Effects of two-step homogenization on precipitation behavior of Al3Zr dispersoids and recrystallization resistance in 7150 aluminum alloy

The effect of two-step homogenization treatments on the precipitation behavior of Al3Zr dispersoids was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in 7150 alloys. Two-step treatments with the first step in the temperature range of 300–400 °C followed by the second step at 470 °C were applied during homogenization. Compared with the conventional one-step homogenization, both a finer particle size and a higher number density of Al3Zr dispersoids were obtained with two-step homogenization treatments. The most effective dispersoid distribution was attained using the first step held at 300 °C. In addition, the two-step homogenization minimized the precipitate free zones and greatly increased the number density of dispersoids near dendrite grain boundaries. The effect of two-step homogenization on recrystallization resistance of 7150 alloys with different Zr contents was quantitatively analyzed using the electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) technique. It was found that the improved dispersoid distribution through the two-step treatment can effectively inhibit the recrystallization process during the post-deformation annealing for 7150 alloys containing 0.04–0.09 wt.% Zr, resulting in a remarkable reduction of the volume fraction and grain size of recrystallization grains

Effects of homogenization treatment on recrystallization behavior of 7150 aluminum sheet during post-rolling annealing

The effects of two homogenization treatments applied to the direct chill (DC) cast billet on the recrystallization behavior in 7150 aluminum alloy during post-rolling annealing have been investigated using the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique. Following hot and cold rolling to the sheet, measured orientation maps, the recrystallization fraction and grain size, the misorientation angle and the subgrain size were used to characterize the recovery and recrystallization processes at different annealing temperatures. The results were compared between the conventional one-step homogenization and the new two-step homogenization, with the first step being pretreated at 250 °C. Al3Zr dispersoids with higher densities and smaller sizes were obtained after the two-step homogenization, which strongly retarded subgrain/grain boundary mobility and inhibited recrystallization. Compared with the conventional one-step homogenized samples, a significantly lower recrystallized fraction and a smaller recrystallized grain size were obtained under all annealing conditions after cold rolling in the two-step homogenized samples

Natural variation of RGN1a regulates grain number per panicle in japonica rice

The grain number per panicle (GNP) is an important yield component. Identifying naturally favorable variations in GNP will benefit high-yield rice breeding. Here, we performed a genome-wide association study using a mini-core collection of 266 cultivated rice accessions with deep sequencing data and investigated the phenotype for three years. Three genes, i.e., TOTOU1 (TUT1), Grain height date 7 (Ghd7), and Days to heading 7/Grain height date 7.1/Pseudo-Response Regulator37 (DTH7/Ghd7.1/OsPRR37), which regulate GNP, were found in the quantitative trait loci (QTL) identified in this study. A stable QTL, qGNP1.3, which showed a strong correlation with variations in GNP, was repeatedly detected. After functional and transgenic phenotype analysis, we identified a novel gene, regulator of grain number 1a (RGN1a), which codes for protein kinase, controlling GNP in rice. The RGN1a mutation caused 37.2%, 27.8%, 51.2%, and 25.5% decreases in grain number, primary branch number per panicle, secondary branch number per panicle, and panicle length, respectively. Furthermore, breeding utilization analysis revealed that the additive effects of the dominant allelic variants of RGN1a and DTH7 played a significant role in increasing the grain number per panicle in japonica rice. Our findings enrich the gene pool and provide an effective strategy for the genetic improvement of grain numbers

Reaction characteristics of metal-salt coordinated deep eutectic solvents during lignocellulosic pretreatment

A binary deep eutectic solvent consisting of choline chloride and glycerol (ChCl/Gly) is proven to be ineffective in lignocellulosic pretreatment, and arbitrarily screening coordination agents makes it difficult to directionally construct a valid solvent. This study investigated the designable diversity of ternary ChCl/Gly coordinated with various metal-salts by elucidating solvent properties and reaction characteristics. Alkaline/acidic strengths and hydrogen-bonding forces were key factors for component fractionation. Pretreatment performance was typically poor for solvents with few acidic sites and active protons (i.e., ChCl/Gly-KCl and MgCl2), as well as those with close proximity of H-bond donor and acceptor abilities (ChCl/Gly-ZnCl2). By contrast, strong alkaline ChCl/Gly-K2CO3 could achieved 72 % of delignification with a remarkable holo-cellulose preservation (70.8–80.9 %). Delignification underwent an independent rate-control of solvent diffusion and surface reaction with an endothermic nature (17.1 kJ/mol of ΔH and 20.3 kJ/mol of apparent activation energy). High temperature was beneficial for mitigating diffusion constraint at the initial pretreatment stage, maximally increasing the reaction rate by 7.7-fold. Moreover, Lewis acidic ChCl/Gly-FeCl3 (or AlCl3) removed 76–84.4 % of hemicellulose and 47.6–61.9 % of lignin while significantly deconstructing the aryl-ether bonds and β-O-4 linkages. But for acidic ChCl/Gly solvents, biomass dissolution was inconformity with the independent diffusion/reaction-controlling process, owing to the excessive hemicellulose degradation and hydrolytic by-product formation (maximally 91 g/kg xylose and 4 g/kg furans). Based on the lignin structural characterization, the potential reaction mechanism related to solvent properties was proposed to develop efficient ternary coordinated deep eutectic solvents.</p

Deep eutectic solvents promote in-situ hydrogenolysis of Evodia lepta residue in preparing small aromatic phenol ketones

A deep eutectic solvent (DES) system of ChCl-MeOH-AlCl3·6H2O was developed for simultaneous dissolution of lignin from Evodia lepta residue and in-situ hydrogenolysis of lignin to aromatic phenol ketones using a Ru-C catalyst. The use of this DES led to a delignification of reached 93.1 % and cellulose and hemicellulose retentions of 95.3 % and 47.8 % respectively at the molar ratio of 1:12:0.2. While the total aromatic phenol ketones yield reached 92.4 % under 130 °C for 3 h with 17.2 % yields of vanillyl methyl ketone, 9.1 % syringylacetone, 25.4 % dihydroeugenol, and 40.7 % 4-propyl-2,6-dimethoxyphenol. The improved Ru-C properties in the DES system like thermal stability, the specific surface area and reduction potential contributed on the exceptional high product yields. The aromatic phenol ketones were 312.5 % higher than the reported yields of hydrogenolysis of aromatic monomers by ethanol/1,4-dioxane/formic acid under 300 °C–2 h conditions.</p

A rapid LC-MS/MS method for simultaneous determination of quetiapine and duloxetine in rat plasma and its application to pharmacokinetic interaction study

Combinations of new antidepressants like duloxetine and second-generation antipsychotics like quetiapine are used in clinical treatment of major depressive disorder, as well as in forensic toxicology scenarios. The drug–drug interaction (DDI) between quetiapine and duloxetine is worthy of attention to avoid unnecessary adverse effects. However, no pharmacokinetic DDI studies of quetiapine and duloxetine have been reported. In the present study, a rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for simultaneous determination of quetiapine and duloxetine in rat plasma. A one-step protein precipitation with acetonitrile was applied for sample preparation. The analytes were eluted on an Eclipse XDB-C18 column using the mixture of acetonitrile and 2 mM ammonium formate containing 0.1% formic acid at a gradient elution within 6.0 min. Quantification was performed in multiple-reaction-monitoring mode with the ion transitions m/z 384.4 → 253.2 for quetiapine, m/z 298.1 → 154.1 for duloxetine and m/z 376.2 → 165.2 for IS (haloperidol), respectively. Good linearity was obtained in the range of 0.50–100 ng/mL for quetiapine (r2 = 0.9972) and 1.00–200 ng/mL for duloxetine (r2 = 0.9982) using 50 μL of rat plasma, respectively. The method was fully validated with accuracy, precision, matrix effects, recovery and stability. The validated data have met the acceptance criteria in FDA guideline. The method was applied to a pharmacokinetic interaction study and the results indicated that quetiapine had significant effect on the enhanced plasma exposure of duloxetine in rats under combination use. This study could be readily applied in therapeutic drug monitoring of major depressive disorder patients receiving such drug combinations. Keywords: LC-MS/MS, Quetiapine, Duloxetine, Pharmacokinetics, Drug–drug interactio