Rate capability and cyclability of $LiMn_2O_4$ should be improved in order to use it as a cathode material of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid-electric-vehicles (HEV). To enhance the rate capability and cyclability of $LiMn_2O_4$, it was coated with $MnV_2O_6$ by a sol-gel method. A $V_2O_5$ sol was prepared by a melt-quenching method and the $LiMn_2O_4$ coated with the sol was heat-treated to obtain the $MnV_2O_6$ coating layer. Crystal structure and morphology of the samples were examined by X-ray diffraction, SEM and TEM. The electrochemical performances, including cyclability at $60^{\circ}C$, and rate capability of the bare and the coated $LiMn_2O_4$ were measured and compared. Overall, $MnV_2O_6$ coating on $LiMn_2O_4$ improves the cyclability at high temperature and rate capability at room temperature at the cost of discharge capacity. The improvement in cyclability at high temperature and the enhanced rate capability is believed to come from the reduced contact between the electrode, and electrolyte and higher electric conductivity of the coating layer. However, a dramatic decrease in discharge capacity would make it impractical to increase the coating amount above 3 wt %.

A novel stick-shaped portable sensing device featuring a microhole array interface between the polyvinylchloride-2-nitrophenyloctylether (PVC-NPOE) gel and water phase was developed for in-situ sensing of perchlorate ions in real water samples. Perchlorate sensitive sensing responses were obtained based on measuring the current changes with respect to the assisted transfer reaction of perchlorate ions by a perchlorate selective ligand namely, bis(dibenzoylmethanato)Ni(II) (Ni(DBM)2) across the polarized microhole array interface. Cyclic voltammetry was used to characterize the assisted transfer reaction of perchlorate ions by the $Ni(DBM)_2$ ligand when using the portable sensing device. The current response for the transfer of perchlorate anions by $Ni(DBM)_2$ across the micro-water/gel interface linearly increased as a function of the perchlorate ion concentration. The technique of differential pulse stripping voltammetry was also utilized to improve the sensitivity of the perchlorate anion detection down to 10 ppb. This was acquired by preconcentrating perchlorate anions in the gel layer by means of holding the ion transfer potential at 0 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl) for 30 s followed by stripping the complexed perchlorate ion with the ligand. The effect of various potential interfering anions on the perchlorate sensor was also investigated and showed an excellent selectivity over $Br^-$, $NO_2{^-}$, $NO_3{^-}$, $CO{_3}^{2^-}$, $CH_3COO^-$ and $SO{_4}^{2^-}$ ions. As a final demonstration, some regional water samples from the Sincheon river in Daegu city were analyzed and the data was verified with that of ion chromatography (IC) analysis from one of the Korean-certified water quality evaluation centers.

A new type of solid and gel-state ionics based on siloxane pyridinium iodides was synthesized and used as electrolytes in dye-sensitized solar cells. The resulting electrolytes were characterized by $^1H$ NMR spectroscopy, TGA and diffusion coefficient. The synthesized siloxane pyridinium iodide electrolytes have characteristics of different chain length of siloxane moieties. The ion conductivities were given 2.7-3.2 S/cm. Among the three SiDPIs based electrolytes, DSSC employing the SiDPI2 gives an open circuit voltage of 0.704 V, a short-circuit current of 15.85 $mA/cm^2$ and conversion efficiency of 6.8% under light intensity of 100 $mW/cm^2$. In addition, the performance of the DSSCs showed relatively reasonable compared with the propylpyridinium iodide (PPI) electrolyte.

Gene therapy using nonviral gene delivery carriers has focused on the development and modification of synthetic carriers such as liposomes and polymers. Most polymers that are commercially used are taking advantage of their polycationic character which allows not only strong ligand-DNA affinity but also competent cell penetration. Despite the relatively high transfection efficiencies, high cytotoxicity is continuously pointed out as one of the major shortcomings of polycationic polymers such as PEI. Studies on the utilization of peptides have therefore been carried out recently to overcome these problems. For these reasons, the human transcription factor Hph-1, which is currently known as a protein transduction domain (PTD), was investigated in this study to evaluate its potential as a gene delivery carrier. Although its transfection efficiency was about 10-fold lower than PEI, it displayed almost no cytotoxicity even at concentrations as high as $100{\mu}M$. Hph-1 was oxidatively polymerized to yield poly-Hph-1. The cell viability of poly-Hph-1 transfected U87MG and NIH-3T3 cells was almost as high as the control (untreated) groups, and the transfection efficiency was about 10-fold higher than PEI. This study serves as a preliminary evaluation of Hph-1 and encourages further investigation.

Highly chemo- and regioselective reaction of hydroxybenzenes with ${\alpha},{\beta}$-unsaturated compounds in acidic ionic liquid l-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulphate ([BMIM]HSO4) was reported for the first time. A series of oxa-Michael adducts and Friedel-Crafts alkylated products were synthesized with good yields. The acidic ionic liquid could be easily recycled for at least 5 times with only minor loss in activity.

The reactions of hydrated $CdCl_2$, $MnCl_2$, and $NiCl_2$ with 2,2'-bipyidine-3,3',6,6'-tetracarboxylic acid ($H_4bptc$) afforded the mononuclear [$Cd^{II}(H_2bptc)(H_2O)_3]{\cdot}H_2O$ (1), linear $\{[Cd(H_2bptc)(H_2O)]{\cdot}3H_2O\}_n$ (2), 3-D heterobimetallic $[NaCd(Hbptc)(H_2O)]$ (3), layer $[Mn(H_2bptc)(H_2O)]_n$ (4) and a dinuclear compound $[Ni_2(H_2bptc)-(H_2O)_2]{\cdot}6H_2O$ (5). These compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis, IR, and their structures have been determined by X-ray crystallography. The thermal stabilities of 1-3 were measured by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and their solid state luminescence properties together with the free ligand $H_4bptc$ were investigated at room temperature.

An efficient synthesis of 2,2'-dipyrryl ketones has been carried out from pyrrole-2-carboxylic acids using trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAA). Simultaneous generation of both mixed anhydride and 2-unsubstituted pyrrole, via facile decarboxylation with in-situ generated TFA, made their cross reaction (intermolecular Friedel-Crafts acylation) possible and efficient.

A series of fluorene-carbazole copolymers containing the pendant phosphor chromophore $Ir(absn)_2(acac)$ (absn: 2-(1-naphthyl)benzothiazole; acac: acetylacetone) were designed and synthesized via Yamamoto coupling. In the film state, these copolymers exhibited absorption and emission peaks at approximately 389 and 426 nm, respectively, which originated from the fluorene backbone. However, in electroluminescent (EL) devices, a significantly red-shifted emission at approximately 611 nm was observed, which was attributed to the pendant iridium(III) complex. Using these copolymers as a single emission layer, polymer light-emitting devices with ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer:DNTPD/TmPyPb/LiF/Al configurations exhibited a saturated red emission at 611 nm. The attached iridium(III) complex had a significant effect on the EL performance. A maximum luminous efficiency of 0.85 cd/A, maximum external quantum efficiency of 0.77, maximum power efficiency of 0.48 lm/W, and maximum luminance of 883 $cd/m^2$ were achieved from a device fabricated with the copolymer containing the iridium(III) complex in a 2% molar ratio.

A novel zwitterionic monomer 3-[(2-acrylamido)dimethylammonio]propanesulfonate (DMADAS) was designed and synthesized in this study. Then it was polymerized with acrylamide (AM) by free radical polymerization in 0.5 mol/L NaCl solution with ammonium persulfate ($(NH_4)_2S_2O_8$) and sodium sulfate ($NaHSO_3$) as initiator. The structure and composition of DMADAS and acrylamide-3-[(2-acrylamido)-dimethylammonio]propanesulfonate copolymer (P-AM-DMADAS) were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, $^1H$ NMR and elemental analyses. Isoelectric point (IEP) of P-AM-DMADAS was tested by nanoparticle size and potential analyzer. Solution properties of copolymer were studied by reduced viscosity. Antipolyelectrolyte behavior was observed and was found to be enhanced with increasing DMADAS content in copolymer. The results showed that the viscosity of P-AM-DMADAS is 5.472 dl/g in pure water. Electrolyte was added, which weakened the mutual attraction between sulfonic acid group and quaternary ammonium group. The conformation became loose, which led to the increase of reduced viscosity. The ability of monovalent and divalent cation influencing the viscosity of zwitterionic copolymer obeyed the following sequence: $Li^+$ < $Na^+$ < $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$ < $Ca^{2+}$ < $Ba^{2+}$, and that of anion is in the order: $Cl^-$ < $Br^-$ < $I^-$, $CO{_3}^{2-}$ > $SO{_3}^{2-}{\approx}SO{_4}^{2-}$.

Three di-acyl chlolide reagents, adipoyl chloride, terephthaloyl chloride and isophthaloyl chloride, were used as spacer reagents to prepare bonded type of three cellulose (3,5-dimethylphenyl)carbamate (CDMPC) chiral stationary phases (CSPs). The CDMPC CSPs were prepared using these three acid chlorides as spacer agents at the 6-position of the primary hydroxyl group on the glucose unit of cellulose regioselectively. The chiral recognition ability of the prepared CSPs for five racemates was evaluated by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with the following mobile phases: hexane/isopropanol (IPA), hexane/IPA/tetrahydrofuran (THF) and hexane/IPA/chloroform. The result showed that these prepared CSPs can be used in THF and chloroform solutions and the chiral recognition abilities of the CSPs were improved depending on the eluents and chiral samples.

Fisetin is a naturally occurring flavonoid with some anti-cancer and anti-inflammation capabilities. In this study, we perform docking studies between human c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1 (JNK 1) and fisetin and proposed a binding model of fisetin and JNK 1, in which the hydroxyl groups of the B ring and oxygen at the 4-position of the C ring play key roles in binding interactions with JNK. Fluorescence quenching and saturation-transfer difference (STD) NMR experiments showed that fisetin exhibits good binding affinity to JNK, $1.32{\times}10^8M^{-1}$. The anti-inflammatory activity of fisetin was also investigated. Fisetin significantly suppressed tumor necrosis factor, the NO production, and macrophage inflammatory cytokine release in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 mouse macrophages. We found that the anti-inflammatory cascade of fisetin was mediated through the JNK, and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 pathways. Our findings suggest the potential of fisetin as an anti-inflammatory agent.

The rapid and accurate identification of biological agents is a critical step in the case of bio-terror and biological warfare attacks. Recently, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry has been widely used for the identification of microorganisms. In this study, we describe a method for the rapid and accurate discrimination of Bacillus anthracis spores using MALDI-TOF MS. Our direct in-situ analysis of MALDI-TOF MS does not involve subsequent high-resolution mass analyses and sample preparation steps. This method allowed the detection of species-specific biomarkers from each Bacillus spores. Especially, B. anthracis spores had specific biomarker peaks at 2503, 3089, 3376, 6684, 6698, 6753, and 6840 m/z. Cluster and PCA analyses of the mass spectra of Bacillus spores revealed distinctively separated clusters and within-groups similarity. Therefore, we believe that this method is effective in the real-time identification of biological warfare agents such as B. anthracis as well as other microorganisms in the field.

The all-hydrocarbon i,i+4 stapling system using an oct-4-enyl crosslink is one of the most widely employed chemical tools to stabilize an ${\alpha}$-helical conformation of a short peptide. This crosslinking system has greatly extended our ability to modulate intracellular protein-macromolecule interactions. The helix-inducing property of the i,i+4 staple has shown to be highly dependent on the length and the stereochemistry of the oct-4-enyl crosslink. Here we show that changing the double bond position within the i,i+4 staple has a considerable impact not only on the formation of the crosslink but also on ${\alpha}$-helix induction. The data further increases the understanding of the structure-activity relationships of this valuable chemical tool.

We have developed a one-step synthesis of benzofurans from o-iodophenol and various terminal alkynes, by using Pd catalyst supported on nano-sized carbon balls (NCB) under copper- and ligand free conditions. This recyclable catalyst could be reused more than 5 times in the same heteroannulation reaction. The results have demonstrated that diverse 2-substituted benzofurans with tolerant functional groups can be prepared simply and conveniently under these conditions.

Mesoporous alumina was synthesized using bayberry tannin (BT) as template. This novel synthesis strategy was based on a precipitation method associated with aluminum nitrate as the source of aluminum in an aqueous system. $N_2$ adsorption/desorption, XRD, SEM and TEM were used to characterize the as-prepared mesoporous alumina. The results showed that the mesoporous alumina possessed crystalline pore wall, high specific surface area, narrow pore distribution and excellent thermal stability. Moreover, the surface area and pore size of the mesoporous alumina can be tuned by changing the experimental parameters. Further, the mesoporous alumina was investigated as the support of palladium catalyst ($Pd-Al_2O_3{^*}$) for the hydrogenation of propenyl, styrene and linoleic acid. For comparison, the reference catalyst ($Pd-Al_2O_3$) prepared without barberry tannin was also employed for the catalytic hydrogenation. The experimental results showed that $Pd-Al_2O_3{^*}$ exhibited the superior catalytic performance than $Pd-Al_2O_3$ for all the investigated substrates, especially for the hydrogenation of linoleic acid with larger molecular.

Multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-g-poly (aniline-co-2,5-diaminobenzenesulfonic acid) (DABSA) reinforced Nafion$^{(R)}$ nanocomposite membranes were prepared and characterized for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The nanocomposite membranes with approximately $90{\mu}m$ thickness were prepared by the water assisted solution casting method. To evaluate the properties of nanocomposite membranes for DMFC applications, the nanocomposite membranes were characterized by methanol and water uptake, thermal stability, and ion exchange capacity (IEC). Furthermore, oxidative stability measurements in terms of the hydrogen peroxide decomposition rate that represent the oxidative stability of the membranes were examined. The methanol uptake values of the nanocomposite membranes were dramatically decreased compared to the cast Nafion$^{(R)}$ membranes. The IEC values of the nanocomposite membranes were increased about 30% compared to the cast Nafion$^{(R)}$ membrane.

The purpose of stability testing is to provide evidence about how the quality of a drug varies with time under the influence of a variety of environmental factors. In this study, erythropoietin (EPO) was analyzed under different pH (pH 3 and pH 9) and temperature ($25^{\circ}C$ and $40^{\circ}C$) conditions according to current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) and International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines. The molecular weight difference between intact EPO and deglycosylated EPO was determined by SDS-PAGE, and aggregated forms of EPO under thermal stress and high-pH conditions were investigated by size exclusion chromatography. High pH and high temperature induced increases in dimer and high molecular weight aggregate forms of EPO. UPLC-ESI-TOF-MS was applied to analyze the changed modification sites on EPO. Further, normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography was performed to identify proposed glycan structures and high pH anion exchange chromatography was carried out to investigate any change in carbohydrate composition. The results demonstrated that there were no changes in modification sites or the glycan structure under severe conditions; however, the number of dimers and aggregates increased at $40^{\circ}C$ and pH 9, respectively.

To elucidate the role of the evolutionarily conserved Tyr8 residue in rice Phi-class GSTF3, this amino acid was replaced with alanine and phenylalanine by site-directed mutagenesis, respectively. The replacement of Tyr8 with Ala significantly affected the catalytic activity and the kinetic parameters, whereas the substitutions of Tyr8 with Phe had almost no effect. The Y8A mutant resulted in approximately 90-100% decrease of the specific activity. Moreover, the Y8A mutant resulted approximately in 2-fold increase of $K_m$, approximately 60-80% decrease of $k_{cat}$, and approximately 6.5-fold decrease in $k_{cat}/K_m$. From the pH/log $k_{cat}/K_m$ plot, $pK_a$ values of the GSH in the wild-type enzyme-GSH complex, Y8A-GSH complex and Y8F-GSH complex were estimated to be approximately 6.8, 8.5 and 6.9, respectively. From these results, we suggest that the evolutionarily conserved Tyr8 residue in OsGSTF3 seems to influence the structural stability of the active site of OsGSTF3 rather than directly its catalytic activity.

Activity-directed isolation of the methylene chloride fraction from the stems of Parthenocissus tricuspidata have led to the identification of two new compounds (1-2): 1-(2',3',5'-trihydroxyphenyl)-2-(4"-hydroxyphenyl)-ethane-1,2-(E)-epoxide (1, tricuspidatin A) and erythro-1-(3',5'-dihydroxyphenyl)-2-(4"-hydroxyphenyl)-ethane-1,2-diol (2, tricuspidatin B), together with four known compounds (3-6): ${\beta}$-sitosterol (3), nonacosan-1-ol (4), 3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-propenoic acid hexacosyl ester (5) and betulinic acid (6). Their chemical structures were elucidated based on spectroscopic (IR, UV, MS, 1D and 2D NMR) and physicochemical analyses. Compounds 1 and 2 showed strong DNA topoisomerase II inhibitory activity at both concentrations of 20 and $100{\mu}M$. In addition, 3 exhibited strong cytotoxic activity against the HT-29 and HepG2 cancer cell lines, and 6 showed strong cytotoxicity against the HT-29 and MCF-7 ones.

Protein kinases (PKs) are an important source of drug targets, especially in oncology. With 500 or more kinases in the human genome and only few kinase inhibitors approved, kinase inhibitor discovery is becoming more and more valuable. Because the discovery of kinase inhibitors with an increased selectivity is an important therapeutic concept, many researchers have been trying to address this issue with various methodologies. Although many attempts to predict the activity and selectivity of kinase inhibitors have been made, the issue of selectivity has not yet been resolved. Here, we studied kinase selectivity by generating predictive models and analyzing their descriptors by using kinase-profiling data. The 5-fold cross-validation accuracies for the 51 models were between 72.4% and 93.7% and the ROC values for all the 51 models were over 0.7. The phylogenetic tree based on the descriptor distance is quite different from that generated on the basis of sequence alignment.

The activities of Au-modified Cu electrodes toward glucose oxidation are evaluated according to their fabrication conditions and physico-chemical properties. The Au-modified Cu electrodes are fabricated by the galvanic displacement of Au on a Cu substrate and the characteristics of the Au particles are controlled by adjusting the displacement time. From the glucose oxidation tests, it is found that the Au modified Cu has superior activity to the pure Au or Cu film, which is evidenced by the negative shift in the oxidation potential and enhanced current density during the electrochemical oxidation. Though the activity of the Au nanoparticles is a contributing factor, the enhanced activity of the Au-modified Cu electrode is due to the increased oxidation number of Cu through the electron transfer from Cu to more electronegative Au. The depletion of electron in Cu facilitates the oxidation of glucose. The stability of the Au-modified Cu electrode was also studied by chronoamperometry.

The electronic cigarette (E-cigarette) is a battery-powered device that aerosolizes nicotine so that it is readily delivered into the respiratory tract. The analytical data regarding the substances present in E-cigarettes are very limited. The aim of this study was to measure the concentration of aldehydes-formaldehyde (FA), acetaldehyde (AA) and, acrolein (AL)-in 225 replacement liquid brands from 17 E-cigarette shops sold in the Republic of Korea by headspace solid-phase micro extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME GC-MS). The concentration range of FA and AA was 0.02-10.09 mg/L (mean = 2.16 mg/L, detected in 207 of 225 samples) and 0.10-15.63 mg/L (mean = 4.98 mg/L, detected in all samples), respectively. AL was not detected in any of 225 replacement liquids. FA and AA were originally present in almost all replacement liquids of electronic cigarettes.

The solvolysis rate constants of piperonyloyl chloride (1) in 27 different solvents are well correlated with the extended Grunwald-Winstein equation, using the $N_T$ solvent nucleophilicity scale, $Y_{Cl}$ solvent ionizing scale, and I aromatic ring parameter with sensitivity values of $0.30{\pm}0.05$, $0.71{\pm}0.02$, and $0.60{\pm}0.04$ for l, m, and h, respectively. The solvent kinetic isotope effect values (SKIE, $k_{MeOH}/k_{MeOD}$ and $k_{50%MeOD-50%D2O}$) of 1.16 and 1.12 were also in accord with the values for the $S_N1$ mechanism and/or the dissociative $S_N2$ mechanism. The product selectivity values (S) for solvolysis of 1 in alcohol/water mixtures were in the range of 0.5 to 1.9, which is also consistent with the proposed unimolecular ionization mechanism.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with spherical and prism morphologies were formed at room temperature depend on the amino acid attached with phenolic unit. Absorption studies showed 410-420 nm surface plasmon resonance absorption for spherical nanoparticles whereas prism morphology showed three absorption peaks (382, 452 and 523 nm). The formation of spherical and prism morphology was confirmed by scanning and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. Antibacterial studies of both the morphologies did not show any significant differences in the inhibition of bacterial growth.

The present communication deals with development of ten novel N-Phenyl-3-Pyridin-2-yl imino derivatives as vascular smooth muscle relaxants. The derivatives were prepared and optimized using pocket modelling and pharmacophore modelling. The 4 hydroxy substituted derivatives are showed potent activity comparable to the sildenafil.

Hydrogen bonding interaction between alcohols and water molecules is an important characteristic in the aqueous solutions of alcohols. In this paper, a series of molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to investigate the aqueous solutions of low molecular weight alcohols (methanol, ethylene glycol and glycerol) at the concentrations covering a broad range from 1 to 90 mol %. The work focuses on studying the effect of the alcohols molecules on the hydrogen bonding of water molecules in binary mixtures. By analyzing the hydrogen bonding ability of the hydroxyl (-OH) groups for the three alcohols, it is found that the hydroxyl group of methanol prefers to form more hydrogen bonds than that of ethylene glycol and glycerol due to the intra-and intermolecular effects. It is also shown that concentration has significant effect on the ability of alcohol molecule to hydrogen bond water molecules. Understanding the hydrogen bonding characteristics of the aqueous solutions is helpful to reveal the cryoprotective mechanisms of methanol, ethylene glycol and glycerol in aqueous solutions.

Polynorbornenes prepared by vinyl addition pathway are known to have some desirable characteristics for wider application but they have some critical drawbacks such as brittleness, poor solubility and adhesion. In order to improve these drawbacks, extensive research for the successful homo- and copolymerization of polar functionalized norbornene with olefin has been carried out. Even though considerable advance has been achieved in the polymerization of polar functionalized monomers, successful catalytic systems for the homopolymerization of polar functionalized norbornene are rare. In this study, a novel successful catalytic system for the polymerization of polar functionalized norborene is proposed. This system employs Pd ${\beta}$-diketiminate/borate cocatalyst in water/organic mixed solvents and it is unique due to introduction of water as a component of solvents. Polymers obtained in this study show high Mw with narrow PDI. Effects of several reaction parameters to the polymer activity and properties are investigated and optimal catalytic system are proposed.

Single C-reactive protein (CRP) molecules, which are non-specific acute phase markers and products of the innate immune system, were quantitatively detected on a gold-nanopatterned biochip using evanescent field-enhanced fluorescence imaging. The $4{\times}5$ gold-nanopatterned biochip (spot diameter of 500 nm) was fabricated by electron beam nanolithography. Unlabeled CRP molecules in human serum were identified with single-molecule sandwich immunoassay by detecting secondary fluorescence generated by total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. With decreased standard CRP concentrations, relative fluorescence intensities reduced in the range of 33.3 zM-800 pM. To enhance fluorescence intensities in TIRF images, the distance between biochip surface and CRP molecules was optimally adjusted by considering the quenching effect of gold and the evanescent field intensity. As a result, TIRF only detected one single-CRP molecule on the biochip the first time.

We report a new tetrameric supramolecular Cu(II) complex ($Cu_4L_4$ = tetrakis(N,N'-bis(salicylidene)-2,2'-ethylenedianiline)Copper(II)) with a Schiff-base ligand ($H_2L$ = N,N'-bis (salicylaldimine)-1,2-ethylenediamine) containing two N,O-bidentate chelate groups. Though the copper sites of $Cu_4L_4$ are non-coupled, the complex exhibits a unsually high catecholase-like activity ($k_{cat}=935h^{-1}$) when the $Cu_4L_4$ solution is treated with 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol (3,5-DTBC) at basic condition in the presence of air. Combined information obtained from UV-VIS and EPR measurements could lead the suggestion of the reaction pathway in which the substrate may bind to Cu(II) ions by anti-anti didentate bridging mode.

The layered $KTiNbO_5$ was successfully synthesized with titanium(IV) isopropoxide and niobium oxalate by a novel polymerized complex (PC) method. The morphology and structure of the as-prepared sample was characterized by means of High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope, powder X-ray diffraction, and Laser Raman Spectroscopy. The spectral response characteristic was recorded by using UV-vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy. Results show that $KTiNbO_5$ as-prepared by PC method presents an uniform morphology of nano-particles, the mean particle sizes is ca. 28 nm corresponding to the (002), and the crystal structure can be well indexed to the orthorhombic phase. The sample as-prepared by PC method has higher band gap energy than that of the sample prepared by a solid-state reaction method due to the quantum size effect.

The immobilization of enzyme is one of the key issues both in the field of enzymatic research and industrialization. In this work, we reported a facile method to immobilize Candida Antarctica lipase B (CALB) in alginate carrier. In the presence of calcium cation, the enzyme-alginate suspension could be cross-linked to form beads with porous structure at room temperature, and the enzyme CALB was dispersed in the beads. Activity of the enzyme-alginate composite was verified by enzymatic hydrolysis reaction of p-nitrophenol butyrate in aqueous phase. The effects of reaction parameters such as temperature, pH, embedding and lyophilized time on the reactive behavior were discussed. Reuse cycle experiments for the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenol butyrate demonstrated that activity of the enzyme-alginate composite was maintained without marked deactivation up to 6 repeated cycles.

Surface modification of colloidal silica nanoparticles without disrupting the electric double layer of nanoparticles is a major challenge. In the work, silane was employed to modify colloidal silica nanoparticles without inducing bridge flocculation obviously. The effect of pH value of the silica sol, the amount of silane in feed, and reaction temperature on the graft amount and the final size of modified particles was investigated. The increased weight loss by TG and the appearance of $T_2$ and $T_3$ except for $Q_2$ and $Q_3$ signals by CP/MAS $^{29}Si$ NMR of the modified samples verified the successful grafting of silane. The graft amount reached 0.57 mmol/g, which was slightly lower than theory value, and the particle size remained nearly the same as unmodified particles for acidic silica sol at the optimum condition. For alkaline silica sol after modification, aggregates composed of several nanoparticles connected together with silane moleculars as the bridge appeared.

The aim of the present study is to explore the possibility of utilizing fly ash and loess, as alternative to activated carbon, for the adsorption of diazinon in water. Batch adsorption experiment was performed to evaluate the influences of various factors like initial concentration, contact time and temperature on the adsorption of diazinon. The adsorption data shows that fly ash is not effective for the adsorption of diazinon. The equilibrium data for both activated carbon and loess were fitted well to the Freundlich isotherm model. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model appeared to be the better-fitting model because it has higher $R^2$ compared to the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The thermodynamic parameters such as free energy (${\Delta}G$), the enthalpy (${\Delta}H$) and the entropy (${\Delta}S$) were calculated. Contrary to loess, the ${\Delta}G$ values of activated carbon were negative at the studied temperatures. It indicates that the adsorption of diazinon by activated carbon is a favorable and spontaneous process. The positive ${\Delta}H$ values of activated carbon and loess suggest that the diazinon adsorption process is endothermic in nature. In addition, the positive ${\Delta}S$ values show that increased randomness occurs at the solid/solution surface during the adsorption of diazinon.

Geniposide is a biologically active ingredient of gardenia fruit. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method was developed and validated for the determination of geniposide in rat plasma. The plasma samples were pretreated by solid-phase extraction and introduced into a BDS Hypersil $C_{18}$ column ($50{\times}2.1mm$, $5{\mu}m$) for chromatographic separation. The mobile phase consisted of 0.1% formic acid and 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile, and gradient elution was performed at a flow rate of 0.25 mL/min. For mass spectrometric detection, multiple reaction monitoring was performed via an electrospray ionization source in positive mode. The calibration curve for geniposide was linear ($r^2=0.997$) in the concentration range of $0.005-1{\mu}g/mL$. The intra- and inter-day accuracies and precisions fulfilled the required criteria (${\pm}15%$). The developed method was subsequently used for pharmacokinetic analysis of geniposide after oral administration to rats at a dose of 50 mg/kg. The mean maximum plasma concentration of geniposide was $0.68{\pm}0.29{\mu}g/mL$ at $0.44{\pm}0.13h$, and the mean area under the plasma concentration versus time curve was $1.46{\mu}g{\cdot}h/mL$.

The effect of $TiO_2$ nanorods (TNR) and nanoparticles (TNP) composite photoelectrodes and the role of TNR to enhance the energy conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was investigated. The 5% TNR content into the TNP photoelectrode significantly increased the short-circuit current density ($J_{sc}$) and the open-circuit potential ($V_{oc}$) with the overall energy conversion efficiency enhancement of 13.6% compared to the pure TNP photoelectrode. From the photochemical and impedemetric analysis, the increased $J_{sc}$ and $V_{oc}$ for the 5% TNR/TNP composite photoelectrode was attributed to the scattering effect of TNR, reduced electron diffusion path and the suppression of charge recombination between the composite photoelectrode and electrolyte or dye.

Red phosphors $Ca_{(1-1.5x)}Eu_xWO_4$ and $Ca_{(1-2x)}Eu^_xNa_xWO_4$ were synthesized with various concentrations x of $Eu^{3+}$ ions by using a solid-state reaction method. The crystal structure of the red phosphors were found to be a tetragonal scheelite structure with space group $I4_1/a$. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results show the (112) main diffraction peak centered at $2{\theta}=28.71^{\circ}$, and indicate that there is no basic structural deformation caused by the vacancies ${V_{Ca}}^{{\prime}{\prime}}$ or the $Eu^{3+}$ (and $Na^+$) ions in the host crystals. Densities of $Ca_{(1-1.5x)}Eu_xWO_4$ were measured on a (helium) gas pycnometer. Comparative results between the experimental and theoretical densities reveal that $Eu^{3+}$ (and $Na^+$) ions replace the $Ca^{2+}$ ions in the host $CaWO_4$. Also, the photoluminescence (PL) emission and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra show the optical properties of trivalent $Eu^{3+}$ ions, not of divalent $Eu^{2+}$. Raman spectra exhibit that, without showing any difference before and after the doping of activators to the host material $CaWO_4$, all the gerade normal modes occur at the identical frequencies with the same shapes and weaker intensities after the substitution. However, the FT-IR spectra show that some of the ungerade normal modes have shifted positions and different shapes, caused by different masses of $Eu^{3+}$ ions (or $Na^+$ ions, or ${V_{Ca}}^{{\prime}{\prime}}$ vacancies) from $Ca^{2+}$.

Two new isostructural dinuclear complexes, $Ln_2(4-cpa)_6(bpy)_2$ (Ln = Eu (1); Tb (2), 4-cpa = 4-chlorophenylacetate, bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine), have been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), powder X-ray diffraction and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The lanthanide ions are bridged by two bidentate and two terdentate carboxylate groups to give centrosymmetric dimers with $Ln{\cdots}Ln$ separations of 3.967(2) and 3.956(3) ${\AA}$, respectively. Each metal atom is nine-coordinate and exhibits a distorted tricapped trigonal prismatic geometry. Three-dimensional fluorescence spectra show that both 1 and 2 emit bright red and green luminescence at room temperature, with long lifetimes of up to 0.369 ms (at 614 nm) and 0.432 ms (at 543 nm), respectively. Moreover, poor luminescence efficiency has been noted for complex 2. The 4-Hcpa ligand and complexes 1-2 have been screened for their phytogrowth-inhibitory activities against Brassica napus L. and Echinochloa crusgalli L., and the results are compared with the activity of quizalofop-P-ethyl.

We examined the effect of electrode fingers and gaps of coplanar interdigitated electrode (IDE) structures to characterize the ammonium salt-containing polyelectrolyte film of resistance-based humidity sensors. IDEs designed for this purpose were flexible gold electrodes deposited on a polyimide substrate using a printing process because the geometry presents a potential for tunable sensitivity over other electrode designs. The basic design of the sensors consisted of IDEs with a different number of electrode fingers such as 3, 4, and 5 and gap sizes of 310, 360, 410, and $460{\mu}m$. Details of the AC complex impedance characteristics such as the Nyquist plot, Bode plot, and activation energy based on electrode construction were investigated.

Cholesterol and cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) may accumulate in foods of animal origin during processing or storage. An effective and sensitive analytical method was developed by increasing the UV absorption of compounds through derivatization by attaching a chromophore to the functional groups of cholesterols (cholesterol, 20-hydroxycholesterol, 7-ketocholesterol, cholestane-$3{\beta}$-$5{\alpha}$-$6{\beta}$-triol, 25-hydroxycholesterol, and $5,6{\alpha}$-epoxycholesterol). The influences of the reaction time, volume of reaction solvent, amounts of derivatizing reagent, and extraction solvents were investigated, as they may influence the reaction and extraction yield. The derivatized COPs were analyzed simultaneously on a C18 column (2.1 mm i.d. ${\times}$ 100 mm length, $3.5{\mu}m$ particle size) using a gradient elution with water and acetonitrile. The derivatized COPs showed increased sensitivity and selectivity in HPLC/UV-Vis. The LOD and LOQ were in the concentration ranges of 0.018-0.55 mg/kg and 0.059-1.84 mg/kg from the powdered milk. And the accuracy and precision were 78.1-116.7% and 1.1-9.9%, respectively.

Irradiation of gold nanorods (GNRs) with laser light corresponding to the longitudinal surface plasmon oscillation results in rapid conversion of electromagnetic energy into heat, a phenomenon commonly known as the photothermal effect of GNRs. Herein, we propose a facile strategy for increasing the photothermal conversion efficiency of GNRs by integration to form graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites. Moreover, conjugation of iron oxide (IO) with the GO-GNR nanohybrid allowed magnetic enrichment at a specific target site and the separated GO-IO-GNR assembly was rapidly heated by laser irradiation. The present GO-IO-GNR nanocomposites hold great promise for application in various biomedical fields, including surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy imaging, photoacoustic tomography imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and photothermal cancer therapy.