Direct access to multi-functionalized benzenes [4 + 2] annulation of α-cyano-β-methylenones and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes.

An efficient [4 + 2] benzannulation of α-cyano-β-methylenones and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes was achieved under metal-free reaction conditions selectively delivering a wide range of polyfunctional benzenes in high yields respectively (up to 94% yield).

The geometrical structure and electronic properties of trivalent Ho doped YO crystals: a first-principles study.

Trivalent rare-earth holmium ion (Ho) doped yttrium oxide (YO) has attracted great research interest owing to its unique optoelectronic properties and excellent performances in many new-type laser devices. But the crystal structures of the Ho-doped YO system (YO : Ho) are still unclear. Here, we have carried out a first-principle study on the structural evolution of the trivalent Ho doped YO by using the CALYPSO structure search method.

[Studies on chemical constituents of stems of Herpetospermum pedunculosum].

This project is to study chemical compositions from the stems of Herpetospermum pedunculosum. Twenty-two compounds were isolated from the 70% acetone extract of the stems of H. pedunculosum by column chromatography on Sephadex LH-20, semi-preparative HPLC and preparative TLC.

A hierarchical porous P-doped carbon electrode through hydrothermal carbonization of pomelo valves for high-performance supercapacitors.

Porous carbon materials are synthesized from pomelo valves by the hydrothermal activation of HPO followed by simple carbonization. The as-synthesized hierarchically porous carbon electrode exhibits a high specific capacitance of 966.4 F g at 1 A g and an ultra-high stability of 95.

Hierarchical Co(OH)@NiMoS nanocomposite on carbon cloth as electrode for high-performance asymmetric supercapacitors.

Hierarchical Co(OH)@NiMoS nanocomposites were successfully prepared on a carbon cloth by using a simple two-step hydrothermal method coupled with a room-temperature vulcanization method. The resulting nanocomposites were composed of large-scale uniform Co(OH) nanowires fully covered with ultrathin vertical NiMoS nanoflakes. Because of the synergetic effect between Co(OH) and NiMoS, the nanocomposites exhibited good electrochemical performance as a supercapacitor electrode.

Effect of guanidinium chloride in eliminating O electron extraction barrier on a SnO surface to enhance the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.

Owing to their low cost, easy fabrication and excellent chemical stability properties, tin dioxide (SnO) nanoparticles have been widely employed as an electron transfer material in many high-efficiency perovskite solar cells (PeSCs). However, the adsorbed oxygen species ( O ) on the surface of the SnO layer, which are induced by the annealing process under ambient environment, have always been overlooked. In general, the adsorption of oxygen creates an energy barrier at the SnO/perovskite interface, impairing the efficiency of PeSCs.

Effect of Zn doping on phase transition and electronic structures of Heusler-type PdCr-based alloys: from normal to all-d-metal Heusler.

Based on first-principles calculations, for Heusler alloys PdCrZ (Z = Al, Ga, In, Tl, Si, Sn, P, As, Sb, Bi, Se, Te, Zn), the effect of Zn doping on their phase transition and electronic structure has been studied in this work. These alloys can be divided into two classes: (i) all-d-metal Heusler PdCrZn and (ii) other normal Heusler alloys PdCrZ (Z = Al, Ga, In, Tl, Si, Sn, P, As, Sb, Bi, Se, Te). For all-d-metal Heusler alloy PdCrZn, transition metal element Zn behaves like a main group element due to its full 3d occupied state, and therefore the Zn atoms tend to occupy Wyckoff sites D (0.

Cetyltrimethylammonium chloride-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles as a mitochondrion-targeting agent for tumor therapy.

Mitochondria play an important role in supplying cellular energy, cell signaling and governing cell death. In addition, mitochondria have also been proved to be essential for tumor generation and development. Thus, mitochondrion-targeting therapeutics and treatments have emerged as promising strategies against cancer.

Covalent organic frameworks as micro-reactors: confinement-enhanced electrochemiluminescence.

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) micro-reactors with enhanced intensity and extreme stability were first established by the assembly of tris(2,2'-bipyridyl) ruthenium(ii) (Ru(bpy) ) onto covalent organic frameworks (COFs), in which a type of imine-linked COF (denoted as COF-LZU1) was employed as a model for ECL micro-reactors. Compared with the dominant ECL system of Ru(bpy) /tri--propylamine (TPrA) (TPrA as a co-reactant), the intensity of the COF-LZU1 micro-reactor-based electrode was significantly increased nearly 5-fold under the same experimental conditions, which is unprecedented in other Ru(bpy) -based ECL systems. This enhancement can be attributed to the large surface area, delimited space, and stable and hydrophobic porous structure of COF-LZU1, which not only enabled a huge amount of Ru(bpy) to be loaded in/on COF-LZU1, but also enriched a large amount of TPrA from the aqueous solution into its inner hydrophobic cavity due to the lipophilicity of TPrA.

Specific ion effects of incomplete ion-exchange by electric field-induced ion polarization.

Incomplete ion-exchange results from ion interfacial reactions portray a particular scenario of interactions between ions and charged surfaces. In this study, the constant flow method was adopted to study the incomplete ion-exchange state of mono-valent cation adsorption of X (X = Cs, Na and Li) in X/K exchange at the montmorillonite particle surface. The pronounced incomplete ion-exchange state and strong specific ion effects were experimentally observed.

[Nitrogen metabolism and secondary metabolism regulation of Atropa belladonna by exogenous NO under NaCl stress].

Atropa belladonna seedlings were used as experimental materials and cultivated by soil culture method. Different concentrations(0,0.05,0.

Synthesis of an ordered nanoporous Cu/Ni/Au film for sensitive non-enzymatic glucose sensing.

Ordered nanoporous Cu/Ni/Au film was prepared by electrochemical deposition and magnetron sputtering using an anodic aluminium oxide template. The fabricated porous film has a uniform hexagonal pore size structure, a long-range ordered arrangement, and a pore diameter of approximately 40 nm. Following the dissolution of the template, the independent Cu/Ni/Au film is devolved to an ITO substrate as an effective non-enzyme glucose detection sensor.

Shape-directed self-assembly of nanodumbbells into superstructure polymorphs.

Self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles into ordered superstructures provides a promising route to create novel/enhanced functional materials. Much progress has been made in self-assembly of anisotropic nanoparticles, but the complexity and tunability of superstructures remain restricted by their available geometries. Here we report the controlled packing of nanodumbbells (NDs) with two spherical lobes connected by one rod-like middle bar into varied superstructure polymorphs.

KFY02 enhances the relieving effect of gardenoside on montmorillonite induced constipation in mice.

KFY02 (KFY02), isolated from naturally fermented milk yoghurt in Korla, Xinjiang, Northwest of China, showed gardenoside action for the intestinal regulation of constipated mice. Comparatively, the effects of KFY02 (0.5 × 10 CFU kg, by body weight (BW)), gardenoside (50 mg kg, BW), and KFY02 (0.

Nickel Hollow Spheres Concatenated by Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Fibers for Enhancing Electrochemical Kinetics of Sodium-Sulfur Batteries.

The high energy density of room temperature (RT) sodium-sulfur batteries (Na-S) usually rely on the efficient conversion of polysulfide to sodium sulfide during discharging and sulfur recovery during charging, which is the rate-determining step in the electrochemical reaction process of Na-S batteries. In this work, a 3D network (Ni-NCFs) host composed by nitrogen-doped carbon fibers (NCFs) and Ni hollow spheres is synthesized by electrospinning. In this novel design, each Ni hollow unit not only can buffer the volume fluctuation of S during cycling, but also can improve the conductivity of the cathode along the carbon fibers.

Improved method of structure-based virtual screening based on ensemble learning.

Virtual screening has become a successful alternative and complementary technique to experimental high-throughput screening technologies for drug design. Since the scoring function of docking software cannot predict binding affinity accurately, how to improve the hit rate remains a common issue in structure-based virtual screening. This paper proposed a target-specific virtual screening method based on ensemble learning named ENS-VS.

A siramesine-loaded metal organic framework nanoplatform for overcoming multidrug resistance with efficient cancer cell targeting.

Cancer is the leading cause of death and the most important obstacle to increasing life expectancy. With the sophisticated design and research of anticancer drugs, multidrug resistance to chemotherapy has become more and more common. After the emergence of multidrug resistance, the development of a new drug is beset with difficulties.

The preparation of prochloraz pH-responsive nanocapsules by the Pickering emulsion polymerization method and the study of their performance.

In this work, prochloraz pH-responsive nanocapsules were developed by the Pickering emulsion polymerization method with isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) as the reaction monomer and nano FeO particle-branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) as the reaction monomer and surfactant. The physical and chemical properties and sustained release properties were determined by a transmission electron microscope (TEM), field emission transmission electron microscope (FETEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), laser particle size analyzer, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, and contact angle tester. The results indicated that the prochloraz nanocapsules were spherical, the average particle size was about 100 nm, and the encapsulation efficiency and loading rates were 86% and 30%, respectively.

Theoretical investigations of a new two-dimensional semiconducting boron-carbon-nitrogen structure.

A new two-dimensional boron-carbon-nitrogen (BCN) structure is predicted and is theoretically investigated based on density functional theory. The BCN structure belongs to the space group 222, and is composed of twelve B, twelve C and twelve N atoms per orthorhombic cell (named oC-BCN). It consists of small hollow spheres with two hexagons per sphere.

Tryptophan promoted β-defensin-2 expression the mTOR pathway and its metabolites: kynurenine banding to aryl hydrocarbon receptor in rat intestine.

In this study, we investigated the signalling pathways mediating tryptophan (Trp)-promoted β-defensin-2 (BD-2) expression in rat intestinal mucosa. Sprague Dawley rats were administered with l-Trp and treated with rapamycin (RAPA), 1-methyltryptophan (1-MT), or -chlorophenyl-amine (PCPA) to inhibit mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), or tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH), respectively. The mRNA and protein levels of BD-2 in the jejunal and ileal mucosa of rats increased with administration of l-Trp.

Genome and Transcriptome Provide Insights into the Origin and Evolution of Streptophyta.

The Streptophyta include unicellular and multicellular charophyte green algae and land plants. Colonization of the terrestrial habitat by land plants is a major evolutionary event that has transformed the planet. So far, lack of genome information on unicellular charophyte algae hinders the understanding of the origin and the evolution from unicellular to multicellular life in Streptophyta.

A well-directional three-dimensional DNA walking nanomachine that runs in an orderly manner.

Herein, we report a three-dimensional (3D) DNA walking nanomachine innovatively constructed from a functionalized 3D DNA track, which runs in an orderly manner with favorable directionality to allow for programming certain pathways of information transduction for some target tasks. The nanomachine was constructed using a departure station of walker (U + W) and a functionalized 3D track, which was made up of a rolling circle amplification (RCA)-generated backbone chain and numerous triangular rung units with stators (U + S) assembled into a repeating array along the backbone. A specific domain (SD) was designed at the 5'-end of the backbone to capture the U + W, and stators with specific RNA substrates were immobilized at the three U corners for the DNA walker to travel on.

Exposure risk assessment of nine metal elements in Chongqing hotpot seasoning.

Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) were used to analyze the contents of nine metal elements (Pb, As, Hg, Cd, Cr, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn) in 100 groups of Chongqing hotpot seasoning (CHS). Meanwhile, Crystal Ball software based on Monte Carlo simulation technology was used to assess the exposure risk of the nine metal elements in CHS for people of different ages in Chongqing. In general, the average Hazard Index (HI) of the nine metal elements is 0.

Design and Construction of Sodium Polysulfides Defense System for Room-Temperature Na-S Battery.

Room-temperature Na-S batteries are facing one of the most serious challenges of charge/discharge with long cycling stability due to the severe shuttle effect and volume expansion. Herein, a sodium polysulfides defense system is presented by designing and constructing the cathode-separator double barriers. In this strategy, the hollow carbon spheres are decorated with MoS (HCS/MoS) as the S carrier (S@HCS/MoS).

Sensitive colorimetric detection of ochratoxin A by a dual-functional Au/FeO nanohybrid-based aptasensor.

A novel colorimetric aptasensor based on a Au/FeO nanohybrid was developed to detect ochratoxin A (OTA). The aptasensor is composed of a free OTA aptamer, a Au/FeO nanohybrid coated with biotinylated complementary DNA of the OTA aptamer (biotin-cDNA-Au/FeO), and free alkaline-phosphatase-labeled streptavidin (SA-ALP). The Au/FeO nanohybrid not only immobilizes biotin-cDNA but also magnetically separates SA-ALP from the sample solution.