Correlation between thermal and rheological studies to characterize the behavior of bitumen

The objective of this work is a comprehensive thermo-rheological study of pure bitumen. The bitumen is a complex material consisting of asphaltenes dispersed in a maltene matrix. As a consequence, its flow behavior is characterized by the presence of a yield stress, which depends on temperature below 50°C. Applying the Cox–Merz rule, a master curve of viscosity can be obtained over a wide range of shear rates for temperatures above 50°C. It can be accurately modeled by a Carreau–Yasuda law with a yield stress. This specific rheological behavior can be explained by the changes induced by the temperature on the microstructure, evidenced by modulated differential scanning calorimetry measurements.     

A purge and trap technique to capture volatile compounds combined with comprehensive two‐dimensional gas chromatography/time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry to investigate the effect of sulfur‐fumigation on Radix Angelicae Dahuricae

Sulfur‐fumigation is known to reduce volatile compounds that are the main active components in herbs used in herbal medicine. We investigated changes in chemical composition between sun‐dried and sulfur‐fumigated Radix Angelicae Dahuricae using a purge and trap technique to capture volatile compounds, and two‐dimensional gas chromatography/time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry for identification. Using sun‐dried Radix Angelicae Dahuricae samples as a reference, the results showed that 73 volatile compounds, including 12 sulfide compounds, were found to be present only in sulfur‐fumigated samples. Furthermore, 32 volatile compounds that were found in sun‐dried Radix Angelicae Dahuricae samples disappeared after sulfur‐fumigation. The proposed method can be applied to accurately discriminate sulfur‐fumigated Radix Angelicae Dahuricae from different commercial sources. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermoelectric Properties of High-Entropy Wolframite Oxide: (CoCuNiFeZn)1−xGaxWO4

Herein, the synthesis of high-entropy wolframite oxide (CoCuNiFeZn)_1-xGaxWO₄ through standard solid-state route followed by spark plasma sintering and their structural, microstructural, and thermoelectric (TE) properties are investigated. X-ray diffraction pattern followed by patterns matching refinement shows a monoclinic structure with the volume of the unit cell decreasing with increasing Ga content. The optical bandgap for these oxides shows a cocktail effect in high-entropy configuration. The Seebeck coefficient indicates electrons as dominating charge carriers with a nondegenerate behavior. The electrical resistivity decreases with increasing temperature depicting a semiconducting nature. Thermal conductivity in high-entropy samples (κ ≈ 2.1 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ @ 300 K) is significantly lower as compared to MgWO₄ (κ ≈ 11.5 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ @ 300 K), which can be explained by the strong phonon scattering due to large lattice disorder in high-entropy configuration. The TE figure of merit zT increases with Ga doping via modifying all three TE parameters positively.     

典型塑料载体与助燃剂燃烧残留物的闪蒸气相色谱-质谱分析

通过对火场常见塑料载体与助燃剂混合燃烧残留物的分析,发展一种适用此类燃烧残留物的火灾物证鉴定方法,对火场中是否存在助燃剂进行判断,避免漏检情况的发生。应用热分析技术确定合适的闪蒸温度,在此温度下对塑料载体与助燃剂混合燃烧残留物进行闪蒸分析,并从实验条件选择、可行性分析、定性分析三方面对闪蒸技术进行评价。结果表明,闪蒸气相色谱-质谱（Flash GC-MS）技术可以检测到热塑性聚合物塑料载体与助燃剂混合燃烧残留物中残留的助燃剂特征组分,可对火场中是否存在过助燃剂进行辨别。闪蒸气相色谱-质谱技术丰富了现代火灾物证鉴定技术,能进一步辅助火灾物证鉴定工作,使鉴定结论更准确、可靠。     

裂解气相色谱-质谱分析火场残留物中助燃剂

通过对火灾现场助燃剂及其燃烧残留物进行分析，开展了基于裂解气相色谱-质谱法（PyGC-MS）的火场助燃剂分析方法。选取了汽油和柴油2种助燃剂以及棉布和聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）塑料2类载体，制备了助燃剂与载体的混合燃烧残留物。利用热分析技术确定样品的特征性温度，并对分析条件进行优化与选择。通过闪蒸分析和裂解分析的分步裂解方法，对样品进行了PyGC-MS分析。实验结果表明，PET载体原样燃烧残留物的裂解产物共有35个组分，而PET载体与汽油混合燃烧残留物和PET载体与柴油混合燃烧残留物的裂解产物只有25个组分，且各裂解产物的种类和含量均不相同。该法可对同一载体的自身燃烧残留物和与助燃剂混合燃烧残留物进行区分，适用于火灾残留物中助燃剂的分析，可对火场中是否存在助燃剂进行判别，为火灾性质的判断和火灾调查工作提供科学依据。     

Stereoselective synthesis of enantiopure N-protected-3-arylpiperazines from keto-esters

An efficient method for a stereoselective synthesis of optically pure N-Boc-3-arylpiperazines has been developed. After optimization of the protecting group strategy and experimental conditions, compounds were obtained via a highly stereoselective synthesis in up to 45% overall yield. This is a practical route to optically pure piperazines for medicinal chemistry.     

Azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane-1-ols as frameworks for the asymmetric synthesis of biologically active compounds

Azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane-1-ols, easily obtained by Ti(IV)-mediated cyclopropanation of amino acid derivatives, constitute versatile, and unprecedented intermediates for the asymmetric synthesis of pharmacologically active products. Indeed, through selective rearrangement, these compounds undergo unusual ring cleavage to lead to pyrrolidinones. Fe(III)-promoted ring opening followed by basic dehydrohalogenation furnishes optically active dihydropyridinones, while Ce(IV)-promoted ring opening provides chiral tricyclopiperidinones via a radical process.     

Water-based conditions for the microscale parallel synthesis of bicyclic lactams

We report efficient miniaturized conditions to prepare arrays of bicyclic lactams for screening. The nature of the solvent is usually an important factor of reactivity. At a small synthesis scale, when automated pipetting devices are required, physical properties of the solvent, such as surface tension and vapor pressure also become very important. After having shown that a complete evaporation of a solution of reagents in water or a mixture of ethanol and water yields the expected lactams, we exemplified the reaction and procedure with the preparation of a library of 80 members. Our synthesis scheme is validated for synthesis scales from 1 to 100 mg. Therefore, it can be used both to produce rapidly test samples for HTS as well as to prepare intermediates for the synthesis of more elaborated nature-inspired compounds.     

Applications of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound to increase monoclonal antibody production in CHO cells using shake flasks or wavebags

Many technologies, such as cell line screening and host cell engineering, culture media optimization and bioprocess optimization, have been proposed to increase monoclonal antibody (mAb) production in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. Unlike the existing biochemical approaches, we investigated stimulation using low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) as a purely physical approach, offering enhanced scalability, contamination control and cost-efficiency, while demonstrating significantly increased cell growth and antibody production. It was found that daily ultrasound treatments at 40 mW/cm² for 5 min during cell culture increased the production of human anti-IL-8 antibody by more than 30% using 10 or 30 mL shake flasks. Further increasing the ultrasound dosage (either intensities or the treatment duration) did not appreciably increase cell growth or antibody production, however feeding the culture with additional highly-concentrated nutrients, glucose and amino acids (glutamine in this case), did further increase cell growth and antibody titer to 35%. Similar ultrasound treatments (40 mW/cm², 5 min per day) when scaled up to larger volume wavebags, resulted in a 25% increase in antibody production. Increased antibody production can be attributed to both elevated cell count and the ultrasound stimulation. Theoretical study of underlying mechanisms was performed through the simulations of molecular dynamics using the AMBER software package, with results showing that LIPUS increases cell permeability. The significance of this study is that LIPUS, as a physical-based stimulation approach, can be externally applied to the cell culture without worrying about contamination. By combining with the existing technologies in antibody production, LIPUS can achieve additional mAb yields. Because it can be easily integrated with existing cell culture apparatuses, the technology is expected to be more acceptable by the end users.