Modulation of the lifespan of C. elegans by the controlled release of nitric oxide

The frontier of nitric oxide biology has gradually shifted from mechanism elucidation to biomanipulation, e.g. cell-proliferation promotion, cell-apoptosis induction, and lifespan modulation. This warrants biocompatible nitric oxide (NO) donating materials, whose NO release is not only controlled by a bioorthogonal trigger, but also self-calibrated allowing real-time monitoring and hence an onset/offset of the NO release. Additionally, the dose of NO release should be facilely adjusted in a large dynamic range; flux and the dose are critical to the biological outcome of NO treatment. Via self-assembly of a PEGylated small-molecule NO donor, we developed novel NO-donating nanoparticles (PEG-NORM), which meet all the aforementioned criteria. We showcased that a low flux of NO induced cell proliferation, while a high flux induced cell oxidative stress and, ultimately, death. Notably, PEG-NORM was capable of efficiently modulating the lifespan of C. elegans. The average lifespan of C. elegans could be fine-tuned to be as short as 15.87 ± 0.29 days with a high dose of NO, or as long as 21.13 ± 0.41 days with a low dose of NO, compared to an average life-span of 18.87 ± 0.46 days. Thus, PEG-NORM has broad potential in cell manipulation and life-span modulation and could drive the advancement of NO biology and medicine.

Schematic illustration of modulating the longevity of the C. elegans by PEG-NORM nanoparticles.     

Cure behavior of epoxy resin/MMT/DETA nanocomposite

The Flory's gelation theory, non-equilibrium thermodynamic fluctuation theory and Avrami equation have been used to predict the gel time t _g and the cure behavior of epoxy resin/organo-montmorillonite/diethylenetriamine intercalated nanocomposites at various temperatures and organo-montmorillonite loadings. The theoretical prediction is in good agreement with the experimental results obtained by dynamic torsional vibration method, and the results show that the addition of organo-montmorillonite reduces the gelation time t _gand increases the rate of curing reaction, the value of k, and half-time of cure after gelation point t_1/2 decreases with the increasing of cure temperature, and the value of n is ~2 at the lower temperatures (<60°C) and decreases to ~1.5 as the temperature increases, and the addition of organo-montmorillonite decreases the apparent activation energy of the cure reaction before gelation point, but has no apparent effect on the apparent activation energy of the cure reaction after gelation point. There is no special curing process required for the formation of epoxy resin/organo-montmorillonite/diethylenetriamine intercalated nanocomposite. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Reaction of Tetracopper(I)-Phosphonitocavitand with PhSeSiMe3: Synthesis and Structure of a Polyanionic Cluster [pyH]6[(CuCl)9(μ3-SePh)5(μ4-SePh)]

Treatment of tetracopper(I)-phosphonitocavitand [1·Cu₄(μ-Cl)₄(μ₄-Cl)] (2) (1 = tetraphosphonitocavitand [rccc-2,8,14,20-tetrakis-(iso-butyl)-phosphonitocavitand (C₄₄H₄₈O₈P₄Ph₄)]) with PhSeSiMe₃ in THF at low temperature afforded a novel polyanionic cluster [pyH]₆[(CuCl)₉(μ₃-SePh)₅(μ₄-SePh)] (4) as a major product along with a new tetracopper(I)-phosphonitocavitand (3) with a centered μ₃-Cl. Molecular structure of anionic cluster in 4 consists of six PhSe⁻ bridging ligands containing five μ₃-SePh and one exceptional μ₄-SePh bridging nine copper atoms, of which eight copper atoms have trigonal coordination geometry and the other has distorted tetrahedral geometry. Dedicated to Professor Han-Qin Liu on the occasion of his 70th birthday.     

Single Atoms of Iron on MoS2 Nanosheets for N2 Electroreduction into Ammonia

Efforts have been devoted to achieving a highly efficient artificial synthesis of ammonia (NH₃). Reported herein is a novel Fe-MoS₂ catalyst with Fe atomically dispersed onto MoS₂ nanosheets, imitating natural nitrogenase, to boost N₂ electroreduction into NH₃ at room temperature. The Fe-MoS₂ nanosheets exhibited a faradic efficiency of 18.8 % with a yield rate of 8.63 μg mg_cat.⁻¹ h⁻¹ for NH₃ at −0.3 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode. The mechanism study revealed that the electroreduction of N₂ was promoted and the competing hydrogen evolution reaction was suppressed by decorating the edge sites of S in MoS₂ with the atomically dispersed Fe, resulting in high catalytic performance for the electroreduction of N₂ into NH₃. This work provides new ideas for the design of catalysts for N₂ electroreduction and strengthens the understanding about N₂ activation over Mo-based catalysts.     

The reaction of phenylarsenazo with chromium(III)

The conditions for the reaction between phenylarsenazo (PAA) (2-[(2-arsonophenyl)azoj-7-(phenylazo)-1, 8-dihydroxynaphthalene-3,6-disulphonic acid) and chromium(III) have been studied. A blue 1:1 complex is formed at pH 2.2 on heating the reactants at 100 degrees for 15 min. It has maximum absorption at 635 nm and is stable for at least 24 hr. The molar absorptivity is 3.3 x 10(4) 1.mole(-1).cm(-1). Beer's law is obeyed in the chromium concentration range 0-1.4 mug ml . The reaction has been successfully applied to determination of chromium in alloy steel.     

Novel nitrogen ligands based on imidazole derivatives and their application in asymmetric catalysis

Recently prepared chiral amines have been used in the preparation of novel tridentate ligands based on an imidazole ring with an additional (hetero)ring. The synthesis was carried out by the reaction of chiral amines with suitable aldehydes (2-phenylimidazole-4-carbaldehyde, 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde or pyridine-2-carbaldehyde) under reductive conditions (H₂/Pd or NaBH₄). All ligands prepared showed strong hydrogen bonds in d₆-DMSO solution, which resulted in hindered imidazole tautomerism. The observed hindered tautomerism was studied by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The structures of the prepared ligands were also confirmed by APCI mass spectroscopy. Both chiral amines and tridentate compounds have been applied as ligands in copper (II)-catalyzed nitroaldol reactions (Henry reaction). Various reaction conditions for the Henry reaction have been studied (influence of temperature, molar ratio, solvent or copper (II) precursors). The compounds prepared with the two imidazole rings showed fast reaction times and a reversal in enantioselectivity compared to other chiral amines.     

Analysis on absorption spectra of Nd in poly(methyl methacrylate)

The absorption spectrum of neodymium (III) (Nd³⁺ doped in poly(methyl methacrylate) was measured. The Nephlauxetic effect was found in the spectrum compared to other spectra of Nd³⁺ doped in various matrices. The experimental data used, Slater-Condon parameters (F₂,F₄,F₆) and Lander parameter (ζ_4f) were calculated by the Taylor series expansion based on the assumption that the energy separation between J-levels of the 4fⁿ-configuration is a function of F₂,F₄,F₆ and ζ_4f. The Judd-Ofled intensity parameters (Ω₂,Ω₄,Ω₆) were also calculated. Analysis of the Nephlauxetic effect and the parameters variation on the host matrices was carried out.     

Laser-assisted electron capture by a fast proton from a hydrogen atom

The first Born approximation is used to study the laser-assisted electron capture by a fast proton from a hydrogen atom. The laser modification on differential cross section peaks sharply in the forward direction. With the impact energy increasing, the change in integral cross section becomes notable. The more intense the laser, the greater the cross section is; the lower the frequency, the greater the cross section.     

A Background and noise elimination method for quantitative calibration of near infrared spectra

A new hybrid algorithm is proposed to eliminate the varying background and noise simultaneously for multivariate calibration of near infrared (NIR) spectral signals. The method is based on the use of multi-resolution, which is one of the main advantages provided by wavelet transform. The signals are firstly split into different frequency components, which keep the same data points of the original signals. In conjunction with a modified uninformative variable elimination (mUVE) criterion, the new method can be used to remove the low-frequency varying background and the high-frequency noise simultaneously. The method is successfully applied to simulated spectral data set and experimental NIR spectral data, resulting in more parsimonious multivariate models with higher precision. In addition, the proposed strategy can be applied to other spectral signals as well.     

Determination of phenolic compounds using high-performance liquid chromatography with Ce-Tween 20 chemiluminescence detection

A novel method for the simultaneous determination of phenolic compounds such as salicylic acid, resorcinol, phloroglucinol, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and m-nitrophenol by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with chemiluminescence (CL) detection was developed. The procedure was based on the chemiluminescent enhancement by phenolic compounds of the cerium(IV)-Tween 20 system in a sulfuric acid medium. The separation was carried out with an isocratic elution or with a gradient elution using a mixture of methanol and 1.5% acetic acid. For six phenolic compounds, the detection limits (3σ) were in the range 1.40-5.02 ng/ml and the relative standard deviations (n=11) for the determination of 0.1 μg/ml compounds were in the range 1.9-2.9%. The CL reaction was well compatible with the mobile phase of HPLC, no baseline drift often occurred in HPLC-CL detection was observed with a gradient elution. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of salicylic acid and resorcinol in Dermatitis Clear Tincture and p-hydroxybenzoic acid in apple juices.