Surfactant-induced formation of honeycomb pattern on micropipette with curvature gradient

Breath figure (BF) process is a facile method to prepare honeycomb structures by dynamic movements of condensed micrometer-sized water droplets at the interface of volatile fluid. Here, we aim to find answers to understand how the BF process occurs on micropipettes with curvature gradient and to understand the role of the surfactant in obtaining honeycomb patterns. Poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA) chloroform solution with dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) as surfactant was utilized. It is found that the honeycomb structure formed on the micropipettes changes remarkably with the gradually increased surface curvature. The variation trends of the arrangement and diameter of pores on the micropipettes with the increasing curvature are similar to the different time stages of BF process: smaller and sparse pores formed at higher curvature are similar to those formed at early stage of BF; regular honeycomb patterns formed at lower curvature are similar to those formed at the late stage of BF. Especially, the "semi-coalescence" hemispherical pores strings are found at high curvatures on PLLA-DOPE films, indicating the surfactant-induced coalescence of water droplets in BF process. The differences of drying speed of polymer solvent on micropipette with gradually increased curvatures make the printing of the pores at different BF stages on polymer film possible. These findings not only strongly support the mechanism of BF array formation, but also elucidate the surfactant-induced coalescence.     

Dewetting Kinetics of Thin Polymer Films with Different Architectures: Effect of Polymer Adsorption

We have investigated the influence of the adsorption process on the dewetting behavior of the linear polystyrene film(LPS),the 3-arm star polystyrene film(3 SPS) and the ring polystyrene film(RPS) on the silanized Si substrate.Results show that the adsorption process greatly influences the dewetting behavior of the thin polymer films.On the silanized Si substrate,the 3 SPS chains exhibit stronger adsorption compared with the LPS chains and RPS chains; as a result,the wetting layer forms more easily.For LPS films,with the decrease of annealing temperature,the kinetics of polymer film changes from exponential behavior to slip dewetting.As a comparison,the stability of 3 SPS and RPS films switches from slip dewetting to unusual dewetting kinetic behavior.The adsorbed nanodroplets on the solid substrate play an important role in the dewetting kinetics by reducing the driving force of dewetting and increase the resistant force of dewetting.Additionally,Brownian dynamics(BD) simulation shows that the absolute values of adsorption energy(ε) gradually increase from linear polymer(-0.3896) to ring polymer(-0.4033) and to star polymer(-0.4264),which is consistent with the results of our adsorption experiments.     

One-pot access to indolylchromeno[2,3-b]indoles via iodine-mediated Friedel-Crafts alkylation/oxidative coupling reaction of indoles and salicylaldehydes

An I₂-mediated Friedel-Crafts alkylation/oxidative coupling reaction of indoles and salicylaldehydes was developed. With the developed protocol, a series of indolylchromeno[2,3-b]indoles were obtained in good yields (up to 88%) under mild reaction conditions. Two possible reaction mechanisms were tentatively brought forward to account for the formation of the products in light of some control experiments.     

Evaluation of automated sample preparation, retention time locked gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and data analysis methods for the metabolomic study of Arabidopsis species

In this paper, automated sample preparation, retention time locked gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and data analysis methods for the metabolomics study were evaluated. A miniaturized and automated derivatisation method using sequential oximation and silylation was applied to a polar extract of 4 types (2 types×2 ages) of Arabidopsis thaliana, a popular model organism often used in plant sciences and genetics. Automation of the derivatisation process offers excellent repeatability, and the time between sample preparation and analysis was short and constant, reducing artifact formation. Retention time locked (RTL) gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used, resulting in reproducible retention times and GC-MS profiles. Two approaches were used for data analysis. XCMS followed by principal component analysis (approach 1) and AMDIS deconvolution combined with a commercially available program (Mass Profiler Professional) followed by principal component analysis (approach 2) were compared. Several features that were up- or down-regulated in the different types were detected.     

A fungal nonribosomal peptide synthetase module that can synthesize thiopyrazines

A nonribosomal peptide synthetase-like enzyme (NRPS325) from Aspergillus terreus was reconstituted in vitro and was shown to synthesize thiopyrazines using an unprecedented mechanism. Substrate promiscuity of NRPS325 toward different amino acids and free thiols was explored to produce >60 different thiopyrazine compounds.     

Theoretical studies on thermochemistry for conversion of 5-chloromethylfurfural into valuable chemicals

Recently, 5-chloromethylfurfural (CMF) was proposed as a central intermediate in the conversion of carbohydrate-based material into useful organic commodities. In the present work, we have calculated the thermochemistry using the highly accurate G4 theory and several state-of-art density functional theory (DFT) methods (e.g., X1, M06-2X, B2PLYP-D, and XYG3) for the conversion from CMF to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and levulinic acid (LA) in water, and that to biofuels 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) and ethyllevulinate (EL) in alcohol. New reaction mechanisms have been proposed, which complement the well-recognized Horvat mechanisms. The assessment of DFT methods suggested that XYG3 be a viable method for biomass related thermochemistry calculations.     

Structure and coordination environment of the zinc complex with vanillin of double-stranded helix

The structure and coordination environment of unusually double-stranded helix of complex [Zn(C₈H₇O₃)₂(H₂O)₂] are studied experimentally and by the density functional theory (DFT) method. The Zn²⁺ ion coordinates six oxygen atoms of deprotonated vanillin and water molecules forming an octahedron. The intermolecular hydrogen bonds and π interactions of the vanillin fragments contributed to the formation of the double-stranded helical supramolecular structure in the crystal. Counterpoise geometric parameters of the calculation agree with the crystal structure determined by experiment. The stabilization energy between the donor and acceptor obtained from an analysis of natural bond orbitals of the indicated six ligand oxygen atoms act as electron donor to Zn²⁺ ion. The results of the density functional theory on the complex demonstrate that the different coordinated oxygen atoms, which have different chemical environment, distort the coordination octahedron. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

量子点在生物化学传感中的应用研究进展

综述了荧光量子点在生物化学传感中的研究应用进展,重点介绍离子、酶以及糖类的传感,并展望了其发展趋势和应用前景。     

溶胶-凝胶法制备Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O微粉

以金属醋酸盐为原料,用溶胶-凝胶技术制备了Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O微粉,并用TG、DTA、IR、XRD和TEM等手段对Bi_1.85Pb_0.35Sr_1.9Ca₂Cu_3.1O_y粉末的热分解和晶化行为以及粉末粒度进行了分析测试,并用此微粉制备出以2223相为主要物相、零电阻为105K的高温陶瓷超导体。