A Renal‐Clearable Duplex Optical Reporter for Real‐Time Imaging of Contrast‐Induced Acute Kidney Injury

Despite its high morbidity and mortality, contrast‐induced acute kidney injury (CIAKI) remains a diagnostic dilemma because it relies on in vitro detection of insensitive late‐stage blood and urinary biomarkers. We report the synthesis of an activatable duplex reporter (ADR) for real‐time in vivo imaging of CIAKI. ADR is equipped with chemiluminescence and near‐infrared fluorescence (NIRF) signaling channels that can be activated by oxidative stress (superoxide anion, O₂^.?) and lysosomal damage (N‐acetyl‐β‐d ‐glucosaminidase, NAG), respectively. By virtue of its high renal clearance efficiency (80 % injected doses after 24 h injection), ADR detects sequential upregulation of O₂^.? and NAG in the kidneys of living mice prior to a significant decrease in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and tissue damage in the course of CIAKI. ADR outperforms the typical clinical assays and detects CIAKI at least 8 h (NIRF) and up to 16 h (chemiluminescence) earlier.     

Deposition pattern of drying droplets

The drying of liquid droplets is a common daily life phenomenon that has long held a special interest in scientific research. When the droplet includes nonvolatile solutes, the evaporation of the solvent induces rich deposition patterns of solutes on the substrate. Understanding the formation mechanism of these patterns has important ramifications for technical applications,ranging from coating to inkjet printing to disease detection. This topical review addresses the development of physical understanding of tailoring the specific ring-like deposition patterns of drying droplets. We start with a brief introduction of the experimental techniques that are developed to control these patterns of sessile droplets. We then summarize the development of the corresponding theory. Particular attention herein is focused on advances and issues related to applying the Onsager variational principle (OVP) theory to the study of the deposition patterns of drying droplets. The main obstacle to conventional theory is the requirement of complex numerical solutions, but fortunately there has been recent groundbreaking progress due to the OVP theory. The advantage of the OVP theory is that it can be used as an approximation tool to reduce the high-order conventional hydrodynamic equations to first-order evolution equations,facilitating the analysis of soft matter dynamic problems. As such, OVP theory is now well poised to become a theory of choice for predicting deposition patterns of drying droplets.     

Persistence of sums of correlated increments and clustering in cellular automata

Let $T$ be the first return time to $(?\infty ,0]$ of sums of increments given by a functional of a stationary Markov chain. We determine the asymptotic behavior of the survival probability, $\mathbb{P}(T\ge t)～C{t}^{?1∕2}$ for an explicit constant $C$. Our analysis is based on a connection between the survival probability and the running maximum of the time-reversed process, and relies on a functional central limit theorem for Markov chains. As applications, we recover known clustering results for the 3-color cyclic cellular automaton and the Greenberg–Hastings model, and we prove a new clustering result for the 3-color firefly cellular automaton.     

混合式教学应用于校通识课的探索与实践——以“奇妙的化学世界”为例

“奇妙的化学世界”是天津师范大学面向全校非化学专业的本科生开设的一门通识选修课。课程主要采用启发式教学模式、案例式教学模式、互动式教学模式等相结合的混合式教学模式，涉及当今活跃的科研领域和生活实际。课程采用多种方式如图片展示、教学辅助视频、小组讨论、调查问卷等，调动学生的积极性和主动性，使学生在较为轻松的状态下掌握课程内容。此外，力求做到集知识性、实用性、趣味性于一体，避免了化学专业课程中的复杂多变的化学结构描述。     

Highly Selective Synthesis of Methyl 1-Phenyl-1-(9-hydro-)fullerenylacetate

Isomerically pure methyl 1-phenyl-1-(9-hydro-)fullerenylacetat is synthesized in 75% yield by the reaction of C₆₀ with the carbanions of methyl phenylacetate in C₆H₆/THF mixed solvent under a purified N₂ atmosphere at 20°C.     

Facile Surfactant-, Reductant-, and Ag Salt-free Growth of Ag Nanoparticles with Controllable Size from 35 to 660 nm on Bulk Ag Materials

Morphologically and dimensionally controlled growth of Ag nanocrystals has long been plagued by surfactants or capping agents that complicate downstream applications, unstable Ag salts that impaired the reproducibility, and multistep seed injection that is troublesome and time-consuming. Here, we report a one-pot electro-chemical method to fast (∼2 min) produce Ag nanoparticles from commercial bulk Ag materials in a nitric acid solution, eliminating any need for surfactants or capping agents. Their size can be easily manipulated in an unprecedentedly wide range from 35 to 660 nm. Furthermore, the Ag nanoparticles are directly grown on the Ag substrate, highly desirable for promising applications such as catalysis and plasmonics. The mechanistic studies reveal that the concentration of Ag⁺ in the diffusion layer nearby the surface, controlled by the magnitude and duration of voltage, is critical in governing the nanoparticle formation (<1.3 mM) and its dimensional adjustability.     

A multiscale gradient-dependent plasticity model for size effects

The mechanical behaviour of polycrystalline material is closely correlated to grain size. In this study, we investigate the size-dependent phenomenon in multi-phase steels using a continuum dislocation dynamic model coupled with viscoplastic self-consistent model. We developed a dislocation-based strain gradient plasticity model and a stress gradient plasticity model, as well as a combined model, resulting in a theory that can predict size effect over a wide range of length scales. Results show that strain gradient plasticity and stress gradient plasticity are complementary rather than competing theories. The stress gradient model is dominant at the initial strain stage, and is much more effective for predicting yield strength than the strain gradient model. For larger deformations, the strain gradient model is dominant and more effective for predicting size-dependent hardening. The numerical results are compared with experimental data and it is found that they have the same trend for the yield stress. Furthermore, the effect of dislocation density at different strain stages is investigated, and the findings show that the Hall–Petch relation holds for the initial strain stage and breaks down for higher strain levels. Finally, a power law to describe the size effect and the transition zone between the strain gradient and stress gradient dominated regions is developed.     

通过"双离子键"固载于季鏻盐聚合物的[Rh(CO)I3]2–物种在多相乙醇羰基化中的应用

贵金属物种(Rh或Ir络合物)在均相羰基化和氢甲酰化催化过程得到了广泛的应用,但始终存在分离繁琐等问题,其均相多相化可很大程度上简化分离操作,故一直广受重视.单位点催化剂因其具有可与均相相比拟的较高金属利用率和选择性而成为均相多相化的重要研究方向之一.研究发现,在碘物种存在的情况下用于固载金属物种的配位键容易断裂,进而导致金属物种的流失,而通过离子键固载的[Rh(CO)₂I₂]^–物种更加稳定,比如著名的甲醇羰基化“Acetica^TM”工艺中,[Rh(CO)₂I₂]^–负一价阴离子物种是以离子键的方式固定在带有阳离子骨架的甲基化聚乙烯吡啶树脂上.与甲醇羰基化过程类似的乙醇羰基化过程是生产重要化工中间体丙酸的主要途径之一,但该过程的均相多相化始终存在着稳定性差这一关键问题.为了解决这一问题,基于之前将固载于季鏻盐聚合物的[Rh(CO)I₃]^2–应用于甲醇羰基化的工作,我们将类似的季鏻盐聚合物固载Rh基催化剂Rh-TPISP用于多相乙醇羰基化过程,通过多种表征进一步证明了Rh物种和P物种结构,并提出了“双离子键”模型.P的K边XANES证明了聚合物TPISP的季鏻化阳离子骨架特征.HAADF-STEM测试表明Rh-TPISP中的Rh呈现单位点分散的状态.Rh的XPS和XANES结果证明了Rh-TPISP中Rh物种的价态介于0~+1.通过EXAFS的拟合解析给出了[Rh(CO)I₃]^2–活性中心结构.由于[Rh(CO)₂I₂]^–为经典的羰基化活性中心,为了进一步证明该结构的正确性,我们将Rh-TPISP的EXAFS和IR谱图与标样[PPh3Et]⁺[Rh(CO)₂I₂]^–对比发现:在EXAFS谱图中,Rh-TPISP中的Rh-C峰高低于[PPh3Et]+[Rh(CO)₂I₂]^–的Rh-C峰高,而Rh-TPISP中的Rh-I峰高高于[PPh3Et]+[Rh(CO)₂I₂]^–的Rh-I峰高,这就说明Rh-TPISP中Rh物种的Rh-C配位数小于2,而Rh-I配位数大于2;在IR谱图中,标样[PPh3Et]+[Rh(CO)₂I₂]^–中有两个羰基振动峰,与该物种的两个Rh-C配位键相符,而Rh-TPISP中的只有一个羰基振动峰,说明Rh-C配位数为1.因此,Rh-TPISP催化剂的季鏻盐骨架中的每个P物种带有一个正电荷,每个带有两个负电荷的[Rh(CO)I₃]^2–通过与两个[P]⁺的静电作用进行固载,形成“双离子键”结构.该催化剂在固定床乙醇羰基化过程中表现出优异的羰基化活性、选择性和稳定性.在3.5 MPa、195 oC反应近1000 h后,Rh-TPISP催化剂TOF保持在约350 h–1,丙酰基选择性为95%以上,高出所有文献报道的均相和多相乙醇羰基化活性.其较高的活性主要是因为[Rh(CO)I₃]^2–比传统Rh活性相[Rh(CO)₂I₂]^–具有更强的富电子性,而较高的稳定性主要是由于“双离子键”这种强静电作用比“AceticaTM”工艺中“单离子键”更有利于Rh物种的固载.故Rh-TPISP催化剂中的“双离子键”对其优异的催化性能具有极其重要的作用,对后续多相乙醇羰基化的发展具有重要意义.     

Biosynthesis of Streptolidine Involved Two Unexpected Intermediates Produced by a Dihydroxylase and a Cyclase through Unusual Mechanisms

Streptothricin‐F (STT‐F), one of the early‐discovered antibiotics, consists of three components, a β‐lysine homopolymer, an aminosugar D ‐gulosamine, and an unusual bicyclic streptolidine. The biosynthesis of streptolidine is a long‐lasting but unresolved puzzle. Herein, a combination of genetic/biochemical/structural approaches was used to unravel this problem. The STT gene cluster was first sequenced from a Streptomyces variant BCRC 12163, wherein two gene products OrfP and OrfR were characterized in vitro to be a dihydroxylase and a cyclase, respectively. Thirteen high‐resolution crystal structures for both enzymes in different reaction intermediate states were snapshotted to help elucidate their catalytic mechanisms. OrfP catalyzes an Fe^II‐dependent double hydroxylation reaction converting L ‐Arg into (3R,4R)‐(OH)₂‐L ‐Arg via (3S)‐OH‐L ‐Arg, while OrfR catalyzes an unusual PLP‐dependent elimination/addition reaction cyclizing (3R,4R)‐(OH)₂‐L ‐Arg to the six‐membered (4R)‐OH‐capreomycidine. The biosynthetic mystery finally comes to light as the latter product was incorporation into STT‐F by a feeding experiment.