Qiue Cao

Antioxidant activity and chemical constituents of edible flower of Sophora viciifolia.

The antioxidant activities of crude extract and its derived soluble fractions from the flower of Sophora viciifolia were evaluated in five different test systems (DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, reducing power and inhibition of lipid peroxidant models) for the first time. The ethylacetate soluble fraction exhibited the highest antioxidant effect. Correlation analysis suggested that the flavonoids might be the major contributors for the high antioxidant activity of this flower. In addition, 11 compounds were isolated from this flower, and the antioxidant capacities of 5 flavonoids were evaluated by DPPH assay. Compound 3 (luteolin) had a significant DPPH radical-scavenging activity, and was also present at the highest concentration (5.56mg/gdrysample), implying an important role of 3 for the antioxidant activity of this flower. The study suggests that the flower of S. viciifolia can provide valuable functional ingredients and can be used for the prevention of diseases related to various oxidant by-products of human metabolism.

A colorimetric method for highly sensitive and accurate detection of iodide by finding the critical color in a color change process using silver triangular nanoplates

In this contribution, we demonstrated a novel colorimetric method for highly sensitive and accurate detection of iodide using citrate-stabilized silver triangular nanoplates (silver TNPs). Very lower concentration of iodide can induce an appreciable color change of silver TNPs solution from blue to yellow by fusing of silver TNPs to nanoparticles, as confirmed by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The principle of this colorimetric assay is not an ordinary colorimetry, but a new colorimetric strategy by finding the critical color in a color change process. With this strategy, 0.1 μM of iodide can be recognized within 30 min by naked-eyes observation, and lower concentration of iodide down to 8.8 nM can be detected using a spectrophotometer. Furthermore, this high sensitive colorimetric assay has good accuracy, stability and reproducibility comparing with other ordinary colorimetry. We believe this new colorimetric method will open up a fresh insight of simple, rapid and reliable detection of iodide and can find its future application in the biochemical analysis or clinical diagnosis.

A novel sensitive electrochemical sensor based on in-situ polymerized molecularly imprinted membranes at graphene modified electrode for artemisinin determination.

To develop a rapid and simple method for sensitive determination of artemisinin (ART) in complicated matrices, a novel electrochemical sensor was constructed by in-situ polymerization of ART-imprinted membranes (ART-MIMs) on the surface of graphene (G) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) using acrylamide (AM) as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linking agent after the experimental parameters for the preparation of ART-MIMs such as functional monomer, molar ratio of template, monomer and cross-linking agent together with extraction condition were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the sensor named as ART-MIM/G/GCE exhibited a good selectivity, high sensitivity and considerably better resistance against some analogs of artemisinin such as dihydroartemisinin (DHA), artemether (ARM) and artesunate (ARTS). The calibration graph for the determination of artemisinin by the sensor was linear in the range of 1.0 × 10(-8)mol L(-1) to 4.0 × 10(-5)mol L(-1) with the detection limit of 2.0 × 10(-9)mol L(-1). Meanwhile, this sensor possessed of good regeneration, stability and practicability. It could retain more than 94% of its original response after used at least 80 times or stored in water at room temperature for 60 days. The obtained sensor was successfully applied to determine the contents of artemisinin in the extract of Artemisia annua L. with the relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 3.5% (n=5).

The synthesis and application of 1-(o-nitrophenyl)-3-(2-thiazolyl)triazene for the determination of palladium(II) by the resonance enhanced Rayleigh light-scattering technique.

The resonance Rayleigh light-scattering (RRLS) signal of a new triazene reagent; 1-(o-nitrophenyl)-3-(2-thiazolyl)triazene (o-NPTT), was firstly synthesized and characterized in this paper at 500-600 nm wavelength range and can be enhanced remarkably by Pd2+. According to this phenomenon, a new method was developed for the determination of Pd2+ by the RRLS technique in the presence of Tween-80. The calibration graph showed good linearity over a concentration range of 5.0-700 microg l(-1) with a detection limit of 1.0 microg l(-1). There are almost no foreign ions interfered in the determination at a more than fivefold concentration of Pd2+. The method is relatively sensitive, of good selectivity and has been successfully used for the determination of trace palladium in the slag of fertilizer factories and catalyst samples.

Catalytic formation of silver nanoparticles by bovine serum albumin protected-silver nanoclusters and its application for colorimetric detection of ascorbic acid.

We established a simple spectrophotometric and colorimetric method for detection of ascorbic acid based on the growth of silver nanoparticles in bovine serum albumin protected-silver nanoclusters (BSA-AgNCs) and Ag+ mixture. Due to the catalysis of BSA-AgNCs, ascorbic acid could reduce Ag+ to silver nanoparticles (NPs) at room temperature. The color of the mixture changed from colorless to yellow and a strong absorption band near 420 nm could be found in their absorption spectra owing to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of produced silver NPs. The absorbance changes at 420 nm had a good relationship with ascorbic acid concentration. Thus, we proposed a spectrophotometric and colorimetric method to determine ascorbic acid in concentration range from 2.0 to 50.0 μM, with the corresponding limits of determination (3σ) of 0.16 μM.

Two sensitive fluorescence methods for the determination of cobaltous in food and hair samples

Fluorescence reactions among Co(II), with two new 8-sulfonamidoquinoline derivatives, 5-(4-chlorophenylazo)-8-(benzenesulfonamido)quinoline (CPBSQ), and 5-(3-fluo-4-chlorophenylazo)-8-(benzenesulfonamido)quinoline (FCPBSQ), and H2O2 were investigated. CPBSQ or FCPBSQ reacted with cobalt(II) in the presence of H2O2, and basic medium forming a chelate, which exhibited intensive fluorescence in ultraviolet region. The fluorescence intensities were proportional to the concentration of cobalt(II) over the range of 0.1–100 and 0.5–200 μg/l with the detection limits of 0.05 and 0.10 μg/l for CPBSQ and FCPBSQ systems, respectively. A range of metal ions, including Cu(II) and Ni(II) did not interfere with the determinations for both systems. The methods, which are high sensitive and more selective, have been successfully applied to the determination of trace amount of cobalt in food and hair samples.

Sensitive detection of mercury and copper ions by fluorescent DNA/Ag nanoclusters in guanine-rich DNA hybridization

In this work, we designed a new fluorescent oligonucleotides-stabilized silver nanoclusters (DNA/AgNCs) probe for sensitive detection of mercury and copper ions. This probe contains two tailored DNA sequence. One is a signal probe contains a cytosine-rich sequence template for AgNCs synthesis and link sequence at both ends. The other is a guanine-rich sequence for signal enhancement and link sequence complementary to the link sequence of the signal probe. After hybridization, the fluorescence of hybridized double-strand DNA/AgNCs is 200-fold enhanced based on the fluorescence enhancement effect of DNA/AgNCs in proximity of guanine-rich DNA sequence. The double-strand DNA/AgNCs probe is brighter and stable than that of single-strand DNA/AgNCs, and more importantly, can be used as novel fluorescent probes for detecting mercury and copper ions. Mercury and copper ions in the range of 6.0-160.0 and 6-240 nM, can be linearly detected with the detection limits of 2.1 and 3.4 nM, respectively. Our results indicated that the analytical parameters of the method for mercury and copper ions detection are much better than which using a single-strand DNA/AgNCs.

Synergistic aggregating of Au(I)–glutathione complex for fluorescence “turn-on” detection of Pb(II)

In this paper, we report a new assay for the rapid detection of Pb2+ in aqueous solution based on aggregation induced emission of Au(I)–glutathione complex. Non-fluorescent oligomeric Au(I)–glutathione complex could aggregate to form Au(0)@Au(I)–thiolate nanoclusters with ultra-bright fluorescence in the presence of high concentrations of metal ions. However, if two metal ions (e.g. Zn2+ and Pb2+) were both used for aggregating Au(I)–glutathione, there is a synergistic aggregation effect on the complex. A very low concentration of Pb2+ could induce apparent fluorescence enhancement. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the relationship between fluorescence changes (ΔF) of the aggregation system and the addition of Pb2+ (c, μM) in the range from 0.50 to 40.0 μM was measured as ΔF = 2.8 + 5.2 c, with the correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.996. Moreover, we carried out a visual fluorescence detection of Pb2+ under violet-light irradiation. The increasing fluorescence can be easily distinguished by color pictures using the naked eye.

An aggregation-induced emission-based pH-sensitive fluorescent probe for intracellular acidity sensing

A dual-emission pH-sensitive fluorescent probe was developed, which displays green fluorescence in alkaline after deprotonation, while orange emission in acid at aggregated state. This novel probe allows the specific light-on in acidic lysosomes of cancer cells and tumors in nude mice, which indicates its potential application in cancer diagnosis.

Selective Detection of Mercury (II) by Etching the Corners of Silver Triangular Nanoplates

ABSTRACT As confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, we found that Hg2+ has good affinity to etch the sharp corners of silver triangular nanoplates. The etching process induced an apparent absorption peak shift of silver triangular nanoplates from 580 to 530 nm. The shift degree of the absorption peak has a good linear relationship with the amount of Hg2+ added; thus, Hg2+ with a concentration from 0.2 to 1.5 µM can be quantitatively detected by measuring silver triangular absorption. The interaction between mercury and silver triangular nanoplates proposed here is also a new example of silver triangular nanoplate etching and important for explaining the etching mechanism.