Poly(2‐Oxazoline)‐Based Functional Peptide Mimics: Eradicating MRSA Infections and Persisters while Alleviating Antimicrobial Resistance

Peptides have important biological functions. However, their susceptibility to proteolysis limits their applications. We demonstrated here for the first time, that poly(2‐oxazoline) (POX) can work as a functional mimic of peptides. POX‐based glycine pseudopeptides, a host defense peptide mimic, had potent activities against methicillin‐resistant S. aureus, which causes formidable infections. The POX mimic showed potent activity against persisters that are highly resistant to antibiotics. S. aureus did not develop resistance to POX owning to the reactive oxygen species related antimicrobial mechanism. POX‐treated S. aureus is sensitive to common antibiotics, demonstrating no observable antimicrobial pressure or cross‐resistance in using antimicrobial POX. This study highlights POX as a new type of functional mimic of peptides and opens new avenues in designing and exploring peptide mimetics for biological functions and applications.     

High‐Performance K–CO2 Batteries Based on Metal‐Free Carbon Electrocatalysts

Metal–CO₂ batteries have attracted much attention owing to their high energy density and use of greenhouse CO₂ waste as the energy source. However, the increasing cost of lithium and the low discharge potential of Na–CO₂ batteries create obstacles for practical applications of Li/Na–CO₂ batteries. Recently, earth‐abundant potassium ions have attracted considerable interest as fast ionic charge carriers for electrochemical energy storage. Herein, we report the first K–CO₂ battery with a carbon‐based metal‐free electrocatalyst. The battery shows a higher theoretical discharge potential (E^?=2.48 V) than that of Na–CO₂ batteries (E^?=2.35 V) and can operate for more than 250 cycles (1500 h) with a cutoff capacity of 300 mA h g^?1. Combined DFT calculations and experimental observations revealed a reaction mechanism involving the reversible formation and decomposition of P12₁/c1‐type K₂CO₃ at the efficient carbon‐based catalyst.     

Femtosecond ground state recovery: measuring the intersystem crossing yield of polyspirobifluorene

Measurement of the quantum yield of triplet formation has been made for the prototypical conjugated polymer polyspirobifluorene in solution and solid state. An updated method has been described based on femtosecond time resolved ground state recovery following photoexcitation of the polymer. The two components to the recovery of the ground state due to the decay of the singlet and triplet excited states are clearly visible and from these it is possible to calculate Phi(T)=0.05+/-0.01 in solution, this gives k(isc)=5.4 x 10(7) s(-1) which compares favorably with other conjugated polymers. In polymer films an increased triplet yield of Phi(T)=0.12+/-0.02 is found to be independent of temperature, the increased yield is attributed to triplet recombination from charged states.     

Synthesis of antidepressant duloxetine via asymmetric transfer hydrogenation

Antidepressant duloxetine （1） was prepared via asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of 3-（dimethylamino）-1-（thiophen-2- yl）propan-1-one （3）. The Ru（Ⅱ）, Rh（Ⅲ） and Ir（Ⅲ） complexes of several chiral ligands were examined as the catalyst and （S,S）-N-tosyl-1,2-diphenyl ethylenediamine （TsDPEN）-Ru（Ⅱ） complex was found to provide good yield and excellent enantioselectivity. 2007 Ming Yan. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.     

BaZr0.45Ce0.45Y0.1O3-δ的合成及其电性能研究

采用高温固相反应制备了电导率高、化学稳定性较好的新型高温质子导体BaZr0.45Ce0.45Y0.1O3-δ材料.运用X射线衍射仪、扫描电子显微镜分别对不同烧结温度试样的晶型、微观形貌进行了表征,并应用IM6e型电化学工作站测定了其不同温度下的阻抗谱.结果表明1600℃为最佳的烧结温度,此温度烧结试样具有最高的电导率,800℃约为1.06×10-2S·cm-1,电导活化能为0.76 ev.     

有机铋化学近十年的研究进展

铋及其化合物具有相对价廉、低毒性、低放射性等特点,已应用于医药、催化、化妆品和电子技术等领域。本文回顾了近10多年来有机铋化学的研究状况,主要从以下4个方面进行综述：（1）新型有机铋化合物的合成途径与结构特征;（2）有机铋化合物作为交联偶合、氧化、芳基化和其它反应的试剂;（3）作为催化剂;（4）作为生物医药用于溃疡、肿瘤和放射治疗等。文中着重于从分子水平关联新型有机铋化合物的结构与其化学和生物活性之间关系。此外,还介绍了有机铋化学研究领域的不足和今后的发展趋势。     

New neo-clerodane diterpenoid alkaloids from Scutellaria barbata with cytotoxic activities

Four new neo-clerodane diterpenoid alkaloids, named scutebarbatines I-L (1-4), were isolated from the whole plant of Scutellaria barbata D. DON. Their structures were established on the basis of detailed spectral analyses. In vitro, the four new compounds showed significant cytotoxic activities against three human cancer lines (HONE-1 nasopharyngeal, KB oral epidermoid carcinoma, and HT29 colorectal carcinoma cells), and gave IC(50) values in the range 3.2-8.3 microM.