Chemosensors for the marine toxin saxitoxin

Eleven anthracylmethyl crown ethers have been synthesized and evaluated as fluorescence sensors for the marine toxin saxitoxin. Fluorescence enhancement data are consistent with a 1:1 binding complex for all crowns. The binding constants are in the range of 10(4) M(-)(1) in ammonium phosphate buffer (pH 7.1) in 80% ethanol solvent. Selectivity for sensing saxitoxin versus several organic analytes has been demonstrated for the first time. Possible modes of binding are presented, and relevance to saxitoxin monitoring programs are discussed.     

High pressure-promoted cycloadditions of ketene acetals and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones

Cycloadditions of ketene acetals with α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds are strongly promoted by high pressure. The influence of the solvent and the substitution pattern on the product distribution at 12 kBar has been investigated. In the polar solvent, acetonitrile, α,β-unsaturated aldehydes not having large β-substituents, yield mainly cyclobutane aldehydes, which are minor products at normal pressure. The products can be transformed under basic conditions without ring opening.     

Solubility Measurements of Surfactants and Dissolution of Cytochrome c in 1,1,1,2‐Tetrafluoroethane Modified with Organic Solvents

The solubilities of four surfactants, sodium bis‐2‐ethylhexyl sulfosuccinate (AOT), cetyltrimethylammonium chloride, didodecyldimethylammonium bromide, and n‐dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride in liquid refrigerant 1,1,1,2‐tetrafluoroethane (R134a) modified with methanol, ethanol, and 2‐propanol were measured. The measurements were performed under 25 and 50 bar at 25 °C. The solubility of AOT was as high as 92 mM in R134a with addition of 2% ethanol. Cytochrome c molecules were then verified to be soluble in the AOT‐containing and ethanol‐modified R134a solution. Accordingly, liquid R134a is suggested as a potential extraction solvent for hydrophilic compounds.     

Ultrafast energy-electron transfer cascade in a multichromophoric light-harvesting molecular square

A molecular square with dimensions of about 4 nm, incorporating sixteen pyrene chromophores attached to four ditopic bay-functionalized perylene bisimide chromophores, has been synthesized by coordination to four Pt(II) phosphine corner units and fully characterized via NMR spectroscopy and ESI-FTICR mass spectrometry. Steady-state and time-resolved emission as well as femtosecond transient absorption studies reveal the presence of a highly efficient (>90%) and fast photoinduced energy transfer (k(en) approximately equal to 5.0 x 10(9) s(-1)) from the pyrene to the perylene bisimide chromophores and a very fast and efficient electron transfer (>94%, k(et) approximately equal to 5 x 10(11) up to 43 x 10(11) s(-1)). Spectrotemporal parametrization indicates upper excited-state electron-transfer processes, various energy and electron-transfer pathways, and chromophoric heterogeneity. Temperature-dependent time-resolved emission spectroscopy has shown that the acceptor emission lifetime increases with decreasing temperature from which an electron-transfer barrier is obtained. The extremely fast electron-transfer processes (substantially faster and more efficient than in the free ligand) that are normally only observed in solid materials, together with the closely packed structure of 20 chromophoric units, indicate that we can consider the molecular square as a monodisperse nanoaggregate: a molecularly defined ensemble of chromophores that partly behaves like a solid material.     

Black fungus derived aerogel with double faced properties

Black fungus aerogel (BFA) exhibited interesting double-faced properties. Weexplored the diverse properties of each side of the black fungus in three aspects:water contact angle measurements, liquid selective absorption capacity and air pollutant adsorption abilities.     

Use of a bismuth ion-selective electrode for investigation of bismuth complexes of citric and malic acids

A bismuth ion-selective electrode has been used to determine the nature and stability of the complexes formed by bismuth with citric acid and malic acid, by measurement of the response of the electrode to different total bismuth concentrations at various combinations of pH and total ligand concentration. The values found were beta(2) = 3 x 10(13) for Bi(Cit)(2)(3-) and beta(3) = 8 x 10(9) for Bi(Mal)(2)(3-).     

C_(60)离子束撞击固体表面的坍塌沉积(Ⅰ)共焦显微拉曼光谱研究

为了研究C60的结构特性，我们最近在实验中将加这后的C60离子束沉积在固体表面，对其沉积后的形态进行了共焦显微拉曼光谱的表征．在记录的光谱中已检测不出C60原有的特征谱问，说明C60离子在高速憧击固体表面后，已经完全失去了原有的球状构型．C60的t）［R实验在自制的串级飞     

Ph2SO/Tf2O: a powerful promotor system in chemoselective glycosylations using thioglycosides

Diphenylsulfoxide in combination with triflic anhydride provides a very potent thiophilic glycosylation promotor system, capable of activating disarmed thioglycosides. The usefulness of this novel thiophilic activator is illustrated in a successful chemoselective glycosylation sequence in which the donor thioglycoside in the first condensation step may be either armed or disarmed. [reaction: see text]     

Determining PPARγ-ligand binding affinity using fluorescent assay with cis-parinaric acid as a probe

Upon the study of small-molecules binding to proteins, the traditional methods for calculating dissociation constants (Kd and Ki) have shortcomings in dealing with the single binding site models. In this paper, two equations have been derived to solve this problem. These two equations are independent of the total concentration or initial degree of saturation of receptor and the activity of the competitive molecule. Through nonlinear fitting against these two equations, Kd value of a probe can be obtained by binding assay, and Ki value of a ligand can be obtained by competitive assay. Moreover, only the total concentrations of receptor([R]t), ligand([L]t) and probe([P]t) are required for the data fitting. In this work, Ki values of some typical ligands of PPARγ were successfully determined by use of our equations, among which the Ki value of PPARγ-LY171883 was reported for the first time.     

Ecdysteroid glycosides: identification, chromatographic properties, and biological significance

Ecdysteroid glycosides are found in both animals and plants. The chromatographic behavior of these molecules is characteristic, as they appear much more polar than their corresponding free aglycones when analyzed by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), whereas the presence of glycosidic moieties has a very limited (if any) impact on polarity when using reversed-phase HPLC. Biological activity is greatly reduced because the presence of this bulky substituent probably impairs the interaction with ecdysteroid receptor(s). 2-Deoxy-20-hydroxyecdysone 22-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, which has been isolated from the dried aerial parts of Silene nutans (Caryophyllaceae), is used as a model compound to describe the rationale of ecdysteroid glycoside purification and identification.