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What is known and objective A large proportion of recurrent cervical cancer (RCC) patients present with poor performance status (PS) after comprehensive treatments, which usually prevents them from opting for clinical trials. We retrospectively analysed the effect and safety of low-dose apatinib and tegafur-gimeracil-oteracil (TGO) in the treatment of these patients. Case summary Six patients treated with low-dose apatinib and TGO showed a disease control rate of 83.3% and grade 1-2 adverse events (AEs). What is new and conclusion This case series indicates that low-dose apatinib and TGO could be considered as palliative therapy for RCC patients with poor PS.

Chitosan supported palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs/CS) catalysts were facilely prepared via an in-situ reduction of PdCl2 method and characterized by various techniques. The results showed that the palladium particles were in the range of 4–8 nm and evenly dispersed on chitosan. Furthermore, the resulting Pd NPs/CS catalysts showed high catalytic activity for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane (NH3BH3, AB) in aqueous solution. As for the catalytic reaction with an activation energy (Ea) of 36.25 kJ mol−1, the orders of palladium and AB concentrations were 0.81 and 0.45, respectively. The maximum turnover frequency was as high as 24.76 mol H 2 · mol Pd -1 · min -1 at 30 °C. In addition, the Pd NPs/CS catalysts still kept satisfied catalytic activity even after eleven runs.

Herein, a soluble graphene-based material exhibiting the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) feature was prepared for the first time via wet chemistry by the chemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO). Moreover, three conjugated polymers containing tetraphenylethylene, carbazole and phenyl groups were used as stabilizers during the reduction of GO in tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution due to the π–π interaction and polymer wrapping effect; the resultant graphene composites containing different amounts of rGO were soluble in organic solvents. Among the three polymers, P1 exhibits the strongest affinity towards rGO, and rGO–P1 in THF solution is stable for months at the concentration of 1.5 mg mL−1. Furthermore, rGO–P1 is AIE-active and its PL intensity is 6.3-fold that of P1 under the same conditions (THF/H2O = 10/90, v/v). The distinguished optical properties and AIE effect of rGO–P1 allow it to act as a chemosensor for the detection of explosives in both the aggregate and solid state with high sensitivity. In the aggregate state, the detectable concentration is as low as 1.3 ppb and the quenching constant is up to 4.16 × 106 M−1, which enable its trace detection of picric acid.

Covalent functionalization of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was performed by using conjugated polymers with different monomers through nucleophilic addition of nitrogen anions to rGO. Three conjugated polymers containing tetraphenylethylene, carbazole, and phenyl groups were used, and as a result of π-π interactions and the "polymer-wrapping" effect, the dispersion stability of rGO was improved. Even if the reaction site in the polymers was the same, there were great differences in the reactivities of the polymers, the dispersion stabilities of the resultant composites, and also the optical limiting (OL) performances of the resultant composites. The differences may be attributed to the π-conjugated structure and steric hindrance of the moiety in the polymer skeleton, which has scarcely been reported. Besides, the resultant rGO-P1 and rGO-P3 materials both showed excellent OL responses, even at 4 μJ. This behavior should enable their potential application in photonic and optoelectronic devices to protect human eyes or optical sensors from damage by intense laser irradiation.

Chitosan-ionic liquid conjugation (CILC), which was prepared through the reaction of 1-(4-bromobutyl)-3-methylimidazolium bromide (BBMIB) with chitosan, was firstly used to prepare functionalized graphene composite via the chemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO). The obtained water soluble graphene-based composite was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy and so on. CILC-RGO showed excellent dispersion stability in water at the concentration of 2.0 mg/mL, which was stable for several months without any precipitate. This may be ascribed to the electrostatic attraction and [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] interaction between CILC and graphene.

The acid-catalyzed Mannich reaction of acetophenones with benzaldehyde derivatives and aromatic amines gives 1,3-diaryl-3-(arylamino)propanones in high yield