Search

Monitoring personal ultraviolet (UV) exposure facilitates risk mitigation against UV‐induced skin aging and skin cancer, the most common malignancy in North America, Europe, and Australia. UV radiometers convey real‐time information on local UV irradiance, while UV dosimeters count accumulated UV exposure over time. These devices can help users manage exposure levels in order to reach a healthy daily dose of UV light required for vitamin D production without exceeding erythemal limits that would increase skin cancer risk. However, personal UV detectors still suffer from several limitations. Wearable electronic UV sensors are relatively bulky, heavy, and expensive, while the more commonly used on‐skin disposable colorimetric UV sensors suffer from short service life, skin discomfort, and high accumulated costs when used daily as recommended. Intradermal colorimetric UV nanosensors can overcome these limitations, offering long‐term, comfortable, and inexpensive naked‐eye colorimetric indication of intradermal UV irradiance. Now, a new generation of UV‐sensing intradermal pigments with an improved design offers better tunability, stability, and biocompatibility. These UV‐photochromic nanosensors may be operated as UV dosimeters or simple sunscreen efficacy monitors, depending on the formulation, and can remain functional and re‐usable in the dermis for years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a CB6 rotaxane for the 129Xe hyperCEST NMR detection of matrix metalloprotease 2 (MMP-2) activity. MMP-2 is overexpressed in cancer tissue, and hence is a cancer marker. A peptide containing an MMP-2 recognition sequence was incorporated into the rotaxane, synthesized via CB6-promoted click chemistry. Upon cleavage of the rotaxane by MMP-2, CB6 became accessible for 129Xe@CB6 interactions, leading to protease-responsive hyperCEST activation.

We report a CB6 rotaxane for the 129Xe hyperCEST NMR detection of matrix metalloprotease 2 (MMP-2) activity. MMP-2 is overexpressed in cancer tissue, and hence is a cancer marker. A peptide containing an MMP-2 recognition sequence was incorporated into the rotaxane, synthesized via CB6-promoted click chemistry. Upon cleavage of the rotaxane by MMP-2, CB6 became accessible for 129Xe@CB6 interactions, leading to protease-responsive hyperCEST activation.

We report a method for blocking interactions between (129)Xe and cucurbit[6]uril (CB6) until activation by a specific chemical event. We synthesized a CB6-rotaxane that allowed no (129)Xe interaction with the CB6 macrocycle component until a cleavage event released the CB6, which then produced a (129)Xe@CB6 NMR signal. This contrast-upon-activation (129)Xe NMR platform allows for modular synthesis and can be expanded to applications in detection and disease imaging.

We report a method for blocking interactions between (129)Xe and cucurbit[6]uril (CB6) until activation by a specific chemical event. We synthesized a CB6-rotaxane that allowed no (129)Xe interaction with the CB6 macrocycle component until a cleavage event released the CB6, which then produced a (129)Xe@CB6 NMR signal. This contrast-upon-activation (129)Xe NMR platform allows for modular synthesis and can be expanded to applications in detection and disease imaging.

A novel reactive inkjet printing (RIJ) process for fabricating environmentally benign, conductive zinc structures on biodegradable substrates is reported. A precursor consisting of oxidized zinc microparticles is formulated into a viscous ink for high‐resolution, high‐repeatability screen printing. A single RIJ process is performed to selectively dispense an acid‐based oxide etching agent onto the screen‐printed zinc ink to significantly improve its electrical conductivity, up to 4 × 104 S m−1. The RIJ process enables precise control of the amount of deposited etching agent, allowing control of conductivity and avoiding damage caused by excessive acid exposure. The RIJ process deposits the etching agent selectively on the screen‐printed, water‐soluble zinc patterns, thus preserving the print fidelity by avoiding ink smearing that can occur when using a blanket treatment such as submersion. A printed biodegradable antenna with a minimum feature size of 500 μm for use with a batteryless radio frequency identification (RFID) chip is fabricated as demonstration. Due to the higher ink conductivity and improved pattern fidelity, the antenna fabricated by the RIJ process shows a ≈2.2× increase in reading distance compared with a similar antenna that is screen printed and activated using a drop‐casting process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a CB6 rotaxane for the 129Xe hyperCEST NMR detection of matrix metalloprotease 2 (MMP-2) activity. MMP-2 is overexpressed in cancer tissue, and hence is a cancer marker. A peptide containing an MMP-2 recognition sequence was incorporated into the rotaxane, synthesized via CB6-promoted click chemistry. Upon cleavage of the rotaxane by MMP-2, CB6 became accessible for 129Xe@CB6 interactions, leading to protease-responsive hyperCEST activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]