Cost-Efficient Strategy for Sustainable Cross-Linked Microporous Carbon Bead with Satisfactory CO₂ Capture Capacity

Cross-linked microporous carbon beads (MCBs) were successfully synthesized via a green, convenient, and cost-efficient strategy derived from a renewable sugar source. Such an approach avoids the time-consuming procedure and the use of corrosive chemical activating agents and toxic solvents and only involves a simple carbonization process, which makes it to be applicable for rapid and large-scale industrial production of MCB materials. The obtained MCBs possessed well-defined microporous structure, narrow pore size, and high surface area. Particularly, the microporosity of the resultant MCBs could be easily tailored to arise primary pores of size 0.5–0.9 nm by adjusting the carbonization temperature and reaction time, which remarkably favor the CO₂ capture. The optimal sample of MCBs-9-5 carbonized at 900 °C for 5 h was characterized by high microporosity (80% of the surface area from micropores), especially ultrahigh narrow microporosity (53% of pore volume from micropores of size <1 nm), which endowed it a great satisfactory CO₂ uptake of 4.25 mmol g^–1 at 25 °C and 1 bar. Significantly, a prominent CO₂/N₂ selectivity and superior recyclability of MCBs-9-5 were also achieved. Combined with the simple fabrication, the satisfactory adsorption capacity, and high selectivity, MCBs-9-5 should be a promising adsorbent for CO₂ capture and separation

Synergistic Inhibitory Effect of GQDs–Tramiprosate Covalent Binding on Amyloid Aggregation

Inhibiting the amyloid aggregation is considered to be an effective strategy to explore possible treatment of amyloid-related diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and type II diabetes. Herein, a new high-efficiency and low-cytotoxicity Aβ aggregation inhibitors, GQD-T, was designed through the combination of two Aβ aggregation inhibitors, graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and tramiprosate. GQD-T showed the capability of efficiently inhibiting the aggregation of Aβ peptides and rescuing Aβ-induced cytotoxicity due to the synergistic effect of the GQDs and tramiprosate. In addition, the GQD-T has the characteristics of low toxicity and great biocompatibility. It is believed that GQD-T may be a potential candidate for an Alzheimer’s drug and this work provides a new strategy for exploring Aβ peptide aggregation inhibitors

Photoelectron Spectroscopy of CoC₂H₂^– and Density Functional Study of Co_<i>n</i>C₂H₂ (<i>n</i> = 1–3) Anion and Neutral Clusters

The anionic and neutral Co_<i>n</i>C₂H₂ (<i>n</i> = 1–3) clusters were investigated using anion photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional calculations. The adiabatic detachment energies and vertical detachment energies of Co_<i>n</i>C₂H₂^– (<i>n</i> = 1–3) were determined. Our results show that the most stable geometries of anionic Co_<i>n</i>C₂H₂^– (<i>n</i> = 1–2) and neutral Co_<i>n</i>C₂H₂ (<i>n</i> = 1–3) are composed of Co_<i>n</i>C₂H clusters adsorbing a hydrogen atom on the top or bridge sites of Co_<i>n</i>, whereas Co₃C₂H₂^– consists of a five-member ring of Co₃C₂ carbide adsorbing two hydrogen atoms on two bridge sites of Co₃. The reaction mechanisms show that the inserted isomer HCoC₂H can convert into the vinylidene complex CoCCH₂ via a side-on isomer M-η²-(C₂H₂)

The demographic and clinical features of the PSS cases and controls.

<p>Abbreviations: PSS, Posner-Schlossman syndrome; IOP, intraocular pressure;KPs, keratic precipitates.</p><p>^a Independent-samples T test</p><p>^b χ² test.</p><p>The demographic and clinical features of the PSS cases and controls.</p

Significant alleles and haplotypes associated with PSS.

<p>Abbreviations: PSS, Posner-Schlossman syndrome; <i>P</i>_<i>c</i>, Bonferroni corrected <i>P</i> value by multiplying the <i>P</i> value with the number of tests performed; CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio; χ² test was used.</p><p>Significant alleles and haplotypes associated with PSS.</p

Frequencies of HLA-C,-DQB1 and-DQB1 alleles in PSS cases and controls.

<p>The allele frequencies were presented as allele count (%). Abbreviations: PSS, Posner-Schlossman syndrome; χ² test was used.</p><p>Frequencies of HLA-C,-DQB1 and-DQB1 alleles in PSS cases and controls.</p

Frequencies of HLA-A and-B alleles in PSS cases and controls.

<p>The allele frequencies were presented as allele count (%). Abbreviations: PSS, Posner-Schlossman syndrome; χ² test was used.</p><p>Frequencies of HLA-A and-B alleles in PSS cases and controls.</p

Photophysical/Chemistry Properties of Distyryl-BODIPY Derivatives: An Experimental and Density Functional Theoretical Study

Singlet oxygen is the key element for photodynamic therapy. In this paper, six novel distyryl-BODIPY compounds were synthesized and investigated in detail to fully evaluate their photophysical/chemistry characteristics. Specially, the singlet oxygen (¹O₂) quantum yield of compounds <b>2</b> and <b>4</b> each bearing two bromine atoms in their skeleton revealed the position effect of heavy atom for ¹O₂ production. The ¹O₂ quantum yield of <b>4</b>, which was brominated at 2/6 position of BODIPY skeleton, was much higher than that of compound <b>2</b>, brominated at styryl group with a long distance toward BODIPY core. Importantly, theoretical calculations were carried out to elaborate the essential reason for the difference of <b>2</b> and <b>4</b> by investigating intersystem crossing rate

Low-Temperature Fluorination Route to Lanthanide-Doped Monoclinic ScOF Host Material for Tunable and Nearly Single Band Up-Conversion Luminescence

Lanthanide upconversion (UC) materials that convert near-infrared excitations into visible emissions are of extensive current interest owing to their potential applications in biosensing, 3D displays, and solar cells. A wise choice of the host lattice is crucial for high-quality UC luminescence with desired emission wavelengths. From the viewpoint of structural chemistry, here we propose monoclinic scandium oxyfluoride (M-ScOF) as a promising UC host material for the following reasons: (1) the shortest Sc³⁺–Sc³⁺ distance (3.234 Å, versus 3.584 Å of Y³⁺–Y³⁺ in hexagonal NaYF₄); (2) the unique crystallographic site of Sc in the structure; (3) specific coordination environment of Sc with 4O + 3F in <i>C</i>₁ symmetry. Lanthanide doping in an individual host with such structural features is highly expected to achieve single band emission and fast energy migration for high-efficiency UC process. Experimentally, we employ a low temperature fluorination method to synthesize pure and lanthanides doped M-ScOF samples successfully by using polytetrafluoroethylene as the fluridizer. The Yb³⁺/Ho³⁺-codoped M-ScOF nanoparticles exhibit tunable UC emissions with various red/green ratios under excitation of λ_ex = 980 nm. Nearly single-band red (∼660 nm) and near-infrared (∼805 nm) UC luminescence have been achieved in Yb³⁺/Er³⁺- and Yb³⁺/Tm³⁺-incorporated samples, respectively. We believe that more attention to M-ScOF and the search for other advanced host materials based on structural chemistry perspective will greatly boost the development of high-efficiency UC phosphors in various applications such as bioprobes and chromatic displays

Specificity of two linear epitopes within NS3 helicases of HCV and other flaviviruses.

<p>(A) Analysis of amino acid sequence corresponding to EP05 and EP21 regions within NS3 helicase cross HCV genotypes and other flaviviruses. Aa sequences (one-letter code) to epitopes of HCV genotype 1b are presented on the top. Positions at the beginning and end of sequences are indicated by numbers. Identities with the lead sequence are indicated by dashes. Representative sequences are retrieved from Genebank Database. Triangles labeling with EP05/2E12 or EP21/3E5 on the top indicate epitope sequences or corresponding sequences for mAb’s recognition. The aa residues GSGKS underlined in bold indicate the ATP binding site of motif I (Walker A) within NS3 helicase. n.a. indicates no corresponding sequence available from those viruses. (B and C) Reactivity of mAb 2E12 or 3E5 with mutant peptide corresponding to the defined epitope sequence in Peptide-ELISA.</p