Latest ArticlesHepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (HIRI) is the cause of postoperative hepatic dysfunction and failure, and even death. As an important biological effector molecule, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) of mitochondria as a gasotransmitter that is usually used to protect against acute HIRI injury. However, the exact relationship between HIRI and mitochondrial H2S remains tangled due to the lack of an effective analytical method. Herein, we have fabricated a mitochondria-targeted H2S-activatable fluorogenic probe (Mito-GW) to explore the stability of mitochondrial H2S and track the changes of mitochondrial H2S during the HIRI. By virtue of pyridinium electropositivity and its amphiphilicity, Mito-GW could accumulate in mitochondria. It goes through an analyte-prompted immolation when reacts with H2S, resulting in the releasing of the fluorophore (GW). Therefore, the extent of Mito-GW conversion to GW can be used to evaluate the changes of mitochondrial H2S level in living cells and tissues. As proof-of-principle, we have used Mito-GW to demonstrate the mitochondria H2S-levels increase and then decrease during HIRI in vitro and in vivo. Our research highlights the tremendous potential of Mito-GW as a mitochondrial H2S fluorogenic probe in elucidating the pathogenesis of HIRI, providing a powerful tool for promoting future research on hepatology.
NH3-SCR was one of the most promising deNOx technologies and it has been widely applied in industrial NOx reduction. However, with the further development of energy transformation in power generation sector, the development of NH3-SCR catalysts is facing some new challenges. It is becoming an urgent problem to solve low catalytic activity and stability of NH3-SCR catalysts at the working condition of ultra-low temperature (≤ 200 ℃) and high concentrations of H2O + SO2 due to the gradual deployment of new energy power plants. Furthermore, the traditional coal-fired power plants would need flexible operation with the increasing share of renewable energy generation. The NH3-SCR catalysts which were applied in coal-fired power industry would be requested to work in a wide temperature window from 200 ℃ to 500 ℃ in the near future. Therefore, in this review, we summarized the progress of NH3-SCR catalysts in solving these different industrial problems in recent years. And the research directions which were deserved to be focused on the development of NH3-SCR catalysts for the energy transition of power generation sector are proposed.
Three novel matrine-type alkaloids (1–3) and two unprecedented aloperine-type alkaloids (4 and 5) were isolated from the root of Sophora tonkinensis and the seeds of Sophora alopecuroides respectively. Notably, compound 1 possessed an unprecedented 6/5/6 tricyclic skeleton, while compounds 2 and 3 characterized by rare 6/6/5/6 tetracyclic system and 6/6/6/6/6 pentacyclic system respectively. Moreover, compound 4 possessed an unprecedented 6/7/6/6 tetracyclic core, and compound 5 characterized by rare 6/6/6/6 tetracyclic skeleton. Their structures were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic data analysis and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Biological tests indicated that compound 5 displayed significant anti-tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) activity compared with the positive control ningnanmycin.
Inspired by our previous studies to discover novel human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) by targeting the tolerant region II of the NNRTIs binding pocket (NNIBP), a series of novel benzo[4,5]thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives were designed through structure-based drug design as novel potent HIV-1 NNRTIs. The results showed that compound 16b was the most active inhibitor, exhibiting 50% effective concentration (EC50) values from 0.021 µmol/L to 0.298 µmol/L against wild-type (WT) and a panel of NNRTIs-resistant HIV-1 strains. Moreover, 16b was demonstrated with a significantly low 50% cytotoxicity concentration (CC50) value (> 200 µmol/L) and high selectivity index (SI) values. In addition, 16b yielded moderate reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme inhibition with a 50% inhibition concentration (IC50) value of 0.183 µmol/L, which demonstrated that it acted as HIV-1 NNRTIs. The binding mode of 16b with RT was also illustrated via molecular docking. Overall, this work provided a novel lead compound for developing potent HIV-1 NNRTIs.
Artemisinin (ART) resistance has been an emerging clinical problem, severely compromising antimalarial efficacy and threatening the global malaria elimination campaign. Albeit intensive studies about the molecular mechanism for ART resistance are under way, no effective therapeutic targets for reversing resistance have been applied. Here, we explore glutathione (GSH) as a therapeutic target to develop a thermo-responsive nanoplatform to specifically co-deliver ART and GSH synthesis inhibitor (L-buthionine sulfoximine, BSO) in a sustained manner, effectively reversing ART resistance in vivo. By combining with BSO, ART exerts increased antimalarial activity with reduced half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) by 7.43-fold in ART-resistant strains. This work reveals that the GSH in ART-resistant parasites can be a promising therapeutic target for reversing ART resistance, paving the way for developing drug candidates and intelligent nanomedicines in malaria therapy.
Triphenylamine (TPA)-based aggregation-induced emission luminogens (TPA-AIEgens), a type of photoactive material utilizing the typical TPA moiety, has recently attracted increasing attention for the diagnostics and treatment of tumors due to their remarkable chemo-physical performance in optoelectronic research. TPA-AIEgens are distinguished from other photoactive agents by their strong fluorescence, good sensitivity, high signal-to-noise ratio, resistance to photobleaching, and lack of high concentration or aggregation-caused fluoresce quenching effects. In this review, we summarize the current advancements and the biomedical progress of TPA-AIEgens in tumor theranostics. First, the design principles of TPA-AIEgens photoactive agents as well as the advanced targeting strategies for nuclei, cell membranes, cell organelle and tumors were introduced, respectively. Next, the applications of TPA-AIEgens in tumor diagnosis and therapeutic techniques were reviewed. Last, the challenges and prospects of TPA-AIEgens for cancer therapy were performed. The given landscape of the TPA-AIEgens hereby is meaningful for the further design and utilization of the novel photoactive material, which could be beneficial for the development of clinic applications.
Corrosion of reinforcement induced by chloride invasion is extensively considered as the dominating deterioration mechanism of reinforced concrete (RC) structures, leading to serious safety hazards and tremendous economic losses. However, it still lacks well dispersive and cost-efficient nanomaterials to improve the anti-chloride-corrosion ability of RC structures. Herein, specific carbon dots (CDs) with high dispersity and low cost are deliberately designed, successfully prepared by hydrothermal processing, and then firstly applied to immensely enhance chloride binding performance of cement, thereby contributing to suppressing the corrosion of reinforcement. Specifically, the tailored CDs are composed of the carbon core with highly crystalline sp2 C structures and oxygen-containing groups connecting on the carbon core; The typical equilibrium test confirms that with respect to that of the blank cement paste, the chloride binding capacity of cement paste involving 0.2 wt% (by weight of cement) CDs is increased by 109% after 14-day exposure to 3 mol/L NaCl solution; according to comprehensive analyses of phase compositions, the chloride binding mechanism of CDs-modified cement is rationally attributed to the fact that the incorporation of CDs advances the formation of calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H) gels and Friedel's salt (Fs), thus enormously enhancing the physically adsorbed and chemically bound chloride ions of cement pastes. This work not only firstly provides a novel high-dispersity and low-cost nanomaterial toward the durability enhancement of RC structures, but also broadens the application of CDs in the field of engineering, conducing to stimulating their industrialization development.
As a type of new carbon-based nanomaterials, carbon dots (CDs) possess exceptional optical properties, making them highly desirable for use in fluorescent sensors. However, the CDs with deep-red (DR) or near-infrared (NIR) emission have rarely been reported. In this work, we prepared deep-red emissive fluorine-doped carbon quantum dots (F-CDs) by introducing a precursor simultaneously containing fluorine and amidogen. The synergistic effect of nitrogen doping and D-π-A pattern production contributed to the maximum emission of F-CDs at 636 nm with an absolute quantum yield of 36.00% ± 0.68%. Moreover, we designed an F-CDs-based fluorescence assay to determine the content of hypochlorite (ClO−), with a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 15.4 nmol/L, indicating the high sensitivity of F-CDs to ClO−. In real samples, the F-CDs-based fluorescent sensor exhibited excellent sensitivity and selectivity in the detection of ClO−, with an error below 2%, suggesting their great potential in daily life. In cancer cell imaging, the F-CDs not only demonstrated high sensitivity to ClO− but also exhibited excellent mitochondria targeting, as evidenced by the high Pearson's correlation coefficient (PCC) of 0.93 in colocalization analysis. The work presented here suggests the great potential of replacing commercial dyes with F-CDs for highly specific mitochondria labeling and cell imaging.
Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction at mild conditions is a promising strategy to transform greenhouse gases into fuels or value-added chemicals to solve the increasingly serious environmental and energy problems. The most crucial factor in determining the CO2 reduction performance is to develop efficient electrocatalysts with high selectivity and stability. Among the various electrocatalysts, indium-based catalysts have attracted extensive attention due to their non-toxicity, low cost, and high formic acid/formate selectivity. In this work, we comprehensively review the recent development and research progress of indium-based electrocatalysts for CO2RR. The reaction mechanism, reaction pathways, structure–activity relationship, and strategies to enhance the activity of CO2RR on indium-based catalysts have also been briefly presented and discussed. Finally, the existing challenges and future developments for indium-based high-performance catalysts for CO2RR are proposed.
C-Oligosaccharides are rare in nature and possess diverse bioactivities. However, their chemical synthesis faces many challenges. In this work, enzymatic introduction of C-linked sugar chains to target aglycones was successfully achieved by multi-enzymatic cascade reactions. A C-glycosyltransferase from Aloe barbadensis was employed to introduce the first C-linked glucose and then a cyclomaltodextrin glucanotransferase from Bacillus licheniformis was used to extend the sugar chain. A total of twenty C-oligosaccharides with 2–6 sugars were synthesized from scale-up reactions and exhibited good water solubility and sodium-dependent glucose transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitory activity. Furthermore, a glucoamylase was used to control the length of the sugar chain and the C-maltosides were efficiently synthesized. These findings not only expanded the structural diversity of C-oligosaccharides, but also provided a strategy for the modification of C-glycoside drugs to improve the druggability.
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