Treatment activity of a mixed-ligand coordination polymer on gastric carcinoma

Reaction of 4,4′,4″-nitrilotribenzoic acid (H₃L), a C₃-symmetric ligand, with the divalent Co(II) salt Co(NO₃)₂·6H₂O in the present of the N-donor ligand 1,2-di(4-pyridyl)ethylene (DPE) affords a new mixed-ligand coordination polymer with the chemical formula of [Co₃(TNB)(DPE)₂]·2H₂O·DMF (1). In this study, CCK-8 assay was used to determine the effect of novel compound on proliferation of gastric cancer cells. The VEGF signaling pathway in gastric cancer cells was determined through employing real-time PCR after treatment of the above complex. Further, molecular docking simulation confirmed that the biological activity was coming from the carboxyl groups through the hydrogen bonding interactions with the receptor protein, the pyridine group only bonded with the Co ion for the formation of the Co complex.     

Water-assisted mechanical testing of polymeric thin-films

Thin films with a nanometer-scale thickness are of great interest to both scientific and industrial communities due to their numerous applications and unique behaviors different from the bulk. However, the understanding of thin-film mechanics is still greatly hampered due to their intrinsic fragility and the lack of commercially available experimental instruments. In this review, we first discuss the progression of thin-film mechanical testing methods based on the supporting substrate: film-on-solid substrate method, film-on-water tensile tests, and water-assisted free-standing tensile tests. By comparing past studies on a model polymer, polystyrene, the effect of different substrates and confinement effect on the thin-film mechanics is evaluated. These techniques have generated fruitful scientific knowledge in the field of organic semiconductors for the understanding of structure–mechanical property relationships. We end this review by providing our perspective for their bright prospects in much broader applications and materials of interest.     

Performance evaluation of functionalized ordered mesoporous silica for VOCs adsorption by molecular dynamics simulation

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are growing pollutants now that cause the serious environmental pollution and threaten human health. The functionalized ordered mesoporous silica (FOMS) has attracted considerable attention in adsorbing VOCs. In this paper, the molecular dynamics simulation was used to simulate the adsorption performance of FOMS on VOCs (acetone, ethyl acetate and toluene). After simulating different pore sizes (2 nm, 3 nm and 4 nm) adsorption performances of ordered mesoporous silica (OMS) on VOCs, OMS with a pore size of 4 nm was selected to further study the influence of functional groups (vinyl, methyl, and phenyl). The following law was obtained: the saturated adsorption capacities of vinyl-functionalized OMS (V-FOMS) to acetone, ethyl acetate and toluene were 3.045 mmol.g^?1, 2.568 mmol.g^?1 and 1.976 mmol.g^?1 respectively; the saturated adsorption capacities of methyl-functionalized OMS (M-FOMS) to acetone, ethyl acetate and toluene were 2.798 mmol.g^?1, 2.312 mmol.g^?1 and 1.698 mmol.g^?1 respectively; the saturated adsorption capacities of phenyl-functionalized OMS (P-FOMS) to acetone, ethyl acetate and toluene were 2.124 mmol.g^?1, 1.941 mmol.g^?1 and 1.539 mmol.g^?1 respectively. These results show that the adsorption ability of FOMS for different adsorbates follows the sequence of acetone > ethyl acetate > toluene. Furthermore, the interaction between functional groups (vinyl, methyl and phenyl) in FOMS and VOCs was explored. It is found that the interaction between different functional groups and adsorbates is different (interaction energy effect). This interaction energy effect promotes FOMS to better adsorb VOCs. This work would provide fundamental understanding and guidance for the development of novel adsorption materials for the adsorption of VOCs.     

Design,synthesis and evaluation of novel dehydroabietic acid-dithiocarbamate hybrids as potential multi-targeted compounds for tumor cytotoxicity

In the present study, novel representatives of the important group of biologically-active, dehydroabietic acid-bearing dithiocarbamate moiety, were synthesized and characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, HR-MS. The in vitro antiproliferative activity evaluation (MTT) indicated that these compounds exhibited potent inhibitory activities in various cancer cell lines (HepG-2, MCF-7, HeLa, T-24, MGC-803). Particularly, compound III-b possessed extraordinary cytotoxicity with low micromolar IC₅₀ values ranging from 4.07 to 38.84 µM against tested cancer cell lines, while displayed weak cytotoxicity on two normal cell lines (LO-2 and HEK 293 T). Subsequently, the potential mechanisms of representative compound III-b were elementarily investigated by Transwell experiment, which showed III-b can inhibit cancer cells migration. Annexin-V/PI dual staining showed that the compound can induce HepG-2 cells apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Meanwhile this apoptosis may be related to the upregulated protein expression of cleaved-caspase 3, cleaved-caspase 9, Bax and downregulated of Bcl-2 indicated by Western Blot. Later study further confirmed that ROS levels in HepG-2 cells increased significantly with the rise of concentrations. In addition, through the network pharmacology data analyzing, the core targets and signaling pathways of compound III-b for treatment of liver neoplasms were forecasted. Molecular docking model showed that compound III-b had high affinity with hub targets (CASP3, EGFR, HSP90AA1, MAPK1, ERBB2, MDM2), suggesting that compound III-b might target the hub protein to modulate signaling activity. Taken together, these data indicated that dehydroabietic acid structural modification following the “Molecular hybridization” principle is a feasible way to discover the potential multi-targeted antitumor compounds.     

Modifying the physicochemical properties,solubility and foaming capacity of milk proteins by ultrasound-assisted alkaline pH-shifting treatment

This study investigated the effects of different treatment of alkaline pH-shifting on milk protein concentrate (MPC), micellar casein concentrate (MCC) and whey protein isolate (WPI) assisted by the same ultrasound conditions, including changes in the physicochemical properties, solubility and foaming capacity. The solubility of milk proteins had a significant increase with gradual enhancement of ultrasound-assisted alkaline pH-shifting (p < 0.05), especially for MCC up to 99.50 %. Also, treatment made a significant decline in the particle size of MPC and MCC, as well as the turbidity of the proteins (p < 0.05). The foaming capacity of MPC, MCC, and WPI was all improved, especially at pH 11, and at this pH, the milk protein also showed the highest surface hydrophobicity. The best foaming capacity at pH 11 was the result of the combined effect of particle size, potential, protein conformation, solubility, and surface hydrophobicity. In conclusion, ultrasound-assisted pH-shifting treatment was found to be effective in improving the physicochemical properties and solubility and foaming capacity of milk proteins, especially MCC, with promising application prospect in food industry.     

Metamorphic InAs(Sb)/InGaAs/InAlAs nanoheterostructures grown on GaAs for efficient mid-IR emitters

High-efficiency semiconductor lasers and light-emitting diodes operating in the 3–5?μm mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range are currently of great demand for a wide variety of applications, in particular, gas sensing, noninvasive medical tests, IR spectroscopy etc. III-V compounds with a lattice constant of about 6.1?Å are traditionally used for this spectral range. The attractive idea to fabricate such emitters on GaAs substrates by using In(Ga,Al)As compounds is restricted by either the minimum operating wavelength of ～8?μm in case of pseudomorphic AlGaAs-based quantum cascade lasers or requires utilization of thick metamorphic In_xAl_1-xAs buffer layers (MBLs) playing a key role in reducing the density of threading dislocations (TDs) in an active region, which otherwise result in a strong decay of the quantum efficiency of such mid-IR emitters. In this review we present the results of careful investigations of employing the convex-graded In_xAl_1-xAs MBLs for fabrication by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (001) substrates of In(Ga,Al)As heterostructures with a combined type-II/type-I InSb/InAs/InGaAs quantum well (QW) for efficient mid-IR emitters (3–3.6?μm). The issues of strain relaxation, elastic stress balance, efficiency of radiative and non-radiative recombination at T?=?10–300?K are discussed in relation to molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth conditions and designs of the structures. A wide complex of techniques including in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning and transmission electron microscopies, X-ray diffractometry, reciprocal space mapping, selective area electron diffraction, as well as photoluminescence (PL) and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy was used to study in detail structural and optical properties of the metamorphic QW structures. Optimization of the growth conditions (the substrate temperature, the As₄/III ratio) and elastic strain profiles governed by variation of an inverse step in the In content profile between the MBL and the InAlAs virtual substrate results in decrease in the TD density (down to 3?×?10⁷ cm^?2), increase of the thickness of the low-TD-density near-surface MBL region to 250–300?nm, the extremely low surface roughness with the RMS value of 1.6–2.4?nm, measured by AFM, as well as rather high 3.5?μm-PL intensity at temperatures up to 300?K in such structures. The obtained results indicate that the metamorphic InSb/In(Ga,Al)As QW heterostructures of proper design, grown under the optimum MBE conditions, are very promising for fabricating the efficient mid-IR emitters on a GaAs platform.     

First principles investigations of Fe,Co, Ni in model honeycomb carbon networks

The behaviors of ferromagnetic transition metals of the first period: Fe, Co and Ni are examined within density functional theory calculations in two dimensional carbon extended networks using model structure LiC₆. Around geometry optimized structures, the energy-volume equations of states considering non magnetic and spin polarized configurations established ferromagnetic ground states with magnetizations –reduced with respect to the metals’– of 2 μ_B for FeC₆ and 1 μ_B for CoC₆ while no magnetic solution could be identified for NiC₆. In the D_6h point group of the P6/mmm space group l_m decomposition of the d states results with increasing energy into doublet state E_1g with d(x²-y²) and d(xy); singlet state A_1g d(z²) and doublet state E_2g d(xz) and d(yz) lying on E_F and responsible of the onset of magnetic moments. This was mirrored via molecular orbital approach with a construct of Fe embedded between two extended carbon networks thus validating the model structure proposed for TC₆ compounds. The 100% polarization in one spin channel allows proposing potential uses in spintronics applications.     

Evolution of Classical and Quantum States in the Groupoid Picture of Quantum Mechanics

The evolution of states of the composition of classical and quantum systems in the groupoid formalism for physical theories introduced recently is discussed. It is shown that the notion of a classical system, in the sense of Birkhoff and von Neumann, is equivalent, in the case of systems with a countable number of outputs, to a totally disconnected groupoid with Abelian von Neumann algebra. The impossibility of evolving a separable state of a composite system made up of a classical and a quantum one into an entangled state by means of a unitary evolution is proven in accordance with Raggio’s theorem, which is extended to include a new family of separable states corresponding to the composition of a system with a totally disconnected space of outcomes and a quantum one.     

Information percolation and cutoff for the random‐cluster model

We consider the random‐cluster model (RCM) on with parameters p∈(0,1) and q ≥ 1. This is a generalization of the standard bond percolation (with edges open independently with probability p) which is biased by a factor q raised to the number of connected components. We study the well‐known Fortuin‐Kasteleyn (FK)‐dynamics on this model where the update at an edge depends on the global geometry of the system unlike the Glauber heat‐bath dynamics for spin systems, and prove that for all small enough p (depending on the dimension) and any q>1, the FK‐dynamics exhibits the cutoff phenomenon at with a window size , where λ_∞ is the large n limit of the spectral gap of the process. Our proof extends the information percolation framework of Lubetzky and Sly to the RCM and also relies on the arguments of Blanca and Sinclair who proved a sharp mixing time bound for the planar version. A key aspect of our proof is the analysis of the effect of a sequence of dependent (across time) Bernoulli percolations extracted from the graphical construction of the dynamics, on how information propagates.