Conversion of Mg‐Li Bimetallic Alloys to Magnesium Alkoxide and Magnesium Oxide Ceramic Nanowires

Technologically important composites with enhanced thermal and mechanical properties rely on the reinforcement by the high specific strength ceramic nanofibers or nanowires (NWs) with high aspect ratios. However, conventional synthesis routes to produce such ceramic NWs have prohibitively high cost. Now, direct transformation of bulk Mg‐Li alloys into Mg alkoxide NWs is demonstrated without the use of catalysts, templates, expensive or toxic chemicals, or any external stimuli. This mechanism proceeds through the minimization of strain energy at the boundary of phase transformation front leading to the formation of ultra‐long NWs with tunable dimensions. Such alkoxide NWs can be easily converted in air into ceramic MgO NWs with similar dimensions. The impact of the alloy grain size and Li content, synthesis temperature, inductive and steric effects of alkoxide groups on the diameter, length, composition, ductility, and oxidation of the produced NWs is discussed.     

Conversion of Mg-Li Bimetallic Alloys to Magnesium Alkoxide and Magnesium Oxide Ceramic Nanowires

Technologically important composites with enhanced thermal and mechanical properties rely on the reinforcement by the high specific strength ceramic nanofibers or nanowires (NWs) with high aspect ratios. However, conventional synthesis routes to produce such ceramic NWs have prohibitively high cost. Now, direct transformation of bulk Mg-Li alloys into Mg alkoxide NWs is demonstrated without the use of catalysts, templates, expensive or toxic chemicals, or any external stimuli. This mechanism proceeds through the minimization of strain energy at the boundary of phase transformation front leading to the formation of ultra-long NWs with tunable dimensions. Such alkoxide NWs can be easily converted in air into ceramic MgO NWs with similar dimensions. The impact of the alloy grain size and Li content, synthesis temperature, inductive and steric effects of alkoxide groups on the diameter, length, composition, ductility, and oxidation of the produced NWs is discussed.     

Green synthesis of 1,2,3‐triazoles via Cu2O NPs on hydrogen trititanate nanotubes promoted 1,3‐dipolar cycloadditions

Cu₂O nanoparticles supported on hydrogen trititanate nanotubes (Cu₂O/HTNT) catalysts have been efficiently catalyzed the multicomponent synthesis of 1,2,3‐triazoles in water at room temperature from different azide precursors, for example organic halides, sulfonates and anilines. The catalysts were synthesized by hydrothermal & wet‐impregnation methods and was characterized by HR‐TEM, EDS, XRD, XPS, N₂‐adsorption desorption and ICP‐MS analysis. The catalyst could be recycled by centrifugation and reused up to seven cycles. The 1‐benzyl‐4‐(4‐chlorophenyl)‐1H‐1,2,3‐triazole ( 25 ) structure was proven by single crystal X‐ray diffraction studies.     

Glyco-macroligand microarray with controlled orientation and glycan density

We report a new type of glycan microarray, namely, oriented and density-controlled glyco-macroligand microarray based on end-point immobilization of glycopolymer that was accompanied with boronic acid (BA) ligands in different sizes as detachable "temporary molecular spacers". Briefly, an O-cyanate chain-end functionalized lactose-containing glycopolymer was pre-complexed with polyacrylamide-BA, lysozyme-BA, and bovine serum albumin (BSA)-BA conjugates as macromolecular spacers first and then immobilized onto an amine-functionalized glass slide via isourea bond formation both at pH 10.3, respectively. Subsequently, the macromolecular spacers were detached from the immobilized glycopolymers at pH 7.4 so as to afford the oriented and density controlled glycopolymer microarrays. The spaced glycopolymer microarray showed enhanced lectin (Arachis hypogaea) binding compared to a non-spaced one. Among them, the polyacrylamide-BA spaced glycopolymer showed the highest level of lectin binding compared to lysozyme-BA- and BSA-BA-spaced glycopolymers. Furthermore, SPR results confirmed the same trend of density-dependent lectin binding as the glycoarray. This glyco-macroligand microarray platform permits variations of glycan density in the polymer, glycopolymer density and its orientation on the microarray surface and thus will provide a versatile tool for profiling glycan recognition for both basic biological research and practical applications.     

Orientated glyco-macroligand formation based on site-specific immobilization of O-cyanate chain-end functionalized glycopolymer

We report an oriented glyco-macroligand formation and its glyco-affinity capturing and glycoarray application by combining an O-cyanate chain-end functionalized glycopolymer with commercially available amine-functionalized silica gel and glass slides via isourea bond formation. The O-cyanate chain-end functionalized glycopolymer was synthesized via cyanoxyl-mediated free-radical polymerization (CMFRP) in a one-pot fashion. The oriented glyco-macroligand formation was conducted under mild aqueous conditions at room temperature and was confirmed with fluorescence imaging after specific lectin binding, and will find important biomedical applications such as in biosensors and glycoarrays. In addition, the O-cyanate chain-end functionalized glycopolymer can also be used for site-specific polymer-protein conjugation.     

Recent Advances in the Synthesis and Biomedical Applications of Chain-End Functionalized Glycopolymers

Glycopolymers as multivalent clusters of carbohydrate derivatives have been proven effective tools in the study of carbohydrate-based biological processes and have shown great potential in biomedical applications. It has been found that the shape and size of glycopolymers, as well as the density and relative positioning of their glycan appendages, are very important regarding their effectiveness in bio-interactions. Recently, a variety of chain-end functionalized polymers have been explored for the preparation of structurally well-defined glycopolymers that have potential protein modification and microarray fabrication applications. This review summarizes recent advances in the synthesis and biomedical applications of chain-end functionalized glycopolymers.