Designing Biomimetic Strain-Stiffening into Synthetic Hydrogels.

Biological tissues are mechanoresponsive; that is, their properties dynamically change in response to mechanical stimuli. For example, in response to shear or elongational strain, collagen, fibrin, actin, and other filamentous biomaterials undergo dramatic strain-stiffening. Above a critical strain, their stiffness increases over orders of magnitude.

In Situ X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Study of the Deactivation Mechanism of a Ni-SrTiO Photocatalyst Slurry Active in Water Splitting.

We used in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to investigate the composition-performance correlation of Ni-SrTiO photocatalysts active for water splitting. After preparation and exposure to ambient conditions, the Ni particles on SrTiO consist of Ni(0) and Ni(II) phases, with a 4:1 at % ratio, in a metal/oxide core/shell configuration, as confirmed by XPS and TEM-EDX. In situ XAS experiments using an aqueous slurry of the Ni-SrTiO photocatalyst and simultaneous continuous exposure to 365 nm light with a power density of 100 mW cm and the X-rays do not reveal significant changes in oxidation state of the Ni particles.

Exploring acid mine drainage treatment through adsorption: a bibliometric analysis.

Discharge of acidic wastewater from mining activities (acid mine drainage (AMD)) is a major global environmental and public health issue. Although several approaches, including chemical precipitation and membrane technology, have been developed to treat AMD, adsorption has emerged as the most promising technology due to its cost-effectiveness and efficacy. Despite the wide adoption of adsorption in treating AMD, the evolution of research in this area remains poorly understood.

Uncovering Intermolecular Interactions Driving the Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation of the TDP-43 Low-Complexity Domain via Atomistic Dimerization Simulations.

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of transactive response DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP-43), which exerts multiple functions in the splicing, trafficking, and stabilization of RNA, mediates the formation of membraneless condensates with crucial physiological roles, while its aberrant LLPS is linked to multiple neurodegenerative diseases. However, due to the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of LLPS, major gaps remain in understanding the precise intermolecular interactions driving LLPS and how specific mutations alter LLPS dynamics. Here, we investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying the LLPS of the TDP-43 low-complexity domain (LCD) by simulating the dimerization process using all-atom discrete molecular dynamics with microsecond-long simulations.

Synthesis and Dye Adsorption Dynamics of Chitosan-Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) Composite.

One major environmental issue responsible for water pollution is the presence of dyes in the aquatic environment as a result of human activity, particularly the textile industry. Chitosan-Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) polymer composite beads were synthesized and explored for the adsorption of dyes (Bismarck brown (BB), orange G (OG), brilliant blue G (BBG), and indigo carmine (IC)) from dye solution. The CS-PVPP beads demonstrated high removal efficiency of BB (87%), OG (58%), BBG (42%), and IC (49%).

Molecular switching by proton-coupled electron transport drives giant negative differential resistance.

To develop new types of dynamic molecular devices with atomic-scale control over electronic function, new types of molecular switches are needed with time-dependent switching probabilities. We report such a molecular switch based on proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reaction with giant hysteric negative differential resistance (NDR) with peak-to-valley ratios of 120 ± 6.6 and memory on/off ratios of (2.

Selective regulation of macrophage lipid metabolism via nanomaterials' surface chemistry.

Understanding the interface between nanomaterials and lipoproteins is crucial for gaining insights into their impact on lipoprotein structure and lipid metabolism. Here, we use graphene oxide (GOs) nanosheets as a controlled carbon nanomaterial model to study how surface properties influence lipoprotein corona formation and show that GOs have strong binding affinity with low-density lipoprotein (LDL). We use advanced techniques including X-ray reflectivity, circular dichroism, and molecular simulations to explore the interfacial interactions between GOs and LDL.

Enhancing the Separation Performance of Cellulose Membranes Fabricated from 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Acetate by Introducing Acetone as a Co-Solvent.

Cellulose, a sustainable raw material, holds great promise as an ideal candidate for membrane materials. In this work, we focused on establishing a low-cost route for producing cellulose microfiltration membranes by adopting a co-solvent system comprising the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([EMIM]OAc) and acetone. The introduction of acetone as a co-solvent into the casting solution allowed control over the viscosity, thereby significantly enhancing the morphologies and filtration performances of the resulting cellulose membranes.

A Cycloparaphenylene Acetylene as Potential Precursor for an Armchair Carbon Nanotube.

The bottom-up synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is a long-standing goal in synthetic chemistry. Producing CNTs with defined lengths and diameters would render these materials and thus their fascinating properties accessible in a controlled way. Inspired by a recently reported synthesis of armchair graphene sheets that relied on a benzannulation and Scholl oxidation of a poly(p-phenylene ethynylene), the same strategy is applied on a cyclic substrate with a short, but well defined CNT as target structure.

Toward Molecular Textiles: Synthesis and Characterization of Molecular Patches.

This works describes a new step into the assembly of molecular textiles by the use of covalent templating. To establish a well-founded base and to tackle pre-mature obstacles, expected during the fabrication of the desired 2D-material, we opted to investigate the in-solution synthesis of molecular patches e. g.

A description of lineage 1 Mycobacterium tuberculosis from papua, Indonesia.

Indonesia has the third highest number of tuberculosis (TB) patients infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) Lineage 1 (L1). Most of these MTB L1 cases can be found in Indonesia's remote easternmost province of Papua, one of Indonesia's most underdeveloped provinces with a particularly high burden for TB. In this study, we sequenced and described 42 MTB L1 isolates from a well-characterized cohort of patients.

An Overview of Microfluidic Phenotype Separation of Bacteria.

With the development of microfluidics technology, it is now possible in medical biotechnology to examine clinical and rapid diagnostic operations involving pathogens, like bacteria and viruses. The method of separating bacteria from complicated homogeneous and heterogeneous samples is one of the most important steps in the diagnostic process. The microfluidic technology for bacterial separation offers a better and more promising platform by combining several physical properties and characteristics of bacteria.

Dual-functional probe-based multi-signal immunosensor platform for tropane alkaloids: Verification and evaluation.

This study aims to realise rapid detecting of tropane alkaloids (TAs) in food. For this purpose, a broad-spectrum single-chain fragment variable was fused with horseradish peroxidase to create an antibody-enzyme complex (AEC) with antigen recognition and catalytic activity. A multi-signal immunosensor platform based on AEC in the direct competitive reaction mode was constructed using 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine and 10-acetyl-3,7-dihydroxyphenoxazine as substrates.

DNA aptamers for common buffer molecules: possibility of buffer interference in SELEX.

During a typical aptamer selection experiment, buffer molecules are used at the 10 to 50 mM range, whereas target molecules could be used at much lower concentrations even in low μM levels. Therefore, doubts existed regarding the potential enrichment of buffer binding aptamers, particularly for failed selections that cannot validate binding of enriched sequences. In this study, we used two common buffer molecules, Tris and HEPES, as target molecules.

Engineering Anisotropy into Organized Nanoscale Matter.

Programming the organization of discrete building blocks into periodic and quasi-periodic arrays is challenging. Methods for organizing materials are particularly important at the nanoscale, where the time required for organization processes is practically manageable in experiments, and the resulting structures are of interest for applications spanning catalysis, optics, and plasmonics. While the assembly of isotropic nanoscale objects has been extensively studied and described by empirical design rules, recent synthetic advances have allowed anisotropy to be programmed into macroscopic assemblies made from nanoscale building blocks, opening new opportunities to engineer periodic materials and even quasicrystals with unnatural properties.

Imaging the microstructure of lithium and sodium metal in anode-free solid-state batteries using electron backscatter diffraction.

'Anode-free' or, more fittingly, metal reservoir-free cells could drastically improve current solid-state battery technology by achieving higher energy density, improving safety and simplifying manufacturing. Various strategies have been reported so far to control the morphology of electrodeposited alkali metal films to be homogeneous and dense, but until now, the microstructure of electrodeposited alkali metal is unknown, and a suitable characterization route is yet to be identified. Here we establish a reproducible protocol for characterizing the size and orientation of metal grains in differently processed lithium and sodium samples by a combination of focused ion beam and electron backscatter diffraction.

Helical polyamines.

Polymer microstructures rely on tacticity, yet exploration in polyamines has focused predominantly on atactic polymers. We introduce a method to synthesize a diverse library of and -cyanobenzenesulfonyl-activated-methyl aziridines using , , and racemic alaninol. Living anionic ring-opening polymerization of racemic sulfonyl aziridines yields soluble polymers, while enantiomerically-pure sulfonyl aziridines follow a dispersion polymerization with complete monomer conversion giving access to stereoblock copolymers.

A novel triple-signal biosensor based on ZrFe-MOF@PtNPs for ultrasensitive aflatoxins detection.

The development of more sensitive, stable, and portable biosensors is crucial for meeting the growing demands of diverse and complex detection environments. MOF-based nanozymes have emerged as excellent optical reporters, making them ideal signal donors for constructing multi-signal lateral flow immunoassays (LFIA). In this study, a ZrFe-MOF@PtNPs nanocomposite was synthesized by uniformly depositing platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) onto the surface of ZrFe-MOFs using an impregnation-reduction method.

Selective Cross-Metathesis Versus Ring-Closing Metathesis of Terpenes, Taking the Path Less Travelled.

A diiodo ruthenium olefin metathesis pre-catalyst was employed to achieve remarkably selective cross-metathesis reactions of prenylated 1,6-dienes, effectively overcoming the entropically favored intramolecular ring-closing metathesis. This reaction was investigated using Density Functional Theory (DFT) computations and fine-tuned through the application of a Design of Experiments (DoE) approach. The potential of this innovative process was demonstrated through the unprecedented functionalization of various terpene natural products via cross-metathesis, resulting in the synthesis of new derivatives in a single step.

CHARMM at 45: Enhancements in Accessibility, Functionality, and Speed.

Since its inception nearly a half century ago, CHARMM has been playing a central role in computational biochemistry and biophysics. Commensurate with the developments in experimental research and advances in computer hardware, the range of methods and applicability of CHARMM have also grown. This review summarizes major developments that occurred after 2009 when the last review of CHARMM was published.