Photocatalytic generation of H via water splitting emerges as a promising avenue for the next generation of green hydrogen due to its low carbon footprint. Herein, a versatile platform is designed to the preparation of functional π-conjugated organic nanoparticles dispersed in aqueous phase via mini-emulsification. Such particles are composed of donor-acceptor-donor (DAD) trimers prepared via Stille coupling, stabilized by amphiphilic block copolymers synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. The hydrophilic segment of the block copolymers will not only provide colloidal stability, but also allow for precise control over the surface functionalization. Photocatalytic tests of the resulting particles for H production resulted in promising photocatalytic activity (≈0.6 mmol g h). This activity is much enhanced compared to that of DAD trimers dispersed in the water phase without stabilization by the block copolymers.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/marc.202400395 | DOI Listing |
J Am Soc Mass Spectrom
January 2025
Laboratory of Chemistry and Technology of Polymers and Colors, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Biobased poly(ethylene furanoate) (PEF)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) block copolymers have been synthesized using ring opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone (ε-CL) in the presence of PEF in different mass ratios. An increase in intrinsic viscosity is observed for the block copolymers with higher ε-CL content due to the extension of their macromolecular chain. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS) was employed to understand the composition and structure of the produced block copolymers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLab Chip
January 2025
Institute of Translational Medicine, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
Proteases, an important class of enzymes that cleave proteins and peptides, carry a wealth of potentially useful information. Devices to enable routine and cost effective measurement of their activity could find frequent use in clinical settings for medical diagnostics, as well as some industrial contexts such as detecting on-line biological contamination. In particular, devices that make use of readouts involving magnetic particles may offer distinct advantages for continuous sensing because material they release can be magnetically captured downstream and their readout is insensitive to optical properties of the sample.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Chem Soc
January 2025
Department of Pharmacy, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Laboratory of Precision and Intelligent Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, Anhui Province, China.
Thiol-maleimide (MI) chemistry is a cornerstone of bioconjugation strategies, particularly in the development of drug delivery systems. The cyclic arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (cRGD) peptide, recognized for its ability to target the integrin αβ, is commonly employed to functionalize maleimide-bearing nanoparticles (NPs) for fabricating cRGD-functionalized nanomedicines. However, the impact of cRGD density on tumor targeting efficiency remains poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Technol Adv Mater
November 2024
Department of Materials Science, Institute of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Poly(-lysine)--poly(ethylene glycol)--poly(-lysine) (PLys--PEG--PLys) triblock copolymers formed polyion complex (PIC) with poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) or sodium poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS), leading to the formation of flower micelle-type nanoparticles (Nano or Nano) with tens of nanometers size in water at a polymer concentration of 10 mg/mL. The flower micelles exhibited irreversible temperature-driven sol-gel transitions at physiological ionic strength, even at low polymer concentrations such as 40 mg/mL, making them promising candidates for injectable hydrogel applications. Rheological studies showed that the chain length of PLys segments and the choice of polyanions significantly impacted irreversible hydrogel formation, with PSS being superior to PAAc for the formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcc Chem Res
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0B8, Canada.
ConspectusStructural DNA nanotechnology offers a unique self-assembly toolbox to construct soft materials of arbitrary complexity, through bottom-up approaches including DNA origami, brick, wireframe, and tile-based assemblies. This toolbox can be expanded by incorporating interactions orthogonal to DNA base-pairing such as metal coordination, small molecule hydrogen bonding, π-stacking, fluorophilic interactions, or the hydrophobic effect. These interactions allow for hierarchical and long-range organization in DNA supramolecular assemblies through a DNA-minimal approach: the use of fewer unique DNA sequences to make complex structures.
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