The as-synthesized Zr-SBA-15 catalysts with tunable mesoporous structures showed excellent catalytic performance for the conversion of carbohydrates to methyl lactate in a "onepot" process using near-critical methanol or methanol-water mixture as the solvents. The effects of reaction conditions, including temperature, reaction time, and catalyst loading amount, on the conversions of carbohydrates and the yields of methyl lactate were investigated. The high yields of methyl lactate, up to 41 % and 44%, were produced from pentose and hexose, respectively, in the near-critical methanol at 240°C. Moreover, the Si/Zr ratio of the Zr-SBA-15 catalysts profoundly affected the Lewis acidity and therefore the catalytic activity and selectivity to methyl lactate in the conversion of carbohydrates. The pore size of the Zr-SBA-15 catalysts, tuned by the synthesis temperature, strongly affected the formation of solid residues. The key intermediates such as glyceraldehyde, glycolaldehyde, and pyruvaldehyde were used as probe reactants to understand the mechanism. The role of the Zr-SBA-15 catalyst in the aldol-and retro-aldol condensation, isomerization, and Cannizzaro reactions of carbohydrates and their derivatives was discussed. Furthermore, 28% and 27% yields of methyl lactate were obtained from cellulose and starch, respectively, in methanol-water mixture (5 wt% water and 95 wt% methanol) at 240°C. The Zr-SBA-15 catalyst was relatively stable in short term without regeneration.

No abstract

Biomass-derived ethyl lactate is a green solvent with a growing market as the replacement for petroleum-derived toxic organic solvents. Here we report, for the first time, the production of ethyl lactate directly from cellulose with the mesoporous Zr-SBA-15 silicate catalyst in a supercritical mixture of ethanol and water. The relatively strong Lewis and weak Brønsted acid sites on the catalyst, as well as the surface hydrophobicity, were beneficial to the reaction and led to synergy during consecutive reactions, such as depolymerization, retro-aldol condensation, and esterification. Under the optimum reaction conditions, ∼33 % yield of ethyl lactate was produced from cellulose with the Zr-SBA-15 catalyst at 260 °C in supercritical 95:5 (w/w) ethanol/water.

Head-tilt maneuver assists with achieving airway patency during resuscitation. However, the relationship between angle of head-tilt and airway patency has not been defined. Our objective was to define an optimal head-tilt position for airway patency in neonates (age: 0–28 days) and young infants (age: 29 days–4 months). We performed a retrospective study of head and neck magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of neonates and infants to define the angle of head-tilt for airway patency. We excluded those with an artificial airway or an airway malformation. We defined head-tilt angle a priori as the angle between occipito-ophisthion line and ophisthion-C7 spinous process line on the sagittal MR images. We evaluated medical records for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) and exposure to sedation during MRI. We analyzed MRI of head and neck regions of 63 children (53 neonates and 10 young infants). Of these 63 children, 17 had evidence of airway obstruction and 46 had a patent airway on MRI. Also, 16/63 had underlying HIE and 47/63 newborn infants had exposure to sedative medications during MRI. In spontaneously breathing and neurologically depressed newborn infants, the head-tilt angle (median ± SD) associated with patent airway (125.3° ± 11.9°) was significantly different from that of blocked airway (108.2° ± 17.1°) (Mann Whitney U-test, p = 0.0045). The logistic regression analysis showed that the proportion of patent airways progressively increased with an increasing head-tilt angle, with > 95% probability of a patent airway at head-tilt angle 144–150°.

Whether synthetic genomes can power life has attracted broad interest in the synthetic biology field, especially when the synthetic genomes are extensively modified with thousands of designer features. Here we report de novo synthesis of the largest eukaryotic chromosome thus far, synIV, a 1,454,621-bp Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome resulting from extensive genome streamlining and modification. During the construction of synIV, we developed a megachunk assembly method, combined with a hierarchical integration strategy. This strategy significantly increased the accuracy and flexibility of synthetic chromosome construction and facilitated chromosome debugging. In addition to the drastic sequence changes made to synIV by rewriting it, we further manipulated the three-dimensional structure of synIV in the yeast nucleus to explore spatial gene regulation within the nuclear space. Surprisingly, we found few gene expression changes, suggesting that positioning inside the yeast nucleoplasm plays a minor role in gene regulation. Therefore, our manipulation of the spatial structure of the largest synthetic yeast chromosome shed light on higher-order architectural design of the synthetic genomes.