Reactions of a sulfonamide antimicrobial with model humic constituents: assessing pathways and stability of covalent bonding.

The mechanism of covalent bond formation of the model sulfonamide sulfathiazole (STZ) and the stronger nucleophile para-ethoxyaniline was studied in reactions with model humic acid constituents (quinones and other carbonyl compounds) in the absence and presence of laccase. As revealed by high resolution mass spectrometry, the initial bonding of STZ occurred by 1,2- and 1,4-nucleophilic additions of the aromatic amino group to quinones resulting in imine and anilinoquinone formation, respectively. Experiments using the radical scavenger tert-butyl-alcohol provided the same products and similar formation rates as those without scavenger indicating that probably not radical coupling reactions were responsible for the initial covalent bond formation. No addition with nonquinone carbonyl compounds occurred within 76 days except for a slow 1,4-addition to the ß-unsaturated carbonyl 1-penten-3-one. The stability of covalent bonds against desorption and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) was assessed. The recovery rates showed no systematic differences in STZ extractability between the two product types. This suggests that the strength of bonding is not controlled by the initial type of bond, but by the extent of subsequent incorporation of the reaction product into the formed polymer. This incorporation was monitored for (15)N aniline by (1)H-(15)N HMBC NMR spectroscopy. The initial 1,2- and 1,4-addition bonds were replaced by stronger heterocyclic forms with increasing incubation time. These processes could also hold true for soils, and a slow nonextractable residue formation with time could be related to a slow increase of the amount of covalently bound sulfonamide and the strength of bonding.

Temporal-spatially transformed synthesis and formation mechanism of gold bellflowers.

Anisotropic gold nanostructures with unique plasmonic properties, specifically the strong absorption of light in the near-infrared region (650-900 nm) due to the excitation of plasmon oscillations, have been widely employed as photothermal conversion agents (PTCAs) for cancer photothermal therapy (PTT). However, the reported PTCAs show suboptimal photothermal conversion efficiency (η), even gold nanocages (η = 63%), which limits their biomedical applications. Herein, we fabricated gold bellflowers (GBFs) with an ultrahigh photothermal conversion efficiency (η = 74%) via a novel liquid/liquid/gas triphasic interface system, using chloroauric acid as a gold source, and o-phenetidine as a reducing agent. The well-defined GBFs with multiple-branched petals show adjustable localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) from 760 to 1100 nm by tuning the petal length and circular bottom diameter. Originating from the monophasic and biphasic systems used in the creation of gold nanourchins (GNUs) and gold microspheres (GMPs) respectively, the triphasic interface system successfully produced GBFs. The possible formation mechanisms of GNUs, GMPs, and GBFs in the different systems were also investigated and discussed. We found that the formation mechanism of GNUs and GBFs followed classical crystallization, while the formation of GMPs followed non-classical crystallization.

A novel electrophilic reagent, 4-(N-chloroformylmethyl-N-methyl)amino- 7-N,N-dimethylaminosulphonyl-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (DBD-COCl) for fluorometric detection of alcohols, phenols, amines and thiols.

A novel electrophilic reagent for alcohols, phenols, amines and thiols, 4-(N-chloroformylmethyl-N-methyl)amino-7-N,N-dimethylaminosulph onyl-2,1,3- benzoxadiazole (DBD-COCl) was synthesized. The reactivity of the reagent to these nucleophiles was studied using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with precolumn derivatization techniques. DBD-COCl reacted in benzene solution at the room temperature or 60 degrees C with androsterone (a representative of hydroxyls), (-)-mandelic and D,L-lactic acid (hydroxy acid), estrone (phenol), benzylamine (primary amine), phenetidine (aromatic amine) and alpha-mercapto-N,2-naphthylacetamide (thiol) to give fluorescent products bearing fluorescence wavelengths at between 543 nm and 555 nm (excitation at between 437 nm and 445 nm). The base catalyst, quinuclidine was required to complete the reaction with the nucleophiles except aromatic amines. The reaction solution was subjected to a reversed phase HPLC and the detection limits of the derivatives were at the femto mol range on column.