Applications of Raman spectroscopy in herbal medicine

Raman spectroscopic techniques are a group of chemical fingerprint detection methods based on molecular vibrational spectroscopy. They are compatible with aqueous solutions and are time saving, nondestructive, and highly informative. With complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) becoming increasingly popular, more people are consuming natural herbal medicines. Thus, chemical fingerprints of herbal medicines are investigated to determine the content of these products. In this study, I review the different types of Raman spectroscopic techniques used in fingerprinting herbal medicines, including dispersive Raman spectroscopy, resonance Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform (FT)–Raman spectroscopy, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy, and confocal/microscopic Raman spectroscopy. Lab-grade Raman spectroscopy instruments help detect the chemical components of herbal medicines effectively and accurately without the need for complicated separation and extraction procedures. In addition, portable Raman spectroscopy instruments could be used to monitor the health and safety compliance of herbal products in the consumer market.     

新郑西亚斯东周玉器材料属性与加工工艺的科技分析

中国玉文化源远流长，治玉工艺经过各个时代的不断发展和完善，在一定程度上能反映古代社会生产力发展水平及文化、贸易、技术交流等信息。利用能量色散型X射线荧光光谱（EDXRF）、激光拉曼光谱（LRS）、超景深光学显微系统（OM）等分析技术，结合硅胶覆膜微痕复制技术，对河南省新郑西亚斯东周墓地出土的一批玉器进行科技分析。首先利用化学成分和物相结构分析技术确定了玉器材质的矿物属性，其次利用显微分析技术表征了玉器表面及穿孔内部和印模的加工痕迹，特别是阴刻纹饰和穿孔微痕特征，最后探讨了玉器样品的材料属性和加工工艺两者之间的联系。化学成分和物相结构分析结果表明，所分析的西亚斯东周玉器材质丰富，主要矿物组成有滑石、透闪石、水晶、云母等。玉器表面纹饰微痕特征分析表明，所分析玉器阴刻工艺采用了两种加工工具，分别是砣具和手持硬质工具。穿孔微痕分析特征表明，钻孔包括单面钻孔和双面/多面钻孔两种方式，钻孔工艺则有实心钻、管钻等。部分玉器钻孔形状和内部微痕特征表明，尽管均采用了实心钻工艺，但所采用的实心钻头在形状上存在差异，同时，也存在是否配合解玉砂进行钻孔的差异。不同材料属性的玉器采用了不同的加工工艺。滑石质玉器，莫氏硬度1，器型主要为玉片饰，其表面阴刻纹饰主要采用手持硬质工具进行刻画，钻孔主要采用了双面钻孔方式，并使用了实心钻头未添加解玉砂进行加工，钻头形状可能为圆锥状；云母质玉器，莫氏硬度2~3，器型主要为玉玦片饰，纹饰采用了砣具添加解玉砂的加工工艺，钻孔方式为单面钻孔，采用了管钻工艺。透闪石型玉器，莫氏硬度5~6，器型主要为玉片饰，表面纹饰采用砣具配合解玉砂砣刻，以双面钻孔的方式为主，钻孔工艺为实心钻头配合解玉砂工艺，钻头形状与滑石类样品一致，为圆锥状。水晶质玉器，莫氏硬度7，均为珠饰，表面无纹饰，钻孔方式为双面/多面钻孔，钻孔工艺为实心钻配合解玉砂工艺，且钻头可能为圆柱形。研究结果表明，玉器表面纹饰所采用的阴刻工艺和钻孔工艺，与玉器本身的材料属性、器型等存在密切关系。     

Properties of G-martingales with finite variation and the application to G-Sobolev spaces

As is known, if $B={\left(B_t\right)}_{t\in [0,T]}$ is a $G$-Brownian motion, a process of form ${\int }_0^t{\eta }_{s}d{〈B〉}_s?{\int }_0^{t}2G\left({\eta }_s\right)ds$, $\eta \in M_G^1(0,T)$, is a non-increasing $G$-martingale. In this paper, we shall show that a non-increasing $G$-martingale cannot be form of ${\int }_0^t{\eta }_{s}ds$ or ${\int }_0^t{\gamma }_{s}d{〈B〉}_s$, $\eta ,\gamma \in M_G^1(0,T)$, which implies that the decomposition for generalized $G$-Itô processes is unique: For arbitrary $\zeta \in H_G^1(0,T)$, $\eta \in M_G^1(0,T)$ and non-increasing $G$-martingales $K,L$, if ${\int }_0^t{\zeta }_{s}d{B}_s+{\int }_0^t{\eta }_{s}ds+K_t=L_t,t\in [0,T],$then we have $\eta \equiv 0$, $\zeta \equiv 0$ and$K_t=L_t$. As an application, we give a characterization to the $G$-Sobolev spaces introduced in Peng and Song (2015).     

Simultaneous quantitation of 23 bioactive compounds in Tanreqing capsule by high‐performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Tanreqing capsule (TRQC) is a formulation frequently used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat pyrexia, cough, expectoration and pharyngalgia. Since the pharmacological action of traditional Chinese medicines is closely related to their complex and diverse constituents, understanding the exact composition of TRQC is important to elucidate its clinical effectiveness and mechanism of action as well as to establish quality control methods and resolve safety issues. Herein, we employed high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry for the simultaneous quantitation of 23 bioactive compounds in five batches of TRQC; the analytes could be categorized into five types: organic acids (seven compounds), flavonoids (10 compounds), iridoids (two compounds), phenylethanoid glycosides (two compounds) and bile acids (two compounds). The calibration curves for all analytes showed good linearity (r > 0.9953), and the inter‐ and intra‐day precisions did not exceed 4.94 and 4.97%, respectively. The recoveries varied from 90.47% to 109.80%; the corresponding relative standard deviations (RSDs) did not exceed 4.94%; and the repeatability (RSD < 4.72%) and stability (RSD < 4.88%) were also within acceptable limits. Thus, this study can be viewed as a fundamental reference for setting comprehensive TRQC quality standards.     

立体化学在有机化学中的重要地位——中国化学奥林匹克竞赛理论试题分析

分析2015-2017年中国化学奥林匹克竞赛（初赛、决赛）理论部分试题，发现有机化学试题中立体化学相关内容备受命题者的青睐，凸显了立体化学在有机化学中的重要地位。     

Comparative in vivo constituents and pharmacokinetic study in rats after oral administration of ultrafine granular powder and traditional decoction slices of Chinese Salvia

Salvia miltiorrhiza, one of the most well‐known herbal medicines, is commonly used for the treatment of coronary heart diseases in China. Besides traditional decoction slices (TDS), another relatively new product of S. miltiorrhiza, ultrafine granular powder (UGP; D90 < 45 μm), is also increasingly being used. In this paper, a UHPLC‐LTQ‐Orbitrap MS technique was developed for a metabolite profile study after oral administration of UGP and TDS of S. miltiorrhiza. The results showed that the number of in vivo absorbed compounds from UGP was much greater than that from TDS, and different types of products from S. miltiorrhiza will have different metabolic processes in vivo. Furthermore, a UHPLC‐Q‐Trap MS/MS method for simultaneously determining four tanshinones (tanshinone IIA, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone I and cryptotanshinone) was established and applied to assess the pharmacokinetics of the two types of products. All of the analytes displayed significant higher area under the concentration–time curve and peak concentration after oral administration of UGP than after TDS, indicating that ultrafine powder product could improve the bioavailability and absorption of cryptotanshinon,tanshinone II A,dihydrotanshinonE I and tanshinone I in vivo. The present study provides scientific information for further exploration of the pharmacology of these two types of S. miltiorrhiza and offers a reference for clinical administration of S. miltiorrhiza.     

Rapid quantitative analysis of etoricoxib in human plasma by UPLC‐MS/MS and application to a pharmacokinetic study in Chinese healthy volunteers

A selective and sensitive liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for simultaneous determination of etoricoxib in human plasma. Chromatography was performed on an Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column (1.8 μm, 50 × 2.1 mm), with a flow rate of 0.600 mL/min, using a gradient elution with acetonitrile and water which contained 2 mm ammonium acetate as the mobile phase. Detection was carried out on Triple QuadTM 5500 mass spectrometer under positive‐ion multiple reaction monitoring mode. The respective mass transitions used for quantification of etoricoxib and etoricoxib‐d3 were m/z 359.0 → 280.1 and m/z 362.0 → 280.2. Calibration curves were linear over the concentration range of 5–5000 ng/mL. The validated method was applied in the pharmacokinetic study of etoricoxib in Chinese healthy volunteers under fed and fasted conditions. After a single oral dose of 120 mg, the main pharmacokinetic parameters of etoricoxib in fasted and fed groups were respectively as follows: peak concentration, 2364.78 ± 538.01 and 1874.55 ± 367.90 ng/mL; area under the concentration–time curve from 0 to 120 h, 44,605.53 ± 15,266.66 and 43,516.33 ± 12,425.91 ng h/mL; time to peak concentration, 2.00 and 2.50 h; and half‐life, 24.08 ± 10.06 and 23.64± 6.72 h. High‐fat food significantly reduced the peak concentration of etoricoxib (p = 0.001) but had no effect on the area under the concentration–time curve.     

Metabonomics study of the effects of traditional Chinese medicine formula Ermiaowan on hyperuricemic rats

To explore the global mechanism of Ermiaowan on hyperuricemia regulation, the holistic function of Ermiaowan for hyperuricemia in rats was firstly assessed by the urinary metabonomics method which was based on ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. The urinary targeted metabonomics approach combined with the serum biochemical analysis and histological assay was conducted to verify the research result. As a result, the significant differences in metabolic profiles were observed from Ermiaowan‐treated group, model group, and healthy control group by using multivariate statistical approaches. Twenty therapeutic related metabolites were identified in response to the therapeutic effects of Ermiaowan, which were mainly associated with purine metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and tyrosine metabolism. In addition, the urinary targeted metabonomics study showed that Ermiaowan can better restore the disturbed pathways than Phellodendri cortex and Atractylodis rhizome. The biochemical assay and histopathological assay confirmed that Ermiaowan could significantly reduce uric acid and fibrosis areas of kidney. These results provided new insights into the mechanism of Ermiaowan on hyperuricemia.