Molecular understanding of the therapeutic potential of melanin inhibiting natural products.

With the development of society and the improvement of people's living standards, there is an increasing demand for melanin-inhibiting products that prioritize health, safety, and efficacy. Therefore, the development of natural products that can safely and efficiently inhibit melanin synthesis is of great social significance and has significant market potential. In this paper, by reviewing the literature reported in recent years, we summarized the natural products with inhibition of melanin synthesis effects that have been put into or not yet put into the market, and classified them according to the chemical groups of their compounds or the extraction methods of the natural products.

Machine learning-assisted flexible wearable device for tyrosine detection.

Early diagnosis of pathological markers can significantly shorten the rate of viral transmission, reduce the probability of infection, and improve the cure rate of diseases. Therefore, analytical techniques for identifying pathological markers and environmental toxicants have received considerable attention from researchers worldwide. However, the most popular techniques used in clinical settings involve expensive precision instruments and complex detection processes.

SI-PET-RAFT in flow: improved control over polymer brush growth.

Surface-initiated photoinduced electron transfer-reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (SI-PET-RAFT) provides a light-dependent tool to synthesize polymer brushes on different surfaces that tolerates oxygen and water, and does not require a metal catalyst. Here we introduce improved control over SI-PET-RAFT polymerizations continuous flow conditions. We confirm the composition and topological structure of the brushes by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and AFM.

Isomeric dibenzooctazethrene diradicals for high-performance air-stable organic field-effect transistors.

Realizing both high-performance and air-stability is key to advancing singlet-diradical-based semiconductors to practical applications and realizing their material potential associated with their open-shell nature. Here a concise synthetic route toward two stable dibenzooctazethrene isomers, DBOZ1 and DBOZ2, was demonstrated. In the crystalline phase, DBOZ2 exhibits two-dimensional brick wall packing with a high degree of intermolecular electronic coupling, leading to a record-breaking hole mobility of 3.

Mitochondria-targeted nanoparticles in treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are a class of heterogeneous diseases that includes Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Mitochondria play an important role in oxidative balance and metabolic activity of neurons; therefore, mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with NDs and mitochondria are considered a potential treatment target for NDs. Several obstacles, including the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and cell/mitochondrial membranes, reduce the efficiency of drug entry into the target lesions.

Molecular control over vitrimer-like mechanics - tuneable dynamic motifs based on the Hammett equation in polyimine materials.

In this work, we demonstrate that fine-grained, quantitative control over macroscopic dynamic material properties can be achieved using the Hammett equation in tuneable dynamic covalent polyimine materials. this established physical-organic principle, operating on the molecular level, one can fine-tune and control the dynamic material properties on the macroscopic level, by systematic variation of dynamic covalent bond dynamics through selection of the appropriate substituent of the aromatic imine building blocks. Five tuneable, crosslinked polyimine network materials, derived from dianiline monomers with varying Hammett parameter () were studied by rheology, revealing a distinct correlation between the value and a range of corresponding dynamic material properties.

A Novel Targeted and High-Efficiency Nanosystem for Combinational Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease, and no effective treatment is available yet. Metal-ion-triggered aggregates of amyloid-beta (A) peptide and acetylcholine imbalance are reported to be possible factors in AD pathogenesis. Thus, a combination therapy that can not only inhibit and reduce A aggregation but also simultaneously regulate acetylcholine imbalance that can serve as a potential treatment for AD is needed.

Droplets as Carriers for Flexible Electronic Devices.

Coupling soft bodies and dynamic motions with multifunctional flexible electronics is challenging, but is essential in satisfying the urgent and soaring demands of fully soft and comprehensive robotic systems that can perform tasks in spite of rigorous spatial constraints. Here, the mobility and adaptability of liquid droplets with the functionality of flexible electronics, and techniques to use droplets as carriers for flexible devices are combined. The resulting active droplets (ADs) with volumes ranging from 150 to 600 µL can conduct programmable functions, such as sensing, actuation, and energy harvesting defined by the carried flexible devices and move under the excitation of gravitational force or magnetic force.

Synthesis of novel rambutan-like graphene@aluminum composite spheres and non-destructive terahertz characterization.

Graphene reinforced Al (graphene@Al) spheres were synthesized using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition technique in which H, CH, and Ar were used as the reduced gas, carbon source, and plasma enhancement gas, respectively. The obtained graphene@Al spheres presented a rambutan-like structure and had a graphene shell wrapped on the sphere surface, which was proved by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The thickness of the graphene shell on the Al sphere is difficult to be characterized by conventional techniques.

Small-molecule fluorescent probes and their design.

Small-molecule fluorescent probes have become powerful tools for using light to advance the study of cell biology, discover new drugs, detect environmental contaminants, and further the detection of cancer. These applications correlate with the expansion of the fluorescent probe research community - small in the late 20 century, now a collection of more than a hundred research groups world-wide. This expansion required the entry of adventurous scientists from many other fields.

Elucidating the mechanism behind the laccase-mediated modification of poly(ethersulfone).

Laccase-mediated oligomerisation of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HBA) derivatives and simultaneous surface modification has proven to be a cost-effective, easily applicable and eco-friendly strategy for preventing biofouling of poly(ethersulfone) (PES) water filtration membranes. Modification of the membrane surface has previously been hypothesised to occur through covalent bonding of enzymatically generated phenolic radicals to the polymeric membrane. The current study shows, however, that formation of soluble phenolic oligomers does not result in covalent membrane modification.

Highly dispersed Pd on macroporous SmMnO mullite for low temperature oxidation of CO and CH.

The catalytic behavior of a palladium catalyst supported on macroporous SmMnO mullite (Pd/SMO-EG&M) for CO and CH oxidation was measured under lean-burn conditions. Different analytical techniques including XRD, Raman, BET, CO chemisorption, SEM, FTEM, XPS, TPD, TPR and CO + O pulse were undertaken to evaluate its physical and chemical properties. It was concluded that the crystal structure, morphology and specific surface area (SSA) of SmMnO remained unchanged after Pd addition.

An Amine-Functionalized Iron(III) Metal-Organic Framework as Efficient Visible-Light Photocatalyst for Cr(VI) Reduction.

The photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) is investigated over iron(III)-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) structured as MIL-88B. It is found that MIL-88B (Fe) MOFs, containing Fe-μ-oxo clusters, can be used as photocatalyst for the reduction of Cr(VI) under visible light irradiation, which is due to the direct excitation of Fe-μ-oxo clusters. The amine-functionalized MIL-88B (Fe) MOFs (denoted as NH-MIL-88B (Fe)) shows much higher efficiency for the photocatalytic Cr(VI) reduction under visible-light irradiation compared with MIL-88B (Fe).