Carbon Dots with Absorption Red-Shifting for Two-Photon Fluorescence Imaging of Tumor Tissue pH and Synergistic Phototherapy.

Phototherapy exhibits significant potential as a novel tumor treatment method, and the development of highly active photosensitizers and photothermal agents has drawn considerable attention. In this work, S and N atom co-doped carbon dots (S,N-CDs) with an absorption redshift effect were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis with lysine, o-phenylenediamine, and sulfuric acid as raw materials. The near-infrared (NIR) absorption features of the S,N-CDs resulted in two-photon (TP) emission, which has been used in TP fluorescence imaging of lysosomes and tumor tissue pH and real-time monitoring of apoptosis during tumor phototherapy, respectively. The obtained heteroatom co-doped CDs can be used not only as an NIR imaging probe but also as an effective photodynamic therapy/photothermal therapy (PDT/PTT) therapeutic agent. The efficiencies of different heteroatom-doped CDs in tumor treatment were compared. It was found that the S,N-CDs showed higher therapeutic efficiency than N-doped CDs, the efficiency of producing 1O2 was 27%, and the photothermal conversion efficiency reached 34.4%. The study provides new insight into the synthesis of carbon-based nanodrugs for synergistic phototherapy and accurate diagnosis of tumors.

Defect-engineered transition metal hydroxide nanosheets realizing tumor-microenvironment-responsive multimodal-imaging-guided NIR-II photothermal therapy.

Exploiting two-dimensional nanomaterials as photo-based theranostic agents is promising for the highly efficient ablation of deep-tissue-buried tumors. However, they are limited by their poor absorption in the second near-infrared-light (NIR-II) bio-window (1000-1300 nm) and intrinsic nonbiodegradability. Herein, defect-rich sulfur-doped Ni(OH)2 (S-Ni(OH)2) nanosheets decorated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a novel theranostic agent is developed, which can accomplish multimodal-imaging-guided photothermal ablation of mouse cancers in the NIR-II bio-window. Sulfur doping extends the absorption spectra of Ni(OH)2 nanosheets from the visible to NIR-II bio-window, affording highly efficient photothermal conversion (58.20% for 1064 nm), entailing it to become an excellent contrast agent for photoacoustic imaging. Further, because of their intrinsic paramagnetic property, they can be applied for magnetic resonance imaging. Owing to the abundant defective sites in S-Ni(OH)2 nanosheets, they exhibit response to the tumor microenvironment, resulting in effective biodegradation and excretion from the body. In vivo toxicity experiments indicated that S-Ni(OH)2-BSA NSs delivered no appreciable toxicity and good biocompatibility. This work provides an avenue for the rational design of effective theranostics agents.

Ultrasound assisted biodesulfurization of liquid fuel using free and immobilized cells of Rhodococcus rhodochrous MTCC 3552: A mechanistic investigation.

This paper attempts to gain mechanistic insight into enhancement effect of sonication on biodesulfurization. The approach has been to fit Haldane kinetics model to dibenzothiophene (DBT) metabolism and analyze trends in model parameters concurrently with simulations of cavitation bubble dynamics. Mechanistic synergy between sonication and biodesulfurization is revealed to be of both physical and chemical nature. Generation of micro-turbulence in medium by sonication leads to fine emulsification and enhancement of DBT transport across organic/aqueous interphase. Microturbulence also enhances transport of substrate and product across cell wall that increases reaction velocity (Vmax). Michaelis constant (Km) and inhibition constant (KI), being intrinsic parameters, remain unaffected by sonication. Radicals produced by transient cavitation oxidize DBT to DBT-sulfoxide and DBT-sulfone (intermediates of metabolism), which contributes enhancement of biodesulfurization. However, high shear generated by ultrasound and cavitation has adverse effect on action of surfactant ß-cyclodextrin for enhancement of interphase transport of DBT.

Dark-operative protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase generates substrate radicals by an iron-sulphur cluster in bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis.

Photosynthesis converts solar energy to chemical energy using chlorophylls (Chls). In a late stage of biosynthesis of Chls, dark-operative protochlorophyllide (Pchlide) oxidoreductase (DPOR), a nitrogenase-like enzyme, reduces the C17 = C18 double bond of Pchlide and drastically changes the spectral properties suitable for photosynthesis forming the parental chlorin ring for Chl a. We previously proposed that the spatial arrangement of the proton donors determines the stereospecificity of the Pchlide reduction based on the recently resolved structure of the DPOR catalytic component, NB-protein. However, it was not clear how the two-electron and two-proton transfer events are coordinated in the reaction. In this study, we demonstrate that DPOR initiates a single electron transfer reaction from a [4Fe-4S]-cluster (NB-cluster) to Pchlide, generating Pchlide anion radicals followed by a single proton transfer, and then, further electron/proton transfer steps transform the anion radicals into chlorophyllide (Chlide). Thus, DPOR is a unique iron-sulphur enzyme to form substrate radicals followed by sequential proton- and electron-transfer steps with the protein folding very similar to that of nitrogenase. This novel radical-mediated reaction supports the biosynthesis of Chl in a wide variety of photosynthetic organisms.

Fabrication of In2S3 nanoparticle decorated TiO2 nanotube arrays by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction technique and their photocatalytic application.

In2S3 nanoparticle (NP) decorated self-organized TiO2 nanotube array (In2S3/TiO2 NT) hybrids were fabricated via simple successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique. The In2S3 NPs in a size of about 15 nm were found to deposit on the top surface of the highly oriented TiO2 NT while without clogging the tube entrances. The loading amount of In2S3 NPs on the TiO2 NT was controlled by the cycle number of SILAR deposition. Compared with the bare TiO2 NT, the In2S3/TiO2 NT hybrids showed stronger absorption in the visible light region and significantly enhanced photocurrent density. The photocatalytic activity of the In2S3/TiO2 NT photocatalyst far exceeds that of bare TiO2 NT in the degradation of typical herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) under simulated solar light. After 160-min irradiation, almost 100% 2,4-D removal is obtained on the 7-In2S3/TiO2 NT prepared through seven SILAR deposition cycles, much higher than 26% on the bare TiO2 NT. After 10 successive cycles of photocatalytic process with total 1,600 min of irradiation, In2S3/TiO2 NT maintained as high 2,4-D removal efficiency as 95.1% with good stability and easy recovery, which justifies the potential of the photocatalytic system in application for the photocatalytic removal of organic pollutants such as herbicides or pesticides from water.

Water disinfection through photoactive modified titania.

TiO(2), N-TiO(2) and S-TiO(2) samples have been prepared by various chemical methods. These samples were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Laser Raman spectrometer, UV-Visible spectrophotometer, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). X-ray powder diffraction study reveals that all three samples are single anatase phase of titania and the crystallinity of titania decreases with sulphur doping whereas nitrogen doping does not affect it. UV-Visible (diffuse) reflectance spectra shows that doping of titania with nitrogen and sulphur shift the absorption edge of titania from ultraviolet to visible region. XPS study confirms that both nitrogen and sulphur are well doped in the titania lattice. It is observed that nitrogen occupies at both substitutional and interstitial position in the lattice of titania. FE-SEM and TEM studies demonstrate that the particles are below 50nm range. It is found that S and N doping of titania increased its water disinfection property in the order TiO(2)

A model study on the possible effects of an external electrical field on enzymes having dinuclear iron cluster [2Fe-2S].

Hydrogenases which catalyze the H(2)↔ 2H(+) + 2e(-) reaction are metalloenzymes that can be divided into two classes, the NiFe and Fe enzymes, on the basis of their metal content. Iron-sulfur clusters [2Fe-2S] and [4Fe-4S] are common in ironhydrogenases. In the present model study, [2Fe-2S] cluster has been considered to visualize the effect of external electric field on various quantum chemical properties of it. In the model, all the cysteinyl residues are in the amide form. The PM3 type semiempirical calculations have been performed for the geometry optimization of the model structure in the absence and presence of the external field. Then, single point DFT calculations (B3LYP/6-31+G(d)) have been carried out. Depending on the direction of the field, the chemical reactivity of the model enzyme varies which suggests that an external electric field could, under proper conditions, improve the enzymatic hydrogen production.

Microwave-assisted copper-catalyzed preparation of diaryl chalcogenides.

Diaryl chalcogenide synthesis employing diaryl dichalcogenides and aryl halides as starting materials in the presence of excess magnesium and a catalytic amount of CuI/bipyridyl is significantly improved by microwave heating. Reaction times can be reduced from 2 to 3 days to 6-8 h. Both aryl bromides and aryl chlorides can be used as substrates in the substitution reaction. The procedure is useful not only for diaryl sulfide and diaryl selenide synthesis but also for the preparation of unsymmetrical diaryl tellurides. Starting from suitable aryl halides, the novel microwave-assisted procedure was used for the facile preparation of novel chalcogen analogues (PhS-, PhSe-, and PhTe-) of various antioxidants (ethoxyquin and 3-pyridinol). Attempts to use dialkyl dichalcogenides for the coupling of alkylchalcogeno moieties to aryl halides were only successful in the case of long-chain (such as n-octyl) disulfides and diselenides.

A microwave route for the synthesis of nanoflakes and dendrites-type beta-ln2S3 and their characterization.

In this article, a simple microwave route was applied for the synthesis of nanoflakes and dendrite-type beta-indium sulfide (In2S3) in high yield (> 97%), using a homogeneous mixture of indium(lll)chloride and thiourea in an ethylene glycol (EG)/polyethylene glycol (PEG400) solvent. The reaction was conducted in a simple domestic microwave oven (DMO). Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), low resolution and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (LRTEM and HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), were applied to investigate the crystallinity, structure, morphology, and composition of the In2S3 nano-materials. Both the as-synthesized and calcined In2S3 products were a body-centered tetragonal (bct) phase, observed by XRD and HRTEM. The length and width of the resulting nanoflakes were in the range of 70-600 nm and 4-10 nm, respectively. The optical band gap of the powder was determined by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and was found to be 2.44 eV. The electronic properties of the products were studied by measuring the optical absorption spectra using photoacoustic spectroscopy. The band gap calculated by this method was found to be 2.52 eV. A possible mechanism for the formation of nanoflakes/dendrites-type In2S3 was also discussed.

The reduction of the Rieske iron-sulfur cluster in naphthalene dioxygenase by X-rays.

Naphthalene 1,2 dioxygenase (NDO) displays characteristic UV-Vis spectra depending on the oxidation state of the Rieske center. Investigations on crystals of NDO grown for X-ray diffraction experiments showed spectra characteristic of the oxidized form. Crystals reduced in an anaerobic glovebox using sodium-dithionite showed a characteristic reduced spectrum. Spectra of crystals (cooled to 100 K) after being exposed to X-rays for data collection showed spectra corresponding to a reduced Rieske iron center, demonstrating the ability of X-rays to change the oxidation state of the Rieske iron-sulfur cluster in NDO.

Cation radicals of organosulphur compounds.

1. Biological and biomimetic oxidations of thioethers are reviewed. 2. gamma-Radiolysis, pulse radiolysis, photochemical, chemical, and electrochemical methods for generating sulphur cation radicals are discussed and exemplified. 3. The major reactions of sulphur cation radicals: nucleophilic attack, electron transfer, decarboxylation, reaction with O2, C-S, C-C, and alpha-C-M bond cleavages, sulphur abstraction, and rearrangements are presented.

Recalculation of data on 32P activity induced in sulfur in Hiroshima.

Historical data for 32P activity induced in sulfur by fast neutrons have been corrected for decay with a recent half-life value of 32P and recalculated with an experimentally determined efficiency ratio of the electroscope for beta rays from 32P and natural uranium used as a standard. Most samples would have been pure enough so that no correction for the weight of sulfur has been made. The possibility of interference with 32P activity measurements due to induced activity of other elements in the samples could also be excluded. The revised data show little difference from the original ones except for one sample which contained much impurity. Uncertainty of the data was also discussed.