Formation of [3]Pseudorotaxanes from β-cyclodextrin and a Series of Dicarboxylic Acids with Their Corresponding α,ω-alkanedicarboxylate Anions

Inclusion complexes between β-cyclodextrin （β-CD） and a series of dicarboxylic acids （DAn, n=11-15） were prepared by co-grinding and co-precipitation methods and the [3]pseudorotaxane structure of them was elucidated by FTIR, DTA and XRD characterizations. Inclusion complexes of β-CD and α,ω-alkanedicarboxylate anions （DAn^2-） were acquired by neutralizing β-CD/DAn different inclusion complexes with sodium hydroxide and the structure was also proved to be a pseudorotaxane structure by ^1H-NMR spectra and NOESY spectrum. Both the inclusion complexes of β-CD/DAn and β-CD/DAn^2- adopt the [3]pseudorotaxane structure with β-CD arranged in dimers threaded onto one aliphatic chain and the binding mode of 1：1 inclusion complex was excluded based on the consideration of chain conformations.

Derivation and applications of human hepatocyte-like cells

Human hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) promise a valuable source of cells with human genetic background, physiologically relevant liver functions, and unlimited supply. With over 10 years’ efforts in this field, great achievements have been made. HLCs have been successfully derived and applied in disease modeling, toxicity testing and drug discovery. Large cohorts of induced pluripotent stem cells-derived HLCs have been recently applied in studying population genetics and functional outputs of common genetic variants in vitro. This has offered a new paradigm for genomewide association studies and possibly in vitro pharmacogenomics in the nearly future. However, HLCs have not yet been successfully applied in bioartificial liver devices and have only displayed limited success in cell transplantation. HLCs still have an immature hepatocyte phenotype and exist as a population with great heterogeneity, and HLCs derived from different hPSC lines display variable differentiation efficiency. Therefore, continuous improvement to the quality of HLCs, deeper investigation of relevant biological processes, and proper adaptation of recent advances in cell culture platforms, genome editing technology, and bioengineering systems are required before HLCs can fulfill the needs in basic and translational research. In this review, we summarize the discoveries, achievements, and challenges in the derivation and applications of HLCs.

Preparation, morphology and luminescence properties of Gd_2O_2S:Tb with different Gd_2O_3 raw materials

The sulfide fusion method was used to synthesize Gd_2 O_2 S:Tb phosphors using commercial Gd_2 O_3 and freshly prepared Gd_2 O_3, respectively. The freshly prepared Gd_2 O_3 was synthesized from Gd_2 O(GO_3)_2·H_2 O precursor prepared by homogeneous precipitation method.The structure and morphology of the composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS). The result shows that the Gd_2 O_2 S:Tb phosphor prepared by commercial Gd2 O3(GOST-A) presents agglomerated particles with average particle size of2.1 μm; however, Gd_2 O_2 S:Tb produced from as-prepared Gd_2 O_3(GOST-B) tends to form regular hexagon particles with the average particle size of 1 μm. Furthermore, Gd3+and Tb3+ contents in GOST-B are higher than that in GOST-A. In addition, fluorescent properties were analyzed by fluorescent spectrophotometer. It is indicated that similar excitation and emission spectra can be obtained from the two phosphors, but the luminescence intensity of GOST-B is higher than that of GOST-A.

Simultaneous and interference-free determination of eleven nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs illegally added into Chinese patent drugs using chemometrics-assisted HPLC-DAD strategy

In this work, a smart strategy that combines three-way high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection(HPLCDAD) data with second-order calibration method based on alternating trilinear decomposition(ATLD) algorithm was proposed for simultaneous determination of eleven non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAIDs) illegally added into Chinese patent drugs and health products. All target analytes were rapidly eluted out within 14.5 min under a simple gradient elution. With the aid of the prominent "second-order advantage" of the ATLD algorithm, three HPLC problems, i.e. peak overlaps, unknown interferences and baseline drift, could be mathematically calibrated, and pure signals of target analytes could be extracted out from heavy-interference but information-rich HPLC-DAD data. The average spiked recoveries for all target analytes were in the range of 95.9%–106.4% with standard deviations lower than 7.5%. Validation parameters including sensitivity(SEN), selectivity(SEL), limit of detection(LOD), limit of quantitation(LOQ) and precisions of intra-day and inter-day were calculated to validate the accuracy of the proposed method, quantitative results were further confirmed by the classic HPLC method, which proved that chemometrics-assisted HPLC-DAD analytical strategy was highly efficient, accurate and green for drug-abuse monitoring of NSAIDs in Chinese patent drugs and health products.