Fluorescence Discrimination of Cancer from Inflammation by Molecular Response to COX‑2 Enzymes

Accurate identification of cancer from inflammation and normal tissue in a rapid, sensitive, and quantitative fashion is important for cancer diagnosis and resection during surgery. Here we report the use of cyclo­oxygenase-2 as a marker for identification of cancer from inflammation and the design of a novel smart COX-2-specific fluorogenic probe (NANQ-IMC6). The probe’s fluorescence is “turned on” in both inflammations and cancers where COX-2 is overexpressed. Intriguingly, the fluorescent emission is quite different at these two sites with different expression level of COX-2. Hence, NANQ-IMC6 can not only distinguish normal cells/tissues from cancer cells/tissues but also distinguish the latter from sites of inflammation lesions by the different fluorescence recognition of NANQ-IMC6 for COX-2 enzymes. Following spraying with the NANQ-IMC6 solution, cancerous tissue, inflamed tissues, and normal tissues can be accurately discriminated in vivo by the unaided eye using a hand-held ultraviolet lamp emitting at 365 nm. So the probe may have potential application varying from cancer inflammation diagnosis to guiding tumor resection during surgery

Efficient Ammonia Electrosynthesis from Nitrate on Strained Ruthenium Nanoclusters

© 2020 American Chemical Society. The limitations of the Haber-Bosch reaction, particularly high-temperature operation, have ignited new interests in low-temperature ammonia-synthesis scenarios. Ambient N2 electroreduction is a compelling alternative but is impeded by a low ammonia production rate (mostly h-1), a small partial current density (cm-2), and a high-selectivity hydrogen-evolving side reaction. Herein, we report that room-temperature nitrate electroreduction catalyzed by strained ruthenium nanoclusters generates ammonia at a higher rate (5.56 mol gcat-1 h-1) than the Haber-Bosch process. The primary contributor to such performance is hydrogen radicals, which are generated by suppressing hydrogen-hydrogen dimerization during water splitting enabled by the tensile lattice strains. The radicals expedite nitrate-to-ammonia conversion by hydrogenating intermediates of the rate-limiting steps at lower kinetic barriers. The strained nanostructures can maintain nearly 100% ammonia-evolving selectivity at \u3e120 mA cm-2 current densities for 100 h due to the robust subsurface Ru-O coordination. These findings highlight the potential of nitrate electroreduction in real-world, low-temperature ammonia synthesis