Rutin Inhibits Ox-LDL-Mediated Macrophage Inflammation and Foam Cell Formation by Inducing Autophagy and Modulating PI3K/ATK Signaling

Atherosclerosis (AS) is one of the leading causes of death among the elderly, and is primarily caused by foam cell generation and macrophage inflammation. Rutin is an anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-allergic, and antiviral flavonoid molecule, known to have anti-atherosclerotic and autophagy-inducing properties, but its biological mechanism remains poorly understood. In this study, we uncovered that rutin could suppress the generation of inflammatory factors and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in ox-LDL-induced M2 macrophages and enhance their polarization. Moreover, rutin could decrease foam cell production, as shown by oil red O staining. In addition, rutin could increase the number of autophagosomes and the LC3II/I ratio, while lowering p62 expression. Furthermore, rutin could significantly inhibit the PI3K/ATK signaling pathway. In summary, rutin inhibits ox-LDL-mediated macrophage inflammation and foam cell formation by inducing autophagy and modulating PI3K/ATK signaling, showing potential in treating atherosclerosis.     

Continuous Electrochemical Synthesis of Iso-Coumarin Derivatives from o-(1-Alkynyl) Benzoates under Metal- and Oxidant-Free

A non-oxidant and metal-free strategy for synthesizing iso-coumarin by using a continuous electrochemical microreactor to initiate an oxidative cyclization reaction of o-(1-alkynyl) benzoate and radicals. This efficient and clean continuous electrosynthesis method not only avoids the complicated gas protection operation and production of by-products in the batch processes, but also help to overcome the difficulty that batch metal catalysis and electrocatalysis are difficult to scale up, and has the potential for pilot-scale experiment.     

叶栅风洞控制方法分析与实现

为解决叶栅风洞气罐容量小气源压力下降快给流场控制带来的难题,采用动态变参数和积分分离PID控制算法实现了叶栅风洞流场快速稳定和目标压力高精度控制目的;以调压阀后压力为控制点,采用叶栅入口压力误差值对控制点压力进行修正的方法,解决了常压和增压试验中控制滞后问题;变参数PID控制和选用具有确定对应关系控制点并对实际误差进行修正的方法,对小型暂冲风洞高精度压力控制和滞后问题的解决具有一定借鉴意义。     

Light‐Modulated Intermittent Wave Groups in a Diffusively Fed Reactive Gel

Inspired by the biological growth that takes place in time‐varying external fields such as light or temperature, we design an open reaction‐diffusion system in order to investigate growth dynamics. The system is composed of the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillatory reaction coupled with a copolymer gel consisting of NIPAAm and a photosensitive ruthenium catalyst. When subject to a unidirectional flow of the BZ reactants, the system displays groups of chemical waves whose structure depends upon the period and amplitude of illumination. Simulations of a modified six‐variable Oregonator model exhibit all the complex wave groups found in our experiments. Studying this growth structure may aid in understanding the influence of periodic environmental variation on complex growth processes in living systems.     

Total Synthesis of Indole Alkaloid Alsmaphorazine D

A concise total synthesis of rac‐alsmaphorazine D has been described for the first time. The efficient synthetic strategy features four key transformations: 1) a catalytic intramolecular oxidative cyclization for the δ‐lactamindole backbone; 2) an oxidative cyclic aminal formation for the hexahydropyrrolo[2,3‐b]pyrrole framework; 3) a transannular radical cyclization for the construction of the diazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane structure; and 4) a one‐pot desilylation/double epimerization reaction that affirms the relative stereochemistry.     

Surfactant-chaperoned donor–acceptor–donor NIR-II dye strategy efficiently circumvents intermolecular aggregation to afford enhanced bioimaging contrast

Fluorescence emission in the near-infrared-II (NIR-II) optical window affords reduced autofluorescence and light scattering, enabling deep-tissue visualization for both disease detection and surgical navigation. Small-molecule NIR-II dyes are preferable for clinical bioimaging applications, as the flexibility in their molecular synthesis allows for precise control of their optical and pharmacokinetic properties. Among the various types of dye, donor–acceptor–donor-based (D–A–D) dyes demonstrate exceptional photostability, whereas the frequently used PEGylation approach does not keep their intrinsic brightness enough in water environments due to their inherent effect of self-assembly. Here, we demonstrate that the commercially-available surfactants can serve as a dispersant to prevent molecular aggregation of PEGylated D–A–D dyes. Due to the favorable energetics for co-assembly between D–A–D dyes and surfactants, the formed surfactant-chaperoned dye strategy dramatically increases dye brightness. Accordingly, this effect provides remarkably improved performance for in vivo bioimaging applications. In parallel, we also investigate the D–A–D dye uptake and signal enhancement properties in the liver of murine models and demonstrate that the lumen-lining Kupffer cells can potentially disassemble PEGylated D–A–D aggregates such that their inherent brightness is restored. This phenomenon is similar to the surfactant-chaperoned dye strategy and our investigations provide a positive addition to better use of the current NIR-II fluorophores, especially for visualizing high-brightness required events.

PEGylation of donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) dyes causes inherent self-assembly thus unavoidably reducing their intrinsic brightness. We develop a new surfactant-chaperoned strategy to conquer the intermolecular aggregation of NIR-II fluorophores.     

Commercial drug norfloxacin as a novel ligand for the copper‐catalyzed N‐arylation of imidazole with aryl halides

Norfloxacin was used as an efficient ligand for the CuBr‐catalyzed C‐N coupling reaction of imidazole and aryl halides. The protocol presented good functional group compatibility, permitting many aryl halides to react with imidazole to form the desired products in good to excellent yields.