Asymmetric intramolecular Friedel–Crafts reaction catalyzed by a spiropyrrolidine organocatalyst: Enantioselective construction of indolizine and azepine frameworks

The asymmetric intramolecular Friedel–Crafts type Michael reaction of α,β-unsaturated aldehyde with pyrrole, catalyzed by a spiropyrrolidine (SP)-type organocatalyst, has been accomplished, which allows the construction of a series of azepine and indolizine frameworks with high to excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98% ee). Moreover, the substrate scope could be extended to generate a quaternary center in indolizine frameworks (up to 96% ee).     

CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-responsive Polymeric Fluorescent Sensor with Ultrafast Response

Abstract Response speed is one of the most important evaluation criteria for CO₂ sensors. In this work, we report an ultrafast CO₂ fluorescent sensor based on poly[oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate]-b-poly[N,N-diethylaminoethyl methacrylate-r-4-(2-methylacryloyloxyethylamino)-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole] [POEGMA-b-P(DEAEMA-r-NBDMA)], in which DEAEMA units act as the CO₂-responsive segment and 4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD) is the chromophore. The micelles composed of this copolymer could disassemble in 2 s upon CO₂ bubbling, accompanying with enhanced fluorescence emission with bathochromic shift. Furthermore, the quantum yield of the NBD chromophore increases with both the CO₂ aeration time and the NBD content. Thus we attribute the fluorescent enhancement to the inhibition of the photo-induced electron transfer between unprotonated tertiary amine groups and NBD fluorophores. The sensor is durable although it is based on “soft” materials. These micellar sensors could be facilely recycled by alternative CO₂/Ar purging for at least 5 times, indicating good reversibility.     

Determination of Pharmaceuticals by Dynamic Cell Membrane Chromatography Coupled with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

As a biological affinity chromatographic method, cell membrane chromatography (CMC) using a silica stationary phase covered with specific cell membrane has been used in screening active components. The innovation of this work is that the bioactive cell membrane and the chromatographic packing are mixed and absorbed for the first time to form the pre-column. The pre-column was placed in front of a C₁₈ column to create dynamic CMC online high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. The retention behavior and dynamic changes of pharmaceuticals were studied for this system. The results indicate that the retention time of the drug was increased and the symmetry factor reached the analytical level after the addition of the dynamic cell membrane pre-column. Therefore, the dynamic CMC coupled with HPLC system may be a potentially rapid and efficient drug analysis approach for the interaction of drug molecule and receptor on red blood cell membranes.     

Efficient CO2 Removal for Ultra‐Pure CO Production by Two Hybrid Ultramicroporous Materials

Removal of CO₂ from CO gas mixtures is a necessary but challenging step during production of ultra‐pure CO as processed from either steam reforming of hydrocarbons or CO₂ reduction. Herein, two hybrid ultramicroporous materials (HUMs), SIFSIX‐3‐Ni and TIFSIX‐2‐Cu‐i , which are known to exhibit strong affinity for CO₂, were examined with respect to their performance for this separation. The single‐gas CO sorption isotherms of these HUMs were measured for the first time and are indicative of weak affinity for CO and benchmark CO₂/CO selectivity (>4000 for SIFSIX‐3‐Ni ). This prompted us to conduct dynamic breakthrough experiments and compare performance with other porous materials. Ultra‐pure CO (99.99 %) was thereby obtained from CO gas mixtures containing both trace (1 %) and bulk (50 %) levels of CO₂ in a one‐step physisorption‐based separation process.     

The Narrowest Band Gap Ever Observed in Molecular Ferroelectrics: Hexane‐1,6‐diammonium Pentaiodobismuth(III)

Narrow band gaps and excellent ferroelectricity are intrinsically paradoxical in ferroelectrics as the leakage current caused by an increase in the number of thermally excited carriers will lead to a deterioration of ferroelectricity. A new molecular ferroelectric, hexane‐1,6‐diammonium pentaiodobismuth (HDA‐BiI₅), was now developed through band gap engineering of organic–inorganic hybrid materials. It features an intrinsic band gap of 1.89 eV, and thus represents the first molecular ferroelectric with a band gap of less than 2.0 eV. Simultaneously, low‐temperature solution processing was successfully applied to fabricate high‐quality ferroelectric thin films based on HDA‐BiI₅, for which high‐precision controllable domain flips were realized. Owing to its narrow band gap and excellent ferroelectricity, HDA‐BiI₅ can be considered as a milestone in the exploitation of molecular ferroelectrics, with promising applications in high‐density data storage and photovoltaic conversion.     

One‐Step Synthesis of Hybrid Core–Shell Metal–Organic Frameworks

Epitaxial growth of MOF‐on‐MOF composite is an evolving research topic in the quest for multifunctional materials. In previously reported methods, the core–shell MOFs were synthesized via a stepwise strategy that involved growing the shell‐MOFs on top of the preformed core‐MOFs with matched lattice parameters. However, the inconvenient stepwise synthesis and the strict lattice‐matching requirement have limited the preparation of core–shell MOFs. Herein, we demonstrate that hybrid core–shell MOFs with mismatching lattices can be synthesized under the guidance of nucleation kinetic analysis. A series of MOF composites with mesoporous core and microporous shell were constructed and characterized by optical microscopy, powder X‐ray diffraction, gas sorption measurement, and scanning electron microscopy. Isoreticular expansion of microporous shells and orthogonal modification of the core was realized to produce multifunctional MOF composites, which acted as size selective catalysts for olefin epoxidation with high activity and selectivity.     

A Crosslinked Nucleic Acid Nanogel for Effective siRNA Delivery and Antitumor Therapy

Functional siRNAs are employed as cross‐linkers to direct the self‐assembly of DNA‐grafted polycaprolactone (DNA‐g‐PCL) brushes to form spherical and nanosized hydrogels via nucleic acid hybridization in which small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are fully embedded and protected for systemic delivery. Owing to the existence of multivalent mutual crosslinking events inside, the crosslinked nanogels with tunable size exhibit not only good thermostability, but also remarkable physiological stability that can resist the enzymatic degradation. As a novel siRNA delivery system with spherical nucleic acid (SNA) architecture, the crosslinked nanogels can assist the delivery of siRNAs into different cells without any transfection agents and achieve the gene silencing effectively both in vitro and in vivo, through which a significant inhibition of tumor growth is realized in the anticancer treatment.     

Light‐Driven Shape‐Memory Porous Films with Precisely Controlled Dimensions

Shape‐memory polymers (SMPs) are an intriguing class of smart materials possessing reversible shape change and recovery capabilities. Effective routes to shape‐memory porous films (SMPFs) are few and limited in scope owing to the difficulty in manipulating the shape change of pores by conventional methods. Herein we report an unconventional strategy for crafting light‐driven SMPFs by judiciously constructing highly ordered porous films via a facile “breath figure” approach, followed by sequential vapor crosslinking and nondestructive directional light manipulation. Micropores can thus be transformed into other shapes including rectangle, rhombus and size‐reduced micropores at room temperature. The transformed micropores can be reverted to their original shapes by either thermal annealing or UV irradiation. As such, this strategy expands the rich diversity of SMPs accessible.     

TBN as a metal-free reagent initiated sp3 C–H functionalization of glycine esters: Synthesis of quinoline-2-carboxylate esters

As a metal-free reagent, tert-butylnitrite (TBN) initiated aerobic sp³ C–H bond oxidation of glycine esters was achieved, providing a series of quinoline-2-carboxylates in good yields. The mechanistic investigation revealed that in the presence of molecular oxygen, TBN derived radicals were involved in the C–H bond oxidation and the terminal aromatization.     

Synthesis and characterization of cyclophane: The highly selective recognition of Fe3+ in aqueous solution and H2PO4− in acetonitrile solution

In this work, we report a series of cyclophane fluorescent sensors based on acridine combining with imidazolium through ether linkages. X-ray crystal structures demonstrated the self-assembly behavior of these cyclophanes in the solid state driven by hydrogen bond and π–π interactions. Sensors showed excellent selectivity towards Fe³⁺ in aqueous solution (H₂O/CH₃CN?=?49:1, v/v) and H₂PO₄^? in acetonitrile solution with notable color change under UV light, evident changes were also noticed in fluorescence spectra. In fluorescence emission, the obvious turn-off was induced by Fe³⁺ in aqueous solution and the obvious turn-on as well as bathochromic-shift was induced by H₂PO₄^? in acetonitrile solution.