Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049

Reversible multi-electron redox chemistry of pi-conjugated N-containing heteroaromatic molecule-based organic cathodes

10.1038/nenergy.2017.74NATURE ENERGY2

Crystal Engineering of Naphthalenediimide-Based Metal–Organic Frameworks: Structure-Dependent Lithium Storage

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) possess great structural diversity because of the flexible design of linker groups and metal nodes. The structure–property correlation has been extensively investigated in areas like chiral catalysis, gas storage and absorption, water purification, energy storage, etc. However, the use of MOFs in lithium storage is hampered by stability issues, and how its porosity helps with battery performance is not well understood. Herein, through anion and thermodynamic control, we design a series of naphthalenediimide-based MOFs <b>1–4</b> that can be used for cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Complexation of the <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>′-di­(4-pyridyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenediimide (DPNDI) ligand and CdX₂ (X = NO₃^– or ClO₄^–) produces complexes MOFs <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> with a one-dimensional (1D) nonporous network and a porous, noninterpenetrated two-dimensional (2D) square-grid structure, respectively. With the DPNDI ligand and Co­(NCS)₂, a porous 1D MOF <b>3</b> as a kinetic product is obtained, while a nonporous, noninterpenetrated 2D square-grid structure MOF <b>4</b> as a thermodynamic product is formed. The performance of LIBs is largely affected by the stability and porosity of these MOFs. For instance, the initial charge–discharge curves of MOFs <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> show a specific capacity of ∼47 mA h g^–1 with a capacity retention ratio of >70% during 50 cycles at 100 mA g^–1, which is much better than that of MOFs <b>3</b> and <b>4</b>. The better performances are assigned to the higher stability of Cd­(II) MOFs compared to that of Co­(II) MOFs during the electrochemical process, according to X-ray diffraction analysis. In addition, despite having the same Cd­(II) node in the framework, MOF <b>2</b> exhibits a lithium-ion diffusion coefficient (<i>D</i>_Li) larger than that of MOF <b>1</b> because of its higher porosity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared analysis indicate that metal nodes in these MOFs remain intact and only the DPNDI ligand undergoes the revisible redox reaction during the lithiation–delithiation process

A two-dimensional conjugated aromatic polymer via C-C coupling reaction

10.1038/NCHEM.2696NATURE CHEMISTRY96563-57

Controllable deuteration of halogenated compounds by photocatalytic D2O splitting

10.1038/s41467-017-02551-8Nature Communications918

Tuneable near white-emissive two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks

10.1038/s41467-018-04769-6NATURE COMMUNICATIONS9

Phase Transformations in TiS₂ during K Intercalation

The electrochemical performances of TiS₂ in potassium ion batteries (KIBs) are poor due to the large size of K ions, which induces irreversible structural changes and poor kinetics. To obtain detailed insights into the kinetics of phase changes, we investigated the electrochemical properties, phase transformations, and stability of potassium-intercalated TiS₂ (K_<i>x</i>TiS₂, 0 ≤ <i>x</i> ≤ 0.88). In situ XRD reveals staged transitions corresponding to distinct crystalline phases during K ion intercalation, which are distinct from those of Li and Na ions. Electrochemical (cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge) studies show that the phase transitions among various intercalated stages slow down the kinetics of the discharge/charge in bulk TiS₂ hosts. By chemically prepotassiating the bulk TiS₂ (K_0.25TiS₂) to reduce the domain size of the crystal, these phase transitions are bypassed and more facile ion insertion kinetics can be obtained, which leads to improved Coulombic efficiency, rate capability, and cycling stability