4-Methyl-amphetamine (1-(4-methylphenyl)propane-2-amine; 4-MA) and its isomers 2-methyl-amphetamine (2-MA) and 3-methyl-amphetamine (3-MA) belong to the group of amphetamine-type stimulants and of new psychoactive substances. Several studies showed similar potencies in releasing noradrenalin and dopamine, but higher potencies in releasing serotonin than amphetamine. In March 2013, the EU Council decided on an EU-wide control based on the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction risk assessment report documenting that 4-MA was sold as amphetamine on the illicit market and detected in several fatal cases. Therefore, 4-MA and its isomers should be covered by drug testing in clinical and forensic toxicology. The aims of the presented work were to study the metabolism and detectability of each isomer in urine samples. For metabolism studies, rat urine samples were isolated by solid-phase extraction without and after enzymatic cleavage of conjugates. The phase I metabolites were separated and identified after acetylation by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and/or liquid chromatography–high resolution-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (LC-HR-MSn) and the phase II metabolites by LC-HR-MSn. From the identified phase I and II metabolites, the following main metabolic pathways were deduced: aromatic hydroxylation, hydroxylation of the phenylmethyl group followed by oxidation to the corresponding carboxylic acid, hydroxylation of the side chain, and glucuronidation and/or sulfation of the hydroxy and carboxy groups. CYP2D6 was involved in the aromatic hydroxylation. Finally, the intake of a commonly used dose of the MAs could be confirmed in rat urine using the authors’ GC-MS and the LC-MSn standard urine screening approaches. Differentiation of the isomers to confirm the intake of a specific isomer was possible with an additional workup in rat urine. 相似文献
This work presents analytical, numerical and experimental demonstrations of light diffracted through a logarithmic spiral (LS) nanoslit, which forms a type of switchable and focus‐tunable structure. Owing to a strong dependence on the incident photon spin, the proposed LS‐nanoslit converges incoming light of opposite handedness (to that of the LS‐nanoslit) into a confined subwavelength spot, while it shapes light with similar chirality into a donut‐like intensity profile. Benefitting from the varying width of the LS‐nanoslit, different incident wavelengths interfere constructively at different positions, i.e., the focal length shifts from 7.5 μm (at λ = 632.8 nm) to 10 μm (at λ = 488 nm), which opens up new opportunities for tuning and spatially separating broadband light at the micrometer scale.
CO2 and steam/CO2 electroreduction to CO and methane in solid oxide electrolytic cells (SOEC) has gained major attention in the past few years. This work evaluates, for the very first time, the performance of two different ZnO–Ag cathodes: one where ZnO nanopowder was mixed with Ag powder for preparing the cathode ink (ZnOmix–Ag cathode) and the other one where Ag cathode was infiltrated with a zinc nitrate solution (ZnOinf –Ag cathode). ZnOmix–Ag cathode had a better distribution of ZnO particles throughout the cathode, resulting in almost double CO generation while electrolysing both dry CO2 and H2/CO2 (4:1 v/v). A maximum overall CO2 conversion of 48% (in H2/CO2) at 1.7 V and 700 °C clearly indicated that as low as 5 wt% zinc loading is capable of CO2 electroreduction. It was further revealed that for ZnOinf –Ag cathode, most of CO generation took place through RWGS reaction, but for ZnOmix–Ag cathode, it was the synergistic effect of both RWGS reaction and CO2 electrolysis. Although ZnOinf –Ag cathode produced trace amount of methane at higher voltages, with ZnOmix–Ag cathode, there was absolutely no methane. This seems to be due to strong electronic interaction between Zn and Ag that might have suppressed the catalytic activity of the cathode towards methanation.
Using molecular simulations, we show that the aperiodic growth of quasicrystals is controlled by the ability of the growing quasicrystal nucleus to incorporate kinetically trapped atoms into the solid phase with minimal rearrangement. In the system under investigation, which forms a dodecagonal quasicrystal, we show that this process occurs through the assimilation of stable icosahedral clusters by the growing quasicrystal. Our results demonstrate how local atomic interactions give rise to the long-range aperiodicity of quasicrystals. 相似文献
In situ missions of exploration require analytical methods that are capable of detecting a wide range of molecular targets in complex matrices without a priori assumptions of sample composition. Furthermore, these methods should minimize the number of reagents needed and any sample preparation steps. We have developed a method for the detection of metabolically relevant inorganic and organic anions that is suitable for implementation on in situ spaceflight missions. Using 55 mM acetic acid, 50 mM triethylamine, and 5% glycerol, more than 21 relevant anions are separated in less than 20 min. The method is robust to sample ionic strength, tolerating high concentrations of background salts (up to 900 mM NaCl and 300 mM MgSO4). This is an important feature for future missions to ocean worlds. The method was validated using a culture of Escherichia coli and with high salinity natural samples collected from Mono Lake, California. 相似文献
Parahydrogen induced polarization was employed to prepare a relatively long‐lived correlated nuclear spin state between methylene and methyl protons in propane gas. Conventionally, such states are converted into a strong NMR signal enhancement by transferring the reaction product to a high magnetic field in an adiabatic longitudinal transport after dissociation engenders net alignment (ALTADENA) experiment. However, the relaxation time T1 of ~0.6 s of the resulting hyperpolarized propane is too short for potential biomedical applications. The presented alternative approach employs low‐field MRI to preserve the initial correlated state with a much longer decay time TLLSS=(4.7±0.5) s. While the direct detection at low‐magnetic fields (e.g. 0.0475 T) is challenging, we demonstrate here that spin‐lock induced crossing (SLIC) at this low magnetic field transforms the long‐lived correlated state into an observable nuclear magnetization suitable for MRI with sub‐millimeter and sub‐second spatial and temporal resolution, respectively. Propane is a non‐toxic gas, and therefore, these results potentially enable low‐cost high‐resolution high‐speed MRI of gases for functional imaging of lungs and other applications. 相似文献
EBC‐162 isolated from Croton insularis, obtained from the northern rainforest of Australia, was structurally affirmed as crotofolin C ( 4 ). Novel oxidative degradation products, EBC‐233 and EBC‐300, which are the first crotofolane endoperoxides, were also isolated. Both endoperoxides were found to be stable intermediates, which are proposed to undergo an unprecedented homo‐Baeyer–Villiger biosynthetic rearrangement to give a new class of 1,14‐seco‐crotofolane diterpenes. Prolonged storage of all isolates assisted in authenticating their natural product status. Anticancer activities of reported compounds are presented. 相似文献
Following his seminal work in 1953, Stanley Miller conducted an experiment in 1958 to study the polymerization of amino acids under simulated early Earth conditions. In the experiment, Miller sparked a gas mixture of CH4, NH3, and H2O, while intermittently adding the plausible prebiotic condensing reagent cyanamide. For unknown reasons, an analysis of the samples was not reported. We analyzed the archived samples for amino acids, dipeptides, and diketopiperazines by liquid chromatography, ion mobility spectrometry, and mass spectrometry. A dozen amino acids, 10 glycine‐containing dipeptides, and 3 glycine‐containing diketopiperazines were detected. Miller’s experiment was repeated and similar polymerization products were observed. Aqueous heating experiments indicate that Strecker synthesis intermediates play a key role in facilitating polymerization. These results highlight the potential importance of condensing reagents in generating diversity within the prebiotic chemical inventory. 相似文献
A novel variant of an iridium‐based organometallic catalyst was synthesized and used to enhance the NMR signals of pyridine in a heterogeneous phase by immobilization on polymer microbead solid supports. Upon administration of parahydrogen (pH2) gas to a methanol mixture containing the HET‐SABRE catalyst particles and the pyridine, up to fivefold enhancements were observed in the 1H NMR spectra after sample transfer to high field (9.4 T). Importantly, enhancements were not due to any residual catalyst molecules in solution, thus supporting the true heterogeneity of the SABRE process. Further significant improvements may be expected by systematic optimization of experimental parameters. Moreover, the heterogeneous catalyst is easy to separate and recycle, thus opening a door to future potential applications varying from spectroscopic studies of catalysis, to imaging metabolites in the body without concern of contamination from expensive and potentially toxic metal catalysts or accompanying organic molecules. 相似文献