An Unprecedented Two‐Fold Nested Super‐Polyrotaxane: Sulfate‐Directed Hierarchical Polythreading Assembly of Uranyl Polyrotaxane Moieties

The hierarchical assembly of well‐organized submoieties could lead to more complicated superstructures with intriguing properties. We describe herein an unprecedented polyrotaxane polythreading framework containing a two‐fold nested super‐polyrotaxane substructure, which was synthesized through a uranyl‐directed hierarchical polythreading assembly of one‐dimensional polyrotaxane chains and two‐dimensional polyrotaxane networks. This special assembly mode actually affords a new way of supramolecular chemistry instead of covalently linked bulky stoppers to construct stable interlocked rotaxane moieties. An investigation of the synthesis condition shows that sulfate can assume a vital role in mediating the formation of different uranyl species, especially the unique trinuclear uranyl moiety [(UO₂)₃O(OH)₂]²⁺, involving a notable bent [O=U=O] bond with a bond angle of 172.0(9)°. Detailed analysis of the coordination features, the thermal stability as well as a fluorescence, and electrochemical characterization demonstrate that the uniqueness of this super‐polyrotaxane structure is mainly closely related to the trinuclear uranyl moiety, which is confirmed by quantum chemical calculations.     

Identifying a dot-matrix hologram with the fringe-overlapping phenomena of grating dots

Dot-matrix holograms created by two-beam writers contain many grating dots. Because the phase difference between two laser beams for interference cannot be controlled accurately, the fringe positions of grating dots are randomly determined. Therefore, fringe positions are a good kind of tool to identify dot-matrix holograms. In this paper, a number difference between two special fringes of a target grating dot is used to identify a dot-matrix hologram. The two special fringes are determined by three grating dots with parallel fringes. The first special fringe is corresponding to a fringe pair with the best matching for the fringes of the target grating dot and the fringes of the second grating dot. The second special fringe is corresponding to a fringe pair with the best matching for the fringes of the target grating dot and the fringes of the third grating dot. An experiment has proved the proposed method practical and feasible. Because reproducing a grating dot with a specified fringe number difference is difficult, the proposed method is excellent for anti-counterfeiting.     

Enantioselective Self‐Assembly of Triangular Dy3 Clusters with Single‐Molecule Magnet Behavior

Three pairs of enantiopure chiral triangular Ln₃ clusters, [Ln₃L_{RRRRRR/SSSSSS}(μ₃‐OH)₂(H₂O)₂(SCN)₄]?xCH₃OH?yH₂O ( R ‐Dy₃ , Ln=Dy, x=6, y=0; S ‐Dy₃ , Ln=Dy, x=6, y=1; R ‐Ho₃ , Ln=Ho, x=6, y=1; S ‐Ho₃ , Ln=Ho, x=6, y=1; R ‐Er₃ , Ln=Er, x=6, y=0; S ‐Er₃ , Ln=Er, x=6, y=1), have been successfully synthesized by a rational enantioselective synthetic strategy. The core of triangular Ln₃ is bound in the central N₆O₃ of the macrocyclic ligand, and the coordination spheres of Ln ions are completed by four SCN^? anions and two H₂O molecules in axial positions of the macrocycle. The circular dichroism (CD) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra of the enantiomers demonstrate that the chirality is successfully transferred from the ligands to the resulting Ln₃ clusters. Ac susceptibility measurements reveal that single‐molecule magnet behavior occurs for both enantiopure clusters of R ‐Dy₃ and S ‐Dy₃ . This work is one of the few examples of the successful design of a pair of triangular Dy₃ clusters showing simultaneously slow magnetic relaxation and optical activity, and this might open up new opportunities to develop novel multifunctional materials.     

Regulation of shear stress on rolling behaviors of HL-60 cells on P-selectin

Circulating leukocytes in trafficking to the inflammatory sites, will be first tether to, and then roll on the vascular surface. This event is mediated through specific interaction of P-selectin and P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1(PSGL-1), and regulated by hemodynamics. Poor data were reported in understanding P-selectin-mediated rolling. With the flow chamber technique, we herein observed HL-60 cell rolling on P-selectin with or without 3% Ficoll at various wall shear stresses from 0.05 to 0.4 dyn/cm2. The results demonstrated that force rather than transport regulated the rolling, similar to rolling on L- and E-selectin. The rolling was accelerated quickly by an increasing force below the optimal shear threshold of 0.15 dyn/cm2 first and then followed by a slowly decelerating phase starting at the optimum, showing a catch-slip transition and serving as a mechanism for the rolling. The catch-slip transition was completely reflected to the tether lifetime and other rolling parameters, such as the mean and fractional stop time. The narrow catch bond regime stabilized the rolling quickly, through steeply increasing fractional stop time to a plateau of about 0.85. Data presented here suggest that the low shear stress threshold serves as a mechanism for most cell rolling events through P-selectin.     

Enantioselective Synthesis of a Chiral Coordination Polymer with Circularly Polarized Visible Laser

Circular dichroism is known to be the feature of a chiral agent which has inspired scientist to study the interesting phenomena of circularly polarized light (CPL) modulated molecular chirality. Although several organic molecules or assemblies have been found to be CPL‐responsive, the influence of CPL on the assembly of chiral coordination compounds remains unknown. Herein, a chiral coordination polymer, which is constructed from achiral agents, was used to study the CPL‐induced enantioselective synthesis. By irradiation with either left‐handed or right‐handed CPL during the reaction and crystallization, enantiomeric excesses of the crystalline product were obtained. Left‐handed CPL resulted in crystals with a left‐handed helical structure, and right‐handed CPL led to crystals with a right‐handed helical structure. It is exciting that the absolute asymmetric synthesis of a chiral coordination polymer could be enantioselective when using CPL, and provides a strategy for the control of the chirality of chiral coordination polymers.     

Efficient synthesis of the C/D rings of atisine-type C20-diterpenoid alkaloids

A bicyclo[2.2.2]octane C/D ring system,with a lactonic ring at C-8 and C-9,of the atisine-type C₂₀-diterpenoid alkaloids,was successfully synthesized,using an oxidative dearomatization/intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction.     

Nanoscale-confined crystallization in epoxy resin and polyethylene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) diblock copolymer blends

In this paper, the nanoscale-confined crystallization behavior and crystallization kinetics in blends of double-crystalline polyethylene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PE-b-PEO) diblock copolymer with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A epoxy resin were investigated. The results showed that there appeared three crystallization regimes related to the crystallization of the PE block within three different microenvironments in the epoxy resin/PE-b-PEO blends. The Avrami index n is around 1.8–2.4, suggesting PE block of the copolymer in the blends exhibited nanoscale-confined crystallization behavior by homogeneous nucleation. The PE block nanoscale-confined crystallization is ascribed to the formation of the strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding interaction between hydroxyl groups of amine-cured epoxy and ether oxygen atoms of PEO, as seen from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra.