Ultra-high Tg and ultra-low coefficient of thermal expansion polyimide films based on hydrogen bond interaction

To tolerate high processing temperature during the fabrication of low-temperature polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistors (LTPS–TFT) in flexible OLED devices, the polyimide (PI) films, which are used as substrate, should have ultra-high glass transition temperature (T_g > 450°C) and ultra-low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE at 0–5 ppm K⁻¹). In this paper, two novel heterocyclic monomers, namely, N,N'-(xanthone-2,7-diyl)bis(4-aminobenzamide) (p-DAXBA) and N,N'-(xanthone-2,7-diyl)bis(3-aminobenzamide) (m-DAXBA), which contain a xanthone moiety, are prepared and polycondensed with pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA), respectively. PI films (PIa and PIb) with intrinsic high T_g and low CTE are designed from the perspective of rigid conjugate xanthone structure and hydrogen bonding interaction. It is found that the PIa films prepared by p-DAXBA have better linear structure of molecular chains and show relatively higher T_g and lower CTE. The T_g of PIa-40 is greater than 450°C, and CTE can reach as low as 2.7 ppm K⁻¹, tensile strength of 179 MPa, modulus of 5.67 GPa, indicating potential application prospect as a flexible OLED substrate.     

Single-Molecule Sensing of Acidic Catecholamine Metabolites Using a Programmable Nanopore

Acidic catecholamine metabolites, which could serve as diagnostic markers for many diseases, demonstrate an importance of accurate sensing. However, they share a highly similar chemical structure, which is a challenge in the design of sensing strategies. A nanopore may be engineered to sense these metabolites in a single molecule manner. To achieve this, a recently developed programmable nano-reactor for stochastic sensing (PNRSS) technique adapted with a phenylboronic acid (PBA) adaptor was applied. Three acidic catecholamine metabolites, including 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), 3,4-dihydroxymandelic acid (DHMA) and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxymandetic acid (VMA) were investigated by PNRSS. Specifically, DHMA, which contains an α-hydroxycarboxylate moiety and an adjacent cis-hydroxyl groups on its benzene ring, reports two binding modes simultaneously resolvable by PNRSS. Assisted with the high resolution of PNRSS, direct regulation of these two binding modes by pH can also be observed. A custom machine learning algorithm was also developed to achieve automatic event classification.     

Chemical Constituents of Corydalis saxicola

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

An Endoplasmic Reticulum Targeting Type I Photosensitizer for Effective Photodynamic Therapy against Hypoxic Tumor Cells

Organelle-targeted type I photodynamic therapy (PDT) shows great potential to overcome the hypoxic microenvironment in solid tumors. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is an indispensable organelle in cells with important biological functions. When the ER is damaged due to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the accumulation of misfolded proteins will interfere with ER homeostasis, resulting in ER stress. Here, an ER-targeted benzophenothiazine-based photosensitizer NBS-ER was presented. ER targeting modification significantly reduced the dark toxicity and improved phototoxicity index (PI). NBS-ER could effectively produce O₂⁻⋅ with near-infrared irradiation, making its phototoxicity under hypoxia close to that under normoxia. Meanwhile, the photoinduced ROS triggered ER stress and induced apoptosis. In addition, NBS-ER possessed excellent photodynamic therapeutic effect in 4T1-tumor-bearing mice.     

Synthesis of nonionic polyurethanes with hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene hydrophobic segments and their application in octadecane nanocapsules

Alkane nanocapsule is a kind of promising phase-change material. However, it is difficult to prepare alkane nanocapsule with an elastic shell by traditional method. Therefore, nonionic polyurethane with specially designed structure was synthesized. Octadecane nanocapsule prepared by this polyurethane not only had an elastic shell but also showed some good properties in other aspects. The polyurethane structure was characterized by infrared, hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance, and gel permeation chromatography. The conductivity of emulsification process was tracked. The average particle sizes of nanocapsules were measured by quasi-elastic light scattering and fell in the range of 240 to 485 nm. Octadecane nanocapsules showed a core–shell structure under transmission electron microscopy. The nanocapsule dispersions had a rather good stability under high-speed shearing and freezing–thawing tests. All of the coalescence ratios were less than 5 wt.% after testing. The fusion enthalpy of nanocapsules reached to 83 J g^?1. It was found that the dried nanocapsule powder had rather good re-dispersion ability, and stable dispersions were obtained simply by agitating the powder into water. Coalescences of re-dispersed dispersions were all less than 1.8 wt.%, and their average particle sizes were in the range of 420 to 675 nm. There was almost no change in fusion enthalpy and melt temperature before and after re-dispersion, which indicated that the polyurethane shell had a good protection of octadecane from leaking out of the nanocapsule.     

Diode-like asymmetric transmission of circularly polarized waves

Optical diode plays an important role in optical computing and information processing. In this paper, a kind of three-layered chiral metamaterial is proposed to achieve diode-like asymmetric transmission for forward and backward propagations of circularly polarized electromagnetic waves only. The metamaterial is composed of a ring–chain structure sandwiched between two identical S-shaped metallic layers with their corresponding substrates. A transparent transmission at normal incidence in one direction and a small intensity of transmission in the opposite direction are numerically demonstrated in this chiral structure. Besides, the results reveal that the bandwidth of the cross-polarization transmission of this designed structure can be tuned by varying the incident angle of circularly polarized waves.     

Surface integral analogy approaches for predicting noise from 3D high-lift low-noise wings

Three surface integral approaches of the acoustic analogies are studied to predict the noise from three concep- tual configurations of three-dimensional high-lift low-noise wings. The approaches refer to the Kirchhoff method, the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings （FW-H） method of the permeable integral surface and the Curle method that is known as a special case of the FW-H method. The first two approaches are used to compute the noise generated by the core flow region where the energetic structures exist. The last approach is adopted to predict the noise specially from the pressure perturbation on the wall. A new way to con- struct the integral surface that encloses the core region is proposed for the first two methods. Considering the local properties of the flow around the complex object-the actual wing with high-lift devices-the integral surface based on the vorticity is constructed to follow the flow structures. The surface location is discussed for the Kirchhoff method and the FW-H method because a common surface is used for them. The noise from the core flow region is studied on the basis of the dependent integral quantities, which are indicated by the Kirchhoff formulation and by the FW-H formulation. The role of each wall component on noise contribution is analyzed using the Curle formulation. Effects of the volume integral terms of Lighthill＇s stress tensors on the noise pre-diction are then evaluated by comparing the results of the Curle method with the other two methods.     

ZnO‐Coated Carbon Nanotubes: Inter‐Diffusion of Carboxyl Groups and Enhanced Photocurrent Generation

ZnO is a defect‐governed oxide and emits light at both visible and UV regimes. This work employs atomic layer deposition to produce oxide particles on oxygenated carbon nanotubes, and the composites only show emission profiles at short wavelengths. The quenching of defect‐related emissions at long wavelengths is verified, owing to carboxyl diffusion into oxygen vacancies, and doping is supported by ZnCO₃ formation in oxide lattice. Fully coated tubes display an increased photocurrent and the quantum efficiency increases by 22 % relative to the bare nanotubes.