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Developing effective strategies to improve the hydrophilicity or aqueous solubility of hydrophobic molecular scaffolds is meaningful for both academic research and industrial applications. Herein, we demonstrate that stepwise and precise N/O heteroatoms doping on a polycyclic aromatic skeleton can gradually alter these structures from hydrophobic to hydrophilic, even resulting in excellent aqueous solubility. The Hansen solubility parameters (HSP) method shows that the three partial solubility parameters are closely related to N/O doping species, numbers and positions on the molecular panel. The hydrogen bonding solubility parameter indicates that the hydrogen bonding interactions between N/O doped molecules and water play a key role in enhancing hydrophilicity. Moreover, three optimized water-soluble molecules underwent a self-assembly process to form stable nanoparticles in water, thus facilitating better hydrogen bonding interactions disclosed by HSP calculations, NMR and single crystal X-ray analysis. These ensembles even show quasi-solid properties in water from NMR and luminescence perspectives. Enhancing the hydrophilicity of hydrophobic molecular scaffolds allows to increase their aqueous solubility and therefore their usability for a range of applications. Here, N/O heteroatom doping of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is shown to switch the skeleton from hydrophobic to hydrophilic, enhancing aqueous solubility and facilitating self-assembly in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Nitrogen removal efficiencies by zeolite wetland was better than ceramists and lava. • Selective inhibition of amo B and hao gene abundance on different substrates. • Denitrification is a key pathway for nitrate removal in constructed wetland (CW) • Dissimilatory nitrate reduction process was enhanced in CW- zeolite. This study conducted an analysis of the variations in nitrogen metabolism pathways within constructed wetlands (CWs) using zeolite (CW-Z), ceramsite (CW-C), and lava (CW-L) under high concentration sulfamethoxazole (SMX) stress. The introduction of SMX hindered the formation of hydrogen bonds on the substrate surfaces; however, these surfaces still maintained a dense and thick biofilm. CW-Z exhibited superior removal efficiencies for ammonium nitrogen (NH 4 +-N) and nitrate nitrogen (NO 3 –-N) compared to CW-C and CW-L, with removal rates of 92.54 ± 2.88 % and 89.39 ± 6.74 %, respectively. Interestingly, the proportion of genes involved in nitrification, denitrification and nitrate reduction genes in CW-C (36.05 %) were higher than that in CW-C (29.81 %) and CW-L (29.70 %) but the interactions among nitrogen functional bacteria in CW-Z were much more complex. Further analysis of the nitrogen metabolism pathway indicated that under CW-Z enhanced dissimilatory nitrate reduction SMX stress, while CW-L enhanced assimilatory nitrate reduction process compared to CW-C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The enhanced hydrogen bonding provides the impetus to promote the ESIPT reaction. • Photo-induced increased electronic densities around O 14 atom plays vital roles in attracting hydroxyl proton. • Atomic electronegativity could be more favorable for the ESIPT behavior of 4M3HF system. In view of the potential applications via regulating excited state behaviors, in this work, excited state dynamics of 4-methoxy-3-hydroxyflavone (4M3HF) with different atomic electronegativities (i.e., 4M3HF-O, 4M3HF-S and 4M3HF-Se) are explored theoretically. Dominating chemical parameters, infrared (IR) spectra, and bond critical point (BCP) analyses reveal hydrogen bond could be enhanced in S 1 state. Via light-induced excitation, by comparing the energy gaps of frontier molecular orbitals (MOs) and charge recombination, we find low atomic electronegativity promotes ESIPT reaction. Insights into potential energy curves (PECs) and transition state (TS) forms, we present low atomic electronegativity facilitates ESIPT behavior for 4M3HF system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Full-range structural coloration is enabled through temperature stimulation. • A rapid and linear response to temperature is realized in terms of color switching. • Reversible and stable color switching is achieved at least 100 cycles. • The color switching is used for sensors, decoration, and information encryption. Bioinspired dynamic structural-colored materials have shown wide applications in sensing, display, information encryption and security. However, because of restrictions of design principles, it remains a big challenge to break limitations of color control, color-changing rate, and repeatability. Here, we demonstrate fast, linear, and reliable structural-color modulations with a one-component chiral nematic mesophase following a thermally-induced phase separation mechanism. Molecular dynamic simulation reveals that the hydrogen bonding tunability between the mesophase and solvent dominates the fast and reversible phase transition behaviors that account for the fast and repeatable color responses. The photonic crystal displays wide-range (red-to-purple) colorations by controlling the mesophase concentration and external temperature. Due to the linear change of turbidity upon temperature stimuli, linearly programmable color regulations are enabled without color hysteresis. These features allow the development of multi-functional devices with applications for portable sensors, painting decoration, and information security encryption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]