One‐Pot Synthesis of Pomegranate‐Structured Fe3O4/Carbon Nanospheres‐Doped Graphene Aerogel for High‐Rate Lithium Ion Batteries

A unique hierarchically nanostructured composite of iron oxide/carbon (Fe₃O₄/C) nanospheres‐doped three‐dimensional (3D) graphene aerogel has been fabricated by a one‐pot hydrothermal strategy. In this novel nanostructured composite aerogel, uniform Fe₃O₄ nanocrystals (5–10 nm) are individually embedded in carbon nanospheres (ca. 50 nm) forming a pomegranate‐like structure. The carbon matrix suppresses the aggregation of Fe₃O₄ nanocrystals, avoids direct exposure of the encapsulated Fe₃O₄ to the electrolyte, and buffers the volume expansion. Meanwhile, the interconnected 3D graphene aerogel further serves to reinforce the structure of the Fe₃O₄/C nanospheres and enhances the electrical conductivity of the overall electrode. Therefore, the carbon matrix and the interconnected graphene network entrap the Fe₃O₄ nanocrystals such that their electrochemical function is retained even after fracture. This novel hierarchical aerogel structure delivers a long‐term stability of 634 mA h g^?1 over 1000 cycles at a high current density of 6 A g^?1 (7 C), and an excellent rate capability of 413 mA h g^?1 at 10 A g^?1 (11 C), thus exhibiting great potential as an anode composite structure for durable high‐rate lithium‐ion batteries.     

Interference-induced enhancement of field entanglement in a microwave-driven V-type single-atom laser

We demonstrate the generation of two-mode continuous-variable (CV) entanglement in a V-type three-level atom trapped in a doubly resonant cavity using a microwave field driving a hyperfine transition between two upper excited states. By numerically simulating the dynamics of this system, our results show that the CV entanglement with large mean number of photons can be generated even in presence of the atomic relaxation and cavity losses. More interestingly, it is found that the intensity and period of entanglement can be enhanced significantly with the increasing of the atomic relaxation due to the existence of the perfect spontaneously generated interference between two atomic decay channels. Moreover, we also show that the entanglement can be controlled efficiently by tuning the intensity of spontaneously generated interference and the detuning of the cavity field.     

A Comparative Study of Electron Heat Transport in a Stochastic and a Non‐Stochastic Magnetic Field

We studied the electron heat transport across a non‐local stochastic magnetic field and a non‐local non‐stochastic magnetic field in tokamak plasmas. Analytical results and numerical simulation results were compared with conditions of a stochastic and a non‐stochastic magnetic field respectively in this article. Parameter of stochasticity in perturbed magnetic field was found not tobe a key factor in influencing effective radial heat conductivity in radial direction of tokomak when Chirikov parameter is close to one (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The Relationship of Reaction Temperature,Tg and Rich‐Syndiotacticity of Poly(alkyl methacrylate)s in Modified Microemulsion Polymerization

Nanoscale poly(alkyl methacrylate)s including poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(ethyl methacrylate), poly(cyclohexyl methacrylate), poly(iso‐butyl methacrylate) and poly(benzyl methacrylate) were prepared by a modified microemulsion polymerization procedure. NMR analysis suggested that these poly(methacrylate)s samples were higher in syndiotactic content, lower in isotactic content and the glass transition temperatures (T_gs) of them were also higher than those reported in the literature. The tacticities of the poly(methacrylate)s, beside the restricted volume effect of nanoparticles during the modified microemulsion polymerization, were mainly influenced by the reaction temperature, the lower the reaction temperature, the higher the syndiotacticity of the products. The syndiotacticity of the product decreased obviously when the polymerization was carried out at a temperature far above the T_g of the resulting polymer. It was also shown that the tacticity of the polymer was affected by the monomer structure, a monomer with the bulkier alkyl side group would liable to result in a polymer with richer syndiotacticity. Possible mechanism of rich‐syndiotacticity was also discussed.     

Highly sensitive lable-free electrochemical aptasensor for thrombin detection with cobalt hexacyanoferrate as the electrochemical probe

A highly sensitive label-free electrochemical aptasensor has been constructed for the electrochemical detection of thrombin (TB), where two layers of cobalt hexacyanoferrate (CoHCF) redox probes sandwiched with carbon nanotubes–Nafion were directly immobilized on the electrode surface by electrodeposition. Through the strong interaction between CN^? (CoHCF) and gold nanoparticles (GNPs), GNPs were assembled on the CoHCF-modified electrode for the immobilization of thiolated thrombin aptamers (TBA). In the presence of target TB, TBA on the electrode surface could catch TB to form TBA–TB complex, which made a barrier for the electron transfer, resulting in a greater decrease in CoHCF redox probe signals. Thus, the proposed aptasensor showed a high sensitivity and a much wider linearity to TB in the range of 1.0 pg/mL?～?1.0 μg/mL with a detection limit of 0.28 pg/mL.     

Isolation of highly pure erlotinib hydrochloride by recrystallization after nucleophilic substitution of an impurity with piperazine

Optimized synthesis and purification of erlotinib hydrochloride (N-(3-ethynylphenyl)-6,7-bis(2-methoxyethoxy)quinazoline-4-amine hydrochloride) were studied. Highly polar piperazine was used in a nucleophilic substitution reaction with the chlorinated intermediate byproduct N-(3-ethynylphenyl)-6(2-chloroethoxy)-7-(2-methoxyethoxy)quinazolin-4-amine hydrochloride. As a result, N-(3-ethynylphenyl)-6(2-chloroethoxy)-7-(2-methoxyethoxy)quinazolin-4-amine hydrochloride was completely transformed to N-(3-ethynylphenyl)-6(2-piperzinoethoxy)-7-(2-methoxyethoxy)quinazolin-4-amine hydrochloride. The polarity of N-(3-ethynylphenyl)-6(2-piperzinoethoxy)-7-(2-methoxyethoxy)quinazolin-4-amine hydrochloride was changed, and its molecule was enlarged. It was easy to remove this larger, more polar, compound by recrystallization. Highly pure erlotinib hydrochloride was obtained with low impurity content (<1 %). The purity of erlotinib hydrochloride was >99.9 %.     

Rational Design of Ratiometric Fe3+ Fluorescent Probes Based on FRET Mechanism

As the most abundant transition metal element in mammals, iron(Fe) plays a vital role in life activities. It is of great significance to study the variation of Fe³⁺ level in living organisms. In virtue of the advantages of high sensitivity, good selectivity and low damage to living systems, the fluorescence detection of Fe³⁺ has attracted much attention. Compared with the intensity-based fluorescent probe, the ratiometric fluorescent probe has less interference of environmental and can realize quantitative detection. In this study, four ratiometric Fe³⁺ fluorescent probes, R1, R2, R3 and R4_, were designed and synthesized using fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET) mechanism to achieve quantitative detection of Fe³⁺. In the FRET systems, 1,8-naphthalimide fluorophore derivatives were adopted as donors while rhodamine B derivatives were selected as receptors. The connection sites of the donor and acceptor in R3 and R4 are different from those in R1 and R2. All the four probes showed good response and selectivity to Fe³⁺. The energy transfer efficiencies of R3 and R4 were obviously higher than those of R1 and R2. This work provided a promising strategy for the development of fluorescent ratiometic Fe³⁺sensors.     

Effects of High Pressure on the Surface Plasmon Resonance of Copper and Silver Nanocrystals

We used a diamond anvil cell(DAC) to control the deformation of synthesized copper nanorods and silver nanoparticles. And we measured the surface plasmon resonance of copper nanorods and silver nanoparticles, which exhibit redshifts or blueshifts. The surface plasmon resonance shows an abnormal blue shift for both copper nanorods and silver nanoparticles. The solvents of copper nanorods and silver nanoparticles are n-hexane and water, where the pressure loads include quasi-hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic.     

An 18 Multi-InDels panel for analysis of highly degraded forensic biological samples

DNA genotyping from trace and highly degraded biological samples is one of the most significant challenges of forensic DNA identification. There is a lack of simple and effective methods for genotyping highly degraded samples. In this study, a multiple loci insertion/deletion polymorphisms (Multi-InDels) panel was designed for detecting 18 autosomal Multi-InDels through capillary electrophoresis (CE) with amplicon sizes no longer than 125 bp. Studies of sensitivity, degradation, and species specificity were performed and a population study was carried out using 192 samples from Han populations in Hunan province in the south of China. The combined random match probability (CMP) of these 18 Multi-InDels was 3.23 × 10^–12 and the cumulative probability of exclusion (CPE) was 0.9989, suggesting this panel could be used independently for human identification and could provide efficient supporting information for parentage testing. Complete profiles were obtained from as low as 62.5 pg of total input DNA after increasing the number of PCR cycles. Moreover, all alleles were detected from artificially highly degraded DNA after 80 min of boiling water bath treatment. This 18 Multi-InDels panel is simple, fast, and effective for the forensic analysis of highly degraded DNA.