A DNA-mediated crosslinking strategy to enhance cellular delivery and sensor performance of protein spherical nucleic acids

Intracellular delivery of enzymes is essential for protein-based diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Protein-spherical nucleic acids (ProSNAs) defined by protein core and dense shell of oligonucleotides have been demonstrated as a promising vehicle-free enzyme delivery platform. In this work, we reported a crosslinking strategy to vastly improve both delivery efficiency and intracellular sensor performance of ProSNA. By assembling individual ProSNA with lactate oxidase (LOX) core into a nanoscale particle, termed as crosslinked SNA (X-SNA), the enzyme delivery efficiency increased up to 5–6 times higher. The LOX X-SNA was later demonstrated as a ratiometric probe for quantitative detection of lactate in living cells. More importantly, X-SNA probe showed significantly improved sensor performance with signal-to-noise ratio 4 times as high as ProSNA when detecting intracellular lactate.

By crosslinking protein spherical nucleic acid (SNA) into a supramolecular architecture X-SNA, the intracellular enzyme delivery efficiency was significantly enhanced, showing 3–4 times higher signal-to-noise ratio in detecting intracellular lactate.     

DSC study of cold and heat denaturation processes of β-lactoglobulin A with guanidine hydrochloride

The cold and heat denaturations of bovine P-lactoglobulin A ((β-lg A) has been studied in solutions of guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCI) by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The experimental results are presented and discussed. It is shown that the number of protons bound by the monomeric molecules of β-lg A was unchanged before and after its heat denaturation below pH 3, and that the activation energy of the heat denaturation was depressed owing to the presence of GuHCI. In the solutions with 2.50 and 3.06 mol/L of GuHCI, both the cold and heat denaturations of P-lg A were observed. In comparison with the heat denaturation, the activation energy of cold denaturation was far lower and the number of GuHCl molecules bound by the unfolded polypeptide chains after culd denaturation increased a lot. The absolute value of the enthalpy of cold denaturation was larger than that of heat denaturation. It was found by the analysis that the contribution to the total denaturational enthalpy of conformational change itself of the monomeric molecules of β-lg A was the lowest among the globulins, according to the average of the number of heavy atoms. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and by the fund for excellent items under Director of the Institute of Chemistry.     

Oxidation reactions of indapamide. A novel route to the indole derivative,N-(3-sulfamyl-4-chlorobenzamido)-2-methylindole

Indapamide ( 1 ) is readily oxidized with mild oxidizing agents to the indole derivative 2 . Dehydrogenation of indapamide is a convenient one step synthesis of a complex indole compound.     

Aromatization of methane over different Mo-supported catalysts in the absence of oxygen

Both acidity and structure of the support are important factors in converting methane to aromatics. Lower SiO₂/Al₂O₃ ratio seems to favor the aromatization of methane over the Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst. When Pt is added as a modifier the activity of Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst will decrease slightly, but coke formation will enhanced.     

Thermodynamic studies of monuron

Monuron (C₉H₁₁ClN₂O; N,N-dimethyl-N′-(4-chlorophenyl) urea, CAS 150-68-5) was synthesized and the heat capacities of the compound were measured in the temperature range from 79 to 385 K with a high precision automated adiabatic calorimeter. No phase transition or thermal anomaly was observed in this range. The enthalpy and entropy data of the compound relative to the reference temperature 298.15 K were derived based on the heat capacity data. The thermodynamic properties of the compound were further investigated through DSC and TG analysis. The melting point, the molar enthalpy, and entropy of fusion were determined to be 447.6±0.1 K, 29.3±0.2 kJ mol⁻¹, and 65.4 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹, respectively.     

Catalytic Oxidation of Dimethyl Ether to Dimethoxymethane over Cs Modified HaPW12O40/SiO2 Catalysts

The attractive utilization route for one-step catalytic oxidation of dimethyl ether to dimethoxymethane was successfully carried out over the H3PW12O40（40%）/SiO2 catalyst, modified by Cs, K, Ni, and V. The Cs modification of H3PW12O40（40%）/SiO2 gave the most promising result of 20% dimethyl ether conversion and 34.8% dimethoxymethane selectivity. Dimethoxymethane could be synthe- sized via methoxy groups decomposed from dimethyl ether through the synergistic effect between the acid sites and the redox sites of Cs modified H3PW12O40（40%）/SiO2.     

Density functional theory studies on the Raman and IR spectra of meso-tetraphenylporphyrin diacid

The vibrational spectra of meso-tetraphenylporphyrin diacid (H4TPP2+) have been studied with the density functional theory. Raman and IR spectra of H4TPP2+ and its N-deuterated analogue (D4TPP2+) are measured and compared with the computational results. Complete assignments of observed IR and Raman bands were proposed on the bases of calculation results. The DFT calculations reproduce 140 observed fundamentals with the RMS 8.6 cm-1. The computational as well as the experimental results reveal that the saddle-distortion of porphyrin macrocycle for the diacid leads to a significant effect on its vibrational spectra. Especially, several out-of-plane skeletal modes, which were either unobserved or very weak in the Raman spectra of CuTPP and H2TPP, are activated in the Raman spectra of the diacids. In addition, enhancement for the Raman bands of phenyl CC stretching modes were observed and attributed to the conjugation effect of pi-systems of the phenyl and the porphyrinato macrocycles.     

过渡金属配合物阴离子嵌人聚吡咯膜电极的表征

采用电化学聚合方法在水溶液中制备出Fe(CN)_6~(4-)嵌入的聚吡咯膜修饰电极, 电极具有稳定的Fe(CN)_6~(4-)/Fe(CN)_6~(3-)电化学响应, 其氧化、还原电位与电解质溶液中H~+浓度有关。借助XPS、IR和ESR方法对聚合物膜结构进行表征, 探讨嵌入物种Fe(CN)_6~(n-)和聚吡咯之间的相互作用, 提出一种可能的轨道相互作用模式。     

非晶SiO2纳米灯笼的制备和表征

在1000 ℃用活性炭把二氧化锡粉末还原成单质锡, 锡作为催化剂, 硅片作为硅源同时作为收集衬底, 在硅片上制备出了非晶SiO2纳米灯笼. 灯笼的一端连在硅片上, 另一端为一个锡球, 中间是一些圆弧状的SiO2纳米线把两端相连. 纳米灯笼具有良好的对称性. 利用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、高分辨透射电子显微镜(HRTEM)、选区电子衍射(SAED) 和HRTEM自带的能谱分析仪(EDS)对样品的表面形貌、微观结构和成分进行了分析研究. 结果表明, 灯笼中SiO2纳米线为非晶态, 结点是晶态锡, 结点表面覆盖一层非晶态的硅的氧化物. 结合实验条件对纳米灯笼的生长机理进行了讨论, 提出了纳米灯笼生长的一个模型.     

High-resolution electron microscopy of montmorillonite and montmorillonite/epoxy nanocomposites

With the use of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy the structure and morphology of montmorillonite (MMT), a material of current interest for use in polymer nanocomposites, was characterized. Using both imaging theory and experiment, the procedures needed to generate lattice images from MMT were established. These procedures involve careful control of the microscope's objective lens defocus to maximize contrast from features of a certain size, as well as limiting the total dose of electrons received by the sample. Direct images of the MMT lattice were obtained from neat Na+ MMT, organically modified MMT, and organically modified MMT/epoxy nanocomposites. The degree of crystallinity and turbostratic disorder were characterized using electron diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM). Also, the extent of the MMT sheets to bend when processed into an epoxy matrix was directly visualized. A minimum radius of curvature tolerable for a single MMT sheet during bending deformation was estimated to be 15 nm, and from this value a critical failure strain of 0.033 was calculated. HREM can be used to improve the understanding of the structure of polymer nanocomposites at the nanometer-length scale.