Study on Biological Safety of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Collagen Hydrogel as a Tissue Substitute (II)

Physically crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol/collagen composite hydrogels were prepared by a cyclic freezing-drying technique. The biological properties of the hydrogels, including hemolysis, anaphylaxis, pyrogen and acute systemic toxicity tests and implantation in-vivo, were investigated. The hemolysis test suggested that the polyvinyl alcohol/collagen, with a hemolysis index of 1.19%, did not have an obvious hemolysis reaction. There was no toxicosis or death cases observed in the acute systemic toxicity test, and the hydrogel showed no anaphylaxis or pyrogen response. The composite hydrogel showed a good histological compatibility in the in-vivo study. The results indicated that the polyvinyl alcohol/collagen composite hydrogels have promising applications for pharmaceutical and biomedical fields.     

Copper-catalyzed coupling reaction of unactivated secondary alkyl iodides with alkyl Grignard reagents in the presence of 1,3-butadiene as an effective additive

Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling of unactivated secondary alkyl iodides with alkyl Grignard reagents in the presence of 1,3-butadiene as a ligand precursor was developed. The use of 1,3-butadiene resulted in improved yields of alkyl-alkyl products with improved selectivities.     

Enantioselective oxidation of racemic secondary alcohols catalyzed by chiral Mn(III)-salen complexes with N-bromosuccinimide as a powerful oxidant

We demonstrate an efficient enantioselective oxidation of secondary alcohols catalyzed by Mn(III)-salen complex using N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) as the oxidant. The new protocol is very efficient for the oxidative kinetic resolution of a variety of secondary alcohols, including ortho-substituted benzylic alcohols.     

An aldol approach to the total synthesis of (+)-brefeldin A

A convergent selective route to (+)-brefeldin A (BFA) and 7-epi-BFA was developed, with the crucial C-4/C-5 stereogenic centers were established using Crimmins asymmetric aldolization.     

Evaluation of adiabatic runaway reaction of methyl ethyl ketone peroxide by DSC and VSP2

Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKPO) is generally applied to manufacturing in the polymerization processes. Due to thermal instability and high exothermic behaviors of MEKPO, if any operation is undertaken recklessly or some environmental effect is produced suddenly during the processes, fires and explosions may inevitably occur. In this study, thermal analysis was evaluated for MEKPO by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test. Vent sizing package 2 (VSP2) was used to analyze the thermal hazard of MEKPO under various stirring rates in a batch reactor. Thermokinetic and safety parameters, including exothermic onset temperature (T ₀), maximum temperature (T _max), maximum pressure (P _max), self-heating rate (dT dt ⁻¹), pressure rise rate (dP dt ⁻¹), and so on, were discovered to identify the safe handling situation. The stirring rates of reactor were confirmed to affect runaway and thermal hazard characteristics in the batch reactor. If the stirring rate was out of control, it could soon cause a thermal hazard in the reactor.     

Folate-targeted optical and magnetic resonance dualmodality PCL-<Emphasis Type="Italic">b</Emphasis>-PEG micelles for tumor imaging

A biodegradable tumor targeting nano-probe based on poly（ε-caprolactone）-b-poly（ethylene glycol）block copolymer（PCL-b-PEG）micelle functionalized with a magnetic resonance imaging（MRI）contrast agent diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid-gadolinium(DTPA-Gd³⁺)on the shell and a near-infrared（NIR）dye in the core for magnetic resonance and optical dual-modality imaging was prepared.The longitudinal relaxivity（r₁）of the PCL-b-PEG-DTPA -Gd³⁺micelle was 13.4（mmol/L）^-1s^-1,three folds of that of DTPA-Gd³⁺,and higher than that of many polymeric contrast agents with similar structures.The in vivo optical imaging of a nude mouse bearing xenografted breast tumor showed that the dual-modality micelle preferentially accumulated in the tumor via the folic acid-mediated active targeting and the passive accumulation by the enhanced permeability and retention（EPR）effect.The results indicated that the dualmodality micelle is a promising nano-probe for cancer detection and diagnosis.     

紫外光与臭氧结合消解-离子色谱法测定水质总磷

采用紫外光与臭氧结合消解水样,用离子色谱法测定水质总磷含量,色谱峰高与磷酸盐质量浓度在0-20mg／L范围内线性关系良好,检出限和测定下限分别0．008mg／L和0．03mg／L。此方法无需添加化学试剂,避免了标准分析方法中各种因素的影响,操作简单快速、省时,测定水质总磷的相对标准偏差为0．07％（n=5o对实际样品进行分析,总磷的加标回收率为94．5％～105．5％,表明该方法测定结果可靠,具有一定的应用价值。     

Ring-Opening Copolymerization of 2,2-Dimethyltrimethylene Carbonate and ε-Caprolactone Using Rare Earth Aryloxides Substituted by Various Alkyl Groups

A variety of single component rare earth aryloxides substituted by various alkyl groups [Ln(OAr)₃] such as methyl, isopropyl, tert‐butyl have been surveyed in the ring‐opening copolymerization of 2,2‐dimethyltrimethylene carbonate (DTC) and ε‐caprolactone (ε‐CL). It was worthwhile to note that activity of the catalyst varied with both the ligands' structure and the number of alkyl groups on phenyl ring. The stronger ability of electron‐donation of alkyl groups on phenyl ring, and the more numbers of alkyl groups on phenyl ring, the higher catalytic activity. The experimental results show that lanthanum tris(2,4,6‐tri‐tert‐butylphenolate) [La(OTTBP)₃] exhibits highest activity in all lanthanum aryloxides. ¹H NMR spectral data of copolymer obtained showed that the polymerization mechanism is in agreement with the coordination insertion mechanism.     

DFT and TD-DFT studies on symmetrical squaraine dyes for nanocrystalline solar cells

Abstract  

The ground-state geometries, electronic structures, and electronic absorption spectra of symmetrical squaraine dyes SQ1–SQ4 were investigated using density functional theory and time-dependent DFT at the B3LYP level. The calculated geometries indicate that strong conjugation effects occur in the dyes. The highest occupied molecular orbital energy levels were calculated to be −4.95, −5.22, −5.09, and −5.06 eV, and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies were −2.72, −3.05, −2.80, and −2.80 eV for SQ1–SQ4, respectively. Taking the conduction band energy of TiO₂ into account, these data reveal the sensitized mechanism: the interfacial electron transfer between the semiconductor TiO₂ electrode and the dye sensitizers SQ1–SQ4 are electron-injection processes from excited dyes to the semiconductor conduction band. The intense calculated absorption bands are assigned to π → π* transitions, which exhibit appreciable blue-shift compared with the experimental absorption maxima due to the inherent approximations in the TD-DFT.     

Novel hydrothermal carbonization of cellulose catalyzed by montmorillonite to produce kerogen-like hydrochar

The conversion of cellulose to petroleum-like fuel is a very challenging yet attractive route to developing biomass-to-fuel technology. Many attempts have been made in liquefaction, pyrolysis and gasification of cellulose to produce fuels or intermediate chemicals. Previous studies indicate that these processes are tough. Hence, the present work is concerned with the development of new technologies for the conversion of cellulose into materials which are analogies to the precursor of petroleum. Montmorillonite-catalyzed hydrothermal carbonization of microcrystalline cellulose for the production of kerogen-like hydrochar under mild conditions was investigated. It was revealed that the hydrothermal carbonization of microcrystalline cellulose alone resulted in hydrochar with type III kerogen-like structure, whereas in the presence of montmorillonite, the hydrothermal carbonization of microcrystalline cellulose yielded a hydrochar-mineral complex, of which the isolated organic fraction was oil-prone type II kerogen-like structure. Results suggested that further improved montmorillonite-aided biomass conversion to more oil-prone kerogen-like solid products could be an alternative efficient route to obtain biofuel and chemicals.