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Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with highly ordered structures and predictable optoelectronic properties provide an ideal platform to investigate the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) performance based on organic materials by atomically varying the molecular construction. Herein, the effect of imine-bond orientation on the ECL performance of COFs is investigated. We report two COFs (NC-COF Py-Bpy and CN-COF Py-Bpy ) with different orientations of imine bonds using pyrene donor units (D) and bipyridine acceptor motifs (A) monomers. The direction of the imine linkage (carbon of imine bonds as the D unit and nitrogen as the A unit) in NC-COF Py-Bpy oppose to the direction of donor and acceptor charge transfer between the molecular motifs. In contrast, CN-COF Py-Bpy is in the same direction (D-A type imine COFs). However, the NC-COF Py-Bpy demonstrates a superior ECL performance with 22.4-fold enhancement in ECL intensity compared to CN-COF Py-Bpy , due to the effective separation of the highest and lowest occupied molecular orbitals to facilitate intramolecular charge transfer (IRCT) for strong ECL. Moreover, the ECL intensity of NC-COF Py-Bpy remains higher stability than CN-COF Py-Bpy at low-excited positive potential with tri-n-propylamine (TPrA) as the coreactant. The experimental and modeling investigation indicate that the bimodal ECL patterns of NC-COF Py-Bpy were derived from the competitive oxidation mechanism of IRCT regulated: the co-reactant-mediated oxidation at lower potential and the direct oxidation at higher potential, but the CN-COF Py-Bpy only has a co-reactant pathway. Notably, the NC-COF Py-Bpy can be used to construct an ECL sensor for sensitive detection of doxorubicin (DOX). This research provides a protocol for the molecular design of COFs as ECL emitters with atomically regulated charge transfer direction in D-A systems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Herein, we develop a dual-mode biosensor for photoelectrochemical and colorimetric detection of organophosphate pesticides (OPPs) based on ultrathin-FeOOH-coated MnO 2 (MO@FHO) nanozyme. In this biosensor, OPPs can inhibit the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and hinder the dephosphorylation of l-ascorbic acid-2-phosphate, preventing the decomposition of MO@FHO nanozyme and inducing both a photoelectrochemical (PEC) signal and the colorimetric change. The MO@FHO nanozyme not only possesses an enhanced catalase-like activity to degrade H 2 O 2 for the generation of an improved cathodic photocurrent, but also exhibits an excellent oxidase-like activity to oxidize 3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine with high catalytic efficiency. This biosensor displays a detection limit of 50 pmol/L for the PEC mode and a detection limit of 0.8 nmol/L for the colorimetric mode. Moreover, this biosensor exhibits excellent performance in complex biological matrices, and the smartphone-based visual sensing platform facilitates rapid and sensitive detection of OPPs, holding promising applications in food safety monitoring, and on-site detection., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We present a dimensional regulating charge transfer strategy to achieve an enhanced electrochemiluminescence (ECL) by constructing a one-dimensional pyrene-based covalent organic framework (1D-COF). The dual-chain-like edge architecture in 1D-COF facilitates the stabilization of aromatic backbones, the enhancement of electronic conjugations, and the decrease of energy loss. The 1D-COF generates enhanced anodic (92.5-fold) and cathodic (3.2-fold) signals with tripropylamine (TPrA) and K 2 S 2 O 8 as the anodic and cathodic coreactants, respectively, compared with 2D-COF. The anodic and cathodic ECL efficiencies of 1D-COF are 2.08- and 3.08-fold higher than those of 2D-COF, respectively. According to density functional theory (DFT), the rotational barrier energy (Δ E ) of 1D-COF enhances sharply with the increase of dihedral angle, suggesting that the architecture in 1D-COF restrains the intramolecular spin of aromatic chains, which facilitates the decrease of nonradiative transitions and the enhancement of ECL. Furthermore, 1D-COF can be used to construct an ECL biosensor for sensitive detection of dopamine.

Non-physiological blood flow conditions in axial blood pumps lead to some complications, including hemolysis, platelet activation, thrombosis, and embolism. The high speed of the axial blood pump destroys large amounts of erythrocytes, thereby causing hemolysis and thrombosis. Thus, this study aims to reduce the vortices and reflux in the flow field by optimizing the axial blood pump. The axial blood pump and arterial flow field were modeled by the finite element method. The blood was assumed to be incompressible, turbulent, and Newtonian. The SST k -ω turbulence model was used. The frozen rotor method was also used to calculate the snapshot of motion. Many vortices and reflux exist in the flow field of the blood pump without optimization. The improved flow field had almost no vortex and reflux, thereby reducing the exposure time of blood. The optimized blood pump had little influence on the pressure field and shear stress field. The optimized blood pump mainly reduced the vortex, reflux, and the risk of thrombosis in the flow field. The flow field characteristics of an axial blood pump were studied, and the results showed the risk of thrombosis and hemolysis in the blood pump. In accordance with the relationship between the blade shape and the flow field, the blade of the blood pump was optimized, reducing the vortex and reflux of the flow field, as well as the risk of thrombosis.

The development of highly sensitive and selective analytical approaches for monitoring enzymatic activity is critical for disease diagnosis and biomedical research. Herein, we develop an exogenous co-reactant-free electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor for the ratiometric measurement of α-glucosidase (α-Glu) based on a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-67)-regulated pyrene-based hydrogen-bonded organic framework (HOF-101). Target α-Glu can hydrolyze maltose to α-d-glucose, which can subsequently react with GO x to produce gluconic acid. The resultant gluconic acid can dissolve ZIF-67, leading to the recovery of the HOF-101 cathodic ECL signal and the decrease of the luminol anodic ECL signal. The long-range ordered structure of HOF-101 can speed up charge transfer, resulting in a stable and strong cathodic ECL signal. Moreover, ZIF-67 can not only efficiently quench the ECL signal of HOF-101 due to ECL resonance energy transfer between HOF-101 and ZIF-67 as well as the steric hindrance effect of ZIF-67 but also enhance the anodic ECL emission of luminol in dissolved O 2 system because of its ordered and porous crystalline structure and the atomically dispersed Co 2+ . Notably, HOF-101 possesses a higher ECL efficiency (32.22%) compared with the Ru(bpy) 3 2+ standard. Importantly, this ratiometric ECL biosensor shows high sensitivity (a detection limit of 0.19 U L -1 ) and a broad linear range (0.2-50 U L -1 ). This biosensor can efficiently eliminate systematic errors and enhance detection reliability without the involvement of exogenous co-reactants, and it displays good assay performance in human serum samples, holding great promise in biomedical research studies.

We demonstrate for the first time the construction of a dual-mode biosensor for electrochemiluminescent (ECL) and electrochemical chiral recognition of l- and d-isomers of amino acids, with ferrocene (Fc) as both a signal enhancer and a signal tracer. With the dissolved oxygen as a coreactant, ZnIn 2 S 4 acts as the ECL emitter to generate a weak cathodic ECL signal. Fc can enter into the β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) cavity on ZnIn 2 S 4 -modified electrode as a result of host-guest interaction. Since Fc can promote H 2 O and O 2 to produce abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) (e.g., O 2 · - and · OH), the ECL signal of ZnIn 2 S 4 can be further amplified with Fc as a coreaction accelerator. Meanwhile, Fc molecules on the β-CD/ZnIn 2 S 4 -modified electrode can be electrochemically oxidized to Fc + to produce a remarkable oxidation peak current. When l-histidine (l-His) is present, the matching of the l-His configuration with the β-CD cavity leads to the entrance of more l-His into the cavity of β-CD than d-histidine (d-His), and the subsequent competence of l-His with Fc on the Fc/β-CD/ZnIn 2 S 4 -modified electrode induces the decrease in both Fc peak current and ZnIn 2 S 4 -induced ECL intensity. This dual-mode biosensor can efficiently discriminate l-His from d-His, and it can sensitively monitor l-His with a detection limit of 7.60 pM for ECL mode and 3.70 pM for electrochemical mode. Moreover, this dual-mode biosensor can selectively discriminate l-His from other l- and d-isomers (e.g., threonine, phenylalanine, and glutamic acid), with potential applications in the chiral recognition of nonelectroactive chiral compounds, bioanalysis, and disease diagnosis.

Biomass-derived wastes as the additive of nondegradable plastics have been paid more attention due to the ever-growing environmental pollution and energy crisis. Herein, the spent coffee grounds (SCG) have been used as fillers in polypropylene (PP) after the heat treatment to realize its recycling utilization. The effect of the heat treatment atmosphere on the properties of the obtained SCG and SCG/PP composites has been investigated systematically. The results show that the residual coffee oil can be removed more thoroughly under an air atmosphere than under a nitrogen atmosphere at a relatively low cost and an eco-friendly process. The lower residual oil rate of SCG is beneficial to improve the comminution and further enhance the affinity with the PP matrix. The obtained SCG/PP composites hold lower water absorption, higher hydrophobicity, and better mechanical properties, implying their potential applications in the field of food packaging. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Spent coffee grounds have been used as fillers in PP after the heat treatment. The heat treatment in the air is more favorable for the removal of the coffer oil of SCG. The low residual oil rate in SCG can improve its comminution and affinity with PP. The SCG/PP composites hold excellent performances for food packaging applications., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Oxidative stress, caused by an imbalance between the production and the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), is a prominent cause of the neurotoxicity induced by aggregated amyloid-β (Aβ) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Tools that can directly detect and monitor the presence and amount of Aβ-induced ROS are still lacking. We report herein the first Aβ-targeted ratiometric H 2 O 2 -responsive fluorescent probe for real-time detection and monitoring of the Aβ-induced H 2 O 2 level in cell and AD mouse models. The H 2 O 2 -responsive probe is constructed based on a methylamino-substituted quinolinium-based cyanine as the fluorescence moiety and a phenylboronate ester as the sensing reaction site. This sensing probe exhibits a large emission wavelength shift of ∼87 nm upon reacting with H 2 O 2 , a high binding selectivity for Aβ, and a faster response toward H 2 O 2 in the presence of Aβ, concomitant with an enhanced fluorescence intensity, hence greatly boosting the sensitivity of in-situ H 2 O 2 detection. This biocompatible and nontoxic probe is capable of ratiometrically detecting and imaging endogenous H 2 O 2 induced by Aβ in a neuronal cell model. Remarkably, this Aβ-targeted H 2 O 2 -responsive probe is also able to detect, monitor, and differentiate different Aβ-induced H 2 O 2 levels in real time in different age groups of transgenic AD mice in which the cerebral H 2 O 2 level increases age dependently concomitant with the plaque contents. Therefore, this smart probe can act as a powerful tool to diagnose high-risk subjects and diseased brains of AD and to further study the role of ROS in AD pathology.

In this study, silk fibroin nanowhiskers (SNWs) were extracted from natural silk fiber by sulfuric acid hydrolysis with the assistance of ultrasonic wave treatment. The obtained SNWs were mixed with regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) solution to fabricate the SNWs/RSF films. The fabricating SNWs were systematically characterized by using SEM, FTIR, and the SNWs/RSF films were observed by digital camera, PM, etc. The results show that the monodisperse SNWs are evenly distributed in the RSF film. The presence of SNWs in RSF film significantly improves the performances of the film, including the swelling ability, mechanical properties, hydrophilicity, antibacterial efficacy, cytocompatibility. Meanwhile, the SNWs/RSF film can endorse the wound healing efficiency in vivo mice wound site. The proposed techniques for extracting SNWs and fabricating silk fibroin composite film may provide a valuable method for creating an ideal silk-based material for biomedical applications.

Optimization efforts were devoted to discover novel PDE10A inhibitors in order to improve solubility and pharmacokinetics properties for a long-term therapy against pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) starting from the previously synthesized inhibitor A . As a result, a potent and highly selective PDE10A inhibitor, 14· 3HCl (half maximal inhibitory concentration, IC 50  = 2.8 nmol/L and > 3500-fold selectivity) exhibiting desirable solubility and metabolic stability with a remarkable bioavailability of 50% was identified with the aid of efficient methods of binding free energy predictions. Animal PAH studies showed that the improvement offered by 14· 3HCl [2.5 mg/kg, oral administration ( p.o .)] was comparable to tadalafil (5.0 mg/kg, p.o .), verifying the feasibility of PDE10A inhibitors for the anti-PAH treatment. The crystal structure of the PDE10A- 14 complex illustrates their binding pattern, which provided a guideline for rational design of highly selective PDE10A inhibitors., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2020 Chinese Pharmaceutical Association and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.)