐day relative standard deviations varied from 3.6% to 7.4% and from 5.4% to 9.7%, respectively. The developed method combing the advantages of MISPE and DLLME significantly improves the purification and enrichment of the analyte and can be used as an effective approach for the determination of ultra‐trace NNAL in complex biological matrices.     

FIPSDock: A new molecular docking technique driven by fully informed swarm optimization algorithm

The accurate prediction of protein–ligand binding is of great importance for rational drug design. We present herein a novel docking algorithm called as FIPSDock, which implements a variant of the Fully Informed Particle Swarm (FIPS) optimization method and adopts the newly developed energy function of AutoDock 4.20 suite for solving flexible protein–ligand docking problems. The search ability and docking accuracy of FIPSDock were first evaluated by multiple cognate docking experiments. In a benchmarking test for 77 protein/ligand complex structures derived from GOLD benchmark set, FIPSDock has obtained a successful predicting rate of 93.5% and outperformed a few docking programs including particle swarm optimization (PSO)@AutoDock, SODOCK, AutoDock, DOCK, Glide, GOLD, FlexX, Surflex, and MolDock. More importantly, FIPSDock was evaluated against PSO@AutoDock, SODOCK, and AutoDock 4.20 suite by cross‐docking experiments of 74 protein–ligand complexes among eight protein targets (CDK2, ESR1, F2, MAPK14, MMP8, MMP13, PDE4B, and PDE5A) derived from Sutherland‐crossdock‐set. Remarkably, FIPSDock is superior to PSO@AutoDock, SODOCK, and AutoDock in seven out of eight cross‐docking experiments. The results reveal that FIPS algorithm might be more suitable than the conventional genetic algorithm‐based algorithms in dealing with highly flexible docking problems. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Adsorption Mechanism of Comb Polymer Dispersants at the Cement/Water Interface

Comb polymers are commonly used as dispersants to stabilize highly concentrated cement suspensions. The effectiveness of such polymeric additives to stabilize these suspensions is determined to a large extent by the amount adsorbed. In this study we investigated the adsorption characteristics of various comb dispersant containing different graft densities on surfaces of cement particle. The effect of inorganic salts on their adsorption was also examined in order to elucidate their adsorption mechanism. The results show that the adsorption of comb polymer dispersants on cement surface conforms approximately to Langmuir's adsorption isotherm and the characteristic plateau A _s and adsorption free energy ΔG_ads are largely dependent on the anionic group content of the comb polymers. The A _s and ΔG_ads increase with increasing anionic group content. This information suggests that the adsorption of comb polymers on cement surfaces is dominated by electrostatic interaction between COO-groups on the comb polymers and the positive surface of the cement. This conclusion is supported by effects of inorganics such as calcium and sulfate ions, and diffuse reflectance FTIR spectroscopy. The implication of results for tuning polymers for the required performance in cement manufacture should be noted.     

Novel high birefringence bistolane liquid crystals with lateral fluorosubstituent

Twelve compounds based on lateral fluorinated bistolane moieties with cyano or trifluoromethyl terminal groups were synthesised with Hagihara–Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction. The molecular structures of the compounds were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared, ¹H-nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry. The transition temperatures, optical textures and optical anisotropies were determined by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy and ultraviolet microscopy. The effects of the terminal substituents and lateral fluorosubstituent group on their physical properties were investigated and discussed. The compounds with lateral double fluorosubstituent and cyano terminal group exhibited nematogenic texture, while other compounds showed smectic phase. All the compounds exhibited wide liquid crystal temperature ranges and high clearing points. Interestingly, the compounds have the high birefringence in the range of between 0.480 and 0.633.     

聚合物单晶生长的三维相场模拟研究

利用元胞自动机方法与相场模型的结合建立新型三维模拟相场模型.同时,为模拟真实的、三维的高分子结晶的过程,采用元胞自动机方法离散方程,且元胞几何形状的选取符合真实聚合物晶格扩散方式的物理规律,以及新建立的相场模型套用间规聚丙烯的实验参数.利用该模型模拟了多种三维立方体或者薄层的晶体形貌及其相互之间的演化过程,包括正方形、长方形、菱形、六边形、多层单晶等.通过模拟结果与真实形貌作对比来证明所建立的相场模型真实可靠性.     

纳米层状双金属氢氧化物改性PU/PMMA的制备及其弛豫行为

采用原位聚合法,制备了聚氨酯(PU)/聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯(PMMA)/层状双金属氢氧化物(LDH)纳米复合体系(PU/PMMA/LDH).通过广角X射线衍射(WXRD)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)对其结构和形貌进行了表征,并通过热失重(TGA)、动态力学分析(DMA)和宽频介电谱(BDRS)研究了LDH含量(φ)对PU/PMMA体系热稳定性和弛豫行为的影响.结果表明,当φ<1 wt%时,LDH在聚合物基体中以剥离结构为主,PU/PMMA/LDH体系的玻璃化温度(Tg)降低,最大损耗因子(tanδmax)增大;而当φ>1 wt%时,LDH在聚合物基体中以插层结构为主,插层结构对聚合物分子链的限制使复合体系的Tg升高、tanδmax降低.LDH表面与PU硬段间的氢键作用,使复合体系的α介电弛豫转变随φ增加而向高温方向移动,弛豫过程激活参数增大.     

Three New Coordination Compounds with Neodymium Based on Tetrazole Containing Carboxylic Acid Ligands

Reactions of three tetrazole containing carboxylic acid ligands, namely, Hpztza, Htzpya, and Hpytza [Hpztza = 5‐(2‐pyrazinyl)tetrazole‐2‐acetic acid, Htzpya = 3‐(5‐tetrazolyl)pyridine‐1‐acetic acid, Hpytza = 5‐(3‐pyridyl)tetrazole‐2‐acetic acid] with NdCl₃ · 6H₂O under hydrothermal conditions, afforded the complexes [Nd(pztza)₂(H₂O)₆] · pztza · 3H₂O ( 1 ), [Nd₂(tzpya)₂(H₂O)₁₂]Cl₄ · 2H₂O ( 2 ), and [Nd(pytza)₂Cl(H₂O)₂] ( 3 ). The compounds were structurally characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. X‐ray diffraction analyses revealed that compound 1 displays a mononuclear structure, 2 shows a dinuclear structure, and 3 features a 1D polymeric chain structure via pytza as linker. Furthermore, the luminescent properties investigated at room temperature in the solid state show that compound 2 has an obvious decrease in its luminescence, when compared to the ligand.