Search

Inspired by biomaterials with hard and soft structures, we reported a type of self-healed, recyclable and antimicrobial elastomers material (ECTS) which exhibited both strong mechanical strength and high toughness. ECTS was designed by furfuryl amine modified epoxy natural rubber (ENR-FA) and furaldehyde modified chitosan (CTS-FUR) through Diels-Alder (D-A) reaction. The dynamic loading capacity of the chitosan skeleton, the stress ductility of the matrix and the dynamic cross-linking between the hard and soft components gave the elastomer excellent mechanical strength, toughness and self-healing ability. The tensile strength and the elongation at break could reach up to 7.55 MPa and 487%, respectively. In addition, due to the reversibility of the covalent bond between chitosan framework and rubber matrix, the crosslinking network destroyed by external force could be reestablished under high temperature stimulation. The mechanical properties of the sample could be restored to more than 90% of the original sample, whether it was complete fracture, cyclic damage or recyclable. ECTS exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against both gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa), with antibacterial efficiency more than 99%. So, ECTS might has a promising application prospect in medical materials, intelligent devices, 4D-printing, etc. • CTS-FUR formed a continuous framework in ENR-FA, which made the product have bionic structure. • Biomimetic constructs greatly enhance strength and toughness of ECTS. • ECTS has excellent self-healing, recyclable and antibacterial ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, silicone superhydrophobic coatings are attracting much attention in the fields of anti-corrosion and antifouling, so they have a broad application prospect. In this paper, superhydrophobic surfaces with continuous micro/nano structure were prepared on various substrates using a simple blending method similar to the conventional preparation of RT vulcanized silicone rubber. The difference was that the new kinds of crosslinker (MF-S) was synthesized by 3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethocysilane and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. Linear fluorinated copolymer (L-SF) was prepared by free radical polymerization of 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane (MPTES) and 1H, 1H, 7H-dodecafluoroheptyl methacrylate (DFMA). And the condensation reaction with α, ω-dihydroxypodimethylsiloxane (PDMS), tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), and inorganic nanoparticles constructed superhydrophobic coatings with continuous micro- and nanostructures. The coating had a water contact angle (WCA) of up to 162° and a sliding angle (SA) as low as 2°. What's more, the WCA of the coating remained around 160° and the SA stayed below 5° after sandpaper abrasion, UV irradiation, and hot and cold treatment. The adhesion of the coating on different substrates was higher than 2 MPa. Due to the synergistic effect of the superhydrophobicity of the coating and the photocatalytic activity of the TiO 2 nanoparticles, the coating achieves an antimicrobial efficiency of 97.8 % against Staphylococcus aureus. The synergistic effect of the air layer and the densification of the coating resulted in the electrical impedance modulus at the lowest frequency of the coating remaining two orders of magnitude higher than that of the bare carbon steel plate after several days of immersion in sodium chloride solution. The work showed great potential for application in anti-corrosion and anti-fouling coatings. [Display omitted] • Fast curing to film at room temperature • The coating had a continuous micro/nano structure. • The coating had excellent mechanical stability and durability. • The coating could reveal a new super-hydrophobic surface after mechanical wear. • The coating provided excellent corrosion, contamination and antimicrobial resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waterborne polyurethane (WPU) coatings with antibacterial properties have attracted extensive attention. Herein, we proposed a molecular design strategy was used to establish a series of castor oil/tung oil based WPU antibacterial coatings. By introducing conjugated double bonds of tung oil into WPU skeleton, electrostatic interaction by zwitterion and bacterial division inhibition by conjugated double bonds achieved the synergistic antibacterial effects. To our delight, inspired by lotus leaves, the scanning electron microscope test revealed the bionic micro-nano embedded structure was constructed on the surface of WPU using siloxane-modified nanocellulose (CNC@MTES). The destruction of the phosphorus layers and superhydrophobicity grant the material to have quadruple synergistic antibacterial effects. The antibacterial rates of WPU coatings on E. coli and S. aureus were more than 99.6% and played the mildew protection effect. What's more, peroxy bond formed by unique oxidative cross-linking induced self-reinforcing to enhanced the mechanical properties (the stress and Young's modulus of coating enhanced by 122.06% and 2368% respectively). Strong bonding between CNC@MTES and WPU ensured the durability of the coating, which was still effectively antibacterial and hydrophobic after 400 friction cycles. This research offered an innovative and effective method for coating to be widely used in product packaging, medical devices, smart glass and other fields. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadening the range of practical applications of self-healing materials has become a research hotspot for the development of durable and smart materials. This study the development of a hydrogen bond-rich of self-healing elastomer, formed by the combination of disulfide and diazolidinyl urea (DU) cross-linked polyurethane polymers (PDD). The prepared polyurethane elastomer material possessed extremely high mechanical properties (including a stress of 25 MPa and high toughness of 306 MJ/m3). Besides, PDD exhibited an excellent self-healing performance. Even if it is subjected to long-term tensile deformation or extreme strain, it could recover almost completely to its initial state within 12 h in a 60 °C environment. In addition, the synergistic effect of diazolidinylurea and element S on the polymer film gave the material excellent antimicrobial properties. Finally, we added carbon nanotubes into the polyurethane system and assembled them into smart sensors for applications in flexible electronic devices. The versatility of this sensor has been demonstrated in human motion applications. [Display omitted] • The synthesized polyurethane has very high mechanical properties. • It can be restored to its initial state within 12 h after long-term stretching. • The material possess excellent antibacterial ability. • CNTs endow the material excellent electrical conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hull and subsea equipment are often plagued by widespread marine biofouling, so developing a sustainable environmental protection antifouling paint is urgent. The study designed and developed an antifouling composite coating system (E44-Ag-PGI) with a synergistic antibacterial effect based on the dual strategy of the bacteriostatic effect of stereochemical structure on polymer surface and release sterilization of metal nanoparticles. Firstly, an antifouling agent (PGI) was prepared by simple radical polymerization by combining glycidyl methacrylate with borneol, a complex bicyclic monoterpene structure extracted from plants. Then bisphenol A epoxy resin with strong adhesion to metal was selected as the base material. The synthetic antifouling agent with epoxy groups was polymerized in situ into the epoxy resin network, and compared with pure epoxy resin, the elongation at break of E44-Ag-PGI coating with 20 % PGI content increased from 40.37 % to 124.8 %, which was mainly attributed to the introduction of a soft chain of antifouling agent polymer, which improved the flexibility of the coating. Meanwhile, the antibacterial efficiency of the coating against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus was 97.69 % and 95.9 %, respectively. This excellent antibacterial performance was mainly attributed to the synergistic antibacterial action of natural borneol and AgNPs. In addition, the biofilm and diatom resistance experiments of the coating showed that the coating also has an excellent antifouling effect. This provided a new research idea for environmentally friendly antifouling coatings. [Display omitted] • Surface stereochemical bacteriostasis and release bactericidal dual strategies • Environmental protection antifouling agent based on natural borneol synthesi. • Antifouling agent is introduced into epoxy resin network by in-situ polymerization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Designed at the micro level with bio-based as raw material. • Conjugate toughening and crosslinking enhancement are coregulated. • Significantly reduced dissociation energy of reversible covalent bonds. • Excellent self-healing and recyclable performance. The three-dimensional network crosslinking structure of a vitrimer provides excellent mechanical strength and thermal stability, which are crucial for practical applications. However, achieving a harmonious balance between rigidity and toughness presents coordination difficulties that impede their broad applications. Herein, we propose a new regulatory strategy for high toughness using a functional vitrimer based on vanillin and dihydroxy fatty monoamines. The electron delocalization effect of the conjugated structures was used to coordinate the design of the crosslinking points to adjust the topological transformation temperature of the materials. The conjugate complement of the rigid benzene ring and imine bond caused a shift in the electron cloud distribution in the material, which effectively lowered the energy barrier for the exchange of imine bonds in the crosslinked network. The imine bond dissociation energy decreased from 170.75 to 97.80 kcal/mol compared with the uniform conjugation. The exchange rate of dynamic covalent bonds was accelerated at the same temperature, which is conducive to the functionalization of materials under realistic conditions. The strain in the vitrimer obtained in this study increased significantly under the action of external forces. Furthermore, the crosslinking density of the system was improved using multiple epoxy groups to avoid stress loss. The vitrimer obtained in this study exhibited a tensile strength of 35.6 MPa and an elongation at break of 247.7%. In addition, the synthesized vitrimer showed excellent welding, healing, and shape memory performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A deep eutectic solvent with hydrogen bond acceptors as a polymerizable component is proposed for the first time. • The formation mechanism of deep eutectic solvent was demonstrated by DFT calculation. • A new strategy for inducing PVA crystallization with deep eutectic solvent was proposed. • Eutectic gels are self-healing, recyclable, resistant to low and high temperatures, tear resistance and high strength. The polymerizable deep eutectic gel has become one of the essential materials for wearable electronic devices because of its low volatility, excellent ionic conductivity, and electrochemical stability. Finding strategies to improve the strength of gel-like materials was a huge challenge. In this paper, we present for the first time a deep eutectic solvent (DESD) with hydrogen bond acceptors as polymerizable components. We also discover a new strategy for inducing PVA crystallization with it as the core. Using DESD can induce PVA crystallization extremely easily, avoiding the complicated steps of traditional PVA hydrogels which need to cycle freeze–thaw to induce crystallization. The crystalline domain formed by PVA acts as the physical cross-linking site, greatly enhancing the strength (stress up to 4 MPa, strain up to 1558%) and tear resistance (tearing energy up to 12.3 kJ/m2) of eutectic gel. The fully non-covalent cross-linked structure made eutectic gels have excellent self-healing ability (99%) and recycling ability. This strategy provided a new idea for the preparation of high-strength ionic conductive gel. High strength and recyclability gave gel great development space in the engineering application field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A special ultimate tensile enhancement method. • High strength mechanical properties and fast self - repair. • The elastomer has excellent recovery effect and degradability. How to develop polyurethane elastomer with excellent mechanical properties and quick repair ability under mild conditions still needs to be overcome and improved. The transformation from static amorphous structure to dynamic crystalline state is an important factor for natural rubber to obtain high elasticity and mechanical properties. Therefore, with the aim of strengthening the dynamic crystalline phase of polycarbonate, a kind of high-strength and fast self-healing polyurethane elastomer with dual-phase transformation function was prepared by molecular conformation design. After testing, the mechanical strength of the elastomer is about 47 MPa, and the fracture energy is about 216 J/m2. Under mild conditions, rapid self-repair can be achieved within 1000 minutes, and the repair efficiency is as high as 95%, which is far higher than that of previously reported high toughness materials. Through the microstructure test, it is found that ultimate tensile hardening strategy of elastomers is the key to obtain high mechanical properties. Loose amorphous structure endows the elastomer with excellent dynamic properties, which is conducive to the rearrangement of disulfide bonds in the structure, so that the elastomer can quickly self-repair in a short time. In addition, the elastomer is easy to recycle and biodegrade (the degradation rate is 30.4% at 35 days), which provides an excellent strategy for the design of a new generation of electronic skin carriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Efficacy of FHD treating NS was quantified by Rd method based on metabolomics. • 6 h after dosing was a key period of FHD treating NS based on the integrated research. • Correlation coefficient method was suitable for integrated pharmacokinetic research of FHD. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is characterized by its multiple components. The utilization of mathematical statistical methods to integrate the pharmacokinetics of monomer components can provide a comprehensive understanding of the holistic pharmacokinetic process of TCM. Two distinct integrated methods, namely the correlation coefficient method and the AUC-based weight coefficient method, were employed in this study to elucidate and compare their differences in the integrated pharmacokinetic research of Fangji Huangqi decoction (FHD). FHD is commonly used in clinical practice to treat the nephrotic syndrome. Firstly, one-dose FHD was given to doxorubicin-induced nephropathy (DN) rats, and the prototype compounds of FHD and their metabolites in plasma were qualitatively and semi-quantitatively analyzed by UHPLC-MS/MS. Secondly, the efficacy of FHD was quantitatively characterized by the relative distance method based on metabolomics. The correlation coefficients were obtained by analyzing the correlation between efficacy (relative distance values) and the content of compound, and they were subsequently used for the model integration (correlation coefficient method). Thirdly, the effective compounds of FHD treating DN were screened by integrating network pharmacology and molecular docking, and they were used for another integrated pharmacokinetic model by AUD-based weight coefficient method. Finally, the 2 integrated methods and the 2 integrated pharmacokinetic models were compared. In this study, 30 prototype compounds and 41 metabolites of FHD in plasma were identified, and the pharmacokinetic curve of 18 prototype compounds were built. The efficacy of FHD in the treatment of DN has been relatively quantitation. The 2 established integrated pharmacokinetic models of FHD indicated that the correlation coefficient method was the optimal approach for conducting the integrated pharmacokinetic research on the TCM with unknown effective compounds, whereas the AUC-based coefficient method was suitable for the TCM with the clear effective compounds. The integrated pharmacokinetic models indicated that FHD had high bioavailability and an absorption peak at about 6 h after administration, indicating that the 6 h after administration was the critical period of FHD treating DN. This research would be helpful for the pharmacological and pharmacokinetic research of FHD, and provide a method reference for the integrated pharmacokinetic research of TCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Novel silicone coating with excellent resistant performance toward marine bacterial, biofilm and diatom. • Outstanding self-cleaning performance and fouling release ability. • Excellent mechanical properties and adhesion to steel. Nowadays, the development of sustainable nontoxic antifouling coatings is urgent. In this work, the isobornyl as antifouling groups and dodecfluoroheptyl were introduced into the silicone side chains to prepare the environment-friendly silicone antifouling coatings. The synergistic effect of natural borneol and dodecfluoroheptyl improved the static antifouling ability of silicone coating. The coatings exhibited good optical clarity (>92%, 400–800 nm), high adhesion (>2 MPa, steel plates) and excellent fouling release and self-cleaning ability. For example, PDMS-F-PIBO-23 coating had excellent antibacterial and antifouling activities. It's antibacterial resistance to marine bacteria (Pseudomonas sp.) reached 95.6%, which reduced the coverage area of biofilm by 86.9%, and effectively prevented the adhesion of diatoms. This remarkable antibacterial and antifouling performance was attributed to the complex molecular structure of natural non-toxic borneol and the enrichment of fluoropolymers. Field tests at Yellow Sea showed that the coating had good antifouling ability and could be used for >6 months. Most importantly, compared with traditional coatings containing toxic fungicides, the coating is less harmful to the marine ecological balance. This research provides more possibilities for marine antifouling coatings design and preparation which is expected to be applied in marine, medical and other antipollution fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • BSA-PCDN hydrogels were prepared by copolymerizing BSA with polymerizable monomers by utilizing the binding ability of albumin to drugs. • BSA-PCDN hydrogel improved the mechanical strength of natural protein hydrogel with a maximum stress of 1.17 MPa. • BSA-PCDN hydrogel has good biocompatibility and wound closure performance in mouse skin incision model. Hydrogels with good biocompatibility and the ability to maintain a moist environment at the wound site, as well as good drug-carrying capacity and slow-release properties, can be used as medical materials for wound dressings. Albumin is the primary plasma protein and the physiological carrier of a wide range of compounds, including drugs. To exploit the binding ability of albumin to drugs, we prepared bovine serum albumin-P (Acrylic acid- co -Acrylamide- co - N -Vinylpyrrolidone- co -Hydroxyethyl methacrylate- co -γ-(methacryloyloxy) propyltrimethoxysilane) double network hydrogels by copolymerizing BSA with various easy-to-polymerize monomers. The synthesized double network hydrogels can substantially improve the mechanical strength of natural protein-based hydrogels with a maximum stress of 1.17 MPa. Due to the good biocompatibility and stable drug release properties of BSA, in vitro evaluation in a mouse skin incision model showed that the hydrogels had a high wound closure effect, providing a feasible strategy for rapid skin wound healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogels with excellent biocompatibility have become hot topics in the field of flexible electronic wearability. However, high water content and poor mechanical properties limit its application, especially in low temperature environment. We filled the deep eutectic solvent (DES) into the porous structure of polyacrylamide hydrogel (PAAM) by impregnation displacement method. Free radical polymerization was performed in the hydrogel pores using a deep eutectic solvent to form a double-network composite gel with excellent mechanical properties and low temperature resistance. By adjusting the substitution ratio of polyacrylamide hydrogel and deep eutectic solvent, the conductive and mechanical properties of the composite gel were flexibly adjusted. There were a large number of amide and carboxyl functional groups in the composite gel with double network structure, which could form strong hydrogen bond interaction and gave the composite gel excellent mechanical properties (strain up to 1373 %, stress up to 3.14 MPa). In addition, the choline chloride in the deep eutectic solvent provided the gel with good electrical conductivity (∼0.21 ms/cm). Since the water in the composite gel was replaced by a deep eutectic solvent, the gel could resist low temperature (−20 ℃). The large stress-strain gels open up a new way to fabricate organic transparent conductive elastomers for a myriad of future applications in flexible electronics. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyurethane elastomers with outstanding mechanical properties were playing important roles in numerous fields. However, how to choose the tensile stress and strain of the material was a problem that we should consider. In order to solve the above difficulties, a hyperbranched way with hard and soft chain structure is proposed. Herein, we report a hydrogen bond rich strategy based on hyperbranched structure to address the above issue. The prepared polyurethane elastomer had excellent mechanical properties (tensile break strength to 41.8 MPa and stretchability to 2564.8%). Additionally, the self-healing efficiency of the material could reach 92.42% (70 °C). More importantly, PNHT shows a good adhesion strength (up to 730 KPa) due to the presence of TA. As a result, this work provided a reference for the preparation of high-toughness, high adhesion and healable elastomers. [Display omitted] • A new crosslinked polyester with high mechanical properties is synthesized. • Abundant hydrogen bonds solve the trade-off between mechanical strength and tensile properties • The material has excellent self-healing ability and adhesion • The internal mechanism of self-healing ability and adhesion of materials is studied [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the self-assembly strategy of polymer chain structure, designing and synthesizing intelligent, tough and healable polymer materials is an effective way to meet the high-end applications of materials. Inspired by spider silk, we designed a preparation scheme for a repairable polyurethane-polyurea elastomer (IPAD-6.4) with an unprecedented mechanical toughness of 625.10 MJ/m3 and elongation at break of 3756.56%. After repeated cyclic stretching, the elastic body can recover 92.85% of the dissipated energy in only 2 h. These results are achieved by the hierarchical hydrogen bonds formed by different groups and the reasonable covalent cross-linking network. Additionally, the elastomer shows excellent healing ability (repair efficiency ∼102.77%). A flexible conductive composite film is prepared by simple physical assembly. The sensor can not only accurately detect the bending motion of human joints, but also has excellent antibacterial properties, which gives the material application potential in medical and engineering fields. [Display omitted] • Preparation of unprecedented super-tough polyurethane elastomers. • Efficient self-healing materials, fast rebound, unique structural control and design. • The flexible sensor has excellent mechanical properties and antibacterial properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A silicone coating containing zwitterionic side chains was prepared. • The coating had excellent mechanical properties and adhesion. • The coating had outstanding resistant performance toward marine bacterial, biofilm and diatom. Silicone fouling release coatings were receiving increasing concern due to of their eco-friendly properties. However, their poor fouling resistance capability and mechanical properties limited the applications. Herein, we reported a type of silicone low surface energy coating with zwitterionic side chains and the carbamates group was introduced into the Si-O main chain. The carbamates groups and zwitterions provided strong substrate adhesion up to 2.0 MPa through hydrogen bond and ion interaction which also endowed the good mechanical properties higher than 6.0 MPa. The coating had a low surface energy less than 30 mJ·m−2, and exhibited good fouling release properties in the range of 0.3–0.5 MPa. Also, zwitterions gave the coating excellent fouling resistance properties. The bioassays showed that the anti-bacterial efficiency of PDMS-zPDEM-14 coating against Pseudomonas sp. was 94.86%, the coating could inhibit the formation of biofilm (the coverage area was only 13.64%) and effectively prevent the adhesion of diatoms (the density of adhered diatoms was 107 cells/mm2) This work had promising applications in low surface energy marine antifouling coating and interfaces of biomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Novel organosilicon polyurethanes bearing acyl semicarbazide bonds were synthesized. • The elastomers possess self-healing, high mechanical and reprocessable properties. • The elastomers can be used as conductive composites to detect the human motion. Manufacturing organosilicon elastomers that have combined reprocessability, self-healing, and high stretchable properties, this remains a significant challenge. Herein, we proposed a simple one-pot method to synthesize thermoset organosilicon elastomers which could be self-healed and had good mechanical properties. The elastomers were capped with the α,ω-hydroxypolydimethylsiloxane and isophorone diisocyanate, following chain expansion with adipic dihydrazide, and cross-linked by triethanolamine. The average elongation of the elastomers was 1145%, with the largest strain of 4.1 MPa. Due to the highly flexible Si-O chain and the large number of hydrogen bonds formed by the dynamic acyl semicarbazide (ASC) groups, the elastomers had good self-healing ability. It was noted that the elastomers could be recycled entirely under the synergistic dynamic effect of ASC groups without chemical treatment, and the elastomers could achieve 91% of the initial mechanical strength even after ten times of dissolution recycling. And through three times of hot pressing recovery, 86% of the mechanical properties were also maintained. In addition, the self-healing flexible electronic devices were prepared by compounding multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and they could monitor the subtle movements of the human body. This work fabricated the reprocessable and self-healing organosilicon elastomers for flexible electronic devices, which might have essential inspiration for the sustainable development of organosilicon materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Unsaturated polyester was synthesized with biological matrix. • Highly efficient self-healing material with unique structural control and design. • Flexible sensor with excellent mechanical properties. Intelligent bio-based self-healing polymers are advanced and sustainable materials that are widely used in military, coatings and conductive materials. However, it is a challenging task to design unsaturated polyester materials with good stretching ability, efficient self-repair ability and sensitive sensing ability. In this paper, a class of bio-based unsaturated polyester is synthesized, and the functional self-repairing unsaturated polyester material is obtained through the control and design of its structure. Firstly, a flexible self-healing polyester crosslinking network (CPUBT-UPy) was prepared by introducing 2-urea-4[1H] pyrimidinone (UPy) into the unsaturated polyester chain through chain extension reaction and using polyethylene glycol (PEG) to regulate the structure and properties of unsaturated polyester. By adjusting the molar ratio of BDO and UPy, the elongation at break of the elastomer can reach 2020.94%, and the self-repair efficiency can reach 91.33%. After 5 repair cycles, the self-repair efficiency can still reach 79.01%. A flexible conductive material was prepared by the composite of CPUBT-UPy and 15% MWCNTs-NH2, and is further assembled into a universal flexible strain sensor, which showed excellent sensitivity to finger bending, speech and frowning. Finally, unsaturated polyesters also confer potential degradability on elastomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, styrene-acrylate (SA) coatings were strengthened with renewable natural polymers (carboxymethyl chitosan, CMCS) and crosslinked by multiple hydrogen bonds, which improved the mechanical performance and endowed the self-healing properties. SA latex was synthesized by styrene (St), butyl acrylate (BA), glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and acrylamide (AM) with semi continuous seed emulsion polymerization. SA coatings were obtained after drying the mixture of SA latex and CMCS. The rigid skeleton of CMCS and hydrogen bonds cross-linked network improved the mechanical properties of SA coatings. The stress and strain improved from 12.3 to 17.9 MPa and 1765% to 2148%. The reversible hydrogen bonding interactions between SA and CMCS made the films had a self-healing efficiency of 68.7%. Moreover, the hardness of SA coatings reached 80.6. Combined with the spraying technique, SA conductive coatings were prepared by spraying carbon nanotubes aqueous dispersions (CNTs) on the surface. The conductivity and sensing ability of the SA conductive coatings were examined by an electrochemical workstation. The results demonstrated that SA conductive coatings had the signal sensing ability for tiny movements, which was of potential applications in the field of sensors. [Display omitted] • Carboxymethyl chitosan modified SA latex. • The prepared SA coatings have excellent mechanical properties and hardness. • Multiple hydrogen bonds endow SA coatings with self-healing properties. • The SA coatings have conductive properties and can sense small movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • HPSi exhibits high stretchability and self-healing properties. • HPSi is crosslinked by multiple reversible bonds. • The energy generated by the external force is dissipated effectively by sacrificial bonds. Preparing of polymer materials similar to biological muscle properties with highly stretchable and autonomous self-healing at room temperature is a challenge. Herein, hyperbranched organosilicon polymers (HPSi) with multiple hydrogen bonds and dynamic disulfide bonds were synthesized by amino-modified poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS-NH 2), dithiodianiline (DTDA) and thioctic acid (TA). The "free" part of hydrogen bond promoted the dynamic interaction with related complementary parts, which effectively improved the repair efficiency. As the degree of hyperbranching increased, the supramolecular branching units brought more reversible bonds to polymers. Therefore, the heal efficiency of HPSi at room temperature showed an upward trend and it could reach to 96.9%. As the sacrificial bonds, multiple reversible hydrogen bonds effectively dissipated the energy generated by external forces with the help of disulfide bonds. Thus, the stretchability of the elastomer was strengthened. And the elongation at break of elastomer was up to 3463%. This muscle-like self-healable hyperbranched elastomer with excellent mechanical properties has great application potential in the fields of soft robots, electronic devices and coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Waterborne polyesters cured films were obtained by thiol-ene click reaction. • The C-S bonds made the curing films have special degradation properties. • The effect of the acid structure on different properties of polyesters was studied. Waterborne unsaturated polyesters has the characteristics of no emission or low volatile organic compounds (VOC), which has been widely used in environmental protection materials such as coatings, food packaging and so on. However, due to the crosslinking network formed by the cured carbon–carbon double bonds (C = C), how to maintain its biodegradability is still a difficult problem. In this paper, three kinds of aliphatic waterborne unsaturated polyesters with different compositions were synthesized from corn, citric acid and apple juice by melt polycondensation. Then, the waterborne unsaturated polyesters were further cured into films by the thiol-ene click reaction. Finally, the results showed the polyesters containing different unsaturated segment showed obvious differences in cross-linked density, mechanical properties and biodegradation rate. It was observed the cross-linking density (18.816 × 10-4 mol/mL) and the degradation rate (25.59 wt%) of the polyesters were the highest when the unsaturated double bonds were in the side chain. And the high degradation rate was attributed to the selective degradation of C-S-C bonds by glutathione and the secondary degradation of ester bonds by lipase. Thus, the combined biodegradable water-based polyesters have a wide application prospect as an environmentally friendly low volatile organic compounds coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics reduced the demand for antibiotics in the field of medical devices. Polymer antibacterial materials have shown great potential in the medical field. However, the treatment of materials after use is not environmentally friendly. Therefore, the development of dissoluble polymer antibacterial materials has become an urgent challenge. In this paper, an antibacterial polymer material with high self-healing ability and rapid dissolution is reported. The new material was formed by the Schiff base reaction and cross-linking of aldehyde group and amino in terephthalaldehyd (TA), 3,4-diaminofurazan (DAF) and α,ω-aminopropyl terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, Mn = 3000). The properties of the material were further enhanced by the coordination of zinc ion with nitrogen and oxygen atoms of 3,4-diaminofurazan. The antibacterial polymer material designed by us can be effectively repaired at 100 °C. The first repair efficiency was 89.5%. After repeated repair, its mechanical properties were not significantly reduced. E. coli and S.aureus were used to evaluate the antibacterial ability of the material. The antibacterial efficiency of the material was 99.9993% and 99.9997% respectively. This new idea solved the urgent problems in the current application, and provided guidance for the research of flexible antibacterial materials. [Display omitted] • PDMS with low molecular weight makes polymers have more crosslinking sites. • Elastomer has good mechanical properties and fatigue resistance. • Elastomer can be rapidly dissolved by the dynamic exchange reaction. • Elastomer has excellent antibacterial ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huangqi Jianzhong Tang (HQJZ) is a classical traditional Chinese prescription for treating chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). However, its material basis is still unclear. Thus, we constructed a novel strategy to illustrate its pharmaco basis coupled with metabolomics and serum pharmacochemistry. Plasma metabolic profile including control group, model group, HQJZ treated control group, and HQJZ treated model group were firstly detect by Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-Exactive mass spectrometry. Eight endogenous metabolites were screened as the pharmaco markers of HQJZ, which were significantly ameliorated by HQJZ in model group but no significant change in control group. A total of 11 prototypical compounds and 13 metabolites of HQJZ were screening and identified in HQJZ intervention groups. Further pearson correlative analysis were applied to discover the effective compounds for HQJZ, which were significantly correlated with those pharmaco markers. At last, 12 prototypical compounds excepting isoliquiritigenin and 7 metabolites were considered as potential pharmacodynamic basis of HQJZ, which could hit more metabolite targets. The results revealed the links between serum exogenous and endogenous metabolites involved into the protection of HQJZ, which showed a powerful tool to obtain the material basis of TCM formula. • Integrated metabonomics and serum pharmacochemistry strategy was employed. • 8 endogenous metabolites are related to the protection of HQJZ in treating CAG. • 12 prototypical and 7 metabolites as the potential pharmaco basis of HQJZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new cross-linked polyester with high degradation is synthesized. • The synthetic polyester can be degraded efficiently by GSH and lipase mixture. • The influence of changing the ratio of raw materials on the thermal properties and solubility of polyester is investigated systematically. • The volatility of traditional styrene crosslinking curing is overcome by the use of UV click curing. Unsaturated polyesters, in particular unsaturated polyesters with low volatility or without styrene, are gaining increasing importance in gel coatings, adhesives and molding resins. However, the cured unsaturated polyesters are usually described as non-degradable polyesters, which will lead to environmental and safety problems. In this paper, a kind of unsaturated copolyester with different binary acid composition, named poly (butylene succinate-co-butylene itaconic) (PBISx), was synthesized. Then, a photo-curable polyester(CPBIS) which can degrade under certain conditions was obtained by thiol - ene click reaction without adding styrene curing agent. The physical properties of unsaturated polyester PBISx can be effectively controlled by changing the ratio of raw materials, such as T g from - 23.7 oC to - 45.2 oC, Xc from 38% to 14%, and T m from 109.6 °C to 74.9 °C. It was found that CPBIS completely lost its degradability in lipase when its gel rate exceeded 98%. However, CPBIS could be degraded in GSH regardless of the gel rate, and lipase resumed its degradation in the GSH/lipase mixture, and the degradation rate reached 12% at 70h, attributed to the selective degradation of C-S-C bond by GSH and the secondary degradation of ester bond by lipase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical characterisation of traditional Chinese medicine formulas (TCMFs) using mass spectrometry poses notable challenges owing to their complex and diverse chemical compositions. While acquisition modes such as data-dependent acquisition (DDA) and data-independent acquisition (DIA) offer new insights, DDA's tendency to overlook low-abundance ions and DIA's complicated data processing, particularly in matching MS 1 and MS 2 information, limit the effective annotation of valuable compounds in TCMFs. Herein, we present a new integrated strategy to enhance the coverage of annotated compounds in TCMFs, using Xiao Jian Zhong Tang (XJZ) as a case study. First, we characterised the components of XJZ through UNIFI software in Fast-DDA and DIA modes. We then summarised the diagnostic ions and substituent information of the identified compounds based on the Fast-DDA data, integrating molecular networks and AntDAS to predict unknown components and uncover potential components. Ultimately, we characterised a total of 785 components in XJZ, including 43 that were unique to XJZ when compared to the individual herbs involved. The presence of these new components may result from the recombination of substituents during compatibility. In conclusion, this new integrated strategy facilitates more in-depth characterisation of components in TCMFs, providing a new direction for exploring the compatibility principles among TCMFs., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Grain bran dietary fiber (DF) has the effect of promoting intestinal health and is worth being studied. In the present study, the physicochemical properties and prevention effect of DF on ulcerative colitis (UC) were investigated. The results showed that the optimal extraction conditions were determined as α-amylase (350 U/g, 70 °C, pH 7.0, 2.5 h) and papain (100 U/g, 60 °C, pH 7.0, 1.5 h), resulting in a yield of 83.81% for DF. Moreover, DF exhibited unique physicochemical properties contributing to its preventive effects, as evidenced by its ability to mitigate symptoms such as hematochezia, immune inflammation, and impaired intestinal barrier in UC mice. The underlying mechanism can be attributed to the regulation of phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis pathway and maintenance of intestinal microbial homeostasis. Therefore, our study suggests that grain bran DF holds potential for the prevention of UC, providing a basis for the development and utilization of grain bran., 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.)

Considering that fruits are vulnerable to damage and waste during stockpiling, transport and marketing. Given this, an innovative curcumin inclusion compound (Cur@β-CD) was devised in this study to introduce oil-soluble curcumin (Cur) into water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) materials, thereby fabricating food packaging films endowed with excellent properties. DPPH test manifested that the oxidation resistance for PCOMC-Cur@β-CD film was 95 % above PVA material. It was ascribed to the fact that the Cur@β-CD elevated the water solubility of Cur while the increase of water solubility heightened the antioxidant effect for Cur in the film. Additionally, the chitosan (CS) was crosslinked with malic acid (MA), which elevated the barrier property of the film, reduced the amount of oxygen transmission and further retarded the oxidation reaction of the fruits for packaging. The antibacterial test demonstrated that the antibacterial rates of PCOMC-Cur@β-CD film against E. coli and S. aureus reached 92 % and 95 %, respectively, which was attributed to the slow release of Cur when Cur@β-CD was dissolved in PVA material and the Schiff base reaction between Cur and amino groups on CS. These findings indicate that the PCOMC-Cur@β-CD film developed in this work can provide certain insights into the field of food packaging., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Xiao Jianzhong Tang (XJZ) has a favorable efficacy in the treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). However, its pharmacological mechanism has not been fully explained., Objective: The purpose of this study was to find the potential mechanism of XJZ in the treatment of CAG using pharmacocoinformatics approaches., Methods: Network pharmacology was used to screen out the key compounds and key targets, MODELLER and GNNRefine were used to repair and refine proteins, Autodock vina was employed to perform molecular docking, Δ Lin_F9 XGB was used to score the docking results, and Gromacs was used to perform molecular dynamics simulations (MD)., Results: Kaempferol, licochalcone A, and naringenin, were obtained as key compounds, while AKT1, MAPK1, MAPK14, RELA, STAT1, and STAT3 were acquired as key targets. Among docking results, 12 complexes scored greater than five. They were run for 50ns MD. The free binding energy of AKT1-licochalcone A and MAPK1-licochalcone A was less than -15 kcal/mol and AKT1-naringenin and STAT3-licochalcone A was less than -9 kcal/mol. These complexes were crucial in XJZ treating CAG., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that licochalcone A could act on AKT1, MAPK1, and STAT3, and naringenin could act on AKT1 to play the potential therapeutic effect on CAG. The work also provides a powerful approach to interpreting the complex mechanism of TCM through the amalgamation of network pharmacology, deep learning-based protein refinement, molecular docking, machine learning-based binding affinity estimation, MD simulations, and MM-PBSA-based estimation of binding free energy., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Cinnamomi cortex called as Rougui (RG) in Chinese was a widely used food-medicine homology. RG has the potential to treat chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), a disease with widespread impact in the Chinese population., Purpose: This study aimed to explore its mechanism against CAG based on amalgamated strategies., Methods: Network pharmacology was used to predict the potential effective components and the core targets of RG against CAG based on the comprehensive chemical characterization using UHPLC-Q/TOF MS (ultra high performance liquid chromatogramphy-quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometry). The CAG animals model were further used to validate its pharmacodynamics, of which gut microbiota of caecal contents were analyzed by integrating metabolomics, 16S rRNA sequencing, Metorigin metabolite traceability analysis and molecular docking to explore its action mechanism., Results: Network pharmacology firstly predicted the efficacy of RG was attributed to four effective components and seven targets. Metabolomics of caecal contents in CAG rats revealed primary bile acid biosynthesis was its targeted metabolic pathway associated with the metabolism of gut microbiota coupled with Metorigin traceability analysis. 16S rRNA sequencing showed that RG treated CAG by regulating the imbalance of gut microbiota. Molecular docking further confirmed that the effective components of RG could intervene with potential targets, metorigin analysis pathway, and key enzymes of gut microbiota metabolic pathways., Conclusion: Our results proved that RG exerted favorable effect on CAG. The four active ingredients (quercetin, kaempferol, oleic acid, and (-)-epicatechin) of RG were the key to exert drug effect, which could targeted the core target of CAG, primary bile acid biosynthesis and intestinal flora metabolic pathways., 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 © 2023 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Radix Astragali (RA) is one of the most frequently used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in China, and honey-processed RA (HRA) is its common processing product. Thus far, their comprehensive chemical differences are not well understood. In this work, an integrated approach using Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS) combined with diagnostic ions, molecular network (MN) and chemometrics was established to profile their chemical characterizations and illustrate the chemical mechanism of RA processed with honey. A total of 226 compounds were tentatively identified including 50 flavonoid glycosides, 26 flavonoid aglycone, 56 saponins, 30 organic acids, 18 amino acids, 3 coumarins and 43 other compounds, of which 33 compounds were characterized according to MN. Their chemical differences were further investigated by integrating of multivariate statistical analysis, student's t-test analysis, linear regression analysis and MN. Consequently, multivariate statistical analysis showed that the raw and processed RA were different form each other. Besides, 33 different compounds were found to be significantly altered by student's t-test analysis. Apart from this, linear regression analysis indicated 42 and 120 compounds underwent the significant varieties. The potential chemical reactions induced by honey-processing, such as possible hydrolysis reactions and isomerization reactions, were speculated based on these variations coupled the areas changes of the nodes in MN. This study provided an efficient strategy to illustrate the chemical mechanism of TCM processing., 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 © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: As a classical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Xiaojianzhong Tang (XJZ) is effective in treating chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). However, the pharmacological mechanism of XJZ has not been fully explained., Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanism of XJZ against CAG rats via gut microbiome using a multi-omics approach., Methods: The rat cecal contents were analyzed through the integration of an untargeted metabolomic approach based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with the quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Finally, the interaction of differential metabolites with bile acid (BA)-related targets was verified by molecular docking., Results: A new strategy was adopted to screen out the differential metabolites based on the comprehensive evaluation of VIP, |log2(FC)|, -ln(p-value) and ǀp(corr)ǀ. As results, XJZ showed favor regulations on the screened metabolites, cholic acid, deoxycholic acid, glycoursodeoxycholic acid, taurochenodesoxycholic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and L-isoleucine. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis showed that XJZ could regulate gut microbiota disturbances in CAG rats, especially bile acid (BA) metabolism-related bacteria (Butyricimonas, Desulfovibrio, Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Acetobacter and Alistipes). Molecular docking further showed that the differential metabolites regulated by XJZ had a good docking effect on BA-related targets., Conclusion: The current work indicated that XJZ's therapeutic action was strongly linked to BA-related microorganisms and metabolic processes. These findings provided new insights into the effects of XJZ for the treatment of CAG., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to this work., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Astragali Radix (HQ), a common traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is widely used to treat chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). However, its mechanism in treating CAG is still not clear. Accumulating evidence highlights the link between gut microbiota and CAG. We hypothesized that the gut microbiota might be involved in the effect of HQ. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) based metabolomics and 16S rRNA gene sequencing techniques of the cecal contents were applied to study its mechanisms. As a result, nine metabolites and fifteen gut microbiotas changed significantly in cecal contents samples between control group and model group. Among them, two metabolites (7-keto-3A ·12-α-hydroxyalkanoic acid and deoxycholic acid) and two gut microbiota genera (Acetobacter and Escherichia), had the most obvious callback effect after the administration of HQ. Sixty-seven correlated pairs exhibited the significant link between the involved metabolites and gut microbiotas through the correlation analysis, where two strong correlation pairs: Tetrahydrohydroxone ∼ Bacteroides (r = 0.895) and Deoxycholic acid ∼ Acetobacter (r = -0.843) were regulated by HQ. The results showed that HQ had the potential protection from metabolic perturbation involved into gut microbiotas induced by CAG. Two gut microbiotas, Acetobacter and Escherichia, and two metabolites, 7-keto-3A ·12-α-hydroxyalkanoic acid and deoxycholic acid were the potential targets of HQ., 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 © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A poly (lactic acid) (PLA) -based functional partition composite membrane (PLA/CA) containing chitosan (CS) and alizarin (AL) was designed by solution casting method. The PLA/CA membrane contains the antibacterial zone of the edge part (PLA/CS) and the pH response detection zone of the central part (PLA/AL). At the same time, the environmentally friendly plasticizer tributyl citrate (TBC) was added to make the prepared PLA/CA composite membrane have good flexibility and high transparency. The results of FE-SEM and FTIR showed that CS and AL were uniformly dispersed in PLA matrix and had good compatibility with PLA. The antioxidant activities of PLA/CS and PLA/AL composite films were 43.3 % and 72.8 %, respectively. At the same time, the inhibitory rates of PLA/CS membrane against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were as high as 87.91 % and 75.17 %, respectively. PLA/AL films exhibit excellent UV barrier properties. When the environmental pH (ammonia and acetic acid vapor) changed repeatedly, the PLA/AL membrane showed reversible color change of yellow under acidic condition and purple under alkaline condition. During the packaging and storage of chicken breast meat, the freshness of chicken breast meat can be detected by the color change of functional PLA/CA composite membrane., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Astragali Radix (AR) is one of the most widely used traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) for tonic, which can be divided into wild-simulated and cultivated AR according to its cultivation method. However, whether cultivated AR can replace wild-simulated AR has always been a concern., Methods: In this study, a rapid, highly sensitive and specific analytical method using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) was developed to quantitatively measure 12 chemical constituents of AR in the different cultivation methods., Results: AR samples were analyzed with a good linear regression relationship ( R 2 , 0.9983-0.9995), precisions (relative standard deviation (RSD), 1.31%-2.36%), repeatability (RSD, 2.65%-4.92%), stability (RSD, 1.50%-4.05%), and recovery (95.13%-106.52%). Through the determination of AR samples, we found the components of flavonoids in wild-simulated AR were higher than cultivated AR, the saponins in cultivated AR were higher, the ratio of saponins/flavonoids in cultivated AR was higher than wild-simulated AR., Conclusion: Based on this research, it could provide guidance for the quality control of AR., 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., (© 2022 Tianjin Press of Chinese Herbal Medicines. Published by ELSEVIER B.V.)

Self-healing conductive elastomers have been widely used in smart electronic devices, such as wearable sensors. However, nano fillers hinder the flow of polymer segments, which make the development of conductive elastomer with rapid repair and high ductility a challenge. In this work, thioctic acid (TA) was grafted onto amino-modified polysiloxane (PDMS-NH 2 ) by dehydration condensation of amino group and carboxyl group. By introducing gold nanoparticles, a dynamic network based on S-Au interaction was constructed. The dynamic gold cross-linking could effectively dissipate the energy exerted by external force and improve the extensibility of conductive elastomer. In addition, S-Au interaction had a good optothermal effect, so that the elastomer rapidly healed under NIR irradiation, and the repair efficiency reached 92%. We further evaluated the performance of the conductive elastomer as a strain sensor. The sample could accurately monitor the bending of human joints and small muscle state changes. This kind of self-healable conductive elastomer based on dynamic S-Au interaction has great potential in the fields of interpersonal interaction and health monitoring., 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 © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Astragali Radix (AR) has been widely used as bulk medicines in China. Currently, there are mainly two types in the market, wild-simulated AR (WAR) and transplanted AR (TAR). The present work was designed to compare their effects in treatment of blood deficiency with its compatibility with Angelicae Sinensis Radix, a classical formula Danggui Buxue decoction (DBD). UHPLC-Q-Exactive-MS-based serum metabolomics was firstly applied to compare their metabolic regulations in blood deficiency mice. Metabolic results showed that 17 metabolites were closely related to blood deficiency. WAR-DBD and TAR-DBD significantly improved 13 and 8 metabolites among them, respectively. Further, fourteen genes were selected as promising targets for treating blood deficiency by searching GeneCards and CTD database. The results of molecular docking also showed that eight components of AR and three serum metabolites had strongest correlations with blood deficiency targets. The results further revealed that WAR-DBD was better than TAR-DBD against blood deficiency. The method provided a new way to compare the hematopoietic differences of AR of different cultivation methods. In addition, molecular docking plays an irreplaceable role in explaining the molecular mechanism of biological processes., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Flexible conductive composites can be used as wearable strain sensors, which are widely used in the fields of new-generation robotics, electronic skin, and human detection. However, how to make conductive composites that simultaneously possess flexibility, stretchability, self-healing, and sensing capability is challenging research. In this work, we innovatively designed and prepared a silicone polymer conductive composite. MXenes and amino poly(dimethylsiloxane) were modified by small biomolecules via an esterification reaction and a Schiff base reaction, respectively. The modified MXenes are uniformly dispersed, which endows the composite with good electrical conductivity. The reversibility of multiple hydrogen bonds and imine bonds in the composite system makes it have ideal tensile properties and high-efficiency self-healing ability without external stimulation. The conductive composite containing 10 wt % A-MXenes showed an elongation of 81%, and its mechanical strength could reach 1.81 MPa. After repair, the tensile properties and the electrical conductivity could be restored to 98.4 and 97.6%, respectively. In addition, the conductive composite is further evaluated for the value of wearable strain sensors. Even after cut-healed processes, the conductive composite can still accurately detect tiny human movements (including speaking, swallowing, and pressing). This kind of self-healing MXene/PDMS elastomers based on the modification of small biomolecules has great potential as wearable strain sensors. This simple preparation method provides guidance for future multifunctional flexible electronic materials.

Saccharum Granorum (YiTang) is a nutrient-rich food which could significantly treat chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). However, its mechanism remains unclear. In the present work, a mitochondria-specific metabolomics approach based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole - Exactive mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q exactive MS) was carried out to evaluate its protection against energy dysfunction induced by CAG. Sixteen endogenous metabolites were firstly screened out to characterize the mitochondria dysfunction associated with CAG. Pretreatment of YiTang could significantly regulate these targeted metabolites involved into fatty acid β-oxidation pathway and amino acid metabolism. Network pharmacology further showed the upstream proteins related to these targeted metabolites exerted good affinities with ingredients of YiTang. These findings provided a unique perspective on localized metabolic regulation of YiTang in rats with CAG, which gave us new insights into the pathogenesis of CAG, and its targets for clinical diagnosis and treatment., 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 © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: As a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Huangqi Jianzhong Tang (HQJZ) has a good efficacy in treating chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). Our objective was to determine its mechanism based on the urine comprehensive metabolome., Methods: In the study, a metabolomic approach was applied to reveal the efficacy of HQJZ on the constructed CAG rats coupled with proton nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H NMR) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF MS)., Key Findings: The results showed the regulatory effect of HQJZ on urinary metabolism disorder in CAG rats was similar to the positive drug teprenone. Nineteen and 16 potential biomarkers related to CAG were detected by NMR and UPLC-Q/TOF MS, respectively. Thirty-two urine metabolites were significantly regulated by HQJZ treatment. Combined with MetPA and partial least square regression analysis (PLS-RA), three metabolic pathways of valine, leucine and isoleucine, TCA cycle, and glycine, serine and threonine metabolism were the most relevant pathways for HQJZ treatment., Conclusions: The main mechanism of HQJZ might be due to the balance of energy consumption, inflammatory inhibition, improvement of the immune system and oxidative stress on the constructed CAG rats. These findings provided comprehensive metabolic information of TCM by parallel measurements by LC-MS and NMR., (© 2020 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.)