Latest ArticlesRoom temperature phosphorescence (RTP) films have recently attracted increasing attention due to their excellent luminescent properties for information encryption, optoelectronic devices, and sensors. However, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films with abundant hydrogen bonds to suppress triplet energy dissipation suffered from the humidity induced phosphorescence quenching under storage in the air for a long time. In this work, poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) was selected to crosslink PVA matrix through esterification reactions for preparing water resistant RTP films. The blue, cyan, and orange emissive RTP films were successfully obtained by incorporating three different organic compounds into PVA-PAA crosslinking films. Crosslinking strategy significantly improved the phosphorescence emissions of the doped films, and effectively blocked the absorption of water molecular, leading to the excellent photostability of the developed films. As a proof of concept, the white light phosphorescence film and anti-counterfeiting applications were successfully demonstrated.
The tuning of olefin-polymerization catalyst properties through ligand modifications is efficient but requires complicated and costly syntheses. In this contribution, a simple Bu2Mg-based cocatalyst strategy is designed that can simultaneously enhance the catalytic properties (activity, thermal stability, polymer molecular weight, branching density, melting point, etc.) of various nickel catalysts (α-diimine nickel, pyridine imine nickel and iminopyridine-N-oxide nickel) in ethylene polymerization, and enable great product morphology control. For example, a simple α-diimine nickel catalyst can demonstrate polymerization activity of up to 1.29 × 107 g mol−1 h−1 and molecular weight of up to 1.90 × 106 g/mol in the presence of Bu2Mg cocatalyst. The resulting polyethylenes exhibit excellent mechanical properties, with tensile stress of up to 47.4 MPa and strain of up to 1020%. This cocatalyst strategy is generally applicable to different nickel catalysts, and can lead to property enhancement in ethylene copolymerization with a series of polar comonomers such as methyl 10-undecylenate, 10-undecylenic acid and 10-undecenol.
A nickel-catalyzed reductive cross-coupling reactions between polyfluoroarenes and alkyl electrophiles is reported to access substituted fluoroarenes through chelation-assisted C–F activation. Diverse primary and secondary alkyl (pseudo)halides can be employed to couple with polyfluoroarenes, showing excellent regioselectivity. Furthermore, the nickel-catalyzed asymmetric cross-coupling of polyfluoroarenes with racemic alkyl halides is preliminarily explored. In addition, the practicability of the title transformation is also demonstrated by total synthesis of losmapimod and an analog as key steps. The developed method exhibits many advantages, including economic catalytic systems, commercially available alkyl electrophiles, and lack of sensitive organometallic reagents.
Well-developed mitochondria-targeted nanocarriers for function regulation are highly desirable. Numerous studies have been conducted on the treatment of mitochondria-related diseases; however, further improvements are required to develop more effective drug delivery methods. Herein, we comprehensively introduce recent developments progress in rational design of mitochondria-targeted nanocarriers, and discuss the different strategies of available nanocarriers for targeting mitochondria. We also highlight the advantages and disadvantages of various carrier systems that are currently in use. Finally, perspective on new generation for mitochondria-targeted delivery systems in the emerging area of drug-based therapeutics is also discussed.
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has provided many powerful tools for the study of dynamic processes. Among the reported methods, chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) is more suitable for systems with slow exchange rates, and there will be promising in the detection and dynamic mechanism of metastable substances. It has been widely used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), however whether it is applicable in the field of chemical kinetics needs more examples. Here we studied, as a proof of concept, the kinetics of the slow chemical exchange between the two N-methyl protons of N, N-dimethylacetylamide (DMA), exploiting QUantifying Exchange using Z-spectrum (QUEZS) and QUantifying Exchange using Saturation Time (QUEST) methods. It turned out that both of QUEZS and QUEST could give the corresponding exchange rates, showcasing the capability of this method to provide accurate kinetic data under a range of temperatures. Our results clearly demonstrated the reliability of CEST-based techniques as a tool for dynamic kinetics by NMR.
Transforming immature DCs into mature state to activate cellular immunity is a critical step in initiating immunoprophylaxis and immunotherapy. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) can promote DCs maturation by binding receptor on DCs surface, but their clinical application is limited due to biological toxicity. Although many LPS analogues have been developed, complex synthesis and purification hinder their practical application. Here, we propose a novel and simple strategy to synthesize LPS analogues with adjustable structural units. Using monomer units similar to the key functional groups of LPS, we synthesize LPS analogues with different group ratios by RAFT polymerization. The obtained analogues have little negative effect on cell viability. Compared with LPS, the analogues show greater promoting effect on DCs maturation. And the analogues can be applied to different scenarios since the degrees of promoting DCs maturation by LPS analogues with different group ratios are different. This strategy provides a new direction for synthesizing LPS analogues, and it has the potential to produce LPS analogues on a large scale with tunable promoting DCs maturation effect.
A catalytic asymmetric hydroxylative dearomatization reaction has been disclosed, and the products can smoothly transform into spiroannulation adducts by simply treated with a base under mild conditions. Novel in-situ generated magnesium catalytic methods are developed by application of combinational ligands. Related concise transformaitons of the spiroannulation adducts have been carried out.
Ten novel butterfly-shaped dithienobenzosilole-based luminogens, which are peripherally installed with a variety of substituents including hydrogen, phenyl and substituted phenyl groups, have been readily prepared via an iodine-induced intramolecular electrophilic double-cyclisation reaction and subsequent deiodination or coupling reactions. The optical and electrochemical properties of these compounds were systematically investigated to clarify the relationships between their structures and properties, supported by theoretical calculations. These compounds exhibit deep-blue to sky-blue emissions and high photoluminescence quantum yields up to 0.84 in solution and solid states which are regulated by the functional blades and their steric hindrance on the α– and β–positions of thiophene rings. Their high thermal- and photo- stabilities have been revealed and mainly attributed to the dithienobenzosilole core.
In the recent decade, GO has emerged as an amazing 2D nanomaterial for developing DNA-based biosensors due to its fluorescence quenching properties, whereas similar research based on rGO was reported rarely. Herein, a novel multi-pyrene functionalized G-rich DNA probe based on the screened rGO showed much higher fluorescence quenching efficiency and excimer emission than that of universal GO. Different from the universal thrombin detection of the G4-forming aptamer-TBA(GGTTGGTGTGGTTGG), the original telomeric sequence is used in this study. The excimer emission "ON-OFF" switch amplified the response of thrombin detection is as low as 50 units. Furthermore, for four pyrene moieties that are sited in a crowded steric circumstance, the melting temperature (Tm) values and molecular dynamics simulations showed a positive effect on duplex G-quadruplex or GDNA·cDNA stability, without disturbing its helix structure.
The visible-light-induced selective oxidation of ubiquitous C–H bonds into valuable C=O bonds under aerobic conditions is one of the most attractive approaches for the construction of carbonyl-containing molecules. In this work, two transition metal-containing Nb/W mixed-addendum POMs dimers with the formula of K2Na2H5[(Fe(H2O)4)3(P2W15Nb3O62)2]·24H2O (POM[Fe]) and K2Na3H4[(Cr(H2O)4)3(P2W15Nb3O62)2]·32H2O (POM[Cr]) have been synthesized and characterized by various analytical and spectral techniques. POM[Fe] was proved to be an efficient photocatalyst for benzylic C–H oxidation under visible light and using oxygen as an oxidant to produce the corresponding carbonyl complex in good yields. A plausible mechanism involving superoxide radical was proposed for the catalytic reaction. POM[Fe] showed good reusability in the recycling experiments. IR spectroscopy and XRD analysis indicate that POM[Fe] can retain its integrity after catalysis.