Toughening a Self-Healable Supramolecular Polymer by Ionic Cluster-Enhanced Iron-Carboxylate Complexes

Supramolecular polymers that can heal themselves automatically usually exhibit weakness in mechanical toughness and stretchability. Here we exploit a toughening strategy for a dynamic dry supramolecular network by introducing ionic cluster-enhanced iron-carboxylate complexes. The resulting dry supramolecular network simultaneous exhibits tough mechanical strength, high stretchability, self-healing ability, and processability at room temperature. The excellent performance of these distinct supramolecular polymers is attributed to the hierarchical existence of four types of dynamic combinations in the high-density dry network, including dynamic covalent disulfide bonds, noncovalent H-bonds, iron-carboxylate complexes and ionic clustering interactions. The extremely facile preparation method of this self-healing polymer offers prospects for high-performance low-cost material among others for coatings and wearable devices.     

In situ Carbon Modification of g-C3N4 from Urea co-Crystal with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity Towards Degradation of Organic Dyes Under Visible Light

An in situ strategy was introduced for synthesizing carbon modified graphitic carbon nitride(g-C₃N₄) by using urea/4-aminobenzoic acid(PABA) co-crystal(PABA@Urea) as precursor materials. Via co-calcination of the PABA co-former and the urea in PABA@Urea co-crystals, C guest species were generated and compounded into g-C₃N₄ matrix in situ by replacing the lattice N of the carbon nitride and forming carbon dots onto its layer surface. The carbon modification dramatically enhanced visible-light harvesting and charge carrier separation. Therefore, visible light photo-catalytic oxidation of methylene blue(MB) pollution in water over the carbon modified g-C₃N₄(C/g-C₃N₄) was notably improved. Up to 99% of methylene blue(MB) was eliminated within 60 min by the optimal sample prepared from the PABA@Urea co-crystal with a PABA content of 0.1%(mass ratio), faster than the degradation rate over bare g-C₃N₄. The present study demonstrates a new way to boost up the photocatalysis performance of g-C₃N₄, which holds great potential concerning the degradation of organic dyes from water.     

Three‐Pronged Attack by Homologous Far‐red/NIR AIEgens to Achieve 1+1+1>3 Synergistic Enhanced Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has long been shown to be a powerful therapeutic modality for cancer. However, PDT is undiversified and has become stereotyped in recent years. Exploration of distinctive PDT methods is thus highly in demand but remains a severe challenge. Herein, an unprecedented 1+1+1>3 synergistic strategy is proposed and validated for the first time. Three homologous luminogens with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics were rationally designed based on a simple backbone. Through slight structural tuning, these far‐red/near‐infrared AIE luminogens are capable of specifically anchoring to mitochondria, cell membrane, and lysosome, and effectively generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). Notably, biological studies demonstrated combined usage of three AIE photosensitizers gives multiple ROS sources simultaneously derived from several organelles, which gives superior therapeutic effect than that from a single organelle at the same photosensitizers concentration. This strategy is conceptually and operationally simple, providing an innovative approach and renewed awareness of improving therapeutic effect through three‐pronged PDT.     

Controllable Si−C Bond Activation Enables Stereocontrol in the Palladium‐Catalyzed [4+2] Annulation of Cyclopropenes with Benzosilacyclobutanes

A novel and unusual palladium‐catalyzed [4+2] annulation of cyclopropenes with benzosilacyclobutanes is reported. This reaction occurred through chemoselective Si?C(sp²) bond activation in synergy with ring expansion/insertion of cyclopropenes to form new C(sp²)?C(sp³) and Si?C(sp³) bonds. An array of previously elusive bicyclic skeleton with high strain, silabicyclo[4.1.0]heptanes, were formed in good yields with excellent diastereoselectivity under mild conditions. An asymmetric version of the reaction with a chiral phosphoramidite ligand furnished a variety of chiral bicyclic silaheterocycle derivatives with good enantioselectivity (up to 95.5:4.5 er). Owing to the mild reaction conditions, the good stereoselectivity profile, and the ready availability of the functionalized precursors, this process constitutes a useful and straightforward strategy for the synthesis of densely functionalized silacycles.     

Hyperbranched Poly(ester‐enamine) from Spontaneous Amino‐yne Click Reaction for Stabilization of Gold Nanoparticle Catalysts

Hyperbranched polymers have garnered much attention due to attractive properties and wide applications, such as drug‐controlled release, stimuli‐responsive nano‐objects, photosensitive materials and catalysts. Herein, two types of novel hyperbranched poly(ester‐enamine) (hb‐PEEa) were designed and synthesized via the spontaneous amino‐yne click reaction of A₂ monomer (1, 3‐bis(4‐piperidyl)‐propane (A_2a) or piperazine (A_2b)) and B₃ monomer (trimethylolpropanetripropiolate). According to Flory's hypothesis, gelation is an intrinsic problem in an ideal A₂+B₃ polymerization system. By controlling the polymerization conditions, such as monomer concentration, molar ratio and rate of addition, a non‐ideal A₂+B₃ polymerization system can be established to avoid gelation and to synthesize soluble hb‐PEEa. Due to abundant unreacted alkynyl groups in periphery, the hb‐PEEa can be further functionalized by different amino compounds or their derivates. The as‐prepared amphiphilic PEG‐hb‐PEEa copolymer can readily self‐assemble into micelles in water, which can be used as surfactant to stabilize Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) during reduction of NaBH₄ in aqueous solution. As a demonstration, the as‐prepared PEG‐hb‐PEEa‐supported AuNPs demonstrate good dispersion in water, solvent stability and remarkable catalytic activity for reduction of nitrobenzene compounds.     

SOURCE TERM IDENTIFICATION WITH DISCONTINUOUS DUAL RECIPROCITY APPROXIMATION AND QUASI-NEWTON METHOD FROM BOUNDARY OBSERVATIONS

This paper deals with discontinuous dual reciprocity boundary element method for solving an inverse source problem.The aim of this work is to determine the source term in elliptic equations for nonhomogenous anisotropic media,where some additional boundary measurements are required.An equivalent formulation to the primary inverse problem is established based on the minimization of a functional cost,where a regularization term is employed to eliminate the oscillations of the noisy data.Moreover,an efficient algorithm is presented and tested for some numerical examples.     

New complex macromolecular architectures based on organosilicon chemistry

Polycarbosilane networks were prepared from well-defined α, ω-difunctional oligomers: X-[Si(CH₃)₂-CH₂-CH₂]_n-X with X = H ( 1 ) and X = CH=CH₂ ( 2 ). Crosslinking reactions were performed by hydrosilylation of tetramethyltetravinylcyclotetrasiloxane (V₄) or of tetravinylsilane with SiH end groups of 1 . Hydrosilylation of Si-CH=CH₂ end groups of 2 with tetramethyltetrahydrocyclotetrasiloxane (D₄H) was also successfully tried. Some physicochemical properties of these new networks will be presented.¹⁾ Interpenetrating networks based on polysiloxanes and polycarbonates were synthesized by the in situ method: a polysiloxane bearing various proportions of room temperature crosslinkable -Si(OEt)₃ side groups was mixed with bis(allyl ethylene glycol) biscarbonate and a free-radical initiator. After the formation of the first network at room temperature, the cross-linking of the polycarbonate network was performed by raising the temperature up to 80°C. Various chemical modifications of the polysiloxane component in the IPN were performed in order to improve the degree of interpenetration as estimated from turbidity, density, refractive index and DSC measurements.²⁾     

Effect of Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) and Acacia (Acacia seyal) Gums on the Pasting,Thermal, Textural,and Rheological Properties of Corn,Sweet Potato,and Turkish Bean Starches

This study was planned to explore the locally available natural sources of gum hydrocolloids as a natural modifier of different starch properties. Corn (CS), sweet potato (SPS), and Turkish bean (TBS) starches were mixed with locally extracted native or acetylated cactus (CG) and acacia (AG) gums at 2 and 5% replacement levels. The binary mixtures (starch–gums) were prepared in water, freeze dried, ground to powder, and stored airtight. A rapid viscoanalyzer (RVA), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), texture analyzer, and dynamic rheometer were used to explore their pasting, thermal, textural, and rheological properties. The presence of acetylated AG or CG increased the final viscosity (FV) in all three starches when compared to starch pastes containing native gums. Plain SPS dispersion had a higher pasting temperature (PT) than CS and TBS. The addition of AG or CG increased the PT of CS, SPS, and TBS. The thermograms revealed the overall enthalpy change of the starch and gum blends: TBS > SPS > CS. The peak temperature (T_p) of starches increased with increasing gum concentration from 2 to 5% for both AG and CG native and modified gums. When compared to the control gels, the addition of 2% CG, either native or modified, reduced the syneresis of starch gels. However, further addition (5% CG) increased the gels’ syneresis. Furthermore, the syneresis for the first cycle on the fourth day was higher than the second cycle on the eighth day for all starches. The addition of native and acetylated CG reduced the hardness of starch gels at all concentrations tested. All of the starch dispersions had higher G′ than G″ values, indicating that they were more elastic and less viscous with or without the gums. The apparent viscosity of all starch gels decreased as shear was increased, with profiles indicating time-dependent thixotropic behavior. All of the starch gels, with or without gums, showed a non-Newtonian shear thinning trend in the shear stress vs. shear rate graphs. The addition of acetylated CG gum to CS resulted in a higher activation energy (Ea) than the native counterparts and the control. More specifically, starch gels with a higher gum concentration (5%) provided greater Ea than their native counterparts.     

Organic Nanocrystals Based on a Solid-emission-tunable AIEgen for Cell Imaging

The development of fluorescent nanocrystals based on organic small molecules is of great importance in bioimaging due to the merits of easy modification,high brightness and excellent photostability,however suffering from the emission-detrimental aggregation-caused quenching(ACQ)effect.Herein,we successfully designed and synthesized an AIE-active di(N,N-dimethylaniline)-dibenzofulvene(named as NFTPE),which exhibits the crystallization-induced emission enhancement(CIEE)effect.Interestingly,two types of yellow-and orange-emissive crystals for NFTPE were obtained,exhibiting aggregation microenvironment-dependent emission tuning in the solid state.Single-crystal analysis and density functional theory(DFT)calculations reveal that different aggregation microenvironments result in the distinct molecular conformation for various emission.Excitingly,the crystallization of NFTPE in an aqueous solution under the assistance of amphiphilic PEG polymer matrices could be monitored in situ by the fluorescence changes,facilitating the preparation of NFTPE nanocrystals(NFTPE-NCs)by adjusting the aggregation microenvironment.The obtained NFTPE-NCs exhibit the superior performance in cell imaging in respect to high brightness,photostability,and biocompatibility,thus demonstrating the potential in bioimaging applications.     

A NOVEL ZWITTERIONIC SILANE COUPLING AGENT FOR NONTHROMBOGENIC BIOMATERIALS

A novel silane coupling agent bearing sulfobetaine group, N,N-diethyl-N-（3-sulfopropyl）-aminopropyl- trimethoxysilane （DESATS）, was first designed, synthesized and characterized. Its solution property was studied by means of dynamic light scattering. DESATS was successfully bonded onto the surface of the glass and proved by ESCA. Platelet adhesion assay in vitro indicated that the nonthrombogenicity of glass slide modified with DESATS is greatly improved.