Sensitive Materials Used in Surface Acoustic Wave Gas Sensors for Detecting Sulfur-Containing Compounds.

There have been many studies on surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors for detecting sulfur-containing toxic or harmful gases. This paper aims to give an overview of the current state of polymer films used in SAW sensors for detecting deleterious gases. By covering most of the important polymer materials, the structures and types of polymers are summarized, and a variety of devices with different frequencies, such as delay lines and array sensors for detecting mustard gas, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide, are introduced. The preparation method of polymer films, the sensitivity of the SAW gas sensor, the limit of detection, the influence of temperature and humidity, and the anti-interference ability are discussed in detail. The advantages and disadvantages of the films are analyzed, and the potential application of polymer films in the future is also forecasted.

A nanodiamond chemotherapeutic folate receptor-targeting prodrug with triggerable drug release.

Cancer chemotherapy is often accompanied by severe off-target effects that both damage quality of life and can decrease therapeutic compliance. This could be minimized through selective delivery of cytotoxic agents directly to the cancer cells. This would decrease the drug dose, consequently minimizing side effects and cost. With this goal in mind, a dual-gated folate-functionalized nanodiamond drug delivery system (NPFSSD) for doxorubicin with activatable fluorescence and cytotoxicity has been prepared. Both the cytotoxic activity and the fluorescence of doxorubicin (DOX) are quenched when it is covalently immobilized on the nanodiamond. The NPFSSD is preferentially uptaken by cancer cells overexpressing the folate receptor. Then, once inside a cell, the drug is preferentially released within tumor cells due to their high levels of endogenous of glutathione, required for releasing DOX through cleavage of a disulfide linker. Interestingly, once free DOX is loaded onto the nanodiamond, it can also evade resistance mechanisms that use protein pumps to remove drugs from the cytoplasm. This nanodrug, used in an in vivo model with local injection of drugs, effectively inhibits tumor growth with fewer side effects than direct injection of free DOX, providing a potentially powerful platform to improve therapeutic outcomes.

Carbon dots for specific "off-on" sensing of Co2+ and EDTA for in vivo bioimaging.

Fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) were hydrothermally synthesized from a mixture of frozen tofu, ethylenediamine and phosphoric acid in an efficient 64% yield. The resulting CDs exhibit good water solubility, low cytotoxicity, high stability, and excellent biocompatibility. The CDs selectively and sensitively detect Co2+ through fluorescent quenching with a detection limit of 58 nM. Fluorescence can be restored through the introduction of EDTA, and this phenomenon can be used to quantify EDTA in solution with a detection limit of 98 nM. As both analytes are detected by the same CD platform, this is an "off-on" fluorescence sensor for Co2+ and EDTA. The technique's robustness for real-world samples was illustrated by quantifying cobalt in tap water and EDTA in contact lens solution. The CDs were also evaluated for in vivo imaging as they show low cytotoxicity and excellent cellular uptake. In a zebrafish model, the CDs are rapidly adsorbed from the intestine into the liver, and are essentially cleared from the body in 24 h with no appreciable bioaccumulation. Their simple and efficient synthesis, combined with excellent physical and chemical performance, renders these CDs attractive candidates for theranostic applications in targeted "smart" drug delivery and bioimaging.

Coordination reactions of 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde-phenylhydrazonatolithium with selected transition metal (Zn, Sn, Fe, Co, Ni and Zr) chlorides and its coupling reaction with dichloromethane.

The reactions of 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde-phenylhydrazonatolithium C5H4Npy-CH[double bond, length as m-dash]Ni-NaLi(Ph) (abbreviated as Li) with a 1/2 equivalent of anhydrous metal (Zn, Sn, Fe and Co) chlorides or NiCl2(DME) (DME = 1, 2-dimethoxyethane) produced the corresponding mononuclear metal(ii) complexes ( and ), in which each ligand acts as a bidentate ligand and the coordination geometries around the metals are shown to be tetrahedral within the complexes , , and , respectively, and a tetragonal pyramid in the complex . The reaction of Li successively with sodium tert-butoxide and anhydrous ZrCl4 afforded the unanticipated bizirconium complex , in which each monoanionic ligand behaves as a tridentate bridge. Whereas treatment of Li with NiCl2 and then CH2Cl2 led to an interesting methylene-bridged bis(2-pyridyl-phenylhydrazone) compound in moderate yield; a comparative experiment showed that when the Li reacted with CH2Cl2, the coupling compound was also obtained but in very low yield. A plausible mechanism of compound formation was also proposed and supported by the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. All the synthesized compounds were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.

Optically Active Liquid Crystalline Polyoxometalates via Electrostatic Encapsulation with Cholesterol-Containing Amphiphile.

A novel cholesterol-containing amphiphile was designed and prepared in the study, which is a room-temperature ionic liquid crystal over a broad temperature range with pronounced chiroptical properties. Four types of inorganic polyoxometalates (PMs) with different numbers of charges were encapsulated by the chiral amphiphile. The incorporation of chiral organic cations triggers achiral PMs in the complexes to show induced chirality through intermolecular interactions, as demonstrated by circular dichroism spectroscopy. The electrostatic encapsulation with mesomorphic promoters provides the inorganic PMs with liquid crystalline behavior, characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, polarized optical microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The strategy applied herein represents a unique example of liquid crystalline PM complexes with optical activity.

Metal (Mg, Fe, Co, Zr and Ti) complexes derived from aminosilyl substituted aminopyridinato ligand: synthesis, structures and ethylene polymerization behaviors of the group 4 complexes.

Lithium N-[(N,N-dimethylamino)dimethylsilyl]-2-pyridylamidate (2) was prepared from the reaction of new compound N-[(N,N-dimethylamino)dimethylsilyl]-2-pyridylamine (1) and LiBu(n). Treatment of the lithium salt (2) with an equal equivalent of MgBr(2)(THF)(2), FeCl(2) and CoCl(2) afforded the corresponding dinuclear complexes , , and , in which metal atoms possess similar trigonal bipyramidal geometries and each ligand functions as a bimetallic bridging binding aminopyridinato moiety with N-donation from the dimethylamino group. While the stoichiometric reaction of with ZrCl(4) gave the mononuclear zirconium complex (6); the seven coordinated zirconium atom adopts a distorted pentagonal bipyramid geometry and the ligand acts as monoanionic η(2)-aminopyridinato moiety with the pendant arm coordinated via N(CH(3))(2). The reaction of with one equivalent of TiCl(4)(THF)(2) produced the interesting dinuclear titanium complex (7) owing to the elimination of a (N,N-dimethylamino)dimethylsilyl group from the original ligand, and the two titanium centers present different coordination geometries. The molecular structures of the crystalline metal complexes have been confirmed by X-ray single crystal diffraction analysis. Upon activation with methylaluminoxane (MAO), both complexes and exhibited moderate catalytic activities toward ethylene polymerization and produced high molecular weight polyethylenes with broad molecular weight distributions.

meso-Bis{η(5)-1-[1-(dimethylamino)ethenyl]-3-(trimethylsilyl)cyclopentadienyl}iron(II) and the cobalt(II) analogue.

The two title crystalline compounds, viz. meso-bis{η(5)-1-[1-(dimethylamino)ethenyl]-3-(trimethylsilyl)cyclopentadienyl}iron(II), [Fe(C(12)H(20)NSi)(2)], (II), and meso-bis{η(5)-1-[1-(dimethylamino)ethenyl]-3-(trimethylsilyl)cyclopentadienyl}cobalt(II), [Co(C(12)H(20)NSi)(2)], (III), were obtained by the reaction of lithium 1-[1-(dimethylamino)ethenyl]-3-(trimethylsilyl)cyclopentadienide with FeCl(2) and CoCl(2), respectively. For (II), the trimethylsilyl- and dimethylaminoethenyl-substituted cyclopentadienyl (Cp) rings present a nearly eclipsed conformation, and the two pairs of trimethylsilyl and dimethylaminoethenyl substituents on the Cp rings are arranged in an interlocked fashion. In the case of (III), the same substituted Cp rings are perfectly staggered leading to a crystallographically centrosymmetric molecular structure, and the two trimethylsilyl and two dimethylaminoethenyl substituents are oriented in opposite directions, respectively, with the trimethylsilyl group of one Cp ring and the dimethylaminoethenyl group of the other Cp ring arranged more closely than in (II).