Subcomponent self-assembly of circular helical Dy6(L)6 and bipyramid Dy12(L)8 architectures directed via second-order template effects

In situ metal-templated (hydrazone) condensation also called subcomponent self-assembly of 4,6-dihydrazino-pyrimidine, o-vanillin and dysprosium ions resulted in the formation of discrete hexa- or dodecanuclear metallosupramolecular Dy₆(L)₆ or Dy₁₂(L)₈ aggregates resulting from second-order template effects of the base and the lanthanide counterions used in these processes. XRD analysis revealed unique circular helical or tetragonal bipyramid architectures in which the bis(hydrazone) ligand L adopts different conformations and shows remarkable differences in its mode of metal coordination. While a molecule of trimethylamine acts as a secondary template that fills the void of the Dy₆(L)₆ assembly, sodium ions take on this role for the formation of heterobimetallic Dy₁₂(L)₈ by occupying vacant coordination sites, thus demonstrating that these processes can be steered in different directions upon subtle changes of reaction conditions. Furthermore, Dy₆(L)₆ shows an interesting spin-relaxation energy barrier of 435 K, which is amongst the largest values within multinuclear lanthanide single-molecular magnets.

Subcomponent self-assembly gave access to Dy₁₂(L)₈ and Dy₆(L)₆ architectures via second-order template effects. The Dy₆(L)₆ assembly behaves as a single-molecule magnet exhibiting a high anisotropy barrier and butterfly-shaped magnetic hysteresis.     

High-Resolution Infrared-Vacuum Ultraviolet Photoion and Pulsed Field Ionization-Photoelectron Methods for Spectroscopic Studies of Neutrals and Cations

We show that by scanning the frequency of a single mode infrared (IR) optical parametric oscillator (IR-OPO) laser to excite the molecular species of interest and fixing the frequency of a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) laser to photoionize the IR excited species, high-resolution IR spectra of polyatomic neutrals can be obtained with high sensitivity. The fact that this IR-VUV-photoion (IR-VUV-PI) method is based on VUV photoionization probe, and thus, allows the identification of the neutral IR absorber, makes it applicable for IR spectroscopy measurements of isotopemers, radicals, and clusters, which usually exist as impure samples. The highly resolved IR-VUV-PI measurements achieved using the single mode IR-OPO laser have made possible the selection of single rovibrational states of CH3X (X=Br and I), C2H4, and C3H4 for VUV-pulsed field ionization-photoelectron (VUV-PFI-PE) measurements, resulting in rovibrationally resolved photoelectron spectra for these polyatomic molecules. These experiments show that the signal-to-noise ratios of the IR-VUV-PI and IR-VUV-PFI-PE spectra obtained by employing the high-resolution IR-OPO laser are significantly higher than those observed in previous IR-VUV-PI and IR-VUV-PFI-PE studies using a low-resolution IR-OPO laser. Further improvement in sensitivity of IR-VUV-PI and IR-VUV-PFI-PE measurements by using the collinear arrangement of IR-VUV lasers and molecular beam is discussed.     

Logical Entropy of Information Sources

In this paper, we present the concept of the logical entropy of order m, logical mutual information, and the logical entropy for information sources. We found upper and lower bounds for the logical entropy of a random variable by using convex functions. We show that the logical entropy of the joint distributions X1 and X2 is always less than the sum of the logical entropy of the variables X1 and X2. We define the logical Shannon entropy and logical metric permutation entropy to an information system and examine the properties of this kind of entropy. Finally, we examine the amount of the logical metric entropy and permutation logical entropy for maps.     

Statistical Degree Distribution Design for Using Fountain Codes to Control the Peak-To-Average Power Ratio in an OFDM System

Utilizing fountain codes to control the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) is a classic scheme in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) wireless communication systems. However, because the robust soliton distribution (RSD) produces large-degree values, the decoding performance is severely reduced. In this paper, we design statistical degree distribution (SD) under a scenario that utilizes fountain codes to control the PAPR. The probability of the PAPR produced is combined with RSD to design PRSD, which enhances the smaller degree value produced. Subsequently, a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to search the optimal degree value between the binary exponential distribution (BED) and PRSD distribution according to the minimum average degree principle. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other relevant degree distributions in the same controlled PAPR threshold, and the average degree value and decoding efficiency are remarkably improved.     

Design,Synthesis and Bioactivity of Novel Low Bee-Toxicity Compounds Based on Flupyrimin

Neonicotinoids are important insecticides for controlling aphids in agriculture. Growing research suggested that neonicotinoid insecticides are a key factor causing the decline of global pollinator insects, such as bees. Flupyrimin (FLP) is a novel nicotinic insecticide with unique biological properties and no cross-resistance, and is safe for pollinators. Using FLP as the lead compound, a series of novel compounds were designed and synthesized by replacing the amide fragment with a sulfonamideone. Their structures were confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and HRMS spectra. Bioassay results showed that compound 2j had good insecticidal activity against Aphis glycines with an LC₅₀ value of 20.93 mg/L. Meanwhile, compound 2j showed significantly lower acute oral and contact toxicity to Apis mellifera. In addition, compound 2j interacted well with the protein in insect acetylcholine binding protein (AChBP). The molecular docking on honeybee nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) indicated that the sulfonamide group of compound 2j did not form a hydrogen bond with Arg173 of the β subunit, which conforms to the reported low bee-toxicity conformation. In general, target compound 2j can be regarded as a bee-friendly insecticide candidate.     

Preparation and Characterization of Protein Molecularly Imprinted Poly (Ionic Liquid)/Calcium Alginate Composite Cryogel Membrane with High Mechanical Strength for the Separation of Bovine Serum Albumin

In order to improve the mechanical strength and imprinting efficiency, a novel bovine serum albumin (BSA) molecularly imprinted poly(ionic liquid)/calcium alginate composite cryogel membrane (MICM) was prepared. The results of the tensile test indicated that the MICM had excellent mechanical strength which could reach up to 90.00 KPa, 30.30 times higher than the poly (ionic liquid) membrane without calcium alginate; the elongation of it could reach up to 93.70%, 8.28 times higher than the poly (ionic liquid) membrane without calcium alginate. The MICM had a very high welling ratio of 1026.56% and macropore porosity of 62.29%, which can provide effective mass transport of proteins. More remarkably, it had a very high adsorption capacity of 485.87 mg g⁻¹ at 20 °C and 0.66 mg mL⁻¹ of the initial concentration of BSA. Moreover, MICM also had good selective and competitive recognition toward BSA, exhibiting potential utility in protein separation. This work can provide a potential method to prepare the protein-imprinted cryogel membrane with both high mechanical strength and imprinting efficiency.     

A New Ratiometric Fluorescent Probe Based on BODIPY for Highly Selective Detection of Hydrogen Sulfide

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) as small molecular signal messenger plays key functions in numerous biological processes. The imaging detection of intracellular hydrogen sulfide is of great significance. In this work, a ratiometric fluorescent probe BH based on an asymmetric BODIPY dye for detection of H₂S was designed and synthesized. After the interaction with hydrogen sulfide, probe display colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescence response, with its maximum emission fluorescence wavelength red-shifted from 542 nm to 594 nm, which is attributed to the sequential nucleophilic reaction of H₂S leading to enhanced molecular conjugation after ring formation of the BODIPY skeleton. A special response mechanism has been fully investigated by NMR titration and MS, so that the probe has excellent detection selectivity. Furthermore, probe BH has low cytotoxicity and fluorescence imaging experiments indicate that it can be used to monitor hydrogen sulfide in living cells.     

Recent Progress in Biosensors for Detection of Tumor Biomarkers

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, with an increasing mortality rate over the past years. The early detection of cancer contributes to early diagnosis and subsequent treatment. How to detect early cancer has become one of the hot research directions of cancer. Tumor biomarkers, biochemical parameters for reflecting cancer occurrence and progression have caused much attention in cancer early detection. Due to high sensitivity, convenience and low cost, biosensors have been largely developed to detect tumor biomarkers. This review describes the application of various biosensors in detecting tumor markers. Firstly, several typical tumor makers, such as neuron-specific enolase (NSE), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), prostate-specific antigen (PSA), squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA), carbohydrate, antigen19-9 (CA19-9) and tumor suppressor p53 (TP53), which may be helpful for early cancer detection in the clinic, are briefly described. Then, various biosensors, mainly focusing on electrochemical biosensors, optical biosensors, photoelectrochemical biosensors, piezoelectric biosensors and aptamer sensors, are discussed. Specifically, the operation principles of biosensors, nanomaterials used in biosensors and the application of biosensors in tumor marker detection have been comprehensively reviewed and provided. Lastly, the challenges and prospects for developing effective biosensors for early cancer diagnosis are discussed.     

One-Step Calcination to Gain Exfoliated g-C3N4/MoO2 Composites for High-Performance Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

The difficulty of exposing active sites and easy recombination of photogenerated carriers have always been two critical problems restricting the photocatalytic activity of g-C₃N₄. Herein, a simple (NH₄)₂MoO₄-induced one-step calcination method was successfully introduced to transform bulk g-C₃N₄ into g-C₃N₄/MoO₂ composites with a large specific surface area. During the calcination, with the assistance of NH₃ and water vapor produced by ammonium molybdate, the pyrolytical oxidation and depolymerization of a g-C₃N₄ interlayer were accelerated, finally realizing the exfoliation of the g-C₃N₄. Furthermore, another pyrolytical product of ammonium molybdate was transformed into MoO₂ under an NH₃ atmosphere, which was in situ loaded on the surface of a g-C₃N₄ nanosheet. Additionally, the results of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible light show that the optimal g-C₃N₄/MoO₂ composite has a high specific surface area and much improved performance, which is 4.1 times that of pure bulk g-C₃N₄. Such performance improvement can be attributed to the full exposure of active sites and the formation of abundant heterojunctions. However, with an increasing feed amount of ammonium molybdate, the oxidation degree of g-C₃N₄ was enhanced, which would widen the band gap of g-C₃N₄, leading to a weaker response ability to visible light. The present strategy will provide a new idea for the simple realization of exfoliation and constructing a heterojunction for g-C₃N₄ simultaneously.