Fitting formula for the injection volume of a gas chromatograph for radio‐xenon sampling in the lower troposphere

GC is usually used for xenon concentration and radon removal in the International Monitoring System of the Comprehensive Nuclear‐Test‐Ban Treaty. In a gas chromatograph, the injection volume is defined to calculate the column capacity. In this paper, the injection volume was investigated and a fitting formula for the injection volume was derived and discussed subsequently. As a consequence, the xenon injection volume exponentially decreased with the column temperature increased, but exponentially increased as the flow rate increased.     

A quick,easy, cheap,effective, rugged,and safe sample pretreatment and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous quantification of 33 mycotoxins in Lentinula edodes

Lentinula edodes, one of the most cultivated edible fungi in the world, are usually neglected for mycotoxins contamination due to the initial thinking of its resistance to mycotoxingenic molds. In the present study, a sensitive and reliable liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of 33 mycotoxins in L. edodes. Targeted mycotoxins were extracted using a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe procedure without any further clean‐up step, and analyzed by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry on an Agilent Poroshell 120 EC‐C₁₈ column (100 × 3 mm, 2.7 μm) with a linear gradient elution program using water containing 5 mM ammonium acetate and methanol as the mobile phase. After validation by determining linearity (R² > 0.99), sensitivity (LOQ ≤ 20 ng/kg), recovery (73.6–117.9%), and precision (0.8–19.5%), the established method has been successfully applied to reveal the contamination states of various mycotoxins in L. edodes. Among the 30 tested samples, 22 were contaminated by various mycotoxins with the concentration levels ranging from 3.3–28 850.7 μg/kg, predicting that the edible fungus could be infected by the mycotoxins‐producing fungi. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report about real mycotoxins contamination in L. edodes.     

Functionalized graphene quantum dots loaded with free radicals combined with liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry to screen radical scavenging natural antioxidants from Licorice and Scutellariae

A novel screening method was developed for the detection and identification of radical scavenging natural antioxidants based on a free radical reaction combined with liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Functionalized graphene quantum dots were prepared for loading free radicals in the complex screening system. The detection was performed with and without a preliminary exposure of the samples to specific free radicals on the functionalized graphene quantum dots, which can facilitate charge transfer between free radicals and antioxidants. The difference in chromatographic peak areas was used to identify potential antioxidants. This is a novel approach to simultaneously evaluate the antioxidant power of a component versus a free radical, and to identify it in a vegetal matrix. The structures of the antioxidants in the samples were identified using tandem mass spectrometry and comparison with standards. Fourteen compounds were found to possess potential antioxidant activity, and their free radical scavenging capacities were investigated. The order of scavenging capacity of 14 compounds was compared according to their free radical scavenging rate. 4′,5,6,7‐Tetrahydroxyflavone (radical scavenging rate: 0.05253 mL mg^?1 s^?1) showed the strongest capability for scavenging free radicals.     

Clickable SBA‐15 to Screen Functional Groups for Adsorption of Antibiotics

Pharmaceutical antibiotics, as emerging contaminants, are usually composed of several functional groups that endow them with the ability to interact with adsorbents through different interactions. This makes the preparation of adsorbents tedious and time‐consuming to screen appropriate functionalized materials. Herein, we describe the synthesis of clickable SBA‐15 and demonstrate its feasibility as a screening material for the adsorption of antibiotics based on similar adsorption trends on materials with similar functional groups obtained by a click reaction and cocondensation/grafting methods.     

Effect of Axial Ligands on the Molecular Configurations,Stability, Reactivity,and Photodynamic Activities of Silicon Phthalocyanines

To demonstrate the effect of axial ligands on the structure–activity relationship, a series of axially substituted silicon phthalocyanines (SiPcs) have been synthesized with changes to the axial ligands. The reactivity of the axial ligand upon shielding by the phthalocyanine ring current, along with their stability, photophysical, and photodynamic therapy (PDT) activities were compared and evaluated for the first time. As revealed by single‐crystal XRD analysis, rotation of the axial ? OMe ligands was observed in SiPc 3 , which resulted in two molecular configurations coexisting synchronously in both the solid and solution states and causing a split of the phthalocyanine α protons in the ¹H NMR spectra that is significantly different from all SiPcs reported so far. The remarkable photostability, good singlet oxygen quantum yield, and efficient in vitro photodynamic activity synergistically show that compound 3 is one of the most promising photosensitizers for PDT.     

Utilization of Environmentally Benign Dicyandiamide as a Precursor for the Synthesis of Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Nitride and its Application in Base‐Catalyzed Reactions

Assisted by a new dissolution procedure, dicyandiamide (DCDA), an environmentally benign and cheap precursor, has been employed for the synthesis of mesoporous carbon nitride (CN) materials through a nanocasting approach. The synthesized mesoporous materials possessed high specific surface areas (269–715 m² g^?1) with narrow pore‐size distributions (about 5 nm) and faithfully replicated the mesostructures of the SBA‐15 and FDU‐12 templates. Several characterization techniques, including XRD, SAXS, TEM, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, XPS, and CO₂‐TPD, were used to analyze the physicochemical properties of these materials and the results showed that the mesoporous CND materials had graphitic‐like structures and consisted of CN heterocycles, as well as amino groups. In a series of Knoevenagel condensation reactions, as exemplified by the reaction of various aldehydes and nitriles, these mesoporous CND materials demonstrated high and stable catalytic activities, owing to an abundance of basic sites.     

Comparison of Loading Efficiency between Hyperbranched Polymers and Cross‐Linked Nanogels at Various Branching Densities

The effect of branching point structures and densities is studied between azido‐containing hyperbranched polymers and cross‐linked nanogels on their loading efficiency of alkynyl‐containing dendron molecules. Hyperbranched polymers that contained “T”‐shaped branching linkage from which three chains radiated out and cross‐linked nanogels that contained “X”‐shaped branching linkage with four radiating chains are synthesized in microemulsion using either atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) or conventional radical polymerization (RP) technique. Both polymers have similar density of azido groups in the structure and exhibit similar hydrodynamic diameter in latexes before purification. Subsequent copper‐catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition reactions between these polymers and alkynyl‐containing dendrons in various sizes (G1–G3) demonstrate an order of dendron loading efficiencies (i.e., final conversion of alkynyl‐containing dendron) as hyperbranched polymers > nanogels synthesized by ATRP > nanogels synthesized by RP. Decreasing the branching density or using smaller dendron molecules increases the click efficiency of both polymers. When G2 dendrons with a molecular weight of 627 Da are used to click with the hyperbranched polymers composed of 100% inimer, a maximum loading efficiency of G2 in the loaded hyperbranched polymer is 58% of G2 by weight. These results represent the first comparison between hyperbranched polymers and cross‐linked nanogels to explore the effect of branching structures on their loading efficiencies.

     

Polypeptide‐b‐Poly(Phenyl Isocyanide) Hybrid Rod‐Rod Copolymers: One‐Pot Synthesis,Self‐Assembly,and Cell Imaging

Hybrid rod‐rod diblock copolymers, poly(γ‐benzyl L‐glutamate)‐poly(4‐cyano‐benzoic acid 2‐isopropyl‐5‐methyl‐cyclohexyl ester) (PBLG‐PPI), with determined chirality are facilely synthesized through sequential copolymerization of γ‐benzyl‐L‐glutamate N‐carboxyanhydride (BLG‐NCA) and phenyl isocyanide monomers bearing chiral menthyl pendants using a Ni(cod)(bpy) complex as the catalyst in one‐pot. Circular dichroism and absorption spectra reveal that each block of the block copolymers possesses a stable helical conformation with controlled helicity in solution due to the induction of chiral pendants. The two diastereomeric polymers self‐assemble into helical nanofibrils with opposite handedness due to the different chiral induction of the L‐ and D‐menthyl pendants, confirmed by transmission electron micro­scopy (TEM). Deprotection of the benzyl groups of the PBLG segment affords biocompatible amphiphilic diblock copolymers, poly(L‐glutamic acid)‐poly(4‐cyano‐benzoic acid 2‐isopropyl‐5‐methyl‐cyclohexyl ester) (PLGA‐PPI), that can self‐assemble into well‐defined micelles by cosolvent induced aggregation. Very interestingly, a chiral rhodamine chromophores RhB(D) can be selectively encapsulated into the chiral polymeric micelles, which is efficiently internalized into living cells when directly monitored with a confocal microscope. This contribution will be useful for developing novel rod‐rod biocompatible hybrid block copolymers with a controlled helicity, and may also provide unique chiral materials for potential bio‐medical applications.

     

Intramolecular enantiomerism as revealed from Raman optical activity spectrum

An algorithm is employed to retrieve the differential bond polarizabilities (DBP) of the C‐C bonds from the Raman optical activity spectrum of (‐)β‐pinene. (‐)β‐pinene possesses two stereo centers (chiral centers) and a local mirror reflection that interchanges the S type part and R type part in one molecular. It is demonstrated that this local mirror reflection could induce an approximate (or symmetry breaking) mirror reflection that reverses the signs of the DBP of the pair bond coordinates that are related to each other by the mirror reflection.This can be called intramolecular enantiomerism (IE). More cases of IE are discussed by the analysis of (‐)α‐pinene, (R)‐(+)‐4‐isopropyl‐1‐methylcyclohexene and (R)‐(+)‐3‐methylcyclohexanone together with previously studied limonene case. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gamma spectrum analysis for in situ automatic monitoring of radioactivity in seawater

The NaI(Tl) detector has been an important research topic and application in the field of in situ marine radioactive automatic monitoring because of its advantages of low power consumption, low cost, and good efficiency. However, its energy resolution is not high enough. This paper investigated an analytical method: spectrum de-noising, background correction based on the SNIP operator, peak search based on the top-hat transform and peak fitting using Gaussian distribution. Simulation and gamma spectra measured from seawater showed that the established energy spectrum analysis method presents satisfactory automatic analytical ability for identification and quantitatively analysis.