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In this paper, CoMn-layered double hydroxide (CoMn-LDH) was synthesized by the co-precipitation method, and it was applied to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for degradation of bisphenol A (BPA). The results showed that CoMn-LDH with regular morphology and high purity was successfully prepared. The results of BPA degradation experiments showed that the oxidation system had high ability to degrade BPA. The degradation efficiency of BPA reached 95.33% after 90 min at room temperature, pH = 7.0, a PMS concentration of 2.0 mmol L−1 and 0.3 g L−1 catalyst. And the removal rate of total organic carbon (TOC), indicating the mineralization degree of BPA, was 55.83% in 90 min. Finally, the catalytic mechanism of the reaction was preliminarily investigated using radical trapping experiments and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Free radical trapping experiments showed that OH˙ and SO4˙− radicals were produced in the reaction process, and OH˙ was the main active radical. CoMn-LDH showed excellent stability and reusability in cycling experiments, and had good practical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, there have been major developments in transition metal-catalyzed asymmetric cyclization reactions, enabling the convenient access to a wide spectrum of structurally diverse chiral carbo- and hetero-cycles, common skeletons found in fine chemicals, natural products, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and materials. In particular, a plethora of enantioselective cyclization reactions have been promoted by chiral palladium catalysts owing to their outstanding features. This review aims to collect the latest advancements in enantioselective palladium-catalyzed cyclization reactions over the past eleven years, and it is organized into thirteen sections depending on the different types of transformations involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separation of plasma which is full of various biomarkers is critical for clinical diagnosis. However, the point-of-care plasma separation often relies on microfluidic filtration membranes which are usually limited in purity, yield, hemolysis, extraction speed, hematocrit level, and protein recovery. Here, we have developed a high-performance plasma membrane separation technique based on a Janus membrane and red blood cell (RBC) agglutination reaction. The RBC agglutination reaction can form larger RBC aggregates to separate plasma from blood cells. Then, the Janus membrane, serving as a multipore microfilter to block large RBC aggregates, allows the plasma to flow from the hydrophobic side to its hydrophilic side spontaneously. As a result, the separation technique can extract highly-purified plasma (99.99%) from whole blood with an ultra-high plasma yield (∼80%) in ∼80 s. Additionally, the separation technique is independent of the hematocrit level and can avoid hemolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioinspired transformation of small-molecules to energy-related feedstocks is an attractive research area to overcome both the environmental issues and the depletion of fossil fuels. The highly effective metalloenzymes in nature provide blueprints for the utilization of bioinspired metal complexes for artificial photosynthesis. Through simpler structural and functional mimics, the representative herein is the pivotal development of several critical small molecule conversions catalyzed by metal complexes, e.g., water oxidation, proton and CO2 reduction and organic chemical transformation of small molecules. Of great achievement is the establishment of bioinspired metal complexes as catalysts with high stability, specific selectivity and satisfactory efficiency to drive the multiple-electron and multiple-proton processes related to small molecule transformation. Also, potential opportunities and challenges for future development in these appealing areas are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facile activation and conversion of small molecules (e.g., H2O, CO2, N2, CH4, and C6H6) into solar fuels or value-added chemicals under mild conditions is an attractive pathway in dealing with the worldwide appeal of energy consumption and the growing demand of industrial feedstocks. Compared with conventional thermo- or electro-catalytic approaches, the protocol of photocatalysis shines light on green and low-cost storage of sunlight in chemical bonds. For instance, artificial photosynthesis is an effective way to split H2O into molecular O2 and H2, thereby storing solar energy in the form of hydrogen fuel. Because of rational tunability in band gaps, charge-carrier dynamics, exposed active sites and catalytic redox activities by tailoring size, composition, morphology, surface, and/or interface property, semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) emerge as very promising candidates for photo-induced small molecule activation, including H2O splitting, CO2 reduction, N2 fixation, CH4 conversion and chemical bond formation (e.g., S–S, C–C, C–N, C–P, C–O). In this review, we summarize the recent advances in small molecule activation via artificial photosynthesis using semiconductor NCs, especially those consisting of II–VI and III–V elements. Moreover, we highlight the intrinsic advantages of semiconductor NCs in this field and look into the fabrication of prototype devices for large-scale and sustainable small molecule activation to store solar energy in chemical bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoelectrochemistry enables the formation of a variety of active intermediates for organic synthesis in an environmentally friendly manner. Herein, a photoelectrochemical cell is fabricated to realize activation of P–H/C–H bonds for cross-coupling hydrogen evolution. As compared with an electrochemical cell, nearly 90% external bias input is saved to drive the C–P bond construction with good to excellent yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To mitigate Zn corrosion, dendrite growth and hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) in Zn-anode based electrochromic devices, hydrophobic CuZn5 alloy was coated on Zn@CuZn with lower nucleation potential, high coulombic efficiency, inhibited HER, and prolonged reversibility, enabling improved switching kinetics and cycling stability in an electrochromic Zn@CuZn‖‖Prussian Blue (PB) device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadband emissions from low-dimensional hybrid perovskites have aroused intense interest. However, the achievement of broadband red emission in lead halide perovskites remains challenging. Herein, we report a one-dimensional (1D) hybrid lead bromide perovskitoid, (HM)Pb2Br6 (HM = hexamethonium), featuring a corrugated "3 × 3" [Pb2Br6]2− chain. The unique structure results in intriguingly red emission peaking at 692 nm, with a PLQY of around 6.24%. Our spectroscopic and computational studies reveal that the red emission derives from self-localized Pb23+, Pb3+ and Br2− species confined within the inorganic lead bromide lattice that function as radiative centres. This finding will benefit the design of perovskite systems for efficient red emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luminescence concentration quenching, mainly due to a cross relaxation (CR) process between lanthanide ions (Ln3+), widely occurs in Ln3+ doped luminescent materials, setting a limit in the dopant content of Ln3+ emitters to withhold the brightness. Here, we introduced Na+ ions into the CaF2 host lattice codoped with Nd3+ emitters that alleviates concentration quenching greatly. And we show that the optimal dopant concentration of Nd3+ in colloidal CaF2:Nd nanoparticles increased from 10 to 30 mol%, resulting in an ∼32 times near-infrared (NIR) (1052 nm) brightness under 800 nm laser irradiation. Our mechanistic investigation suggests that the enhancement of NIR photo-luminescence (PL) could be attributed to not only the increasing crystallinity of nanoparticles but also the reducing concentration quenching of Nd3+ by improving the dopant distribution of Nd3+ ions in the CaF2 lattice, as evidenced by the high angle annular dark field images. These result in the optimal concentration increase to produce brightness enhancement greatly. This strategy can be utilized for other Ln3+ doped CaF2 based nanomaterials for bio-imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microarray technology provides an excellent platform for biomedical and biochemical research including basic scientific studies, drug discovery, and diagnostics. Here, we develop a novel method referred to as real-time two-photon lithography in a controlled flow in which femtosecond laser two-photon lithography is performed in situ in the sequential mode stopping and flowing the flow of liquid resin containing microparticles to achieve 100% trapping on a one-bead-to-one-trap basis. Polydisperse particles can be all trapped to form a desired array by freely designing trap structures, resulting in an unprecedentedly high capture efficiency of ∼100%. No persistent pressure is needed after trapping which reduces the complexity of the system. In addition, trapping of particle-cluster arrays with a controlled number of particles is also achieved via this method. The trapped particles inside the microchip are successfully applied as microlenses for high quality imaging. The present technology marks an essential step towards a versatile platform for the integration of bead-based assays and paves the way for developing innovative microfluidics, optofluidics, micro-optics and single-cell analysis devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The employment of β,β-disubstituted enones as dipolarophiles poses a considerable challenge due to their steric hindrance and low reactivity. A copper-catalyzed asymmetric exo-selective dipolar cycloaddition of β-trifluoromethyl β,β-disubstituted enones with azomethine ylides was developed, which provides an efficient access to valuable pyrrolidines bearing a trifluoromethylated all-carbon quaternary stereocenter. Up to quantitative yields with up to ＞20 : 1 dr and 99% ee were delivered. A broad substrate scope, good functional group tolerance, high stereoselectivity, as well as diverse synthetically valuable transformations of the products make this approach highly attractive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel chiral oxazoline copper(II)-based complex {[Cu(C13H14NO3S)2]}2 (Cu-A) was synthesized by an in situ reaction using L -methioninol, 4-hydroxyisophthalaldehyde, sodium hydroxide and copper(II) nitrate trihydrate as reactants. Its crystal structure was characterized. In vitro, Cu-A was superior to cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum (DDP) in cytotoxicity and angiogenesis inhibition. Cu-A significantly induced apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells (SKOV3) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), showing significant anti-ovarian cancer and anti-angiogenesis effects. Notably, Cu-A significantly inhibits the growth of ovarian cancer in nude mice xenografted with SKOV3 cells, and it is less renal toxic than DDP. The molecular mechanism of anti-ovarian cancer and anti-angiogenesis is possibly that it down-regulates the expression of the proteins ERK1/2, AKT, FAK, and VEGFR2 and their phosphorylated proteins p-ERK1/2, p-AKT, p-FAK, and p-VEGFR2 in the VEGF/VEGFR2 signal transduction pathway to inhibit SKOV3 cell and HUVEC proliferation, induce apoptosis, suppress migration and metastasis, and inhibit angiogenesis. What's more, Cu-A significantly inhibits ovarian tumor growth in vivo by inhibiting tumor cells from inducing vascular endothelial cells to form their own vasculature and by inhibiting the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and up-regulating the expression of the pro-apoptotic proteins Caspase-9 and Bax to induce apoptosis of tumor cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their enhanced light harvesting, favored interfacial charge transfer and excellent proton reduction activity, hybrid photocatalysts of metallic 1T-MoS2 nanosheets and inorganic-ligand stabilized CdSe/ZnS QDs obtained via a self-assembly approach can produce H2 gas with a rate of ∼155 ± 3.5 μmol h−1 mg−1 under visible-light irradiation (λ = 410 nm), the most exceptional performance of solar H2 evolution using MoS2 as a cocatalyst known to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six families of new lanthanide coordination polymers, [Ln2(L)6(H2O)2]n·3nH2O (Ln = Nd (1), Sm (2), Eu (3), Gd (4), Tb (5), Dy (6), Ho (7), Er (8), Yb (9)), [Pr2(L)2(ox)2(H2O)4]n·9nH2O (10), [Pr2(L)2(glu)2(H2O)2]n (11), [Er2(L)2(glu)2]n (12), [Nd2(L)2(adip)2]n (13), [Ln2(L)2(1,2-bdc)2(H2O)2]n (Ln = Eu (14), Gd (15), Er (16)), (HL = 4′-(2-carboxyphenyl)-4,2′:6′,4′′-terpyridine, H2ox = oxalic acid, H2glu = glutaric acid, H2adip = adipic acid, H2(1,2-bdc) = benzene-1,2-dicarboxylic acid) were synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and characterized by elemental analysis, IR and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds 1–9 are isomorphic 1D chain structures based on binuclear Ln(iii) units. Compound 10 is a 1D chain, where L− ligands dangle on two sides of the Pr-ox zigzag chain. Compounds 11 and 12 exhibit distinct 2D-layer structures consisting of Ln2(COO)4 binuclear units. Compound 13 displays an appealing 3D network structure, where the auxiliary ligand H2adip plays a significant role in the self-assembly process. Compounds 14–16 present a 1D-chain structure which is extended to a 2D-supramolecular framework by means of weak interactions. The diverse structures further verify the potential of HL ligand in the preparation of coordination polymers with new structures and properties. The effects of auxiliary ligands and coordination modes of HL ligand on the crystal architectures are discussed. The solid-state luminescence and thermal stabilities of compounds 1–16 also were studied. Based on the luminescent properties, we have designed and constructed successfully a series of doped-lanthanide MOF by adjusting the co-doping ratio of Eu(iii) and Tb(iii) into the same framework as that of 1–9. Interestingly, the luminescent colors of the Eu(iii)-doped Tb(iii) compounds can be tuned with change of excitation wavelength. Moreover, white-light emission was achieved on excitation at 330 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the high synthetic value of deuteration in the pharmaceutical industry, we describe herein the conversion of a range of aromatic ketones to deuterium-labeled products in good to excellent yields. Efficient and site-selective deuteration of benzyl alcohols by D2O with visible light irradiation of quantum dots (QDs), together with gram-scale synthesis and photocatalyst recycling experiments indicated the potential of the developed method in practical organic synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we present a novel swing-elution-based method to achieve rapid, cost-effective, and easily identifiable blood typing assays. Specifically, the method aims to swing the microfluidic cotton thread-based analytical devices (μCTADs) in PBS solution to effectively elute free red blood cells (RBCs) and allow large agglutinated RBCs to remain to precisely determine the blood type. In order to ensure an easily identifiable blood typing assay, fast swing mode needs to be used, and the elution time is evaluated to be >50 seconds. The created μCTADs have been used to successfully classify ABO and RhD blood types in 56 blood samples. Finally, in order to enhance the convenience and portability of blood typing, a blood-typing chip that utilizes a PBS liquid bridge to effectively elute the free RBCs is designed and fabricated based on the above swing-elution principle. Compared with the traditional wicking-elution methods that rely on the wicking effect to weakly elute the RBCs, our method possesses a stronger elution effect to remove the free RBCs inside the inter-fiber gaps or adhered to the fiber surface, resulting in effectively enhancing the identifiability of the elution results and minimizing user interpretation error. Given the simplicity of the blood typing method, we believe that our blood typing method has great potential to be widely applied in resource-limited and developing regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to value-added chemicals under mild conditions is highly desired, albeit with significant challenges. Here, in terms of exposure of abundant active sites and excellent photo-to-thermal conversion properties, flower-like Co2C has been firstly used for effectively catalysing the cycloaddition of CO2 with epoxides to produce cyclic carbonates with yields of up to 95% under solar light. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that Lewis acid sites of the surface Co atoms can activate both CO2 and epoxide, thus opening up the possibility of a CO2-epoxide cycloaddition reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to promoted electron–hole separation, the catalytic activity of semiconducting quantum dots (QDs) towards solar hydrogen (H2) production has been significantly enhanced by forming self-assembled clusters with ZnSe QDs made ex situ. Taking advantage of the favored interparticle hole transfer to ZnSe QDs, the rate of solar H2 evolution of CdSe QDs can be increased to ∼30 000 μmol h−1 g−1 with ascorbic acid as the sacrificial reagent, ∼150-fold higher than that of bare CdSe QDs clusters under the same conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-assembly, the autonomous organization of components to form patterns or structures, is a prevalent process in nature at all scales. Particularly, biological systems offer remarkable examples of diverse structures (as well as building blocks) and processes resulting from self-assembly. The exploration of bioinspired assemblies not only allows for mimicking the structures of living systems, but it also leads to functions for applications in different fields that benefit humans. In the last several decades, efforts on understanding and controlling self-assembly of small molecules have produced a large library of candidates for developing the biomedical applications of assemblies of small molecules. Moreover, recent findings in biology have provided new insights on the assemblies of small molecules to modulate essential cellular processes (such as apoptosis). These observations indicate that the self-assembly of small molecules, as multifaceted entities and processes to interact with multiple proteins, can have profound biological impacts on cells. In this review, we illustrate that the generation of assemblies of small molecules in cell milieu with their interactions with multiple cellular proteins for regulating cellular processes can result in primary phenotypes, thus providing a fundamentally new molecular approach for controlling cell behavior. By discussing the correlation between molecular assemblies in nature and the assemblies of small molecules in cell milieu, illustrating the functions of the assemblies of small molecules, and summarizing some guiding principles, we hope this review will stimulate more molecular scientists to explore the bioinspired self-assembly of small molecules in cell milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we developed an ultrathin filtering membrane with slit-shaped pores which can achieve circulating tumor cell (CTC) separation from whole blood with high performance (high capture efficiency, high white blood cell (WBC) depletion, and high viability). The silicon nitride (Si3N4) filtering membrane was fabricated via the standard microfabrication technology, which can be easily scaled up to mass-production. 6 μm was determined as the optimum width of the filtering pores to better separate CTCs in whole blood, which can reach a high capture efficiency of ∼96%. Meanwhile, the filtering membrane with a high porosity of 34% demonstrated high WBC depletion (∼99.99%). Furthermore, the ultrathin (thickness: 200 nm) Si3N4 membrane facilitated the capture of CTCs with high viability (∼90%). Finally, the microfluidic chip was successfully applied to separate CTCs in whole blood samples from cancer patients and used for molecular examination. These results indicate that this microfluidic chip facilitates the clinical application of CTC-based liquid biopsy technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we report for the first time a simple and robust method for constructing a 3D microfluidic analytical device on a single piece of hydrophobic cotton cloth. Specifically, laser scanning technology was applied to process hydrophilic regions at the top and bottom of a single piece of hydrophobic cloth. Symmetrical hydrophilic regions at the bottom and top constituted vertical microfluidic channels, and asymmetrical hydrophilic regions constituted transverse flow channels. Liquid flow velocity in 3D cloth-based microchannels can be adjusted flexibly by modifying laser parameters, and programmable laser scanning can be utilized to process 3D microfluidic devices with various patterns. Single-piece 3D cloth-based microfluidic devices formed via this method can be used in many fields such as information encryption and anti-counterfeiting, multi-liquid printing and liquid mixing dilution. Compared to traditional processing methods of 3D cloth-based microfluidic devices, the laser scanning method eliminates multiple complex and repetitive assembly processes, which is a significant advance in this research area. This processing method provides a new option for fast and large-scale manufacturing of 3D cloth-based microfluidic analysis devices for point-of-care testing application in undeveloped regions/countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzymatic noncovalent synthesis enables the spatiotemporal control of multimolecular crowding in cells, thus offering a unique opportunity for modulating cellular functions. This article introduces some representative enzymes and molecular building blocks for generating peptide assemblies as multimolecular crowding in cells, highlights the relevant biomedical applications, such as anticancer therapy, molecular imaging, trafficking proteins, genetic engineering, artificial intracellular filaments, cell morphogenesis, and antibacterial, and briefly discusses the promises of ENS as a multistep molecular process in biology and medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manganese formate complexes, HMn(η2-O2CH) and Mn(η2-O2CH), are formed through MnH2 and MnH reactions with CO2 in solid parahydrogen and identified by matrix infrared spectroscopy with the basis of isotopic substitutions and theoretical frequency calculations. The reaction mechanism has been proposed that the reaction proceeds by concerted hydride ion transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum dots with narrow emission line width have persistently received attention for their applications in biological imaging, lasers and next-generation displays. We herein report a cation exchange assisted shelling approach changing the starting CdSe emitting cores into new ZnCdSe alloy emitting cores and finally ZnCdSe/ZnSe core/shell QDs. The resulting ZnCdSe/ZnSe QDs exhibit an emission line width as narrow as 17.1 nm with a near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield and a single emission channel. We anticipate that our study on a cation exchange assisted synthetic route for controlling the emission line widths of the QDs could be extended to high-quality green and blue ones beyond currently achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of blue quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) lags far behind that of the red and green ones, which hinders the practical commercialization of QLEDs. Balancing the charge transfer still remains a challenging task, because blue QD emitters have a deeper valence band (VB) that creates a great injection barrier impeding the hole transfer. Herein, we demonstrate that the charge transfer balance can be improved by using a tert-butyldimethylsilyl chloride-modified poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (TBS-PBO) blocking layer. The TBS-PBO acts well in blocking excess electron injection and preserving the emission efficiency of the QD emitter. Compared to the insulating blocking layers, TBS-PBO has good conductivity, thus keeping the current density at a high level. Our device delivers a notable luminance of 4635 cd m−2 at an external quantum efficiency (EQE) maximum of 17.4%. To the best of our knowledge, the luminance with EQE ＞ 17% is the highest one to be reported for blue QLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we show the use of branched peptides (i.e., isopeptides) as the substrates of proteases for generating supramolecular hydrogels via enzymatically clipping the branch off the peptides. As the first report of using a protease to cut branched peptides to enable a molecular process for converting nanostructures, this work illustrates a fundamentally new molecular motif for exploring the applications of protease-instructed self-assembly for soft materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this review, supramolecular catalysis refers to the integration of the catalytic process with molecular self-assembly driven by noncovalent interactions, and dynamic assemblies are the assemblies that form and dissipate reversibly. Cells extensively employ supramolecular catalysis and dynamic assemblies for controlling their complex functions. The dynamic generation of supramolecular assemblies of small molecules has made considerable progress in the last decade, though the disassembly processes remain underexplored. Here, we discuss the regulation of dynamic assemblies via self-assembly and disassembly processes for therapeutics and diagnostics. We first briefly introduce the self-assembly and disassembly processes in the context of cells, which provide the rationale for designing approaches to control the assemblies. Then, we describe recent advances in designing and regulating the self-assembly and disassembly of small molecules, especially for molecular imaging and anticancer therapeutics. Finally, we provide a perspective on future directions of the research on supramolecular catalysis and dynamic assemblies for medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we reported the first case in which enhancing self-assembling ability boosts anti-cancer efficacy through a simple and minimal modification of the C-terminus of a d-tripeptide. By only a 2% change of the molecular weight, this facile approach increases the inhibitory activity by over an order of magnitude (IC50 from 431 to 23 μM) towards an osteosarcoma cell line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An amphiphilic polymeric micelle is utilized as a microreactor to load a hydrophobic [FeFe]-hydrogenase mimic in water. The local concentration enhancement and strong interaction between the mimic and the photosensitizer as well as the water-mediated fast proton migration caused by the microreactor improve photocatalytic hydrogen production remarkably in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the first application of layered double hydroxide as a photocatalyst in the transformation of primary aromatic amines to their corresponding imines with high efficiency and selectivity by using oxygen in an air atmosphere as a terminal oxidant under light irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies hydrogels created by photopolymerization with a uniform beam of light. Under some conditions the density profiles of the resulting hydrogels were uniform cylinders, mirroring the illumination profiles. However, under other conditions, gels with hollow cylindrical shapes were formed. We studied the photopolymerization of poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (pNIPAAM), a hydrogel that has been widely used in tissue engineering and microfluidic applications, and examined how the size and uniformity of pNIPAAM microscopic gels can be controlled by varying parameters such as exposure time, exposure area, exposure intensity, monomer concentration, photoinitiator concentration and terminator concentration. A simplified reaction–diffusion model of the polymerization process was developed and was found to describe the experiment for a wide range of parameters. This general framework will guide attempts to establish optimal conditions for the construction of microscopic hydrogels using photolithography, which is a method that has found applications in fields such as microfluidics, drug delivery, cell and tissue culturing, and high resolution 3D printing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general and facile method is reported for the synthesis of a wide range of metal sulfide nanocrystals including silver sulfide, zinc sulfide, cadmium sulfide, lead sulfide, bismuth sulfide, tin sulfide, iron sulfide and copper sulfide, etc.This method is based on the thermal decomposition of single-source precursors composed of metal-diethyldithiocarbamate in solution phase. By this method, not only the size and shape but also the chemical composition of the products can be easily controlled. Furthermore, these as-synthesized metal sulfides with different sizes, shapes and chemical compositions exhibit novel optical, electronic and magnetic properties, such as near-infrared (NIR) photoluminescence (PL), strong ferromagnetism and excellent electrochemical properties. We expect that this facile methodology for metal sulfides synthesis can be generalized to other nanocrystals synthesis, and be of high importance to explore the new properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzymatic transformation is a fundamental process to control ligand–receptor interactions among proteins for signal transduction in cells. Here we report the first example of enzymatic transformation regulated ligand–receptor interactions of small molecules, in which enzymatic reaction changes the stoichiometry of the ligand–receptor binding from 1 : 1 to 1 : 2. We also show that this unique integration of enzymatic transformation and ligand–receptor interactions of small molecules is able to affect the fate of cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imparting aromatic–aromatic interactions to the potassium binding epitope affords a supramolecular hydrogelator that responds to the K+concentration by self-assembly into nanofibers of different widths and crosslinking patterns, which illustrates a simple approach to generate biomimic materials based on tunable, hierarchical self-assembly of small molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and specific divalent vancomycin–porphyrin has been developed. This divalent vancomycin–porphyrin conjugate indicates promising properties in fluorescent imaging and photodynamic inactivation of vancomycin-sensitive and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) bacterial strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the first example of the use of an enzymatic reaction to generate a photoresponsive hydrogelator, which represents a convenient route to expand the scope of optically controlled molecular self-assembly in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]