Self-assembly of artificial architectures in living cells-design and applications

Self-assembly exists widely in natural living system and artificial synthetic material system.Administration of self-assemblies of artificial architectures in living cells can be used to explore the molecular physicochemical fundamentals and operating mechanisms of living system,and consequently promote the development of biomedicine.In order to mimic naturally occurring self-assemblies and realize controllable functions,great efforts have been devoted to constructing dynamic assembly of artificial architectures in living cells by responding to intracellular specific stimuli,which can be used to regulate morphology,behaviors and fate of living cells.This review highlights the recent progress on artificial self-assembly in living cells.The molecular fundamentals and characteristics of intracellular environment that can induce the self-assembly of artificial architectures are introduced,and the representative work on dynamic artificial self-assembly in living cells is sketched chronologically.Moreover,intracellular stimuli-mediated pathways of artificial assembly in living cells are categorized,biological effects caused by intracellular self-assembly are summarized,and biomedical applications focusing on therapy and imaging are described.In the end,the perspective and challenges of artificial self-assembly in living cells are fully discussed.It is believed that the grand advances on artificial self-assembly in living cells will contribute to elaborating the molecular mechanisms in cells,and further promoting the biologically and medically-related applications in the future.     

Synthesis and Isolation of Diastereomers of Optically Active Cyclomercurated Ferrocenylimines

IntroductionOrganomercurials have been used extensively in organic synthesis and synthesis of other organometallics due to their ability to accommodate practically all the important organic functional groups and their ease in undergoing transmetallation for syntheses of transition metal organometallics which are very useful in organic synthesis. Recently, we reported the synthesis of optically active 1,2-disubstituted cyclomercurated ferrocenylimines by transmetallation reaction of planar chir…     

Synthesis and Characterization of Poly-Ortho-Methylaniline With Different Degrees of Oxidation

Poly-ortho-methylanilines (POT) in three states fully oxidized, fully reduced and oxidized in varying degrees were synthesized by the reaction of common POT (C-POT) having nearly equal amounts of benzenediamine and quinonediimine units with iodine or phenylhydrazine, and the resulting polymers were characterized by IR,~(13)C-NMR, SEM and elemental analysis. The results showed that the quinonediimine unit in C-POT could be reduced by phenylhydrazine to the benzenediamine unit,forming the polymer with low OD (oxidation degree) or in a fully reduced state and that iodine-oxidation resulted in the increase of quinonediimine unit and decrease of benzenediamine unit. The solubility and flexibility of the formed polymers depend strongly on the amount of quinonediimine unit in it. It is necessary to reduce the content of quinonediimine structure unit in order to improve the solubility of aniline-class polymers.     

Synthesis and Characterizations of Some New Diacylhydrazones

Acylhydrazine and hydrazine are highly reactive chemicals that have a wide spectrum of uses such as in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and as a fuel and propellant in aircraft, rockets and satellites. And they can react with microelement in the organism, so they were reported to possess different biological and pharmacological activities, such as antiphthistic, antitumour and so on. But, acylhydrazine and hydrazine have free group of NH2, so they usually have some toxicity to the organism. Hydrazones were investigated in view of the possibility of their being less toxic than the parent hydrazides, because of the blocking of the free NH2 group. In order to reduce the toxicity to the organism, people have been interested in the hydrazones compounds in recent years. In this work, 2,6-dimethylpyridine-3,5-diacylhydrazones were synthesized.     

Dependence of Elution Curve and Adsorption Isotherms of Insulin on composition of Mobile Phase of Frontal Analysis in Reversed Phase Liquid Chromatography

With frontal analysis(FA),the dependence of adsorption isotherms of insulin on the composition of mobile phase in reversed phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) has been investigated,This is also a good example to employ the stoichiometric displacement theory (SDT) for ivestigating solute adsorption in physical chemistry.Six kinds of mobile phase in RPLC were employed to study the effects on the elution curves and adsorption isotherms of insulin.the key points of this paper are:(1) the stability of insulin due to delay time after preparing,the organic solvent concentration,the kind and the concentration of ion-pairing agent in mobile phase were found to affect both elution curve and adsorption isotherm very seriously.(2)To obtain a valid and comparable result,the composition of the mobile phase employed in FA must be as same as possible to that in usual RPLC of either analytical scale or preparative purpose.(3)Langmuir Equation and the SDT were employed to imitate these obtained adsorption isotherms.The expression for solute adsorption from solution of the SDT was found to have a better elucidation to the insulin adsorption from mobile phase in RPLC.     

Thermodynamic Investigation of the Azeotropic Mixture Composed of Water and Benzene

The molar heat capacity of the azeotropic mixture composed of water and benzene was measured by an adiabatic calorimeter in the temperature range from 80 to 320 K. The phase transitions took place in the temperature range from 265.409 to 275.165 K and 275.165 to 279.399 K. The phase transition temperatures were determined to be 272.945 and 278.339 K, which were corresponding to the solid-liquid phase transitions of water and benzene, respectively. The thermodynamic functions and the excess thermodynamic functions of the mixture relative to standard temperature 298.15 K were derived from the relationships of the thermodynamic functions and the function of the measured heat capacity with respect to temperature.     

Distribution and forms of phosphorus in tidal flat sediments of the Yangtze Estuary and coast

The distribution and forms of phosphorus (P) were investigated in the tidal flat sediments of the Yangtze Estuary and coast. The total P contents in surface sediments range from 18.0 to 31.4 μmol · g-1 along the southern coast. The spatial and temporal distribution of P in tidal flats is closely related to the location and pollution resources, especially in association with the variation of hydrodynamic conditions. Significant variations in the forms of P in different sites were observed. P bonded with Ca(Ca-P) is the dominant mineral form in all surface sediments, organic P(Org-P) is lower. Most P is of unstable form, suggesting that P has larger potential activity. P accumulation is the main behavior process between water and sediment in the coastal environment of the Yangtze Estuary.     

Design and Synthesis of Novel Fluorine-containing Acrylates

It has been known that introduction of fluorine atom in molecule may lead to significant influence on the biological and physical properties of compounds due to increase of membrane permeability,hydrophobic binding,stability against metabolic oxidation,etc1.Since fluorine is virtually absent in the living tissue,fluorine-containing compounds are expected to serve as important and useful bioactive compounds for medicinal chemistry and chemical biology2.Therefore the development of synthetic met…     

Gal3 Catalyzed Tetrahydropyranylation of Alcohols and Phenols

In dichloromethane, the nucleophilic addition of alcohols or phenols to 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran (DHP) was catalyzed effectively by gallium triiodide which was generated in situ by the reaction of gallium metal and iodine to give the corresponding tetrahydropyranyl acetals in good to excellent yields.     

A Novel, Simple and Efficient Synthesis of Ferrocenyl Enones and Alkynols

Propargylic alcohols are versatile precursors to many organic molecules including natural products and pharmaceutical compounds.[1] In our continuing interest in the development of practical methods for synthesis of ferrocene derivatives, we decided to investigate the efficiencies of ferrocenylacetylene addition to aromatic aldehydes under t-BuOKcatalyzed condition.[2] Interestingly, we found that the usually reliable coupling reaction between terminal alkyne of type 1 and aromatic aldehydes of type 2 does not furnish the expected propargylic alcohols, but that the isomeric aryl enones 3are found in high yield and very short reaction time (10～20 min). This provided a promising protocol for preparation of ferrocenyl chalcones in a practical, economical and mild sense compared with the traditional method. To the best of our knowledge, this unusual reaction was first observed for the addition of ferrocenylacetylene to aldehyde in a base-catalyzed manner (Eq. 1).     

Synthesis of N-Squaramidoacids and Their Application in Asymmetric Borane Reduction of Prochiral Ketones

A series of novel N-squaramidoacid ligands were prepared conveniently. Without converting to corresponding amino alcohols, these ligands could be used in asymmetric borane reduction of prochiral aromatic ketones to give secondary alcohols in good to excellent enantiomeric excesses. The results showed that N-squaramidoacids are more efficient ligands than N-sulfonyl amino acids. N-Squaryl proline was proved to be an excellent ligand in this catalytic asymmetric process.     

Synthesis and in Vitro Cytotoxicity of a Novel Conjugate of Polyamide and Phospholipid

Small molecules with the ability to target predetermined sequences of DNA would be valuable tools in molecular biology and potentially in human medicine1-3. Synthetic polyamides consisting of N-methylpyrrole (Py), N-methylimidazole (Im) have received spec…     

Donor-Acceptor Oligomers and Polymers Composed of Benzothiadiazole and 3-Hexylthiophene： Effect of Chain Length and Regioregularity

A series of donor-acceptor oligomer OBTThn （n = 1- 7） and polymer PBTThl and PBTTh2 composed of al- ternative 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole and 3-hexylthiophene have been designed and synthesized for the purpose of in- vestigation on the effect of chain length and side-chain regioregularity on their basic properties and photovoltaic performance. In the OBTThn oligomers and PBTThl polymer, all the hexyl side chains on thienyl units orient to- ward the same direction. Upon elongation of the chain length, the intramolecular charge transfer （ICT） absorption band in solution gradually redshifts from 398 nm for OBTThl to 505 nm for OBTThT, then to 512 nm for PBTThl polymer. Meanwhile, the HOMO energy level increases from -5.45 eV （OBTTh0 to -5.08 eV （OBTThT） and -5.09 eV （PBTThl）, and the LUMO energy level decreases from -3.11 eV （OBTTh0 to -3.30 eV （OBTThT） and -3.33 eV （PBTThl）, thus giving a smaller and smaller energy bandgap for higher oligomers and polymers. Theo- retical calculation suggests straight line-like backbone geometry for this series of oligomers and polymer. On the other hand, polymer PBTTh2 possesses a different side-chain regioregularity, in which every two neighbor hexyl side chains are arranged in different orienting direction. It is theoretically suggested to have curved line-like back- bone geometry. In solution, it shows similar photophysical and electrochemical properties as PBTThl. However in film state, it displays a less redshift in the ICT band as refer to that in solution than PBTThl. In combination with [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester （PC61BM）, these oligomers and polymers were used as donor material to fabricate organic bulk heterojunction solar cells. Again, chain length-dependent device photovoltaic performance was observed. The device based on OBTTh4 showed a power conversion efficiency of 0.16%, while it increased to 0.36% and 0.49% for the devices based on OBTTh6 and PBTThb respectively. However, the side-chain regio- regularity has less influence on the device photovoltaic output since the device based on PBTTh~ displayed an effi- ciency of 0.52%, comparable to that of PBTThl.     

Facile Synthesis of Monofluoro γ-Lactones and Pyrrolidine Derivatives via Electrophilic Fluorination of Allenoic Acids and Amides

A convenient method to synthesize a series of monofluoro γ-lactones and pyrrolidine derivatives in moderate to good yields via the electrophilic fluorination of γ-allenoic acids and tosylamides using Selectfluor was developed.     

Preparation of Luminol-doped Nanoparticle and Its Application in DNA Hybridization Analysis

Introduction The analysis of DNA sequence and DNA mutant detection play fundamental roles in the rapid development of molecular diagnostics and in the anticancer drug screening. Therefor many detection techniques of DNA sequence have been developed in recent years. These techniques mainly depend on the nucleic acid hybridization1 and their sensitivities are related to the specific activity of the label linked to the DNA probe. The degree of hybridization of probe to its complementary DN…     

Enhancement of intramolecular excimer formation and photodimerization of anthrylmethyl α,ω-alkanedioates via hydrophobic interactions

The fluorescence spectra and photodimerization of anthrylmethyl a,w-alkanedioates (A-Mn-A) both in organic and in aqueous organic mixed solvents have been studied.In aqueous organic mixed solvents strong intramolecular excimer emission is detected and the quantum yield for the intramolecular photodimerization is significantly greater than those in organic solvents.These observations suggest that hydrophobic interactions force A-Mn-A molecule to self-coil.The ratio of the head-to-head to head-to-tail products in the intramolecular photodimers of A-Mn-A depends on the length of the linking chain.This work presents a successful example of application of hydrophobic interactions to enhancement of large-ring formation.     

Morphology and Crystalline Structure of Inclusion Compounds Formed between Poly（ethylene glycol） and Urea

The poly（ethylene glycol） （PEG, with Mw 2000）-urea inclusion compound （IC） crystallized at high temperature region showed two typical orientations, flat-on and edge-on crystals. 2D-XRD and polarized FTIR spectroscopy revealed that the PEG chains within urea channels were perpendicular to the substrate in fiat-on oriented crystals, while PEG chain axes were parallel to the substrate and lay along the growth direction in the edge-on crystals. FT1R absorption bands of PEG in the ICs are sensitive to orientation of the crystals. A scheme of PEG chain packing in the urea IC channel was proposed, which could explain the orientation of the crystal nucleus causing the two types of morphologies. Furthermore, functioning of PEG2000 chain end with analine had significantly influence on the morphology and orientation of the inclusion compound crystals, due to the defects caused by large terminal groups included in the urea channel.     

Spectral and Electrochemical Investigation of Intercalations of Adrenaline and CT－DNA

A strong interaction between double stranded calf-thymus DNA (ds-DNA) and adrenaline in solution, but no interaction between single stranded calf-thymus DNA (ss-DNA) and adrenaline was observed by the use of UV-visible spectroscopy and voltammetric techniques. It is suggested that the interaction leads to an intercalation of adrenaline molecules into the groove of ds-DNA and the formation of ds-DNA (adrenallne)n complex. The binding site size of the interaction of adrenaline with CT-DNA in nucleotide phosphate [ NP] has been determined as 25. The interaction of different concentration adrenaline with DNA modified GCE shows that the DNA modified GCE can be a good tool to detect lower concentration adrenaline.     

Adsorption and Vibration of O Atoms on Fe Low-index and Fe （211） High-index Surfaces

IntroductionThe interaction of oxygen with iron in lowcoverageregimes is considered to be an important step in the for-mation of oxides in corrosion science and in Fisher-Tro-psch process for the synthesis of ammonia over the het-erogeneous catalysts[1]. …     

Ab initio VB Studies of the Ground and Low-lying Excited States of BeH and BH

A scheme has been proposed to classify valence bond(VB) wave functions for the calculations of ground and excited states,according to the symmetry properties of one-electron orbitals which are involved in the construction of VB wave functions.This scheme is illustrated by the examples of BeH and BH.Ab initio VB computations of these two test molecules in combination with the present classification scheme give reliable results.For example,calculation results show that the state C2∑ of BeH is stable,with the bonding energy 0.87 eV and bond length 0.238nm,which are in good agreement with those obtained by Gerratt et al.The bonding features of ground and low-lying excited states of BeH and BH are discussed.