Enhancing the selectivity of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry by using trilinear decomposition on LC‐MS data: An application to three‐way calibration of coeluting analytes in human plasma

The high selectivities of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry make liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry one of the most popular tools for quantitative analysis in complex chemical, biological, and environmental systems, while the potential mathematical selectivity of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry is rarely investigated. This work discussed the mathematical selectivity of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry by three‐way calibration based on the trilinear model, with an application to quantitative analysis of coeluting aromatic amino acids in human plasma. By the trilinear decomposition of the constructed liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry‐sample trilinear model and individual regression of the decomposed relative intensity versus concentration, the proposed three‐way calibration method successfully achieved quantitative analysis of coeluting aromatic amino acids in human plasma, even in the presence of uncalibrated interferent(s) and a varying background. This analytical method can ease the requirements for sample preparation and complete chromatographic separation of components, reduce the use of organic solvents, decrease the time of chromatographic separation, and increase the peak capacity of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. As a “green analytical method”, the liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry three‐way calibration method can provide a promising tool for direct and fast quantitative analysis in complex systems containing uncalibrated spectral interferents, especially for the situation where the coelution problem is difficult to overcome.     

Comparative Studies on Regioselectivity of α- and β-Linked Glucan Tosylation

Alpha- and beta-linked 1,3-glucans have been subjected to conversion with p-toluenesulfonic acid (tosyl) chloride and triethylamine under homogeneous reaction conditions in N,N-dimethyl acetamide/LiCl. Samples with a degree of substitution of tosyl groups (DS_Ts) of up to 1.91 were prepared by applying 5 mol reagent per mole repeating unit. Hence, the reactivity of α-1,3-glucan is comparable with cellulose and starch, while the β-1,3-linked glucan curdlan is less reactive. The samples dissolve in aprotic dipolar media independent of the DS_Ts and possess a solubility in less polar solvents that depends on the DS_Ts. NMR studies on the tosyl glucans and of the peracylated derivatives showed a preferred tosylation of position 2 of the repeating unit. However, the selectivity is less pronounced compared with starch. It could be concluded that the α-configurated glycosidic bond directs tosyl groups towards position 2.     

Halogen-Induced Controllable Cyclizations as Diverse Heterocycle Synthetic Strategy

In organic synthesis, due to their high electrophilicity and leaving group properties, halogens play pivotal roles in the activation and structural derivations of organic compounds. Recently, cyclizations induced by halogen groups that allow the production of diverse targets and the structural reorganization of organic molecules have attracted significant attention from synthetic chemists. Electrophilic halogen atoms activate unsaturated and saturated hydrocarbon moieties by generating halonium intermediates, followed by the attack of carbon-containing, nitrogen-containing, oxygen-containing, and sulfur-containing nucleophiles to give highly functionalized carbocycles and heterocycles. New transformations of halogenated organic molecules that can control the formation and stereoselectivity of the products, according to the difference in the size and number of halogen atoms, have recently been discovered. These unique cyclizations may possibly be used as efficient synthetic strategies with future advances. In this review, innovative reactions controlled by halogen groups are discussed as a new concept in the field of organic synthesis.     

The Electron Spin as a Chiral Reagent

We show that enantioselective reactions can be induced by the electron spin itself and that it is possible to replace a conventional enantiopure chemical reagent by spin‐polarized electrons that provide the chiral bias for enantioselective reactions. Three examples of enantioselective chemistry resulting from electron‐spin polarization are presented. One demonstrates the enantioselective association of a chiral molecule with an achiral self‐assembled monolayer film that is spin‐polarized, while the other two show that the chiral bias provided by the electron helicity can drive both reduction and oxidation in enantiospecific electrochemical reactions. In each case, the enantioselectivity does not result from enantiospecific interactions of the molecule with the ferromagnetic electrode but from the polarized spin that crosses the interface between the substrate and the molecule. Furthermore, the direction of the electron‐spin polarization defines the handedness of the enantioselectivity. This work demonstrates a new mechanism for realizing enantioselective chemistry.     

Robust Synthesis of Gold‐Based Multishell Structures as Plasmonic Catalysts for Selective Hydrogenation of 4‐Nitrostyrene

A robust self‐template strategy is used for facile and large‐scale synthesis of porous multishell gold with controllable shell number, sphere size, and in situ surface modification. The process involved the rapid reduction of novel Au‐melamine colloidal templates with a great amount of NaBH₄ in presence of poly(sodium‐p‐styrenesulfonate) (PSS). After soaking the templates in other metal salt solution, the obtained bimetallic templates could also be generally converted into bimetallic multishell structures by same reduction process. In the hydrogenation of 4‐nitrostyrene using NH₃BH₃ as a reducing agent, the porous triple‐shell Au with surface modification (S‐PTSAu) exhibited excellent selectivity (97 %) for 4‐aminostyrene in contrast with unmodified triple‐shell Au. Furthermore, it also showed higher enhancement of catalytic activity under irradiation of visible light as compared to similar catalysts with fewer shells.     

An Activity‐Based Sensing Approach for the Detection of Cyclooxygenase‐2 in Live Cells

Cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) overexpression is prominent in inflammatory diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. Directly monitoring COX‐2 activity within its native environment poses an exciting approach to account for and illuminate the effect of the local environments on protein activity. Herein, we report the development of CoxFluor, the first activity‐based sensing approach for monitoring COX‐2 within live cells with confocal microscopy and flow cytometry. CoxFluor strategically links a natural substrate with a dye precursor to engage both the cyclooxygenase and peroxidase activities of COX‐2. This catalyzes the release of resorufin and the natural product, as supported by molecular dynamics and ensemble docking. CoxFluor enabled the detection of oxygen‐dependent changes in COX‐2 activity that are independent of protein expression within live macrophage cells.     

Twisted Surfaces in Porous Single Crystals to Deliver Enhanced Catalytic Activity and Stability

Porous single crystals which combine ordered lattice structures and disordered inter‐connected pores would provide an alternative to create twisted surface in porous microstructures. Now, transition‐metal nitride Nb₄N₅ and MoN single crystals are grown on a 2 cm scale to create well‐defined active structures at twisted surfaces. High catalytic activity and stability toward non‐oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene is observed. Unsaturated metal–nitrogen coordination structures including Nb‐N_1/5, Nb‐N_2/5, Mo‐N_1/3, and Mo‐N_1/6 at the twisted surface mainly account for the C?H activation with chemisorption of H in molecular ethane at the twisted surface, which not only improves dehydrogenation performance but also avoids the deep cracking of ethane to enhance coking resistance. 11–25 % ethane conversion and 98–99 % ethylene selectivity is demonstrated without degradation being observed even after the operation of 50 hours.     

Cu Atomic Chain Supported on Graphene Nanoribbon for Effective Conversion of CO2 to Ethanol

Cu catalysts are well-known for their good performance in CO₂ conversion. Compared to CO and CH₄ production, C₂ products have higher volumetric energy densities and are more valuable in industrial applications. In this work, we screened the catalytic ability of C₂ production on several 1D Cu atomic chain structures and find that Cu edge-decorated zigzag graphene nanoribbons (Cu−ZGNR) are capable of catalyzing CO₂ conversion to ethanol, and CH₃CH₂OH is the main C₂ product with a maximum free energy change of 0.60 eV. The planar tetracoordinate carbon structures in Cu-ZGNR provide unique chemical bonding features for catalytic reaction on the Cu atoms. Detailed mechanism analyses with transition states search show that CO* dimerization is favored against CHO* formation in the reaction. By adjusting the CO* coverage, the selectivity of the C₂ product can be enhanced owing to less pronounced steric effects for COCHO*, which is feasible under experimental conditions. This study expands the catalyst family for C₂ products from CO₂ based on nano carbon structures with new features.     

H2O、CO2组分对NOx存储-还原性能的影响

NOx存储-还原技术是控制汽车稀燃NOx排放的重要手段之一,在汽车尾气中H2O、CO2组分含量均相对较高,有必要弄清这些组分对NOx存储-还原特性的影响。论文以MnOx改性Pt/Ba/Al2O3催化剂为研究对象,评价在不同气氛下的NOx存储能力和催化还原性能。结果表明：CO2、H2O组分均抑制催化剂的NOx存储性能,H2O的抑制作用主要表现在低温区,CO2抑制NOx存储的现象在高温区更为显著。CO2对NOx存储速率的抑制作用较H2O更为明显,且其NOx存储速率随着温度的升高表现的差异性更为明显。对于NOx催化还原过程,CO2、H2O或CO2 H2O添加均导致N2选择性降低,其N2选择性按CO2 > H2O > CO2 H2O的顺序降低。