Preparative isolation and purification of anti‐tumor agent ansamitocin P‐3 from fermentation broth of Actinosynnema pretiosum using high‐performance counter‐current chromatography

Ansamitocin P‐3 is a potent anti‐tumor maytansinoid found in Actinosynnema pretiosum. However, due to the complexity of the fermentation broth of Actinomycete, how to effectively separate ansamitocin P‐3 is still a challenge. In this study, both analytical and preparative high‐performance counter‐current chromatography were successfully used to separate and purify ansamitocin P‐3 from fermentation broth. A total of 28.8 mg ansamitocin P‐3 with purity of 98.4% was separated from 160 mg crude sample of fermentation broth in less than 80 min with the two‐phase solvent system of hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (0.6:1:0.6:1, v/v/v/v). The purity and structural identification were determined by HPLC, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and mass spectroscopy.     

Phenylcarbamoylated β‐CD: π‐Acidic and π‐basic chiral selectors for HPLC

Two types of chiral stationary phases for HPLC based on π‐acidic or π‐basic perphenylcarbamoylated β‐CDs were synthesized. The relative structural features of the two effective chiral selectors are discussed and compared in both normal‐phase and RP modes. In addition, the nature and concentration of alcoholic modifiers were varied for optimal separation in normal phase and the structural variation of the analytes was also examined. The results showed that hydrogen bonding, steric effect and π‐acidic–π‐basic interaction contributed greatly to enantioseparation. Upon comparison, some of the differences in the separation behavior of the two types of chiral stationary phases might be due to the π‐acidic or π‐basic phenylcarbamate groups.     

Two New Daphniphyllum Alkaloids from Daphniphyllum calycinum

Two new daphniphyllum alkaloids named 2‐hydroxyyunnandaphnine D ( 1 ) and methyl 7‐hydroxyhomodaphniphyllate ( 2 ), together with eight known alkaloids, daphnioldhanin D, calyciphylline F, calyciphylline B, deoxycalyciphylline B, daphnicyclidin H, macropodumine C, 9,10‐epoxycalycine A, and yunnandaphnine A, were isolated from the stems and leaves of Daphniphyllum calycinum. Their structures and relative configurations were established on the basis of spectral evidence (including 2D‐NMR) and subsequently confirmed by a single‐crystal X‐ray crystallographic diffraction analysis.     

Assessment of linear finite‐difference Poisson–Boltzmann solvers

CPU time and memory usage are two vital issues that any numerical solvers for the Poisson–Boltzmann equation have to face in biomolecular applications. In this study, we systematically analyzed the CPU time and memory usage of five commonly used finite‐difference solvers with a large and diversified set of biomolecular structures. Our comparative analysis shows that modified incomplete Cholesky conjugate gradient and geometric multigrid are the most efficient in the diversified test set. For the two efficient solvers, our test shows that their CPU times increase approximately linearly with the numbers of grids. Their CPU times also increase almost linearly with the negative logarithm of the convergence criterion at very similar rate. Our comparison further shows that geometric multigrid performs better in the large set of tested biomolecules. However, modified incomplete Cholesky conjugate gradient is superior to geometric multigrid in molecular dynamics simulations of tested molecules. We also investigated other significant components in numerical solutions of the Poisson–Boltzmann equation. It turns out that the time‐limiting step is the free boundary condition setup for the linear systems for the selected proteins if the electrostatic focusing is not used. Thus, development of future numerical solvers for the Poisson–Boltzmann equation should balance all aspects of the numerical procedures in realistic biomolecular applications. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

Dicarboxylic imide‐substituted poly(p‐phenylene vinylenes) with high electron affinity

Synthesis of n‐type organic semiconductors with high electron mobilities, good environmental stability, and good processability is an urgent task in current organic electronics. This is because most of π‐conjugated materials are p‐type and prefer to transport positive hole carriers. In this article, a series of new dicarboxylic imide‐substituted poly(p‐phenylene vinylenes) (DI‐PPVs) were first synthesized. They exhibited a high electron affinity of 3.60 eV and thus are able to transport electrons. The polymers showed tunable solubility in common organic solvents and high chemical and thermal stability. They remain rigidity of the PPV backbone, and strong interchain π‐stacking was observed in thin films by X‐ray diffraction measurement. All these suggested that these polymers could serve as good candidates as n‐type semiconductors in organic electronic devices such as n‐channel field‐effect transistors and all polymer‐based solar cells. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 186–194, 2010     

Nanoparticles consisting of optically active helical polymers: Preparation via aqueous catalytic miniemulsion polymerization and the effects of particles size on their optical activity

This article reports a class of nanoscale materials, that is, optically active nanoparticles consisting of helical‐substituted polyacetylenes. Such nanoparticles were prepared via aqueous catalytic miniemulsion polymerization, by which nanoparticles with a wide range of size (diameter: 60–400 nm) can be easily prepared. The nanoparticles could be obtained in quantitative monomer conversions. Large specific rotations and intense circular dichroism effects demonstrated that the nanoparticles possessed large optical activities; moreover, the optical activities were found to increase with a decrease in particle size. From the obtained polymer nanoparticles and with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as supporting material, composite films were further prepared and also exhibited considerable optical activities. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 1661–1668, 2010     

Structural Characterization and Thermal Properties of 1-Amino-1-ethylamino-2,2-dinitroethylene

1-amino-1-ethylamino-2,2-dinitroethylene (AEFOX-7) was synthesized by the reaction of 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene (FOX-7) and ethylamine aqueous solution at 92 oC. The the-oretical investigation on AEFOX-7 was carried out by B3LYP/6-311++G^**method. The IR frequencies and NMR chemical shifts were performed and compared with the experi-mental results. The thermal behavior of AEFOX-7 was studied with differential scanning calorimetry and thermal gravity-derivative thermogravimetry methods, and can be divided into a melting process and an exothermic decomposition process. The enthalpy, apparent activation energy and pre-exponential factor of the exothermic decomposition reaction were obtained as 374.88 kJ/mol, 169.7 kJ/mol, and 10^19.24 s^-1, respectively. The critical temper-ature of thermal explosion of AEFOX-7 is 145.2 oC. The specific heat capacity of AEFOX-7 was determined with micro-DSC method and theoretical calculation method, and the molar heat capacity is 214.50 J/(mol K) at 298.15 K. The adiabatic time-to-explosion of AEFOX-7 was calculated to be a certain value between 1.38-1.40 s. The thermal stability of AEFOX-7 is much lower than that of FOX-7.     

Luminescence of Eu(DBM)3Phen-doped in azobenzene-containing copolymers—Effects of absorption overlapping of two components

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-b-poly{6-[4-(4-methylphenyl-azo)phenoxy]hexylmethacrylate} (PNIPAM₃₂-b-PAzoMM₈) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-b-poly{6-[methyl(4-nitrophenyldiazenyl)phenyl]aminohexylmethacrylate} (PNIPAM₃₂-b-PAzoNO₁₀) were prepared by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) radical polymerization. The optical properties of Eu(DBM)₃Phen (Eu, Europium; DBM, dibenzoylmethide; Phen, 1,10-phenanthroline)-doped azobenzene-containing copolymer vesicle solutions were studied by UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. When the electronic transition bands of azobenzene and Eu(DBM)₃Phen overlapped at about 350 nm in PNIPAM₃₂-b-PAzoMM₈, the fluorescent emission intensity at 612 nm of Eu(DBM)₃Phen could be modulated by irradiation with UV and visible light. However, when the absorption of the azobenzene-moiety red-shifted to 477 nm in PNIPAM₃₂-b-PAzoNO₁₀, the luminescence intensity of Eu(DBM)₃Phen was not affected any longer. The difference between these two systems was possibly caused by the energy allocation in the luminescence process, which was discussed in detail.     

Magnetic particle based electrochemical sensing platform for PCR amplicon detection

This work reports a novel electrochemical PCR detection platform using magnetic particles as a separation tool. A redox-active intercalator, anthraquinonemonosulfonic acid (AQMS), was firstly intercalated into biotin labeled PCR amplicons, and the resulting complex was then captured by streptavidin-coated magnetic particles (MPs) to form AQMS–DNA–MP conjugates. Subsequently, these conjugates were attracted to the bottom of the tube and separated from the solution by applying an external magnetic field, resulting in a significant reduction of the concentration of solution AQMS. The concentration changes of solution AQMS, which reflect the presence and quantity of PCR amplicons, were monitored by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) on a chip electrode. PCR cycle number-dependent as well as the initial template DNA concentration-dependent performances were investigated. This electrochemistry based PCR detection platform is simple, convenient and inexpensive, and may have potential applications for practical sample monitoring.     

A self-catenated network containing unprecedented 0D + 2D → 2D polycatenation array

Herein, we report a new acylamide ligand and its application in the construction of a metal-organic framework. The resultant acylamide metal-organic framework, namely [Zn(2)(L)(OH)(btc)](n) (1, L = N(1),N(4)-bis(pyridin-3-ylmethyl) naphthalene-1,4-dicarboxamide, H(3)btc = benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid), was obtained by hydrothermal synthesis. The outstanding structural feature of it is the 0D + 2D → 2D polycatenation array containing a self-catenated feature which has never previously been observed. To the best of our knowledge, the coexistence of self-catenation and polycatenation phenomena is highly exceptional.