Surface and biological activity of sophorolipid molecules produced by Wickerhamiella domercqiae var. sophorolipid CGMCC 1576

The ion-imprinted magnetic chitosan resins (IMCR) prepared using U(VI) as a template and glutaraldehyde as a cross-linker showed higher adsorption capacity and selectivity for the U(VI) ions compared with the non-imprinted magnetic chitosan resins (NIMCR) without a template. The results showed that the adsorption of U(VI) on the magnetic chitosan resins was affected by the initial pH value, the initial U(VI) concentration, as well as the temperature. Both kinetics and thermodynamic parameters of the adsorption process were estimated. These data indicated an exothermic spontaneous adsorption process that kinetically followed the second-order adsorption process. Equilibrium experiments were fitted in Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich adsorption isotherm models to show very good fits with the Langmuir isotherm equation for the monolayer adsorption process. The monolayer adsorption capacity values of 187.26 mg/g for IMCR and 160.77 mg/g for NIMCR were very close to the maximum capacity values obtained at pH 5.0, temperature 298 K, adsorbent dose 50 mg, and contact time 3 h. The selectivity coefficient of uranyl ions and other metal ions on IMCR indicated an overall preference for uranyl ions. Furthermore, the IMCR could be regenerated through the desorption of the U(VI) ions using 0.5 M HNO(3) solution and could be reused to adsorb again.     

High toxicity and specificity of the saponin 3-GlcA-28-AraRhaxyl-medicagenate, from Medicago truncatula seeds, for Sitophilus oryzae

Background

Because of the increasingly concern of consumers and public policy about problems for environment and for public health due to chemical pesticides, the search for molecules more safe is currently of great importance. Particularly, plants are able to fight the pathogens as insects, bacteria or fungi; so that plants could represent a valuable source of new molecules.

Results

It was observed that Medicago truncatula seed flour displayed a strong toxic activity towards the adults of the rice weevil Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera), a major pest of stored cereals. The molecule responsible for toxicity was purified, by solvent extraction and HPLC, and identified as a saponin, namely 3-GlcA-28-AraRhaxyl-medicagenate. Saponins are detergents, and the CMC of this molecule was found to be 0.65?mg per mL. Neither the worm Caenorhabditis elegans nor the bacteria E. coli were found to be sensitive to this saponin, but growth of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was inhibited at concentrations higher than 100???g per mL. The purified molecule is toxic for the adults of the rice weevils at concentrations down to 100???g per g of food, but this does not apply to the others insects tested, including the coleopteran Tribolium castaneum and the Sf9 insect cultured cells.

Conclusions

This specificity for the weevil led us to investigate this saponin potential for pest control and to propose the hypothesis that this saponin has a specific mode of action, rather than acting via its non-specific detergent properties.     

Implementation of renormalized excitonic method at ab initio level

The renormalized excitonic method [Hajj et al., Phys Rev B 2005, 72, 224412], in which the excited state of the whole system may be described as a linear combination of local excitations, has been implemented at ab initio level. Its performance is tested on the ionization potential and the energy gap between singlet ground state and lowest triplet for linear molecular hydrogen chains and more realistic systems, such as polyenes and polysilenes, using full configuration interaction (FCI) wave functions with a minimal basis set. The influence of different block sizes and the extent of interblock interactions are investigated. It has been demonstrated that satisfactory results can be obtained if the near degeneracies between the model space and the outer space are avoided and if interactions between the next-nearest neighbor blocks are considered. The method can be used with larger basis sets and other accurate enough ab initio evaluations (instead of FCI) of local excited states, from blocks, or from dimers or trimers of blocks. It provides a new possibility to accurately and economically describe the low-lying delocalized excited states of large systems, even inhomogeneous ones.     

Elucidation of matrix effects and performance of solid-phase extraction for LC-MS/MS analysis of β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and 2,4-diaminobutyric acid (DAB) neurotoxins in cyanobacteria

A liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) was developed for the analysis of neurotoxins β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and 2,4-diaminobutyric acid (DAB), using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) scan mode. Oasis-MCX and Strata-X-C polymeric cation-exchange cartridges were used to clean extracts of cyanobacterial cultures, including two strains of Microcystis aeruginosa and one strain of Nostoc sp. The performance of the solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges for BMAA and DAB were evaluated using mixed standards and spiked cyanobacterial extracts, which demonstrated recoveries of BMAA and DAB ranging from 66% to 91%. Matrix effects in LC-MS/MS were evaluated, and while there was no effect on BMAA quantitation, suppression of DAB was found. Full scan (Q1) and enhanced product ion (EPI) monitoring showed that the DAB suppression may be due to closely eluting compounds, including lysine, histidine, arginine and three other compounds with [M + H](+) m/z of 88, 164 and 191. The procedures developed allow the sensitive and effective analysis of trace BMAA and DAB levels in cyanobacteria. While DAB was confirmed to be present, no BMAA was found in the cyanobacterial samples tested in the present study.     

Three-dimensional networks based on trinuclear motifs with tricomponent azide-carboxylate-tetrazolate cobridges: synthesis, structure and magnetic properties

Two 3D coordination polymers of Mn(II) with azide and bifunctional zwitterionic ligands bearing both carboxylate and tetrazolate groups, 1-(carboxylatomethyl)-3-(5-tetrazolato)pyridinium (L(1)) and 1-(carboxylatoethyl)-4-(5-tetrazolato)pyridinium (L(2)), were synthesized, and structurally and magnetically characterized. They are formulated as [Mn(3)(L(1))(2)(N(3))(4)(H(2)O)(2)](n)·4nH(2)O (1) and [Mn(3)(L(2))(2)(N(3))(4)(H(2)O)(3)](n)·3.5nH(2)O (2). In both compounds, octahedral Mn(II) ions are linked by the mixed (μ(2)-EO-N(3))(μ(2)-syn,syn-COO)(μ(2)-N(2),N(3)-CN(4)) (CN(4) = tetrazolate and EO = end-on) triple bridges to give anionic linear trinuclear motifs. The motifs are connected through EE-N(3) (EE = end-to-end) bridges to give layers and chains in 1 and 2, respectively, and the cationic pyridinium spacers serve to interlink the layers or chains into three-dimensional frameworks with the α-Po and CdSO(4)-type topology, respectively. Magnetic studies demonstrated that the magnetic interactions within and between the trinuclear motifs, through the tricomponent and EE-N(3) bridges, respectively, are both antiferromagnetic in both compounds.     

Uniform and size-tunable mesoporous silica with fibrous morphology for drug delivery

A family of mesoporous silica microspheres with fibrous morphology and different particle sizes ranging from about 400 to 900 nm has been successfully synthesized through a facile self-assembly process. The structural, morphological, and textural properties of the samples were well characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), N(2) adsorption/desorption, and thermal gravimetry (TG). The results reveal that this silica-based mesoporous material exhibits excellent physical properties, including a fibrous spherical morphology, good thermal stability, large pore volume, high specific surface area and narrow size distribution. Additionally, the size and textural properties can be tuned by altering the silica precursor/template molar ratio. The formation and the self-assembly evolution process have also been proposed. The obtained materials were further used as a drug delivery carrier to investigate the in vitro drug release properties using doxorubicin (DOX) as a representative model drug. It was found that this kind of silica exhibits good biocompatibility and obvious sustained drug release properties, suggesting its potential application in biological fields.     

Fabrication of one-dimensional Fe3O4/P(GMA-DVB) nanochains by magnetic-field-induced precipitation polymerization

One-dimensional (1D) magnetic Fe(3)O(4)/P(GMA-DVB) peapod-like nanochains have been successfully synthesized by magnetic-field-induced precipitation polymerization using Fe(3)O(4) as building blocks and P(GMA-DVB) as linker. The Fe(3)O(4) microspheres without surface modification can be arranged with the direction of the external magnetic field in a line via the dipolar interaction between Fe(3)O(4) microspheres and linked permanently via P(GMA-DVB) coating during precipitation polymerization. The length of peapod-like nanochains can be controlled by magnetic field intensity, and the thickness of polymer shell can be tuned by the amount of monomers. Magnetic measurement revealed that these 1D peapod-like nanochains showed highly magnetic sensitivity. In the presence of magnetic field, 1D magnetic Fe(3)O(4)/P(GMA-DVB) peapod-like nanochains can be oriented and aligned along the direction of external magnetic field.     

Design, synthesis, and anti-proliferative evaluation of [1,1'-biphenyl]-4-ols as inhibitor of HUVEC migration and tube formation

Allylated biphenol neolignans contain a variety of chemopreventive entities that have been used as anti-tumor drug leads. Herein, 37 allylated biphenols were evaluated for anti-proliferative activity by the MTT assay and inhibitory effect on the migration and tube formation of HUVECs featuring anti-angiogenic properties. 3-(2-Methylbut-3-en-2-yl)-3′,5′-bis(trifluoromethyl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4-ol (5c) exerted an inhibitory effect on HUVECs compared to honokiol (IC?? = 47.0 vs. 52.6 μM) and showed significant blocking effects on the proliferation of C26, Hela, K562, A549, and HepG2 (IC?? = 15.0, 25.0, 21.2, 29.5, and 13.0 μM, respectively), superior to those of honokiol (IC?? = 65.1, 62.0, 42.0, 75.0, and 55.4 μM, respectively). Importantly, compound 5c inhibited the migration and capillary-like tube formation of HUVECs in vitro.     

A well-defined block copolymer serving as surfactants in separation of 1,4-dihydropyridines by open-tubular capillary eletrochromatography

A novel series of diblock copolymers, poly(butyl methacrylate)(n) -block-poly(glycidyl methacrylate)(m) [P(BMA)(n) -b-P(GMA)(m) ], were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization and developed as covalent coating of capillaries. The excellent performance of this coating in separation of three 1,4-dihydropyridines (DHPs) derivatives (amlodipine, nicardipine, nitrendipine) was achieved when the diblock copolymers self-assembled into micelles, which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and atom force microscopy. Meanwhile, the effects of block ratio n/m, pH value, buffer concentration, and organic solvents on the separation of 1,4-DHPs were investigated in detail. Then, the relationship between the morphologies of copolymers and the separation resolutions of 1,4-DHPs was discussed. Furthermore, the proposed method exhibited good run-to-run and column-to-column precision with relative standard deviations of electroosmotic flow less than 3.0%. It was also validated with linearity of three 1,4-DHPs in the range of 0.01-1.80 mM (r(2) ≥ 99.7%), efficient recovery (94-103%), and good repeatability (≤ 3.8%). In addition, three 1,4-DHPs were successfully separated in the spiked human serum sample, which indicated the potential utility of this method in biological sample analysis.     

Determination of quinolones in milk samples using a combination of magnetic solid-phase extraction and capillary electrophoresis

A magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) method combined with capillary electrophoresis for the simultaneous determination of seven quinolones (QNs) (danofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, marbofloxacin, enrofloxacin, difloxacin, oxolinic acid, and flumequine), using (S)-(+)-6-methoxy-α-methyl-2-naphthaleneacetic acid as internal standard, in milk samples was developed. The variables involved in the preconcentration magnetic procedure were: the composition of the magnetic support composition, the sample pH, and the weight of magnetic adsorbent used. The variables were optimized using a simplex-lattice design. Different magnetite covered with octyl-phenyl silica adsorbents were synthesized by varying the molar ratio of phenyltrimethylsilane and octyltrimethoxysilane; the solids were evaluated for QN preconcentration. Under optimal conditions, a linear range was obtained from 27 to 1000 μg L(-1) with limits of detection ranging from 9 to 12 μg L(-1) for the seven QNs. The absolute recoveries of the seven QNs at three different spiked levels (40, 150, and 400 μg L(-1) ) ranged from 74% to 98% with a relative standard deviation less than 10% in all cases. The proposed method was applied to analyze 20 whole milk samples of different brands. All samples were positive for the presence of QN residues; in some cases, extract dilution was required. The concentrations found are in the range from 31.1 to 5047.3 μg L(-1) . Marbofloxacin was the most frequently found. The method proposed offers advantages in terms of simplicity, sensitivity, efficiency, cost, and analysis time making it an alternative for the analysis of QNs in whole milk samples.