Metal selenide nanomaterials for biomedical applications.

Metal selenide nanomaterials have received enormous attention as they possess diverse compositions, microstructures, and properties. The combination of selenium with various metallic elements gives the metal selenide nanomaterials distinctive optoelectronic and magnetic properties, such as strong near-infrared absorption, excellent imaging properties, good stability, and long in vivo circulation. This makes metal selenide nanomaterials advantageous and promising for biomedical applications. This paper summarizes the research progress in the last five years in the controlled synthesis of metal selenide nanomaterials in different dimensions and with different compositions and structures. Then we discuss how surface modification and functionalization strategies are well-suited for biomedical fields, including tumor therapy, biosensing, and antibacterial biological applications. The future trends and issues of metal selenide nanomaterials in the biomedical field are also discussed.

Ultrathin tellurium nanosheets for simultaneous cancer thermo-chemotherapy.

The emerging two-dimensional monoelemental materials (2D Xenes) have been commonly supposed as promising drug delivery carriers, photothermal and photodynamic therapeutic agents, biosensors, theranostics, and some other candidates for biomedical applications. Here, high-performance and bioactive ultrathin 2D Tellurium nanosheets (Te NSs) are prepared by a simple but efficient liquid-phase exfoliation approach. The as-obtained Te NSs possess a mean size of ∼90 nm and a mean thickness of ∼5.43 nm. The pegylation Te NSs (Te-PEG NSs) possess excellent biocompatibility and stability. The Te-PEG NSs could generate local hyperthermia with a remarkable photothermal conversion efficiency of about 55% under 808 nm laser irradiation. Additionally, Te-PEG NSs exhibit an extremely high loading capacity of chemo drug (∼162%) owing to their ultra-high surface area and tumor microenvironment-triggered drug release superiority. The results of in vivo experiments show that the Te-PEG NSs have higher tumor elimination efficiency via the combination of photothermal and chemotherapy, comparing to any other single therapeutic modalities. Therefore, our work not only highlights the promising potentials of tellurene as an ideal anti-cancer platform but also expands the application of 2D Te for cancer nanomedicine.

The Application of Inorganic Nanoparticles in Molecular Targeted Cancer Therapy: EGFR Targeting.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is an anticancer drug target for a number of cancers, such as non-small cell lung cancer. However, unsatisfying treatment effects, terrible side-effects, and development of drug resistance are current insurmountable challenges of EGFR targeting treatments for cancers. With the advancement of nanotechnology, an increasing number of inorganic nanomaterials are applied in EGFR-mediated therapy to improve those limitations and further potentiate the efficacy of molecular targeted cancer therapy. Given their facile preparation, easy modification, and biosecurity, inorganic nanoparticles (iNPs) have been extensively explored in cancer treatments to date. This review presents an overview of the application of some typical metal nanoparticles and nonmetallic nanoparticles in EGFR-targeted therapy, then discusses and summarizes the relevant advantages. Moreover, we also highlight future perspectives regarding their remaining issues. We hope these discussions inspire future research on EGFR-targeted iNPs.

Cryogenic Exfoliation of 2D Stanene Nanosheets for Cancer Theranostics.

Stanene (Sn)-based materials have been extensively applied in industrial production and daily life, but their potential biomedical application remains largely unexplored, which is due to the absence of the appropriate and effective methods for fabricating Sn-based biomaterials. Herein, we explored a new approach combining cryogenic exfoliation and liquid-phase exfoliation to successfully manufacture two-dimensional (2D) Sn nanosheets (SnNSs). The obtained SnNSs exhibited a typical sheet-like structure with an average size of ~ 100 nm and a thickness of ~ 5.1 nm. After PEGylation, the resulting PEGylated SnNSs (SnNSs@PEG) exhibited good stability, superior biocompatibility, and excellent photothermal performance, which could serve as robust photothermal agents for multi-modal imaging (fluorescence/photoacoustic/photothermal imaging)-guided photothermal elimination of cancer. Furthermore, we also used first-principles density functional theory calculations to investigate the photothermal mechanism of SnNSs, revealing that the free electrons in upper and lower layers of SnNSs contribute to the conversion of the photo to thermal. This work not only introduces a new approach to fabricate 2D SnNSs but also establishes the SnNSs-based nanomedicines for photonic cancer theranostics. This new type of SnNSs with great potential in the field of nanomedicines may spur a wave of developing Sn-based biological materials to benefit biomedical applications.

Co-delivery of Cisplatin(IV) and Capecitabine as an Effective and Non-toxic Cancer Treatment.

A strategy for preparing composite micelles (CM) containing both cisplatin(IV) [CisPt(IV)] prodrug and capecitabine using a co-assembly method is described in this study. The CM are capable of an effective release of the anticancer drug cisplatin(II) [CisPt(II)] and capecitabine via acid hydrolysis once they are internalized by cancer cells. Moreover, the CM display a synergistic effect in vitro and the combination therapy in the micellar dosage form leads to reduced systemic toxicity and enhanced antitumor efficacy in vivo.

Correction: A microporous Cu-MOF with optimized open metal sites and pore spaces for high gas storage and active chemical fixation of CO2.

Correction for 'A microporous Cu-MOF with optimized open metal sites and pore spaces for high gas storage and active chemical fixation of CO2' by Chao-Ying Gao et al., Chem. Commun., 2016, 52, 11147-11150.

A microporous Cu-MOF with optimized open metal sites and pore spaces for high gas storage and active chemical fixation of CO2.

A microporous Cu-MOF with optimized open metal sites and pore space was constructed based on a designed bent ligand; it exhibits high-capacity multiple gas storage under atmospheric pressure and efficient catalytic activity for chemical fixation of CO2 under mild conditions.