Direct determination of estriol 3- and 16-glucuronides in pregnancy urine by column-switching liquid chromatography with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

Using column-switching liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), we developed an improved analytical method of urinary estriol glucuronides. This new method is derived predominantly from maternal and fetal precursors in pregnancy. We used in the following procedure: first, we filtered urine samples with a membrane filter. Next, we directly injected the 50 microL aliquot of urine samples onto a pre-column. Then, after activating the column-switching valve, we backflushed the loaded samples onto the C(18) analytical column. Urine samples can be assayed within 20 min without any sample preparation steps. We monitored separated estriol glucuronides by negative electrospray ionization (ESI) and selected-reaction monitoring (SRM). The calibration range of estriol-3-glucuronide (E3-3G) and estriol-16-glucuronide (E3-16G) was 0.1-20 microg/mL and the linearity of the method was 0.9984 for E3-3G and 0.9987 for E3-16G. The limits of detection at a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of 3 were 10 ng/mL (E3-3G) and 5 ng/mL (E3-16G). The analytical recovery was over 85% and, in general, inter-day and intra-day variability for precision and accuracy were less than 10%. When applied to a pregnancy urine sample to biomedical monitoring of the function of the maternal/fetal unit, the proposed method allowed rapid and sensitive screening for the detection of E3-3G and E3-16G.     

Probing the intrinsic electronic structure of the cubane [4Fe-4S] cluster: nature's favorite cluster for electron transfer and storage

The cubane [4Fe-4S] is the most common multinuclear metal center in nature for electron transfer and storage. Using electrospray, we produced a series of gaseous doubly charged cubane-type complexes, [Fe4S4L4]2- (L = -SC2H5, -SH, -Cl, -Br, -I) and the Se-analogues [Fe4Se4L4]2- (L = -SC2H5, -Cl), and probed their electronic structures with photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional calculations. The photoelectron spectral features are similar among all the seven species investigated, revealing a weak threshold feature due to the minority spins on the Fe centers and confirming the low-spin two-layer model for the [4Fe-4S](2+) core and its "inverted level scheme". The measured adiabatic detachment energies, which are sensitive to the terminal ligand substitution, provide the intrinsic oxidation potentials of the [Fe4S4L4]2- complexes. The calculations revealed a simple correlation between the electron donor property of the terminal thiolate as well as the bridging sulfide with the variation of the intrinsic redox potentials. Our data provide intrinsic electronic structure information of the [4Fe-4S] cluster and the molecular basis for understanding the protein and solvent effects on the redox properties of the [4Fe-4S] active sites.     

A new insight into the adsorption of bovine serum albumin onto porous polyethylene membrane by zeta potential measurements, FTIR analyses, and AFM observations

The mode of adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on porous polyethylene (PE) membrane was studied as a function of time and concentration, which may contribute to the surface coverage. An improved physical model for adsorption is initiated based on the results of the adsorptional and desorptional measurements, FTIR analysis, and AFM observations as well as streaming potential measurements. The results obtained indicate that the adsorptional mode depend on both time and concentration. It is shown that a critical concentration (about 1000 ppm here) exists in the adsorptional process. Below this concentration, the adsorption seems to be conducted in a normal side-on way but time elapse gives rise to greater conformational change than concentration increase; above this concentration, the aggregation of protein molecular plays a decisive role and the adsorption is in an aggregation way, which is similar to end-on, but a relative large gap between the adsorbed molecules exists due to aggregation. This conclusion is general and can be expected to apply in other globular protein-hydrophobic porous surface systems.     

Synthesis, structure and X-ray excited luminescence of Ce-doped AREP2O7-type alkali rare earth diphosphates (A=Na, K, Rb, Cs; RE=Y, Lu)

The crystal structures of five new alkali rare earth diphosphates were obtained by Rietveld refinement of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) profiles, including four alkali lutetium diphosphates ALuP₂O₇ (A=Na, K, Rb, Cs) and the low temperature phase of KYP₂O₇. The scintillation properties of Ce³⁺-doped AREP₂O₇ (A=Na, K, Rb, Cs; RE=Y, Lu) powder samples were studied under static and pulsed X-ray excitations, and featured outstanding scintillation properties with light yields 1–2 times of that of Bi₄(GeO₄)₃ and relatively short decay time of 20–28 ns. Considering the suitable emission wavelength range, large light yield, short decay time, and non-hygroscopic nature, Ce³⁺-doped AREP₂O₇-type alkali rare earth diphosphates are potential candidates for high-counting-rate scintillation applications.     

Liquid–liquid equilibria for the quaternary system methyl isobutyl ketone–water–phenol–hydroquinone

Liquid–liquid equilibria data of the quaternary system methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK)–water–phenol–hydroquinone were measured at 25 °C under atmosphere pressure. The experimental data were correlated with the UNIQUAC and NRTL activity coefficient models on the base of the fixed binary interaction parameters that were obtained from two sub-ternary systems MIBK–water–phenol and MIBK–water–hydroquinone. The root mean square deviations (RMSD) show that the regressed results for the quaternary system were in good agreement with the experimental data for both UNIQUAC and NRTL models. The comparison between experimental and calculated distribution coefficient values of phenol and hydroquinone shows that a relative deviation of less than 5% is obtained.     

Synthesis and characterization of second-order nonlinear optical polyurethane with high thermal stability

A second-order nonlinear optical polyurethane was formed with an X-type multi-dimensional charge-transfer (CT) chromophore (DNPIPDHPI) and 3,3^′-dimethoxy-4,4^′-diphenyl diisocyanate. Simultaneous poling and polymerization and in situ second harmonic generation (SHG) measurement technique was carried on to evaluate the thermal stability of the poling induced orientation. The SHG signal of the poled polymer film was not decay below 150 °C and remains 90% of relative d₃₃ value at 200 °C, which is better than the results reported in literature. Comparison of thermal stability indicates that the X-type chromophores possess better property in controlling the decay of the SHG activity than classic chromophores.     

载体γ-Al2O3和钐对非晶态NiB合金热稳定性的影响

用化学还原法制备了NiB、NiB/Al2O3和NiBSm/Al2O3三种催化剂，它们都呈非晶结构.用等离子耦合发射光谱仪(ICP)对催化剂组分进行了分析，采用差示扫描量热法（DSC）对三种催化剂进行了热稳定性分析.结果表明，载体的引入使非晶态NiB合金的体相组成中B的含量降低.将非晶态NiB合金负载到γ-Al2O3上,可以明显改善非晶态合金的热稳定性，少量Sm可以进一步提高晶化温度.晶化激活能数据亦表明了载体和Sm对非晶结构具有良好的稳定作用.载体和Sm可能通过不同的作用提高了非晶态合金的热稳定性.     

Interesting fluorescence properties of C60-centered dendritic adduct with twelve symmetrically attached pyrenes

A C60-centered dendritic adduct with 12 symmetrically attached pyrene species was synthesized and found to have relatively simple fluorescence emission kinetics, in particular, the mono-exponential decay of the significant pyrene excimer emission.     

Hybrid polymerization of iso-butyl vinyl ether

The radiation-induced hybrid polymerization in the presence of the N-alkoxypyridinium salt having relatively stable nonnucleophilic anion (PF₆⁻) has been investigated in the paper. Based on the analysis of experimental data and the GPC spectrum, the onium salts not only oxidize -alkoxyalkyl radicals, produced from IBVE in dichloromethane by irradiation, to the corresponding cations, but also give nonnucleophilic anions PF₆⁻ for the polymerization system. The experimental results clearly demonstrate that free radical and cationic polymerization mechanisms occurred simultaneously in IBVE/EMP⁺PF₆⁻/CH₂Cl₂ systems on irradiation with γ-ray.