Ultra-performance LC/TOF MS analysis of medicinal Panax herbs for metabolomic research

In this study, metabolite profiling of five medicinal Panax herbs including Panax ginseng (Chinese ginseng), Panax notoginseng (Sanchi), Panax japonicus (Rhizoma Panacis Majoris), Panax quinquefolium L. (American ginseng), and P. ginseng (Korean ginseng) were performed using ultra-performance LC-quadrupole TOF MS (UPLC-QTOFMS) and multivariate statistical analysis technique. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the analytical data showed that the five Panax herbs could be separated into five different groups of phytochemicals. The chemical markers such as ginsenoside Rf, 20(S)-pseudoginsenoside F11, malonyl gisenoside Rb1, and gisenoside Rb2 accountable for such variations were identified through the loadings plot of PCA, and were identified tentatively by the accurate mass of TOFMS and partially verified by the available reference standards. Results from this study indicate that the proposed method is reliable for the rapid analysis of a group of metabolites present in herbal medicines and other natural products and applicable in the differentiation of complex samples that share similar chemical ingredients.     

Determination of radix ginseng volatile oils at different ages by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Comprehensive 2-D GC (GC x GC) coupled with TOF MS or flame ionization detector (FID) was employed to characterize and quantify the chemical composition of volatile oil in the radixes of Panax ginseng C. A. Mey. (ginseng) at different ages. Thirty-six terpenoids were tentatively identified based on the MS library search and retention index in a ginseng sample at the age of 3 years. An obvious group-type separation was obtained in the GC x GC-TOF MS chromatogram. The data collected by GC x GC-FID were processed using a principal component analysis (PCA) method to classify the samples at different ages. The compounds responsible for the significant differentiation among samples were defined. It was found that the relative abundances of alpha-cadinol, alpha-bisabolol, thujopsene, and n-hexadecanoic acid significantly rise with the increase in age.     

Determination of estrogens in wastewater using three-phase hollow fiber-mediated liquid-phase microextraction followed by HPLC

Three-phase hollow fiber-mediated liquid-phase microextraction followed by HPLC was used for the determination of three synthetic estrogens, namely diethylstilbestrol, dienestrol, and hexestrol, in wastewater. Extraction conditions including organic solvent, volume ratio between donor solution and acceptor phase, extraction time, stirring rate, donor phase and acceptor phase were optimized. The target compounds were extracted from a 10 mL aqueous sample at pH 1.5 (donor solution) through a 45 mm in length hollow polypropylene fiber that was immersed in 1-octanol in advance, and then the hollow fiber was filled with 10 microL 0.5 mol/L sodium hydroxide solution (acceptor phase). After a 40 min extraction, the acceptor phase was directly injected into an HPLC system for detection. Under the optimized extraction conditions, a large enrichment factor (more than 300-fold) was achieved for the three estrogens. The determination limit at an S/N of 3 ranged from 0.25 to 0.5 microg/L for the estrogens. The recovery ratio was more than 86% in the determination of these estrogens in wastewater.     

De novo design of a bolaamphiphilic peptide with only natural amino acids

A new self-assembling bolaamphiphilic peptide has been designed and synthesized using only natural amino acids. This simple peptide is composed of two lysines connected by 4-8 alanines to maintain the characteristics of the traditional bolaamphiphiles. Based on an irregular secondary structure, it can self-assemble into nanospheres, nanorods, or nanofibers with lengths up to micrometers. The long nanofibers can be broken into smaller fragments by sonication, however, they could reassemble into nanofibers after incubation. Furthermore, the nanostructures were shown to have considerable thermostability. This new bolaamphiphilic peptide differs from any other self-assembling peptides or bolaamphiphiles, and possibly provides a new approach to fabricate nanomaterials.     

A new sesquiterpenoid hydroquinone from the marine sponge Dysidea arenaria

Detailed chemical investigation of the South China sponge Dysidea arenaria resulted in the isolation of a new sesquiterpenoid hydroquinone, 19-hydroxypolyfibrospongol B (1), along with five known compounds: polyfibrospongol B (2), isosemnonorthoquinone (3), ilimaquinone (4), smenospongine (5) and smenotronic acid (6). The structures were determined by extensive spectroscopic analysis. The in vitro anti- HIV activity on HIV-1 RT was evaluated. Compounds 3 -6 displayed moderate inhibitory activity, with IC(50)values of 239.7, 16.4, 176.1, and 130.4 microM, respectively, while 1 and 2 were found to be inactive against the same biological target.     

Synthesis, characterization and computational study of nitrogen-doped CeO2 nanoparticles with visible-light activity

Nitrogen-doped CeO2 nanoparticles were synthesized through a wet-chemical route. Nitrogen has been successfully incorporated into CeO2 nanoparticles and the nitrogen-doping level was also successfully controlled. The optical properties due to the different N-doping levels in CeO2 nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), which showed a visible-light absorbance shift. The resulting nanoparticles show enhanced visible-light sensitivity and photocatalytic activity compared to undoped CeO2 nanoparticles. DFT calculations were performed to explore the effect of nitrogen doping versus oxygen vacancies. The calculations show that the change of the electronic structure upon N-doping CeO2 is quite different from that of N-doped TiO2, which has been studied extensively.     

Visible light induced photocatalytic degradation of phenol by polymer-modified semiconductors: Study of the influencing factors and the kinetics

To investigate the influencing factors and the kinetics of photocatalytic degradation of phenol, experiments were carried out using conjugated polymer poly(fluorene-co-thiophene) (PFT) sensitized TiO₂ and ZnO under LED (light-emitting diode) lights of the wavelength of 450–475 nm. Influencing factors, such as initial phenol concentration, photocatalyst dosage and pH value on the photocatalytic degradation of phenol were studied in detail. The reaction kinetics was found to follow pseudo first-order law.     

A novel covalent coupling method for coating of capillaries with liposomes in capillary electrophoresis

A novel covalent coupling method for coating of capillaries with liposomes has been developed, which includes three steps: (i) epoxy-diol coating, (ii) activation with 2,2,2-trifluoroethanesulfonyl chloride, and (iii) liposome coupling. The coating conditions, such as the reaction time and temperature of liposome coupling, the content of dimyristoylphosphatidylethanolamine in liposomes, were optimized. Vesicles were visualized on the inner silica wall as confirmed by atomic force microscopy. The effectiveness of the coating was demonstrated by investigating the effect of pH of BGE on EOF and separating neutral compounds. The intra- and inter-capillary variations in EOF are 4.02% RSD (n=30) and 6.72% RSD (n=4) respectively, and the coated capillaries can be used to perform analysis at least for one month without any performance deterioration when stored at 4 degrees C. A set of drugs with diverse structures was applied into the developed liposome-coated CE. The normalized capacity factor (K) was introduced to quantitatively evaluate drug-membrane interactions. The relationship between log K and the fraction dose absorbed in humans (Fa%) shows that the liposome-coated CE can be utilized for in vitro prediction of Fa% of drugs that follow the transcellular passive transport route.     

Capillary electrophoresis chemiluminescent detection system equipped with a two-step postcolumn flow interface for detection of some enkephalin-related peptides labeled with acridinium ester

Despite its low equipment cost and simple design, as one of the sensitive detectors for CE, the chemiluminescence (CL) detector was less developed compared to the detectors of MS and LIF. The main reasons were the limitation of CL reagents, the repeatability problems and the relatively low sensitivity compared to LIF. In this paper, a highly sensitive CE-CL detection system was developed for detection of some enkephalin-related peptides labeled with acridinium ester. A new detection interface was designed for CE with CL detection of acridinium ester and its labeled analytes. The interface included two sections: one was used to acidify the capillary outflow so that the corresponding acridinium pseudo-base form can be changed into acridinium ester form by adding excess acid to the system; the other was designed to provide a suitable solution to produce the CL from acridinium ester. The effect factors, such as pH, the concentration of reaction reagents and the flow rates of the reagents, were investigated. The results showed that acridinium ester had similar CL properties in this interface when pH values of CE BGE were changed from 2.0 to 10.8. The interface was used to detect acridinium ester and three acridinium ester-labeled enkephalin-related peptides, the corresponding LODs were found to be in the attomole range. This CL detection system proved to be of high sensitivity, good repeatability, and relatively low cost.     

Synthesis of new heterocyclic compounds having 1,2,3‐triazole and isoxazole rings in a single molecule

Five series of new heterocyclic compounds of 1,2,4‐triazole Mannich bases, 1,3,4‐oxadiazole Mannich bases, 1,3,4‐oxadiazolines, 1,2,4‐triazolo[3,4‐b]1,3,4‐thiadiazines and 1,2,4‐triazolo[3,4‐b]1,3,4‐thiadiazoles, in which 1,2,3‐triazolyl and isoxazolyl have been united, were synthesized from the intermediate of 5‐methyl‐3‐(2‐phenyl‐2H‐1,2,3‐triazol‐4‐yl)isoxazole‐4‐carbohydrazide, Their structures were established by spectroscopy.