Electropolymerization rates of polythiophene/polypyrrole composite polymer with some dopant ions

Pyrrole, thiophene, and a mixture of the two monomers were electrochemically polymerized to investigate polymerization rates and the morphology change of the polymer matrix, and to improve the aging and cyclic voltammetric behaviors of the polymers. Thiophene was polymerized on a smooth surface of Pt electrode by two steps. The first step was controlled by electron transfer at the electrical double layer and the other by diffusion of the monomer reacting on the immobilized layer consisting of the precoated thiophene polymer. The electropolymerization rate of the second step was 1.85 × 10⁻⁴ cm³ mol⁻¹ s⁻¹, which is faster by 8.63 × 10² times than the first step. Some supporting electrolytes such as KPF₆, LiClO₄, TBAP, and TBABF₄ were employed in the polymerization reaction to see the effects of dopant anions on the polymerization rate, and KPF₆ was the fastest one at 2.41 × 10⁻⁶ cm s⁻¹. However, owing to its sensitivity to oxygen, LiClO₄ was used for the polymerization that is fairly stable in air and the same rate as KPF₆. For the competitive polymerization reaction of the two monomers the rate of thiophene was found to be about 11 times slower than that of thiophene alone. When the starting concentration of the thiophene monomer was higher than pyrrole by five times, its portion in the composite polymer was found to be only 8–10%. However, this level gave desirable results in terms of redox properties and aging. The resistance against aging was explained by the morphology change, which came from great shrinking of its porosity. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Electronic Structure Manipulation of the Mott Insulator RuCl3 via Single-Crystal to Single-Crystal Topotactic Transformation

The core task for Mott insulators includes how rigid distributions of electrons evolve and how these induce exotic physical phenomena. However, it is highly challenging to chemically dope Mott insulators to tune properties. Herein, we report how to tailor electronic structures of the honeycomb Mott insulator RuCl₃ employing a facile and reversible single-crystal to single-crystal intercalation process. The resulting product (NH₄)_0.5RuCl₃⋅1.5 H₂O forms a new hybrid superlattice of alternating RuCl₃ monolayers with NH₄⁺ and H₂O molecules. Its manipulated electronic structure markedly shrinks the Mott–Hubbard gap from 1.2 to 0.7 eV. Its electrical conductivity increases by more than 10³ folds. This arises from concurrently enhanced carrier concentration and mobility in contrary to the general physics rule of their inverse proportionality. We show topotactic and topochemical intercalation chemistry to control Mott insulators, escalating the prospect of discovering exotic physical phenomena.     

Amyloid Against Amyloid: Dimeric Amyloid Fragment Ameliorates Cognitive Impairments by Direct Clearance of Oligomers and Plaques

Amyloid-β (Aβ) in the form of neurotoxic aggregates is regarded as the main pathological initiator and key therapeutic target of Alzheimer's disease. However, anti-Aβ drug development has been impeded by the lack of a target needed for structure-based drug design and low permeability of the blood–brain barrier (BBB). An attractive therapeutic strategy is the development of amyloid-based anti-Aβ peptidomimetics that exploit the self-assembling nature of Aβ and penetrate the BBB. Herein, we designed a dimeric peptide drug candidate based on the N-terminal fragment of Aβ, DAB, found to cross the BBB and solubilize Aβ oligomers and fibrils. Administration of DAB reduced amyloid burden in 5XFAD mice, and downregulated neuroinflammation and prevented memory impairment in the Y-maze test. Peptide mapping assays and molecular docking studies were utilized to elucidate DAB-Aβ interaction. To further understand the active regions of DAB, we assessed the dissociative activity of DAB with sequence modifications.