Fully Chemical Recyclable Poly(γ-butyrolactone)-based Copolymers with Tunable Structures and Properties

Chinese Journal of Polymer Science - The emerging chemical recyclable polymers, such as poly(γ-butyrolactone) (PGBL) and poly((R)-3,4-trans six-membered ring-fused GBL) (P((R)-M)), provide a...     

Evaluation of green and efficient deep eutectic solvents as media for extracting alkaloids from lotus leaf

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were applied as eco-friendly solvents in this study for the extraction of alkaloids from lotus leaf, including O-nornuciferine, N-nornuciferine, nuciferine and roemerine. A series of hydrophilic and hydrophobic DESs with different hydrogen bond donors and a acceptors were synthesized and screened for a suitable DESs for extraction of alkaloids from lotus leaf. The study results showed that the hydrophilic DES with choline chloride and propanediol had the highest extraction yield. The main factors affecting the extraction efficiency—choline chloride–propanediol ratio, water content in deep eutectic solvents, solid–liquid ratio and extraction time—were investigated via a single-factor experiment. The optimized extraction conditions were 30% of water in choline chloride–propanediol (1:4) for heated extraction for 30 min and solid–liquid ratio 1:100 g/ml. Under optimum conditions, the extraction yields of O-nornuciferine, N-nornuciferine, nuciferine and roemerine were 0.069, 0.152, 0.334 and 0.041 g/100 g respectively, which were higher than those of methanol in acidified aqueous solution. This study suggests considerable potential for DESs as promising materials for the green and efficient extraction solvents for bioactive alkaloids from natural sources.     

Injectable and self-healing hydrogels with tissue adhesiveness and antibacterial activity as wound dressings for infected wound healing

The design of wound dressings with excellent self-healing ability, adequate adhesion, good biocompatibility, and potential antibacterial ability is of great significance for the healing of infected wounds arising from human activities. Herein, a series of multi-functional hydrogel dressings, poly(ionized isocyanoethyl methacrylate-glutamine)/poly(hexamethylene guanidine) (iG_x/PHMG_y) hydrogels, were obtained through homopolymerization of fully ionized isocyanoethyl methacrylate-glutamine (iIEM-Gln) in the presence of poly(hexamethylene guanidine) (PHMG), in which strong hydrogen bonds were formed among urea groups in the P (iIEM-Gln) chain to form a stable hydrogel network. The prepared iG_x/PHMG_y hydrogels exhibited adequate self-healing ability and tissue adhesion, which could be firmly adhered to the wound surface and remained intact during application. In addition, the presence of PHMG imparted good antibacterial activity to the hydrogels for the effective promotion of the wound healing in S. aureus infected skin wound on mice. Overall, this multi-functional hydrogel provides a facile and effective strategy for the design of infected wound dressings, and may show great potential in clinical applications.     

Bicomponent Cocatalyst Decoration on Flux-assisted CaTaO2N Single Crystals for Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction under Visible Light

Cubic-like CaTaO₂N photocatalysts with high crystallinity and uniform particle size were successfully prepared by the flux-assisted nitridation method. The growth of CaTaO₂N single crystals under different synthesis conditions was systematically investigated to understand the effects of the crystallinity and optical property on photocatalytic performance of CO₂ reduction. Moreover, the modification of CaTaO₂N single crystals with core-shell Ni−Ag bicomponent cocatalyst by two-step decoration process gave a 2.4 times higher amount of CO evolution than the deposition of sole Ag cocatalyst, because of the synergistic effects of bicomponent cocatalyst on the interfacial electron transfer and surface catalytic process. This study provides a valuable way to construct high-crystalline photocatalysts with effective bicomponent cocatalyst for visible-light-driven CO₂ reduction with H₂O.     

Substituent engineering in g-C3N4/COF heterojunctions for rapid charge separation and high photo-redox activity

Science China Chemistry - The heterojunction constructed of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with adjustable structure and other photocatalysts has great potential in the field of photocatalysis....     

Benzyl alcohol oxidation and hydrogen generation over MoS2/ZnIn2S4 composite photocatalyst

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Owing to the simultaneous utilization of photogenerated electrons and holes, coupling light-driven hydrogen (H2) evolution reaction (HER) and biomass-derived...     

Macroscopic Polarization Change of Mononuclear Valence Tautomeric Cobalt Complexes Through the Use of Enantiopure Ligand

The crystallization of a complex having electron transfer properties in a polar space group can induce the polarization switching of a crystal in a specific direction, which is attractive for the development of sensors, memory devices, and capacitors. Unfortunately, the probability of crystallization in a polar space group is usually low. Noticing that enantiopure compounds crystallize in Sohncke space groups, this paper reports a strategy for the molecular design of non-ferroelectric polarization switching crystals based on the use of intramolecular electron transfer and chirality. In addition, this paper describes the synthesis of a mononuclear valence tautomeric (VT) cobalt complex bearing an enantiopure ligand. The introduction of enantiomer enables the crystallization of the complex in the polar space group (P2₁). The polarization of the crystals along the b-axis direction is not canceled out and the VT transition is accompanied by a change in the macroscopic polarization of the polar crystal. Polarization switching via electron transfer is realized at around room temperature.     

High-performance nonfused ring electron acceptor with a steric hindrance induced planar molecular backbone

Three nonfused ring electron acceptors (NFREAs) TTC6,TT-C8T and TT-TC8 were purposefully designed and synthesized.The molecular geometry can be adjusted by the steric hindrance of lateral substituents.According to the DFT calculations,from TTC6 to TT-C8T and TT-TC8,planarity of the molecular backbone is gradually improved,accompanying with the enhancing of intramolecular charge transfer effect.As for TT-TC8,the two phenyl substituents are almost perpendicular to the molecular backbone,which endues the acceptor with good solubility and suppresses it to form over-aggregation.Multidirectional regular molecular orientation and closer molecular stacking are formed in TT-TC8 film.As a result,TT-TC8 based devices afford the highest PCE of 13.13%,which is much higher than that of TTC6 (4.41%) and TT-C8T (10.42%) and among the highest PCE values based on NFREAs.     

MWCNTs/hydroxypropyl cellulose/polyethylene glycol-based shape-stabilized phase change materials

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is widely used as phase change materials (PCMs). However, the leakage and low thermal conductivity issues restrict its...     

Multifunctional fibrous wound dressings for refractory wound healing

Refractory wounds have always been an important issue to healthcare systems, whose healing process is always delayed by multiple factors, including bacterial infections, chronic inflammation, and excessive exudates, etc. Employing multifunctional wound dressings is recognized as an effective strategy to deal with refractory wounds, which has yielded promising outcomes in recent years. Among these advanced wound dressings, fibrous dressings have gained growing attention due to their unique merits. Such wound dressings have demonstrated great potential in delivering theranostic agents, such as antibacterial agents, anti-inflammatory drugs, growth factors, and diagnostic probes, etc., for the purposes of accelerating wound healing. This paper reviews the development of multifunctional fibrous dressings and their applications in treating refractory wounds. The construction approaches of novel fibrous dressing with capabilities of antibacterial, anti-inflammation, exudate management and diagnosis were also introduced. Furthermore, the existing problems and challenges are also discussed briefly.