Study on the blockage in pores due to asphaltene precipitation during different CO2 flooding schemes with NMR technique

CO₂ flooding is an effective way in the tertiary oil recovery. While asphaltene often precipitates from the crude oil during the CO₂ flooding, and the mechanisms of blockage resulting from asphaltene precipitation is still unclear in different CO₂ flooding schemes. In this work, pure-CO₂ flooding, water-alternating-CO₂ flooding (WAG), and CO₂-foam flooding were applied to conduct the core-flooding experiments. Then, as for each flooding scheme, we quantitatively investigated the blockage degree in different pores due to asphaltene precipitation with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique. Tests results show that CO₂-foam flooding has a relatively higher blockage degree both in the smaller pores and the larger pores than WAG and pure-CO₂ flooding. Although pure-CO₂ flooding has the least asphaltene precipitation and blockage degree among three flooding schemes, its oil recovery degree is far less than the other two flooding schemes. Compared with pure-CO₂ flooding and CO₂-foam flooding, WAG flooding has the highest oil recovery and an acceptable asphaltene precipitation.     

基于分形理论的低渗透砂岩储层孔隙结构评价方法

DY凹陷南坡沙河街组沙四段(E_(S4))储层以低渗透为显著特征,孔隙结构复杂,给储层有效性评价带来一定的困难。根据岩心、铸体薄片、压汞等分析资料,对E_(S4)低渗透砂岩储层孔隙结构进行分析,将其细分为3大类5小类。基于分形理论,利用压汞曲线、核磁共振T_2谱及CT图像分别探讨了分形维数和孔隙结构类型间的关系,明确了分形维数可以用于孔隙结构类型的表征,并试图推广运用到测井曲线上,但发现测井曲线分形与孔隙结构类型关系不明显,进而通过J函数提取了更能反映孔隙结构的参数R(K/ф~(1/2))曲线,而不同孔隙结构类型的储层可通过求取R曲线的盒维数(D_R)进行表征,并将声波、密度曲线结合起来,进行三维交会,基本能够识别井筒剖面不同层段的孔隙结构类型。     

水热法制备3D花球状Bi2SiO5及其光催化油酸酯化反应

化石燃料资源的枯竭和环境污染等问题,使寻找生物燃料等可持续、可再生能源成为世界关注的焦点。本文通过简单水热法制备3D花球状Bi₂SiO₅,并用于在模拟太阳光照射下油酸与甲醇的光催化酯化反应。为了解Bi₂SiO₅催化剂的物理、化学和光学性质,采用X射线衍射（XRD）、X射线光电子能谱（XPS）、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、高分辨率透射电子显微镜（HRTEM）、氨-程序升温脱附（NH₃-TPD）和紫外-可见漫反射光谱（UV-vis DRS）对其进行表征,且通过傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）分析反应产物成分组成。酯化反应产物油酸甲酯的产率通过¹H NMR进行定量分析,计算过程简单、结果精确可靠。在模拟太阳光照射下,最优反应条件为：醇油比为12∶1、催化剂用量为5%（质量分数）、反应温度为70℃、光照反应时间为6h,油酸甲酯产率为28.8%。核磁共振氢谱（¹H NMR）分析结果显示油酸甲酯选择性高达100%,且催化剂循环3次后油酸甲酯产率仍可达26.8%,稳定性强。电子自旋共振（ESR）测试表明,Bi₂SiO₅光催化酯化反应过程中存在羟基自由基（·OH）和超氧基自由基（·O{}_{\mathrm{2}}^{-}）。基于Bi₂SiO₅首次用于光催化酯化反应,为解释其具有催化活性的原因,提出了其光催化酯化反应机理。     

高熔体强度聚丙烯中长支链结构的分析与表征方法新进展

高熔体强度聚丙烯（high melt strength polypropylene,HMSPP）是具有较高熔体强度和弹性、在熔融拉伸时存在应变硬化现象的一种新型聚丙烯材料。近年来,对长支链（LCB）型HMSPP（LCB-HMSPP）的研发引起了学术界和工业界的广泛关注。在利用各种方法和工艺制备LCB-HMSPP之后,所得聚合物是否具有长支链结构,长支链的化学组成、密度及链长度等拓扑结构信息,都需要通过各种仪器分析与表征方法对其进行定性或定量验证。本文着重对傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）法、核磁共振碳谱（¹³C NMR）法、凝胶渗透色谱（GPC）及其联用方法、流变学表征法和结晶行为表征法在LCB-HMSPP中LCB链结构分析与表征中的研究新进展进行总结和评述,介绍了这些方法各自的优缺点和适用性并对这些方法进行了对比,最后对用于LCB-HMSPP中LCB链结构的分析与表征方法研究的未来发展及应用前景进行了展望。     

填充油中多环芳烃含量的测定

建立采用核磁共振波谱法测定填充油中多环芳烃湾区氢(H_Bay)含量的方法。结果表明,在称样量为0.1 g、处理方式为样品经硅胶柱纯化后用氘代氯仿溶解的条件下,采用核磁共振波谱法进行测定,并按给定公式计算得到H_Bay含量,该方法的测试结果具有很好的重复性和再现性。     

Small‐Molecule Inhibitors of AF6 PDZ‐Mediated Protein–Protein Interactions

PDZ (PSD‐95, Dlg, ZO‐1) domains are ubiquitous interaction modules that are involved in many cellular signal transduction pathways. Interference with PDZ‐mediated protein–protein interactions has important implications in disease‐related signaling processes. For this reason, PDZ domains have gained attention as potential targets for inhibitor design and, in the long run, drug development. Herein we report the development of small molecules to probe the function of the PDZ domain from human AF6 (ALL1‐fused gene from chromosome 6), which is an essential component of cell–cell junctions. These compounds bind to AF6 PDZ with substantially higher affinity than the peptide (Ile‐Gln‐Ser‐Val‐Glu‐Val) derived from its natural ligand, EphB2. In intact cells, the compounds inhibit the AF6–Bcr interaction and interfere with epidermal growth factor (EGF)‐dependent signaling.     

Asymmetric Contribution of Aromatic Interactions Stems from Spatial Positioning of the Interacting Aryl Pairs in β‐Hairpins

Isolated aromatic interactions in designed octapeptide β‐hairpin scaffolds display a near‐universal T‐shaped face‐to‐edge geometry in all positional permutations, with the exception of aryl‐Trp interactions. The heterogeneous asymmetric indole ring of Trp competes for a “shielding” face geometry, which lowers the scaffold stability in FtE aryl‐Trp pairs. Assessment of the contributions of aryl pairs (in the absence of solvent‐driven interactions) to the overall β‐hairpin structure reveals the superiority of Trp‐Phe and Trp‐Tyr contributions over the well‐established scaffold stabilization by Trp‐Trp.     

Anti‐HIV Small‐Molecule Binding in the Peptide Subpocket of the CXCR4:CVX15 Crystal Structure

The CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) is involved in chemotaxis and serves as a coreceptor for T‐tropic HIV‐1 viral entry, thus making this receptor an attractive drug target. Recently, crystal structures of CXCR4 were reported as complexes with the small molecule IT1t and the CVX15 peptide. Follow‐up efforts to model different antagonists into the small molecule CXCR4:IT1t crystal structure did not generate poses consistent with either the X‐ray crystal structure or site‐directed mutagenesis (SDM). Here, we compare the binding pockets of the two CXCR4 crystal structures, revealing differences in helices IV, V, VI, and VII, with major differences for the His203 residue buried in the binding pocket. The small molecule antagonist AMD11070 was docked into both CXCR4 crystal structures. An AMD11070 pose identified from the CXCR4:CVX15 model presented interactions with Asp171, Glu288, Trp94, and Asp97, consistent with published SDM data, thus suggesting it is the bioactive pose. A CXCR4 receptor model was optimized around this pose of AMD11070, and the resulting model correlated HIV‐1 inhibition with MM‐GBSA docking scores for a congeneric AMD11070‐like series. Subsequent NAMFIS NMR results successfully linked the proposed binding pose to an independent experimental structure. These results strongly suggest that not all small molecules will bind to CXCR4 in a similar manner as IT1t. Instead, the CXCR4:CVX15 crystal structure may provide a binding locus for small organic molecules that is more suitable than the secondary IT1t site. This work is expected to provide modeling insights useful for future CXCR4 antagonist and X4‐tropic HIV‐1 based drug design efforts.     

Specificity of a UDP‐GalNAc Pyranose–Furanose Mutase: A Potential Therapeutic Target for Campylobacter jejuni Infections

Pyranose–furanose mutases are essential enzymes in the life cycle of a number of microorganisms, but are absent in mammalian systems, and hence represent novel targets for drug development. To date, all such mutases show preferential recognition of a single substrate (e.g., UDP‐Gal). We report here the detailed structural characterization of the first bifunctional pyranose–furanose mutase, which recognizes both UDP‐Gal and UDP‐GalNAc. The enzyme under investigation (cjUNGM) is involved in the biosynthesis of capsular polysaccharides (CPSs) in Campylobacter jejuni 11168. These CPSs are known virulence factors that are required for adhesion and invasion of human epithelial cells. Using a combination of UV/visible spectroscopy, X‐ray crystallography, saturation transfer difference NMR spectroscopy, molecular dynamics and CORCEMA‐ST calculations, we have characterized the binding of the enzyme to both UDP‐Galp and UDP‐GalpNAc, and compared these interactions with those of a homologous monofunctional mutase enzyme from E. coli (ecUGM). These studies reveal that two arginines in cjUNGM, Arg59 and Arg168, play critical roles in the catalytic mechanism of the enzyme and in controlling its specificity to ultimately lead to a GalfNAc‐containing CPS. In ecUGM, these arginines are replaced with histidine and lysine, respectively, and this results in an enzyme that is selective for UDP‐Gal. We propose that these changes in amino acids allow C. jejuni 11168 to produce suitable quantities of the sugar nucleotide substrate required for the assembly of a CPS containing GalfNAc, which is essential for viability.     

Using 15N‐Ammonium to Characterise and Map Potassium Binding Sites in Proteins by NMR Spectroscopy

A variety of enzymes are activated by the binding of potassium ions. The potassium binding sites of these enzymes are very specific, but ammonium ions can often replace potassium ions in vitro because of their similar ionic radii. In these cases, ammonium can be used as a proxy for potassium to characterise potassium binding sites in enzymes: the ¹H,¹⁵N spin‐pair of enzyme‐bound ¹⁵NH₄⁺ can be probed by ¹⁵N‐edited heteronuclear NMR experiments. Here, we demonstrate the use of NMR spectroscopy to characterise binding of ammonium ions to two different enzymes: human histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8), which is activated allosterically by potassium, and the bacterial Hsp70 homologue DnaK, for which potassium is an integral part of the active site. Ammonium activates both enzymes in a similar way to potassium, thus supporting this non‐invasive approach. Furthermore, we present an approach to map the observed binding site onto the structure of HDAC8. Our method for mapping the binding site is general and does not require chemical shift assignment of the enzyme resonances.