Carbon Dots as a New Class of Diamagnetic Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (diaCEST) MRI Contrast Agents

While carbon dots (C‐dots) have been extensively investigated pertaining to their fluorescent, phosphorescent, electrochemiluminescent, optoelectronic, and catalytic features, their inherent chemical exchange saturation transfer magnetic resonance imaging (CEST MRI) properties are unknown. By virtue of their hydrophilicity and abundant exchangeable protons of hydroxyl, amine, and amide anchored on the surface, we report here that C‐dots can be adapted as effective diamagnetic CEST (diaCEST) MRI contrast agents. As a proof‐of‐concept demonstration, human glioma cells were labeled with liposomes with or without encapsulated C‐dots and implanted in mouse brain. In vivo CEST MRI was able to clearly differentiate labeled cells from non‐labeled cells. The present findings may encourage new applications of C‐dots for in vivo imaging in deep tissues, which is currently not possible using conventional fluorescent (near‐infrared) C‐dots.     

Scaled‐Up Synthesis of Amorphous NiFeMo Oxides and Their Rapid Surface Reconstruction for Superior Oxygen Evolution Catalysis

The anode oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is known to largely limit the efficiency of electrolyzers owing to its sluggish kinetics. While crystalline metal oxides are promising as OER catalysts, their amorphous phases also show high activities. Efforts to produce amorphous metal oxides have progressed slowly, and how an amorphous structure benefits the catalytic performances remains elusive. Now the first scalable synthesis of amorphous NiFeMo oxide (up to 515 g in one batch) is presented with homogeneous elemental distribution via a facile supersaturated co‐precipitation method. In contrast to its crystalline counterpart, amorphous NiFeMo oxide undergoes a faster surface self‐reconstruction process during OER, forming a metal oxy(hydroxide) active layer with rich oxygen vacancies, leading to superior OER activity (280 mV overpotential at 10 mA cm^?2 in 0.1 m KOH). This opens up the potential of fast, facile, and scale‐up production of amorphous metal oxides for high‐performance OER catalysts.     

Spectroscopic Measurement of a Halogen Bond Energy

Halogen bonding (XB) has emerged as an important bonding motif in supramolecules and biological systems. Although regarded as a strong noncovalent interaction, benchmark measurements of the halogen bond energy are scarce. Here, a combined anion photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) study of XB in solvated Br^? anions is reported. The XB strength between the positively‐charged σ‐hole on the Br atom of the bromotrichloromethane (CCl₃Br) molecule and the Br^? anion was found to be 0.63 eV (14.5 kcal mol^?1). In the neutral complexes, Br(CCl₃Br)_1,2, the attraction between the free Br atom and the negatively charged equatorial belt on the Br atom of CCl₃Br, which is a second type of halogen bonding, was estimated to have interaction strengths of 0.15 eV (3.5 kcal mol^?1) and 0.12 eV (2.8 kcal mol^?1).     

Synergistic effects of mono-component intumescent flame retardant grafted with carbon black on flame retardancy and smoke suppression properties of epoxy resins

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - A mono-component intumescent flame retardant named pentaerythritol phosphate melamine salt (PPMS) was grafted on the surface of carbon black (CB) to...     

基于热红外成像技术的油菜菌核病早期检测研究

将热红外成像技术和低空遥感技术相结合，基于冠层和叶片两个尺度对菌核病侵染油菜的过程进行检测研究。从冠层尺度分析，首先获取整株样本的温度值(平均温度与最大温差)，并采集其生理指数(气孔导度、CO₂浓度、蒸腾速率及光合速率)。然后，将染病样本与健康样本的温度值进行判别分析，并对其进行单因素方差分析。从结果可知，平均温度和最大温差值都可以对染病样本与健康样本进行区分，且最大温差相较平均温度结果较明显。同时单因素方差分析也显示，最大温差三次检测中均存在显著性差异。对获取的生理指数进行分析，发现染病样本与健康样本之间可以通过生理指数进行明显区分。另外，将生理指数与叶片温度进行相关性分析，结果表明二氧化碳浓度与叶片温度之间的三次检测均存在显著性差异。基于叶片尺度，首先从单一叶片来看健康区域和染病区域的温度差异，可以明显区分出染病区域和健康区域的温度差异。然后，提取健康区域与染病区域的的温度值(最大温度、最小温度、平均温度以及最大温差)对进行对比分析，并对其进行单因素方差分析。结果表明，以上四个温度指标均可以区分叶片的染病区域和健康区域。但根据单因素方差分析结果可知，与冠层尺度相同，最大温差三次检测中均存在显著性差异，可以实现对油菜菌核病的早期识别。     

HgCdTe薄膜的输运特性及其应力调控

窄禁带直接带隙半导体材料碲镉汞(Hg1–xCdxTe)是一种在红外探测与自旋轨道耦合效应基础研究方面都具有重要应用意义的材料.本文对单晶生长的体材料Hg0.851Cd0.149Te进行阳极氧化以形成表面反型层,将样品粘贴在压电陶瓷上减薄后进行磁输运测试,在压电陶瓷未加电压时观察到了明显的SdH振荡效应.对填充因子与磁场倒数进行线性拟合,获得样品反型层二维电子气的载流子浓度为ns=1.25×10^16m^-2.在不同磁场下,利用压电陶瓷对样品进行应力调控,观测到具有不同特征的现象,分析应是样品中存在二维电子气与体材料两个导电通道.零磁场下体材料主导的电阻的变化应来源于应力导致的带隙的改变;而高场下产生类振荡现象的原因应为应力导致的二维电子气能级的分裂.     

Regiocontrol in the oxidative Heck reaction of indole by ligand-enabled switch of the regioselectivity-determining step

Efficient control of regioselectivity is a key concern in transition-metal-catalyzed direct C–H functionalization reactions. Various strategies for regiocontrol have been established by tuning the selectivity of the C–H activation step as a common mode. Herein, we present our study on an alternative mode of regiocontrol, in which the selectivity of the C–H activation step is no longer a key concern. We found that, in a reaction where the C–H activation step exhibits a different regio-preference from the subsequent functionalization step, a ligand-enabled switch of the regioselectivity-determining step could provide efficient regiocontrol. This mode has been exemplified by the Pd(ii)-catalyzed aerobic oxidative Heck reaction of indoles, in which a ligand-controlled C3-/C2-selectivity was achieved for the first time by the development of sulfoxide-2-hydroxypyridine (SOHP) ligands.

Ligand-enabled switch of the regioselectivity-determining step allowed for efficient regiocontrol in the aerobic oxidative Heck reaction of indole.     

Temperature and pH dual‐sensitive polyaspartamide derivatives for antitumor drug delivery

The pH‐sensitive tertiary amino groups were introduced to synthesize temperature and pH dual‐sensitive degradable polyaspartamide derivatives (phe/DEAE‐g‐PHPA) containing pendant aromatic structures and ionizable tertiary amino groups. The thermo/pH‐responsive behavior of phe/DEAE‐g‐PHPA polymer can be tuned by adjusting the graft copolymer composition. Due to the pH sensitivity of the phe/DEAE‐g‐PHPA‐g‐mPEG polymer with hydrophilic long PEG chain, the micelles and the anticancer drug‐loaded micelles were prepared by a quick pH‐changing method without using toxic organic solvent. The obtained polymeric micelles, paclitaxel‐loaded micelles and doxorubicin‐loaded micelles were stable under physiological conditions. Both the drug‐loaded micelles showed much faster release at pH 5 than at pH 7.4. The doxorubicin‐loaded micelles showed obvious and better anticancer activity against both HepG2 and HeLa cells than free doxorubicin. Thus these nontoxic, dual thermo‐ and pH‐sensitive phe/DEAE‐g‐PHPA‐g‐mPEG micelles may be a promising anticancer drug delivery system. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 879–888