Hemocompatibility of poly(acrylonitrile-co-N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone)s: swelling behavior and water states

Hemocompatibility is an essential aspect of blood contacting polymers. Knowledge of the relationship between polymer structure and hemocompatibility is important in designing such polymers. In this work, the effect of swelling behavior and states of water on the hemocompatibility of poly(acrylonitrile-co-N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PANCNVP) films was studied. Platelet adhesion and plasma recalcification time tests were used to evaluate the hemocompatibility of the films. Considering the importance of surface properties on the hemocompatibility of polymers, static water contact angles were measured by both sessile drop and captive bubble methods. It was found that, on the film surface of PANCNVP with a higher NVP content, adhered platelets were remarkably suppressed and the recalcification time was longer. The total water content adsorbed on the PANCNVP film was determined through swelling experiments performed at temperatures of interest. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis were used to probe the states of water in the films. Based on the results from these experiments, it was hypothesized that the better hemocompatibility of PANCNVP films with higher NVP contents was due to their higher free water content, because water molecule exchange at the polymer/liquid interface, facilitated by a high free water content, is unfavorable for the formation of surface bound water, which causes poor hemocompatibility. [diagram in text].     

The Electrochemical Behavior of α‐Ketoglutarate at the Hanging Mercury Drop Electrode in Acidic Aqueous Solution and Its Practical Application in Environmental and Biological Samples

The voltammetric behavior of α‐ketoglutarate (α‐KG) at the hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE) has been investigated in acetate buffer solution. Under the optimum experimental conditions (pH 4.5, 0.2 M NaAc‐HAc buffer solution), a sensitive reductive wave of α‐KG was obtained by linear scan voltammetry (LSV) and the peak potential was ?1.18 V (vs. SCE), which was an irreversible adsorption wave. The kinetic parameters of the electrode process were α=0.3 and k_s=0.72 1/s. There was a linear relationship between peak current i_{p, α‐KG} and α‐KG concentration in the range of 2×10^?6–8×10^?4 M α‐KG. The detection limit was 8×10^?7 M and the relative standard deviation was 2.0% (C_α‐KG=8×10^?4 M, n=10). Applications of the reductive wave of α‐KG for practical analysis were addressed as follows: (1) It can be used for the quantitative analysis of α‐KG in biological samples and the results agree well with those obtained from the established ultraviolet spectrophotometric method. (2) Utilizing the complexing effect between α‐KG and aluminum, a linear relationship holds between the decrease of peak current of α‐KG Δi_p and the added Al concentration Cequation/tex2gif-inf-5.gif in the range of 5.0×10^?6–2.5×10^?4 M. The detection limit was 2.2×10^?6 M and the relative standard deviation was 3.1% (Cequation/tex2gif-inf-6.gif=4×10^?5 M, n=10). It was successfully applied to the detection of aluminum in water and synthetic biological samples with satisfactory results, which were consistent with those of ICP‐AES. (3) It was also applied to study the effect of Al^III on the glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) activity in the catalytically reaction of α‐KG+NH +NADH?L ‐glutamate+NAD⁺+H₂O by differential pulse polarography (DPP) technique. By monitoring DPP reductive currents of NAD⁺ and α‐KG, an elementary important result was found that Al could greatly affect the activity of GDH. This study could be attributed to intrinsic understanding of the aluminum's toxicity in enzyme reaction processes.     

Natriumkomplexe mit Salicylideniminen: Synthesen,Strukturen, CO2‐Aufnahme und Carboxylierung von 2‐Fluorpropiophenon bzw. Estronmethylether

Chiral salicylidenphenethylamines (R)‐HA or (S)‐HA , 2‐salicylidenfurfuryl‐imines HB , and 2‐salicylidenaminoethanol HC react with sodium hydride or sodium hexamethyldisilylamide to form the sodium complexes [Na(R)‐A] ₄ · 0,5 Et ₂ , [Na(S)‐A] ₄ · 0,5 Et ₂ O (1) , [NaB] ₄ · 0,5 Ph‐Me (2) and [(dme)NaC] ₄ (3) . In the presence of 18‐crown‐6 the complex [Na(18‐crown‐6)(thf) ₂ ] ₂ [Na ₂ (C)] ₄ · THF (4) can also be isolated. The crystal structure analyses of both 1 and 2 show that heterocubane structures with a Na₄O₄ frame work are formed. Additionally, the imine nitrogen atom is bonded at the Na atom which has the coordination number 4 in 1 . Additional coordination of the furfuryl oxygen atom results in the coordination number five for the sodium atom in 2 . In 3 which is also a tetramer, two Na₂O₂ units are connected via two imino‐ethanol bridges Na(1)‐N(=CH‐phenolat)‐CH₂CH₂‐OH‐Na(2A). The crystal structure analysis displays that 4 is an ionic compound consisting of two [(thf)₂Na(18‐crown‐6)]⁺ cations and the dinuclear dianion [Na ₂ (C) ₄ ] ^2? . Both 1 and 2 are carboxylation reagents which transfer CO₂ to 2‐fluoropropiophenone. 1 is more active than 2 , but 3 and 4 are inactive.     

Application of capillary electrophoresis with different sample stacking strategies for the determination of a group of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the low microg x L(-1) concentration range

Several on-column sample preconcentration modes--large-volume sample stacking using the EOF pump (LVSEP), LVSEP with anion-selective exhaustive injection (LVSEP-ASEI) and field-amplified sample injection with sample matrix removal using the electroosmotic flow (EOF) pump (FAEP)--were used to analyze some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) by capillary electrophoresis, and then compared. Methanol was the background electrolyte solvent to suppress the EOF. The effect of the type and length of the solvent plug, and the sample injection time were investigated in FAEP to determine the conditions that provided the best response. LVSEP, LVSEP-ASEI, and FAEP improved the sensitivity of the peak area by 100-, 1200-, and 1800-fold, respectively. The methodology developed, in combination with solid-phase extraction (SPE), was applied to the analysis of water samples.     

Determination of Azidothymidine – an Antiproliferative and Virostatic Drug by Square‐Wave Voltammetry

The 3′‐azido‐3′‐deoxythymidine (AZT, Zidovudine) is an antiproliferative and virostatic drug widely used in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1) infection treatment. With respect to side effects of high doses and a short half‐life of AZT, a fast and simple detection method for this agent could be helpful. The aim of our study was to determine AZT levels in natural samples (urine, serum, whole blood, and cell cultures, such as the HaCaT line of keratinocytes) without their mineralization and/or purification, by means of electrochemical methods using hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE). On this electrode, AZT undergoes irreversible reduction at the peak potential near E_p?1.1 V (vs. Ag/AgCl/3 M KCl). Reduction AZT signals were measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), square‐wave voltammetry (SWV), and constant current chronopotentiometric stripping analysis (CPSA). In phosphate buffer (pH 8) the SWV yielded the best AZT signal with the detection limit of 1 nM. The determination of AZT concentration in biological materials is affected by electroactive components, such as proteins and DNA. For monitoring the influence of these compounds, AZT reduction was performed in the presence of 10 μg/mL calf thymus ssDNA and/or 100 μg/mL bovine serum albumin. In these cases, the detection limit increased to 0.25 μM. Also studied was the AZT concentration in keratinocyte cells (HaCaT line) during cell cultivation. It has been shown that the SWV may be considered as a useful tool for the determination of AZT concentration in cell cultures, and for monitoring AZT pharmacokinetics.     

High-pressure structural trends of Group 15 elements: simple packed structures versus complex host-guest arrangements

The Group 15 elements P, As, Sb, and Bi all have layered structures consisting of six-membered rings under ambient conditions and attain the body-centered cubic (bcc) structure at the highest pressures applied. In the intermediate pressure region, however, phosphorus and its heavier congeners behave profoundly differently. In this region P first attains the open packed simple cubic (sc) structure for a wide range of pressures and then transforms into the rarely observed simple hexagonal (sh) structure. For the heavier congeners complex, incommensurately modulated host-guest structures emerge as intermediate pressure structures. We investigated the high-pressure behavior of P and As by ab initio density functional calculations in which pseudopotentials and a plane wave basis set were employed. The incommensurately modulated high-pressure structure of As was approximated by a supercell. Our calculations reproduced the experimentally established pressure stability ranges of the sc and sh structures for P and the host-guest structure for As very well. We found that the sc and especially the sh structure are decisively stabilized by the admixture of d states in the occupied levels of the electronic structure. This admixture releases s-s antibonding states above the Fermi level (s-d mixing). With pressure, s-d mixing increases rapidly for P, whereas it remains at a low level for As. As a consequence, the band energy contribution to the total energy determines the structural stability for P in the intermediate pressure region, giving rise to simple packed structures. On the other hand, in the intermediate pressure region of the heavier Group 15 elements, a delicate interplay between the electrostatic Madelung energy and the band energy leads to the formation of complex structures.     

A new class of low-molecular-weight amphiphilic gelators

A new powerful class of low-molecular-weight amphiphilic compounds has been synthesized and their structure-property relationships with respect to their gelation ability of organic solvents have been investigated. These compounds are able to gel organic solvents over a broad range of polarity. Especially polar solvents such as valeronitrile and gamma-butyrolactone can be gelled even at concentrations far below 1 wt %. It was found that the gelation ability of these asymmetrically substituted p-phenylendiamines depends on a well-balanced relation of the terminal head group, the units involved in hydrogen bonding (amide or urea groups), and on the length of the alkyl chain. With this class of new gelators it is possible to tailor thermal and mechanical properties in different organic solvents and open various application possibilities.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Monoazo N‐Ester‐1,8‐Naphthalimide Disperse Dyestuffs

Five novel monoazo disperse dyestuffs based on N‐ester‐1,8‐naphthalimide were synthesized. Acenaphthene was nitrated, then oxidized to 4‐nitro‐1,8‐naphthalic anhydride. 4‐Nitro‐1,8‐naphthalic anhydride was reacted with methyl and ethyl glycinate in alcoholic media, followed with reduction. 4‐Amino‐N‐methyl and ethyl glycinate‐1,8‐naphthalimide were obtained. These products were diazotized and coupled with appropriate aromatic amines to give bluish‐red or violet dyestuffs. All intermediates and dyestuffs were purified and characterized by ¹H‐NMR, FTIR, DSC, UV‐VIS and Elemental Analysis. Dispersion of dyestuffs was prepared in water and applied to polyester fabrics. The dyed fabrics showed that four of the synthesized dyestuffs were suitable for coloring polyester fibers, producing deep bluish red with very good build up properties.     

Conformational Transformation Exhibited by the Peptide Extracted from Crystalline Region of Bombyx mori Silk Fibroin in Solid and Solution States

The conformational transformation of a 30-residue peptide H（Ala-Gly-Ser-Gly-AIa-Gly）5OH, i.e., （AGSGAG）5, extracted from highly crystalline region of Bombyx mori （B. mori） silk fibroin was described by using the high resolution solid state 13^C NMR, and CD spectroscopies. Based on the conformation-dependent 13^C NMR chemical shifts of the Ala, Gly and Ser residues and the line-shape analysis of the conformation sensitive Ala Cβ resonance, the peptide revealed a strong preference for silk Ⅱ structural form, i,e,, an antiparallel fl-sheet structure （φ= - 140±20°and ψ= 135±20°） in solid state. On the contrary, the CD spectra of this peptide in the two non-native hexafluorinated fibre spinning solvents, hexafluoroisopropanol （HFIP） and hexafluoroacetone （HFA）, exhibited the existence of an unusual tightly-folded conformation resembling 310-helix （φ=- 60±20° and ψ=-30±20°）, as judged from the R ratio of [θ]222/[θ]203 in HFIP solution, whereas a dynamically averaged unordered structure in HFA, Taken together, the information inclined to hypothesis that the primary structure of the highly crystalline regions of B. mori silk fibroin may be easily accessible to the large conformational changes, which in turn may be critical for facilitating the structural transformation from unprocessed silk fibroin （silk I form） to processed silk fiber （silk Ⅱform）.     

The methoxycarbonylcarbene insertion into 1,3-dithiolane and 1,3-oxathiolane rings

Treatment of substituted 1,3-dithiolanes and 1,3-oxathiolanes with methyl diazoacetate in the presence of Rh₂(OAc)₄ effects ring expansion to the corresponding substituted 1,4-dithiane-2-carboxylates and 1,4-oxathiane-3-carboxylates. The sulfur ylides initially generated in these reactions undergo Stevens rearrangement in competition with both [2,3]-C-C-sigmatropic rearrangement and intramolecular fragmentation. In the case of 2-styryl-substituted 1,3-oxathiolane and 1,3-dithiolane, ring expansion on one-, three- and four-carbons subsequently takes place.