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Cefepime exhibits a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and thus is a widely used treatment for severe bacterial infections. Adverse effects on the central nervous system (CNS) have been reported in patients treated with cefepime. Current explanation for the adverse neurobehavioral effect of cefepime is mainly attributed to its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and competitively bind to the GABAergic receptor; however, the underlying mechanism is largely unknown. In this study, mice were intraperitoneally administered 80 mg/kg cefepime for different periods, followed by neurobehavioral tests and a brain lipidomic analysis. LC/MS-MS-based metabolomics was used to investigate the effect of cefepime on the brain lipidomic profile and metabolic pathways. Repeated cefepime treatment time-dependently caused anxiety-like behaviors, which were accompanied by reduced locomotor activity in the open field test. Cefepime profoundly altered the lipid profile, acyl chain length, and unsaturation of fatty acids in the corpus striatum, and glycerophospholipids accounted for a large proportion of those significantly modified lipids. In addition, cefepime treatment caused obvious alteration in the lipid-enriched membrane structure, neurites, mitochondria, and synaptic vesicles of primary cultured striatal neurons; moreover, the spontaneous electrical activity of striatal neurons was significantly reduced. Collectively, cefepime reprograms glycerophospholipid metabolism in the corpus striatum, which may interfere with neuronal structure and activity, eventually leading to aberrant neurobehaviors in mice.

A robust fogwater harvester with an elastic microstaggered porous superhydrophilic framework (EMSF) has been designed. The EMSF can be fabricated by using polydimethylsiloxane and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) via an etching method of sugar crystals pile-up cube as a template. The EMSF possesses a high porosity of 76%, of which the saturated fogwater-capturing capacity is 4 times higher than its weight, achieving a high fogwater harvesting rate (e) of 62.7 g/cm3·h. It is attributed to the strong hydrogen bond (H-bond) interaction between hydroxyl groups (-OH) in PVA and water molecules for rapidly harvesting water and storing water in a staggered porous structure by means of a capillary force. The elasticity of EMSF allows to achieve a higher fogwater harvesting rate (e) of 73.2 g/cm3·h via releasing the as-stored water in the EMSF under periodic external pressing. In addition, a durable corrosion resistance is demonstrated on the EMSF. This study offers a way to design novel materials that would further be extended into applications, for example, fog engineering in industry, agriculture, forest, and so forth.

Polyelectrolyte-doped microcapsules (PDM) was fabricated by coaxial electrospray of a mixture of glycerol and water containing 10 mg/mL cationic polyelectrolyte poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) fed as the core phase solution, and a N,N-dimethylacetylamide solution of 10 wt% polyurethane fed as the shell phase solution. Multi-enzyme system involving Candida Antarctica lipase B (CALB), glucose oxidase (GOD), and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) for cascade reaction was assembled in the PDM at three different places, namely, surface, shell, and lumen. Placing of enzyme inside aqueous lumen of the PDM was realized by in situ encapsulation through adding the enzyme in the core-phase solution for coaxial electrospray. By ion-pairing of enzyme with cationic surfactant CTAB, an organic soluble enzyme-CTAB complex was prepared, so that in situ embedding of enzyme in the shell of the PDM was realized by adding it into the shell phase solution. Surface attachment of enzymes was achieved by layer-by-layer (LbL) technology, which is based on the ion-exchange interactions between oppositely charged enzymes and PAH that was doped in PDM. The enzyme-decorated microcapsule was then studied as a micro-bioreactor, in which 1-Oxododecyla-α-glucopyranoside was converted by CALB to glucose, which was oxidised by GOD to gluconolactone in a second step. The hydrogen peroxide produced was then used by HRP to oxidize ABTS to form coloured radical cation ABTS•+ for activity analysis. The successful fabrication of the PDM and precise localization of enzymes in the PDM by different strategies were fully characterized. By varying the immobilization strategy, totally six PDM bioreactors with three enzymes precisely positional assembled in different strategies were constructed and their activities for the cascade reaction were investigated and compared. The PDM micro-bioreactor prepared by novel electrospray technologies provide a smart platform for positional assembly of multi-enzyme cascade reaction in a precise and well-controlled manner.

GC/MS coupled metabolomics analysis, using a simplified and much less expensive silylation process with trimethylsilyl cyanide (TMSCN), was conducted to investigate metabolic abnormalities in stomach cancer cells. Under optimized conditions for derivatization by TMSCN and methanol extraction, 228 metabolites were detected using GC/MS spectrometry analysis, and 89 metabolites were identified using standard compounds and the NIST database. Ten metabolite levels were found to be lower in stomach cancer cells relative to normal cells. Among those ten metabolites, four metabolites-ribose, proline, pyroglutamic acid, and glucose-were known to be linked to cancers. In particular, pyroglutamic acid level showed a drastic reduction of 22-fold in stomach cancer cells. Since glutamine and glutamic acid are known to undergo cyclization to pyroglutamic acid, the 22-fold reduction might be the actual reduction in the levels of glutamine and/or glutamic acid-both known to be cancer-related. Hence, the marked reduction in pyroglutamic acid level might serve as a biomarker to aid early detection of stomach cancer. Graphical abstract.

Endogenous aldehydes (EAs) formed by the free-radical-mediated reaction are regarded as potential biological markers of several diseases. In this work, an automated and solvent-free analytical method was developed for quantitative analysis of seven EAs (C1-C7) in human blood by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry coupled with a headspace generator sampler (HS-GC-MS). A 1:4 (blood:water) dilution and the 1,2‑dibromopropane internal standard were introduced to reduce the influence of the matrix effect from complex biological fluids. The sample preparation steps were simplified. Various experimental parameters for derivatization and extraction conditions were studied such as HS extraction temperature and time, the amount of derivatization reagent, pH and the salt effect. Under these optimum conditions, seven low-mass aldehydes were separated and analyzed within 10 min. Additionally, this method achieved limits of detection in the range of 0.0692-0.864 μg/L, an excellent linearity with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9996 and appropriate repeatability and reproducibility values (RSD 12% at low, middle and high levels). The HS-GC-MS method was applied to measure the concentrations of the seven aldehydes in blood from bladder cancer patients (n = 15) and control subjects (n = 15). Compared with the control subjects, the levels of butanal (p 0.01), formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, propanal, pentanal, hexanal and heptanal (all p 0.001) were increased significantly, indicating that EAs may be useful as biomarkers in the early diagnosis of bladder cancer.

Clarithromycin (CLA) has been widely used in the treatment of bacterial infection. Research reveals the adverse effects on the central nervous system among patients receiving CLA treatment; whereas, a relevant underlying mechanism remains considerably unclear. According to our research, an integrated lipidomic and transcriptomic analysis was applied to explore the effect of CLA on neurobehavior. CLA treatment caused anxiety-like behaviors dose-dependently during open field as well as elevated plus maze trials on mice. Transcriptomes and LC/MS-MS-based metabolomes were adopted for investigating how CLA affected lipidomic profiling as well as metabolic pathway of the cerebral cortex. CLA exposure greatly disturbed glycerophospholipid metabolism and the carbon chain length of fatty acids. By using whole transcriptome sequencing, we found that CLA significantly downregulated the mRNA expression of CEPT1 and CHPT1, two key enzymes involved in the synthesis of glycerophospholipids, supporting the findings from the lipidomic profiling. Also, CLA causes changes in neuronal morphology and function in vitro, which support the existing findings concerning neurobehavior in vivo. We speculate that altered glycerophospholipid metabolism may be involved in the neurobehavioral effect of CLA. Our findings contribute to understanding the mechanisms of CLA-induced adverse effects on the central nervous system. 1. Clarithromycin treatment caused anxiety-like behavior with dose-dependent response both in the open field and elevated plus maze test in mice; 2. Clarithromycin exposing predominately disturbed the metabolism of glycerophospholipids in the cerebral cortex of mice; 3. Clarithromycin application remarkably attenuated CEPT1 and CHPT1 gene expression, which participate in the last step in the synthesis of glycerophospholipids; 4. The altered glycerophospholipid metabolomics may be involved in the abnormal neurobehavior caused by clarithromycin.

In this work, we report on the green synthesis of a self-mixing nanocatalyst based on Pd nanoparticles on polydopamine-coated Fe-Fe2O3 magnetic nanochains (Fe-Fe2O3@PDA@Pd), which were obtained using core@shell structured Fe-Fe2O3@PDA magnetic nanochain as carrier and palladium chloride as metal precursor through in situ galvanic replacement reaction between catechol groups of PDA and palladium ions in aqueous solution at room temperature. In this process, palladium ions were directly reduced to ultrafine metallic Pd (0) by catechol groups of PDA, which was oxidized to quinone groups. No any external reductant or surfactant were added. Characterization results shows the Fe-Fe2O3@PDA@Pd nanocatalysts can self-rotate as nano-sized stirring bar to boost the reaction rate under magnetic stirrer due to its high saturation magnetization (Ms = 105 emu g−1). For the 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction and methylene blue hydrogenation in presence of NaBH4, the rate constants of Fe-Fe2O3@PDA@Pd were up to 0.55 min−1 and 0.90 min−1 respectively, which are far higher than those of the contrast sample Fe-Fe2O3@Pd. Moreover, the nanocatalysts can be reused at least 6 runs with excellent yields for both the reactions. These facilitate the practical application of the Fe-Fe2O3@PDA@Pd nanocatalyst in reduction of nitroaromatic compounds and other hydrogenation processes.

The direct connection between a photosensitizer and an electron mediator, achieved by a precise arrangement based on chlorosome, provides photosynthetic bacteria the maximum efficiency in solar energy conversion. Herein, this study reports the fabrication of a biomimicking chlorosome for biocatalyzed artificial photosynthesis through self-assembly of simple molecules to functional systems. TCPP/EYx/Rh8–x macromolecules, synthesized through a sequential amidation reaction of porphyrin (TCPP), eosin Y (EY), and [Cp*RhCl2]2, were found to self-assemble into chlorosome-mimicking supramolecular assemblies through noncovalent interactions. Intra- and intermolecular dual channels for enhancing electron transfer were constructed in TCPP/EYx/Rh8–x supramolecular assemblies. In addition, the energy band structure of TCPP/EY4/Rh4 supramolecular assemblies also made a perfect coordination with oxidation and reduction potentials of an electron donor and NAD+, which led to a fast and oriented electron transfer along th...

The conventional stirring method cannot be employed for chip-on-lab reactions such as microfluidic and microdroplet reactions as well as nanoscale reactions. Therefore, it is necessary to design a nanoscale magnetic stirrer with a high magnetic response towards the external magnetic field. In this work, one dimentional core@shell structured Fe-Fe2O3@poly(cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol) magnetic nanochains modified by nickel hydroxide (denoted as Fe-Fe2O3@PZS@Ni(OH)2 NCs) as nanoscale magnetic stirrer and recyclable self-mixing nanocatalysts are successfully prepared through three steps: synthesis of Fe-Fe2O3 nanochains (NCs) with high saturation magnetization, coating with poly (cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol) (PZS), and nickel hydroxide’s anchoring on the surface of Fe-Fe2O3@PZS NCs. The cross-linked polymer PZS is used to protect Fe-Fe2O3 NCs from chemical corrosion and as a platform for subsequent immobilization of nickel hydroxide. Characterization results show that the Fe-Fe2O3@PZS@Ni(OH)2 NCs own chainlike structure and high saturation magnetization of 103 emu g−1 at room temperature, exhibiting high magnetic response to the external rotating magnetic field. In the macro-reaction system for 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction, the as-prepared Fe-Fe2O3@PZS@Ni(OH)2 NCs show an apparent rate constant of about 0.60 min−1. Furthermore, the Fe-Fe2O3@PZS@Ni(OH)2 catalyst is reused ten times while no obvious loss of catalytic activity was observed. In the micro-reaction system, the Fe-Fe2O3@PZS@Ni(OH)2 NCs also display good magnetic response and favorable catalytic activity for the hydrogenation of methylene blue. These results indicate that the bifunctional Fe-Fe2O3@PZS@Ni(OH)2 NCs with high saturation magnetization have great potential as excellent nanocatalysts and as promising nanoscale magnetic stirrers.

Development of facile and cost-effective routes to achieve hierarchical porous and heteroatoms-doped carbon architectures is urgently needed for high-performance supercapacitor application. In our study, ternary-doped (nitrogen, phosphorus and oxygen) hollow carbon microspheres (NPO-HCSs) are fabricated by one-step pyrolysis of single poly(cyclotriphosphazene-co-phloroglucinol) (PCPP) microsphere, which is generated through a facile polymerization between hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene and phloroglucinol at mild conditions. The whole preparation process is not used any additional template or activating agent. The obtained NPO-HCS-950 with average diameter of 580 nm and shell thickness of about 80 nm have a high specific surface area (2390 m2 g−1), a large pore volume (1.35 cm3 g−1), hierarchically interconnected pore texture, and uniform ternary heteroatom doping (O: 3.04 at%; N: 1.33 at% and P: 0.67 at%). As an electrode material for supercapacitors, the specific capacitance of the NPO-HCS-950 reaches 253 F g−1 of 1 A g−1 and 176 F g−1 at 20 A g−1, revealing superior rate performance. The capacity retention after 10,000 consecutive charge-discharge cycles at 20 A g−1 is up to 98.9%, demonstrating excellent cycling stability. Moreover, the assembled symmetric supercapacitor using NPO-HCS-950 exhibits a relatively high energy density of 17.6 W h kg−1 at a power density of 800 W kg−1. Thus, a promising electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors is obtained through a facile, green and scalable synthesis route.

High adsorption ability and good separation functionality are necessary to an excellent adsorbent for organic dye removal from wastewater. In this study, core@shell nanostructured magnetic Fe-Fe2O3@polydopamine (PDA) nanochains (defined as Fe-Fe2O3@PDA NCs) were facilely synthesized through self-polymerization of dopamine on the surface of Fe-Fe2O3 NCs. The dye adsorption performance, recyclability and magnetic separability of the Fe-Fe2O3@PDA NCs were investigated through selecting malachite green (MG) as a model organic dye. The effects of initial MG concentration, initial solution pH, temperature, and contact time on dye adsorption were systematically studied. Results show that the adsorption capacity of the Fe-Fe2O3@PDA NCs for MG was 61.22 mg/g at 25 °C. Both π-π stacking and electrostatic interactions might be responsible for the adsorption of MG on Fe-Fe2O3@PDA NCs. The adsorption kinetic follows both pseudo-second-order kinetic and Weber’s intraparticle diffusion models. And the adsorption isothermal models fit Langmuir well. Besides, the Fe-Fe2O3@PDA NCs exhibit good recyclable adsorption property towards MG dye.

Highly dispersed Au-Ag bimetallic nanoparticles were facilely synthesized on the multi-amino poly(cyclotriphosphazene-co-polyethyleneimine) (PCP) microspheres through in situ co-reduction method and then used as catalysts for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). Characterization results showed that the as-synthesized PCP microspheres possessed regular spherical morphology and relatively smooth surface, which could be well modified by highly dispersed Au-Ag bimetallic nanoparticles with size of 2–4 nm. For the reduction of 4-NP, it was found that the as-synthesized PCP@Au-Ag composites showed much better catalytic activity than PCP microspheres supported monometallic counterparts, which could be ascribed to a synergistic effect between Au and Ag in Au-Ag bimetals. For the PCP@Au-Ag catalysts, the rate constant k and intrinsic activity parameter κ of the reaction could be up to 2.87 × 10−3 s−1 and 144 s−1 g−1, respectively, and the conversion of the 4-NP could still reach 83% after six cycles. In addition, the possible catalytic mechanism of PCP@Au-Ag composites towards the reduction of 4-AP was also proposed.

The core@shell structured Fe@Fe 2 O 3 nanoscale stirring bars (denoted as Fe@Fe 2 O 3 NSBs) were facilely synthesized through the injection of ferric chloride solution into sodium borohydride solution at mild condition in one pot. The Fe@Fe 2 O 3 NSBs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and vibrating sample magnetometer. Results showed that the Fe@Fe 2 O 3 NSBs owned lengths of several micrometers, diameters of 40–60 nm, and ultrahigh saturation magnetization of 130.1 emu/g at room temperature, exhibiting high magnetic response to the external rotating magnetic field. More interestingly, the Fe@Fe 2 O 3 NSBs display excellent peroxidase enzyme-mimicking activity for the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). Meanwhile, in microscopic catalytic systems, the Fe@Fe 2 O 3 NSBs have been proved to accelerate mass transfer for the hydrogenation of methylene blue.

Heteroatom-containing porous carbon nanospheres with a high surface area were firstly fabricated by pyrolysis of poly(cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol) (PZS) nanospheres which were fabricated by a facile polycondensation between hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene and 4,4′-sulfonydiphenol. Then the porous carbon nanosphere-supported Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs@C-PZS) were synthesized by a simple microwave reduction method, during which Pt NPs were highly dispersed on the surface of carbon supports. The surface morphologies and chemical composition of the as-obtained C-PZS and Pt NPs@C-PZS nanocomposites were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, and Raman spectroscopy. Characterization results showed that the Pt NPs with an average diameter of 2 nm was well anchored onto the surface of C-PZS nanospheres. In addition, the as-prepared Pt NPs@C-PZS nanocomposites exhibited an excellent catalytic capability towards the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol by excessive sodium borohydride (NaBH4) at room temperature.

The development of novel large-scale synthesis protocols for heteroatom-doped porous carbon nanosheets is highly imperative for wastewater purification and high-performance electrode materials. In the present work, we propose a simple and feasible explosion-assisted activation strategy to fabricate a kind of N-doped porous carbon nanosheet (N-PCNS) at a large scale, in which only lactose and zinc nitrate were used as raw materials. The obtained N-PCNS possesses hierarchical micro- and mesopore nanostructures with a high specific surface area of 879 m2 g−1 while keeping a high nitrogen content of 3.73 at%. The adsorption properties of the N-PCNS were systematically evaluated through adsorption of neutral red (NR) dye. The adsorption capacity of the N-PCNS was as high as 439.6 mg g−1, meanwhile the adsorption process exhibited fine correlation with the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. As an electrode material for supercapacitors, the specific capacitance of the N-PCNS is up to 263 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and 194 F g−1 at 20 A g−1, revealing superior rate performance. The capacitance retention after 10 000 cycles at 20 A g−1 is 96%, demonstrating excellent cycling stability. Our work provides an effective approach to achieve the large-scale preparation of high-performance doped carbon materials.

Inorganic arsenic is an environmental carcinogen that poses a major global public health risk. A high percentage of drinking water from wells in the U.S. contains higher-than-normal levels of arsenic, suggesting an increased risk of arsenic-induced deleterious effects. In addition to primary preventive measures, therapeutic strategies need to effectively address and integrate multiple molecular mechanisms underlying arsenic-induced carcinogenesis. We previously showed that the loss of miR-199a-5p in arsenic-transformed cells is pivotal to promote arsenic-induced angiogenesis and tumor growth in lung epithelial cells. In this study, we further showed that subacute or chronic exposure to arsenic diminished miR-199a-5p levels largely due to DNA methylation, which was achieved by increased DNA methyltransferase-1 (DNMT1) activity, mediated by the formation of specific protein 1 (Sp1)/DNMT1 complex. In addition to the DNA hypermethylation, arsenic exposure also repressed miR-199a transcription through a transcriptional repressor Sp1. We further identified an association between miR-199a-5p repression and the arsenic-mediated energy metabolic shift, as reflected by mitochondria defects and a switch to glycolysis, in which a glycolytic enzyme pyruvate kinase 2 (PKM2) was a functional target of miR-199a-5p. Taken together, the repression of miR-199a-5p through both Sp1-dependent DNA methylation and Sp1 transcriptional repression promotes an arsenic-mediated metabolic shift from mitochondria respiration to aerobic glycolysis via PKM2.

Chondrosarcoma is the 2nd most frequent bone sarcoma. In this study, the metabolic profiling of human chondrosarcoma SW-1353 cell line was investigated for the first time. To obtain more precise information about the metabolites from chondrosarcoma cells, pretreatment methods including washing steps/solvents, harvesting conditions, and extraction protocols for chondrosarcoma SW-1353 cells were evaluated in the context of metabolite profiling by GC-MS technique. In addition, a total of 32 representative metabolites (related to amino acid metabolism, TCA cycle, glycolysis, and fatty acid metabolism) were quantitatively determined. We found that a fast water rinse step before metabolic quenching, may reduce the contaminants and improve sensitivity. Trypsin/ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid treatment led to a large amount of metabolite leakage, which was not suitable for metabolomics research. Methanol was selected as a more suitable extraction solvent among four extraction approaches applied to SW-1353 cells. The final protocol can provide a simple, robust, and reproducible method to obtain precise information about the metabolites from chondrosarcoma cells, which is helpful to further understand the chondrosarcoma cell physiology and the mechanism of drug resistance in this disease, from the perspective of metabolomics.

Aroma is an important factor affecting pear fruit quality. This study was undertaken to assess whether pre-harvest calcium sprays (15 d before harvest, applications at 4%, w/v, 120 d after full bloom) could improve aroma of Pyrus ussuriensis ‘Nanguoli’ pear fruit at harvest and post-harvest, and analyse the mechanism of metabolic regulation. Most compounds contributing to overall flavor in ripe ‘Nanguoli’ fruit at harvest and post-harvest were enhanced in response to pre-harvest calcium applications. Ester, especially acetyl ester, content was enhanced by calcium treatment; however, contents of alcohols, aldehydes and hydrocarbons were little affected. These effects were consistent with higher pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase activities in treated fruit, suggesting that calcium treatment increased supply of alcohols and acyl CoAs for ester biosynthesis. We also found that activities of β-glucosidases (involved in the emission of bound volatile compounds) were improved and the contents of bound volatiles were reduced by calcium treatment. At the same time, relative contents of linoleic and linolenic acids were improved by calcium treatment, expression of genes encoding fatty acid desaturase involved in the biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acid precursors (linoleic and linolenic acids) for volatile aroma were improved. Calcium treatment increased content of volatile aromatic substances, both because calcium promoted the decomposition of bound aroma substances to free aromatic forms, and also promoted the synthesis of volatile aromatic substances in pear fruit.

The mechanism of interactions between a flavonoid glycoside (linarin) and 6 flavonoids with various hydroxyl and methoxyl substituents (luteolin, apigenin, acacetin, tricin, 5,3',4'-trihydroxy-6,7-dimethoxyflavone, and 5,7,4'-trihydroxy-6,3',5'-trimethoxyflavone) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were investigated by multi-spectroscopy, molecular docking, and quadrupole (Q)-time of flight (TOF) high resolution (HR) mass spectrometry (MS). Fluorescence spectra and molecular docking predicted that each of the flavonoids had only one probable binding site inside the hydrophobic cleft of BSA. The binding constants appeared to correlate positively with the number of hydroxyl groups, and negatively with the number of methoxyl groups. In addition, hydroxyls on ring B bound more easily with BSA than those on ring A. The change in conformation of BSA after binding suggested that the quenching mechanism was static quenching combined with nonradiative energy transfer. The results of Q-TOF HR-MS were consistent with fluorescence quenching and molecular docking.

Fe(II) and α-ketoglutarate-dependent fat mass and obesity associated protein (FTO)-dependent demethylation of m⁶A is important for regulation of mRNA splicing and adipogenesis. Developing FTO-specific inhibitors can help probe the biology of FTO and unravel novel therapeutic targets for treatment of obesity or obesity-associated diseases. In the present paper, we have identified that 4-chloro-6-(6'-chloro-7'-hydroxy-2',4',4'-trimethyl-chroman-2'-yl)benzene-1,3-diol (CHTB) is an inhibitor of FTO. The crystal structure of CHTB complexed with human FTO reveals that the novel small molecule binds to FTO in a specific manner. The identification of the novel small molecule offers opportunities for further development of more selective and potent FTO inhibitors.

The rational microstructure design and general synthesis of multiple heteroatoms co-doped carbon materials for effective and selective capture of CO2 is highly imperative in terms of mitigating CO2 emissions. Here, novel quaternary (N, S, O, P)-doped porous carbon microspheres with high surface area and large volume of ultramicropores were prepared facilely for the first time through directly pyrolyzing an organic-inorganic hybrid polyphosphazene. Through adjusting the pyrolysis temperature (750–950 °C), the resultant carbon materials could possess variable surface area (342–653 m2 g−1) and pore volume (0.17–0.32 cm3 g−1), and a tunable content of heteroatoms including N, S, O and P distributed homogeneously in the carbon framework. As CO2 adsorbents, the heteroatoms quaternary-doped porous carbons show a significant amount of CO2 adsorption capacity at 760 mmHg, almost 3 mmol g−1 at 25 °C and 4.3 mmol g−1 at 0 °C, respectively. Also, the as-prepared sorbent exhibits good CO2/N2 selectivity, high isosteric heat and stable cycling ability. The good CO2 capture performance could be ascribed to its high microporosity and multiple heteroatom doping in the carbon framework. When combined with the low cost of the polyphosphazene precursor, these features make the novel quaternary-doped carbon materials a promising adsorbent candidate for highly effective and selective capture of CO2.

Organic dye pollution in the water environment is a problem of global concern. Adsorption is demonstrated as a promising technology to remove organic dyes from wastewater, in which the development of highly-efficient adsorbents is still the challenging task. Herein, we reported the facile fabrication of polyamine-based cyclophosphazene hybrid (PCP-NH2) hollow microcapsules with cross-linked structure, generated by one-step precipitation polymerization between hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene and branched polyethyleneimine, and subsequent acetone treatment. Their morphology, composition and structure were confirmed by SEM, TEM, FTIR, TGA, and XPS. The endowment of hollow PCP-NH2 microcapsules as potential adsorbents were thoroughly evaluated using eight organic dyes with different surface charges. The adsorption action of hollow PCP-NH2 microcapsules highly depends on the surfaces charges, exhibiting highly-efficient and selective adsorption behavior towards anionic dyes. Especially, The adsorption capacity of the hollow PCP-NH2 microcapsules towards anionic dyes of EY, ACBK, MO and EB reaches up to 1196.36, 1190.65, 1142.77 and 1040.92 mg/g at 25 °C, respectively. The adsorption kinetics shows a better fit to pseudo second-order kinetic model, compared to pseudo-first-order kinetic and Weber’s intraparticle diffusion models. The adsorption equilibrium data followed the Langmuir isotherm well. The adsorption thermodynamic experiments demonstrated that adsorption was a physisorption process with endothermic and spontaneous characteristic.

The development of rapid, sensitive methods for α-fetoprotein and telomerase is significant because their blood concentrations are related to hepatocellular carcinoma. Therefore, the determination of α-fetoprotein and telomerase may allow the detection of liver cancer. A novel method for the high-yield synthesis of gold-silica alloy core-shell nanoparticles is reported. Gold-silica core-shells prepared by a convenient reduction provided good stability, served as immobilization carriers for the antibodies, and facilitated electron transfer. A simple label-free, three-dimensional hierarchical plasmonic nanoarchitecture was designed for the sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering determination of α-fetoprotein and telomerase. The active groups of the gold-silica nanoparticles allowed 4-mercaptobenzoic acid and Nile blue to absorb antibodies and generate a signal. Gold-silica@4-mercaptobenzoic acid and gold-silica@Nile blue were employed in the surface-enhanced Raman scattering immunosensor. When ...

In thermochemical water-splitting iodine–sulfur cycle, concentrating hydrogen iodine in the HI–H2O–I2 solution is crucial for the efficient hydrogen production. Electro-electrodialysis (EED) is a very promising HI concentrating method. In this paper, EED experiments were carried out using stacked cells, aiming at the scale up of EED equipment. Compared with the single-unit EED cell, the multi-cell EED stacks could concentrate HI in catholyte much more rapidly. During the EED process, the cell voltages increased gradually with the expansion of the concentration difference between catholyte and anolyte. For the stacks with more EED cells, the voltage increased much more steeply. High operating temperature ensured EED process carried out under low cell voltages and avoided voltage swelling. The apparent transport number (t+) of all the experiments were very close to 1, while the ratio of permeated quantities of water to H+ (β) changed in a range of 1.79–3.05, influenced by temperature, I2 content and current density.

Developing excellent dye adsorbent with high adsorption capability and good reusability and clarifying the interaction mechanism between adsorbent and adsorbate are highly desired for eliminating water pollution. Herein, we present a novel magnetic adsorbent Fe3O4/poly(cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol) nanotube modified by glacial acetic acid (defined as Gl-PZSNTs-Fe3O4) to remove cationic dye methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. Compared with the unmodified magnetic PZSNTs-Fe3O4, the Gl-PZSNTs-Fe3O4 exhibits rapid adsorption rate and high adsorption capacity. The adsorption equilibrium data was fitted well with Langmuir model, and the adsorption kinetics obeyed the pseudo-second-order kinetics model and Elovich model. Thermodynamic analysis showed that the MB adsorption onto the Gl-PZSNTs-Fe3O4 was endothermic and spontaneous. Especially, through contrasting the adsorption behavior of Gl-PZSNTs-Fe3O4 and PZSNTs-Fe3O4 towards MB dye, we highlighted the importance of glacial acetic acid modification for enhancing the adsorption capacity of the Gl-PZSNTs-Fe3O4. Meanwhile, we also proposed the adsorption mechanism of the Gl-PZSNTs-Fe3O4 towards MB dye.

In this paper, the ring-opening reaction of 2,5-dioctyldithieno[2,3-b:3',2'-d]thiophene with aryllithium in THF at low temperature to generate 2'-arylthio-3,3'-bithiophene-2-carbaldehydes is studied. Nine examples are explored and all the products are characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and HRMS. The relative relationship between the structures of aryl groups and the efficiency of ring-opening reactions are discussed.

Five Zn(II)-ferrocenyl carboxylate complexes, {[Zn(OOCClH3C6Fc)(η 2OOCClH3C6Fc)(dpa)] · (H2O)} (1), [Zn(η 2-OOCClH3C6Fc)2(2,2′-dip)] · (H2O)0.25} (2), {[Zn(η-OOCClH3C6Fc)2(bix)]2 · (THF)} (3), [Zn(η-OOCClH3C6Fc)2 · (Hfcz)] n (4) and {[Zn(η-OOCClH3C6Fc)2(H2L1)] · (DMF)2} n (5) [dpa = 2,2′-dipyridylamine, 2,2′-dip = 2,2′-bipyridine, bix = 1,4-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)benzene, Hfcz = α-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-α-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-l-ylmethyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole-l-ethanol, H2L1 = N,N′-bis(pyridin-4-yl)pyridine-2,6-dicarboxamide, Fc = ferrocene, FcC6H3ClCOONa = sodium 2-chloro-4-ferrocenylbenzoic], have been synthesized and characterized. Single-crystal X-ray analysis reveals that 1 and 2 are mononuclear structures, 3 is a dimer, and 4 and 5 are 1-D structures. The five complexes exhibit some differences in their conformations, which can be attributed to the influence of adjuvant ligands. Notably, various π–π interactions as well as CH/π interactions are discovered in 1–5, and they have significant contributions to s...

As the sorbent of creatinine, cellulose nitrate (CN) with low degree of nitrification was synthesized from cellulose nitrate by denitration; secondary amine CN (ACN) was synthesized by the reaction of CN, epichlorohydrin and ethylene diamine, and quaternary ammonium CN (CCN) was synthesized by the reaction of CN and 3-chloro-2-hydroxyl-propyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (CHPA). The structures of these three sorbents were studied by elemental analysis and 13C NMR. The adsorption properties for creatinine were evaluated for dialysates with different pH values. At a temperature of 37 °C and a dialysate pH 7.0, the adsorption capacities of ACN, CCN and CN for creatinine were 2.04, 1.47 and 1.08 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption properties of ACN, CCN and CN were not influenced by the content of urea.

Reactions of silver salts with 4-amino-3,5-diisopropyl-1,2,4-triazole (L) afford dinuclear complex [Ag2L2(NO3)2(CH3CN)], triangular complex [Ag3L3](CF3SO3)3, and cyclic tetranuclear complexes [Ag4L6](BF4)4 and [Ag4L6](ClO4)4. On the basis of the X-ray analyses, anions are found to play an important role in determining the structures. Through coordination/noncoordination, anions can impart their influence on the coordination geometry of Ag atoms and the angles of N–Ag–N, which seems to be the main factor controlling the nuclearity of the reaction products in this system. 1H NMR and MS measurements suggest that these complexes probably retain their structural integrities in CH3CN solution. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007)

The effects of laser radiation on soot in a vacuum were studied by Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that defective carbon onions could be formed simply by irradiation of focused common diode lasers with intensity much lower (103–106 W/cm2) than those used in the previous work. A modified Melton model was introduced to analyze the formation of onions. The results show a threshold value of laser intensity (5.49 × 103 W/cm2), above which sublimation and rearrangement play a dominant role in the formation of onions. Such onions can also be formed with laser intensities below the threshold since neighboring graphene layers may merge and grow by capturing interstitial carbon atoms. The deposited soot is damage resistant to the diode laser radiation in air due to the rapid formation of carbon onions.

The plant gaseous hormone ethylene regulates many aspects of plant growth, development and responses to the environment. ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE3 (EIN3) is a transcription factor involved in the ethylene signal transduction pathway in Arabidopsis. To gain a better understanding of the ethylene signal transduction pathway in rice, six EIN3-like genes (designated OsEIL1-6) were identified. OsEIL1, which showed highest similarity with EIN3, was isolated and functionally characterized. Ectopic expression of OsEIL1 in Arabidopsis can partially complement the ein3-1 mutant. The transgenic rice plants with overexpression of OsEIL1 exhibit short root, coiled primary root and slightly short shoot phenotype and elevated response to exogenous ethylene. OsEBP89, an ethylene responsive element binding protein (EREBP) and OsACO1, an ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid) oxidase gene were enhanced in the OsEIL1 overexpressing transgenic plants. These results indicate that OsEIL1 is involved in ethylene signal transduction pathway and acts as a positive regulator of ethylene response in rice.

Glycosylation is a posttranslational modification occurring in many secreted and membrane-associated proteins in eukaryotes. It plays important roles in both physiological and pathological processes. Most of these protein modifications depend on UDP-N-acetylglucosamine. In this study, a T-DNA insertional rice (Oryza sativa) mutant exhibiting a temperature-sensitive defect in root elongation was isolated. Genetic and molecular analysis indicated that the mutated phenotype was caused by loss of function of a gene encoding a glucosamine-6-P acetyltransferase (designated OsGNA1), which is involved in de novo UDP-N-acetylglucosamine biosynthesis. The aberrant root morphology of the gna1 mutant includes shortening of roots, disruption of microtubules, and shrinkage of cells in the root elongation zone. Our observations support the idea that protein glycosylation plays a key role in cell metabolism, microtubule stabilization, and cell shape in rice roots.

We have fabricated the epitaxial Nb-doped SrTiO3 (NbSTO) thin films on Si substrates using a TiN film as the buffer layer. The oxygen-treatment and temperature dependence of electrical properties has been investigated. Oxygen treatment showed the surface change of NbSTO films has immense influence on the resistance switching. The resistance ratio of two resistance states decreased after oxygen treatment. With tested-temperature rising, the resistance and resistance ratio of two resistance states increased. The resistance switching of Pt/NbSTO junction as a function of oxygen-treatment and temperature can be explained by the charge trapping and detrapping process in the Pt/NbSTO interface, which will help understand the resistance switching mechanism of oxides.

A biocatalyzed artificial photosynthesis system (APS) based on porphyrin/SiO2/Cp*Rh(bpy)Cl hybrid nanoparticles (TCPP/SiO2/Rh HNPs) to mimic chloroplasts in green plant is reported. The TCPP/SiO2/Rh HNPs are fabricated via sol-gel reaction of silica precursors functionalized with photosensitizer (porphyrin, TCPP) and electron mediator (Cp*Rh(bpy)Cl, M); while the integration of enzyme and coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)(H), on the outer surface of the HNPs is achieved through electro-static-interaction-driven assembling under the entanglement of a negatively charged polyelectrolyte. The chloroplast-mimicking, highly integrated APS exhibits remarkably superior performance over a free system such that the regeneration of NADH is improved from 11% to 75%, and the synthesis of formic acid from CO2 increased from 15 to 100 mu mol. Based on the detailed investigations into the photochemical and electrochemical properties, it is speculated that the covalent linking of the photosensitizer and electron mediator via silicon hydride bonds, and the formed SiO2 network through sol-gel reaction, may form intramolecular and intermolecular electron transfer chains to direct more efficient electron transfer from TCPP to M. Such intramolecular and intermolecular electrons and energy transfer, cooperated with the integrated biocatalytic process, lead to the significantly enhanced overall reaction efficiency. Moreover, the integrated APS also allows facile recycling of expensive M, enzymes, and cofactors.

The degradation of polyethylene containing four different ferric salts was compared, using remaining percentage elongation at break as a parameter; and the degradation process was also evaluated with carbonyl index, or with the formation and concentration of hydroperoxide groups. Starch can act as a synergist during the photodegradation of ferric contained PE film. X-ray photoelectroscopy analysis shows that part of ferric ions turned into ferrous ions during the degradation process because of the redox reaction of ferric ions with oxygen. When stabilizer was added, the changes from ferric ions to ferrous ions decreased. If the PE samples were exposed to high pressure mercury lamp in the atmosphere of nitrogen gas, the absorption peaks of carbonyl group was not found in IR spectra after several days exposure.

The chemical degradation of polyacrylamide(PAM) at low temperature in aqueous medium was initiated by peroxides. The degradation degree of the polymer rose with the reaction time. The degradation degree of PAM depended not only on peroxide characteristic but also on the concentration of polyacrylamide and potassium persulfate, degradation temperature and original molecular weight of PAM. The results showed that the order of degradation degree of PAM in three peroxides is K 2 S 2 O 8 > K 2 S 2 O 8 - Na 2 S 2 O 3 > H 2 O 2 . The degradation degree of PAM grew as reaction temperature, molecular weight of PAM, concentration of potassium persulfate and PAM increased.

It is reported that a normal InGaAs laser diode (LD) operating at 980 nm possesses a second harmonic at 490 nm and a strong deep-UV emission at room temperature. By comparing with the radiation from cadmium sulphide (CdS) nanoparticles and nanowires, it is found that the UV emission from the LD can be attributed to a characterized radiation of nanoscaled semiconductors. By doping different semiconductor nanomaterials into the active layers of the LD and taking some effective techniques, such as cavity optimization, the wavelength, and the power output of the UV emission could be adjusted.

The aim of this study was to prepare the inclusion complex of genipin (GP) and beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) with improved stability, solubility, and bioavailability and to study the pharmacokinetics of beta-CD inclusion complex in mice.Lyophilization was employed in the preparation of the inclusion complex of GP-beta-CD, whose formation was confirmed by infrared, ultraviolet, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and phase solubility method. Comparative studies on the in vitro solubility and stability and in vivo evaluation of GP in mice were investigated. Liquid-liquid extraction was used for the isolation of GP in the assay of its concentration. After injection in the caudal vein at equal doses of the inclusion complex of free GP, the drug concentration in mice plasma at fixed time after administration was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography method.The results demonstrated that GP-beta-CD solid powders showed improved stability and solubility in aqueous solution, when comparing with free GP. The results of the in vivo study showed that the inclusion complex of GP-beta-CD exhibited the dissimilar pharmacokinetics from that of free GP after intravenous administration. The inclusion complex of GP-beta-CD displayed longer MRT(0-infinity) and higher AUC(0-infinity) than free GP did.The relative bioavailability of the inclusion complex of GP-beta-CD to free GP was 305.3%, which demonstrated that GP formulations containing beta-CD significantly increased the bioavailability.

Laser-induced white light emission from nano-carbon as well as other nanostructured materials in vacuum is presented in this article. It is observed only when the excitation laser intensity is higher than a threshold value (10 3 -10 6 W/cm 2 ). For the semiconductor nano-materials such as a cadmium sulphide (CdS) nano-crystal, a deep UV emission is also captured besides the white light emission. Spectra show that the nano-CdS radiate the stronger deep UV light with peak wavelengths about 210 and 215 nm. According this, a strong deep UV emission with a concomitant second harmonic generation at room temperature is also observed in a normal InGaAs laser diode (LD) operating at 980 nm. The output power of the UV radiation is estimated approaching to 0.1 mW. Since the wavelengths of the UV emission from nano-CdS are a little shorter than those of the InGaAs LD. These make it possible to develop deep UV wavelength LDs by doping different semiconductor nano-materials into the active layers besides using the III-nitride compound and ZnO semiconductor materials.

Stereoselective synthesis of N-alkyl-D-allosamines, designed for the preparation of N-alkyl derivatives of allosamidin (a chitinase inhibitor), is achieved by a 'carbonyl group transfer' reaction followed by stereoselective reduction and this method represents the first example of N-alkyl-D-allosamines synthesized from a 2-oxosugar.

Nano-carbon as lighting source is demonstrated in this paper. The characterized nano-radiation from nano-carbon, excited by different lasers in vacuum, is observed when laser intensity is over a threshold. With lower excitation threshold and smaller white light source, nano-carbon is more applicable to be as lighting system than the others in scientific experiments. White light emission of nano-carbon induced by more practicable electromagnetic excitation (microwave) is also demonstrated, which is caused by the faradic heating of the metal substrates, with molecular spectra and better color rendering. Lighting systems comprised of nano-carbon may become one of the considerable directions in optics.