Latest ArticlesTumor angiogenesis is closely related to tumor development, immune escape, and drug resistance. Therefore, the development of effective anti-tumor angiogenesis drugs is of great research significance. Although the current clinical angiogenesis inhibitors have achieved certain efficacy, they also pose the problems of limited and short duration of efficacy, drug resistance, and intrinsic toxicity. Anti-tumor angiogenesis strategies targeting endothelial cells (ECs) have attracted widespread attention in the development of highly effective and low toxicity anti-angiogenesis inhibitors. Studies have verified that the trace element selenium (Se) can inhibit tumor growth by inhibiting tumor angiogenesis through different mechanisms. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether Se speciation has different effects on anti-tumor angiogenesis. Herein, we found that Se exhibited effective anti-angiogenic activity, and its mechanisms of activity were determined by its chemical speciation. Organic Se can significantly inhibit tumor angiogenesis by targeting thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) to trigger cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest and by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in ECs. Inorganic Se can induce cell cycle arrest and increase ROS production in ECs, showing promising anti-angiogenic effects. Se nanoparticles (SeNPs) slightly inhibit tumor angiogenesis by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest and by increasing the production of ROS. In summary, this study elucidates the anti-angiogenic activity of Se speciation control with a view to providing a scientific reference for the design and development of novel Se-based highly effective and low toxicity angiogenesis inhibitors.
Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has shown significant promise as an economic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst for hydrogen generation, but its catalytic performance is still lower than noble metal-based catalysists. Herein, a silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs)-decorated 1T/2H phase layered MoS2 electrocatalyst grown on titanium dioxide nanorod arrays (Ag NPs/1T(2H) MoS2/TNRs) was prepared through acid-tunable ammonium ion intercalation. Taking advantage of MoS2 layered structure and crystal phase controllability, as-prepared Ag NPs/1T(2H) MoS2/TNRs exhibited ultrahigh HER activity. As-proposed strategy combines facile hydrogen desorption (Ag NPs) with efficient hydrogen adsorption (1T/2H MoS2) effectively circumventes the kinetic limitation of hydrogen desorption by 1T/2H MoS2. The as-prepared Ag NPs/1T(2H) MoS2/TNRs electrocatalyst exhibited excellent HER activity in 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 with low overpotential (118 mV vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) and small Tafel slope (38.61 mV/dec). The overpotential exhibts no obvious attenuation after 10 h of constant current flow. First-principles calculation demonstrates that as-prepared 1T/2H MoS2 exhibit a large capacity to store protons. These protons can be subsequently transferred to Ag NPs, which significantly increases the hydrogen coverage on the surface of Ag NPs in HER process and thus change the rate-determining step of HER on Ag NPs from water dissociation to hydrogen recombination. This study provides a unique strategy to improve the catalytic activity and stability for MoS2-based electrocatalyst.
Efficient and modular synthesis of structurally diverse 1,4-diketones from readily available building blocks represents an essential but challenging task in organic chemistry. Herein, we report a multi-component, regioselective bis-acylation of olefins by merging NHC organocatalysis and photoredox catalysis. With this protocol, a broad range of 1,4-diketones could be rapidly assembled using bench-stable feedstock materials. The robustness of this method was further evaluated by sensitivity screening, and good reproductivity was observed. Moreover, the diketone products could be readily converted into functionalized heterocycles, such as multi-substituted furan, pyrrole, and pyridazine. Mechanistic investigations shed light on the NHC and photoredox dual catalytic radical reaction mechanism.
Exosomes play significant roles in physiological and tumorigenic processes and it is desirable to visualize and track the exosomes. Herein, a novel amphiphilic fluorescent probe HBT-Exo based on excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) mechanism is reported for exosome-labeling. Its ESIPT characteristics were confirmed by both theory calculation and experimental observation, which enable the probe to show a large Stokes shift as well as near-infrared (NIR) keto-form emission. HBT-Exo displayed excellent biocompatibility and remarkable efficiency for exosome-labeling in gastric cancer cells. Furthermore, the labeled exosomes were successfully applied for the real-time in situ imaging in mouse models.
The transport of colloids and radionuclides is sophisticated because of the variety of charge properties between colloidal particles and host subsurface media, which causes great difficulty in establishing a reliable model of radionuclides migration by taking the colloid phase into consideration. In this work, the co-transport of illite colloids (IC) and Eu(Ⅲ) in the quartz sand and iron-coated sand porous media was investigated by column experiments to address the predominant mechanism of charge properties on co-transport. Results showed that Eu(Ⅲ) transport was driven by the illite colloids and electrostatic interaction was critical in governing the co-transport patterns. The promotion of Eu(Ⅲ) transport by IC was attenuated in the iron-coated sand systems; more IC-Eu(Ⅲ) complexes were retained uniformly in the column. The pore throat shrinkage caused by electrostatic attachment between aggregated IC and iron oxides exacerbated the physical straining and size exclusion effect of IC-Eu(Ⅲ) complexes. An aggravated irreversible retention of IC-Eu(Ⅲ) was detected in iron-coated sand column due to the electrostatic attraction of IC-Eu(Ⅲ) to host media. The findings are essential for improving the understanding on the potential transport, retention and release risk of colloids associated radionuclides, and imply that the positively charged permeable reactive barrier is an effective strategy to reduce the transport risk of colloid associated radionuclides.
A continuous flow bioreactor was operated for 300 days to investigate partial nitritation (PN) of mature landfill leachate, establishing the long-term performance of the system in terms of the microbial community composition, evolution, and interactions. The stable operation phase (31–300 d) began after a 30 days of start-up period, reaching an average nitrite accumulation ratio (NAR) of 94.43% and a ratio of nitrite nitrogen to ammonia nitrogen (NO2−-N/NH4+-N) of 1.16. Some fulvic-like and humic-like compounds and proteins were effectively degraded in anaerobic and anoxic tanks, which was consistent with the corresponding abundance of methanogens and syntrophic bacteria in the anaerobic tank, and organic matter degrading bacteria in the anoxic tank. The ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) Nitrosomonas was found to be the key functional bacteria, exhibiting an increase in abundance from 0.27% to 6.38%, due to its collaborative interactions with organic matter degrading bacteria. In-situ inhibition of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) was achieved using a combination of free ammonia (FA) and free nitrous acid (FNA), low dissolved oxygen (DO) with fewer bioavailable organics conditions were employed to maintain stable PN and a specific ratio of NO2−-N/NH4+-N, without an adverse impact on AOB. The synergistic relationships between AOB and both denitrifying bacteria and organic matter degrading bacteria, were found to contribute to the enhanced PN performance and microbial community structure stability. These findings provide a theoretical guidance for the effective application of PN-Anammox for mature landfill leachate treatment.
Electrocatalytic production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e– ORR) under acidic condition has been considered to have great application value. Co nanoparticles (CoNPs) coupled with N-doped carbon are a class of potential electrocatalysts. The effective strategies to further enhance their performances are to improve the active sites and stability. Herein, the material containing ultrafine CoNPs confined in a nitrogen-doped carbon matrix (NC@CoNPs) was synthesized by pyrolyzing corresponding precursors, which was obtained through regulating the topological structure of ZIF-67/ZIF-8 with dopamine (DA). The DA self-polymerization process induced the formation of CoNPs with smaller sizes and formed polydopamine film decreased the detachment of CoNPs from the catalyst. High density of Co-Nx active sites and defective sites could be identified on NC@CoNPs, leading to high activity and H2O2 selectivity, with an onset potential of 0.57 V (vs. RHE) and ~90% selectivity in a wide potential range. An on-site electrochemical removal of organic pollutant was achieved rapidly through an electro-Fenton process, demonstrating its great promise for on-site water treatment application.
Highly selective conversion of methane (CH4) to methanol (CH3OH) is an emerging attractive but challenging process for future development of hydrogen economy, which requires efficient catalysts. Herein, we systematically explore the catalytic properties of Pt(111) overlayer on transition metal oxides (TMOs) for CH4 conversion by first principles calculations. The Pt(111) monolayer supported by Ce-terminated CeO2(111) substrate exhibits high activity and selectivity for CH4 conversion to CH3OH, with the kinetic barrier of rate-limiting step of 1.05 eV. Intriguingly, the surface activity of Pt overlayer is governed by its d-band center relative to the energy of bonding states of adsorbed molecules, which in turn depends on the number of charge transfer between Pt(111) monolayer and underlying TMOs substrates. These results provide useful insights in the design of metal overlayers as catalysts with high-ultra performance and atomic utilization.
Benzene is a volatile organic compound that can seriously harm human health, while it can serve as a precursor to produce chemicals of more complex structures in chemical industry. Capturing benzene using adsorbents is of great importance for human health, when the separation of hydrocarbons including benzene from crude oil was referred to as one of the “seven chemical separations to change the world”. In this work, we reported the efficient and selective separation of benzene from BTX and cyclohexane by hydrogen bonding self-assembly nonporous adaptive crystals AdaOH for the first time under mild and user-friendly conditions. Separation of benzene and cyclohexane (v/v = 1:1) can be achieved by AdaOH with a purity of benzene up to 96.8%. Separation of BTX (v/v; benzene:toluene:o-xylene:m-xylene:p-xylene= 1:1:1:1:1) can be achieved by AdaOH with a purity of benzene increased from 20% to 82.9%. Our results suggest that separation of benzene using the activated AdaOH as a non-porous adaptive crystal for selectively and efficiently capturing benzene can solve the challenge in separation of benzene from other chemicals such as cyclohexane in chemical industry, and can be helpful for removal of benzene that is released from the vehicles to air. The advantages of commercially availability, easy preparation, high separation efficiency and selectivity for benzene might endow this material with enormous potential for practical uses in areas like petrochemical industry.
Electrochromic devices (ECDs) have exhibited promising applications in the fields of energy-saving intelligent buildings and next-generation displays because of their simple structure, low power consumption, and multicolor displays. W18O49/polyaniline (PANI) hybrid films are prepared and assembled to ECDs. Compared with pure PANI and W18O49 films, the hybrid film exhibits superior electrochemical and electrochromic performance, including high optical modulation (70.2%), large areal capacity (79.6 mF/cm2), and good capacitance retention. The excellent electrochemical and electrochromic performance is ascribed to the formation of the donor (PANI)-acceptor (W18O49) pair, the porous structure in the nanowires, and the large surface area, which enhance electron delocalization of the W18O49/PANI, improve the ion diffusion rate, and increase the charge storage sites. Furthermore, benefitting from the outstanding optical, electrical, and multifunctional properties, the W18O49/PANI hybrid film-based ECD platform is expected to play an important role in electrochromism and energy storage.
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