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In this study, a novel aggregation-induced emission (AIE) enhancement triggered by the self-assembly of chiral gelator is described. Tuning of molecular chirality in situ triggers different assemblies of superstructures exhibiting fluorescence. This novel AIE material can constitute an emerging library of chiral supramolecules for turn-on fluorescent sensors. It will also help in better understanding the effects of chiral factors on the photophysical process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate approximate controllability of stochastic nonlinear partial differential systems with infinite delay. In the systems under study, nonlinearity and control variable exist both in drift and diffusion terms, and controllability problems are considered in the framework with a novel Banach space, which not only leads to some difficulties in deriving the properties of interest but also bring some opportunities to study the system in a more general framework. With the help of a new fundamental lemma established in this paper and some useful inequality techniques, some improved results for approximate controllability of stochastic partial differential systems are obtained by using the Banach contraction theorem without introducing any additional restraints on the terms of the system. An example of stochastic heat equation is also provided to illustrate our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For chiral gels and related applications, one of the critical issues is how to modulate the stereoselective interaction between the gel and the chiral guest precisely, as well as how to translate this information into the macroscopic properties of materials. Herein, we report that this process can also be modulated by nonchiral solvents, which can induce a chiral‐interaction reversion for organogel formation. This process could be observed through the clear difference in gelation speed and the morphology of the resulting self‐assembly. This chiral effect was successfully applied in the selective separation of quinine enantiomers and imparts "smart" merits to the gel materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For chiral gels and related applications, one of the critical issues is how to modulate the stereoselective interaction between the gel and the chiral guest precisely, as well as how to translate this information into the macroscopic properties of materials. Herein, we report that this process can also be modulated by nonchiral solvents, which can induce a chiral-interaction reversion for organogel formation. This process could be observed through the clear difference in gelation speed and the morphology of the resulting self-assembly. This chiral effect was successfully applied in the selective separation of quinine enantiomers and imparts 'smart' merits to the gel materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For chiral gels and related applications, one of the critical issues is how to modulate the stereoselective interaction between the gel and the chiral guest precisely, as well as how to translate this information into the macroscopic properties of materials. Herein, we report that this process can also be modulated by nonchiral solvents, which can induce a chiral-interaction reversion for organogel formation. This process could be observed through the clear difference in gelation speed and the morphology of the resulting self-assembly. This chiral effect was successfully applied in the selective separation of quinine enantiomers and imparts 'smart' merits to the gel materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling the interfacial chemical and physical properties, and thus modulating the behaviours of cells and biomolecules on material surfaces, form an important foundation for the development of high-performance biomaterials and devices. Biological systems in nature exhibit unique features in this aspect. The first one is that the superior properties of natural biomaterials are normally not determined by their bulk properties, but more related to the multi-scale micro- and nanostructures on the surface; the second is that biological systems usually utilize highly specific weak interactions (e.g.hydrogen bonding interaction, hydrophobic interaction, etc.) to solve the problems of biomolecule interactions; the third is that the biomolecules in nature are often chiral molecules and show high preference for one specific enantiomorphous configuration, suggesting a distinctive chiral recognition mechanism in biological systems. These features bring much inspiration to design novel biointerface materials with special functionalities, e.g.structural biointerface materials, smart biointerface materials and chiral biointerface materials. The purpose of this critical reviewis to give a brief introduction of recent advances in these aspects (90 references). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanopores, due to their advantages of being modifiable, controllability and sensitivity, have made a splash in recent years in the fields of biomolecular sequencing, small molecule detection, salt differential power generation, and biomimetic ion channels. In these applications, the role of chemical or biological modification is indispensable. Compared with small molecules, the modification of polymers is more difficult and the methods are more diverse. Choosing an appropriate modification method directly determines the success or failure of a research project; therefore, it is necessary to summarize polymer modification methods toward nanopores. In addition, it is also important to provide clear and convincing evidence that the nanopore modification is successful, the corresponding characterization methods are also indispensable. Therefore, this review will summarize the methods of polymer modification of nanopores and efficient characterization methods. We hope that this review will provide some reference value for like‐minded researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The membrane emulsification technique enables the self-assembly of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) confined within a spherical geometry for large-scale production. The resulting solid microspheres show long-range ordering with chiral nematic structures, and this fascinating hierarchical architecture can even be transferred to mesoporous carbon or silica microparticles by a sacrificial template method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enantioselective wetting: Regulating the surface wettability of materials through chiral molecules provides new insight into the design of chiral materials. By taking advantage of a reversible conformational transition, smart polymers present an ideal platform for translating weak chiral signals into macroscopic properties of materials, thus resulting in a distinctive wettability switching driven by chirality (see scheme). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enantioselektive Benetzbarkeit: Die Benetzbarkeit einer Materialoberfläche kann gezielt mithilfe chiraler Moleküle verändert werden. Intelligente Polymere bieten die Möglichkeit von reversiblen Konformationsübergängen und eignen sich somit ideal, um ein schwaches chirales Signal in eine makroskopische Eigenschaft eines Materials umzusetzen. Man erhält schaltbare Oberflächen, deren Benetzbarkeit durch die Chiralität von Molekülen bestimmt wird (siehe Schema). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unusual solvent responsive wettability of water-induced superhydrophobicity was realized on a smart copolymer surface containing double amino acid units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycosylation is one of the most common and important types of protein post-translational modifications in mammalian cells. To decode the protein glycosylation, it is highly important to enrich glycopeptides or separate glycans from complex biosamples. Hydrophilic interaction liquid interaction chromatography (HILIC) has inherent advantages in the separation of hydrophilic substances and glycopeptide enrichment. Conventional HILIC display unbiased binding with the hydrophilic solutes, leading to unsatisfactory enrichment selectivity for glycopeptides. In recent three years, many novel HILIC materials, including histidine, dipeptide, maltose, and amide-based ones, were developed and displayed either specific binding capacities toward sialylated glycopeptides, or substantially stronger retention toward neutral glycopeptides. Therefore, HILIC has grown up to be a high-efficiency method for collecting both glycosylation sites and glycan structural information simultaneously. In the review, recent breakthrough of HILIC materials applied to glycopeptide enrichment and glycan separation is summarized, and the future development tendency of the HILIC is suggested. • We review recent advances in HILIC materials applied to glycopeptide enrichment and glycan separation. • The "hydrophilic subtraction" model is introduced as HILIC mechanisms. • Five categories of HILIC materials are classified. • The future development tendency of the HILIC is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osmotic energy represents a promising energy resource because it is sustainable and environmentally benign. Subnanoscale channels are considered as a competitive platform for generating this blue energy due to their highly selective and ultrafast ion transport. However, fabricating functional subnanochannels capable of high energy output remains challenging. Here, a heterogeneous subnanochannel membrane formed by coating a functionalized self‐assembled metal−organic framework (MOF) monolayer (SAMM) film on a porous anodic aluminum oxide membrane, is reported. The SAMM film, with a thickness of ≈160 nm, is fabricated by self‐assembly of poly(methyl methacrylate‐co‐vinylimidazole)‐modified UiO‐66‐NH2 nanoparticles at the water−air interface. In the SAMM, imidazole and NH2 groups provide abundant positive charges, while the angstrom‐scale windows act as ionic filters for selective screening of anions with different hydration diameters. As a result, the heterogeneous membrane exhibits excellent capacity for anion‐selective transport, which contributes to an optimal osmotic power of 6.76 W m−2 under a 100‐fold NaCl gradient, as well as a high Cl−/SO42− selectivity of ≈42.2. Further, the output power is increased to 10.5 W m−2 by methylating imidazole moieties on the MOF surface. This work provides a facile and modular approach to fabricate subnanochannels for enabling highly selective and efficient osmotic energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life systems have evolved to utilize weak noncovalent interactions, particularly CH-π interaction, to achieve various biofunctions, for example cellular communication, immune response, and protein folding. However, for artificial materials, it remains a great challenge to recognize such weak interaction, further transform it into tunable macroscopic properties and realize special functions. Here we integrate monosaccharide-based CH-π receptor capable of recognizing aromatic peptides into a smart polymer with three-component 'Recognition-Mediating-Function' design, and report the CH-π interaction driven surface property switching on smart polymer film, including wettability, adhesion, viscoelasticity and stiffness. Detailed studies indicate that, the CH-π interaction induces the complexation between saccharide unit and aromatic peptide, which breaks the initial amphiphilic balance of the polymer network, resulting in contraction-swelling conformational transition for polymer chains and subsequent dramatic switching in surface properties. This work not only presents a new approach to control the surface property of materials, but also points to a broader research prospect on CH-π interaction at a macroscopic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative modes of response can greatly push forward chemical sensing processes and subsequently improve sensing performance. Classical chemical sensing modes seldom involve the transition of a delicate molecular assembly during the response. Here, we display a sensing mode for polyamine detection based on an order–order transition of iron–sulfur complexes upon their assembly. Strong validation proves that the unique order–order transition of the assemblies is the driving force of the response, in which the polyamine captures the metal ion of the iron–sulfur complex, leading it to decompose into a metal–polyamine product, accompanied by an order–order transition of the assemblies. This mechanism makes the detection process more intuitive and selective, and remarkably improves the detection efficiency, achieving excellent polyamines specificity, second-level response, convenient visual detection, and good recyclability of the sensing system. Furthermore, this paper also provides opportunities for the further application of the iron–sulfur platform in environment-related fields. Polyamine detection is of particular importance in the food industry, typically achieved via direct bonding between sensor and analyte or by indicator displacement. Here, the self-assembly of iron–sulfur complexes is shown to enable the efficient and selective detection of polyamines, driven by an order-to-order transition upon assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction of ketones or alkenes is an attractive and challenging task in organic chemistry and has widespread applications in the production of fine chemicals, fragrances, pharmaceuticals, vitamins, and functional materials. Classical reduction methods usually require the use of potentially dangerous hydrogen and the reaction under high temperature and pressure conditions, so environmentally friendly, economical, simple, and safe reduction methods are urgently needed. This paper innovatively reports a method for the electrochemical reduction of diarylketones or aryl alkenes in a mixed solvent system of CH3CN/THF. The reaction proceeds smoothly, and the corresponding products are obtained in high yields. The mechanistic study shows that the reaction is a free radical reaction, and reveals the necessity of CH3CN solvent, which plays the three roles of solvent, proton donors, and reactant at the same time. Furthermore, the high yield of the gram‐scale experiment successfully confirmed the potential industrial application of this electrochemical method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Review: [16 refs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing a sustainable security model that carries multilevel information with numerous optical states will significantly enhance anti‐counterfeiting abilities to deter counterfeits, ranging from artworks, currencies, and foods to medicines, but is enormously challenging. Herein, ambient‐friendly, large‐area, quadruple‐level, and chiral luminescent materials are prepared by incorporating lanthanide complexes wrapped in poly(ethylene glycol) matrix into chiral nematic cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) films through a co‐assembly strategy. Due to the regulation of the chiral nematic structures, the composite films enable full‐color structural colors and tunable fluorescence. Notably, the brightest fluorescent film radiates right‐handed circularly polarized luminescence with an asymmetric factor over −0.36, a lifetime up to 510 µs, and an absolute quantum yield up to 66.7%. More interestingly, a fascinating chiro‐optical behavior ranging from azure to khaki can be controlled by a polarizing filter at given 0° and 90° rotation angles. This anti‐counterfeiting system showcases the comprehensive properties of bright and responsive photoluminescence, quadruple and convertible color, and flexible and solvent‐resistant abilities. This CNC‐derived photonic material can act as the multimodal security label on a model banknote, which greatly facilitates its development for practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reported a three-component smart polymer, which could discriminate disaccharide homologues and translate the recognition signals into distinct differences in the macroscopic properties (i.e. wettability and adhesion force) of materials. With these features, we further showed its application in glycopeptide enrichment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) play pivotal roles in almost every cellular process, influencing protein stability, localization, interactions, and enzymatic activities. PTM analysis is crucial for biological and medical advancements, prompting interest in clinical-compatible methods. Nanopore technology emerges as an ideal solution due to its single-molecule sensitivity, ionic current insights, and real-time detection, allowing label-free and high-throughput PTM analysis. This is particularly valuable for exploring low-abundance modifications and dynamic processes. As PTMs pose challenges in protein sequencing, nanopore technology is positioned to impact a broad research domain, promising groundbreaking insights into biological systems and clinical applications. This review summarizes studies on PTM detection using nanopores, showcasing the technology's potential. With its promising development, nanopore research is expected to inspire further advancements and eventual commercialization for PTM detection. [Display omitted] • Protein post-translational modification detection stands at the frontier of modern biology and medicine. • Nanopores are emerging tools for post-translational modification detections. • Studies of both biological and solid-state nanopores are summarized. • Nanopore analysis will drive the advancement of post-translational modification proteomics, and facilitate clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: New chiral fluorescence macrocycles 1 and 2 containing naphthalene and amino acid units were synthesized. The binding properties for amino acid anions were examined by the fluorescence and 1H NMR spectra. The results indicated good enantioselectivity of 1 toward the N-protected phenylalanine anions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A phosphopeptide-modified nanochannel was prepared based on a conical polymeric nanopore. It shows a reversible Ca2+-induced inactivation effect toward the ion flow and molecular transport, resulting from Ca2+ binding-caused surface charge neutralization and hydrophilicity reduction, and Ca2+ removal by the competitive binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main observation and conclusion: Excited‐state hydrogen bond strongly affects the intramolecular charge conversion process, which is very suitable for the design and development of high‐performance fluorescent probes. However, as one of the most common solvents or additives used in sensing, the role of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in the system of the excited‐state hydrogen bond is seldom explored. As the goal of this research, we investigated the sensing mechanism of a CORM3‐green fluorescent probe system for carbon monoxide releasing molecule (CORM‐3) detection and tracking in vivo, through quantum chemistry calculations based on density‐functional‐theory (DFT)/ time‐dependent density‐functional‐theory (TDDFT) methods. Based on the analysis of the solvent effect of DMSO by the reduced density gradient function and IR spectroscopy, we provided a new strategy to explain the fluorescence mechanism. Subsequently, we verified the result through the potential energy curve of Phthalimide (PTI, the reduced product of CORM3‐green). The excited‐state hydrogen bond between PTI and DMSO promotes radiation transition and leads to obvious difference in the photophysical properties of PTI and PTI‐DMSO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organoboron compounds are powerful precursors of value-added organic compounds in synthetic chemistry, and transition metal-catalysed borylation has always been dominant. To avoid toxic reagents and costs associated with metal catalysts, simpler, more economical and effective approaches for delivering organoborons are highly desirable. Here, without the use of any metal catalysts, a CH3CN-involved electrochemical borylation reaction is reported with alkenes and HBpin as substrates. The site-selectivity is realised to achieve mono- or di-functional borylation of an unsaturated bond by regulating the proportion of HBpin. In addition, the success of gram-scale experiments and versatile conversions confirms the potential applications of this strategy in industrial synthesis. The vital auxiliary role of N,N-diisopropylethylamine (DIEA) in the process of acetonitrile electrolysis is disclosed in the mechanism study. The proposed new strategy provides a generic platform for the discovery of additional challenging electrochemical systems for hydrogenation reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycoproteomics is a rapidly growing field that aims to identify and characterize protein glycosylation events at a system level. However, the analysis of protein glycosylation in complex samples is still challenging due to several factors: the low amounts of glycopeptides produced after glycoprotein digestion, the suppression of the glycopeptide mass spectrometry signals in the presence of peptides, and the high heterogeneity of glycopeptides. Therefore, efficient enrichment of glycopeptides from complex samples is crucial. Nowadays, a continuous effort has been made to improve glycopeptide enrichment through the design of substrates and functional moieties of materials, which have proven to be immensely valuable in glycopeptide analysis. In-depth glycoproteomic analysis will further help to better understand glycoprotein functions and the molecular mechanisms of diseases. This review summarizes novel glycopeptide enrichment materials and approaches, and discusses the application of glycoproteomics in both the functional analysis of glycoproteins and the study of human diseases. • Effective glycopeptide enrichment from complex samples is crucial for glycoproteomic analysis. • Recent developments in glycopeptide enrichment materials and approaches are summarized. • The applications of glycoproteomics in both the analysis of glycoproteins and the study of human diseases are presented. • Novel glycopeptide enrichment methods will take the development of glycoproteomics to a new level of maturity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tremendous advances of life science and biotechnology industry have raised the higher requirement for bio-separation. Current chromatographic and related separation techniques have been refined to such a degree that they present efficient separation capacity towards complex samples in proteomics, pharmaceuticals and food industry. Nevertheless, new breakthroughs, like higher selectivity, more controllable separation mode, lower cost, and milder operation conditions, are still highly desirable in more complicated application scenarios. Smart materials that could reversibly change their structures and properties responding to external stimuli as novel separation media provide an ideal solution to upgrade current separation techniques. In this review, recent advances on smart materials in bio-separation applications are intensively discussed, with an emphasize on the superiority of smart materials in improving the separation performance by a controlled mode. And current challenges encountered and conceivable solutions are also presented to benefit prospective development in design and applications of smart bio-separation materials. Image 1 • Applications of various smart materials in bio-separation are reviewed. • Design strategies of smart materials for bio-separation are discussed. • Approaches to endow separation process with intelligent traits are introduced. • The superiority of smart material in elevating separation performance is emphasized. • Current challenges, conceivable solutions and future perspective are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by biological nanochannels, a novel cyclic 3′,5′-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-regulated artificial nanochannel based on a tripeptide Arg-Thr-Ala (RTA) design is developed. Highly specific binding between the tripeptide and cAMP triggers an obvious conformational transition of a smart polymer chain from a contracted state to a swollen one, which leads to a dynamic modulation of the gating behaviours of the nanochannels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separation of phosphoproteins is essential for understanding their vital roles in biological processes and pathology. Transition metal-based receptors and antibodies, the routinely used materials for phosphoproteins enrichment, both suffer from low sensitivity, low recovery and coverage. In this work, a novel smart copolymer material was synthesized by modifying porous silica gel with a poly[(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-4-(3-acryloylthioureido) benzoic acid)0.35] (denoted as NIPAAm-co-ATBA0.35@SiO2). Driven by the hydrogen bonds complexation of ATBA monomers with phosphate groups, the copolymer-modified surface exhibited a remarkable adsorption toward native α-casein (a model phosphoprotein), accompanied with significant changes in surface viscoelasticity and roughness. Moreover, this adsorption was tunable and critically dependent on the polarity of carrier solvent. Benefiting from these features, selective enrichment of phosphoprotein was obtained using NIPAAm-co-ATBA0.35@SiO2 under a dispersive solid-phase extraction (dSPE) mode. This result displays a good potential of smart polymeric materials in phosphoprotein enrichment, which may facilitate top-down phosphoproteomics studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) has inherent advantages in the separation of hydrophilic or strongly polar substances (e.g., saccharides, glycopeptides, metabolites, etc.) due to strong hydrophilic interactions, which represents an attractive complementary approach to the mainstreamed reversed phase LC. Significant improvement in sensitivity, analyte coverage, throughput, analysis speed, and resolution of HILIC largely promote the development of bio-separation and bio-analytical chemistry. Based on the theoretical guidance, a lot of functional hydrophilic materials have emerged, what follows is that people are more concerned about their innovations and breakthroughs. Meanwhile, the combination of HILIC with various separation and characterization techniques (such as HILIC MS, multidimensional LC) present high separation efficiency towards complex samples in the fields of proteomics, metabolomics, food, and medicine industry. In this review the latest progress in HILIC in the past five years are summarized in order to provide a reliable and perfect guidance for future research in bio-separation. • HILIC has been playing an irreplaceable role in many separation fields and shown unlimited development potential. • Recent developments in the advanced applications of HILIC are discussed emphatically. • A lot of modified functional hydrophilic materials have emerged and their future possibilities are discussed. • This review will provide a reliable and perfect guidance for future research in bio-separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing smart surfaces with responsive polymers capable of dynamically and reversibly changing their chemical and physical properties by responding to the recognition of biomolecules remains a challenging task. And, the key to achieving this purpose relies on the design of polymers to precisely interact with the target molecule and successfully transform the interaction signal into tunable macroscopic properties, further achieve special bio-functions. Herein, inspired by carbohydrate–carbohydrate interaction (CCI) in life system, we developed a three-component copolymer poly(NIPAAm- co -PT- co -Glc) bearing a binding unit glucose (Glc) capable of recognizing sialic acid, a type of important molecular targets for cancer diagnosis and therapy, and reported the sialic acid triggered macroscopic properties switching on this smart polymer surface. Detailed mechanism studies indicated that multiple hydrogen bonding interactions between Glc unit and Neu5Ac destroyed the initial hydrogen bond network of the copolymer, leading to a reversible “ contraction -to- swelling ” conformational transition of the copolymer chains, accompanied with distinct macroscopic property switching (i.e., surface wettability, morphology, stiffness) of the copolymer film. And these features enabled this copolymer to selectively capture sialic acid-containing glycopeptides from complex protein samples. This work provides an inspiration for the design of novel smart polymeric materials with sensitive responsiveness to sialic acid, which would promote the development of sialic acid-specific bio-devices and drug delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of dipeptide-based fluorescent sensors were developed that exhibit sensitive and distinct responses to six typical sialic acid (SA) species despite the interference of 300-fold d-glucose or other saccharides, thus contributing to a novel fluorescence sensing matrix allowing the rapid and high-efficiency discrimination of different SA species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural products are rather complex samples containing a large number of compounds ranging from polar to nonpolar, small molecules to macromolecules, as well as numerous homologs/analogs with quite similar structures, which create great opportunities and treasures for discovery of bioactive drugs. For the purpose of better understanding the complex natural products and controlling their qualities, powerful analytical techniques for adequately separating chemical constituents and tracking potentially bioactive components are quite essential. Here, a design concept of bidirectional β-cyclodextrin (β-CD)–modified chromatographic stationary phase toward separation of bufadienolides extracted from toad is proposed. Bufadienolides could be divided into two classes: toad venom ligand (AAUBs) and toad toxin (AACBs) with remarkable differences in structures and polarity. The hydrophobic cavity of β-CD can encapsulate the steroid part of AACBs while the hydroxyls exposed on the β-CD surface have strong hydrophilic interactions with the arginine part of AACBs. Isothermal titration calorimetry and hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance titration experiment further validate the rationality of this design. Furthermore, the β-CD-based stationary phase can be used as a hydrophilic material to construct a HILIC × RPLC 2D separation mode for the separation of AACBs, also works as a reverse phase material to construct a RPLC × RPLC 2D separation mode for the separation of AAUBs with good orthogonality. This study will open an avenue and provide a novel insight for high-efficiency two-dimensional separation of natural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separation, purification, and identification of glycoproteins are essential for understanding their vital roles in biological and pathological processes. However, glycoproteins are difficult to be captured due to their low abundance, strong interference from non-glycosylated proteins. Here, we report a promising dipeptide-based saccharide recognition platform to selectively enrich two typical glycoproteins, named immunoglobin G (IgG) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Different from the conventional glycoprotein enrichment method based on boronic acid affinity or hydrophilic interaction with glycans, the present method was established based on affinity between Pro-Glu (PE) dipeptide and mannose, which is a key unit in the pentasaccharide core of the IgG and HRP glycans. The prepared PE homopolymer surface was proved to selectively bind IgG and HRP superior to that of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Benefiting from this feature, selective enrichment of IgG and HRP was achieved from a protein mixture containing 200-fold BSA interference by using polyPE@SiO 2 under a dispersive solid-phase extraction (dSPE) mode. High adsorption capacity, controllable and selective adsorption behaviors, as well as satisfactory recovery demonstrated the high potential of the dipeptide-based polymeric material in IgG and HRP enrichment. This study might provide a new insight to solve the challenging problem of glycoprotein separation. [Display omitted] • A dipeptide-based saccharide recognition platform was developed in selectively enriching two glycoproteins. • A key pentasaccharide core was established based on the affinity between dipeptide and mannose. • This method had high adsorption capacity, controllable and selective adsorption behaviors, and satisfactory recovery [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Umami is one of the basic taste sensing, and represents the recognition of N-containing compounds capable of evaluating the nutritious contents of food. Although several sensors have been developed, the assessment of umami intensity remains challenging due to the limitations of sensor specificity, sensitivity, and performance stability. Here we present a biomimetic conical nanochannels system integrated with Venus flytrap (VFT) domain from human umami receptor T1R1 subunit to meet the concern. By taking advantage of sensitive transmembrane ionic flux change, the functional nanochannels could precisely distinguish umami substances from other tastants. Detailed mechanism analysis reveals that specific binding between T1R1 and umami substances triggers local conformation change and surface charge redistribution of the protein, which modulates the ionic current. This study initiates the application of nanochannel device in taste perception, which could help to disclose umami perception mechanism and screen new umami substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological systems that utilize multiple weak non-covalent interactions and hierarchical assemblies to achieve various bio-functions bring much inspiration for the design of artificial biomaterials. However, it remains a big challenge to correlate underlying biomolecule interactions with macroscopic level of materials, for example, recognizing such weak interaction, further transforming it into regulating material's macroscopic property and contributing to some new bio-applications. Here we designed a novel smart polymer based on polyacrylamide (PAM) grafted with lactose units (PAM-g-lactose0.11), and reported carbohydrate-carbohydrate interaction (CCI)-promoted macroscopic properties switching on this smart polymer surface. Detailed investigations indicated that the binding of sialic acid molecules with the grafted lactose units via the CCIs induced conformational transformation of the polymer chains, further resulted in remarkable and reversible switching in surface topography, wettability and stiffness. With these excellent recognition and response capacities towards sialic acid, the PAM-g-lactose0.11 further facilitated good selectivity, strong anti-interference and high adsorption capacity in the capture of sialylated glycopeptides (important biomarkers for cancers). This work provides some enlightenment for the development of biointerface materials with tunable property, as well as high-performance glycopeptide enrichment materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]