Three-Component Perfluoroalkylvinylation of Alkenes Enabled by Dual DBU/Fe Catalysis.

Herein, a simple and efficient strategy that involves dual 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU)/iron-catalyzed alkene perfluoroalkylvinylation by using perfluoroalkyl iodides and 2-aminonaphthalene-1,4-diones as coupling partners is demonstrated. In terms of the developed catalytic system, various styrenes and aliphatic alkenes are well-tolerated, leading to the accurate preparation of perfluoroalkyl-containing 2-aminonaphthalene-1,4-diones in excellent regioselectivity. Moreover, the protocol can be readily applied in late-stage modifications of natural products and pharmaceuticals. The title reactions are featured by easily accessible and inexpensive catalysts and substrates, broad substrate applicability, and mild reaction conditions. Mechanistic investigations reveal a tandem C-I cleavable alkylation and C-C vinylation enabled by cooperative DBU/iron catalysis.

Modular-Approach Synthesis of Giant Molecule Acceptors via Lewis-Acid-Catalyzed Knoevenagel Condensation for Stable Polymer Solar Cells.

The operational stability of polymer solar cells is a critical concern with respect to the thermodynamic relaxation of acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A) or A-DA'D-A structured small-molecule acceptors (SMAs) within their blends with polymer donors. Giant molecule acceptors (GMAs) bearing SMAs as subunits offer a solution to this issue, while their classical synthesis via the Stille coupling suffers from low reaction efficiency and difficulty in obtaining mono-brominated SMA, rendering the approach impractical for their large-scale and low-cost preparation. In this study, we present a simple and cost-effective solution to this challenge through Lewis acid-catalyzed Knoevenagel condensation with boron trifluoride etherate (BF3 ⋅ OEt2 ) as catalyst. We demonstrated that the coupling of the monoaldehyde-terminated A-D-CHO unit and the methylene-based A-link-A (or its silyl enol ether counterpart) substrates can be quantitatively achieved within 30 minutes in the presence of acetic anhydride, affording a variety of GMAs connected via the flexible and conjugated linkers. The photophysical properties was fully studied, yielding a high device efficiency of over 18 %. Our findings offer a promising alternative for the modular synthesis of GMAs with high yields, easier work up, and the widespread application of such methodology will undoubtedly accelerate the progress of stable polymer solar cells.

Fe-Catalyzed Radical Trifluoromethyl-Alkenylation of Alkenes or Alkynes with 2-Amino-1,4-naphthoquinones.

The first Fe-catalyzed three-component radical trifluoromethyl-alkenylation of alkenes with 2-amino-1,4-naphthoquinones and CF3SO2Na is reported. The developed reaction enables the highly regioselective preparation of a variety of valuable CF3-substituted 1,4-naphthoquinones in acceptable yields. In the light of the catalytic system, alkynes smoothly afford the corresponding three- or four-component trifluoromethyl-alkenylation products. This protocol features use of easily available and inexpensive reagents, broad substrate scope, and simple reaction conditions.

Bifunctional 1,8-Diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene for Visible Light-Induced Heck-Type Perfluoroalkylation of Alkenes.

This article presents simple and efficient 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU)-promoted Heck-type alkene perfluoroalkylation under visible light irradiation. With DBU as both a halogen bond acceptor and a base, these transformations can smoothly proceed via a radical process in the absence of an additional photocatalyst. The developed protocol employs alkenes and perfluoroalkyl iodides as readily available substrates and ethyl acetate as a green solvent, affording various perfluoroalkylated alkenes in satisfactory yields under mild conditions.

Spectroscopic Study of the Behavior of Mo(VI) and W(VI) Polyanions in Sulfuric-Phosphoric Acid Mixtures.

The solution chemistry of Mo(VI) and W(VI) in mixtures of sulfuric and phosphoric acids is relevant to the development of practicable hydrometallurgical processes for the recovery and separation of these two elements from low-grade scheelite ores. The behavior of Mo(VI) and W(VI) in such mixtures has been studied using X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) spectroscopies, along with electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS). Where applicable, these techniques have produced a self-consistent picture of the similarities and differences between the chemical speciation of Mo(VI) and W(VI) as functions of solution composition, mostly at a constant phosphorous/metal (P/M; M = Mo(VI) or W(VI)) ratio of ∼1. In dilute acidic media (0.02 mol·kg-1 H+, without H2SO4), Mo(VI) exists mostly (∼60%) as P2Mo5O236- with the remaining ∼40% as ß-Mo8O264-. Under the same conditions, W(VI) is largely present as NaPW11O396- (∼80%) and P2W5O236- (∼10%), with the remainder probably occurring as isopolytungstates such as W12O4212- and some tungstophosphate dimers such as P2W18O626-. At higher acid concentrations (≲5 mol·kg-1 H2SO4), polymeric Mo(VI) anions are broken down to form the oxocations MoO22+ and Mo2O52+ and their protonated forms, with the dimers becoming increasingly dominant at higher acidities (∼80% in 5 mol·kg-1 H2SO4). In stark contrast, W(VI) polyanions do not decompose at higher acidities but instead form (∼70% in 0.6 mol·kg-1 H2SO4) a Keggin ion, PW12O403-. Further acidification with H2SO4 results in the agglomeration of this Keggin ion, forming clusters of about 50 and 100 Å in diameter that ultimately produce crystalline precipitates, which could be identified in part by their X-ray diffraction patterns. Possible application of these findings to the hydrometallurgical separation of Mo and W using acidic solutions is briefly discussed, based on a limited number of batch solvent extractions.

Unprecedented observation and characterization of sulfur-centred bifurcated hydrogen bonds.

Owing to the small electronegativity of the sulfur atom, it is commonly supposed that at most one weak H-bond can be formed between a sulfur atom and an H-bond donor. In this paper, an unprecedented 2 : 1 binding species generated from two molecules of phenol and a molecule of thioether was observed and characterized by various nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques, Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) techniques and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, revealing the formation of sulfur-centred O-H⋯S⋯H-O bifurcated H-bonds. This work may provide a simple and efficient method for the quantitative analysis of weak H-bonds between small organic molecules.

Insights into Substrate Self-Assisted Activation of Allylic Alcohols Guiding to Mild Allylic Substitution of Tautomerizable Heteroarenes.

A substrate self-assisted activation of allylic alcohols by tautomerizable heteroarenes via hydrogen bonding was disclosed by various NMR techniques, including variable-temperature 1H NMR, Job plot, and 1H NMR titration. Guided by these finding, a much milder allylic substitution of tautomerizable heteroarenes with allylic alcohols was developed, affording the target products in high yields.

A Visibly Observable, Programmable Supramolecular Logic Platform and Its Application in Smart Thiols Sensing.

Molecular computation is increasingly attractive as a tool for medical and biological research because of its programmability and controllability. Herein, a novel visibly observable supramolecular system that can execute multi-level logic functions on a uniform platform was constructed. By employing some programming factors, we succeeded in not only constructing a whole set of contrary logic pairs, but also building up a logic network that can implement advanced functions. Further, the platform is applied to sense thiols in specific environments. The developed method can efficiently filter signals of thiols in intracellular conditions and measure cysteine levels quantitatively in serum conditions. The visual readout makes the method particularly suitable for point-of-care testing. The supramolecule-based platform illustrates not only an incremental advance for the construction of programmable molecular logic systems, but also viable applications in intelligent thiol analysis.

Substrate Self-Assisted Secondary Bond Activation of Allylic Alcohol in a Tsuji-Trost Reaction Revealed by NMR Methods.

The first experimental evidence for the palladium-catalyzed secondary bond activation of allylic alcohols in a Tsuji-Trost reaction was provided by NMR methods, such as variable-temperature 1H NMR, diffusion-ordered spectroscopy (DOSY), Job's method, 1H NMR titration, and nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy (NOESY). The experimental results revealed that the substrate self-assisted activation of allylic alcohols is probably performed via a 1:1 binding six-membered-ring complex, which are formed by the formation of the secondary bonds, the hydrogen bond and P···O noncovalent bond between allylic alcohol and phosphonium ylide.

Chemoselective Mono- and Difluorination of 1,3-Dicarbonyl Compounds.

By altering the amount of Selectfluor, the highly selective mono- and difluorination of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds has been achieved, affording a variety of 2-fluoro- and 2,2-difluoro-1,3-dicarbonyl compounds in good to excellent yields. The reaction can be readily performed in aqueous media without any catalyst and base, which features practical and convenient fluorination. Importantly, a gram-scale reaction, transformation of 2-fluoro-1,3-diphenylpropane-1,3-dione to 4-fluoro-1,3,5-triphenyl-1H-pyrazole, and chlorination and bromination of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds are realized to further exhibit its synthetic utility.

Upconversion photoluminescence analysis of fluoroquinolones.

The characteristics of the upconversion (UC) photoluminescence (PL) of fluoroquinolones (FQs) are reported here for the first time. Using UC PL, a simple, sensitive, and cost-effective method of determining FQs was developed that eliminated interference arising from biological background fluorescence and did not require UV light to excite the FQ (in contrast to downconversion PL), which is an advantage given that UV is potentially damaging to organisms. Ciprofloxacin (CPFX) and levofloxacin (LVFX), two important FQs, were studied. The effects of acidity, temperature, the solvent used, ionic strength, and stable time on the UC PL from the two FQs were also investigated. The UC PL intensity was found to be proportional to the concentration of CPFX over the range 0.05-100 µmol/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.9992, and proportional to the concentration of LVFX over the range 0.05-100 µmol/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.9991. The limit of detection (LOD) was 6.05 nmol/L for CPFX and 5.64 nmol/L for LVFX. The proposed method was successfully used to determine FQs in human serum and pharmaceutical samples. The recoveries of the two FQs ranged from 96.0% to 103.2% and the RSD was < 2.62%. Graphical abstract.

Intelligent Sensors of Lead Based on a Reconfigurable DNA-Supramolecule Logic Platform.

The lead (Pb) hazard is not only in connection with the concentration of Pb2+ but also closely related to the ambience which affects its mobility and the synergistic toxicity with other ions. However, most of the existent methods focus highly on detecting Pb2+ concentration accurately but can seldom reflect the pollution-related information in actual samples, thereby limiting their pragmatic applications. In this work, a DNA-supramolecule logic platform was established, which can be configurated to implement three information process functions and act as three unique intelligent sensors of Pb. The demultiplexer that can split signal flow was used to determine Pb2+ in different pH conditions; the multiplexer that can alternate signal channels was applied to detect Pb2+ or Ag+ selectively; and the decoder that can extract information was utilized to test Pb2+ and the coexisted Ni2+ simultaneously. All three intelligent sensors based on the logic prototypes present practicable sensitivities and specificities. Considering its flexibility, scalability, and reconfigurability, we believe the logic platform may provide new solutions to process sophisticated information and implement intelligent analysis in environmental monitoring, biochemical detecting, and medical diagnosis.

Epidemiological survey of human cytomegalovirus antibody levels in children from Southeastern China.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated infection status and distribution of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) serum markers in hospitalized children from the Wenzhou region. METHODS: This survey was performed on 10,147 hospitalized children from birth to 14 years of age in Southeastern China (Wenzhou region) from March 2010 to March 2013. IgM and IgG antibodies to HCMV were quantitatively detected by chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA). HCMV IgM or IgG detection rates, concentration, and distribution in various age groups were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: In this study of hospitalized children, the overall rates of HCMV IgM+ and IgG+ were 10.8% (1,099/10,147) and 83.0% (8,425/10,147), respectively. The lowest HCMV IgM+ rate (1.0%, P < 0.001) was observed in the group of patients <28 days of age whereas the highest HCMV IgM+ rate (19.9%, P < 0.001) occurred in the 28 days ~ 5 months old group. However, the concentrations of HCMV specific IgM in all age groups were not significantly different (P > 0.05). The HCMV IgG+ rate was highest in the <28 days group (98.1%, P < 0.001). The 28 days ~ 5 months old group had the lowest HCMV specific IgG concentrations (median, 133.9 AU/mL, P < 0.001). Among 1,099 HCMV IgM+ children, 405 (36.9%) were diagnosed with respiratory infections which pneumonia accounted for 18.2% (200/1,099) of the total population. However, children with respiratory infections had the lowest HCMV IgG concentrations (median, 161.1 AU/mL, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: HCMV specific antibody responses are very common in hospitalized children with respiratory infection in Wenzhou region. Protection against HCMV airway infection needs greater emphasis and further studies will be helpful to reveal the role of HCMV in children respiratory disease.

The novel up/down-conversion dual-emission carbon dots for dual-channel ratiometric fluorescence detection of pH and Cu2.

Up/down-conversion dual-emission carbon dots (U/D-CDs) are rare and have potential in analytical sensing. Herein, a kind of novel U/D-CDs was prepared successfully by a one-step solvothermal method. The prepared U/D-CDs exhibited similar dual-emission behaviors at excitation wavelengths of 300 nm and 680 nm, respectively. In addition, U/D-CDs displayed good photostability and salt-resistance. Due to the protonation-deprotonation, U/D-CDs showed strong pH dependence in the pH range of 2.0-8.0, which developed an up/down-conversion dual-channel ratiometric fluorescence (FL) probe of pH. The FL intensity of U/D-CDs can be effectively quenched by Cu2+ through the static quenching effect. Meanwhile, an obvious color change from yellow-green to blue can be observed under ultraviolet light with the increase of Cu2+ concentration. The up/down-conversion dual-channel ratiometric fluorescence sensor can be used for the visual sensing of pH and Cu2+, which also eliminates background signals and improves its accuracy and selectivity in complex samples.

Texture Feature Extraction from 1H NMR Spectra for the Geographical Origin Traceability of Chinese Yam.

Adulteration is widespread in the herbal and food industry and seriously restricts traditional Chinese medicine development. Accurate identification of geo-authentic herbs ensures drug safety and effectiveness. In this study, 1H NMR combined intelligent "rotation-invariant uniform local binary pattern" identification was implemented for the geographical origin confirmation of geo-authentic Chinese yam (grown in Jiaozuo, Henan province) from Chinese yams grown in other locations. Our results showed that the texture feature of 1H NMR image extracted with rotation-invariant uniform local binary pattern for identification is far superior compared to the original NMR data. Furthermore, data preprocessing is necessary. Moreover, the model combining a feature extraction algorithm and support vector machine (SVM) classifier demonstrated good robustness. This approach is advantageous, as it is accurate, rapid, simple, and inexpensive. It is also suitable for the geographical origin traceability of other geographical indication agricultural products.

Dye-based dual-emission Eu-MOF synthesized by Post-modification for the sensitive ratio fluorescence visualization sensing of ClO.

As we all know, excessive hypochlorite will be transformed into highly toxic substances, while insufficient hypochlorite can not completely kill bacteria and viruses in water. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a new analytical method to detect ClO- in environmental water. Here, a novel and simple fluorescence sensor was constructed for monitoring ClO- by an effective strategy. An Acriflavine@lanthanide metal-organic framework (Acr@Eu(BTEC)) was designed by covalently integrating amino-rich dye (Acr) and carboxyl-rich Eu(BTEC) via post-synthesis method. The created fluorescence sensor has two emission centers originating from Acr and Eu(BTEC), respectively. In the presence of ClO-, the strong green fluorescence derived from Acr was significantly quenched, while the invariant red emission from Eu3+ acted as the reference signal. Thus, Acr@Eu(BTEC) with two emissions was developed as a ratiometric fluorescence sensor for highly sensitive and selective detection of ClO-. The limit of detection (LOD) was as low as 10.75 nM. Moreover, visual detection of ClO- by the naked eyes is feasible with obvious fluorescent color changes from green to orange and then red. This method shows excellent performance in practical application, which suggests that it has great potential in water quality monitoring.

A pH/GSH dual responsive nanoparticle with relaxivity amplification for magnetic resonance imaging and suppression of tumors and metastases.

Engineered magnetic nanoparticles combining diagnosis and therapy functions into one entity hold great potential to rejuvenate cancer treatment; however, they are still constrained by the "always on" signals and unsatisfactory therapeutic effect. Here, we report an intelligent theranostic probe based on Mn3O4 tetragonal bipyramids (MnTBs), which simultaneously respond to H+ and glutathione (GSH) with high sensitivity and quickly decompose to release Mn2+ in mild acidic and reductive intracellular environments. Mn2+ binds to the surrounding proteins to achieve a remarkable relaxivity amplification and selectively brighten the tumors. Particularly, this MR signal improvement is also effective in the detection of millimeter-sized liver metastases, with an ultrahigh contrast of 316%. Moreover, Mn2+ would trigger chemodynamic therapy (CDT) by exerting the Fenton-like activity to generate ˙OH from H2O2. Subsequently, a significant tumor suppression effect can be achieved by the GSH depletion-enhanced CDT. Besides, MnTBs manifest efficient urinary and hepatic excretions with biodegradability and minimal systemic toxicity. A pH/GSH dual responsive nanoprobe that integrates tumor diagnostic and therapeutic activities was developed to provide a new paradigm for precise diagnosis and treatment of tumors and metastases.

Geometry design of tethered small-molecule acceptor enables highly stable and efficient polymer solar cells.

With the power conversion efficiency of binary polymer solar cells dramatically improved, the thermal stability of the small-molecule acceptors raised the main concerns on the device operating stability. Here, to address this issue, thiophene-dicarboxylate spacer tethered small-molecule acceptors are designed, and their molecular geometries are further regulated via the thiophene-core isomerism engineering, affording dimeric TDY-α with a 2, 5-substitution and TDY-ß with 3, 4-substitution on the core. It shows that TDY-α processes a higher glass transition temperature, better crystallinity relative to its individual small-molecule acceptor segment and isomeric counterpart of TDY-ß, and a more stable morphology with the polymer donor. As a result, the TDY-α based device delivers a higher device efficiency of 18.1%, and most important, achieves an extrapolated lifetime of about 35000 hours that retaining 80% of their initial efficiency. Our result suggests that with proper geometry design, the tethered small-molecule acceptors can achieve both high device efficiency and operating stability.

Verification of specific G-quadruplex structure by using a novel cyanine dye supramolecular assembly: II. The binding characterization with specific intramolecular G-quadruplex and the recognizing mechanism.

The supramolecular assembly of a novel cyanine dye, 3,3'-di(3-sulfopropyl)-4,5,4',5'-dibenzo-9-ethyl-thiacarbocyanine triethylammonium salt (ETC) was designed to verify specific intramolecular G-quadruplexes from duplex and single-strand DNAs. Spectral results have shown that ETC presented two major distinct signatures with specific intramolecular G-quadruplexes in vitro: (i) dramatic changes in the absorption spectra (including disappearance of absorption peak around 660 nm and appearance of independent new peak around 584 nm); (ii) approximately 70 times enhancement of fluorescence signal at 600 nm. Furthermore, based on (1)H-nuclear magnetic resonance and circular dichroism results, the preferring binding of ETC to specific intramolecular G-quadruplexes probably result from end-stacking, and the loop structure nearby also plays an important role.

A highly sensitive dual-readout assay for perfluorinated compounds based CdTe quantum dots.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) are two typical perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) that poss potential ecological toxicity. In this work, a fluorescence and resonance light scattering (RLS) dual-readout strategy for the detection of PFCs at picomole level based on the water-soluble CdTe quantum dots (CdTe QDs) has been proposed. It is found that the CdTe QDs exhibit a quenching in the presence of PFCs and thus serve as useful probes for PFCs. The linear ranges are 0.032-10.0 nM with a limit of detection(LOD) of 32.02 pM for PFOA and 0.044-15.0 nM with a LOD of 43.96 pM for PFOS, respectively. Meanwhile, PFCs can form complexes with CdTe QDs in acid medium, resulting in remarkable RLS signals. The enhanced RLS intensities are in proportion to the concentrations of PFOA and PFOS, respectively. And the linear ranges are 0.048-5.0 nM with a LOD of 47.78 pM for PFOA, and 0.057-5.0 nM with a LOD of 56.72 pM for PFOS, respectively. This dual-mode detection increases the reliability of the measurement. The proposed method is simple, sensitive and cost-effective, with potential applications in environmental monitoring and assessment.