A Ru(II)-Based Nanoassembly Exhibiting Theranostic PACT Activity in NIR Region

Photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT) has appealing merits over traditional chemotherapy as well as photodynamic therapy (PDT) by virtue of its spatial and temporal control on drug activity and oxygen-independent mechanisms of action. However, the short photoactivation wavelengths, e.g., visible light–activated Ru(II)-based PACT agents, limit the clinical application severely. In this work, a facile construction of supramolecular nanoparticles from a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-modified [Ru(dip)₂(py-SO₃)]⁺ (abbreviated as Ru-PEG, dip = 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline, py-SO₃ = pyridine-2-sulfonate) and 1,3-phenylenebis(pyren-1-ylmethanone) (BP) is shown. While Ru-PEG may undergo photoinduced ligand dissociation and release anticancer species of [Ru(dip)₂(H₂O)₂]²⁺, BP has extremely large two-photon absorption cross sections (δ₂) in the NIR region and intense fluorescence over the wavelengths where Ru-PEG has strong absorption. Thus, two-photon excitation of BP followed by an efficient Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from BP to Ru-PEG may lead to a potent inactivation against cisplatin-resistant cancer cells and 3D multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTSs). The residue fluorescence of BP also allows the cellular uptake of the particles to be visualized. This work provides a universal and convenient strategy to realize theranostic PACT in the ideal phototherapeutic window of 650–900 nm.     

基于等离子激元耦合效应的高灵敏汞离子传感器

提出了一种基于单颗粒光谱技术,能够高灵敏检测汞离子的新方法,原理是基于汞离子诱导的纳米金自组装过程.在两种不同大小的纳米金表面分别修饰两段富含T碱基的DNA序列,当Hg²⁺存在时,两段DNA序列自发形成双链结构,导致小金球能够在大金球表面自组装成核-卫星纳米金结构,这一过程伴随着纳米颗粒散射光颜色和散射峰位置的变化,变化的程度与Hg²⁺浓度具有相关性,依托单颗粒光谱技术极高的检测灵敏度,该方法可以实现pmol/L级的检测.     

Diffusivity of adatoms on plasma-exposed surfaces determined from the ionization energy approximation and ionic polarizability

Microscopic surface diffusivity theory based on atomic ionization energy concept is developed to explain the variations of the atomic and displacement polarizations with respect to the surface diffusion activation energy of adatoms in the process of self-assembly of quantum dots on plasma-exposed surfaces. These polarizations are derived classically, while the atomic polarization is quantized to obtain the microscopic atomic polarizability. The surface diffusivity equation is derived as a function of the ionization energy. The results of this work can be used to fine-tune the delivery rates of different adatoms onto nanostructure growth surfaces and optimize the low-temperature plasma based nanoscale synthesis processes.     

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.     

Constructing boronate-bridged core-satellite gold nanoassembly and its application in high sensitive colorimetric detection of benzoyl peroxide residues in food matrices

Here,a new designed core/satellite gold nanoprobe was developed for detecting trace mount of benzoyl peroxide(BPO) based on its deboronation.This gold nanoassembly(the BE-Au NPs_12/65) wa s constructed via borate ester formation between large 4-mercaptophenylboronic acid(MPBA) modified Au NPs(the MPBAAu NPs₆₅,as cores) and small dopamine modified AuNPs(the D PA-AuNPs₁₂,as satellites).Particularly,upon addition of BPO,it would trigger the deboronation for the BE-AuNPs_12/65 probes accompanying with distinct color changes from blue,purple to wine red,which implied the disassembly of the core/satellite nanostructure after the breakage of carbon to boron chemical bond.By measuring the absorbance ratio at 665 nm and 545 nm,quantification of BPO was achieved in the range of 10.0-100.0 nmol/L,which could also be easily observed by naked eyes.The nanoprobe utilized a boronate deprotection mechanism and the LSPR properties of Au NPs to provide high selectivity for detecting BPO over similar ROS/RNS with the limit of detection as low as 7.2 nmol/L.The practical applicability of this assay was verified through successful determining BPO in flour samples,which demonstrated its great potentials in food safety field.     

Versatile Three‐Dimensional Porous Cu@Cu2O Aerogel Networks as Electrocatalysts and Mimicking Peroxidases

A facile strategy is presented to form 3D porous Cu@Cu₂O aerogel networks by self‐assembling Cu@Cu₂O nanoparticles with the diameters of ca. 40 nm for constructing catalytic interfaces. Unexpectedly, the prepared Cu@Cu₂O aerogel networks display excellent electrocatalytic activity to glucose oxidation at a low onset potential of ca. 0.25 V. Moreover, the Cu@Cu₂O aerogels also can act as mimicking‐enzymes including horseradish peroxidase and NADH peroxidase, and show obvious enzymatic catalytic activities to the oxidation of dopamine (DA), o‐phenyldiamine (OPD), 3,3,5,5‐tetramethylbenzidine (TMB), and dihydronicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) in the presence of H₂O₂. These 3D Cu@Cu₂O aerogel networks are a new class of porous catalytic materials as mimic peroxidases and electrocatalysts and offer a novel platform to construct catalytic interfaces for promising applications in electrochemical sensors and artificial enzymatic catalytic systems.     

Stimuli‐Responsive Cucurbit[7]uril‐Mediated BSA Nanoassembly for Uptake and Release of Doxorubicin

We report the construction of a non‐toxic nanoassembly of bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein and the cucurbit[7]uril macrocycle as well as its stimuli‐responsive breakage with adamantylamine or pH, which restores the protein structure and recognition properties. The assembly showed efficient loading and controlled release of a standard drug, doxorubicin (DOX), and the same was validated in live cells. The cell viability studies documented that the DOX‐loaded assembly mask the cytotoxicity of DOX and the toxicity can be revived at the target on demand, triggering its therapeutic activation. This is found to be more effective in the cancer cells. In addition, such host‐assisted protein assemblies are also highly promising for stabilizing/protecting the native protein structure, a viable approach to prevent/inhibit protein misfolding and aggregation.     

Fabrication of Monodisperse ＂Core-Satellite＂ Nanostructures by DNA-Programming： a Novel Class of Superstructured Building Blocks for Hierarchical Nanoassembly

Monodisperse nanoparticle assembly with tunable structure, composition and properties can be taken as a superstructured building block for the construction of hierarchical nanostruc tures from the bottom up, which also represents a great challenge in nanotechnology. Here we report on a facile and controllable method that enables a high yield fabricatioa of uniform gold nanoparticle （AuNP） coresatellites with definable number （in average） of the satellite particles and tunable coretosatellite distance. The formation of the coresatellite nanostruc tures is driven by programmable DNAbasepairing, with the resulting nanocomplexes being isolatable via gel electrophoresis. By rationally controlling the DNA coverages on the core and shell particles, high production yields are achieved for the assembly/isolation process. As well, benefiting from a minimum DNA coverage on the satellite AuNPs, a strong affinity is observed for the asprepared coresatellites to get adsorbed on proteincoated graphene ox ide, which allows for a twodimensional hierarchical assembly of the coresatellite structures. The resulting hierarchical nanoassemblies are expected to find applications in various areas, including plasmonics, biosensing, and nanocatalysis. The method should be generalizable to make even more complicated and higherorder structures by making use of the structural programmability of DNA molecules.