Metallohelices emulate the properties of short cationic α-helical peptides

Naturally occurring peptides in many living systems perform antimicrobial and anticancer host defence roles, but their potential for clinical application is limited by low metabolic stability and relatively high costs of goods. Self-assembled helical metal complexes provide an attractive synthetic platform for non-peptidic architectures that can emulate some of the properties of short cationic α-helical peptides, with tuneable charge, shape, size and amphipathicity. Correspondingly there is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that these supramolecular architectures exhibit bioactivity that emulates that of the natural systems. We review that evidence in the context of synthetic advances in the area, driven by the potential for biomedical applications. We note some design considerations for new biologically-relevant metallohelices, and give our outlook on the future of these compounds as therapeutic peptidomimetics.

Advances in metal–organic self-assembly have unearthed an area of chemical space containing peptide-emulating molecules. Comparison with natural systems indicates future directions in terms of synthesis, disease areas and mechanistic understanding.     

Nafion功能化介孔催化剂上苯甲醚/苯甲酰氯酰基化反应研究

苯甲醚/苯甲酰氯的酰基化产物4-甲氧基二苯甲酮是多种精细化工产品的重要中间体. 本工作主要介绍了Nafion负载型SBA-15, SBA-16及Me-SBA-15介孔超强酸催化剂的制备及其在苯甲醚/苯甲酰氯酰基化反应中的应用. 实验结果表明, 单位时间单位Nafion活性位上的苯甲酰氯转化数高于传统HBeta沸石和硫酸氧化锆, 且载量的增加能显著提高酰基化催化性能. 甲基修饰的Me-SBA-15介孔材料明显改善了催化剂表面的疏水性能, 有效减缓了多聚芳烃副产物的生成, 反应的转化率得到大幅提高. 相对一维孔道结构的介孔SBA-15而言, 三维笼状结构的SBA-16对反应物及产物分子具有更好的扩散性能, 该结构优势由酰基化反应的高初始活性得以充分体现. 在整个反应过程中, 该类催化剂对4-甲氧基二苯甲酮具有专一的选择性.     

A novel catalyst with high activity for polyhydric alcohol oxidation: nanosilver/zeolite film

A novel catalyst of silver nanoparticles over a zeolite film-coated copper grid (SZFC) has been fabricated via an in situ electrolytic method; it exhibited high catalytic activity and selectivity at a relatively low temperature for the partial oxidation of 1,2-propylene glycol to methyl glyoxal.     

Stress-dependent changes in the diffuse ultrasonic backscatter coefficient in steel: experimental results

In this article, the effects of uniaxial compressive loading on the ultrasonic scattering from polycrystalline grains are shown for 10 MHz ultrasound in annealed, 1018 steel. The results show a decreasing value of the stress-dependent backscatter coefficient for normal incident ultrasound when the compression loading is perpendicular to the scattering direction. The change due to scattering is about 2 orders of magnitude greater than changes observed by others using ultrasonic wavespeed measurements. It is anticipated that this research can serve as the basis for many methods associated with nondestructive determination of stress in structural materials.