Rational Design of a Humanized Glucagon‐Like Peptide‐1 Receptor Agonist Antibody

Bovine antibody BLV1H12 possesses a unique “stalk–knob” architecture in its ultralong heavy chain CDR3, allowing substitutions of the “knob” domain with protein agonists to generate functional antibody chimeras. We have generated a humanized glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) receptor agonist antibody by first introducing a coiled‐coil “stalk” into CDR3H of the antibody herceptin. Exendin‐4 (Ex‐4), a GLP‐1 receptor agonist, was then fused to the engineered stalk with flexible linkers, and a Factor Xa cleavage site was inserted immediately in front of Ex‐4 to allow release of the N‐terminus of the fused peptide. The resulting clipped herceptin–Ex‐4 fusion protein is more potent in vitro in activating GLP‐1 receptors than the Ex‐4 peptide. The clipped herceptin–Ex‐4 has an extended plasma half‐life of approximately four days and sustained control of blood glucose levels for more than a week in mice. This work provides a novel approach to the development of human or humanized agonist antibodies as therapeutics.     

Direct Conversion of Bulk Metals to Size‐Tailored,Monodisperse Spherical Non‐Coinage‐Metal Nanocrystals

Monodisperse non‐noble metal nanocrystals (NCs) that are highly uniform in shapes and particle size are much desired in various advanced applications, and are commonly prepared by either thermal decomposition or reduction, where reactive organometallic precursors or/and strong reducing agents are mandatory; however, these are usually toxic, costly, or suffer a lack of availability. Bulk Group 12 metals can now be converted into ligand‐protected, highly crystalline, monodisperse spherical metal NCs with precisely controlled sizes without using any precursors and reducers. The method is based on low‐power NIR‐laser‐induced size‐selective layer‐by‐layer surface vaporization. The monodisperse Cd NCs show pronounced deep‐UV (DUV) localized surface plasmon resonance making them highly competitive DUV‐plasmonic materials. This approach will promote appreciably the emergence of a wide range of monodisperse technically important non‐coinage metal NCs with compelling functionalities.     

Rhodium(I)‐Catalyzed Regiospecific Dimerization of Aromatic Acids: Two Direct CH Bond Activations in Water

2,2′‐Diaryl acids are key building blocks for some of the most important and high‐performance polymers such as polyesters and polyamides (imides), as well as structural motifs of MOFs (metal–organic frameworks) and biological compounds. In this study, a direct, regiospecific and practical dimerization of simple aromatic acids to generate 2,2′‐diaryl acids has been discovered, which proceeds through two rhodium‐catalyzed C? H activations in water. This reaction can be easily scaled up to gram level by using only 0.4–0.6 mol % of the rhodium catalyst. As a proof‐of‐concept, the natural product ellagic acid was synthesized in two steps by this method.     

A Chemically Triggered and Thermally Switched Dielectric Constant Transition in a Metal Cyanide Based Crystal

A dielectric constant transition is chemically triggered and thermally switched in (HPy)₂[Na(H₂O)Co(CN)₆] ( 2 , HPy=pyridinium cation) by single‐crystal‐to‐single‐crystal transformation and structural phase transition, respectively. Upon dehydration, (HPy)₂[Na(H₂O)₂Co(CN)₆] ( 1 ) transforms to its semi‐hydrated form 2 , accompanying a transition from a low‐dielectric state to a high‐dielectric state, and vice versa. This dielectric switch is also realized by a structural phase transition in 2 that occurs between room‐ and low‐temperature phases, and which corresponds to high‐ and low‐dielectric states, respectively. The switching property is due to the variation in the environment surrounding the HPy cation, that is, the hydrogen‐bonding interactions and the crystal packing, which exert predominant influences on the dynamics of the cations that transit between the static and motional states.     

Crystalline Hetero‐Stereocomplexed Polycarbonates Produced from Amorphous Opposite Enantiomers Having Different Chemical Structures

Stereocomplexation is the stereoselective interaction between two opposite enantiomeric polymers through an interlocked orderly assembly. Most studies focus on the stereocomplex formation from the crystalline opposite enantiomers having the identical structure; nevertheless, rare examples were reported regarding the crystalline stereocomplexes from enantiomeric polymers having different chemical structures. Herein we show a strategy for polymer orderly assembly through the formation of crystalline hetero‐stereocomplexed polymeric materials by the cocrystallization of amorphous isotactic polycarbonates with different chemical structures and opposite configurations. The behaviors in the crystalline state are significantly different from that of the component enantiomeric polymers or their homo‐stereocomplexes. This study is expected to open up a new way to prepare various semicrystalline materials having a wide variety of physical properties and degradability.     

二维单层硒化钼和硒化钨晶体的声子辅助上转换荧光光谱

声子辅助的上转换荧光是固体激光制冷效应的基础. 激光制冷具有体积小、效率高、无振动干扰、无需制冷剂等优势而具有重要应用价值, 探索更多可以实现激光制冷效应的材料是相关领域的重要研究内容. 二维单层过渡金属硫属半导体化合物是直接带隙荧光材料, 其完美的晶格结构、辐射光子提取效率高等特征使其有望成为一种新型激光制冷材料. 以MoSe₂和WSe₂为例, 本文研究了不同波长激发下样品的上转换荧光, 并通过激光功率依赖性实验和温度依赖性实验证实了该上转换荧光过程的发光机制为声子辅助过程.     

全自动凝胶净化-浓缩-固相萃取/气相色谱-质谱法测定紫皮石斛中有机磷农药残留

建立了以凝胶渗透色谱(GPC)和固相萃取(SPE)净化、气相色谱-质谱(GC-MS)法同时测定紫皮石斛中10种有机磷农药残留的方法。样品用乙腈超声提取,提取液经GPC去除类脂杂质和大分子物质,后经Envi-Carb/NH2固相萃取柱净化,选择离子(SIM)监测模式检测,外标法定量。在26min内10种农药得到很好的分离,农药残留量在0.02~0.5μg/mL,方法的线性良好,相关系数为0.997 3~0.999 9,农药加标浓度为0.05mg/kg和0.2mg/kg时,加标回收率在70.4%~115.8%,相对标准偏差在2.8%~9.6%,满足国家标准要求,检出限为0.005 2~0.011mg/kg。方法简便、快速、灵敏、准确,能够运用于石斛中多组分有机磷农药残留的定性和定量分析。     

Mechanical and dielectric behavior of poly(vinylidene)–poly(arylene ether nitrile) composites as film capacitors for energy storage applications

Novel polymer composites PEN/PVDF were prepared from poly(arylene ether nitrile) (PEN) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) via solution mixing. Due to the toughening effect of PVDF, PEN/PVDF blends with 5 wt % PVDF exhibit higher tensile strength (106 MPa) and breaking elongation (8.09%) than pure PEN does. Because of introduction of PVDF and interfacial polarization, the dielectric constant of PEN/PVDF blends at 1 kHz and room temperature increases from 3.3 to 4.5 with increasing content of PVDF. The dissipation factor (tanδ) of PEN/PVDF blends is relatively low (<0.04) in a very wide frequency range from 250 Hz to 100 kHz. The PEN/PVDF blends show certain piezoelectric behavior (d ₃₃ from 0.9 to 1 pC/N) due to the contribution of PVDF. After polarization, the piezoelectric coefficient d ₃₃ somewhat increases. The results suggest that PEN/PVDF blends will have potential application in electronic information fields, especially in film capacitors.     

Chloroacetate‐Promoted Selective Oxidation of Heterobenzylic Methylenes under Copper Catalysis

The efficient selective oxidation and functionalization of C? H bonds with molecular oxygen and a copper catalyst to prepare the corresponding ketones was achieved with ethyl chloroacetate as a promoter. In this transformation, various substituted N‐heterocyclic compounds were well tolerated. Preliminary mechanistic investigations indicated that organic radical species were involved in the overall process. The N‐heterocyclic compounds and ethyl chloroacetate work synergistically to activate C? H bonds in the methylene group, which results in the easy generation of free radical intermediates, thus leading to the corresponding ketones in good yields.