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Synergism between hierarchical zeolites and alumina in the preparation of active Mo catalysts, as a function of composition ratios, has been demonstrated in the cross-metathesis reaction between ethene and 2-butene. The metathesis reaction activity, reflected by ethene conversion, increases from 24.1% to 49.2% with the increase in the alumina content in composites from 10 wt% to 30 wt%. A further increase in the alumina content leads to the reduction in the metathesis activity, in which the ethene conversion decreases from 30.3% to 4.8% upon the enhanced alumina content from 50 wt% to 90 wt%. The impact of alumina content on the metathesis activity is closely associated with the interaction mode between the hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite and alumina. TEM observation as well as EDS analysis and XPS results prove the progressive coating of alumina phase on the surface of zeolites along with the progressive enhancement of alumina content. The moderate alumina content in the composite enables the desired interaction between hierarchical zeolites and alumina, which is beneficial for the preparation of active catalysts for the alkene cross-metathesis reaction., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

The application of pure chitosan films is significantly limited due to their poor mechanical properties. In this study, a novel type of chitosan/hyperbranched polyethylenimine (CHP) and chitosan/hyperbranched polyethylenimine/Fe 3+ (CHPF) films with high toughness and good antibacterial activity were prepared through a noncovalent crosslinking method. From the tensile test results, the strain and toughness of the CHP film increased by 798.1% and 292.3%, respectively, compared with pure chitosan film, after the addition of 20% hyperbranched polyethylenimine (HPEI). The addition of trace metal iron ions (3 mg) forms a metal coordination bond with the amine group on HPEI, as well as the hydroxyl group and amine group on chitosan, and develops a double noncovalent bond network structure with hydrogen bonding, which further enhances the mechanical tensile strength of the chitosan-based film, with an increase of 48.4%. Interestingly, HPEI and Fe 3+ can be used as switches to increase and decrease the fluorescence property of chitosan, respectively. Furthermore, the CHP and CHPF films showed good antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli ., Competing Interests: 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., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Soybean protein isolate (SPI) shows a broad application prospect in the food and packaging industry. However, its inferior mechanical properties and water resistance limit its application. In this work, a series of SPI-based composite films were prepared by combining with cellulose nanofiber (CNF), graphene oxide (GO), GO/CNF, ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EDGE) or GO/CNF/EGDE. The results show that by adding a small amount of reinforced materials (3%), the water resistance, hydrophilicity, mechanical properties and thermal stability of composite films were improved. The filling effect and hydrogen bonding of the reinforcing materials contribute to the formation of film structure. EGDE cross-link SPI with CNF and GO build a chemical network to improve the properties of the film. In addition, they could make a synergistic effect to better enhance the performance of a protein film. Therefore, the tensile strength and elastic modulus of the SGCE film reached 469.21% and 367.58%, respectively., Competing Interests: 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., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

TRPV1 is a ligand-gated ion channel and plays an important role in detecting noxious heat and pain with an unknown mechanism. RhTx from Chinese red-headed centipede activates the TRPV1 channel through the heat activation pathway by binding to the outer pore region, and causes extreme pain. Here, we synthesized RhTx and its retro-isomer RL-RhTx. Their structures were investigated by their circular dichroic spectra and NMR spectra. The effect of RhTx and RL-RhTx on the currents of wild-type and mutants of TRPV1 indicated that RL-RhTx have comparable TRPV1 activation responses to RhTx. A mutagenesis study showed that four TRPV1 residues, including Leu461, Asp602, Tyr632 and Thr634, significantly contributed to the activation effects of RL-RhTx and RhTx, and both peptides probably bind with TRPV1 in similar binding modes. As a novel TRPV1 activator, RL-RhTx provides an essential powerful tool for the investigation of activation mechanisms of TRPV1., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)