Latest ArticlesA novel and efficient copper-catalyzed decarboxylative alkynylselenation of indoles with Se powder and propiolic acids has been developed. The outstanding advantages of this protocol not only nicely avoid the use of prefabricated arylselenation reagent and address the facile over-selention issues, but also enrich the chemistry of selenium powder. Importantly, this reaction could be extended to pyrrole, and the practical utility of this transformation has been demonstrated in gram-scale synthesis and late-stage indolylselenation of Clofibrate-derived propiolic acid.
A metal-free porphyrin covalent organic framework was employed as the heterogeneous photocatalyst for the synthesis of tetrahydroquinolines under aerobic conditions. With visible light irradiation of a catalytic amount of H2P-Bph-COF at room temperature, various substituted N, N-dimethylanilines and N-aryl maleimides were transformed to tetrahydroquinoline derivatives in moderate to good yields. This was the first example of the synthesis of tetrahydroquinolines via the photocatalytic aerobic annulation reaction employing the metal-free COF as the heterogeneous photocatalyst.
Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a common and serious adverse drug reaction. At present, DILI is perfectly diagnozed in clinical settings using Roussel Uclaf causality assessment method (RUCAM) in its original version published 1993 and its updated version published 2016, well established worldwide as a diagnostic algorithm with a high sensitivity and specificity. Nevertheless, the search for additional detection methods supporting RUCAM continues. In recent years, with the development of optical imaging technology, fluorescent probes have gradually shown great advantages in the detection and diagnosis of DILI markers such as high sensitivity, anti-interference, real-time monitoring and non-invasive measurement. In this review, the recent advances of fluorescent probes for evaluation of DILI in experimental studies were summarized according to various markers of DILI. We believe that learning about the design and practical application of these probes will contribute to the further development of detection sensors for DILI markers.
The random movement and easy recombination of photoinduced charges lead to a low conversion efficiency for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The cocatalyst design is a promising route to address such problem through introducing an appropriate cocatalyst on the semiconductor photocatalysts to construct the high-efficiency heterojunctions. Herein, novel CoS/Nb2O5 heterojunctions were constructed via in-situ loading CoS cocatalyst on the surface of Nb2O5 nanosheets. Through the femtosecond-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy, the average lifetime of charge carriers for 10 wt% CoS/Nb2O5 (159.6 ps) is drastically shortened by contrast with that of Nb2O5 (5531.9 ps), strongly suggesting the rapid charge transfer from Nb2O5 to CoS. The significantly improved charge-transfer capacity contributes to a high photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of 355 μmol/h, up to 17.5 times compared with pristine Nb2O5. This work would provide a new design platform in the construction of photocatalytic heterojunctions with high charge-transfer efficiency.
Cisplatin is the first-line drug for treatment of various solid tumors including breast cancer due to the broad anti-tumor spectrum and strong anti-tumor effect. However, serious side effects and long-term medication of reduced sensitivity by high GSH in tumor cells have severely restricted its further clinical application. Herein, a GSH-depleted Pt(Ⅳ) prodrug (Platin B) based on cisplatin and 4-carboxylphenylboronic acid pinacol ester was prepared to solve the problems. As an excellent GSH scavenger, 4-carboxylphenylboronic acid pinacol ester could be activated by intracellular redox reactions to release quinone methide, thereby amplifying oxidative stress and leading to breast cancer ferroptosis therapy. Interestingly, the consumption of GSH can also reduce cisplatin inactivation, enhance the sensitivity of tumor cells to cisplatin and efficiently induce apoptosis/ferroptosis. This work highlights the use of GSH scavenger for triggering ferroptotic cell death in breast cancer.
Small-molecule organic solar cells (SMOSCs) have attracted considerable attention owing to the merits of small molecules, such as easy purification, well-defined chemical structure. To achieve high-performance SMOSCs, the rational design of well-matched donor and acceptor materials is extremely essential. In this work, two new small molecular donor materials with subtle change in the conjugated side thiophene rings are synthesized. The subtle change significantly affects the photovoltaic performance of molecular donors. Compared with chlorinated molecule MDJ-Cl, the non-chlorinated analogue MDJ exhibits decreased miscibility with the non-fullerene acceptor Y6, can more efficiently quench the excitons of Y6. As a result, a improved PCE of 11.16% is obtained for MDJ: Y6 based SMOSCs. The results highlight the importance of fine-tuning the molecular structure to achieve high-performance SMOSCs.
A trefoil-like two-dimensional (2D) C3v symmetric organic [12]-imidazolium cation H12–2(PF6)12 featuring three [4]-imidazolium macrocycles was synthesized in three steps. The reaction of a dodecakis H12–1(PF6)12 imidazolium salt with Ag2O resulted in the formation of a hexanuclear AgⅠ dodecacarbene assembly [Ag6(1)](PF6)6. Upon UV irradiation, the photodimerization of the cinnamic ester pendants of [Ag6(1)](PF6)6 led to the generation of a trefoil-like complex [Ag6(2)](PF6)6 containing three closed metallacycles. Removal of metal ions allowed for the synthesis of the target molecule. All complexes were fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy (1H, 13C{1H} and 2D NMR) and high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS).
Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women, and it was hard to prevent or diagnose at an early stage. Thus, it is imperative to develop advanced therapeutics for effective treatment. Herein, a targeted daunorubicin (DNR) and cytarabine (ara-C) co-delivery system was developed by modifying the ara-C loaded liposomes (LIP-ara-C) with the hyaluronic acid-DNR (HA-DNR) prodrugs. The co-assembled hybrid nanoparticles (HA-DNR/LIP-ara-C HNPs) exhibited good serum and storage stability with an average diameter of approximately 100 nm. By specifically binding to the CD44 receptors that overexpressed on cancer cells, these HNPs could be uptake via endocytosis and accumulate intracellularly, in which an optimized DNR and ara-C combination at a molar ratio of 1:5 could generate enhanced synergistic effects with reduced dose-related toxicity on cancer cells.
Aerogels have become a hot topic of research due to their extremely low density and special interconnected structure as well as their enzyme-like activity. The development of new multifunctional nano-enzyme aerogels with high activity and good stability is still a considerable challenge. In this paper, AuRu aerogels with peroxidase and oxidase activities were synthesized using a simple one-step method and successfully used to construct colorimetric sensors for the detection of Fe2+ and glucose based on their enzyme-like activities. Furthermore, we are fortunate to find that AuRu aerogels have good photothermal properties. This suggests that AuRu aerogels can be used not only for in vitro testing but also for promising applications such as disease treatment.
The production of graphene oxide with less acid is beneficial to reduce the costs and lower the impact on the environment, but it is still a great challenge. In this work, a relatively simple, safe method for synthesizing graphene oxide with much less acid (decrease ~40%) is proposed. With assistance of the heat absorbed from environment and reaction system, the temperature of reaction system of low acid can be well controlled. More interestingly, the graphite can be completely oxidized into graphite oxide by using much less acid, with lowering the production of high-concentration aqueous waste acid (> 1 mol/L, decrease ~40%). A series of characterizations show that the prepared graphene oxide has similar yield and functional groups compared with that of using the conventional method. This work provides a safe and environmentally friendly choice for the large-scale production of graphene oxide and its derivative materials.