Activated Singlet Fission Dictated by Anti-Kasha Property in a Rylene Imide Dye.

A key challenge in the search of new materials capable of singlet fission (SF) arises from the primary energy conservation criterion, i.e., the energy of the triplet exciton has to be half that of the singlet (E(S1) ≥ 2E(T1)), which excludes most photostable organic materials from consideration and confines the design strategy to materials with low energy triplet states. One potential way to overcome this energy requirement and improve the triplet energy is to enable a SF channel from higher energy ("hot") excitonic states (Sn) in a process called activated SF. Herein, we demonstrate that efficient activated SF is achieved in a rylene imide-based derivative acenaphth[l, 2-a]acenaphthylene diimide (AADI). This process is enabled by an increase in the energy gap to greater than 1.0 eV between the S3 and S1 states due to the incorporation of an antiaromatic pentalene unit, which leads to the emergence of anti-Kasha properties in the isolated molecule. Transient spectroscopy studies show that AADI undergoes ultrafast SF from higher singlet excited states in thin film, with excitation wavelength-dependent SF yields. The SF yield of ∼200% is observed upon higher energy excitation, and long-lived free triplets persist on the µs time scale suggesting that AADI can be used in SF-enhanced devices. Our results suggest that enlarging the Sn-S1 energy gap is an effective way to turn on the activated SF channel and shed light on the development of novel, stable SF materials with high triplet energies.

Ring Fusion Elevates the Electronic Mobility of Azabenzannulated Perylene Diimide.

The backwardness of n-type organic semiconductors still exists compared with the p-type counterparts. Thus, the development of high-performance n-type organic semiconductors is of great importance for organic electronic devices and their integrated circuits. In recent years, azabenzannulated perylene diimide (PDI), as one of immense bay-region-annulated PDI derivatives, has drawn considerable attentions. However, the electronic mobilities of azabenzannulated PDI derivatives are barely satisfactory. In this contribution, the peripheral benzene ring in azabenzannulated PDI 2 was fused to the ortho position by intramolecular C-H arylation cyclization. This endows the resultant azabenzannulated PDI 4 a planar configuration as well as electron deficient pentagonal ring. As a result, the electronic mobility of 4 is almost two orders of magnitude higher than that of the nonfused azabenzannulated PDI 2. This work shall pave a new avenue in elevating the performance of azabenzannulated PDI in organic electronics.

Synthesis, Stable Radical Anion and Energy Storage Performance of Pentacene Tetraimides.

Imide functionalization has been widely proved to be an effective approach to enrich optoelectronic properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, appending multiple imide groups onto linear acenes is still a synthetic challenge. Herein, we demonstrate that by taking advantage of a "breaking and mending" strategy, a linear pentacene tetraimides (PeTI) was synthesized through a three-step sequence started from the naphthalene diimides (NDI). Compared with the parent pentacene, PeTI shows a deeper-lying lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy level, narrower band gap and better stability. The redox behavior of PeTI was firstly evaluated by generating a stable radical anion specie with the assistance of cobaltocene (CoCp2), and the structure of the electron transfer (ET) complex was confirmed by the X-ray crystallography. Moreover, due to the presence of multiple redox-active sites, we are able to show that the state-of-the-art energy storage performance of the dealkylated PeTI (designated as PeTCTI) in organic potassium ion batteries (OPIBs) as an anode. Our results shed light on the application of multiple imides functionalized linear acenes, and the reported synthetic strategy provides an effective way to get access to longer nanoribbon imides with fascinating electronic properties.

Predicting Ca2+ and Mg2+ ligand binding sites by deep neural network algorithm.

BACKGROUND: Alkaline earth metal ions are important protein binding ligands in human body, and it is of great significance to predict their binding residues. RESULTS: In this paper, Mg2+ and Ca2+ ligands are taken as the research objects. Based on the characteristic parameters of protein sequences, amino acids, physicochemical characteristics of amino acids and predicted structural information, deep neural network algorithm is used to predict the binding sites of proteins. By optimizing the hyper-parameters of the deep learning algorithm, the prediction results by the fivefold cross-validation are better than those of the Ionseq method. In addition, to further verify the performance of the proposed model, the undersampling data processing method is adopted, and the prediction results on independent test are better than those obtained by the support vector machine algorithm. CONCLUSIONS: An efficient method for predicting Mg2+ and Ca2+ ligand binding sites was presented.

Regiochemically Pure 1,6-Ditriflato-Perylene Diimide: Preparation and Transformation.

Preparation of regioisomerically pure 1,6-disubstituted perylene diimide (PDI) is not a trivial task owing to the lack of facile synthetic and separation methodologies for the precursors. Herein, we present a simple synthesis for 1,6-ditriflato-PDI (1,6-diOTf-PDI) using 1,6,9,10-tetrabromo-perylene monoimide 1 as the starting material. The selective methoxylation of 1 at the 1,6-position is the key step. Based on a four-step sequence of selective methoxylation, domino carbonylative amidation, demethylation, and triflation, 1,6-diOTf-PDI can be obtained in a satisfactory yield. Moreover, as a building block, 1,6-diOTf-PDIa can readily undergo Suzuki and Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions.

Isomeric Effect on Optoelectronic Properties and Photovoltaic Performance of Anthraquinone-Core Perylene Diimide (PDI) and Helical PDI dimers.

Isomerism heavily influences the optoelectronic properties and self-assembly behavior of compounds and subsequently affects their device performance. Herein, two pairs of isomeric perylene diimide (PDI) dimers, PDI and PDI2, were designed and synthesized. The electron-deficient 9,10-anthraquinone group was employed as the bridge, and thus, the resultant dimers exhibited an acceptor-acceptor-acceptor (A-A-A) structure. To determine the isomeric effects on the optoelectronic properties and photovoltaic performance of these dimers, their absorptivity, luminescence, and redox behavior were studied. Bulk heterojunction organic solar cells based on these four dimers were fabricated and measured. The two PDI dimers exhibited clear differences in photovoltaic performance, whereas the two PDI2 analogues showed similar power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). The PCEs of the two PDI2 dimers are much higher than those of the PDI dimers. These results illustrate that the isomeric effect of PDI dimers is much larger than that of PDI2 dimers on the device performance, and proper expansion of conjugation could improve the device performance.

Preparation of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers by atom transfer radical polymerization for the rapid extraction of avermectin from fish samples.

A novel and highly efficient approach to obtain magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers is described to detect avermectin in fish samples. The magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers were synthesized by surface imprinting polymerization using magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotubes as the support materials, atom transfer radical polymerization as the polymerization method, avermectin as template, acrylamide as functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker. The characteristics of the magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers were assessed by using transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis. The binding characteristics of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers were researched through isothermal adsorption experiment, kinetics adsorption experiment, and the selectivity experiment. Coupled with ultra high performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry, the extraction conditions of the magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers as adsorbents for avermectin were investigated in detail. The recovery of avermectin was 84.2-97.0%, and the limit of detection was 0.075 µg/kg. Relative standard deviations of intra- and inter-day precisions were in the range of 1.7-2.9% and 3.4-5.6%, respectively. The results demonstrated that the extraction method not only has high selectivity and accuracy, but also is convenient for the determination of avermectin in fish samples.

Preparation of magnetic imprinted graphene oxide composite for catalytic degradation of Congo red under dark ambient conditions.

Magnetic imprinted N-doped P25/Fe3O4-graphene oxide (MIGNT) was prepared with methyl orange as the dummy template and pyrrole as functional monomer for catalytic degradation of Congo red (CR). Hummers method and the hydrothermal method were used to synthesize Fe3O4-GO and N-doped P25, respectively. The results of adsorption and degradation experiments showed that the adsorption capacity and catalytic degradation ability of the imprinted composite for CR were obviously higher than those of a non-imprinted one. Moreover, the effect factors on degradation efficiency of CR, such as the initial concentration of CR, catalysis time, pH of the solution and temperature, were investigated. The MIGNT was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, a physical property measurement system and a thermal gravimetric analyzer. The degradation products of CR were detected with high performance liquid chromatography and a mass spectrometer. The MIGNT was a brand-new imprinted composite and had high degradation efficiency for CR under dark ambient conditions. The MIGNT could be recycled conveniently, due to its magnetic property, and could be used as an effective, environmentally friendly and low-cost catalytic degradation material for the treatment of water contaminated by CR.

Preparation of a magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer by atom-transfer radical polymerization for the extraction of parabens from fruit juices.

A silica-based surface magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer for the selective recognition of parabens was prepared using a facile and general method that combined atom-transfer radical polymerization with surface imprinting technique. The prepared magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and physical property measurement. The isothermal adsorption experiment and kinetics adsorption experiment investigated the adsorption property of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer to template molecule. The four parabens including methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben were used to assess the rebinding selectivity. An extraction method, which used magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer as adsorbents coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of the four parabens in fruit juice samples was developed. Under the optimal conditions, the limits of detections of the four parabens were 0.028, 0.026, 0.021, and 0.026 mg/L, respectively. The precision expressed as relative standard deviation ranging from 2.6 to 8.9% was obtained. In all three fortified levels, recoveries of parabens were in the range of 72.5-89.4%. The proposed method has been applied to different fruit juice samples including orange juice, grape juice, apple juice and peach juice, and satisfactory results were obtained.

Efficient Intersystem Crossing in Extended Helical Perylene Diimide Dimers with Chalcogen-Annulation.

The properties and formation mechanisms of the triplet state have been widely investigated since they are crucial intermediates in photo functional devices. Specifically, helical PDI dimers, horizontal expanded π-conjugated derivatives of PDI, have shown outstanding performance as electron acceptors in enhancing the performance of photovoltaics. Therefore, the exploration of triplet generation in helical PDI dimers plays a crucial role in understanding the mechanisms and excavating their further application. We make use of Se-annulation to induce intersystem crossing (ISC) in helical PDI dimers and further explore the triplet evolution process systematically as the number of Se atoms increases by transient absorption spectroscopy and the hole-electron analysis method. It shows that the twisted molecular conformation has paved the way for potential ISC in a parent molecule PDI2. The incorporation of Se atoms can result in evident promotion in the efficiency of ISC (ϕTPDI2-2Se = 96.9%) compared to the parent molecule PDI2 (ϕTPDI2 = 26.5%), indicating that chalcogen-annulation is also an efficient strategy in a π-extended system. Our results provide useful insights for understanding the triplet evolution process, which can help broaden the application of the π-extended PDI system into high-performance photovoltaics.

Graphene oxide/ε-poly-L-lysine self-assembled functionalized coatings improve the biocompatibility and antibacterial properties of titanium implants.

The construction of an antibacterial biological coating on titanium surface plays an important role in the long-term stability of oral implant restoration. Graphene oxide (GO) has been widely studied because of its excellent antibacterial properties and osteogenic activity. However, striking a balance between its biological toxicity and antibacterial properties remains a significant challenge with GO. ε-poly-L-lysine (PLL) has broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and ultra-high safety performance. Using Layer-by-layer self-assembly technology (LBL), different layers of PLL/GO coatings and GO self-assembly coatings were assembled on the surface of titanium sheet. The materials were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle test. The antibacterial properties of Porphyromonas gingivalis (P.g.) were analyzed through SEM, coated plate experiment, and inhibition zone experiment. CCK-8 was used to determine the cytotoxicity of the material to MC3T3 cells, and zebrafish larvae and embryos were used to determine the developmental toxicity and inflammatory effects of the material. The results show that the combined assembly of 20 layers of GO and PLL exhibits good antibacterial properties and no biological toxicity, suggesting a potential application for a titanium-based implant modification scheme.

A near complete genome assembly of the East Friesian sheep genome.

Advancements in sequencing have enabled the assembly of numerous sheep genomes, significantly advancing our understanding of the link between genetic variation and phenotypic traits. However, the genome of East Friesian sheep (Ostfriesisches Milchschaf), a key high-yield milk breed, remains to be fully assembled. Here, we constructed a near-complete and gap-free East Friesian genome assembly using PacBio HiFi, ultra-long ONT and Hi-C sequencing. The resulting genome assembly spans approximately 2.96 Gb, with a contig N50 length of 104.1 Mb and only 164 unplaced sequences. Remarkably, our assembly has captured 41 telomeres and 24 centromeres. The assembled sequence is of high quality on completeness (BUSCO score: 97.1%) and correctness (QV: 69.1). In addition, a total of 24,580 protein-coding genes were predicted, of which 97.2% (23,891) carried at least one conserved functional domain. Collectively, this assembly provides not only a near T2T gap-free genome, but also provides a valuable genetic resource for comparative genome studies of sheep and will serve as an important tool for the sheep research community.

Perylene Diimide-based Non-fullerene Acceptors With A-D-A'-D-A Architecture For Organic Solar Cells.

The vinylene-bridged helical PDI dimer (PDI2) has been an alternative PDI building block for non-fullerene acceptor (NFAs). However, the development of PDI2 derivatives still lag behind, and most of PDI2 derivatives based organic solar cells (OSCs) only achieved a moderate power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of less than 8%. In this contribution, an acceptor-donor-acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A'-D-A) architecture was introduced to facilitate the improvement of photovoltaic properties. Two acceptors named diIDTIC-PDI2 and diFIDTIC-PDI2 were designed and synthesized, in which a PDI2 moiety flanked with two indacenodithiophene (IDT) units was employed as the D-A'-D core and 2-(3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-ylidene)malononitrile (IC) or fluorinated IC (IC2F) acted as terminal groups, respectively. The photovoltaic performances of these two acceptors were explored using PM1 as the electron donor. Compared to diIDTIC-PDI2, the fluorinated diFIDTIC-PDI2 based OSCs obtained enhanced photovoltaic performance with the best PCE of 9.77%, a VOC of 0.957 V, JSC of 13.58 mA cm-2 and FF of 75.1%. These results illustrate that engineering terminal groups is a robust strategy of enhancing the efficiency of PDI based acceptors with A-D-A'-D-A architecture.

An Asymmetric Perylene Diimide Dimer Acceptor for High Performance Organic Solar Cells.

The vinylene-bridged helical perylene diimide (PDI) dimer (PDI2) with a build-in twisted configuration is an alternative building block to the parent PDI for the construction of efficient non-fullerene acceptor (NFAs). Moreover, it has been proved asymmetric strategy plays a vital role in the development of NFAs. Herein, we designed and synthesized a pair of acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A) type PDI2 derivatives, namely IDTIC-PDI and IDT-diPDI2, which contain asymmetric and symmetric end-cap units, respectively. To determine the structure-performance relationships of asymmetric strategy, the organic solar cells (OSCs) based on these two molecules were fabricated and measured. The asymmetric IDTIC-PDI based device exhibits a much higher PCE of 8.23 % than that of symmetric IDT-diPDI2 (5.21 %). These results reveal that symmetry breaking provides an effective way to optimize the photovoltaic performances of PDI2 based OSCs.

Veil of the Charge Transfer State in Bay-Annulated Indigo-Based Donor-Acceptor Systems: Charge Separation versus Singlet Fission.

Bay-annulated indigo (BAI) is a new potential SF-active building block, which has aroused great interest in the design of highly stable singlet fission materials. However, singlet fission of unfunctionalized BAI is inactive due to the inappropriate energy levels. Herein, we seek to develop a new design strategy by introducing the charge transfer interaction to tune the exciton dynamics of BAI derivatives. A new donor-acceptor molecule (TPA-2BAI) and two control molecules (TPA-BAI and 2TPA-BAI) were designed and synthesized to unravel the veil of CT states in tuning the excited-state dynamics of BAI derivatives. Transient absorption spectroscopy studies show that CT states are generated immediately following the excitation. However, the low-lying CT states induced by strong donor-acceptor interactions result in them acting as trap states and inhibiting the SF process. These results show that the low-lying CT state is detrimental to SF and provide insight into the design of CT-mediated BAI-based SF materials.

Prediction of metal ion ligand binding residues by adding disorder value and propensity factors based on deep learning algorithm.

Proteins need to interact with different ligands to perform their functions. Among the ligands, the metal ion is a major ligand. At present, the prediction of protein metal ion ligand binding residues is a challenge. In this study, we selected Zn2+, Cu2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Co2+, Mn2+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ metal ion ligands from the BioLip database as the research objects. Based on the amino acids, the physicochemical properties and predicted structural information, we introduced the disorder value as the feature parameter. In addition, based on the component information, position weight matrix and information entropy, we introduced the propensity factor as prediction parameters. Then, we used the deep neural network algorithm for the prediction. Furtherly, we made an optimization for the hyper-parameters of the deep learning algorithm and obtained improved results than the previous IonSeq method.

Recognizing protein-metal ion ligands binding residues by random forest algorithm with adding orthogonal properties.

Accurately identifying protein-metal ion ligand binding residues is the key to study protein functions. Because the number of binding residues and non-binding residues is significantly imbalanced, false positives is hard to be eliminated from the binding residues prediction result. Therefore, identification of protein-metal ion ligand binding residues remains challenging. In this paper, the binding site of 7 metal ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Fe3+, Mn2+, Cu2+ and Co2+) were used as the objects of the study. Besides generally adopted parameters: amino acids and predicted secondary structure information, we creatively introduced ten orthogonal properties as a parameter. These orthogonal properties are clustering of 188 physical and chemical characteristics that can be used to describe three-dimension structural information. With the optimized parameters, we used the Random Forest algorithm to predict ion ligand binding residues. The proposed method obtained good prediction results with the MCC values of Mg2+, Ca2+ and Zn2+ reaching 0.255, 0.254, 0.540, respectively. Comparing to the IonSeq method, the method developed in this paper has advantages on the binding residues prediction of some ions.

Effectiveness of sodium hypochlorite treatment on the bonding of four adhesive systems to fluorotic enamel.

The study evaluated the effect of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) treatment on fluorotic enamel bonding of four adhesive systems. They were Single Bond 2 (SB2), Prime&Bond NT (PBN), Clearfil SE Bond (CSB), and Single Bond Universal (SBU). One hundred eighteen extracted moderate fluorotic molars were divided into eight groups according to NaOCl pretreatment and four adhesive systems. The microshear bond strength (µSBS), etching pattern, and penetration depth (PD) were observed. The statistical method was two-way ANOVA and least significant difference (LSD) test (α=0.05). The application of NaOCl significantly increased the µSBS of PBN and SBU (p<0.05). The enamel-etching pattern of CSB and SBU was deeper under SEM. A noticeable increase of PD was in SB2 and SBU after the application of NaOCl (p<0.05). Pretreatment of 5.25% NaOCl for the 60 s can increase µSBS of PBN and SBU, PD of SB2 and SBU, and improve enamel-etching pattern of CSB and SBU to fluorotic enamel.

Effects of carbodiimide combined with ethanol-wet bonding pretreatment on dentin bonding properties: an in vitro study.

Purpose: This study evaluated the combined effects of Carbodiimide (EDC) and ethanol-wet bonding (EWB) pretreatment on the bond strength and resin-dentin surface. Methods: Phosphoric acid-etched dentin specimens were randomly divided into five groups based on the following pretreatments: deionized water (control), EWB, 0.3M EDC in water (EDCw), EDC water solution combined EWB (EDCw + EWB), and 0.3M EDC in ethanol (EDCe). A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to observe the morphology of collagen fibrils on the demineralized dentin matrix in each group after pretreatment. The adhesives Prime & Bond NT (PB) (Dentsply De trey, Konstanz, Germany) or Single bond 2 (SB) (3M ESPE, St. Paul, MN, USA) was applied after pretreatments, and a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) was used to evaluate the quality of resin tags. The degree of conversion (DC) of the adhesive was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The dentin was first bonded with resin and bathed in water at 37 °C for 24 h. Half of them were subjected to 10, 000 cycles in a thermocycler between 5 °C and 55 °C before a microshear bond strength (µSBS) test. The statistical methods were Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and a Tukey post hoc test at α = 0.05. Results: The µSBS was significantly affected by pretreatments (p < 0.001), adhesives (p < 0.001), and aging conditions (p < 0.001) as revealed by the three-way ANOVA. The EDCw, EDCw + EWB, and EDCe groups significantly increased the µSBS; the EDCw + EWB and EDCe groups produced the highest µSBS. In the EDC-containing groups, the SEM showed at the collagen fibrils in the dentin matrix formed a three-dimensional network structure in the tubules after cross-linking into sheets, and the hybrid layer formed thicker resin tags under a CLSM. In the EDC-containing groups, the CLSM observed an increase in the length of resin tags. PB showed a higher DC and bonding strength than SB, and the five pretreatment groups tested did not affect the DC of the two adhesives. Conclusions: In etch-and-rinse bonding system, EDC combined with EWB pretreatment can improve the quality of the hybrid layer and enhance the mechanical properties of demineralized dentin matrix. Pretreatment with EDC-ethanol solution may be a new clinically friendly option for enhancing dentin bonding durability.

Achieving Symmetry-Breaking Charge Separation in Perylenediimide Trimers: The Effect of Bridge Resonance.

Symmetry-breaking charge separation (SB-CS) provides a very promising option to engineer a novel light conversion scheme, while it is still a challenge to realize SB-CS in a nonpolar environment. The strength of electronic coupling plays a crucial role in determining the exciton dynamics of organic semiconductors. Herein, we describe how to mediate interchromophore coupling to achieve SB-CS in a nonpolar solvent by the use of two perylenediimide (PDI)-based trimers, 1,7-tri-PDI and 1,6-tri-PDI. Although functionalization at the N-atom decreases electronic coupling between PDI units, our strategy takes advantage of "bridge resonance", in which the frontier orbital energies are nearly degenerate with those of the covalently linked PDI units, leading to enhanced interchromophore electronic coupling. Tunable electronic coupling was realized by the judicious combination of "bridge resonance" with N-functionalization. The enhanced mixing between the S1 state and CT/CS states results in direct observation of the CT band in the steady-state UV-vis absorption and negative free energy of charge separation (ΔGCS) in both chloroform and toluene for the two trimers. Using transient absorption spectroscopy, we demonstrated that photoinduced SB-CS in a nonpolar solvent is feasible. This work highlights that the use of "bridge resonance" is an effective way to control exciton dynamics of organic semiconductors.