Membranology: an interdisciplinary science

The author's studies on membrane materials and the membrane technology of mixture separation are briefly reviewed. New, promising membrane materials as well as some mechanistic features of membrane-mediated separation of gases are discussed. With a view to desalting solutions by means of the reversed-osmosis technique, the role of the mass transfer process in the membrane apparatus is considered. The prospects of the membrane methodology in solving various biotechnological and environmental problems are apprised.On the occasion of the award of a D. Sc. (honoris causa) degree to Prof. E. Drioli (Università degli Studi della Calabria, Dipartimento di Chimica) for his works on chemical membranology by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1991.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 826–839, May, 1993.     

Metallomics: An integrated biometal science

Metallomics is an emerging scientific area integrating the research fields related to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of metal-associated life processes and the entirety of metal and metalloid species within a cell or tissue type. In metallomics, metalloproteins, metalloenzymes and other metal-containing biomolecules in a biological system are referred to as metallomes, similar to genomes and proteomes in genomics and proteomics, respectively. This review discusses the concept of metallomics with a focus on analytical techniques and methods, particularly the so-called hyphenated techniques which combine a high-resolution separation technique (gel electrophoresis/laser ablation, chromatography or capillary electrophoresis) with a highly sensitive detection method such as elemental (inductively coupled plasma, ICP) or molecular (electron spray ionization (ESI) or matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)) mass spectrometry, or nuclear X-ray fluorescence/absorption spectrometry. The applications of these advanced analytical methods in the identification of metallo-/phospho-/seleno-proteins, probing of relationships between structure and function of metalloproteins, and study of clinically used metallodrugs will be selectively outlined, along with their advantages and limitations.     

金属组学：研究生命体系中金属离子的前沿交叉学科

金属组学是一门新兴的前沿交叉学科,是对若干涉及金属相关生命过程的分子机制以及对细胞与组织内全部金属离子和金属配合物进行综合研究的学科．在金属组学中,生命体系中所有的金属蛋白质、金属酶以及其他含金属的生物分子统称为金属组,这个概念与基因组学中的基因组和蛋白质组学中的蛋白质组相类似．本文对金属组学中涉及的若干概念进行阐述,并将着重介绍金属组学中的研究技术和方法,特别是“组和技术”,即把一种高分辨率分离技术如凝胶电泳／激光切除、色谱或者毛细管电泳与一项高灵敏度检测方法,如电感耦合等离子体质谱、电喷雾电离质谱、基质辅助激光解吸附质谱或者X射线荧光／吸收光谱联合起来．并重点分析了这些方法的优缺点以及在分离鉴别金属蛋白、磷酸化蛋白以及硒蛋白、确定金属蛋白的结构与功能的关系和医药中的金属药物活性抗药性方面的研究中的应用．     

Nanotoxicology: an interdisciplinary challenge

The increasing consumption of products containing nanomaterials that can be currently observed and forecasts of new developments and applications fan the fear of individuals and organizations regarding new risks to health. Considering experiences gained from previous technology developments, such fears are not completely unfounded. But are they really justified? And is it justified, moreover, to speak of “nanotoxicology” as a new discipline? This Review seeks to cast light on the phenomena that may occur as nanoobjects interact with cells, tissues, and organisms. Furthermore, we will demonstrate that the many data made available on the biological effects of nanomaterials do not always come from studies that can be considered reliable. We will point out the aspect of reliability with specific examples from the literature and will not address specific (nano)materials. In particular, inadequate methods will be described together with recommendations how to avoid this in the future, thereby contributing to a sustainable improvement of the available data.     

金属有机配体分析方法及金属组学研究

环境和生物样品中金属与有机酸、氨基酸、多糖、蛋白质、DNA等形成的金属有机物是一系列生物金属。生物金属中参与金属离子配位的有机配基主要是含氧、硫、氮及磷的功能团。金属组学是整合生物金属中金属有机配体的结合形态及其生理功能活性的新概念。文中介绍了目前常用的金属有机配体的分析方法以及金属组学领域的研究技术,并展望了重金属富集和超积累植物的研究前景。     

Suprasomes: an emerging platform for cancer theranostics

<正>Vesicular drug delivery systems(DDSs) are important in modern medicine, especially for cancer theranostics [1].Traditional vesicular DDSs, such as liposomes and polymersomes, have received a lot of attention owing to excellent delivery capabilities. However, due to the instability,     

Liquid-crystal nanoscience: an emerging avenue of soft self-assembly

Liquid crystals are finding increasing applications in a wide variety of fields including liquid-crystal display technology, materials science, bioscience, etc., apart from acting as prototype self-organizable supramolecular soft materials and tunable solvents. Recently, keeping in pace with topical science, liquid crystals have entered into the fascinating domains of nanoscience and nanotechnology. This tutorial review describes the recent and significant developments in liquid-crystal nanoscience embracing contemporary nanomaterials such as nanoparticles, nanorods, nanotubes, nanoplatelets, etc. The dispersion of zero-, one- and two-dimensional nanomaterials in liquid crystals for the enhancement of properties, liquid-crystalline phase behavior of nanomaterials themselves, self-assembly and alignment of nanomaterials in liquid-crystalline media, and the synthesis of nanomaterials by using liquid crystals as 'templates' or 'precursors' have been highlighted and discussed. It is almost certain that the 'fourth state of matter' will play more prevalent roles in nanoscience and nanotechnology in the near future. Moreover, liquid-crystal nanoscience reflects itself as a beautiful demonstration of the contemporary theme "crossing the borders: science without boundaries".     

Commemorating two centuries of iodine research: an interdisciplinary overview of current research

Iodine was discovered as a novel element in 1811 during the Napoleonic Wars. To celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of this event we reflect on the history and highlight the many facets of iodine research that have evolved since its discovery. Iodine has an impact on many aspects of life on Earth as well as on human civilization. It is accumulated in high concentrations by marine algae, which are the origin of strong iodine fluxes into the coastal atmosphere which influence climatic processes, and dissolved iodine is considered a biophilic element in marine sediments. Iodine is central to thyroid function in vertebrates, with paramount implications for human health. Iodine can exist in a wide range of oxidation states and it features a diverse supramolecular chemistry. Iodine is amenable to several analytical techniques, and iodine compounds have found widespread use in organic synthesis. Elemental iodine is produced on an industrial scale and has found a wide range of applications in innovative materials, including semiconductors--in particular, in solar cells.     

Metal oxyhalides: an emerging family of nonlinear optical materials

Second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials have drawn enormous academic and technological attention attributable to their indispensable role in laser frequency conversion and other greatly facilitated applications. The exploration of new NLO materials with high performances thus has long been an intriguing research field for chemists and material scientists. However, an ideal NLO material should simultaneously satisfy quite a few fundamental yet rigorous criteria including a noncentrosymmetric structure, large NLO coefficients, desired transparent range, large birefringence, high laser damage threshold, and availability of a large-size single crystal. Therefore, the identification of promising compound systems, targeted design, and experience-based syntheses are crucial to discover novel NLO materials working in the spectral region of interest. As an important family of mixed-anion compounds, versatile metal oxyhalides containing metal-centered oxyhalide functional units ([MO_mX_n] (X = F, Cl, Br, and I)) are becoming a marvelous branch for interesting NLO materials. Especially, when the central metals are d⁰/d¹⁰ transition metals or heavy post-transition metals, a number of novel NLO materials with superior functionalities are expected. Our thorough review on the recent achievements of metal oxyhalides for NLO materials are divided into the fast-growing NLO metal oxyhalides with single type halogen anions and the newly identified NLO metal oxyhalides with mixed halogen anions. Here we mainly focus on the design strategy, structural chemistry, NLO-related properties, and structure–property correlation of the metal oxyhalides with relatively large NLO responses. We hope this review can provide an insight on the rational design and future development of emerging metal oxyhalides for NLO and other applications.

Nonlinear optical metal oxyhalides could provide a new insight into the target design and exploratory synthesis of new functional materials with intriguing chemical and physical properties.     

Magnesium azaphthalocyanines: an emerging family of excellent red-emitting fluorophores

Magnesium(II), zinc(II), and metal-free phthalocyanines (Pcs) and azaphthalocyanines (AzaPcs) containing alkylsulfanyl, aryloxy, and dialkylamino peripheral substituents have been synthesized. The complexation of magnesium(II) by metal-free Pcs and AzaPcs has been studied in detail to determine the optimal reaction conditions necessary to ensure a complete conversion. Photophysical and photochemical measurements in tetrahydrofuran showed that magnesium(II) AzaPcs with aryloxy and alkylsulfanyl substituents have excellent fluorescent properties (Φ(F) up to 0.73) and that the corresponding zinc(II) Pcs are efficient singlet oxygen producers (Φ(Δ) up to 0.68). The presence of dialkylamino substituents causes intramolecular charge transfer within the molecule that competes with fluorescence and singlet oxygen formation. Alkylsulfanyl MgAzaPc and ZnAzaPc were the most photostable compounds among the series of studied derivatives. In addition, high molar absorption coefficients (ε ～ 300,000 M(-1) cm(-1)), absorption (λ(max) ～ 650 nm), and emission (λ(em) ～ 660 nm, high Φ(F)) in the red region suggest that these molecules are potential fluorescent probes that are superior to the commercial red cyanine dye Cy5. MgAzaPc, when incorporated into lipidic bilayers of liposomes, maintains excellent fluorescence properties (Φ(F) = 0.64). Water-soluble MgAzaPc with quaternary ammonium peripheral substituents retained a high fluorescence quantum yield even in water (Φ(F) = 0.25). The described properties show that magnesium(II) AzaPcs are excellent red-emitting fluorophores with potential applications as fluorescent probes in sensing or in vitro imaging applications.     

Microfluidics and electrochemistry: an emerging tandem for next-generation analytical microsystems

Microfluidic and electrochemical technologies have been at the forefront of the development of emerging analytical microsystems. Microfluidics and electrochemistry show a synergistic relationship, empowering their inherent features. Thus, integration of microfluidics and electrochemical (bio)sensors is envisioned as a powerful tandem for boosting the next generation of lab-on-a-chip platforms, including point-of-care and point-of-need systems. In this review, a general overview of the advantages, drawbacks, and gaps as well as remaining challenges and future trends of coupling microfluidics and electrochemical cells is presented. Special attention is given to the manufacturing and scale-up of the integrated devices and all those aspects that can push on the development of true lab-on-a-chip platforms for reaching the industrial domain and actual commercialization.     

Cupreines and cupreidines: an emerging class of bifunctional cinchona organocatalysts

In the steadily expanding field of organocatalysis, cinchona alkaloids play a prominent role. Until the late 1990s, bifunctional catalysts based on this scaffold relied exclusively on the C9-hydroxy group as the hydrogen-bond donor. Recently, new cinchona catalysts have been developed that feature a phenolic OH group in the C6' position-a structural feature that allows a diverse set of reactions to be catalyzed in a highly stereoselective fashion. This Minireview describes the scope and modes of action of this new class of asymmetric bifunctional organocatalysts.     

Saponins: the phytochemical with an emerging potential for curing clinical depression

Depression is on the rise globally and expected to lead in global burden of diseases by 2030. The current therapy has serious limitations in terms of safety, efficacy, tolerability and therapeutic success. This review, based on the literature of the last decade, is aimed at exploring the preclinical profile of plant-based saponins (the abundant secondary metabolite) as an emerging therapy for depression. Enough scientific evidences reflect that saponins promote neurogenesis, restore monoaminergic tone and enhance neurotrophic factors. In multiple stress models, they have exhibited adaptogenic effects via normalising hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis, corticosterone levels and oxidative stress. Scientific data revealed neuroprotective effect of saponins by inhibiting apoptosis and intraneuronal calcium dynamics. Many plants possessing saponins as their principal antidepressant moiety need investigation at clinical level. Last decade literature revealed numerous preclinical reports supporting the role of saponins as natural cure for depression and justified their inclusion in antidepressant drug discovery programs.     

Fluorine conformational effects in organocatalysis: an emerging strategy for molecular design

Molecular design strategies that profit from the intrinsic stereoelectronic and electrostatic effects of fluorinated organic molecules have mainly been restricted to bio-organic chemistry. Indeed, many fluorine conformational effects remain academic curiosities with no immediate application. However, the renaissance of organocatalysis offers the possibility to exploit many of these well-described phenomena for molecular preorganization. In this minireview, we highlight examples of catalyst refinement by introduction of an aliphatic C-F bond which functions as a chemically inert steering group for conformational control.     

Enzymatic electrosynthesis as an emerging electrochemical synthesis platform

Enzymatic electrosynthesis (EES), combining enzymatic catalysis and electrochemical techniques for the production of desired chemicals, has gained prominence because of its use of clean electrical energy inputs and highly specific enzyme biocatalysts and its capability of performing complicated reactions with high yield. In this review, we summarize the most recent state-of-the-art advances in EES and recognize that the research emphasis has shifted from CO₂ reduction to the utilization of N₂ and the synthesis of high-value products. Particular attention is given to the energy sources for powering EES, including direct electrical energy, light energy, and chemical energy obtained from self-powered biosystems. Enzyme-based hybrid systems integrated with microbial or chemical approaches are also presented. Finally, key challenges and future directions of EES are discussed briefly.