Crystallographic report: Bis[bis(N,N‐dibenzyldithiocarbamato)cadmium(II)]

The centrosymmetric structure of {Cd[S₂CN(CH₂Ph)₂]₂}₂ features both bridging and chelating dithiocarbamate ligands so that a square pyramidal S₅ coordination geometry results. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The practice for eight-year operation of the cobalt-60 irradiation facility at Beijing Radiation Application Research Center

The radiation facility was made by Sulzer Company in Switzerland. The designed capacity is 3.7 × 10¹⁶Bq( 1MCi) and 12.21 × 10¹⁵Bq(330kCi)of Cobalt -60 source was loaded at the first phase. Current cobalt -60 source-loading is 2.4 × 10¹⁶Bq(650kCi). The equipment assembling and installation regulating and testing were completed at the end of 1988. The facility was put into commissioning in 1989. It operates 7000–8000 hours per year. The facility has been utilized to carry out many research work and irradiate many kinds of items. Lots of economical benefits have been gained since then. Now it is becoming a radiation processing model base in China. This paper summarized the strong and weak points of the design of the facility through in eight years' practice and analysed the economical benefits.     

Coordination assembly and characterization of red-emitting europium (III) organic/inorganic polymeric hybrids

Novel luminescent ternary organic-inorganic-polymeric hybrid material has been assembled by Eu(3+) complex incorporating into poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. The functionalized silylated precursor PDC-Si derived from PDC (2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid chloride) behaves as the coordination units of Eu(3+) ion. The organic polymer was introduced into the system by directly dissolving PMMA in solution of Eu(PDC-Si)(3) complex and N-N-Dimethyl Formamide (DMF) with subsequent addition of tetraethoxysilane to promote hydrolysis and condensation. The structure and photophysical properties of the resulting hybrids are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy and photoluminescence spectra. The luminescence quantum yield was calculated based on the emission spectra and luminescence lifetimes. XRD reveals its amorphous structure. Efficient energy transfer process occurs between PMMA and Eu(3+), and replacement of water molecule by PMMA in the first coordination sphere was confirmed by comparing with the binary hybrid.     

Crystallographic report: Bis(N‐cyclohexyl,N‐methyldithiocarbamato)zinc(II)

The mononuclear structure of Zn[S₂CN(Me)Cy)]₂ features a tetrahedral zinc center defined by two chelating dithiocarbamate ligands. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Molecular Simulation of HER2/neu Degradation by Inhibiting HSP90

Several flavonoids were investigated for the degradation of the HER2/neu (ErbB‐2), while the mechanism is still unknown. A hypothesis was generated here that the inhibition of HER2/neu expression was blocked by heat shock protein 90α (HSP90α) through 1‐benzyl‐3‐(5‐hydroxymethyl‐2‐furyl)indazole (YC‐1) derivatives and flavonoids. In order to ensure the accuracy of the simulated protein structure, the RMSD value between the ligand in crystal structure from PDB and the ligand docking into HSP90α was 1.13 Å. By molecular simulation, the flavonoids and YC‐1 derivatives were employed to dock into HSP90α. The results showed a good correlation between the evaluation scores of the flavonoids/HSP90α complexes and the IC₅₀ of flavonoids‐induced degradation of HER2/neu. The YC‐1 derivatives showed higher score values and lower interaction energies on average. Especially, the CLC107 got the highest rank in Potential of Mean Force (PMF) and Dock Score. Luteolin showed the highest dock score and quercetin had the lowest interaction energy of all flavonoid derivatives. This study investigated that the YC‐1 derivatives and the flavonoids may be potent inhibitors for HSP90α in antitumor strategies.     

The Role of Taurine in Mitochondria Health: More Than Just an Antioxidant

Taurine is a naturally occurring sulfur-containing amino acid that is found abundantly in excitatory tissues, such as the heart, brain, retina and skeletal muscles. Taurine was first isolated in the 1800s, but not much was known about this molecule until the 1990s. In 1985, taurine was first approved as the treatment among heart failure patients in Japan. Accumulating studies have shown that taurine supplementation also protects against pathologies associated with mitochondrial defects, such as aging, mitochondrial diseases, metabolic syndrome, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurological disorders. In this review, we will provide a general overview on the mitochondria biology and the consequence of mitochondrial defects in pathologies. Then, we will discuss the antioxidant action of taurine, particularly in relation to the maintenance of mitochondria function. We will also describe several reported studies on the current use of taurine supplementation in several mitochondria-associated pathologies in humans.     

Determination of Memantine in Human Plasma by LC–MS–MS: Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study

A sensitive and selective liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of memantine was developed and validated over the linearity range 0.1–25 ng mL^?1 with 0.5 mL of plasma using procainamide as the internal standard. This analysis was carried out on a Cosmosil 5C₁₈-MS column and the mobile phase was composed of methanol: 0.5% formic acid (50:50, v/v). Detection was performed on a triple–quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer using positive ion mode electrospray ionization and quantification was performed by multiple reaction monitoring mode. The MS–MS ion transitions monitored were m/z 180 → 107 and 236 → 163 for memantine and procainamide, respectively. The between- and within-day precision was less than 10.9% and accuracy was less than 2.5%. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 0.1 ng mL^?1. The method proved to be accurate and specific, and was applied to the pharmacokinetic study of memantine in healthy Chinese volunteers.     

Sonophysically‐Exfoliated Individual Multi‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Water Solution

We report the sonophysically‐exfoliated methods access to the preparation of homogeneous‐free multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in water solution. Highly stable, uniform, individual MWCNTs are entirely performed through sodium dodecylsulfate surfactants by means of a tip sinicator. HRTEM images show that the crystalline finger walls of individual CNTs are apparently observed. Raman spectrum of MWCNTs shows that the so‐called G'‐band, associated with metallic electronic structure, was significantly observed at 2644 cm^?1 with full‐width at half‐maximum of 262 cm^?1, indicating that the sonication physical methods do not alter their electric properties. Owing to its easy‐to‐use procedure and low cost of implementation, this approach could lead to the commercial viability of the large‐scale MWCNTs processing.     

Enhanced electrophoretic DNA separation in photonic crystal fiber

Joule heating generated by the electrical current in capillary electrophoresis leads to a temperature gradient along the separation channel and consequently affects the separation quality. We describe a method of reducing the Joule heating effect by incorporating photonic crystal fiber into a micro capillary electrophoresis chip. The photonic crystal fiber consists of a bundle of extremely narrow hollow channels, which ideally work as separation columns. Electrophoretic separation of DNA fragments was simultaneously but independently carried out in 54 narrow capillaries with a diameter of 3.7 μm each. The capillary bundle offers more efficient heat dissipation owing to the high surface-to-volume ratio. Under the same electrical field strength, notable improvement in resolution was obtained in the capillary bundle chip.     

Growth behavior of CuPc films by physical vapor deposition

Various Cu‐phthalocyanine (CuPc) films were grown from physical vapor deposition on top of indium‐tin‐oxide glass substrates by controlling substrate temperature (T_sub), source temperature (T_sou), and growth time. From side‐view SEM pictures, the growth rates for these CuPc films are estimated and can be categorized into three regions. From the Arrhenius plot of growth rate versus 1/T_sub, the activation energy E_A can be obtained. As T_sou = 390 °C, for region (A) with T_sub < 140 °C, the growth of CuPc films is dominated by the adhesion process with E_A = 810 meV. For region (B) with 140 °C < T_sub < 320 °C, the growth is then limited by the steric character associated with the organic molecular solids with E_A = 740 meV. For region (C) with T_sub > 320 °C, the re‐evaporation of the CuPc adhered molecules from the interface becomes dominant. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)