Pharmacophore modeling and 3D-QSAR study for the design of novel α-synuclein aggregation inhibitors.

Alpha-synuclein (α-syn), as a highly soluble presynaptic protein expressed in the brain, plays an important role in recycling synaptic vesicles and regulating the synthesis, storage, and release of neurotransmitters. Accumulation of α-syn in Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites is the pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD), so inhibition of α-syn aggregation may provide a novel approach for treating PD. In this study, the 3D structure of α-syn was downloaded from Protein Data Bank (PDB ID: 2N0A).

Metabolic Study of Stable Isotope Labeled Indolinone Derivative in Hepatocyte Cell by UPLC/Q TOF MS.

The aggregation process of α-synuclein (α-syn) is substantial in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Indolinone derivatives are inhibitors of α-syn aggregates and can be used as PET-based radiotracers for imaging α-syn fibrils. However, no investigations on the metabolism of indolinone derivatives have been reported until now.

Synthesis of [ C N]-1,3-2H-1-benzyl-(Z)-3-(benzylidene)indolin-2-one.

Parkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the accumulation of α-synuclein into Lewy bodies. 3-Benzylidine-indolin-2-one represents a class of compounds, which are known to inhibit the accumulation of α-synuclein. In this paper, we report the synthesis of [ C] and [ N] labelled 1-benzyl-(Z)-3-(benzylidene)indolin-2-one from commercially available [ C ]-chloroacetic acid and [ N]-aniline in five steps.

Large-area superelastic graphene aerogels based on a room-temperature reduction self-assembly strategy for sensing and particulate matter (PM and PM) capture.

Graphene aerogels are emerging low density and superelasticity macroscopic porous materials with various applications. However, it still remains a challenge to develop a versatile strategy under ambient conditions for fabricating large-area, high-performance graphene aerogels, which is crucial for their practical applications. Here, we report a novel room-temperature reduction self-assembly (RTRS) strategy to fabricate large-area graphene aerogels under ambient conditions.

Strong Wet Adhesion of Tough Transparent Nanocomposite Hydrogels for Fast Tunable Focus Lenses.

Tough hydrogel adhesives that can bond strongly to wet surfaces have shown great potential in various applications. However, it still remains a challenge to develop the adhered hydrogels integrated with strong wet adhesion, high transparency, exceptional mechanical properties, and fast self-recovery. Herein, tough nanocomposite hydrogels demonstrating high tensile strength, high transparency, and fast self-recovery are reported.

Water-Evaporation-Powered Fast Actuators with Multimodal Motion Based on Robust Nacre-Mimetic Composite Film.

Water evaporation as a source of energy to trigger moisture-responsive soft materials is an emerging field in a variety of energy-harvesting devices, which has attracted widespread attention. Here, we design and fabricate bioinspired nacrelike composite film actuators consisting of graphene oxide and sodium alginate, which demonstrate an obvious shrinkage in volume when their state transfers from wet to dry and the contractile stress is up to 42.3 MPa.

Highly Stretchable Room-Temperature Self-Healing Conductors Based on Wrinkled Graphene Films for Flexible Electronics.

Flexible conductors are emerging soft materials for diverse electrical applications. However, it still remains a great challenge to fabricate high-performance soft conductors that are highly conductive, largely stretchable, and rapid room-temperature self-healable. Here, we design and fabricate flexible conductive bilayer composite films composed of healable elastomeric substrates and wrinkled graphenes.

Naturally Dried Graphene-Based Nanocomposite Aerogels with Exceptional Elasticity and High Electrical Conductivity.

Materials combining high porosity, mechanical durability, and multifunctionality have drawn significant research interest because of their potential in engineering applications. Herein, the porous air-dried nanocomposite aerogels containing reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and chitosan (CS) are fabricated by self-assembling an aqueous dispersion of graphene oxide and chitosan with the addition of hydroiodic acid (HI) followed by recasting the hybrid hydrogel with an ice-template method. The strong cross-linked composite aerogels obtained have reversible compressibility, exceptional elasticity, and high electrical conductivity, which are derived from the restacking inhibition and steric hindrance of the polymer chains.

Theoretical study of the heats of formation, detonation properties, and bond dissociation energies of substituted bis-1,2,4-triazole compounds.

The heats of formation (HOFs), detonation properties, and bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of a series of energetic bis-1,2,4-trizaole compounds with different substituents were studied using density functional theory at the 6-311 + G(2df, 2p) level. The HOF results indicated that the presence of the substituents -NH, -NO, -NHNO, and -N markedly increases the HOFs of bis-1,2,4-trizaole compounds. The calculated detonation velocities and detonation pressures indicated that the presence of the substituents -NH, -NO, -NHNO, -CH(NO), and -OH strongly enhances the detonation properties of bis-1,2,4-trizaole compounds.

A self-healable and tough nanocomposite hydrogel crosslinked by novel ultrasmall aluminum hydroxide nanoparticles.

Self-healing hydrogels like tissues or organs which are repaired automatically in response to damage show great promise. However, it remains a challenge to develop novel functional nanoparticles as crosslinkers to prepare tough and self-healing nanocomposite hydrogels. Here, we report the preparation of water-soluble ultrasmall aluminum hydroxide nanoparticles with a diameter of 2-3 nm through a simple sol-gel method.

Bio-inspired layered chitosan/graphene oxide nanocomposite hydrogels with high strength and pH-driven shape memory effect.

The layered nanocomposite hydrogel films containing chitosan (CS) and graphene oxide (GO) have been prepared by water evaporation induced self-assembly and subsequent physical cross-linking in alkaline solution. The layered CS/GO hydrogel films obtained have a nacre-like brick-and-mortar microstructure, which contributes to their excellent mechanical properties. The tensile strength and elongation at break of the hydrogel films with 5wt% GO are 5.