A Multi‐signal Fluorescent Probe with Multiple Binding Sites for Simultaneous Sensing of Cysteine,Homocysteine, and Glutathione

A novel fluorescent probe was developed by integrating chlorinated coumarin and benzothiazolylacetonitrile and exploited for simultaneous detection of cysteine (Cys), homocysteine (Hcy), and glutathione (GSH). Featuring four binding sites and different reaction mechanisms for different biothiols, this probe exhibited rapid fluorescence turn‐on for distinguishing Cys, Hcy, and GSH with 108‐, 128‐, 30‐fold fluorescence increases at 457, 559, 529 nm, respectively, across different excitation wavelengths. Furthermore, the probe was successfully applied to the fluorescence imaging of endogenous Cys and GSH and exogenous Cys, Hcy, and GSH in living cells.     

Structure and conformation of DAB dendrimers in solution via multidimensional NMR techniques.

NOESY-HSQC 3D-NMR and NOESY 2D-NMR techniques have been used on a 750 MHz spectrometer to study the chain conformations of different generation DAB dendrimers (poly[propylene imine] dendrimers) in chloroform and benzene solutions. The high-field multidimensional NMR techniques provided the chemical shift dispersion needed to resolve all of the unique resonances in the dendrimers. By studying the NOE interactions among dendritic chain protons, information about through space interactions between protons on different parts of the dendrimer chain is obtained, which is directly related to the conformation of the dendrimer. These experiments also give further proof of the chemical shift assignments obtained from the HMQC-TOCSY 2D and 3D NMR experiments. The concentration effects on chemical shifts have also been observed, revealing information about the interactions between solvent and different parts of dendrimer molecules. These studies clearly show for DAB dendrimers, that folded chain conformations can occur in nonpolar solvents such as benzene and extended chain conformations are predominant in polar solvents such as chloroform.     

Novel Polymer Clusters with a Uniform Chain Density

The thermal decomposition of polystyrene clusters prepared by using 4‐methacryloyloxy‐2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidine‐N‐oxyl as a branching agent was studied. The weight‐average molar mass (M̄_w) and the radius of gyration (R_g) of the resultant clusters can be scaled as M̄_w ∝︁ R_g^{3.0 ± 0.1}, revealing that these clusters have a uniform chain density. Moreover, the dynamic properties of such clusters converge unexpectedly faster than the static properties as the molar mass decreases.     

A New Sesquiterpene from the Roots of Chloranthus multistachys

Chemistry of Natural Compounds - A new sesquiterpene, 1β-hydroxy-4(5),7(8),11(12)-triene-6,9-dione-7,8-furanoeudesmane (1), was isolated from the root extract of Chloranthus multistachys C....     

Tracking the optical mass centroid of single electroactive nanoparticles reveals the electrochemically inactive zone

The inevitable microstructural defects, including cracks, grain boundaries and cavities, make a portion of the material inaccessible to electrons and ions, becoming the incentives for electrochemically inactive zones in single entity. Herein, we introduced dark field microscopy to study the variation of scattering spectrum and optical mass centroid (OMC) of single Prussian blue nanoparticles during electrochemical reaction. The “dark zone” embedded in a single electroactive nanoparticle resulted in the incomplete reaction, and consequently led to the misalignment of OMC for different electrochemical intermediate states. We further revealed the dark zones such as lattice defects in the same entity, which were externally manifested as the fixed pathway for OMC for the migration of potassium ions. This method opens up enormous potentiality to optically access the heterogeneous intraparticle dark zones, with implications for evaluating the crystallinity and electrochemical recyclability of single electroactive nano-objects.

The schematic of single cubic-shaped Prussian blue (PB) mesocrystals formed by the oriented aggregation of small nanocrystals. The dark-field images of single PB nanoparticle at PB and Prussian white (PW) states, respectively.     

Alternating DNA and pi-conjugated sequences. Thermophilic foldable polymers

Foldable polymers with alternating single-strand deoxyribonucleic acid and planar conjugated organic perylene tetracarboxylic diimide units were found to self-organize into loosely folded nanostructures. Upon heating, the loosely folded structures become more ordered as evidenced by pi-stacking in the perylene segments. The folding and unfolding processes driven by the molecular interactions of adjacent perylenes were monitored in both aqueous and organic solutions. Heat-promoted folding, or inverse temperature behavior, which originates from positive enthalpy changes, was only observed in water. Therefore, we attributed this inverse temperature dependence to hydrophobic effects rather than pi-pi molecular orbital overlap between the perylene planes. These findings shed light on the design of new thermophiles in protein engineering as well as the construction of macromolecular-based nanodevices with actuator and sensory properties.     

Enhanced orientation of PEO polymer chains induced by nanoclays in electrospun PEO/clay composite nanofibers

Polymer fibers composed of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and nanoclay were fabricated by electrospinning. The morphology of the composite nanofibers was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM), which showed aligned nanoclays in the fibers. Polarized Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy revealed that the PEO chains in the composite fibers exhibit a higher degree of orientation than that in PEO nanofibers containing no nanoclay. It is believed that spatial confinement is present in the electrospun nanofibers, which results in the enforcement of the mutual restriction. The anisotropic hierarchical nanostructure may have potential applications in optics, mechanical materials, and biomedical materials for cell culture.     

Preparation and photoelectrochemical performance of PbSe/BaTiO3/TiO2 composite film

By dipping-lifting in sol–gel solution and reducing process, the TiO₂ composite film on the glass plate was first prepared. Then, the PbSe/BaTiO₃/TiO₂ composite film was fabricated by interface reaction with BaTiO₃ and PbSe on the surface of TiO₂ composite film. The characterization results show that the uniform porous TiO₂ film is made up of the anatase crystal, and the PbSe/BaTiO₃/TiO₂ composite film is constructed by doping or depositing BaTiO₃ and PbSe nanoparticles on the surface of TiO₂ film. The photoelectrochemical measurement results indicate that the PbSe/BaTiO₃/TiO₂ composite film has an interesting photoelectrochemical conversion property.     

镁电解槽中制备镁稀土合金的电解工艺及机制研究

在模拟镁电解槽中,采用电解法制备出稀土含量<10%的镁稀土合金;研究了熔盐中RECl3和CaCl2的含量、电解温度和阴极电流密度对合金中RE含量和电流效率的影响。并采用循环伏安实验和还原实验研究电解制备镁稀土合金的机制。研究结果表明,电解制备镁稀土合金最佳的工艺条件为:熔盐中RECl3和CaCl2的含量分别为3%和10%(质量分数),电解温度为948 K,阴极电流密度约为8 A.cm-2。其电解过程机制为:阴极上只电解出金属镁,而后金属镁把稀土元素还原出来,形成镁稀土合金。     

Synthesis and Structure Investigation of a Novel 3-Dimensional Potassium Supermolecular Compound Based on 2,4-Dinitro Resorcinol

A novel 3‐dimensional potassium supermolecular compound [K(HDNR)(H₂DNR)(H₂O)]_n (H₂DNR?2,4‐dinitro resorcinol) was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and FT‐IR spectroscopy. The crystal structure investigated by X‐ray single crystal diffraction shows that [K(HDNR)(H₂DNR)(H₂O)]_n crystallizes with a monoclinic unit cell in the space group P2(1)/c with unit cell dimensions of a=17.648(5) Å, b=12.527(3) Å, c=7.735(2) Å, β=94.33(2)°, V=1705.00(73) ų, Z=4. The structure was refined to the final R=0.0670 and wR=0.0722 for 2022 observed reflections with I>2σ(I). In the compound, potassium cation is assembled into one‐dimensional chains along c‐axis through oxygen atoms from water molecules, and the chains were connected by the bridged HDNR^? anions to form a two‐dimensional net structure. The two‐dimensional nets constructed a three‐dimensional supramolecular architecture via intermolecular hydrogen bonds and N–O···π interaction. Density functional theory (DFT) B3LYP was employed to optimize the structure and calculate energies for three tautomers of HDNR^? univalent anion. Three stable tautomers were located. It was found that the structure (I) with O(1) losing hydrogen atom is more stable than the structure (II) also with O(1) losing hydrogen atom and the structure (III) with O(4) losing hydrogen atom.