Expanding the chemical space: Discovery of new anticancer 3-arylbenzofuran derivatives

A new chemical space was generated via C₂-functionalization of 3-arylbenzofurans. Mannich reaction of 3-arylbenzofurans with secondary amines and formaldehyde allowed for installation of aminomethyl unit at C₂ position of benzofurans. A formyl group at C₂ site introduced as a result of Vilsmeier-Haack formylation of 3-arylbenzofurans was employed as a reacting partner for three-component Kabachnik-Fields reaction with various amines and triethyl phosphite to give a wide variety of aminomethylphosphonates. Furthermore, several benzo[d]oxazoles and pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxalines were prepared by using the formyl group. Biological screening of the synthesized compounds revealed that the benzofuran bearing a pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxaline moiety ( 5b ) most potently inhibited the viability of human blood cancer cells, but not solid tumor cells. Caspase activity assay, analysis of Annexin V-positive cells, and Western blot analysis indicated that 5b -induced death of human lymphoma U937 cells could result from its potential to induce the caspase-dependent apoptotic death of blood cancer cells with inhibition of ERK activation.     

A discussion on mass resolution in secondary ion mass spectrometry

Mass resolution is a very important parameter for mass spectrometry. It is necessary to compare the mass resolution between the newly developed TOF-SIMS and the conventionally high-performance magnetic SIMS. However, the definitions of mass resolution for these two types of instruments are quite different. Whether it is possible to compare mass resolution and how to do such comparison is a challenge. This problem was raised officially during the 2012 ISO/TC 201 meeting at Tampa, Florida, the United States and the long-term cooperation with ISO started afterwards. The definition of mass resolution is one of the most important and fundamental problems for mass spectrometry and should attract significant attention. Here, some detail discussions on mass resolution as well as the related experimental studies in the past few years, including the collaborations with ISO/TC 201/SC6 and SC1 are summarized. This summary covers the common problem for almost all the current existing and still used definitions of mass resolution. A reasonable new definition for mass resolution considering the peak shape or resolution function has been proposed, which has also been confirmed by using experimental studies of the mass resolution comparison between TOF and magnetic SIMS. This study lays a foundation for the future mass resolution comparisons between different mass spectrometry.     

Determination of palladium(II) with alpha-(2-benzimidazolyl)-alpha',alpha'-(N-5-nitro-2-pyridylhydrazone)-toluene by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry

The determination of palladium(II) complexed with alpha-(2-benzimidazolyl)-alpha',alpha'-(N-5-nitro-2-pyridylhydrazone)-Toluene (BINPHT) was investigated by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry using hanging mercury drop electrode. Palladium(II) in the sample solution can be determined in BINPHT and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). Accumulation is achieved by adsorption of Pd(II)-BINPHT complex on a hanging mercury drop electrode. Optimal conditions were found to be: supporting electrolyte; 0.01 M sodium acetate buffer at pH 5.0, accumulation potential; -590 mV versus Ag/AgCl, accumulation time; 180 s, scan rate; 50 mV s(-1), concentration of BINPHT; 2x10(-5) M. The linear range of Pd(II) was observed over the concentration range 20-100 ng ml(-1) The detection limit (S/N=3) is 2 ng ml(-1). A good reproductivity shows RSD of 2.0% (n=7). This procedure offers high selectivity with the presence of EDTA masking some metallic ions. River water sample spiking with palladium was determined.     

All-solid-state carbonate-selective electrode based on a molecular tweezer-type neutral carrier with solvent-soluble conducting polymer solid contact

Carbonate-selective membranes were prepared by incorporating a molecular tweezer-type carbonate-selective neutral carrier [N,N-dioctyl-3alpha,12alpha-bis(4-trifluoroacetylbenzyloxy)-5beta-cholan-24-amide] into a room temperature vulcanizing-type silicone rubber (3140 RTV-SR) matrix, and deposited on the planar-type electrodes (Pt containing Ag/AgCl electrodes formed on a ceramic plate) with and without an intermediary conducting polymer layer. Two types of solvent-soluble conducting polymers [poly(1-hexyl-3,4-dimethyl-2,5-pyrrolylene) or poly(3-octylthiophene-2,5-diyl)] have been examined as the solid contact material. Potentiometric properties of the resultant all-solid-state electrodes were evaluated in terms of their carbonate selectivity, response slope, potential stability and reproducibility. The sensitivity and carbonate selectivity of the SR membrane-based all-solid-state electrodes with conducting polymer solid contact were comparable to those of conventional electrodes. Experimental results also showed that the intermediary conducting polymer layer used in the all-solid-state electrodes greatly reduces the interference from dissolved oxygen.     

修饰聚合物液-固亲和萃取体系分离钪与钕及机理探讨

研究了加修饰聚合物(PEG-IDA)的吐温(Tween)80-盐水液-固体系亲和萃取稀土(RE)离子时体系酸度对萃取率的影响,并控制萃取酸度实现了Sc与Nd的定量分离,平均回收率Sc：99．72％;Nd：100.88％。测定新络合物的稳定常数,两者相差4倍,是分离的原因。对该体系分离Sc与Nd的机理进行探讨表明,RE-PEG-IDA络合物主要是与Tween 80形成了氢键。     

Li/LiClO4-碳酸丙烯酯体系的交流阻抗研究

结合扫描电子显微镜, 用交流阻抗法对Li/LiClO_4-碳酸丙烯酯锂电极体系的研究表明, 锂电极表面膜层的生长分三个阶段,相当于两个紧密层和一个疏松层。里紧密层由Li_2CO_3组成, 厚度约10 nm, 是Li~+导体和电子绝缘体, 电阻率为1.4×10~8 Ωcm, 对锂电极的充放电无不利影响。外紧密层由Li_2CO_3和有机物组成。疏松层是在外紧密层表面不断破裂和修复中形成的。它们都不利于锂电极的充放电。     

Microbiosensors based on DNA modified single-walled carbon nanotube and Pt black nanocomposites

Glucose and ATP biosensors have important applications in diagnostics and research. Biosensors based on conventional materials suffer from low sensitivity and low spatial resolution. Our previous work has shown that combining single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with Pt nanoparticles can significantly enhance the performance of electrochemical biosensors. The immobilization of SWCNTs on biosensors remains challenging due to the aqueous insolubility originating from van der Waals forces. In this study, we used single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) to modify SWCNTs to increase solubility in water. This allowed us to explore new schemes of combining ssDNA-SWCNT and Pt black in aqueous media systems. The result is a nanocomposite with enhanced biosensor performance. The surface morphology, electroactive surface area, and electrocatalytic performance of different fabrication protocols were studied and compared. The ssDNA-SWCNT/Pt black nanocomposite constructed by a layered scheme proved most effective in terms of biosensor activity. The key feature of this protocol is the exploitation of ssDNA-SWCNTs as molecular templates for Pt black electrodeposition. The glucose and ATP microbiosensors fabricated on this platform exhibited high sensitivity (817.3 nA/mM and 45.6 nA/mM, respectively), wide linear range (up to 7 mM and 510 μM), low limit of detection (1 μM and 2 μM) and desirable selectivity. This work is significant to biosensor development because this is the first demonstration of ssDNA-SWCNT/Pt black nanocomposite as a platform for constructing both single-enzyme and multi-enzyme biosensors for physiological applications.     

Microproteomic analysis of 10,000 laser captured microdissected breast tumor cells using short-range sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and porous layer open tubular liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Precise proteomic profiling of limited levels of disease tissue represents an extremely challenging task. Here, we present an effective and reproducible microproteomic workflow for sample sizes of only 10,000 cells that integrates selective sample procurement via laser capture microdissection (LCM), sample clean-up and protein level fractionation using short-range SDS-PAGE, followed by ultrasensitive LC-MS/MS analysis using a 10 μm i.d. porous layer open tubular (PLOT) column. With 10,000 LCM captured mouse hepatocytes for method development and performance assessment, only 10% of the in-gel digest, equivalent to ～1000 cells, was needed per LC-MS/MS analysis. The optimized workflow was applied to the differential proteomic analysis of 10,000 LCM collected primary and metastatic breast cancer cells from the same patient. More than 1100 proteins were identified from each injection with >1700 proteins identified from three LCM samples of 10,000 cells from the same patient (1123 with at least two unique peptides). Label free quantitation (spectral counting) was performed to identify differential protein expression between the primary and metastatic cell populations. Informatics analysis of the resulting data indicated that vesicular transport and extracellular remodeling processes were significantly altered between the two cell types. The ability to extract meaningful biological information from limited, but highly informative cell populations demonstrates the significant benefits of the described microproteomic workflow.     

Spectroscopic Observation of the Hydroxy Position in Butanol Hydrates and Its Effect on Hydrate Stability

In this study, we investigate the crystal structures and phase equilibria of butanols+CH₄+H₂O systems to reveal the hydroxy group positioning and its effects on hydrate stability. Four clathrate hydrates formed by structural butanol isomers are identified with powder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD). In addition, Raman spectroscopy is used to analyze the guest distributions and inclusion behaviors of large alcohol molecules in these hydrate systems. The existence of a free OH indicates that guest molecules can be captured in the large cages of structure II hydrates without any hydrogen‐bonding interactions between the hydroxy group of the guests and the water‐host framework. However, Raman spectra of the binary (1‐butanol+CH₄) hydrate do not show the free OH signal, indicating that there could be possible hydrogen‐bonding interactions between the guests and hosts. We also measure the four‐phase equilibrium conditions of the butanols+CH₄+H₂O systems.