Journal of The Chinese Chemical Society最新文献

Focus of the figure: Cu₂O was synthesized via a one-step reduction method and combined with Bi₂WO₆ in varying proportions to create Cu₂O/Bi₂WO₆ composites for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction. Characterization techniques, including XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-vis, and XPS, analyzed the materials' properties. Under low-power blue and green LED light, the Cu₂O/Bi₂WO₆ (3:1) composite exhibited the highest performance, producing 27.4 μmol g⁻¹ CH₄ and 30.6 μmol g⁻¹ CO. More details about this figure will be discussed by Dr. Ren-Jang Wu and his co-workers on pages 27-36 in this issue.

Focus of the figure: A 3D supramolecular architecture, built up through the assembly of a double-layered 2D honeycomb-like MOFs, exhibits a stepwise water vapor ad-/de-sorption isotherm with the maximum sorption of approximate 4.0 n/mol mol^-1 H₂O molecules, which is attributed to structural transformation on the basis of the hydrogen-bonding affinity of water molecules with the two free N atoms of tcm^-1 ligand in the framework and the framework flexibility assembled by two-fold interpenetrated 2D nets. More details about this figure will be discussed by Dr. Chih-Chieh Wang and his co-workers on pages 1464-1472 in this issue.

In this study, Cu₂O was prepared using a one-step reduction method, and Bi₂WO₆ was uniformly mixed with Cu₂O in various proportions to obtain Cu₂O/Bi₂WO₆ composites with different Bi₂WO₆ contents. The prepared samples (Cu₂O and Cu₂O/Bi₂WO₆) were used as photocatalytic materials in the photo-reductive conversion of CO₂ into CH₄ and CO. The morphology, microstructure, and chemical composition of the obtained photocatalysts were investigated using a series of characterization methods, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Furthermore, the photoreduction of CO₂ using the prepared samples was studied under low-power visible LED lights irradiation (blue LED and green LED) to save energy. Experimental results showed that Cu₂O/Bi₂WO₆ with a 3:1 ratio possessed the optimal properties, yielding 27.4 μmol g⁻¹ of methane and 30.6 μmol g⁻¹ of carbon monoxide under green light.

Tubulin is the basic building block of microtubule and has been established as a druggable target of various cancers. However, a large number of somatic missense variations have been clinically observed to harbor in the tubulin protein, which can cause drug resistance to microtubule-stabilizing agents (MSAs), thus largely limiting the applications of MSAs in tumor chemotherapy. In this study, we created a systematic response profile of (PTX), the first approved MSA, as well as its diverse analogues (we herein termed paclitogues [PLGs]), to various tubulin variations by using an integrated in silico-in vitro (iSiV) strategy. These PLGs share a similar action mechanism and the same binding pocket with PTX, while these variations were enriched from the gene ontology (GO) network involving a variety of gynecologic cancers (GCs). A considerable difference between the ligand response profiles to α- and β-tubulin variations was observed; the former commonly has only marginal and even effects, whereas the latter generally exhibits significant but dramatically changeable responses. A number of resistant variations and few sensitive variations were identified from the profile; they can considerably reduce PTX affinity by up to ~30-fold or moderately improve the affinity by <5-fold. Multiple resistant variations can co-work in a single tubulin variant to further combat with the PTX ligand. By examining their locations in the structural architecture of tubulin protein, it is revealed that resistant variations occur either in MSA-binding pocket to directly block ligand binding or out of the pocket to indirectly impair the binding through a long-range conformational effect, while the sensitive variations promote the binding by forming additional noncovalent interactions with ligand.

Over the past decade, significant advancements have been achieved in the field of biomedicine, particularly in the treatment of critical illness. However, there remain numerous challenges and barriers persist in drug delivery, medical imaging, diagnosis, and treatment. Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers have emerged as promising candidates for the development of functional biomedical materials due to their advantageous properties, including ease of preparation, controllable size, abundant cavities, water solubility, modifiability, and biocompatibility. This article presents a comprehensive review of the synthesis, application, and potential toxicity of PAMAM functional biomedical materials, exploring the role, significance, and potential applications of PAMAM dendrimers in detail. The aim is to provide a valuable reference for the future development of biomedical materials and to inspire further discoveries in the field of polyamide functional materials.

In recent years, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted much attention in environmental pollution control. However, most MOFs still have problems such as low utilization of visible light and easy recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes. In this study, novel defective Fe-MOFs with appropriate structural defects were prepared by solvothermal method and used to remove methylene blue (MB) in aqueous phase through adsorption and photocatalysis. Defective Fe-MOFs have Fe content as high as 10.31% with specific surface area of 40.95 m²/g, which is beneficial for both dye adsorption and photocatalytic process. Defective Fe-MOFs have spindle-like structures with sizes ranging from 40 nm to 100 nm and an average size of 69.1 nm, as well as some irregularly shaped nanoparticles. Irregular stacking of these two kinds of structure makes Fe-MOFs appropriate structural defects, large specific surface area, and mesoporous structure. Kinetics and isotherms of dye adsorption process are consistent with pseudo-first-order kinetic model and Freundlich isotherm model, respectively. Defective Fe-MOFs can absorb MB dye rapidly, reaching adsorption equilibrium within 60 min. Dye adsorption process is endothermic, spontaneous, and entropy-increasing process. After 180 min visible light illumination, dye photocatalytic efficiency of the defective Fe-MOFs reaches 97.56% in the condition of MB concentration as high as 30 mg/L. Consequently, defective Fe-MOFs with appropriate structural defects, porous structure, high Fe-O content, and strong electron-donating amino groups have huge potential applications in removing organic dyes from the aqueous solution by a green and environmentally friendly way due to their high dye adsorption and dye photocatalytic activity.