High-Throughput Synthesis and Characterization of Aryl Silicones by Using the Piers–Rubinsztajn Reaction

Arylsilicones are widely exploited for their thermal and optical properties. The creation of phenylsilicone elastomers with specific physical properties is typically done by a “one-off” formulation and test process. Herein, it is demonstrated that high-throughput synthesis methods can be used to rapidly prepare a series of arylsilicone elastomers and then the relative impact of different aryl groups on their physical properties is assessed. Aromatic groups were incorporated into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers by exploiting the relative reactivity of different functional groups in the Piers–Rubinsztajn reaction. To analyze trends in the silicone mechanical properties as a function of increasing aryl concentration—structure/property relationships—libraries of elastomers were both quickly synthesized and characterized by using high-throughput suites starting from low viscosity silicone oils/monomers in 96-well plates. Liquid handling parameters were optimized to effectively work with the silicones. Incorporating aryl instead of alkyl crosslinkers into the PDMS backbone increased the silicone elastomer modulus by approximately 50 % (at a crosslink density of 6 %); elastomers prepared with an aromatic crosslinker with three contact points led to much higher moduli compared with those with one contact point at the same crosslink density. When located at precise rather than random points on the silicone chains, diphenylsilicones had lower moduli than analogous monophenylsilicones.     

Probing in vitro digestion at oil–water interfaces

Interfacial layers have been widely applied to study the formation and stability of emulsion-based systems. However, the application of isolated interfaces to address digestibility of emulsions is often limited because of the complexity of experimental methods and results. This review summarizes the latest developments in analytical methods and literature data on effects of digestion on interfacial layers. Particular emphasis is given to understand the changes on interfacial magnitudes during oral, gastric, and duodenal digestion, either applied separately or sequentially. Limitations of interfacial aspects and key factors that influence emulsion microstructure in bulk and lipid digestion are identified. Understanding the behavior of interfacial layers upon gastrointestinal digestion promotes an accurate tracking of the physiological fate of emulsions.     

A new sequence based encoding for prediction of host–pathogen protein interactions

Pathogen–host interactions are very important to figure out the infection process at the molecular level, where pathogen proteins physically bind to human proteins to manipulate critical biological processes in the host cell. Data scarcity and data unavailability are two major problems for computational approaches in the prediction of pathogen–host interactions. Developing a computational method to predict pathogen–host interactions with high accuracy, based on protein sequences alone, is of great importance because it can eliminate these problems. In this study, we propose a novel and robust sequence based feature extraction method, named Location Based Encoding, to predict pathogen–host interactions with machine learning based algorithms. In this context, we use Bacillus Anthracis and Yersinia Pestis data sets as the pathogen organisms and human proteins as the host model to compare our method with sequence based protein encoding methods, which are widely used in the literature, namely amino acid composition, amino acid pair, and conjoint triad. We use these encoding methods with decision trees (Random Forest, j48), statistical (Bayesian Networks, Naive Bayes), and instance based (kNN) classifiers to predict pathogen–host interactions. We conduct different experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our method. We obtain the best results among all the experiments with RF classifier in terms of F1, accuracy, MCC, and AUC.     

The closo-Cluster Triad: B9X9, [B9X9]· –, and [B9X9]2– with Tricapped Trigonal Prisms (X = Cl,Br, I). Syntheses,Crystal and Electronic Structures

Halogenation of nido-B₁₀H₁₄ with C₂H₂Cl₄, C₂Cl₆, Br₂, or I₂, produces by cluster degradation the (2 n)-closo-clusters B₉X₉ (X = Cl, Br, I). The synthesis of salts of the perhalogenated radical anions of the type (2 n + 1)-closo-[B₉X₉]^{· –} and of the corresponding dianions (2 n + 2)-closo-[B₉X₉]^2– from neutral B₉X₉ is described [n is the number of cluster atoms; (2 n), (2 n + 1), and (2 n + 2) is the number of cluster electrons]. Molecular and crystal structures of B₉Cl₉, B₉Br₉, [(C₆H₅)₄P][B₉Br₉] · CH₂Cl₂, and [(C₄H₉)₄N]₂[B₉Br₉] · CH₂Cl₂ have been determined via X-ray diffraction. All three oxidation states of the cluster retain the tricapped trigonal prism. The reduction of the clusters B₉X₉ was shown by cyclic voltammetry in CH₂Cl₂ to proceed via two successive one-electron reversible steps, separated by at least 0.4 V. The paramagnetic radical anions [B₉X₉]^{· –} (X = Cl, Br) were further characterized by magnetic susceptibility measurements of [Cp₂Fe][B₉X₉] and [Cp₂Co][B₉X₉], respectively. The EPR spectra of [B₉X₉]^{· –} (X = Cl, Br, I) in glassy frozen CH₂Cl₂ solutions showed increasing g anisotropy for the heavier halogen derivatives, illustrating significant halogen participation at the singly occupied MO. The ¹¹B NMR spectra of CD₂Cl₂ solutions of the neutral clusters B₉X₉ exhibit only one sharp resonance, indicating that the boron atoms are highly fluxional in solution. In contrast, two different boron resonances as expected for a rigid tricapped trigonal prism are clearly observed for the [B₉X₉]^2– dianions in solutions and for solid B₉Br₉ in the ¹¹B MAS NMR spectra. Temperature dependent ¹¹B MAS NMR experiments on B₉Br₉ and [B₉Br₉]^2– in the solid state show a reversible coalescence of the two resonances at higher temperature. ¹¹B MAS NMR spectra and DTA measurements of [B₉Br₉]^2– showed a phase transition.     

Dimethyl carbonate as a novel methylating reagent for fatty acids in analytical pyrolysis

Dimethyl carbonate (DMC) was investigated as a mild, harmless and odorless reagent for pyrolytic methylation of fatty acids. Soybean oil was selected as test material for its high content of (poly)unsaturated fatty acids. Pyrolyses were performed at 500, 700 and 900 degrees C by means of a heated platinum filament pyrolyser on-line and off-line to the GC-MS apparatus. Methyl esters of palmitic, linoleic, oleic and stearic acid were formed as prominent products from off-line pyrolysis of soybean oil in the presence of DMC and zeolite 13X. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were not observed at important levels in the absence of zeolite, while on-line Py-GC-MS experiments resulted principally in the formation of free fatty acids and hydrocarbons. The FAME profiles obtained from the DMC/zeolite off-line pyrolysis were compared to those resulting from tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) thermochemolysis and BF3-methanol procedure. The observed differences between pyrolysis and methanolysis methods were principally attributed to the thermal degradation of unsaturated fatty acids. The effectiveness of the DMC/zeolite pyrolytic methylation was further demonstrated by the analysis of tripalmitine and soybean seeds.     

Isotachophoretic determination of carboxylic acids in biodegradation samples

In the current study a method of isotachophoretic separation of selected carboxylic acids was developed. The method was used for the determination of carboxylated oligo(ethylene glycol)s and their degradation products in biodegradation tests of PEG 250 DA [a mixture of dicarboxylated oligo(ethylene glycol)s]. Two tests were performed in the studies: the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) screening test and the river water die-away test. Both the biodegradation tests proved relatively fast biodegradation of the studied compounds. In the OECD screening test the biodegradation was faster than in the river water die-away test which can be ascribed to a higher concentration of bacteria in the biodegradation liquor. The minimal sample pretreatment and relatively low cost of analysis by the isotachophoretic method used here make it a good alternative to existing methods of carboxylic acids analysis.     

Sol-gel approach to in situ creation of high pH-resistant surface-bonded organic-inorganic hybrid zirconia coating for capillary microextraction (in-tube SPME)

A novel zirconia-based hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel coating was developed for capillary microextraction (CME) (in-tube SPME). High degree of chemical inertness inherent in zirconia makes it very difficult to covalently bind a suitable organic ligand to its surface. In the present work, this problem was addressed from a sol-gel chemistry point of view. Principles of sol-gel chemistry were employed to chemically bind a hydroxy-terminated silicone polymer (polydimethyldiphenylsiloxane, PDMDPS) to a sol-gel zirconia network in the course of its evolution from a highly reactive alkoxide precursor undergoing controlled hydrolytic polycondensation reactions. A fused silica capillary was filled with a properly designed sol solution to allow for the sol-gel reactions to take place within the capillary for a predetermined period of time (typically 15-30 min). In the course of this process, a layer of the evolving hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel polymer got chemically anchored to the silanol groups on the capillary inner walls via condensation reaction. At the end of this in-capillary residence time, the unbonded part of the sol solution was expelled from the capillary under helium pressure, leaving behind a chemically bonded sol-gel zirconia-PDMDPS coating on the inner walls. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones, and aldehydes were efficiently extracted and preconcentrated from dilute aqueous samples using sol-gel zirconia-PDMDPS coated capillaries followed by thermal desorption and GC analysis of the extracted solutes. The newly developed sol-gel hybrid zirconia coatings demonstrated excellent pH stability, and retained the extraction characteristics intact even after continuous rinsing with a 0.1 M NaOH solution for 24 h. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of a sol-gel zirconia-based hybrid organic-inorganic coating as an extraction medium in solid phase microextraction (SPME).     

Capillary zone electrophoretic studies of ion association between inorganic anions and tetraalkylammonium ions in aqueous-dioxane media

Ion association between inorganic anions and symmetrical tetraalkylammonium ions, R4N+ (R = Me, Et, Pr, n-Bu, n-Am, and 2-methyl butyl {isoamyl = iAm}) was investigated using ordinary silica capillary by capillary zone electrophoresis. An improved version of the Williams-Vigh method was used for the first time to measure the mobilities of the inorganic anions. Plots of log Kass against log dielectric constant in various media, revealed a smaller change in Kass compared to dielectric constant. These plots suggest that the Bjerrum's equation is inadequate in accounting for the associations of ions in a CZE setup.     

Indirect fluorescence detection of amino sugars with the use of copper complexes of tryptophan and its analogues following high-performance liquid chromatographic separation

A simple, indirect fluorescence detection method has been developed for detecting specific mono-amino sugars (D-glucosamine, D-galactosamine, D-mannosamine) following chromatographic separation. The eluting amino sugars release L-tryptophan (L-Trp) from a copper-tryptophan complex which is introduced postcolumn. Analyte detection is based on measuring the increase in L-Trp fluorescence, which is quenched when complexed with copper. Two tryptophan analogues, 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan (5-HTP) and DL-5-methoxytryptophan (5-MTP), were also evaluated as postcolumn reagents. 5-MTP was found to be a suitable alternative to L-Trp for the detection of these mono-amino sugars. Detection limits for D-glucosamine, D-galactosamine, and D-mannosamine are in the range of 0.15-0.30 nmol injected.