Generation and reactions of substituted phenide anions in an electrospray triple quadrupole mass spectrometer

Substituted benzoic acid anions undergo decarboxylation in the medium-pressure region of an electrospray ion source yielding in most cases the correspondingly substituted phenide anions in high yield. The location of the anionic center is specified by the position of the carboxylic group. The only exceptions are compounds with substituents containing acidic hydrogen atoms, like OH and NH(2) groups. For such compounds, either an intra- or an intermolecular (mediated by the molecules of methanol or water) proton transfer from the more acidic position to the benzene ring is observed. The generated anions can be selected using the first quadrupole for studying their ion-molecule chemistry in the second quadrupole of a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Their reactions with CO(2), O(2), CH(3)COCH(3) and CCl(4) may serve as typical examples. The general applicability of this method for the generation of phenide anions has been confirmed on three different mass spectrometers. Experiments performed using carboxylic acids other then benzoic acid and its derivatives show that this method is not limited to phenide anions and can be used for the generation of a much wider range of carbanions in the gas phase.     

环己烷催化氧化制取顺酐和醋酸的催化剂研究

为研究气态环己烷催化氧化制取顺酐及醋酸的新反应，采取不同的方法制备了系列固体VPO催化剂.借助XRD、FT-IR对催化剂进行了主体晶相确定，用氧化还原滴定方法测定了不同晶相催化剂中钒的平均氧化数.结合催化反应的活性评价，发现催化剂主体晶相、结晶度、活化气氛和催化剂的V4＋/V5＋比均对目标反应的催化活性产生影响，5种催化剂中以(VO)2P2O7晶相催化剂的活性为最高.     

Thermostability Improvement of L-Asparaginase from Acinetobacter soli via Consensus-Designed Cysteine Residue Substitution

To extend the application range of L-asparaginase in food pre-processing, the thermostability improvement of the enzyme is essential. Herein, two non-conserved cysteine residues with easily oxidized free sulfhydryl groups, Cys8 and Cys283, of Acinetobacter soli L-asparaginase (AsA) were screened out via consensus design. After saturation mutagenesis and combinatorial mutation, the mutant C8Y/C283Q with highly improved thermostability was obtained with a half-life of 361.6 min at 40 °C, an over 34-fold increase compared with that of the wild-type. Its melting temperature (T_m) value reaches 62.3 °C, which is 7.1 °C higher than that of the wild-type. Molecular dynamics simulation and structure analysis revealed the formation of new hydrogen bonds of Gln283 and the aromatic interaction of Tyr8 formed with adjacent residues, resulting in enhanced thermostability. The improvement in the thermostability of L-asparaginase could efficiently enhance its effect on acrylamide inhibition; the contents of acrylamide in potato chips were efficiently reduced by 86.50% after a mutant C8Y/C283Q treatment, which was significantly higher than the 59.05% reduction after the AsA wild-type treatment. In addition, the investigation of the mechanism behind the enhanced thermostability of AsA could further direct the modification of L-asparaginases for expanding their clinical and industrial applications.     

Application of Dried Blood Spots and Serum Samples for the Determination of Vitamin D Metabolites in the Group of Healthy Women and with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Chromatographia - The relationship between Hashimoto's thyroiditis and vitamin D concentration was already presented in many studies. The aim of this study was to analyze the differences in the...     

Sarcophytolides G–L,New Biscembranoids from the Soft Coral Sarcophyton elegans

Six new biscembranoids, namely, sarcophytolides G–L ( 1 – 6 , resp.), together with six known analogs, were isolated from a marine soft coral Sarcophyton elegans. The structures of the new compounds were established on the basis of 1D‐ and 2D‐NMR (COSY, HSQC, HMBC, and NOESY) spectroscopic analysis together with the aid of MS, CD, and IR data. The unusual isobiscembranoid sarcophytolide G ( 1 ) was found for the first time in the genus Sarcophyton.     

Quantum transport in topological semimetals under magnetic fields (II)

Research about two-dimensional (2D) materials is growing exponentially across various scientific and engineering disciplines due to the wealth of unusual physical phenomena that occur when charge transport is confined to a plane. The applications of 2D materials are highly affected by the electrical properties of these materials, including current distribution, surface potential, dielectric response, conductivity, permittivity, and piezoelectric response. Hence, it is very crucial to characterize these properties at the nanoscale. The Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)-based techniques are powerful tools that can simultaneously characterize morphology and electrical properties of 2D materials with high spatial resolution, thus being more and more extensively used in this research field. Here, the principles of these AFM techniques are reviewed in detail. After that, their representative applications are further demonstrated in the local characterization of various 2D materials’ electrical properties.

     

Use of direct immersion solid-phase microextraction on polyacrylate and polydimethylsiloxane stationary phases for simultaneous determination of the neutral and basic pharmaceuticals in wastewater

Direct immersion solid-phase microextraction has been optimized and applied to the simultaneous determination of the neutral and basic pharmaceuticals: caffeine, carbamazepine, clomipramine, chlorprothixene and clotrimazole at low concentrations in municipal wastewater. Two absorption type stationary phases: polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polyacrylate (PA) have been found to be most effective for extraction of target analytes. The separation and detection were carried out by gas chromatograph coupled with mass spectrometer working in the selected ion monitoring mode. The method was validated for linearity, detection and quantitation limits, selectivity and precision. The average correlation coefficient of the calibration curves was 0.9933. The LOD values in influent and effluent wastewater were in the range of 10–145 ng L^?1 and 4–111 ng L^?1, respectively, which were a bit higher than those in the deionized water due to matrix effect. The high values of distribution coefficient (K _fs ) in PDMS/water and PA/water systems (log K _fs between 3.05 and 4.23) indicates the very high applicability of these stationary phases for determination of carbamazepine, clomipramine, chlorprothixene and clotrimazole in water samples.

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Phytochemical,cytotoxic and chemotaxonomic study on Ajuga forrestii Diels (Labiatae)

A phytochemical investigation of Ajuga forrestii Diels led to the isolation of 14 compounds, including eight neo-clerodane diterpenes (1–8), two phytoecdysteroids (9, 11), one stigmastane sterol (10) and three iridoid glycosides (12–14). The structures of these compounds were identified by spectroscopic methods and a comparison of their data with those reported in the literature. This is the first report of compounds 1–14 from A. forrestii. The cytotoxic activities of the aqueous extract of A. forrestii and several compounds have been studied and the chemotaxonomic significance of isolated compounds has also been summarised.     

Room-temperature ferromagnetism in pure ZnO nanoflowers

ZnO nanoflowers are synthesized by hydrothermal method. The morphology of ZnO is captured by SEM, TEM and HRTEM, which is composed of closely packed nanorods of about 100 nm in diameter and 1 μm in length. The ZFC/FC curves show superparamagnetic features. The abnormal increase in magnetization curves below 14 K comes from the isolated vacancy clusters with no interaction. The magnetic hysteresis at 300 K displays saturation state and confirms room-temperature ferromagnetism. While the magnetic hysteresis at 5 K shows nonsaturation state due to the enhanced effects of vacancy clusters. The O 1s XPS results can be fitted to three Gaussian peaks. The existence of medium-binding energy located at 531.16 eV confirms the deficiency of O ions at the surface of ZnO nanoflowers.