Hydrophobic Cysteine Poly(disulfide)‐based Redox‐Hypersensitive Nanoparticle Platform for Cancer Theranostics

Selective tumor targeting and drug delivery are critical for cancer treatment. Stimulus‐sensitive nanoparticle (NP) systems have been designed to specifically respond to significant abnormalities in the tumor microenvironment, which could dramatically improve therapeutic performance in terms of enhanced efficiency, targetability, and reduced side‐effects. We report the development of a novel L ‐cysteine‐based poly (disulfide amide) (Cys‐PDSA) family for fabricating redox‐triggered NPs, with high hydrophobic drug loading capacity (up to 25 wt % docetaxel) and tunable properties. The polymers are synthesized through one‐step rapid polycondensation of two nontoxic building blocks: L ‐cystine ester and versatile fatty diacids, which make the polymer redox responsive and give it a tunable polymer structure, respectively. Alterations to the diacid structure could rationally tune the physicochemical properties of the polymers and the corresponding NPs, leading to the control of NP size, hydrophobicity, degradation rate, redox response, and secondary self‐assembly after NP reductive dissociation. In vitro and in vivo results demonstrate these NPs’ excellent biocompatibility, high selectivity of redox‐triggered drug release, and significant anticancer performance. This system provides a promising strategy for advanced anticancer theranostic applications.     

Role of alkylated residues in the tetrapeptide self-assembly—A molecular dynamics study

Designing peptide sequences that self-assemble into well-defined nanostructures can open a new venue for the development of novel drug carriers and molecular contrast agents. Current approaches are often based on a linear block-design of amphiphilic peptides where a hydrophilic peptide chain is terminated by a hydrophobic tail. Here, a new template for a self-assembling tetrapeptide (YXKX, Y = tyrosine, X = alkylated tyrosine, K = lysine) is proposed with two distinct sides relative to the peptide's backbone: alkylated hydrophobic residues on one side and hydrophilic residues on the other side. Using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, the self-assembly pathway of the tetrapeptide is analyzed for two different concentrations. At both concentrations, tetrapeptides self-assembled into a nanosphere structure. The alkylated tyrosines initialize the self-assembly process via a strong hydrophobic effect and to reduce exposure to the aqueous solvent, they formed a hydrophobic core. The hydrophilic residues occupied the surface of the self-assembled nanosphere. Ordered arrangement of tetrapeptides within the nanosphere with the backbone hydrogen bonding led to a beta sheet formation. Alkyl chain length constrained the size and shape of the nanosphere. This study provides foundation for further exploration of self-assembling structures that are based on peptides with hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties located on the opposite sides of a peptide backbone.     

Investigation of the synergistic effect with chiral D-penicillamine functionalized gold nanoparticle as an additive for enantiomeric separation in capillary electrophoresis

The authors describe a synergistic system for nanoparticle based chiral separation. It is based on the use of a conventional chiral selector hydroxyproyl-β-cyclodextrin and a kind of gold nanoparticle functionalized with D-penicillamine as an additive. This nanomaterial displays a synergistic effect on the efficiency of the enantioseparation of the chiral drugs amlodipine, tropicamide, and ofloxacin. A comparative study on the enantioseparation capability of three separation systems, viz. (a) single hydroxyproyl-β-cyclodextrin system, (b) achiral citrate capped gold nanoparticle/ hydroxyproyl-β-cyclodextrin system, and (c) chiral D-penicillamine functionalized gold nanoparticle/ hydroxyproyl-β-cyclodextrin system was performed. The results show that the D-penicillamine functionalized gold nanoparticle/hydroxyproyl-β-cyclodextrin synergistic system has remarkable superiority. The effects of concentrations of D-penicillamine functionalized gold nanoparticle and hydroxyproyl-β-cyclodextrin, of buffer pH value and concentration, and of applied voltage on the performance of enantioseparation were investigated.     

功能化氮化碳对Pd基甲酸分解制氢催化剂性能的促进作用

负载型Pd基催化剂是最有效的甲酸分解(FAD)制氢催化剂之一,其中氮化碳载体的N含量较高,但是通常一步热解法制备的氮化碳为块状,难以有效分散表面金属纳米粒子(NPs)。 本文通过将尿素前驱体在溶剂化作用后热解得到功能化氮化碳,以此为载体,利用阴离子交换和硼氢化钠直接还原法制备了功能化氮化碳负载的Pd基催化剂(Pd/C₃N₄-F)。 通过扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)和X射线光电子能谱(XPS)对材料结构进行表征,并通过气体质量流量计测试了催化剂的性能。 Pd/C₃N₄-F具有优异的催化FAD制氢性能,30 ℃下的初始TOF(总转换频率)值和质量比活性分别为1824 h^-1和17.14 mol_H2/(g_Pd·h)。 对产物的气相色谱分析结果也表明没有副产物CO生成,表明催化剂具有优异的选择性。 并且随着温度的升高(30～40 ℃),催化剂性能逐渐提高。     

Radiation stability of powders in mixtures with Al2O3 nanoparticles

A comparative research was conducted to investigate the absorption spectra of barium titanate powders mixtures with aluminum oxide micro- or nanopowders irradiated by electrons. It was established that the addition of aluminum oxide nanopowder enhances the radiation stability of mixtures, which increases with the concentration of nanoparticles. Stability augmentation of mixtures under irradiation is caused by the decrease in the concentration of radiation defects in the anion sublattice of barium titanate.     

石墨烯-金纳米复合膜修饰电极溶出伏安法测定水中痕量汞

通过一步电沉积制备了石墨烯-金纳米复合膜修饰玻碳电极,并以此修饰电极为工作电极,采用差分脉冲阳极溶出伏安法测定环境水中痕量汞. 这种纳米复合膜结合了金纳米粒子和石墨烯两者的优势,能够增加异相电子转移速度和修饰电极对汞的富集能力,从而显著提高了电极的灵敏度和选择性. 这种修饰电极具有良好的分析性能：Hg(II)的分析曲线覆盖了0.2～5.0和5.0～30 μg/L两个线性范围,Hg(II)检测限(S/N=3)为0.030 μg/L. 此外,该修饰电极还表现出良好的稳定性和抗干扰性能,还被成功地应用于实际水样中Hg(II)的测定.     

单分散“核-卫星”金纳米结构的DNA控制组装：一种新型的纳米分级组装模块

报道了一种单分散“核-卫星”纳米金簇状结构的构造方法,不但可以有效调节卫星粒子的数目,还能实现核与卫星粒子间距离的准确控制. 利用DNA分子高度可控的程序化自组装性能,通过合理控制组装过程中核与卫星粒子表面的DNA修饰密度以及不同金纳米粒子的化学计量比,实现了单分散核-卫星结构的高产率组装,结合使用凝胶电泳这一高效的纳米分离技术实现了目标产物的分离. 该方法保证了卫星粒子表面极低的DNA覆盖率,使其与蛋白分子中的巯基基团具有较强的化学亲和作用,使得金纳米粒子在蛋白功能化石墨烯表面的二维层次化自组装得以实现.     

Synthesis of Ag/AgCl-mesoporous silica nanocomposites using a simple aqueous solution-based chemical method and a study of their antibacterial activity on E. coli

Simple aqueous solution-based chemical methods have been developed for the synthesis of Ag/AgCl nanoparticle-mesoporous silica nanocomposites. Ag loading in the mesoporous silica was accomplished using a wet-impregnation method. The AgCl-mesoporous silica nanocomposite material(AgCl-mSi) was synthesized by using a 'one pot' method. Synthesized materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction,N2 adsorption-desorption analysis and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Antibacterial activity of...     

纳米硅粒子的表面氧化及其光致发光特性

采用射频等离子体增强化学气相沉积技术制备了纳米晶硅粒子,并对其溶液发光的稳态和瞬态特性进行了研究.稳态光致发光结果显示,新制备的纳米硅粉体表现为峰值位于440 nm附近的蓝色发光,经长时间氧化后,该波段发光强度显著增强,并且出现另一峰值位于750 nm附近的红色发光带.不同波长激发和时间分辨光致发光谱的分析表明,纳米硅...     

不同间距的钴纳米粒子一维链的制备及磁性能研究

在室温条件下用简单、易操作的方法磁诱导自组装制备出钴纳米粒子一维链状结构,研究了工艺条件对钴链中粒子的大小以及间距的影响.重点分析了两种不同粒径及间距的钴纳米粒子链状结构的磁性与温度的变化关系,发现钴纳米粒子链状结构在室温时呈超顺磁性,而在10K时呈弱铁磁性.提出了间距长（约10nm左右）的纳米链更趋近于单个纳米粒子的...