Latest ArticlesOver the last 50 years, the explosive adoption of modern agricultural practices has led to an enormous increase in the emission of non-biodegradable and highly biotoxic ions into the hydrosphere. Excess intake of such ions, even essential trace elements such as Cu2+ and F−, can have serious consequences on human health. Therefore, to ensure safe drinking water and regulate wastewater discharge, photoelectrochemical (PEC) online sensors were developed, with advantages such as low energy consumption, inherent miniaturization, simple instrumentation, and fast response. However, there is no publicly available systematic review of the recent advances in PEC ion sensors available in the literature since January 2017. Thus, this review covers the various strategies that have been used to enhance the sensitivity, selectivity, and limit of detection for PEC ion sensors. The photoelectrochemically active materials, conductive substrates, electronic transfer, and performance of various PEC sensors are discussed in detail and divided into sections based on the measurement principle and detected ion species. We conclude this review by highlighting the challenges and potential future avenues of research associated with the development of novel high-performance PEC sensors.
The application of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) nanozymes in biosensing has been extensively investigated, however, till now there is still no report on photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing based on enzyme memetic properties of MOFs. To further expand the utilization of MOFs nanozymes in biosensing, we developed a label-free homogenous PEC aptasensor for the detection of VEGF165, an important cancer biomarker, based on the DNA-regulated peroxidase-mimetic activity of Fe-MIL-88, a type of MOFs. In this strategy, the peroxidase-mimetic property of MOFs is integrated with the label-free homogeneous PEC sensing approach, and highly sensitive detection of VEGF165 is obtained with a detection limit down to 33 fg/mL, superior or comparable to the previously reported values. Moreover, this approach displays outstanding specificity, and has been successfully used to detect VEGF165 added in diluted serum samples. As far as we know, it is the first example to employ the peroxidase-like activity of MOFs in PEC biosensing, which may find potential application in bioanalysis and early disease diagnosis.
Diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) and related derivatives have drawn great attention due to their applications in organic optical /electronic materials. Progress in these materials is associated with developments in the syntheses of the DPP family. Chemical modification of DPP at nitrogen atom, including N-alkylation and N-arylation, is an effective strategy to improve its physical and chemical properties, such as solubility, optical and semiconducting properties. However, N-arylation of DPPs remains challenging compared to the easily accessible N-alkylation. Herein, the synthesis of N-aryl DPP derivatives and correlated π-expanded DPPs are summarized, and their optical/electronic properties are introduced. The future perspectives of N-aryl DPP derivatives are also discussed.
Inhibiting the side reactions while promoting hydrogenation are the main target for the production of functional anilines from nitroarenes; consequently, the preparation of an ideal catalyst to improve chemical selectivity is one of the hot issues. In this work, we provided an easy-to-prepare catalyst with N-doped carbon layers, where the FexOy nanoparticles were encapsulated and distributed uniformly. The structural features of catalyst were characterized by several techniques, and the selected catalyst was next applied to the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene under varied conditions, involving temperature, holding period and H2 pressure. Subsequently, we conducted the synthesis of more than 16 substrates for the corresponding anilines with varied functional groups. The hydrogenation protocol to gram-scale synthesis as well as lifecycle performance were also demonstrated in the batch reactor, together with the explanation of its catalytic mechanisms. Overall, the present work provides an available preparation of simple but highly efficient catalysts for the production or aromatic amines, which will be benefit for the sustainable development of this field in near future.
As one of the top global health problems, the effective treatment of cancer is one of the most urgent clinical challenges. Currently, the main treatments for cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and gene therapy etc. Chemotherapy is one of the most commonly used treatments, however it has limitations such as highly toxic side effects and low drug utilization rate that limit its application. Gene therapy, as an emerging cancer treatment, has limitations such as drug instability, off-target effects and low internalization efficiency. Poly(amino acid)s carriers with good biocompatibility, degradability and multifunctionality as drug carriers have received much attention, as they can reduce the toxic side effects of chemotherapy, improve drug utilization, and enhance the internalization efficiency and utilization of gene drugs. However, little attention has been paid to the nature of the carriers themselves. This paper reviews the immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, internalization-promoting and apoptosis-promoting functions of poly(amino acid)s drug carriers in tumor therapy to provide a theoretical basis for different carrier-drug-adapted synergistic therapies.
The abnormal activation of BRD4 accelerates the progression of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), developing more precise therapeutics to intervene BRD4 promise to be an excellent opportunity to avoid current limitations of chemotherapy in clinic. Herein, a range of small-molecule PROTACs with the privileged 8-methyl-pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazin-1(2H)-one scaffold were rationally designed, which harbored different carbon or ethylenedioxy chains to degrade BRD4 mediated by the E3 ubiquitin ligase CRBN. Among them, the most potential B24 exhibited remarkable BRD4 degradation and excellent anti-proliferative activities in MV4-11 cells, with values of DC50 and IC50 for 0.75 nmol/L and 0.4 nmol/L, respectively, which were better than the BRD4 inhibitor (+)-JQ-1. Notably, this compound could time-dependently degrade the target protein in the BRD4-, CRBN-, and proteasome-dependent manner. Besides, B24 dramatically decreased the level of proto-oncogene c-Myc, and induced cell apoptosis by arresting the cell cycle in G0/G1 phase, down-regulating Bcl-2 and up-regulating Bax to amplify apoptotic effectors. This proof-of-concept study also highlighted the feasibility of BRD4-based PROTACs as a more powerful strategy against AML.
Activity-based Ubiquitin probes (Ub-ABPs) carrying a reporter group have emerged as effective tools for the investigation of deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs), such as studying the molecular mechanism of DUBs, profiling new DUBs. But so far, the synthesis of commonly used biotin-bearing Ub-ABPs is a technical challenge. Here, we report a one-pot semi-synthetic strategy for the acquiring of Ub-ABPs carrying a biotin tag through sequential enzymatic ligation, N-S acyl transfer and aminolysis reaction without any purification steps. These probes enable to capture the different family of DUBs for enrichment and immunoblotting using the attached biotin tag.
Difluorocarbene has emerged as a valuable intermediate to synthesize fluorides. However, difluorocarbene-derived synthesis of 19F/18F-trifluoromethyl triazoles has not been explored. Herein, we reported the Cu(I)-promoted difluorocarbene-derived 19F/18F-trifluoromethylation of iodotriazoles using KF/K18F as the fluorine source. This approach rapidly generated a wide range of 5-trifluoromethyl-1, 2, 3-triazoles in good yields showing high functional group compatibility. The reaction was effective for late-stage functionalization of bioactive molecules and 18F-trifluoromethylation of iodotriazoles. This work provides a practical synthetic methodology for the development of triazole drugs and 18F-radiotracers for positron emission tomography.
The Ni−Al bimetallic catalysis of intramolecular enantioselective and regioselective C−H cyclization of 4-oxoquinazolines with tethered alkenes has been successfully developed. Some new secondary phosphine oxides (SPOs) with large steric hindrance (SPO6-11) were designed and successfully synthesized from readily available chiral amines or amino acids. The developed chiral SPOs as ligands or preligands demonstrate much higher efficiency in the asymmetric catalytic reactions than the reported traditional ones. A new class of chiral tricyclic pyrroloquinazolinones were obtained in up to 95% yield and 99% ee.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a global health problem and is thought to be responsible for almost half of all deaths in the world. Nevertheless, currently available diagnostic methods for CVD are strongly depended on clinical observation and monitoring, which commonly result in false diagnosis. Herein, an attractive strategy of a metal-organic framework (MOF) nanofilm-based laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) was developed for enhancing serum metabolic profiling, which could provide precise diagnosis and molecular subtyping of CVD. The porous MOF nanofilm fabricated on indium-tin oxide (ITO) glass possessed enhanced ionization efficiency and size-exclusion effect, which endowed it as substrate with high sensitivity and selectivity for serum metabolites. Furthermore, the MOF nanofilm with uniform surface and high orientation provided high-quality and high-reproducibility serum metabolic profiles (SMPs) without any tedious pretreatment. Further analysis of extracted serum metabolic fingerprints could successfully distinguish patients with CVD from healthy controls and also differentiate two major subtypes of CVD. This work not only extends the application of MOF nanofilm as an attractive MS probe, but also provide an alternative way for precise diagnosis of CVD in molecular level.
No. 86 Xueyuan South Road, Haidian District, Beijing
010-62199257
qkjq@cast.org.cn
Copyright © 2025 China Association for Science and Technology. All rights reserved. For all open access content, the relevant licensing terms apply.
Sponsored by the Office of the Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization of CAST, and supported by Science and Technology Review Publishing House
