Neutron Diffraction of Large-Volume Samples at High Pressure Using Compact Opposed-Anvil Cells

Neutron diffraction techniques of large-volume samples at high pressure using compact opposed-anvil cells are developed at a reactor neutron source, China＇s Mianyang research reactor. We achieve a high-pressure condition of in situ neutron diffraction by means of a newly designed large-volume opposed-anvil cell. This pressure calibration is based on resistance measurements of bismuth and the neutron diffraction of iron. Pressure calibration experiments are performed at room temperature for a new cell using the tungsten carbide anvils with a tapered angle of 30°, Φ4.5 mm culet diameter and the metal-nonmetal composite gasket with a thickness of 2 mm. Transitions in Bi（Ⅰ–Ⅱ 2.55 GPa, Ⅱ–V 7.7 GPa） are observed at 100 and 300 kN, respectively, by resistance measurements.The pressure measurement results of neutron diffraction are consistent with resistance measurements of bismuth.As a result, pressures up to about 7.7 GPa can routinely and stably be achieved using this apparatus, with the sample volume of 9 mm^3.

Analytical quality-by-design approach for sample treatment of BSA-containing solutions

The sample preparation of samples conlaining bovine serum albumin（BSA）,e.g..as used in transdermal Franz diffusion cell（FDC） solutions,was evaluated using an analytical qualily-by-design（QbD）approach.Traditional precipitation of BSA by adding an equal volume of organic solvent,often successfully used with conventional HPLC-PDA,was found insufficiently robust when novel fused-core HPLC and/or UPLC-MS methods were used.In this study,three factors（acetonitrile（%）.formic acid（%） and boiling time（min）） were included in the experimental design to determine an optimal and more suitable sample treatment of BSAcontaining FDC solutions.Using a QbD and Derringer desirability（D） approach,combining BSA loss,dilution factor and variability,we constructed an optimal working space with the edge of failure defined as D〈0.9.The design space is modelled and is confirmed to have an ACN range of 83 ± 3% and FA content of 1 ±0.25%.

Design of the sample cell in near-field surface-enhanced Raman scattering by finite difference time domain method

The rational design of the sample cell may improve the sensitivity of surface-enhanced Raman scattering （SERS） detection in a high degree. Finite difference time domain （FDTD） simulations of the configuration of Ag film-Ag particles illuminated by plane wave and evanescent wave are performed to provide physical insight for design of the sample cell. Numerical solutions indicate that the sample cell can provide more ＂hot spots＂ and the massive field intensity enhancement occurs in these ＂hot spots＂. More information on the nanometer character of the sample can be got because of gradient-field Raman （GFR） of evanescent wave. OCIS codes： 290.5860, 240.0310, 240.6680, 999.9999 （surface-enhanced Raman scattering）.

Facile and large-scale synthesis of green-emitting carbon nanodots from aspartame and the applications for ferric ions sensing and cell imaging

A facile, economical and green strategy to prepare green-fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon nanodots （N- CDs） with a quantum yield （QY） of approximately 31.91% has been built up, while aspartame was employed as the carbon-nitrogen source for the first time. The prepared N-CDs exhibited ultrahigh brightness, favorable strong photostability and negligible cytotoxicity. The outstanding optical properties are mainly derived from the their robost composition and steric distribution of the doped nitrogen atoms, which have been characterized detailedly. The obtained N-CDs showed highly selective and sensitive response toward ferric ions （Fe3＋） through a fluorescence static quenching process in a wide linear range of 0.005-60 μmol/L. The detection limit was as low as 1.43 nmol/L, allowing the analysis of Fe3＋ in a very simple method. The excitation-dependent luminescent behavior of the obtained N-CDs guaranteed the multicolor emissive property when they were used in cell imaging. And the application for intracellular Fe3＋ sensing further verified this novel N-CDs may open more opportunities in biosensor, bioimaging and biological assay.

An AIEgens and exonuclease Ⅲ aided quadratic amplification assay for detecting and cellular imaging of telomerase activity

Monitoring telomerase activity with high sensitive and reliable is of great importance to cancer analysis. In this paper, we report a sensitive and facile method to detect telomerase activity using AIEgens mod- ified probe （TPE-Py-DNA） as a fluorescence reporter and exonuclease llI （Exo lIl） as a signal amplifier. With the aid of telomerase, repeat units （TrAGGG）n are extended from the end of template substrate oligonucleotides （TS primer） that form duplex DNAs with TPE-Py-DNA. Then, Exo llI catalyzes the diges- tion of duplex DNAs, liberating elongation product and releasing hydrophobic TPE-Py. The released hydrophobic TPE-Py aggregate together and produce a telomerase-activity-related fluorescence signal. The liberated product hybridizes with another TPE-Py-DNA probe, starting the second cycle. Finally, we obtain the target-to-signal amplification ratio of 1 ：N2. This strategy exhibits good performance for detecting clinical urine samples （distinguishing 15 cancer patients＇ samples from 8 healthy ones） and checking intracellular telomerase activity （differentiating cell lines including HeLa, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, A375, HLF and MRC-5 from the cells pretreated with telomerase-related drug）, which shows its potential in clinical diagnosis as well as therapeutic monitoring of cancer.