Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are undoubtedly treasured natural resources for discovering effective medicines in treating and preventing various diseases. However, it is still extremely difficult for screening the bioactive compounds due to the tremendous constituents in TCMs. In this work, the chemical composition of toad venom was comprehensively analyzed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with high-resolution LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometry and 93 compounds were detected. Among them, 17 constituents were confirmed by standard substances and 8 constituents were detected in toad venom for the first time. Further, a compound database of toad venom containing the fullest compounds was further constructed using UPLC coupled with high-sensitivity Qtrap MS. Then a target cell-based approach for screening potential bioactive compounds from toad venom was developed by analyzing the target cell extracts. The reliability of this method was validated by negative controls and positive controls. In total, 17 components in toad venom were discovered to interact with the target cancer cells. Further, in vitro pharmacological trials were performed to confirm the anti-cancer activity of four of them. The results showed that the six bufogenins and seven bufotoxins detected in our research represented a promising resource to explore bufogenins/bufotoxins-based anticancer agents with low cardiotoxic effect. The target cell-based screening method coupled with the compound database of toad venom constructed by UPLC-Qtrap-MS with high sensitivity provide us a new strategy to rapidly screen and identify the potential bioactive constituents with low content in natural products, which was beneficial for drug discovery from other TCMs. ᅟ Graphical abstract.
The poor stability, in particular with respect to temperature, moisture, and light exposure, remains a ubiquitous impediment virtually for metal halide perovskite materials and devices in their future practical application. Herein, from the perspective of precursor solution chemistry, ionic liquid solvent methylammonium acetate (MAAc) is introduced to prepare high‐quality MAPbBr3 perovskite thin films in a one‐step air‐processing process without anti‐solvent treatment. Due to formation of pinhole‐free, uniform, and compact MAPbBr3 perovskite film, excellent amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) with high emission efficiency and low threshold is obtained under nanosecond laser. Furthermore, the prepared MAPbBr3 perovskite exhibits excellent two‐photon induced ASE with a low threshold of 100 µJ cm−2 under 800 nm femtosecond laser excitation. More importantly, in comparison with the traditional MAPbBr3 films prepared with N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), the MAPbBr3 film prepared with MAAc shows excellent optical stability: no signs of degradation under more than 2 h pulsed laser excitation, stable ASE emission spectra under the humidity of 95% and ASE spectra can be stimulated when films are kept in air for more than 6000 h without encapsulation.
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