Design and enhanced gene silencing activity of spherical 2′-fluoroarabinose nucleic acids (FANA-SNAs)

Drug delivery vectors for nucleic acid therapeutics (NATs) face significant barriers for translation into the clinic. Spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) – nanoparticles with an exterior shell made up of DNA strands and a hydrophobic interior – have recently shown great potential as vehicles to improve the biodistribution and efficacy of NATs. To date, SNA design has not taken advantage of the powerful chemical modifications available to NATs. Here, we modify SNAs with 2′-deoxy-2′-fluoro-d-arabinonucleic acid (FANA-SNA), and show increased stability, enhanced gene silencing potency and unaided uptake (gymnosis) as compared to free FANA. By varying the spacer region between the nucleic acid strand and the attached hydrophobic polymer, we show that a cleavable DNA based spacer is essential for maximum activity. This design feature will be important when implementing functionalized nucleic acids into nanostructures for gene silencing. The modularity of the FANA-SNA was demonstrated by silencing two different targets. Transfection-free delivery was superior for the modified SNA compared to the free FANA oligonucleotide.

Optimizing FANA modified spherical nucleic acids (FANA-SNAs) for highly efficient delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics.     

Measurement of Signal‐to‐Noise Ratio In Graphene‐based Passive Microelectrode Arrays

This work aims to investigate the influence of various electrode materials on the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) of passive microelectrode arrays (MEAs) intended for use in neural interfaces. Noise reduction substantially improves the performance of systems which electrically interface with extracellular solutions. The MEAs are fabricated using gold, indium tin oxide (ITO), inkjet printed (IJP) graphene, and chemical vapor deposited (CVD) graphene. 3D‐printed Nylon reservoirs are adhered to glass substrates with identical MEA patterns and filled with neuronal cell culture media. To precisely control the electrode area and minimize the parasitic coupling of metal interconnects and solution, SU‐8 photoresist is patterned to expose only the area of the electrode to solution and cap the remainder of the sample. Voltage signals with varying amplitude and frequencies are applied to the solution using glass micropipettes, and the response is measured on an oscilloscope from a microprobe placed on the contact pad external to the reservoir. The time domain response signal is transformed into a frequency spectrum, and SNR is calculated. As the magnitude or the frequency of the input signal gets larger, a significantly increased signal‐to‐noise ratio was observed in CVD graphene MEAs compared to others. This result indicates that 2‐dimensional nanomaterials such as graphene can provide better signal integrity and potentially lead to improved performance in hybrid neural interface systems.     

Palladium(II) Immobilized Onto the Glucose Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticle as a New and Efficient Catalyst for the One‐pot Synthesis of Benzoxazoles

Palladium(II) have been immobilized into the nano magnetic Fe₃O₄ which was functionalized with glucose in order to achieve a one‐pot synthesis of 2‐substituted benzoxazole derivatives with high yields in the diverse range of organic solvents. The nano catalyst is highly dispersive in polar solvents and can be easily recovered and reused for 6 runs without significant loss of its activity. Finally, the catalyst was fully characterized by FT‐IR, TGA, CHN, SEM, EDX and atomic absorption spectroscopy.     

Development of a Simple and Inexpensive Optical Absorption One‐Shot Sensor Membrane for Detection and Determination of Cyanide Ions in Water Samples

A new one‐shot optical cyanide ion sensor is proposed for determination of cyanide ions. The sensor was constructed by immobilizing crystal violet (CV) on triacetylcellulose membrane. The sensing mechanism involves reaction between cyanide ions and the immobilized CV at pH = 5.4, which results in a decrease in absorbance of the membrane at 600 nm. The sensor shows sufficient repeatability, reproducibility, operational lifetime of 3 weeks, and a response of less then 10 min under the optimum conditions and response time of 8 min. Cyanide can be determined in the concentration range of 50.0‐800 μg mL^‐1 with a detection limit of 5.0 μg mL^‐1. Most ions do not interfere with the determination of cyanide ions. The proposed sensor was successfully applied to the determination of cyanide in spiked water samples.     

Synthesis,characterization, thermal,electrochemical, and DFT studies of mononuclear cyclopalladated complexes containing bidentate phosphine ligands and their biological evaluation as antioxidant and antibacterial agents

The non-symmetric phosphorus ylides and their Pd(II) complexes have been synthesized as potential antioxidant and antibacterial compounds and their structures were elucidated using a variety of physicochemical techniques. The reaction of 1 equiv non-symmetric phosphorus ylides, Ph₂PCH₂PPh₂C(H)C(O)PhX (X = Br (Y¹), Cl (Y²), NO₂ (Y³), OCH₃ (Y⁴)) with [Pd(dppe)Cl₂] (M¹), followed by treatment with 2 equiv AgOTf led to monomeric chelate complexes, [(dppe)Pd(Ph₂PCH₂PPh₂C(H)C(O)PhX)] (OSO₂CF₃)₂ (X = Br (C¹), Cl (C²), NO₂ (C³), OCH₃ (C⁴)), which contain a five-membered P,P chelate ring in one side and a five-membered P,C chelate ring in the other side. Palladium ion complexes were synthesized and investigated by cyclic voltammetry, FT-IR, UV–visible, multinuclear (¹H, ³¹P and ¹⁹F) NMR, thermal analysis and ESI-mass spectroscopic studies. Some complexes and ligands have been studied by powder XRD and single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. FT-IR and ³¹P NMR studies revealed that the ylides Y are coordinated to the metal ions via the terminal phosphorus (P_c) of the ylides and methene group (CH). The proposed coordination geometry around the Pd atom in these complexes is defined as slightly distorted square planar by UV-Visible and DFT studies. Thermal stability of all complexes was also shown by TG/DTG methods. Furthermore, the electrochemical behavior of the complexes was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The results indicate that all complexes are successfully synthesized from the initial ligands. All complexes were analyzed for their antioxidant properties by DPPH free radical scavenging assay. In addition, the antibacterial effects of the hexane-solved complexes were investigated by disc diffusion method against four Gram positive and negative bacteria. All complexes represented antibacterial activity against bacteria tested especially on Gram positive ones. A theoretical study on the structure, ¹H and ³¹P NMR chemical shifts and the interaction energy between the Pd²⁺ ion and ligands dppe and ylide Y is also reported.     

碱性溶液中电聚酪胺-铜草酸盐纳米复合物修饰铜电极电催化甲醇氧化(英文)

A polytyramine-copper oxalate nanocomposite modified copper(PTCOxNMC) electrode prepared by electropolymerization was examined for electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of methanol in alkaline solution using cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. The prepared PTCOxNMC electrode showed a significantly high response for adsorbed methanol oxidation. The effects of various parameters such as potential scan rate and methanol concentration on the electrocatalytic oxidation at the surface of the PTCOxNMC electrode were investigated. Spectrometry techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to determine the surface physical characteristics of the modified electrode and revealed that the polytyramine-copper oxalate nanocomposite particles were highly dispersed on the surface of the copper electrode with a narrow size up to 40 nm. The very high current density obtained for the catalytic oxidation may have resulted from the high electrode surface area caused by modification with the poly-tyramine-copper oxalate nanocomposite.     

Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions in water using in situ generated palladium(II)–phosphazane complexes

The phosphazane derivatives(L1–3) were readily obtained by reaction of different ratios of PCl3 and PhNH2. The L1–3 derivatives were found to be efficient ligands in the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki C–C coupling reactions in water. It was determined that with the use of L1–3 /Pd(OAc)2 system as a catalyst, aryl halides undergo Suzuki cross-couplings with arylboronic acids to give the desired products in moderate to excellent yields.