Where is the rudder of a fish？： the mechanism of swimming and control of self-propelled fish school

Numerical simulation and control of self- propelled swimming of two- and three-dimensional biomimetic fish school in a viscous flow are investigated. With a parallel computational fluid dynamics package for the two- and three-dimensional moving boundary problem, which combines the adaptive multi-grid finite volume method and the methods of immersed boundary and volume of fluid, it is found that due to the interactions of vortices in the wakes, without proper control, a fish school swim with a given flap- ping rule can not keep the fixed shape of a queue. In order to understand the secret of fish swimming, a new feedback con- trol strategy of fish motion is proposed for the first time, i,e., the locomotion speed is adjusted by the flapping frequency of the caudal, and the direction of swimming is controlled by the swinging of the head of a fish. Results show that with this feedback control strategy, a fish school can keep the good order of a queue in cruising, turning or swimming around circles. This new control strategy, which separates the speed control and direction control, is important in the construction of biomimetic robot fish, with which it greatly simplifies the control devices of a biomimetic robot fish.     

Fabrication of homogenous three‐dimensional biomimetic tissue for mass spectrometry imaging

Reference samples are essential for mass spectrometric method optimization, data quality control, and target analyte quantitation. However, it is highly challenging to prepare an ideal homogeneous, standard‐spiked tissue sample for mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) research. Herein, we present a standard‐spiked 3D biomimetic tissue model fabricated with native cells, homogenate matrix, and biocompatible polymer. Unlike traditional homogenized tissue surrogates or those constructed with “on‐tissue” or “under‐tissue” micropipetting strategies, this simulated tissue shares both structural integrity of cells and homogeneous properties of matrix. As a result, analyte standards could undergo more in‐depth incorporation and has a more comparable native status with a real tissue. Series of tissue sections made from the 3D tissue model were proven to be feasible and useful for the parameter optimization, analyte quantitation, and calibration curve fitting for the air‐flow assisted desorption electrospray ionization MSI. Additionally, by analyzing the quality control model sections, we proposed a median principal component score calibration and demonstrated that this method can normalize instrumental fluctuations to stable levels in a large‐scale untargeted MSI experiments for the reliable metabolomic biomarker discovery. Thus, these results indicated that the standard‐spiked 3D biomimetic tissue has convincing significance in MSI analysis     

Biomimetic fabrication of hydroxyapatite hollow spheres with polyoxyethylene chain-containing quaternary ammonium salt cationic Gemini surfactant as template

This paper reports a biomimetic fabrication of hydroxyapatite (HAp) with a hollow spherical three-dimensional architecture, using Ca(NO₃)₂ and (NH₄)₃PO₄ as the starting materials, and a polyoxyethylene chain-containing quaternary ammonium salt cationic Gemini surfactant [C₁₂C₂C₁₂ (EO)] as the template. The effects of the surfactant concentration, aging time, and temperature on the morphology and the degree of crystallinity of HAp were investigated. We also proposed a possible mechanism for the formation of hollow spherical HAp. The results showed that the cationic Gemini surfactant was the most important parameter for the formation of spherical HAp. We obtained uniform well-defined hollow spherical HAp with semidiameter about 1.5 μm, using 0.1% mass fraction of template, at 37°C for 7 days.     

Electrospun Nanofibers Modified with Phospholipid Moieties for Enzyme Immobilization

Summary: PANCMPCs containing phospholipid side moieties were electrospun into nanofibers with a mean diameter of 90 nm. Field emission SEM was used to characterize the morphologies of the nanofibers. These phospholipid‐modified nanofibers were explored as supports for enzyme immobilization due to the characteristics of excellent biocompatibility, high surface/volume ratio, and porosity, which were beneficial to the catalytic efficiency and activity of immobilized enzymes. Lipase from Candida rugosa was immobilized on these nanofibers by adsorption. Preliminary results indicated that the properties of the immobilized lipase on these phospholipid‐modified nanofibers were greatly promising.

Schematic representation of the structure and electrostatic properties of phospholipid‐modified nanofibers.     

Catalytic Activity of Copper(II) Enzyme-like Catalysts,Prepared by Molecular Imprinting Technique in Oxidation of Phenols

Summary: Molecularly imprinted polymer copper(II) catalysts were prepared by suspension polymerization of 4-vinylpyridine, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (series A) and additional monomer – acrylonitrile (series B) in the presence of Cu(II) ions and template: 4-metoxybenzyl alcohol; two samples were also prepared by surface molecular imprinting technique utilizing W/O emulsion. The catalytic activity was tested in model oxidation reactions of hydroquinone and 2,5-di-tert-butylhydroquinone using hydrogen peroxide. The imprinted catalysts were more effective in both reactions than non-imprinted but their activity strongly depended on Cu(II) loading. Surface imprinted samples showed the highest activity (L_H up to 100%).     

Synthesis of Novel Biomimetic Zwitterionic Phosphorylcholine‐Bound Chitosan Derivative

Summary: Water‐soluble biomimetic chitosan derivative conjugating zwitterionic phosphorylcholine was efficiently prepared through Atherton‐Todd reaction under the mild conditions, and the possible formation mechanism of zwitterionic product was related to the nucleophilic attack of adjacent 3‐hydroxyl on the D ‐glucosamine residue to phosphorus with the help of base. UV absorption and melting behaviors of DNA/phosphorylcholine‐bound chitosan derivative showed that the phosphorylcholine‐bound chitosan derivative could be a new carrier for long‐circulating macromolecular drug delivery.

Structure of zwitterionic PC‐chitosan.     

Illustrating the power of singlet oxygen chemistry in a synthetic context: biomimetic syntheses of litseaverticillols A-G, I and J and the structural reassignment of litseaverticillol E

Biomimetic syntheses of the litseaverticillols A-G, I and J are reported herein. The syntheses rely heavily on the application of two different modes of reaction for photochemically generated singlet oxygen, namely, the [4+2] cycloaddition of singlet oxygen (1O2) with furans and the ene reaction of 1O2 with double bonds. The highlight of these syntheses is a one-pot cascade sequence, involving five synthetic operations initiated by a [4+2] reaction, to form the fully functionalised litseaverticillol core. A series of regioselective ene reactions are then used to appositely functionalise the side chains. The synthesis of litseaverticillol E (both its originally proposed and its actual structures) allows a structural reassignment of this natural product.