Search

A nasal polyp is a chronic inflammation that still has a tendency to recur after medical and surgical treatments, and greatly decreases the quality of life. Since the efficacy of current therapeutic methods is limited, it is urgent to develop a novel strategy to realize multi-modal anti-inflammatory treatment. In this study, multifunctional Au–CeO2 JNPs capable of eliminating reactive oxygen species (ROS), loading anti-inflammatory drugs (Danshensu sodium salt), and being detected by X-ray computed tomography (CT) were developed for imaging guided synergistic anti-inflammatory treatment of nasal polyps. As expected, the Au–CeO2 JNPs showed excellent CT imaging performance, and the levels of ROS and pro-inflammatory cytokines decreased after the primary human nasal polyp epithelial cell (HNEC) treatment with Au–CeO2 JNPs, indicating the synergistic ROS elimination effect between Au and CeO2 domains. Furthermore, compared with individual CeO2 NPs and Au–CeO2 JNPs, the Danshensu sodium salt (DSS) loaded Au–CeO2 JNPs showed stronger anti-inflammatory performance due to the synergistic pharmacotherapy and enzymatic action. Therefore, this novel nanozyme–drug nanosystem provided a new concept and approach in the progress of anti-inflammation.

A novel, facile, and one-step conventional heating method is developed to synthesize monodisperse Sn-doped Fe2O3 nanoclusters with a novel spindle-like 3D architecture. The morphology and size of the products can be controlled by adjusting the reaction time and the concentration of additive Sn ions, which are the two affecting factors for the synthesis mechanism. As a proof-of-concept demonstration of their function, our spindle-like Sn-doped Fe2O3 nanoclusters present a large capacity of 938 mA h g−1 at 0.2 C after 100 cycles as compared with bare SnO2 and Fe2O3 nanoparticles. Importantly, the capacity is about 805 mA h g−1 at 1 C with a capacity retention as high as 95% after 500 cycles when used as lithium ion battery anodes. This excellent electrochemical performance benefits from the successful doping and their 3D assembled structure, which help improve the conductivity, overcome the large volume changes and stresses during the charge–discharge reaction and finally result in the superior cycling performance and charge-rate capabilities.

Polyacrylic acid (PAA)/calcium carbonate (CaCO3) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized via a simple and novel strategy. The as-prepared PAA/CaCO3 NPs not only exhibit ultrahigh doxorubicin (DOX) payload (1.18 g of DOX per g of NPs) but also possess pH-sensitive drug release properties. In vivo experiments show that the DOX-loaded PAA/CaCO3 NPs display a significant antitumor effect (76% average inhibition rate relative to the control group) without distinct side effects. Therefore, PAA/CaCO3 NPs are promising candidates for cancer therapy as efficient drug delivery vehicles.

Five new coordination polymers constructed from 1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylate and N-donor ligands including [Cd2(1,4-ndc)2(bpy)2]·0.5H2O (1), [Cd(1,4-ndc)(phen)]·0.5H2O (2), [Cu2(1,4-ndc)2(L1)]·H2O (3), [Co3(H2O)2(1,4-ndc)4(HL2)2] (4), and [Cd2(NO3)2(1,4-ndc)(L3)2]·H2O (5) have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds 1 and 2 are 2D layers with 4-connected (44·62) topology. Compound 3 is a 3D two-fold interpenetrating pcu network based on a binuclear cluster. Compound 4 exhibits an eight-connected bcu network constructed by a trinuclear cluster. Compound 5 is a 3D two-fold interpenetrating network with uninodal 4-connected cds (CdSO4) topology. Furthermore, the magnetic properties of compounds 3 and 4 were investigated and the photoluminescence properties of compounds 1, 2 and 5 show that the three compounds have strong emission under λex = 320 nm at room temperature.

A series of organic–inorganic hybrid compounds built from Keggin and Wells–Dawson polyoxometalates and TM-trz complexes (Htrz = 1,2,4-triazole) were obtained at different pH values under hydrothermal conditions, namely, [Co2(H2O)2(Htrz)5][SiW12O40]·2.5H2O (1), [Zn5(Htrz)8(trz)2(H2O)8][SiW12O40]2·10H2O (2), [CuI2CuII4(Htrz)4(trz)4Cl2][GeW12O40]·15H2O (3), [CuI2CuII4(Htrz)4(trz)4Cl2][SiW12O40]·15H2O (4), K2Na2(H2O)2[Co11(trz)14(H2O)14][P2W18O62]2·29H2O (5) and [Cu12(trz)10(Htrz)2(OH)4(SO4)2(H2O)6][P2W18O62]·28H2O (6). All of the compounds were characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, TG analysis and powder X-ray diffraction. Compound 1 contains a kind of bimetallic–organic segment [Co2(Htrz)5]4+, which could be regarded as a quasi-sinusoid-like chain. 2 is a dimer constructed from two [SiW12O40]4− units linked by a [Zn5(trz)2(Htrz)8]8+ motif. In 3 and 4, the 2D wall-like layers constructed by the Cu(II) ions and Htrz ligands are extended into 3D frameworks by polyanions. 5 shows a complicated three-dimensional (3D) framework with a {412·612·84}{46}2 topology. Compound 6 is also a complicated 3D structure based on a triangular trinuclear Cu-trz unit and [P2W18O62] polyanions. To the best of our knowledge, 6 represents the largest copper cluster linked by amines in a POM system. Structural diversities reveal that the pH value of the reaction system plays a crucial role in the assembly of POM-based hybrids. Moreover, the optical band gaps, electrochemical properties, magnetic properties and the photocatalytic properties of the compounds have been investigated.

A universal method was utilized to fabricate rhombic dodecahedral zeolitic imidazolate framework-8@SiO2 (ZIF-8@SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) and their derivatives, ZnO@SiO2, ZIF-8@SiO2 yolk–shell and SiO2 hollow NPs, using ZIF-8 NPs as the template.

A facile two-step method was developed to fabricate green fluorescent carbon nanodots@zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 nanoparticles (C-dots@ZIF-8 NPs) with tunable size and fluorescence intensity, which acted as platforms for simultaneous pH-responsive drug delivery and fluorescence imaging of cancer cells.