Manipulating Light-Induced Dynamic Macro-Movement and Static Photonic Properties within 1D Isostructural Hydrogen-Bonded Molecular Cocrystals

Smart molecular crystals with light-driven mechanical responses have received interest owing to their potential uses in molecular machines, artificial muscles, and biomimetics. However, challenges remain in control over both the dynamic photo-mechanical behaviors and static photonic properties of molecular crystals based on the same molecule. Herein, we show the construction of isostructural co-crystals allows their light-induced cracking and jumping behaviors (photosalient effect) to be controlled. Hydrogen-bonded co-crystals from 4-(1-naphthylvinyl)pyridine ( NVP ) with co-formers (tetrafluoro-4-hydroxybenzoic acid ( THA ) and tetrafluorobenzoic acid ( TA )) crystallize as isostructural crystals, but have different static and dynamic photo-mechanical behaviors. These differences are due to alternations in the orientation of NVP and hydrogen-bonding modes of the co-formers. After light activation, the 1D NVP-TA crystal splits and shears off within 1 s. For NVP-THA , its photostability and high quantum yield give novel photonic properties, including low optical waveguide loss, highly polarized anisotropy, and efficient up-conversion fluorescence.     

Atomic Hydrogen Induced Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Oxycarbide Thin Films Derived from Diethoxymethylsilane Precursor

Amorphous silicon oxycarbide (a-SiOC:H) films produced by remote plasma RPCVD from diethoxymethylsilane (DEMS) were characterized in terms of their basic properties related to the coatings deposited using conventional plasma enhanced PECVD method. The effect of substrate temperature (T_S) on the growth rate, chemical composition, structure, and properties of resulting a-SiOC:H films is reported. Film growth is an adsorption-controlled process, wherein two mechanisms can be distinguished with a transition at about T_S=70°C. Depending on the temperature, films of different nature can be obtained, from polymer-like to highly crosslinked material with C-Si-O network. The chemical structure of a-SiOC:H films was characterized by FTIR, ¹³C and ²⁹Si solid-state NMR, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopes. The a-SiOC:H films were also characterized in terms of their density, refractive index, surface morphology, conformality of coverage, hardness, adhesion to a substrate, and friction coefficient. The films were found to be morphologically homogeneous materials exhibiting good conformality of coverage and small surface roughness. Their refractive index exhibits anomalous effect revealing a minimum value at T_S=125°C. Due to their exceptional physical properties a-SiOC:H films produced by RPCVD from DEMS precursor seems to be useful as potential dielectric materials or coatings for various encapsulation applications.     

大斯托克斯位移远红光至近红外荧光探针用于检测肝损伤过程中过氧化亚硝酸盐的动态变化

肝损伤是影响公众健康的重大问题之一, 已经引起了人们越来越多的关注. 而过表达的过氧化亚硝酸盐(ONOO^?)在肝损伤等疾病的发病机制中起着重要作用, 被认为是一种与早期肝损伤密切相关的生物活性分子. 因此, 为了探究ONOO^?在肝损伤过程中的作用, 开发可以实现肝损伤过程中ONOO^?高选择性和实时检测的分析方法具有重要意义. 本文报道了一种具有大斯托克斯位移的远红光至近红外(FR-NIR)ONOO^?荧光探针. 由于该探针具有大的斯托克斯位移, 可以有效消除光谱重叠和自吸收的干扰, 从而显著提高成像的信噪比. 此外, 该探针对ONOO^?具有高的灵敏度(检出限为25.8 nmol/L)和良好的选择性, 被成功用于药物诱导肝损伤过程中ONOO^?信号的成像检测.     

Development of a Neutral Diketopyrrolopyrrole Phosphine Oxide for the Selective Bioimaging of Mitochondria at the Nanomolar Level

Development of novel bioimaging materials that exhibit organelle specific accumulation continues to be at the forefront of research interests and efforts. Among the various subcellular organelles, mitochondria, which are found in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells, are of particular interest in relation to their vital function. To date, most molecular probes that target mitochondria utilise delocalised lipophilic cations such as triphenylphosphonium and pyridinium. However, the use of such charged motifs is known to be detrimental to the working function of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential and there remains a strong case for development of neutral mitochondrial fluorescent probes. Herein, we demonstrate for the first time the exploitation of diketopyrrolopyrrole-based chemistries for the realisation of a neutral fluorescent probe that exhibits organelle specific accumulation within the mitochondria at the nanomolar level. The synthesised probe, which bears a neutral triphenylphosphine oxide moiety, exhibits a large Stokes shift and high fluorescence quantum yield in water, both highly sought-after properties in the development of bioimaging agents. In vitro studies reveal no interference with cell metabolism when tested for the human MCF7 breast cancer cell and nanomolar subcellular organelle colocalisation with commercially available mitochondrial staining agent Mitotracker Red. In light of its novelty, neutral structure and the preferential accumulation at nanomolar concentrations we anticipate this work to be of significant interest for the increasingly larger community devoted to the realisation of neutral mitochondrial selective systems and more widely to those engaged in the rational development of superior organic architectures in the biological field.     

Rapid Discrimination of Crystal Handedness by X-ray Natural Circular Dichroism (XNCD) Mapping

An original method for determining the handedness of individual non-centrosymmetric crystals in a mixture using a tightly-focused, circularly polarized X-ray beam is presented. The X-ray natural circular dichroism (XNCD) spectra recorded at the metal K-edge on selected crystals of [Δ-M(en)₃](NO₃)₂ and [Λ-M(en)₃](NO₃)₂ (M=Co^II, Ni^II) show extrema at the metal pre-edge (7712 eV for Co, 8335 eV for Ni). A mapping of a collection of some 220 crystals was performed at the respective energies by using left and right circular polarizations. The difference in absorption for the two polarizations, being either negative or positive, directly yielded the handedness of the crystal volume probed by the beam. By using this technique, it was found that the addition of l -ascorbic acid during the synthesis of [Co(en)₃](NO₃)₂ resulted in an enantiomeric enrichment of the Λ-isomer of 67±13 %, whereas the Ni analogue was similarly, but conversely, enriched in the Δ-isomer (65±22 %).     

Exceptionally Plastic/Elastic Organic Crystals of a Naphthalidenimine-Boron Complex Show Flexible Optical Waveguide Properties

The design of molecular compounds that exhibit flexibility is an emerging area of research. Although a fair amount of success has been achieved in the design of plastic or elastic crystals, realizing multidimensional plastic and elastic bending remains challenging. We report herein a naphthalidenimine–boron complex that showed size-dependent dual mechanical bending behavior whereas its parent Schiff base was brittle. Detailed crystallographic and spectroscopic analysis revealed the importance of boron in imparting the interesting mechanical properties. Furthermore, the luminescence of the molecule was turned-on subsequent to boron complexation, thereby allowing it to be explored for multimode optical waveguide applications. Our in-depth study of the size-dependent plastic and elastic bending of the crystals thus provides important insights in molecular engineering and could act as a platform for the development of future smart flexible materials for optoelectronic applications.     

Downfalls of Chemical Probes Acting at the Kinase ATP-Site: CK2 as a Case Study

Protein kinases are a large class of enzymes with numerous biological roles and many have been implicated in a vast array of diseases, including cancer and the novel coronavirus infection COVID-19. Thus, the development of chemical probes to selectively target each kinase is of great interest. Inhibition of protein kinases with ATP-competitive inhibitors has historically been the most widely used method. However, due to the highly conserved structures of ATP-sites, the identification of truly selective chemical probes is challenging. In this review, we use the Ser/Thr kinase CK2 as an example to highlight the historical challenges in effective and selective chemical probe development, alongside recent advances in the field and alternative strategies aiming to overcome these problems. The methods utilised for CK2 can be applied to an array of protein kinases to aid in the discovery of chemical probes to further understand each kinase’s biology, with wide-reaching implications for drug development.     

Y掺杂WS2二维材料的第一性原理研究

WS₂由于其优异的物理和光电性质引起了广泛关注。本研究基于第一性原理计算方法,探索了本征单层WS₂及不同浓度W原子替位钇(Y)掺杂WS₂的电子结构和光学特性。结果表明本征单层WS₂为带隙1.814 eV的直接带隙半导体。进行4%浓度(原子数分数)的Y原子掺杂后,带隙减小为1.508 eV,依旧保持着直接带隙的特性,随着Y掺杂浓度的不断增大,掺杂WS₂带隙进一步减小,当浓度达到25%时,能带结构转变为0.658 eV的间接带隙,WS₂表现出磁性。适量浓度的掺杂可以提高材料的导电性能,且掺杂浓度增大时,体系依旧保持着透明性并且在红外光和可见光区对光子的吸收能力、材料的介电性能都有着显著提高。本文为WS₂二维材料相关光电器件的研究提供了理论依据。     

动脉粥样硬化光学成像探针研究进展

心血管疾病(Cardiovascular disease, CVD)是全球疾病致死的主要原因之一. 动脉粥样硬化(Atherosclerosis, AS)是引发各种CVD的首要危险因素, 其发生发展通常经历持续的慢性炎症过程. 因此, 及时高效地检测AS, 对于早期评估、 诊断和治疗CVD具有重要临床意义. 光学探针成像拥有极高的灵敏度和空间分辨率以及超快的信号采集处理速度, 被广泛应用于生物医学检测与成像. 本文综合评述了6种常见用于AS成像的光学探针, 涉及小分子荧光探针、 聚集诱导发光(Aggregate-induced emission, AIE)纳米探针、 量子点探针、 上转换纳米探针、 光声探针和多模态探针等; 并对各种探针的优缺点进行了分析比较. 在此基础上, 展望了光学探针在AS成像领域的发展前景, 并提出了相应建议.     

Structure of Zinc and Nickel Histidine Complexes in Solution Revealed by Molecular Dynamics and Raman Optical Activity

The histidine residue has an exceptional affinity for metals, but solution structure of its complexes are difficult to study. For zinc and nickel complexes, Raman and Raman optical activity (ROA) spectroscopy methods to investigate the link between spectral shapes and the geometry were used. The spectra were recorded and interpreted on the basis of ionic equilibria, molecular dynamics, ab initio molecular dynamics, and density functional theory. For zwitterionic histidine the dominant tautomer was determined by the decomposition of experimental spectra into calculated subspectra. An octahedral structure was found to prevail for the ZnHis₂ complex in solution, in contrast to a tetrahedral arrangement in the crystal phase. The solution geometry of NiHis₂ is more similar to the octahedral structure found by X-ray. The Raman and ROA structural determinations of metal complexes are dependent on extensive computations, but reveal unique information about the studied systems.