Room-Temperature Liquid Crystalline Tetraphenylethylene-Surfactant Complex with Chiral Supramolecular Structure and Tunable Circularly Polarized Luminescence.

A novel room-temperature liquid crystal of tetraphenylethylene derivative (TPE-DHAB) was synthesized using an ionic self-assembly strategy. The TPE-DHAB complex exhibits typical aggregation-induced emission properties and a unique helical supramolecular structure. Moreover, the generation and handedness inversion of circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) can be achieved through further chiral solvation, providing a facile approach to fabricate room-temperature liquid crystalline materials with controllable supramolecular structures and tunable CPL properties through a synergistic strategy of ionic self-assembly and chiral solvation process.

Control of Kinetic Pathways toward Supramolecular Chiral Polymorphs for Tunable Circularly Polarized Luminescence.

An amphiphilic aza-BODIPY dye (S)-1 bearing two chiral hydrophilic side chains with S-stereogenic centers was synthesized. This dye exhibited kinetic-controlled self-assembly pathways and supramolecular chiral polymorphism properties in MeOH/HO (9/1, v/v) mixed solvent. The (S)-1 monomers first aggregated into a kinetic controlled, off-pathway species Agg.

A portable fluorescence detection device based on a smartphone employing carbon nanodots for Mn sensing.

The measurement of fluorescence emission for quantitative analysis is typically based on a traditional spectrofluorometer, which limits an onsite detection approach. Thus, an alternative device should be developed for fulfilling this analysis outside of the laboratory. Therefore, a low-cost, portable, and low-energy consumption fluorescence reader-based smartphone device was developed.

Field Effect Transistor Gas Sensors Based on Mechanically Exfoliated Van der Waals Materials.

The high surface-to-volume ratio and flatness of mechanically exfoliated van der Waals (vdW) layered materials make them an ideal platform to investigate the Langmuir absorption model. In this work, we fabricated field effect transistor gas sensors, based on a variety of mechanically exfoliated vdW materials, and investigated their electrical field-dependent gas sensing properties. The good agreement between the experimentally extracted intrinsic parameters, such as equilibrium constant and adsorption energy, and theoretically predicted values suggests validity of the Langmuir absorption model for vdW materials.

Supramolecular Structure and Photo-Thermo-Electric Property of Hydrogen-Bonded Liquid Crystalline Polymer Containing Poly(4-vinylpridine) and Cyanostilbene Side Chains.

A series of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers P4VP(CN-DBE) , where x is the molar ratio of cyanostilbene (CN-DBE) to poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) repeating unit, was synthesized based on the intermolecular hydrogen bonding between P4VP and CN-DBE. Their luminescent property, liquid crystalline structure and photo-thermo-electric property were elucidated using photoluminescence spectra, X-ray diffraction, thermal imaging and thermoelectric experiments. With the increase of x, the supramolecular system can be changed from lamellar structure to hexagonal columnar structure.

Correction: Synthesis and properties of siloxane modified perylene bisimide discotic liquid crystals.

Correction for 'Synthesis and properties of siloxane modified perylene bisimide discotic liquid crystals' by Tingjie Zhang , , 2013, , 10739-10745, https://doi.org/10.1039/C3SM52054D.

Living supramolecular polymerization of an amphiphilic aza-BODIPY dye realized by water-assisted kinetic trapping.

The kinetic assembly pathways of a newly synthesized amphiphilic aza-BODIPY dye 1 were tuned by using HO as a co-solvent in MeOH. Accordingly, the biphasic aggregation pathways resulting in kinetically-trapped and thermodynamically stable aggregates of 1 were established and the multiple cyclic seeded living supramolecular polymerization of this dye was realized.

Superlow Dosage of Intrinsically Bioactive Zinc Metal-Organic Frameworks to Modulate Endothelial Cell Morphogenesis and Significantly Rescue Ischemic Disease.

Despite long-term efforts for ischemia therapy, proangiogenic drugs hardly satisfy therapy/safety/cost/mass production multiple evaluations and meanwhile with a desire to minimize dosages, thereby clinical applications have been severely hampered. Recently, metal ion-based therapy has emerged as an effective strategy. Herein, intrinsically bioactive Zn metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were explored by bridging the dual superiorities of proangiogenic Zn and facile/cost-effective/scalable MOFs.

A two-pronged approach to regulate the behaviors of ECs and SMCs by the dual targeting-nanoparticles.

Inhibiting vascular restenosis remains a tricky challenge for the postoperative development of cardiovascular interventional therapy. The ideal approaches should activate endothelial cells (ECs) and restrain smooth muscle cells (SMCs), however, they are commonly contradictory. Herein, a strategy was developed for synchronizing ECs promotion and SMCs inhibition by codelivery DNA and siRNA for combination therapy.

Structural and Nanotribological Properties of a BODIPY Self-Assembly.

Boron-dipyrromethenes (BODIPY) are promising functional dyes, whose exceptional optical properties are closely related to their supramolecular assembly. Herein, the self-assembly of a BODIPY derivative functionalized with uracil groups is explicitly and thoroughly investigated by using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Based on the simulation and calculation by density functional theory (DFT) method, it can be concluded that the construction of ordered self-assembly structure is attributed to the formation of hydrogen bonds between uracil groups.

Peripherally Modified Tetraphenylethene: Emerging as a Room-Temperature Luminescent Disc-Like Nematic Liquid Crystal.

A blue-light-emitting liquid crystalline (LC) material was designed and prepared. By employing a twisted luminescent core (i.e.

An amphiphilic B,O-chelated aza-BODIPY dye: synthesis, pH-sensitivity, and aggregation behaviour in a HO/DMSO mixed solvent.

A novel amphiphilic B,O-chelated azadipyrromethene (aza-BODIPY) dye, containing hydrophobic dodecyloxy groups and hydrophilic tetraethylene glycol (TEG) chains, was synthesized and characterized by NMR, HRMS, Vis/NIR absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The B,O-chelated dye 1 exhibited largely bathochromically shifted NIR absorption and fluorescence spectra in comparison with common BF-chelated aza-BODIPY dyes. Upon gradual addition of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) to the dye 1 solution, obvious spectral changes were observed in Vis/NIR absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy measurements.

Surfactant-Stripped Micelles with Aggregation-Induced Enhanced Emission for Bimodal Gut Imaging In Vivo and Microbiota Tagging Ex Vivo.

Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) hold promise for biomedical imaging and new approaches facilitating their aggregation state are desirable for fluorescence enhancement. Herein, a series of surfactant-stripped AIEgen micelles (SSAMs) with improved fluorescence are developed by a low-temperature surfactant-stripping method to encapsulate AIEgens in temperature-sensitive Pluronic block copolymer. After stripping excessive surfactant, SSAMs exhibit altered optical properties and significantly higher fluorescence quantum yield.

Activation of Pd-precatalysts by organic compounds for vinyl-addition polymerization of a norbornene derivative.

An approach to activating Pd-complexes without using additives such as Lewis acids has been developed for addition polymerization of norbornenes. Aryl iodides and aryl diazonium salts were efficiently applied as cocatalysts to Pd(0)- and Pd(2+)-complexes. The developed systems catalyzed polymerization of norbornenes containing bulky and polar functional groups both in an inert atmosphere and air resulting in soluble and high-molecular-weight saturated polymers.

Redox stimulus disulfide conjugated polyethyleneimine as a shuttle for gene transfer.

Redox-responsive cationic polymers have gained considerable attention in gene delivery due to low cytotoxicity and spatio-temporal release of DNA into the cells. Here, we reported the synthesis of reducible disulfide conjugated polyethyleneimine (1.8 kDa) (denoted as SS-PEI) and its application to transfer pEGFP-ZNF580 plasmid (pZNF580) into EA.

Cascaded bio-responsive delivery of eNOS gene and ZNF gene to collaboratively treat hindlimb ischemia via pro-angiogenesis and anti-inflammation.

Gene therapy is a promising strategy for treating ischemic disease by solving the dual dilemma of ischemia and inflammation. However, its development remains limited by inefficient gene transfection. Hence, we propose a "dual genes + all-adaptive carrier" idea.

Unexpected Amplification of Synergistic Gene Expression to Boom Vascular Flow in Advantageous Dual-Gene Co-expression Plasmid Delivery Systems over Physically Mixed Strategy.

Gene therapy exerts powerful potential in the treatment of various diseases, such as overexpressing pro-angiogenic gene to accelerate angiogenesis and restore vascular flow of ischemic tissue. Tremendous efforts have been invested in developing gene carriers for high transfection efficiency, while little research has been devoted to synergistically expressing functional proteins via optimizing therapeutic genes. Actually, the amplified gene expression is the ultimate goal of gene delivery.

Alignment of supramolecular J-aggregates based on uracil-functionalized BODIPY dye for polarized photoluminescence.

A BODIPY dye functionalized with uracil-ethynyl groups at the 2,6-positions supramolecularly polymerized into J-aggregates directed by intermolecular H-bonds and featured intense absorption and resonant fluorescence. The alignment of J-aggregated chromophores in a thin film was achieved by a rubbing method and polarized photoluminescence with a dichroic ratio up to 14.3 was obtained.

The construction of a 2D MoS-based binder-free electrode with a honeycomb structure for enhanced electrochemical performance.

MoS2 with a two-dimensional morphology has been recognized as a promising electrode material due to its good electrochemical activity. An integrated electrode has been achieved by growing MoS2 on nickel foam with a nanosheet morphology and honeycomb structure. This binder-free MoS2/Ni3S2/NF electrode has demonstrated a specific capacity of 300.

Blue emissive dimethylmethylene-bridged triphenylamine derivatives appending cross-linkable groups.

Five new dimethylmethylene-bridged triphenylamine (DTPA) derivatives 4a-e bearing peripheral cross-linkable vinyl and trifluorovinyl groups were synthesized. The chemical structure of these compounds was characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and HRMS. Their optical properties were studied by UV/Vis spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy.

Multifunctional gene delivery systems with targeting ligand CAGW and charge reversal function for enhanced angiogenesis.

Gene delivery systems with good biocompatibility and high transfection efficiency play a major role in the clinical application of gene therapy. It is of great interest to develop a functional anionic polymer to modify polycationic carriers for the purpose of improving their biocompatibility and gene delivery ability. Herein, we prepared three kinds of anionic polymers, i.

A PEG-b-poly(disulfide-l-lysine) based redox-responsive cationic polymer for efficient gene transfection.

Gene therapy is concerned with the transfer of complement genes to functionally defective cells in a safe and directed manner for the treatment of the most challenging diseases. But safety issues and low transfection efficiency of the gene vectors are the major challenges, which need to be overcome. Recently, redox-responsive bioreducible polymers containing disulfide linkages have been considered as efficient gene vectors, owing to the selective degradation of the disulfide bond in the reducing environment of the cells.

From single to a dual-gene delivery nanosystem: coordinated expression matters for boosting the neovascularization in vivo.

In the past decade, the development of gene carriers has been key in enhancing gene therapy. Gene therapy is associated with not only the delivery process but also gene expression as a prominent role. Herein, for the purpose of achieving a novel breakthrough in gene therapy, we creatively proposed a "strengthened gene expression" idea beyond the range of improving the gene carrier.

Near-Infrared Laser-Triggered Dimorphic Transformation of BF-Azadipyrromethene Nanoaggregates for Enhanced Solid Tumor Penetration.

The shape of a drug delivery system impacts its behavior such as circulation time, accumulation, and penetration. Considering the advantages of functional dyes in bioapplications, we synthesize a class of nanoaggregates based on BF-azadipyrromethene (aza-BODIPY) dyes, which can realize long blood circulation and deep tumor penetration simultaneously through morphological transformation modulated by a near-infrared (NIR) laser. First, when the temperature increases, the wormlike nanofibers of the aza-BODIPY-1 aggregate, possessing a long blood circulation time, can be transformed into spherical nanoparticles, which are conducive to increasing the penetration in the solid tumor.