Computational Insight into Biotransformation Profiles of Organophosphorus Flame Retardants to Their Diester Metabolites by Cytochrome P450

Biotransformation of organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) mediated by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) has a potential correlation with their toxicological effects on humans. In this work, we employed five typical OPFRs including tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP), tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCIPP), tri(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), triethyl phosphate (TEP), and 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPHP), and performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to clarify the CYP-catalyzed biotransformation of five OPFRs to their diester metabolites. The DFT results show that the reaction mechanism consists of Cα-hydroxylation and O-dealkylation steps, and the biotransformation activities of five OPFRs may follow the order of TCEP ≈ TEP ≈ EHDPHP > TCIPP > TDCIPP. We further performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to unravel the binding interactions of five OPFRs in the CYP3A4 isoform. Binding mode analyses demonstrate that CYP3A4-mediated metabolism of TDCIPP, TCIPP, TCEP, and TEP can produce the diester metabolites, while EHDPHP metabolism may generate para-hydroxyEHDPHP as the primary metabolite. Moreover, the EHDPHP and TDCIPP have higher binding potential to CYP3A4 than TCIPP, TCEP, and TEP. This work reports the biotransformation profiles and binding features of five OPFRs in CYP, which can provide meaningful clues for the further studies of the metabolic fates of OPFRs and toxicological effects associated with the relevant metabolites.     

Electrical and Thermal Transport Properties of n-type Bi6Cu2Se4O6 (2BiCuSeO + 2Bi2O2Se)

New thermoelectric materials, n-type Bi₆Cu₂Se₄O₆ oxyselenides, composed of well-known BiCuSeO and Bi₂O₂Se oxyselenides, are synthesized with a simple solid-state reaction. Electrical transport properties, microstructures, and elastic properties are investigated with an emphasis on thermal transport properties. Similar to Bi₂O₂Se, it is found that the halogen-doped Bi₆Cu₂Se₄O₆ possesses n-type conducting transports, which can be improved via Br/Cl doping. Compared with BiCuSeO and Bi₂O₂Se, an extremely low thermal conductivity can be observed in Bi₆Cu₂Se₄O₆. To reveal the origin of low thermal conductivity, elastic properties, sound velocity, Grüneisen parameter, and Debye temperature are evaluated. Importantly, the calculated phonon mean free path of Bi₆Cu₂Se₄O₆ is comparable to the interlayer distance for BiO─CuSe and BiO─Se layers, which is ascribed to the strong interlayer phonon scattering. Contributing from the outstanding low thermal conductivity and improved electrical transport properties, the maximum ZT ≈0.15 at 823 K and ≈0.11 at 873K are realized in n-type Bi₆Cu₂Se_3.2Br_0.8O₆ and Bi₆Cu₂Se_3.6Cl_0.4O₆, respectively, indicating the promising thermoelectric performance in n-type Bi₆Cu₂Se₄O₆ oxyselenides.     

Investigation of copper-azamacrocyclic complexes by high-performance liquid chromatography

The use of copper radioisotopes in imaging and therapy has prompted an increased interest in chelators which form stable copper complexes, such as Cu(II)-azamacrocyclic complexes. The effects of charge, stability and the size of the macrocyclic backbone of the Cu(II)-azamacrocyclic complexes on biological behavior have been evaluated. Here we report a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method to separate several Cu(II)-azamacrocyclic complexes, including Cu(II) complexes of 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-1,4,8,11-tetraacetic acid (TETA), 4,11-bis(carboxymethyl)-1,4,8,11-tetraazabicyclo[6.6.2]hexadecane (CB-TE2A) and 4,10-bis(carboxymethyl)-1,4,7,10-tetraazabicyclo[5.5.2]tetradecane (CB-DO2A). Absorbance at 280 nm was used to monitor the complexes as they eluted from the reversed-phase column. The effects of the concentration of the buffer, the pH of the buffered mobile phase and the concentration of the organic modifier, methanol, on the separation were investigated. Separation of these copper complexes by ion-pair HPLC with the use of a mass spectrometry-compatible ion-pair reagent, triethylammonium acetate, in the mobile phase at pH 6.3 is also presented. The reversed-phase chromatographic conditions utilized also allow the pK(a)s of Cu-TETA and the log(k'w) values of Cu-CB-TE2A, Cu-TETA and Cu-CB-DO2A to be estimated.     

胞嘧啶脱氨基化酶APOBEC3家族及其与核酸复合物结构研究进展

载脂蛋白B mRNA催化编辑蛋白APOBEC3（简称为A3）是细胞内逆转录转座子防御系统中一类家族蛋白,它通过对底物单链DNA和RNA中胞嘧啶的脱氨基化在人类的健康和疾病中发挥多种多样的作用.部分人源A3家族蛋白通过对病毒基因组中的胞嘧啶脱氨基化产生尿嘧啶,使逆转录病毒人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV-1）基因组发生G→A碱基突变,致使HIV-1基因组不能执行正常的功能而抑制HIV-1病毒复制.作为反保护措施,HIV-1病毒利用自身的Vif蛋白（viral infectivity factor）结合人源A3蛋白,通过泛素化标记使A3蛋白降解,从而保证病毒感染.为更好理解A3蛋白催化胞嘧啶脱氨基化机制及抗病毒机制,综述了A3家族蛋白结构、它们对DNA或者RNA进行脱氨基化反应特点和它们与核酸复合物结构的研究进展,对A3家族蛋白参与脱氨基化反应的关键残基如何与核酸碱基相互作用等作了简单概括,相互作用的共同特征进行简要总结,对后期如何利用冷冻电镜技术开展全长A3蛋白相关工作做了展望.本文也部分讨论了A3蛋白如何与Vif相互作用,因此本综述对针对这些相互作用合理设计抗病毒药物有一定帮助.     

"三明治"化合物——二茂铁

二茂铁是一种结构很特殊的化合物,它的发现在金属有机化合物研究中具有里程碑意义。简介了二茂铁的发现、结构确定、制备和应用。     

Indirect fluorescence detection of amino sugars with the use of copper complexes of tryptophan and its analogues following high-performance liquid chromatographic separation

A simple, indirect fluorescence detection method has been developed for detecting specific mono-amino sugars (D-glucosamine, D-galactosamine, D-mannosamine) following chromatographic separation. The eluting amino sugars release L-tryptophan (L-Trp) from a copper-tryptophan complex which is introduced postcolumn. Analyte detection is based on measuring the increase in L-Trp fluorescence, which is quenched when complexed with copper. Two tryptophan analogues, 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan (5-HTP) and DL-5-methoxytryptophan (5-MTP), were also evaluated as postcolumn reagents. 5-MTP was found to be a suitable alternative to L-Trp for the detection of these mono-amino sugars. Detection limits for D-glucosamine, D-galactosamine, and D-mannosamine are in the range of 0.15-0.30 nmol injected.     

In vivo Toxicity Evaluation of a Nano-drug Delivery System Using a Caenorhabditis elegansModel System

Drug carrier materials need to possess good biological safety. Presently, most biosafety evaluation studies use rodent animal models, including rats and rabbits. However, the cost of raising these animals is relatively high and the experimental period is long. Caenorhabditis elegans(C. elegans) presents an ideal toxicological evaluation model due to its simple structure, easy cultivation, short life cycle, and evolutionary conservation. In this paper, we used C. elegans to test the biological safety of our pH-responsive carrier system(FFPFF self-assembling into a nanosphere structure, FFPFF Nps), which was designed for anti-tumor drug delivery. Our results showed that exposure to high doses of FFPFF Nps did not have a significant impact on the survival rate, growth, development, movement, and reproduction of C. elegans. The preliminary evaluation of the overall biological model of C. elegans shows that FFPFF Nps has good biological safety and warrants further study.     

Analysis of the Thermal Decomposition Path of SF6 on the Surface of Cu and its Oxides

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - Accurately grasping the decomposition path of SF6 on the surface of typical metals and metal oxides is the key to reveal the decomposition mechanism of...     

高频感应炉燃烧–红外吸收法测定银杏及银杏叶中的硫含量

采用高频感应炉燃烧–红外吸收法测定银杏叶、银杏果肉、银杏壳和银杏仁中的硫含量。样品以艾士卡试剂为熔融剂,在800℃马弗炉内熔融1 h,冷却后测定硫含量。硫的质量分数在0.40%~4.00%范围内与吸收峰面积呈良好的线性关系,线性相关系数为0.990 4,检出限为0.000 9%。测定结果的相对标准偏差为4.04%(n=11),平均加标回收率为101.03%。将红外吸收法与电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法及硫酸钡重量法进行比对试验,3种方法测定结果相一致。利用该方法测定了不同区域银杏叶中硫的含量,结果表明,风景区和居民区银杏叶干燥基全硫的含量较低,重工业区硫含量较高。对同一地区的银杏果肉、银杏壳、银杏仁中干燥基全硫的含量进行比较,结果表明银杏果肉硫含量最高,银杏壳次之,银杏仁最低。该方法灵敏度高,重现性好,可用于银杏及银杏叶中硫含量的准确测定。     

MIL-53(Al)衍生的Rh单原子催化剂在间氯硝基苯选择性加氢制间氯苯胺反应中的应用

卤代苯胺是化学工业中重要的中间体,主要用于制造药物、聚合物、染料等含氮化学品,用多相金属催化剂催化卤代硝基芳烃加氢制备卤代苯胺是一种高效,绿色和可持续发展的生产工艺.该过程需要选择性加氢硝基基团,同时避免卤素基团的脱卤副反应发生.然而,化学选择性加氢存在巨大的挑战,难点在于催化剂的精准设计,一方面要求具备对硝基基团合适的加氢能力,另一方面要阻止对卤素基团的脱卤副反应发生.基于此,研制高效多相金属催化剂用于卤代硝基芳烃选择性加氢制备卤代苯胺反应引起了高度关注.近年来,单原子金属催化剂受到越来越多的关注,并在卤代硝基芳烃选择性加氢制备卤代苯胺反应中显现出极大的潜力.本文通过在金属有机骨架材料MIL-53(Al)自组装的过程中将金属Rh原位嫁接其骨架结构中,继而通过限域热解的方法制备了Rh@Al2O3@C单原子催化剂,其在间氯硝基苯(m-CNB)加氢制间氯苯胺(m-CAN)反应中显现了高效催化选择性.球差校正高角度环形暗场模式的透射电镜,CO作为探针分子的红外光谱和X射线光电子能谱等结果发现,Rh是以单原子的形式均匀的分布在Al2O3上并被无定型碳包覆,且Rh化学价态呈正价.而27Al固体核磁共振与密度泛函理论计算的结果则进一步确定Al2O3@C载体中存在的五配位的Al物种(AlV)是锚定Rh单原子的主要位点,AlV的不饱和的配位结构可以有效地稳定Rh单原子,对形成Rh位点的单原子分散至关重要.在间氯硝基苯选择性加氢制间氯苯胺反应中,与等体积浸渍法制备的Rh/C和Rh/γ-Al2O3纳米催化剂相比,Rh@Al2O3@C单原子催化剂表现出优异催化性能:其在313 K,氢气压力为20 bar的温和条件下转换频率(TOF)高达2317 molm-CNB·molRh-1·h-1,优于已报道的多相金属催化剂,是目前的最高值.此外,该催化剂展现出极佳的稳定性能,经过五次循环后,该催化剂对m-CAN的选择性仍旧保持在98％左右.Rh@Al2O3@C单原子催化剂的优异催化性能源自于金属单原子结构的形成对于金属位点电子结构的有效调节,进而调控催化剂加氢性能并实现对加氢脱卤副反应的抑制;与此同时,Rh@Al2O3@C催化剂增进了酸位点的可及性,从而促进了其串联步骤中包含的脱水反应的发生,进而有效提高催化剂的反应活性.