Nickel clusters accelerating hierarchical zinc indium sulfide nanoflowers for unprecedented visible-light hydrogen production.

As a typical two-dimensional (2D) metal chalcogenides and visible-light responsive semiconductor, zinc indium sulfide (ZnInS) has attracted much attention in photocatalysis. However, the high recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes seriously limits its performance for hydrogen production. In this work, we report in-situ photodeposition of Ni clusters in hierarchical ZnInS nanoflowers (Ni/ZnInS) to achieve unprecedented photocatalytic hydrogen production.

Divergent Synthesis of Tunable Cyclopentadienyl Ligands and Their Application in Rh-Catalyzed Enantioselective Synthesis of Isoindolinone.

A series of rhodium complexes bearing sterically and electronically tunable cyclopentadienyl ligands, prepared by utilizing Co(CO)-mediated [2+2+1] cyclization as a key step, were synthesized. In the presence of 2.5 mol% of , unprecedented enantioselective [4+1] annulation reaction of benzamides and alkenes was achieved with a broad substrate scope under mild reaction conditions, providing a variety of isoindolinones with excellent regio- and enantioselectivity (up to 94% yield, 97:3 er).

Synthesis and Application of Chiral Spiro Cp Ligands in Rhodium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Oxidative Coupling of Biaryl Compounds with Alkenes.

The vastly increasing application of chiral Cp ligands in asymmetric catalysis results in growing demand for novel chiral Cp ligands. Herein, we report a new class of chiral Cp ligands based on 1,1'-spirobiindane, a privileged scaffold for chiral ligands and catalysts. The corresponding Rh complexes are shown to be excellent catalysts in asymmetric oxidative coupling reactions, providing axially chiral biaryls in 19-97% yields with up to 98:2 er.

[hHO-1 structure prediction and its mutant construct, expression, purification and activity analysis].

Human Heme Oxygenase-1 (hHO-1) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the catabolism reaction of heme, which directly regulates the concentration of bilirubin in human body. The mutant structure was simulated by Swiss-pdbviewer procedure, which showed that the structure of active pocket was changed distinctly after Ala25 substituted for His25 in active domain, but the mutated enzyme still binded with heme. On the basis of the results, the expression vectors, pBHO-1 and pBHO-1(M), were constructed, induced by IPTG and expressed in E.

Structure prediction and activity analysis of human heme oxygenase-1 and its mutant.

Aim: To predict wild human heme oxygenase-1 (whHO-1) and hHO-1 His25Ala mutant (delta hHO-1) structures, to clone and express them and analyze their activities.

Methods: Swiss-PdbViewer and Antheprot 5.0 were used for the prediction of structure diversity and physical-chemical changes between wild and mutant hHO-1.

Analysis of heme oxygenase isomers in rat.

Aim: To purify and identify heme oxygenase (HO) isomers which exist in rat liver, spleen and brain treated with hematin and phenylhydrazine and in untreated rat liver and to investigate the characteristics of HO isomers, to isolate and confirm the rat HO-1 cDNA that actually encodes HO-1 by expressing cDNA in monkey kidney cells (COS-1 cells), to prepare the rat heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) mutant and to detect inhibition of HO-1 mutated enzyme.

Methods: First, rat liver, spleen and brain microsomal fractions were purified by DEAE-Sephacel and hydroxylapatite. The characteristics including activity, immunity and inducibility of two isomers (HO-1 and HO-2), and their apparent molecular weight were measured by detecting enzymatic activities, SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blotting analysis, respectively.