Calcite Deposits Differentiate Cave from House‐Farmed Edible Bird's Nest as shown by SEM‐EDX,ATR‐FTIR and Raman Microspectroscopy

The difference between the swiftlet white edible bird's nest from limestone caves versus house‐farmed ones, especially in response to high temperature and stewing time in water where the latter type would disintegrate readily, has been a puzzle for a long time. We show that edible bird's nests from the limestone caves have calcite deposits on the surface of the nest cement as compared to the house‐farmed nests which are built by swiftlets on timber planks. The micron and sub‐micron calcite particles are seen in SEM‐EDX and further characterized by ATR‐FTIR and Raman microspectroscopy. The calcite deposits make it possible for the cave nest to retain a gelatinous texture under the harsh retort conditions at 121 °C for 20 mins in commercial bottling. We show that house‐farmed nests can be soaked in CaCl₂(aq) followed by rinsing with Na₂CO₃(aq) to grow the same calcite deposits on the nest cement with the same characteristic as cave nests. Therefore, there should no longer be a need to harvest cave nests, and we can better conserve the dwindling population and natural habitats of cave swiftlets.     

Evaluation of reaction spontaneity for acidic and reductive dissolutions of corrosion metal oxides using HyBRID chemical decontamination

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Complete sets of reaction mechanisms are proposed in the acidic and reductive dissolution of magnetite, nickel ferrite, and chromite using the...     

Understanding the Origin of Highly Selective CO2 Electroreduction to CO on Ni,N-doped Carbon Catalysts

Ni,N-doped carbon catalysts have shown promising catalytic performance for CO₂ electroreduction (CO₂R) to CO; this activity has often been attributed to the presence of nitrogen-coordinated, single Ni atom active sites. However, experimentally confirming Ni−N bonding and correlating CO₂ reduction (CO₂R) activity to these species has remained a fundamental challenge. We synthesized polyacrylonitrile-derived Ni,N-doped carbon electrocatalysts (Ni-PACN) with a range of pyrolysis temperatures and Ni loadings and correlated their electrochemical activity with extensive physiochemical characterization to rigorously address the origin of activity in these materials. We found that the CO₂R to CO partial current density increased with increased Ni content before plateauing at 2 wt % which suggests a dispersed Ni active site. These dispersed active sites were investigated by hard and soft X-ray spectroscopy, which revealed that pyrrolic nitrogen ligands selectively bind Ni atoms in a distorted square-planar geometry that strongly resembles the active sites of molecular metal–porphyrin catalysts.     

Facile preparation of superhydrophobic nanorod surfaces through ion-beam irradiation

Obtaining superhydrophobic surfaces for their application in electronics and flexible wearable devices remains a significant challenge. Most previously reported methods for obtaining superhydrophobic surfaces involve complex and expensive preparation techniques and thus cannot be used for practical applications. Ion-beam irradiation is a simple and promising method for fabricating superhydrophobic nanostructures on large areas at a low cost. Ion-beam irradiation using argon and oxygen gases was used to prepare silica nanorod structures on glass substrates. This study is not just a modification of the surface of nanoparticles, but a change in nanoparticle shape. The nanorods were subsequently treated with perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane to obtain superhydrophobicity. The surface of the silica nanorods exhibited a static water contact angle of 153°, indicating superhydrophobicity. The combination of rough structures of silica nanorods and low surface energy resulted in superhydrophobicity. The surface properties were evaluated in detail using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The proposed method is facile, inexpensive, and can be used for the large-scale production of nanorod structures for potential industrial applications.     

Uranyl peroxide ((UO2)(O2)·4H2O; UO4) precipitation for uranium sequestering: formation and physicochemical characterization

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Applicability of uranium peroxide ((UO2)(O2)·4H2O; UO4) precipitation to remove uranium from secondary wastewaters, generated as part of a...     

Evaluation of alumina slurry dispersion by nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation as a comparison to conventional dispersion evaluation methods

In this paper, we evaluated the particle dispersion degree of alumina slurry containing a dispersant by solvent nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation and compared it with conventional dispersion evaluation methods such as viscosity, particle size, and sedimentation height measurements. The dispersion of slurry was evaluated via numerical analysis of the transverse relaxation time (T₂). The effect of the changes in different parameters of the experiment in terms of milling time, solid loading, and dispersant amount was investigated by NMR relaxation as well as conventional methods. The results of NMR relaxation measurements revealed that T₂ correlates well with other dispersion evaluation methods; thus, it is an efficient technique to evaluate the dispersion of alumina slurry, specifically, when studying the effect of the change in milling time and dispersion amount.     

Synthesis and formulation of self-immolative PEG-aryl azide block copolymers and click-to-release reactivity with trans-cyclooctene

Self-immolative aryl azides can react with trans-cyclooctenes (TCO), triphenylphosphines or hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) to activate prodrugs, imaging probes and drug delivery systems. To date, the synthesis of polymers containing these aryl azide self-immolative linkers and their reactivity with a strained alkene (i.e., in a bioorthogonal reaction) has not been explored. Also, due to the instability of aryl azides towards light and high temperatures, the polymerization methods compatible with aryl azides are limited. Through systematic investigation of the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) methods, a self-immolative PEG-aryl azide block copolymer (PEG₄₅-b-ABOC₂₈ 2 ) and a non-responsive 4-fluoroaryl block copolymer (PEG₄₅-b-FBOC₂₄ 3 ) was prepared. ATRP provided the desired polymers in a highly controlled manner, whereas the RAFT conditions led to higher levels of aryl azide polymer degradation. The ATRP derived polymers 2 and 3 were formulated into nanoparticles of approximately 200 nm diameter, and particle triggering was demonstrated by the [3+2]-cycloaddition reaction of TCO with PEG₄₅-b-ABOC₂₈ 2 in solution (pure polymer) and as a formulated nanoparticle. Preliminary in vitro cell viability studies suggested that the stimuli-responsive aryl azide polymers/nanoparticles are not cytotoxic up to 200 μg/ml concentrations.     

Thermosetting resins from a tetra-functional vinylbenzene compound possessing cyclic siloxane cores

Cyclic siloxane is an attractive building block for incorporation of silicon-containing units as well as their distinguished properties to polymer materials. This work reports the synthesis and characterization of a tetra-functional vinylbenzene compound possessing cyclic siloxane cores (cD₄-4VB). Synthesis of cD₄-4VB is carried out using cD₄-4SiH as the reactive precursor and multiple-step reactions, including hydrosilylation, deacetylation, and S_N2 substitution. cD₄-4VB is an effective monomer for preparation of the corresponding cyclic silicon-based thermosetting resins (CR-cD₄-4VB). CR-cD₄-4VB shows attractive film formability and good thermo-mechanical properties, including a storage modulus of 2.0 GPa, a glass transition temperature of 282°C, a thermal stability above 400°C, a high char yield (at 800°C in nitrogen) of 55 wt%, and a dielectric constant of 3.12 at 10 GHz. This kind of resins have potential of application for halogen-free flame retardants and high-performance polymer films.     

Identification of Flavonoids as Putative ROS-1 Kinase Inhibitors Using Pharmacophore Modeling for NSCLC Therapeutics

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a lethal non-immunogenic malignancy and proto-oncogene ROS-1 tyrosine kinase is one of its clinically relevant oncogenic markers. The ROS-1 inhibitor, crizotinib, demonstrated resistance due to the Gly2032Arg mutation. To curtail this resistance, researchers developed lorlatinib against the mutated kinase. In the present study, a receptor-ligand pharmacophore model exploiting the key features of lorlatinib binding with ROS-1 was exploited to identify inhibitors against the wild-type (WT) and the mutant (MT) kinase domain. The developed model was utilized to virtually screen the TimTec flavonoids database and the retrieved drug-like hits were subjected for docking with the WT and MT ROS-1 kinase. A total of 10 flavonoids displayed higher docking scores than lorlatinib. Subsequent molecular dynamics simulations of the acquired flavonoids with WT and MT ROS-1 revealed no steric clashes with the Arg2032 (MT ROS-1). The binding free energy calculations computed via molecular mechanics/Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) demonstrated one flavonoid (Hit) with better energy than lorlatinib in binding with WT and MT ROS-1. The Hit compound was observed to bind in the ROS-1 selectivity pocket comprised of residues from the β-3 sheet and DFG-motif. The identified Hit from this investigation could act as a potent WT and MT ROS-1 inhibitor.     

Bioprinting of Collagen: Considerations,Potentials, and Applications

Collagen is the most abundant extracellular matrix protein that is widely used in tissue engineering (TE). There is little research done on printing pure collagen. To understand the bottlenecks in printing pure collagen, it is imperative to understand collagen from a bottom‐up approach. Here it is aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of collagen printing, where collagen assembly in vivo and the various sources of collagen available for TE application are first understood. Next, the current printing technologies and strategy for printing collagen‐based materials are highlighted. Considerations and key challenges faced in collagen printing are identified. Finally, the key research areas that would enhance the functionality of printed collagen are presented.