Latest ArticlesThe synthesis of cyclic polymer is an important topic in polymer chemistry. Herein, we report a one-step method to prepare cyclic polypyrazoles. Monomers with two functional groups, diazo and alkyne, were synthesized and polymerized via 1,3-diploar cycloaddition in bulk under heating without any catalyst. Polypyrazoles with molecular weights in the range of 3800-4400 g/mol and yields in the range of 78.8-98.7% were successfully synthesized. No chain end group was detected by LC-QTOF-MS and FTIR, which proves the cyclic structure of polypyrazoles. What is noteworthy is that the cyclic polypyrazoles can self-assemble into vesicles during the reprecipitation process, which was proved by the results of SEM and TEM. The reason for that is the formation of intermolecular hydrogen bond between NH and ester groups.
Here, a rhodium(Ⅲ)-catalyzed benzo[c]azepine-1, 3(2H)-dione synthesis via tandem C–H alkylation and intramolecular amination of N-methoxylbenzamide with 3-bromo-3, 3-difluoropropene as the alkylation agent is reported. The substituted benzamides and protected indoles are all tolerated, yielding the corresponding products in moderate to good yields. Further study revealed those bioactive compounds such as piperic acid and a key precursor of Roflumilast all perform well, highlighting the synthetic utility of this method.
Film morphology of emissive layers is crucial to the performance and stability of solution-processable organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Compared to the interpenetration of conjugated polymer chain, small molecular emitter with a flexible side chain always presents easily aggregation upon external treatment, and caused π-electronic coupling, which is undesirable for the efficiency and stability of deep-blue OLEDs. Herein, we proposed a side-chain coupling strategy to enhance the film morphological an emission stability of solution-processable small molecular deep-blue emitter. In contrary to "parent" MC8TPA, the crosslinkable styryl and vinyl units were introduced as ended unit at the side-chain of CmTPA and OEYTPA. Interestingly, CmTPA and OEYTPA films present a relatively stable morphology and uniform deep-blue emission after thermal annealing (160 ℃) in the atmosphere, different to the discontinuous MC8TPA annealed film. Besides, compared to the CmTPA and OEYTPA ones, serious polaron formation in the MC8TPA annealed film also negative to the deep-blue emission, according to transient absorption analysis. Therefore, both CmTPA and OEYTPA annealed film obtained at 140 ℃ present an excellent deep-blue ASE behavior with a 445 nm, but absence for MC8TPA ones, associated with the disruption of annealed films. Finally, enhancement of device performance based on CmTPA and OEYTPA film (~40%) after thermal annealing with a similar performance curves also confirmed the assumption above. Therefore, these results also supported the effectiveness of our side-chain coupling strategy for optoelectronic applications.
The development of amplification strategies is one of the central challenges for detection of low-abundance targets. One-to-many (1:M) amplification strategies in which one target lights many signal probes, has improved the detection sensitivity in bulk solution, but with discounted contrast in cell imaging, because the lighted probes are dissociative and dispersible. In this work, a one-to-large (1:L) signaling mechanism, in which the lighted probes were orderly connected to each other, was conceptually proposed to enhance the contrast in cell imaging by avoiding signal dispersion in amplification. Accordingly, target-triggered hairpin-free chain-branching assembly (HFCBA) holds great potential to implement the 1:L mechanism, but using it in cell imaging has yet to be demonstrated. As a proof of concept, a group of probes were first programmed to implement miRNA-21-triggered HFCBA. After transfection of probes, gradually-growing signal flares in cells were monitored along with the growth of DNA dendrimers; and the in situ fluorescence accumulation in HFCBA resulted in highly-enhanced contrast to the surrounding by avoiding signal dispersion in amplification. The contrast-enhanced imaging with signal amplification is significant for biological analysis and molecular medicine. We expect the 1:L mechanism will provide a new thought for high-performance imaging of biomarkers in cells.
Lysosomal polarity is considered a key indicator of lysosomal function due to its significant impact on membrane fluidity and enzymatic reactions in lysosomes. Monitoring lysosomal polarity can gain insight into the related physiological and pathological processes and develop new diagnostic methods. However, current fluorescent probes with lysosomal polarity response suffer from narrow linear range, photobleaching and complicated preparation. Herein, a ratiometric fluorescent probe (r-bCDs) for intracellular lysosomal polarity imaging is designed and constructed by amide bond assembly of polarity-sensitive red fluorescent carbon dots (rCDs) and referenced blue fluorescent carbon dots (bCDs). r-bCDs show a much wider linear range of polarity response (orientation polarizability Δf from 0.020 to 0.315) than other probes, and the interference of uneven distribution and instrument factors can be effectively eliminated by ratiometric fluorescent sensing. Imaging of intracellular lysosomal polarity with r-bCDs is implemented to observe the polarity variation caused by the change of cell state and the difference between cancer cells and normal cells. This work provides a promising tool for studying the related physiological and pathological processes and developing new diagnostic methods.
Chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) has always been a great challenge in detecting cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in whole blood samples without centrifugation because of the interference of red blood cells and low sensitivity. In this study, the antigens and erythrocytes in the blood were captured by the antibodies immobilized on the magnetic particles, recognized by another biotin-conjugated cTnI antibody and detected by streptavidin/acridine aster-conjugated polychloromethylstyrene microspheres (PCMS). After magnetic separation, the supernatant was transferred and measured. No significant difference was noted between the cTnI concentrations of the serum samples, plasma samples and whole blood. The prepared PCMS provided more functional areas to conjugate streptavidin and acridinium ester, so the immunoassay has highly sensitive, the limits of blank at 0.012 ng/mL, and functional sensitivity at 0.019 ng/mL with a CV of 20%, and 0.058 ng/mL with a CV of 10%. Total precision of any sample type ranged from 2.62%~5.67%. The assay was linear over the studied range of 0.01-50.00 ng/mL, and no hook effect was found when cTnI concentrations reached 1900 ng/mL. No significant interference was noted with the potential endogenous interfering substances. Compared with the commercial kit (Abbott assay kit), the correlation coefficient was 0.9859. A washing-free CLIA was established for the rapid detection of cTnI in human whole blood, using erythrocyte capture antibodies-conjugated magnetic nanoparticles for eliminating the influence of erythrocytes and PCMS for signal amplification, which showed great potential in clinical application.
Exploiting a tissue diagnosis method to abstain the involuted operating and consume valuable reagents while realizing high-speed and inexpensive pathological grading technology to supply a better scheme for cancer therapy is a significant method of cancers detection. A promising immuno-fluorescence strategy was rationally designed and synthesized by loading ruthenium complex into cervical cancer-targeted DNA-cage, which was well used to realize high-speed and inexpensive diagnosis of clinical cervical cancer tumor tissues avoiding the traditional multi-stage process, thus demonstrating high application potential in clinical pathological grading and surgical judgment. Moreover, it has been finding that Apts-DNA@Ru can enrichment in the tumor region, interestingly, no enrichment in normal cervical cancer tissue. It has the potential to realize the integration of in vivo diagnose and further synchronous treatment in the near future. Thence, this study demonstrates a strategy for integration of cancer-targeted DNA-cage and fluorescent RuPOP as alternative IHC reagents for next-generation more rapid convenient cancer detection.
Graphene-based sponge is a novel hemostatic material prepared by chemical cross-link of graphene oxide. It has a fast fluid absorption capacity to quickly absorb blood from wounds, activate clotting pathways, and achieve rapid hemostasis. In addition, graphene-based sponge is also a good platform carrier. It can be prepared by organic cross-linking, compounding with inorganic clay, and adding bioactive factors to enhance coagulation stimulation. By these methods, the hemostatic performance of the sponge is further improved, which shows great potential for application in the field of trauma hemostasis. This article reviews the research progress of graphene-based sponges from three different preparation strategies (organic cross-linking, inorganic compounding and adding bioactive factor), summarizes their hemostatic mechanisms, and prospects the development of graphene-based hemostatic sponges.
Cysteine is well-known to be an important biothiol and related to many diseases. However, the in vivo detection of endogenous cysteine still suffers from lacking small-molecule fluorophores with both excitation and emission in the near-infrared (650-900 nm)/shortwave-infrared region. Herein, we report a molecular engineering strategy for shortwave infrared (SWIR, 900-1700 nm) sensing of cysteine, which integrated an excited-state intermolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) building block into the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) scaffold. The obtained novel fluorophore SH-OH displays a maximum absorption at the NIR region, and emission at the SWIR region. We introduce the cysteine-recognition moiety to SH-OH structure, and demonstrate sensing of endogenous cysteine in living animals, using the SWIR emission as a reliable off-on fluorescence signal. This fluorophore design strategy of cooperation of ICT and ESIPT processes expands the in vivo sensing toolbox for accurate analysis in clinical applications.
Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have gained more scientists' interest, owing to some facts such as the natural abundance of Na, the similarities of physicochemical characteristics between Li and Na. The irreversible Na+ ions consumption during the first cycle of charge/discharge process (due to the formation of the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) on the electrode surface and other irreversible reactions) is the factor that determines high performance SIBs and largely reduces the capacity of the full cell SIBs. Thus, the initial coulombic efficiency (ICE) of SIBs for both anode and cathode materials, is a key parameter for high performance SIBs, and the point is to increase the transport rate of the Na+ ions. Therefore, developing SIBs with high ICE and rate performance becomes vital to boost the commercialization of SIBs. Here we provide a review on the methods to improve the ICE and the rate performance, by summarizing some methods of improving the ICE and rate performance of the anode and cathode materials for SIBs, and end by a conclusion with some perspectives and recommendations.