The Insolubility Problem of Organic Hole-Transport Materials Solved by Solvothermal Technology: Toward Solution-Processable Perovskite Solar Cells

Generally, the high efficiency of solution-processable perovskite solar cells (PSCs) comes at the expense of using expensive organic matters as a hole-transport material (HTM). Although intense efforts have tried to use commercially available and low-cost macrocyclic molecules as HTM candidates, they still face two enormous challenges: poor solubility and inherent instability. Here, solvothermal treatment for old and insoluble HTMs (phthalocyanine (Pc) and its derivatives) has been proposed, which is unusual due to the occurrence of solubilization for insoluble precursors induced by the carbonization of the dissolved part. Since the macrocyclic structure still exists, the as-prepared new-type carbon dots not only retain the capacity of hole transfer but serve as an effective passivation additive. Synergy makes the all-air-processed carbon-based PSCs (CH3NH3PbI3) fabricated with carbon dots achieve a decent power conversion efficiency of 13.7%. Importantly, organics have undergone solvothermal treatment, completely breaking through the instability bottleneck, which exists in the long-term operation of PSCs. The universality of this methodology will usher exploration into other low-cost insoluble organics and drastically enhance the high-performance cost ratio of PSC equipment

Data_Sheet_2_Energy Availability Determines Strategy of Microbial Amino Acid Synthesis in Volatile Fatty Acid–Fed Anaerobic Methanogenic Chemostats.xlsx

In natural communities, microbes exchange a variety of metabolites (public goods) with each other, which drives the evolution of auxotroph and shapes interdependent patterns at community-level. However, factors that determine the strategy of public goods synthesis for a given community member still remains to be elucidated. In anaerobic methanogenic communities, energy availability of different community members is largely varied. We hypothesized that this uneven energy availability contributed to the heterogeneity of public goods synthesis ability among the members in these communities. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the synthetic strategy of amino acids of the bacterial and archaeal members involved in four previously enriched anaerobic methanogenic communities residing in thermophilic chemostats. Our analyses indicate that most of the members in the communities did not possess ability to synthesize all the essential amino acids, suggesting they exchanged these essential public goods to establish interdependent patterns for survival. Importantly, we found that the amino acid synthesis ability of a functional group was largely determined by how much energy it could obtain from its metabolism in the given environmental condition. Moreover, members within a functional group also possessed different amino acid synthesis abilities, which are related to their features of energy metabolism. Our study reveals that energy availability is a key driver of microbial evolution in presence of metabolic specialization at community level and suggests the feasibility of managing anaerobic methanogenic communities for better performance through controlling the metabolic interactions involved.</p

Data_Sheet_1_High synthetic cost-amino acids reduce member interactions of acetate-degrading methanogenic microbial community.docx

IntroductionThe cooperation among members of microbial communities based on the exchange of public goods such as 20 protein amino acids (AAs) has attracted widespread attention. However, little is known about how AAs availability affects interactions among members of complex microbial communities and the structure and function of a community.MethodsTo investigate this question, trace amounts of AAs combinations with different synthetic costs (low-cost, medium-cost, high-cost, and all 20 AAs) were supplemented separately to acetate-degrading thermophilic methanogenic reactors, and the differences in microbial community structure and co-occurring networks of main members were compared to a control reactor without AA supplementation.ResultsThe structure of the microbial community and the interaction of community members were influenced by AAs supplementation and the AAs with different synthetic costs had different impacts. The number of nodes, links, positive links, and the average degree of nodes in the co-occurrence network of the microbial communities with AAs supplementation was significantly lower than that of the control without AAs supplementation, especially for all 20 AAs supplementation followed by the medium- and high-cost AAs supplementation. The average proportion of positive interactions of microbial members in the systems supplemented with low-cost, medium-cost, high-cost, all AAs, and the control group were 0.42, 0.38, 0.15, 0.4, and 0.45, respectively. In addition, the ecological functions of community members possibly changed with the supplementation of different cost AAs.DiscussionThese findings highlight the effects of AAs availability on the interactions among members of complex microbial communities, as well as on community function.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Energy Availability Determines Strategy of Microbial Amino Acid Synthesis in Volatile Fatty Acid–Fed Anaerobic Methanogenic Chemostats.docx

In natural communities, microbes exchange a variety of metabolites (public goods) with each other, which drives the evolution of auxotroph and shapes interdependent patterns at community-level. However, factors that determine the strategy of public goods synthesis for a given community member still remains to be elucidated. In anaerobic methanogenic communities, energy availability of different community members is largely varied. We hypothesized that this uneven energy availability contributed to the heterogeneity of public goods synthesis ability among the members in these communities. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the synthetic strategy of amino acids of the bacterial and archaeal members involved in four previously enriched anaerobic methanogenic communities residing in thermophilic chemostats. Our analyses indicate that most of the members in the communities did not possess ability to synthesize all the essential amino acids, suggesting they exchanged these essential public goods to establish interdependent patterns for survival. Importantly, we found that the amino acid synthesis ability of a functional group was largely determined by how much energy it could obtain from its metabolism in the given environmental condition. Moreover, members within a functional group also possessed different amino acid synthesis abilities, which are related to their features of energy metabolism. Our study reveals that energy availability is a key driver of microbial evolution in presence of metabolic specialization at community level and suggests the feasibility of managing anaerobic methanogenic communities for better performance through controlling the metabolic interactions involved.</p

Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Tannase from a Metagenomic Library

A novel gene (designated as tan410) encoding tannase was isolated from a cotton field metagenomic library by functional screening. Sequence analysis revealed that tan410 encoded a protein of 521 amino acids. SDS−PAGE and gel filtration chromatography analysis of purified tannase suggested that Tan410 was a monomeric enzyme with a molecular mass of 55 kDa. The optimum temperature and pH of Tan410 were 30 °C and 6.4. The activity was enhanced by addition of Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cd2+. In addition, Tan410 was stable in the presence of 4 M NaCl. Chlorogenic acid, rosmarinic acid, ethyl ferulate, tannic acid, epicatechin gallate and epigallocathchin gallate were efficiently hydrolyzed by recombinant tannase. All of these excellent properties make Tan410 an interesting enzyme for biotechnological application

Anaerobic biodegradation of spiramycin I and characterization of its new metabolites

<p>Activated sludge was used to treat the wastewater containing spiramycin I. Three new metabolites were isolated and identified, which produced by oxidation of C6-aldehyde, hydrolysis of C5-mycaminose-mycarose and macrolactone ring-open reaction of spiramycin I in anaerobic digestion. And their antimicrobial activities were inactivated. Our results indicated that anaerobic biodegradation metabolites of spiramycin I could not induce bacterial resistance in environment.</p

Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Tannase from a Metagenomic Library

A novel gene (designated as tan410) encoding tannase was isolated from a cotton field metagenomic library by functional screening. Sequence analysis revealed that tan410 encoded a protein of 521 amino acids. SDS−PAGE and gel filtration chromatography analysis of purified tannase suggested that Tan410 was a monomeric enzyme with a molecular mass of 55 kDa. The optimum temperature and pH of Tan410 were 30 °C and 6.4. The activity was enhanced by addition of Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cd2+. In addition, Tan410 was stable in the presence of 4 M NaCl. Chlorogenic acid, rosmarinic acid, ethyl ferulate, tannic acid, epicatechin gallate and epigallocathchin gallate were efficiently hydrolyzed by recombinant tannase. All of these excellent properties make Tan410 an interesting enzyme for biotechnological application

Rhodium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Conjugate Pyridylation with Pyridylboronic Acids

Although the asymmetric arylation reaction has been extensively studied for chiral Csp2–Csp3 bond formation, the asymmetric pyridylation reaction remains a great challenge. In this study, the rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate pyridylation of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds with pyridylboronic acids is reported. The bifunctional chiral amide-diene ligand, which dramatically accelerated the reaction via possible H-bonding activation, and alcohol solvent, which significantly inhibited the competing protodeboronation of pyridylboronic acids under rhodium catalysis, worked in concert to promote the reaction, thus enabling production of the pyridylation products in high yields (up to 99%) with good enantioselectivities (up to >99% ee)

Catalyst-Controlled Chemodivergent Synthesis of Spirochromans from Diarylideneacetones and Organoboronic Acids

A chemodivergent synthesis of two series of spirochromans depending on the catalytic system was developed. Starting from diarylideneacetones and organoboronic acids, asymmetric rhodium catalysis led to the enantioselective synthesis of 4,4′-disubstituted 2,2′-spirobichromans, while acid catalysis led to the formation of 4-substituted spirochroman-2,2′-chromenes. A plausible mechanism of the chemodivergent synthesis was proposed