Recent Advances in Synergistic Antitumor Effects Exploited from the Inhibition of Ataxia Telangiectasia and RAD3-Related Protein Kinase (ATR)

As one of the key phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related kinases (PIKKs) family members, ataxia telangiectasia and RAD3-related protein kinase (ATR) is crucial in maintaining mammalian cell genomic integrity in DNA damage response (DDR) and repair pathways. Dysregulation of ATR has been found across different cancer types. In recent years, the inhibition of ATR has been proven to be effective in cancer therapy in preclinical and clinical studies. Importantly, tumor-specific alterations such as ATM loss and Cyclin E1 (CCNE1) amplification are more sensitive to ATR inhibition and are being exploited in synthetic lethality (SL) strategy. Besides SL, synergistic anticancer effects involving ATRi have been reported in an increasing number in recent years. This review focuses on the recent advances in different forms of synergistic antitumor effects, summarizes the pharmacological benefits and ongoing clinical trials behind the biological mechanism, and provides perspectives for future challenges and opportunities. The hope is to draw awareness to the community that targeting ATR should have great potential in developing effective anticancer medicines.     

Inhibition of NADP(H) supply by highly active phosphatase-like ceria nanozymes to boost oxidative stress and ferroptosis

Ceria (CeO₂) with phosphatase-like activity is widely recognized as one of the promising nanozymes. In general, shrinkage of the sizes of CeO₂ can generate large active surface areas for dephosphorylation reactions. However, synthesizing CeO₂ with an ultra-small structure while retaining its surface activity and avoiding its aggregation for use in non-redox biological applications has been a continuous challenge. Herein, a phosphatase-mimicking nanozyme CeO₂ with ultra-small, excellent dispersibility, and accessibility, and largely exposed {111} facet was synthesized via a facile one-pot approach. In contrast to previous reports, which focus on enhancing the ·OH-induced cellular damage by peroxidase- or oxidase-like activity of CeO₂, the present work demonstrates the phosphatase-like activity of CeO₂ for boosting ferroptosis by disrupting cellular homeostasis. Cancer cells require high levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP(H)) to enhance GSH synthesis and resist to ferroptosis. By virtue of the phosphatase-like activity, the obtained CeO₂ could sustainably dephosphorylate NADP(H) and effectively inhibit the intracellular biosynthesis of GSH. Our results showed that using CeO₂ as a phosphatase-mimicking nanozyme to deplete NADP(H) and its synthetic precursor glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) could attenuate the repair mechanisms under oxidative stress via indirectly inhibiting the supply of intracellular GSH and enhancing the occurrence of ferroptosis. The finding offers new insights into the regulation of ferroptosis by high-efficiency non-redox nanozymes, which could pave the way for the development of phosphatase-mimicking nanozymes.     

Vapor deposition of ultrathin hydrophilic polymer coatings enabling candle soot composite for highly sensitive humidity sensors

Candle soot (CS) is a desirable carbon nanomaterial for sensors owing to its highly porous nanostructure and large specific surface area. CS is advantageous in its low-cost and facile preparation compared to graphene and carbon nanotubes, but its pristine nanostructure is susceptible to collapse, hampering its application in electronic devices. This article reports conformal coating of nanoscale crosslinked hydrophilic polymer on CS film using initiated chemical vapor deposition, which well preserved the CS nanostructure and obtained nanoporous CS@polymer composites. Tuning coating thickness enabled composites with different morphologies and specific surface areas. Surprisingly, the humidity sensor made from composite with the lowest filling degree, thus largest specific surface area, showed relatively low sensitivity, which is likely due to its discontinuous structure, thus insufficient conductive channels. Composite sensor with optimum filling degree shows excellent sensing response of more than 10³ with the linearity of R² = 0.9400 within a broad relative humidity range from 11% to 96%. The composite sensor also exhibits outstanding sensing performance compared to literature with low hysteresis (3.00%), a satisfactory response time (28.69 s), and a fast recovery time (0.19 s). The composite sensor is fairly stable and durable even after 24 h soaking in water. Furthermore, embedding a humidity sensor into a face mask realizes real-time monitoring of human breath and cough, suggesting promising applications in respiratory monitoring.     

A near-infrared phosphor doped with Cr3+ towards zero-thermal-quenching for high-power LEDs

Cr³⁺-doped phosphors show significant application potential in near-infrared (NIR) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). However, the development of thermally stable and efficient NIR phosphors still faces enormous challenges. Herein, NIR phosphors K₂NaMF₆:Cr³⁺ (M³⁺ = Al³⁺, Ga³⁺, and In³⁺) were synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The represented K₂NaAlF₆:Cr³⁺ phosphor can be effectively excited by blue light (～430 nm) to present broadband emission at half a maximum of 96 nm peaking at ～ 728 nm. Meanwhile, the K₂NaAlF₆:Cr³⁺ phosphor exhibits excellent internal quantum efficiency (IQE = 68.08%) and nearly zero-thermal-quenching behavior, which is able to maintain 96.5% emission intensity at 150 °C of the initial value at 25 °C. The NIR phosphor-converted LED was fabricated based on K₂NaAlF₆:Cr³⁺ phosphor and a blue LED chip, showing a NIR output power of 394.39 mW at 300 mA with a high photoelectric conversion efficiency of 10.9% at 20 mA. Using the high-power NIR LED as a lighting source, transparent and quick veins imaging as well as non-destructive testing were demonstrated, suggesting the NIR phosphor has a wide range of practical applications.     

Enhanced photocatalytic CO2 hydrogenation with wide-spectrum utilization over black TiO2 supported catalyst

Light-driven conversion of CO₂into chemicals/fuels is a desirable approach for achieving carbon neutrality using clean and sustainable energy.However,its scale-up application is restricted due to insufficient efficiency.Herein,we present a photothermal catalytic hydrogenation of CO₂into CH₄over Ru/black Ti O₂catalysts,aiming to achieve the synergistic use of light and heat in solar energy during CO₂conversion.Owing to the desirable spectral ...     

高中化学竞赛中电子效应和空间效应考点分析——以近年全国化学奥林匹克竞赛试题为例

电子效应和空间效应是有机化学的基础,近年来,这部分知识在全国化学奥林匹克竞赛中的考查比例处于上升趋势。因此,以近年全国化学奥林匹克竞赛试题为例,详细说明电子效应和空间效应在竞赛中的考点,帮助辅导化学竞赛的教师和参加化学竞赛的考生了解该部分知识需要达到的教学标准和掌握层次。     

Enhanced particle trapping performance of induced charge electroosmosis

By increasing the number of floating electrodes or enlarging the width of single floating electrode, this work provides effective ways to strongly improve the particle trapping performance of induced charge electroosmosis (ICEO). Particle trapping with double or triple separate narrow floating electrodes increases the effective actuating range of ICEO flow and therefore enhance the optimum trapping ability to be 1.63 or 2.34 times of that with single narrow electrode (width of ), and the ideal trapping frequency is independent of the electrode number due to the mutual independence of electrochemical ion relaxation over each electrode. Furthermore, using a single wide floating electrode with the effective width equal to three separate narrow floating electrodes () instead of a single narrow one slightly lowers the ideal trapping frequency due to an increase in the characteristic polarization length, but the trapping performance is only up to 1.59 times of that with original single narrow electrode, implying that vertical channel confinement effect may severely suppresses the effective actuating range of ICEO flow and renders the trapping performance not as expected. Trapping experiments over wide floating electrode with different channel height were carried out, showing that the trapping performance increases by correctly increasing the channel height.     

Electrochemical strategy for ultrasensitive detection of microRNA based on MNAzyme-mediated rolling circle amplification on a gold electrode

Microchimica Acta - The authors describe an electrochemical strategy for ultrasensitive and specific detection of microRNA (miRNA). It is based on both multicomponent nucleic acid enzyme (MNAzyme)...     

Synthesis of polymer with defined fluorescent end groups via reversible addition fragmentation transfer polymerization for characterizing the conformations of polymer chains in solutions

A new type of chain transfer agent used in reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization named 9‐anthracenylmethyl (4‐cyano‐4‐(N‐carbazylcarbodithioate) pentanoate) (ACCP) was synthesized with a total yield over 75% by the incorporation of both fluorescent donor and acceptor chromophores. Polymerization of heterotelechelic α,ω end‐labeled dye‐functionalized polystyrene (PS), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and poly(n‐butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) with adjustable molecular weights and narrow polydispersity could be conducted by a one‐pot procedure through RAFT polymerization with this bischromophore chain transfer agent. The polymerizations demonstrated “living” controlled characteristics. By taking advantage of the characteristic fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) response between the polymer chain terminals, the variation of chain dimensions in solution from the dilute region to the semidilute region can be monitored by changes in the ratio of the fluorescence intensities of the carbazolyl group to the anthryl group, which lends itself to potential applications in characterizing chain dimensions in solutions for thermodynamic or dynamic studies. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 2413–2420     

Effect of anion of polyoxometalate based organic–inorganic hybrid material on intumescent flame retardant polypropylene

In this work, 12‐tungestocobaltic acid based organic–inorganic hybrid material, [Bmim]₆CoW₁₂O₄₀ (CoW) was synthesized and applied as a synergist in polypropylene (PP)/intumescent flame retardant (IFR) composites. The flame retardant properties were investigated by the limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL‐94 vertical burning test, thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA), cone calorimeter and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) etc. The results showed that the PP composites with 16 wt% IFR and 1 wt% CoW achieves the UL‐94 V‐0 rating and gets a LOI value 28.0. However, only add no less than 25 wt% single IFR, can the PP composites obtain the UL‐94 V‐0 rating, which suggests that CoW has good synergistic effects on flame retardancy of PP/IFR composites. In addition, the SEM and cone calorimeter tests indicated the CoW improves the quality of char layer. The rate of char formation has been enhanced also because of the existence of CoW. It is the combination of a better char quality and a high rate of char formation promoted by CoW that results in the excellent flame retardancy of PP/IFR composites. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.