Terpsichorean movements of pentaammineruthenium on pyrimidine and isocytosine ligands

Pentaammineruthenium moves on ambidentate nitrogen heterocycles by both rotation and linkage isomerization, which may affect the biological activity of potential ruthenium metallopharmaceuticals. The rapid rotation rates of [(NH3)5RuIII] coordinated to the exocyclic nitrogens of isocytosine (ICyt) and 6-methylisocytosine (6MeICyt) have been determined by 1H NMR. Since these rotamers can be stabilized by hydrogen bonding between the coordinated ammines and the N1 and N3 endocyclic nitrogens, rotamerization is under pH control. Spectrophotometrically (UV-vis) measured pKa values for the two endocyclic sites for the ICyt complex are 2.78 and 9.98, and for 6MeICyt are 3.06 and 10.21, which are probably weighted averages for ionization from N3 and N1, respectively. Activation parameters for the rotamerizations were determined by variable-temperature NMR at pKa1 < pH < pKa2 for the complexes with (ICyt-kappa N2)-, (6MeICyt kappa N2)-, and 2AmPym kappa N2. For [(6MeICyt kappa N2)(-)-(NH3)5RuIII]2+, delta H* = 1.6 kcal/mol, delta S* = -37 cal/mol K, and Ea = 2.2 kcal/mol. Due to strong RuIII-N pi-bonding, the activation enthalpies are approximately 10 kcal lower than the expected values for the free ligands. Rotameric structure is correlated with pKa values, pH-dependent reduction potentials, and 1H NMR parameters. Linkage isomers of [(2AmPym)(NH3)5Ru]n+ are reported in which RuII is coordinated to the endocyclic nitrogen (N1) and RuIII to the exocyclic nitrogen (N2). The rate constant for the kappa N2-->kappa N1 isomerization as part of an ECE mechanism is 3.9 s-1 at pH 3. The pH dependence of the acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of [(2AmPym kappa N1)(NH3)5Ru]2+ is determined.     

激光通道传输热特性对远场光束质量的影响

 通过仿真计算分析了激光在光束控制系统通道内传输所产生的热效应及其对远场光束质量的影响。激光传播由近轴波方程描述，用快速傅里叶变换技术求解；激光热效应引起的流场密度变化采用完全Navier-Stokes方程计算。计算给出了不同波长、不同吸收系数条件下的远场光斑情况。计算结果表明，在典型的工作条件和状态下，较高能量激光在光束控制系统通道内产生的热效应影响不容忽视，它会明显降低远场目标处的能量集中度，增大光斑的发散。     

三重四极杆电感耦合等离子体质谱(ICP-MS)法测定氧化铕中13种稀土杂质元素

稀土杂质元素直接影响高纯单金属稀土材料的整体性能,是高科技领域许多材料的重要组成部分。通过考察最佳的消解酸量、温度、时间、氧气反应气流量、稀释气流量,建立了基于三重四极杆电感耦合等离子体质谱仪(ICP-MS/MS)直接测定氧化铕中13种稀土杂质元素分析方法。该方法采用0.1%基体直接进样,可以很大程度提高前处理分析效率。利用碰撞模式测定氧化铕稀土中的Y、La、Pr、Nd、Sm、Gd、Tb、Dy、Ho、Er、Yb、Lu元素,氧气质量转移模式测定氧化铕中的Tm,两种模式结合可以有效去除多原子干扰,实现氧化铕的稳定测试分析。通过对氧化铕标准物质（GBW02902）直接测定分析,结果表明,在碰撞和氧气质量转移模式下,各元素线性相关系数（r）均大于 0.9999,方法检出限为0.001~0.023 mg/kg,测试精密度优于1.99%,13种元素的测试值都在认定值的不确定度范围之内。该分析方法操作简单,测试稳定,效率高,为实验室进行氧化铕材料中REE杂质的准确测试分析提供思路和借鉴。     

Visible Light-Driven Alkyne-Grafted Ethylene-Bridged Azobenzene Chromophores for Photothermal Utilization

Molecular photoswitches are considered to be important candidates in the field of solar energy storage due to their sensitive and reversible bidirectional optical response. Nevertheless, it is still a daunting challenge to design a molecular photoswitch to improve the low solar spectrum utilization and quantum yields while achieving charging and discharging of heat without solvent assistance. Herein, a series of visible-light-driven ethylene-bridged azobenzene (b-Azo) chromophores with different alkyne substituents which can undergo isomerization reactions promoted in both directions by visible light are reported. Their visible light responsiveness improves their solar spectrum utilization while also having high quantum yields. In addition, as the compounds are liquids, there is no need to dissolve the compounds in order to exploit this switching. The photoisomerization of b-Azo can be adjusted by alkyne-related substituents, and hexyne-substituted b-Azo is able to store and release photothermal energy with a high density of 106.1 J·g⁻¹, and can achieve a temperature increase of 1.8 °C at a low temperature of −1 °C.     

Space-Air-Ground Integrated Mobile Crowdsensing for Partially Observable Data Collection by Multi-Scale Convolutional Graph Reinforcement Learning

Mobile crowdsensing (MCS) is attracting considerable attention in the past few years as a new paradigm for large-scale information sensing. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have played a significant role in MCS tasks and served as crucial nodes in the newly-proposed space-air-ground integrated network (SAGIN). In this paper, we incorporate SAGIN into MCS task and present a Space-Air-Ground integrated Mobile CrowdSensing (SAG-MCS) problem. Based on multi-source observations from embedded sensors and satellites, an aerial UAV swarm is required to carry out energy-efficient data collection and recharging tasks. Up to date, few studies have explored such multi-task MCS problem with the cooperation of UAV swarm and satellites. To address this multi-agent problem, we propose a novel deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based method called Multi-Scale Soft Deep Recurrent Graph Network (ms-SDRGN). Our ms-SDRGN approach incorporates a multi-scale convolutional encoder to process multi-source raw observations for better feature exploitation. We also use a graph attention mechanism to model inter-UAV communications and aggregate extra neighboring information, and utilize a gated recurrent unit for long-term performance. In addition, a stochastic policy can be learned through a maximum-entropy method with an adjustable temperature parameter. Specifically, we design a heuristic reward function to encourage the agents to achieve global cooperation under partial observability. We train the model to convergence and conduct a series of case studies. Evaluation results show statistical significance and that ms-SDRGN outperforms three state-of-the-art DRL baselines in SAG-MCS. Compared with the best-performing baseline, ms-SDRGN improves 29.0% reward and 3.8% CFE score. We also investigate the scalability and robustness of ms-SDRGN towards DRL environments with diverse observation scales or demanding communication conditions.     

圆柱类构件超声相控阵聚焦模型

在利用平面相控阵超声换能器对圆柱类构件检测时,受曲界面结构引起的入射波和回波时延的影响,扫描声束的波阵面产生弯曲,在利用传统迭代遍历算法计算延迟时间时效率低,无法发挥相控阵换能器检测优势。针对上述问题,建立了一种基于圆柱类构件特征和耦合介质特性的超声相控阵扫描成像的聚焦模型。该模型基于换能器、耦合介质、圆柱类构件材料特性和几何关系以及声线模型和折射定律,建立了耦合介质及被检构件的声速、曲面曲率半径、阵列与曲面间的距离等关联的延迟时间聚焦控制模型。利用该模型计算出的延时时间,对各阵元发射时间进行控制,从而实现扫描声束的聚焦。该文以液体和有机玻璃制介质楔块为例,对圆柱钢曲面的相控阵声束聚焦进行了仿真实验,结果表明该文方法计算效率显著提升,同时声束可以在预设位置实现聚焦,验证了该模型在计算效率上的优势与有效性。     

Designable assembly of atomically precise Al4O4 cubane supported mesoporous heterometallic architectures

Heterometallic cluster-based framework materials are of interest in terms of both their porous structures and multi-metallic reactivity. However, such materials have not yet been extensively investigated because of difficulties in their synthesis and structural characterization. Herein, we reported the designable synthesis of atomically precise heterometallic cluster-based framework compounds and their application as catalysts in aldol reactions. By using the synergistic coordination protocol, we successfully isolated a broad range of compounds with the general formula, [Al₄M₄O₄(L)₁₂(DABCO)₂] (L = carboxylates; DABCO = 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]-octane; M²⁺ = Co²⁺, Mn²⁺, Zn²⁺, Fe²⁺, Cd²⁺). The basic heterometallic building blocks contain unprecedented main-group γ-alumina moieties and surrounding unsaturated transition metal centers. Interestingly, the porosity and interpenetration of these frameworks can be rationally regulated through the unprecedented strategy of increment of the metal radius in addition to general introduction of sterically bulky groups on the ligand. Furthermore, these porous materials are effective catalysts for aldol reactions. This work provides a catalytic molecular model platform with accurate molecular bonding between the supporters and catalytically active metal ions.

Mesoporous heterometallic architectures are designed by the incorporation of the Al₄O₄ cubane and interpenetration regulation.     

The Pharmacokinetics in Mice and Cell Uptake of Thymus Immunosuppressive Pentapeptide Using LC-MS/MS Analysis

Thymus immunosuppressive pentapeptide (TIPP) is a novel anti-inflammatory peptide with high efficacy and low toxicity. This study aims to establish a selective LC-MS/MS method for analyzing the analyte TIPP in biological samples, laying the foundation for further PK and PD studies of TIPP. Protein precipitation was conducted in acetonitrile supplemented with 2% formic acid and 25 mg/mL dithiothreitol as a stabilizer, which was followed by backwashing the organic phase using dichloromethane. The chromatographic separation of TIPP was achieved on a C18 column with a gradient elution method. During positive electrospray ionization, TIPP was analyzed via multiple-reaction monitoring. The linear relationships between the concentration of TIPP and peak area in murine plasma cell lysates, supernatants, and the final cell rinse PBS were established within the ranges of 20–5000 ng/mL, 1–200 ng/mL, 10–200 μg/mL, and 0.1–20 ng/mL, respectively (r² > 0.99). Validated according to U.S. FDA guidelines, the proposed method was proved to be acceptable. Such a method had been successfully applied to investigate the pharmacokinetics of TIPP in mice via subcutaneous injection. The plasma half-life in mice was 5.987 ± 1.824 min, suggesting that TIPP is swiftly eliminated in vivo. The amount of TIPP uptake by RBL-2H3 cells was determined using this method, which was also visually verified by confocal. Furthermore, the effective intracellular concentration of TIPP was deduced by comparing the intracellular concentration of TIPP and degrees of inflammation, enlightening further investigation on the intracellular target and mechanism of TIPP.     

Interpretation of Strengthening Mechanism of Densified Wood from Supramolecular Structures

In this study, densified wood was prepared by hot pressing after partial lignin and hemicellulose were removed through alkaline solution cooking. The tensile strength and elastic modulus of densified wood were improved up to 398.5 MPa and 22.5 GPa as compared with the original wood, and the characterization of its supramolecular structures showed that the crystal plane spacing of the densified wood decreased, the crystallite size increased, and the maximum crystallinity (CI) of cellulose increased by 15.05%; outstandingly, the content of O(6)H⋯O(3′) intermolecular H-bonds increased by approximately one-fold at most. It was found that the intermolecular H-bond content was significantly positively correlated with the tensile strength and elastic modulus, and accordingly, their Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.952 (p < 0.01) and 0.822 (p < 0.05), respectively. This work provides a supramolecular explanation for the enhancement of tensile strength of densified wood.     

The Antibacterial Activity Mode of Action of Plantaricin YKX against Staphylococcus aureus

We aimed to evaluate the inhibitory effect and mechanism of plantaricin YKX on S. aureus. The mode of action of plantaricin YKX against the cells of S. aureus indicated that plantaricin YKX was able to cause the leakage of cellular content and damage the structure of the cell membranes. Additionally, plantaricin YKX was also able to inhibit the formation of S. aureus biofilms. As the concentration of plantaricin YKX reached 3/4 MIC, the percentage of biofilm formation inhibition was over 50%. Fluorescent dye labeling combined with fluorescence microscopy confirmed the results. Finally, the effect of plantaricin YKX on the AI-2/LuxS QS system was investigated. Molecular docking predicted that the binding energy of AI-2 and plantaricin YKX was −4.7 kcal/mol and the binding energy of bacteriocin and luxS protein was −183.701 kcal/mol. The expression of the luxS gene increased significantly after being cocultured with plantaricin YKX, suggesting that plantaricin YKX can affect the QS system of S. aureus.