IL-2-loaded Polypeptide Nanoparticles for Enhanced Anti-cancer Immunotherapy

Interleukin 2(IL-2) is widely used as an active immunotherapeutic agent in clinical metastatic cancers. However, its therapeutic concentrations do not last long due to its short half-life. Thus, only a transient proliferation of the anti-cancer CD8⁺ T cells can be achieved,resulting in poor efficacy. Therefore, the aim of this work was to create a system that promotes CD8⁺ T cell proliferation at the tumor site using IL-2 persistently present and activates an anti-cancer im...     

Preparation and application of novel polymer nanoparticles in the detection of copper ion and cysteineEI北大核心CSCD

A novel amphiphilic copolymer,dipropenoxystyrene anthracene and acrylic acid copolymer（BASA-AA） was designed and synthesized based on divinyl anthracene. The polymer self-assembled rapidly in water to create polymer nanoparticles（BASA-AA NPs）with a uniform size of 45 nm,no dye leakage,and great brightness（Φ= 36%）. Because of the enormous number of carboxyl groups on the surface of the particles,it can disperse extremely well in water,and can be used for the rapid detection of copper ion and cysteine（Cys）in pure water, with the limit of detection of 45 nmol/L. The fluorescent intensity of the nanoparticles will be greatly reduced after the introduction of copper ion,realizing the detection of copper ion with high selectivity and sensitivity. A composite probe made of BASA-AA NPs and copper ion can detect Cys in the range of 0.1-10 µμmol/L,with the detection limit of 84 nmol/L,due to the high binding capacity of the sulfhydryl group and copper ion. The method is simple and rapid in material synthesis and preparation,and shows high selectivity and sensitivity in pure water. © 2023, Youke Publishing Co.,Ltd. All rights reserved.     

Radiation-sensitive nanogel-incorporated Fricke hydrogel dosimeters with reduced diffusion rates

Fricke gel dosimeters have great potential for three-dimensional (3D) dose verification in radiation therapy; however, they suffer from time-dependent ion diffusion after irradiation, severely affecting their stability and reliability. In this work, a pullulan-based amphiphilic molecule was synthesized, characterized, and self-assembled into nanogels. Nanogel structures were embedded into gel dosimeters to reduce the diffusion rates, and radiation-sensitive nanogel-incorporated Fricke hydrogel nanocomposites were prepared successfully. The results demonstrated that the diffusion coefficient of improved dosimeters was reduced to 0.125 ± 0.001 mm² h⁻¹, while maintaining the high optical dose sensitivity (0.0410 ± 0.0004 Gy⁻¹ cm⁻¹). It provides a powerful tool toward the practical application of 3D dosimeters.     

Synthesis of FeS2/CoS heterostructure microspheres as anodes for high-performance Li-ion batteries

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - FeS2/CoS and FeS2/CoS/C composites were synthesized by solvothermal method and following vapor phase vulcanization at mild temperature with binary oxide...     

Charge Density Overcomes Steric Hindrance of Ferrocene Surfactant in Switchable Oil-in-Dispersion Emulsions

A ferrocene surfactant can be switched between single and double head form (FcN⁺C₁₂/Fc⁺N⁺C₁₂) triggered by redox reaction. FcN⁺C₁₂ can neither stabilize an O/W emulsion alone nor an oil-in-dispersion emulsion in combination with alumina nanoparticles due to the steric hindrance of the ferrocene group. However, such steric hindrance can be overcome by increasing the charge density in Fc⁺N⁺C₁₂, so that oil-in-dispersion emulsions can be co-stabilized by Fc⁺N⁺C₁₂ and alumina nanoparticles at very low concentrations (1×10⁻⁷ M (≈50 ppb) and 0.001 wt %, respectively). Not only can reversible formation/destabilization of oil-in-dispersion emulsions be achieved by redox reaction, but also reversible transformation between oil-in-dispersion emulsions and Pickering emulsions can be obtained through reversing the charge of alumina particles by adjusting the pH. The results provide a new protocol for the design of surfactants for stabilization of smart oil-in-dispersion emulsions.     

An Arbitrarily Regulated Monomer Sequence in Multi-Block Copolymer Synthesis by Frustrated Lewis Pairs

Rapid access to sequence-controlled multi-block copolymers (multi-BCPs) remains as a challenging task in the polymer synthesis. Here we employ a Lewis pair (LP) composed of organophosphorus superbase and bulky organoaluminum to effectively copolymerize the mixture of methacrylate, cyclic acrylate, and two acrylates, into well-defined di-, tri-, tetra- and even a hepta-BCP in one-pot one-step manner. The combined livingness, dual-initiation and CSC feature of Lewis pair polymerization enable us to achieve not only a trihexaconta-BCP with the highest record in 8 steps by using four-component monomer mixture as building blocks, but also the arbitrarily-regulated monomer sequence in multi-BCP, simply by changing the composition and adding order of the monomer mixtures, thus demonstrating the powerful capability of our strategy in improving the efficiency and enriching the composition of multi-BCP synthesis.     

An Electrochemical Nanosensor for Monitoring the Dynamics of Intracellular H2O2 Upon NADH Treatment

Reactive oxygen species (ROS)-based therapeutic strategies play an important role in cancer treatment. However, in situ, real-time and quantitative analysis of intracellular ROS in cancer treatment for drug screening is still a challenge. Herein we report one selective hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) electrochemical nanosensor, which is prepared by electrodeposition of Prussian blue (PB) and polyethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) onto carbon fiber nanoelectrode. With the nanosensor, we find that the level of intracellular H₂O₂ increases with NADH treatment and that increase is dose-dependent to the concentration of NADH. High-dose of NADH (above 10 mM) can induce cell death and intratumoral injection of NADH is validated for inhibiting tumor growth in mice. This study highlights the potential of electrochemical nanosensor for tracking and understanding the role of H₂O₂ in screening new anticancer drug.     

Oxidation-Reduction Molecular Junction Covalent Organic Frameworks for Full Reaction Photosynthesis of H2O2

The full reaction photosynthesis of H₂O₂ that can combine water-oxidation and oxygen-reduction without sacrificial agents is highly demanded to maximize the light-utilization and overcome the complex reaction-process of anthraquinone-oxidation. Here, a kind of oxidation-reduction molecular junction covalent-organic-framework (TTF-BT-COF) has been synthesized through the covalent-coupling of tetrathiafulvalene (photo-oxidation site) and benzothiazole (photo-reduction site), which presents visible-light-adsorption region, effective electron-hole separation-efficiency and photo-redox sites that enables full reaction generation of H₂O₂. Specifically, a record-high yield (TTF-BT-COF, ≈276 000 μM h⁻¹ g⁻¹) for H₂O₂ photosynthesis without sacrificial agents has been achieved among porous crystalline photocatalysts. This is the first work that can design oxidation-reduction molecular junction COFs for full reaction photosynthesis of H₂O₂, which might extend the scope of COFs in H₂O₂ production.     

Water-Stable Metal Azolate Frameworks Showing Interesting Flexibilities for Highly Effective Bioethanol Dehydration

The ethanol/water separation challenge highlights the adsorption capacity/selectivity trade-off problem. We show that the target guest can serve as a gating component of the host to block the undesired guest, giving molecular sieving effect for the adsorbent possessing large pores. Two hydrophilic/water-stable metal azolate frameworks were designed to compare the effects of gating and pore-opening flexibility. Large amounts (up to 28.7 mmol g⁻¹) of ethanol with fuel-grade (99.5 %+) and even higher purities (99.9999 %+) can be produced in a single adsorption process from not only 95 : 5 but also 10 : 90 ethanol/water mixtures. More interestingly, the pore-opening adsorbent possessing large pore apertures showed not only high water adsorption capacity but also exceptionally high water/ethanol selectivity characteristic of molecular sieving. Computational simulations demonstrated the critical role of guest-anchoring aperture for the guest-dominated gating process.     

Self-Accelerating Diels–Alder Reaction for Preparing Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity

It is a formidable challenge in polycondensation to simultaneously construct multiple covalent bonds to prepare double-stranded polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) with fused multicyclic linkages. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to develop a self-accelerating Diels–Alder reaction for successfully preparing double-stranded PIMs with fused multicyclic backbone structures. A self-accelerating Diels–Alder reaction was developed based on the [4+2] cycloaddition of sym-dibenzo-1,5-cyclooctadiene-3,7-diyne (DIBOD) and ortho-quinone compounds. In this reaction, the cycloaddition of ortho-quinone with the first alkyne of DIBOD activates the second alkyne, which reacts with ortho-quinone at a rate constant 192 times larger than that of the original alkyne. Using this self-accelerating reaction to polymerize DIBOD and spirocyclic/cyclic difunctional ortho-quinone monomers, a novel stoichiometric imbalance-promoted step-growth polymerization method was developed to prepare PIMs. The resultant PIMs possess intrinsic ultramicropores with pore sizes between 0.45 to 0.7 nm, high specific surface areas above 646 m² g⁻¹, and good H₂ separation performance.