Application of microcrystalline cellulose as an efficient and cheap sorbent for the extraction of metoprolol from plasma and wastewater before HPLC–MS/MS determination

A dispersive solid-phase extraction method based on a new sorbent has been performed on plasma and wastewater samples to determine metoprolol by high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. In this study, the analyte was adsorbed from the samples onto microcrystalline cellulose as a green and efficient sorbent and then eluted for use in the determination step. In the mass spectrometer, the analyte was detected in the positive mode and selectivity of the analysis was increased by sequential mass analysis through multiple reaction monitoring. All of the effective parameters in the extraction of metoprolol from plasma and wastewater were optimized. Under optimal conditions the method was linear in the ranges of 1–1,000 and 0.1–1,000 ng/ml in plasma and wastewater samples, respectively. The detection limits of the method were 0.30 and 0.03 ng/ml in plasma and wastewater samples, respectively. The data showed that the method provides low detection limit, wide linear range, good precision and high extraction recovery. Finally several plasma and wastewater samples were successfully analyzed using the method. The use of a small amount of a green and inexpensive sorbent and a low volume of plasma without the need for further pretreatment steps are the main advantages of the method.     

Multi-Interactions in Ionic Liquids for Natural Product Extraction

Natural products with a variety of pharmacological effects are important sources for commercial drugs, and it is very crucial to develop effective techniques to selectively extract and isolate bioactive natural components from the plants against the background of sustainable development. Ionic liquids (ILs) are a kind of designable material with unique physicochemical properties, including good thermal stability, negligible vapor pressure, good solvation ability, etc. ILs have already been used in pharmaceuticals for extraction, purification, drug delivery, etc. It has been reported that multi-interactions, like hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interactions, play important roles in the extraction of bioactive components from the plants. In this review, recent progress in the understanding of scientific essence of hydrogen bonding, the special interaction, in ILs was summarized. The extraction of various natural products, one important area in pharmaceutical, by conventional and functional ILs as well as the specific roles of multi-interactions in this process were also reviewed. Moreover, problems existing in bioactive compound extraction by ILs and the future developing trends of this area are given, which might be helpful for scientists, especially beginners, in this field.     

Response surface methodology toward the optimization of high-energy carotenoid extraction from Aristeus antennatus shrimp

High-energy assisted extraction techniques, like ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) and microwave assisted extraction (MAE), are widely applied over the last years for the recovery of bioactive compounds such as carotenoids, antioxidants and phenols from foods, animals and herbal natural sources. Especially for the case of xanthophylls, the main carotenoid group of crustaceans, they can be extracted in a rapid and quantitative way with the use of UAE and MAE.     

A simple,rapid and sensitive method based on modified multiwalled carbon nanotube for preconcentration and determination of lead ions in aqueous media in natural pHs

In this study, multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) was modified by the pyridine group using a silane agent and characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermal analysis (TG/DTA), and elemental analysis (CHN) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The application of this sorbent was investigated in determination of lead ions in aqueous samples, using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Through this study, different parameters such as pH and sample flow rate on adsorption process and eluent concentration, volume and flow rate were optimized. The limit of detection (LOD), the relative standard deviation and the recovery of the method were 2 ng mL^?1, 1.3% and 99.7%, respectively. Two standard reference materials (NIST 1571 and NIST 1572) were used to verify accuracy of this method. Finally, the sorbent was successfully applied for extraction and determination of low levels of Pb(II) ions in aqueous samples.     

An Improved Composite Multiscale Fuzzy Entropy for Feature Extraction of MI-EEG

Motor Imagery Electroencephalography (MI-EEG) has shown good prospects in neurorehabilitation, and the entropy-based nonlinear dynamic methods have been successfully applied to feature extraction of MI-EEG. Especially based on Multiscale Fuzzy Entropy (MFE), the fuzzy entropies of the τ coarse-grained sequences in τ scale are calculated and averaged to develop the Composite MFE (CMFE) with more feature information. However, the coarse-grained process fails to match the nonstationary characteristic of MI-EEG by a mean filtering algorithm. In this paper, CMFE is improved by assigning the different weight factors to the different sample points in the coarse-grained process, i.e., using the weighted mean filters instead of the original mean filters, which is conductive to signal filtering and feature extraction, and the resulting personalized Weighted CMFE (WCMFE) is more suitable to represent the nonstationary MI-EEG for different subjects. All the WCMFEs of multi-channel MI-EEG are fused in serial to construct the feature vector, which is evaluated by a back-propagation neural network. Based on a public dataset, extensive experiments are conducted, yielding a relatively higher classification accuracy by WCMFE, and the statistical significance is examined by two-sample t-test. The results suggest that WCMFE is superior to the other entropy-based and traditional feature extraction methods.     

Azobenzene‐Functionalized Cage Silsesquioxanes as Inorganic–Organic Hybrid,Photoresponsive, Nanoscale,Building Blocks

Mono‐ and octa‐azobenzene‐functionalized cage silsesquioxanes were easily synthesized by the reaction of 4‐bromoazobenzene with monovinyl‐substituted octasilsesquioxane and cubic octavinylsilsesquioxane through the Heck coupling reaction. Excited‐state energies obtained from time‐dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) and the CAM‐B3LYP functional correlate very well with experimental trans–cis photoisomerization results from UV/Vis spectroscopy. These azobenzene‐functionalized cages exhibit good thermal stability and are fluorescent with maximum emission at approximately 400 nm, making them potential materials for blue‐light emission.     

两个DEA的逆问题的解法的探讨

文[1]提出了两个DEA的逆问题，并用搜索法来解．而本文根据所证的定理，对每个问题一般只要解二、三个线性规划问题就能得到答案．     

Synthesis and characterization of molybdenum incorporated mesoporous aluminophosphate

A synthesis of molybdenum incorporated mesoporous aluminophosphate with long-chain n-alkylamine as template material had been prepared under non-aqueous condition. These materials were extensively characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption isotherms, nuclear magnetic resonance of ²⁷Al and ³¹P (NMR), inductive coupled plasma (ICP), electron spin resonance (ESR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA). Morphology of the materials had been observed by using transmission electron microscope (TEM) that revealed the mesoporous materials possessed wormhole-like structures. Alkaline solvent extraction using n-butylamine/ethanol had been efficiently removed the n-alkylamine from the mesoporous samples which yielded BET surface areas around 550-730 m²/g. BJH analysis showed a narrow pore size distribution which increased with increasing of the carbon chain length of alkylamine (template). Valence state and coordination of the molybdenum in the obtained samples were investigated by using ESR and FTIR where it was found that Mo⁴⁺ and Mo⁶⁺ molybdenum species existed in the molybdenum incorporated mesoporous aluminophosphate in tetrahedral coordination.     

Solid-phase epitaxy of CaSi2 on Si(1 1 1) and the Schottky-barrier height of CaSi2/Si(1 1 1)

Thin Ca films were evaporated on Si(1 1 1) under UHV conditions and subsequently annealed in the temperature range 200–650 °C. The interdiffusion of Ca and Si was examined by ex situ Auger depth profiling. In situ monitoring of the Si 2p core-level shift by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to study the silicide formation process. The formation temperature of CaSi₂ films on Si(1 1 1) was found to be about 350 °C. Epitaxial growth takes place at T≥400 °C. The morphology of the films, measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM), was correlated with their crystallinity as analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). According to measurements of temperature-dependent I–V characteristics and internal photoemission the Schottky-barrier height of CaSi₂ on Si(1 1 1) amounts to qΦ_Bn=0.25 eV on n-type and to qΦ_Bp=0.82 eV on p-type silicon.     

A convenient semicarbazide resin for the solid-phase synthesis of peptide ketones and aldehydes

Use of a semicarbazide resin for the solid-phase preparation of peptide ketones and aldehyde led to optimal results in terms of both purity of the final product and overall yield. This resin was prepared without complication by activation of the commercial available aminomethyl polystyrene with CDI at room temperature, followed by treatment with tert-butyl carbazate. Furthermore, the TNBSA colorimetric assay has been adapted for checking the incorporation of the carbonyl moiety onto hydrazine-based resins.