Functionalized carbon dots as sensors for gold nanoparticles in spiked samples: Formation of nanohybrids

This paper reports the synthesis, passivation and functionalization of luminescent carbon dots (CDs) possessing surface thiol ending groups. A simple procedure involving amidation of passivated carbon dots (p-CDs) with cysteamine boosts their photoluminescent properties and enables their use as easily controlled fluorescent nanosensors for determining citrate–gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The mechanism behind the quenching phenomenon was established from fluorescence measurements at high temperatures and lifetime tests, and found to involve static quenching leading to the formation of CD–AuNP nanohybrids. A method for determining AuNPs in complex matrices was developed and validated by application to spiked drinking water and mussel tissues. The limits of detection and quantitation for AuNPs thus obtained were 0.20 and 0.66 nmol L^–1, respectively.     

Guaiane-type sesquiterpenoid glucosides from Gardenia jasminoides Ellis

Two new guaiane-type sesquiterpenoid glucosides (1 and 2) were isolated from the fruit of Gardenia jasminoides Ellis. Their structures were elucidated to be (1R,7R,10S)-11-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-4-guaien-3-one (1) and (1R,7R,10S)-7-hydroxy-11-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-4-guaien-3-one (2) by one- and two-dimensional NMR techniques ((1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, HSQC, HMBC and NOESY), MS, CD spectrometry and chemical methods.     

Evaluation of the separation mechanism of electrokinetic chromatography with a microemulsion and cyclodextrins using NMR and molecular modeling

Electrokinetic chromatography (EKC) allows the separation of closely related substances by the detection of fine effects in analyte-separation system interactions. With the goal of understanding the fine effects involved in separation using a dual cyclodextrin-microemulsion EKC system, an integrated study of NMR and molecular modeling was carried out. The above dual cyclodextrin-microemulsion system was previously used in the separation of clemastine and its related substances and was prepared by the addition of methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD) and heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin (DMβCD) to an oil-in-water microemulsion. The use of DMβCD was shown to be essential in the separation of clemastine from one of its related substance (I(B) ). A molecular modeling study allowed the different affinities of clemastine and I(B) for the two cyclodextrins to be explained. Furthermore, rotating-frame Overhauser effect spectroscopy NMR experiments clearly indicated that besides the primary pseudostationary phase, namely the ionic microemulsion, cyclodextrins acted as a secondary pseudostationary phase. In addition, it was shown that inclusion complexation of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) monomers into the cyclodextrins cavity occurs; differently, the oil (n-heptane) used in the preparation of microemulsion system resulted to be not included into the macrocycle cavity. These experimental results were supported by molecular modeling, which highlighted the preferential inclusion of SDS into DMβCD. On the basis of these results, it was confirmed that, besides its primary role as the ionic carrier in EKC, SDS is involved in inclusion equilibria toward CDs, which can be effective in increasing the system selectivity.     

Determination of oleanolic and ursolic acid in Chinese herbs using HPLC and γ-CD as mobile phase modifier

To separate and determine oleanolic acid and ursolic acid, a rapid and accurate HPLC using γ‐CD as the mobile phase additive was developed. The effect of CD nature and concentration, and the acidity of the mobile phase on the chromatographic behavior of two bioactive triterpenes were systematically studied. Two bioactive triterpenes were completely separated (R = 3.11) on a Kromasil^® C₁₈ column (150×4.6 mm id, 5 μm) with the mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile/0.1% phosphoric acid with 2 mM γ‐CD as the mobile phase modifier (60:40, v/v). The flow rate was set at 1.0 mL/min and the eluent was detected at 210 nm for two bioactive triterpenes. The linearity of the method was excellent (r=0.9999) over the studied range of 6–300 μg/mL for oleanolic acid, and 12–600 μg/mL for ursolic acid. The LOD and LOQ were 1.5 and 5.0, 1.0 and 3.0 μg/mL for oleanolic acid and ursolic acid, respectively. The optimized method was successfully applied to separate and determine two bioactive triterpenes in five Chinese herbs. It is concluded that this method could be used for rapid and accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis of the two bioactive triterpenes in Chinese herbs.     

A theorem on S-shaped bifurcation curve for a positone problem with convex-concave nonlinearity and its applications to the perturbed Gelfand problem

We study the bifurcation curve and exact multiplicity of positive solutions of the positone problem

     

Passivity-based control for Hopfield neural networks using convex representation

This paper considers the problem of passivity-based controller design for Hopfield neural networks. By making use of a convex representation of nonlinearities, a feedback control scheme based on passivity and Lyapunov theory is presented. A criterion for existence of the controller is given in terms of linear matrix inequality (LMI), which can be easily solved by a convex optimization problem. An example and its numerical simulation are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Commutability of homogenization and linearization at identity in finite elasticity and applications

We prove under some general assumptions on elastic energy densities (namely, frame indifference, minimality at identity, non-degeneracy and existence of a quadratic expansion at identity) that homogenization and linearization commute at identity. This generalizes a recent result by S. Müller and the second author by dropping their assumption of periodicity. As a first application, we extend their Γ-convergence commutation diagram for linearization and homogenization to the stochastic setting under standard growth conditions. As a second application, we prove that the Γ-closure is local at identity for this class of energy densities.     

Some generalizations of locally and weakly locally uniformly convex space

In this paper, we prove that strongly convex space and almost locally uniformly rotund space, very convex space and weakly almost locally uniformly rotund space are respectively equivalent. We also investigate a few properties of k-strongly convex space and k-very convex space, and discuss the applications of strongly convex space and very convex space in approximation theory.     

Residual reduction algorithms for nonsymmetric saddle point problems

In this paper, we introduce and analyze Uzawa algorithms for non-symmetric saddle point systems. Convergence for the algorithms is established based on new spectral results about Schur complements. A new Uzawa type algorithm with optimal relaxation parameters at each new iteration is introduced and analyzed in a general framework. Numerical results supporting the efficiency of the algorithms are presented for finite element discretization of steady state Navier-Stokes equations.