Direct Insight into the Three‐Dimensional Internal Morphology of Solid–Liquid–Vapor Interfaces at Microscale

Solid–liquid–vapor interfaces dominated by the three‐phase contact line, usually performing as the active center in reactions, are important in biological and industrial processes. In this contribution, we provide direct three‐dimensional (3D) experimental evidence for the inside morphology of interfaces with either Cassie or Wenzel states at micron level using X‐ray micro‐computed tomography, which allows us to accurately “see inside” the morphological structures and quantitatively visualize their internal 3D fine structures and phases in intact samples. Furthermore, the in‐depth measurements revealed that the liquid randomly and partly located on the top of protrusions on the natural and artificial superhydrophobic surfaces in Cassie regime, resulting from thermodynamically optimal minimization of the surface energy. These new findings are useful for the optimization of classical wetting theories and models, which should promote the surface scientific and technological developments.     

Diaminodiacid Bridges to Improve Folding and Tune the Bioactivity of Disulfide‐Rich Peptides

Disulfide‐rich peptides containing three or more disulfide bonds are promising therapeutic and diagnostic agents, but their preparation is often limited by the tedious and low‐yielding folding process. We found that a single cystine‐to‐diaminodiacid replacement could significantly increase the folding efficiency of disulfide‐rich peptides and thus improve their production yields. The practicality of this strategy was demonstrated by the synthesis and folding of derivatives of the μ‐conotoxin SIIIA, the preclinical hormone hepcidin, and the trypsin inhibitor EETI‐II. NMR and X‐ray crystallography studies confirmed that these derivatives of disulfide‐rich peptide retained the correct three‐dimensional conformations. Moreover, the cystine‐to‐diaminodiacid replacement enabled structural tuning, thereby leading to an EETI‐II derivative with higher bioactivity than the native peptide.     

A Chemically Triggered and Thermally Switched Dielectric Constant Transition in a Metal Cyanide Based Crystal

A dielectric constant transition is chemically triggered and thermally switched in (HPy)₂[Na(H₂O)Co(CN)₆] ( 2 , HPy=pyridinium cation) by single‐crystal‐to‐single‐crystal transformation and structural phase transition, respectively. Upon dehydration, (HPy)₂[Na(H₂O)₂Co(CN)₆] ( 1 ) transforms to its semi‐hydrated form 2 , accompanying a transition from a low‐dielectric state to a high‐dielectric state, and vice versa. This dielectric switch is also realized by a structural phase transition in 2 that occurs between room‐ and low‐temperature phases, and which corresponds to high‐ and low‐dielectric states, respectively. The switching property is due to the variation in the environment surrounding the HPy cation, that is, the hydrogen‐bonding interactions and the crystal packing, which exert predominant influences on the dynamics of the cations that transit between the static and motional states.     

超高效液相色谱-高分辨质谱法测定蜂蜜中的3种马桑内酯

建立了采用超高效液相色谱-高分辨质谱测定蜂蜜中3种马桑内酯残留的方法。样品采用0.2 mol/L磷酸盐缓冲溶液(pH=7.5)提取,经Waters HLB小柱净化,以Phenomenex C18色谱柱进行色谱分离,通过高分辨质谱t-MS²负离子扫描模式进行定性和定量分析。结果表明3种目标化合物的检出限(LOD)均为0.05 mg/kg,定量限(LOQ)均为0.1 mg/kg。空白蜂蜜样品在0.1~0.5 mg/kg范围内的3个加标水平的平均回收率为86.3%~95.6%,相对标准偏差为3.0%~8.4%。应用该方法对从新西兰进口的麦卢卡蜂蜜进行检测,检出一份样品含羟基马桑毒素0.3 mg/kg。该方法适用于蜂蜜中马桑内酯残留的检测。     

Poly(vinyl alcohol)/GO-MMT nanocomposites: Preparation,structure and properties

A facile, efficient and environment friendly method is established to prepare poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA) based graphene oxide-montmorillonite(GO-MMT) nanocomposites in aqueous media. GO-MMT nanohybrid is obtained by the combination of GO and MMT in water without any reducing or stabilizing agents. The formation of GO-MMT nanohybrid is due to the hydrogen bonding and crosslinking effects. The sodium ions within MMT sheets act as crosslinkers between GO sheets and MMT platelets. The resultant nanocomposites are characterized by means of X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), differential scanning calorimetry(DSC), thermogravimetric analysis(TGA) and mechanical testing. Compared to that of pure PVA, PVA nanocomposites show enhanced thermal stabilities and mechanical properties, which results from strong interfacial adhesion of the nanoadditives in PVA matrix. The further increase in the tensile strength and modulus results from strong interaction between PVA chains and layered GO-MMT as well as good mechanical properties of GO-MMT hybrid, compared to PVA/GO and PVA/MMT nanocompsoites.     

Microwave-assisted solvent-free synthesis and luminescence properties of 2-substituted-4,5-di(2-furyl)-1<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-imidazoles

A solvent-free microwave-assisted method for the synthesis of 2-substituted-4,5-di(2-furyl)-1H-imidazoles was developed. Imidazoles with moderate to good yields were produced by condensation of furil with aldehydes over acidic alumina impregnated with ammonium acetate, and they were characterized by FT-IR, HRMS, ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. Crystal structure of 2,4,5-tri-2-furyl-1H-imidazole (I) in the orthorhombic space group Pbca was reported, which showed more coplanarity than the reported crystal structure of I in the monoclinic space group Cc. Moreover, their luminescent properties were investigated. It was found that the organic small molecule compounds synthesized possess higher fluorescence quantum efficiency (up to 0.508) in a 0.1 M H₂SO₄ aqueous solution dissolved in 0.5 mL of CH₃OH; along with higher stability; also the emission of some compounds synthesized in the solution was sensitive to the polarity of the solvents.     

Studies on metabolism of total glucosides of paeony from Paeoniae Radix Alba in rats by UPLC‐Q‐TOF‐MS/MS

Total glucosides of paeony are the active constituents of Paeoniae Radix Alba. In this study, a novel strategy was proposed to find more metabolites and the differences between paeoniflorin, albiflorin and total glucosides of paeony (TGP). This strategy was characterized as follows: firstly, the animals were divided into three groups (paeoniflorin, albiflorin and TGP) to identify the source of TGP metabolites from paeoniflorin or albiflorin; secondly, a generic information‐dependent acquisition scan for the low‐level metabolites was triggered by the multiple mass defect filter and dynamic background subtraction; thirdly, the metabolites were identified with a combination of data‐processing methods including mass defect filtering, neutral loss filtering and product ion filtering; finally, a comparative study was used in the metabolism of paeoniflorin, albiflorin and TGP. Based on the strategy, 18 metabolites of TGP, 10 metabolites of paeoniflorin and 13 metabolites of albiflorin were identified respectively. The results indicated that the hydrolysis, conjugation reaction and oxidization were the major metabolic pathways, and the metabolic sites were the glycosidic linkage, the ester bond and the benzene ring. This study is first to explore the metabolism of TGP, and these findings enhance our understanding of the metabolism and the interactions of paeoniflrin and albiflorin in TGP. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.