Diastereodivergent Desymmetric Annulation to Access Spirooxindoles: Chemical Probes for Mitosis.

Spirooxindoles have emerged as promising architectures for engineering biologically active compounds. The diastereodivergent construction of unique scaffolds of this type with full control of continuous chiral centers including an all-carbon quaternary stereogenic center is yet to be developed. Here, we report an unprecedented diastereodivergent desymmetric [3 + 3] annulation of oxabicyclic alkenes with enals enabled by N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)/Rh cooperative catalysis, leading to a series of enantiomerically enriched spirooxindole lactones with excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99% ee) and diastereoselectivities (up to >95:5 dr). The combined catalyst system comprises a rhodium complex that controls the configuration at the electrophilic carbon and an NHC catalyst that controls the configuration at the nucleophilic oxindole-containing carbon; thus, four stereoisomers of the spirooxindole products can be readily obtained simply by switching the configurations of the two chiral catalysts. Transformations of the chiral spirooxindoles delivered synthetically useful compounds. Importantly, those chiral spirooxindoles arrested mammalian cells in mitosis and exhibited potent antiproliferative activities against HeLa cells. Significantly, both absolute and relative configurations exert prominent effects on the bioactivities, underscoring great importance of catalytic asymmetric diastereodivergent synthesis beyond creating useful tools for the exploration of structure-activity relationships.

Structural Determination and Hierarchical Evolution of Transition Metal Clusters Based on an Improved Self-Adaptive Differential Evolution with Neighborhood Search Algorithm.

Determining the optimal structures and clarifying the corresponding hierarchical evolution of transition metal clusters are of fundamental importance for their applications. The global optimization of clusters containing a large number of atoms, however, is a vastly challenging task encountered in many fields of physics and chemistry. In this work, a high-efficiency self-adaptive differential evolution with neighborhood search (SaNSDE) algorithm, which introduced an optimized cross-operation and an improved Basin Hopping module, was employed to search the lowest-energy structures of CoN, PtN, and FeN (N = 3-200) clusters. The performance of the SaNSDE algorithm was first evaluated by comparing our results with the parallel results collected in the Cambridge Cluster Database (CCD). Subsequently, different analytical methods were introduced to investigate the structural and energetic properties of these clusters systematically, and special attention was paid to elucidating the structural evolution with cluster size by exploring their overall shape, atomic arrangement, structural similarity, and growth pattern. By comparison with those results listed in the CCD, 13 lower-energy structures of FeN clusters were discovered. Moreover, our results reveal that the clusters of three metals had different magic numbers with superior stable structures, most of which possessed high symmetry. The structural evolution of Co, Pt, and Fe clusters could be, respectively, considered as predominantly closed-shell icosahedral, Marks decahedral, and disordered icosahedral-ring growth. Further, the formation of shell structures was discovered, and the clusters with hcp-, fcc-, and bcc-like configurations were ascertained. Nevertheless, the growth of the clusters was not simply atom-to-atom piling up on a given cluster despite gradual saturation of the coordination number toward its bulk limit. Our work identifies the general growth trends for such a wide region of cluster sizes, which would be unbearably expensive in first-principles calculations, and advances the development of global optimization algorithms for the structural prediction of clusters.

An Improved Self-Adaptive Differential Evolution with the Neighborhood Search Algorithm for Global Optimization of Bimetallic Clusters.

Global optimization of multicomponent cluster structures is considerably time-consuming due to the existence of a vast number of isomers. In this work, we proposed an improved self-adaptive differential evolution with the neighborhood search (SaNSDE) algorithm and applied it to the global optimization of bimetallic cluster structures. The cross operation was optimized, and an improved basin hopping module was introduced to enhance the searching efficiency of SaNSDE optimization. Taking (PtNi)N (N = 38 or 55) bimetallic clusters as examples, their structures were predicted by using this algorithm. The traditional SaNSDE algorithm was carried out for comparison with the improved SaNSDE algorithm. For all the optimized clusters, the excess energy and the second difference of the energy were calculated to examine their relative stabilities. Meanwhile, the bond order parameters were adopted to quantitatively characterize the cluster structures. The results reveal that the improved SaNSDE algorithm possessed significantly higher searching capability and faster convergence speed than the traditional SaNSDE algorithm. Furthermore, the lowest-energy configurations of (PtNi)38 clusters could be classified as the truncated octahedral and disordered structures. In contrast, all the optimal (PtNi)55 clusters were approximately icosahedral. Our work fully demonstrates the high efficiency of the improved algorithm and advances the development of global optimization algorithms and the structural prediction of multicomponent clusters.

Oxygen adsorption on high-index faceted Pt nanoparticles.

High-index faceted Pt nanoparticles with excellent electrocatalytic performances are promising to efficiently accelerate the oxygen reduction reactions in fuel cells. By adopting the hybrid grand canonical Monte Carlo reactive molecular dynamics (GCMC/RMD) simulations, we examined the oxygen adsorption on three 24-facet nanoparticles respectively enclosed by {310}, {311}, and {331} high-index facets. The site-dependent adsorption energies on each open-structure surface are calculated. Meanwhile, the adsorption ratios under various pressures and temperatures are presented. It is revealed that the adsorption capacity of these high-index faceted nanoparticles is considerably higher than that of the ones terminated by low-index facets. Moreover, oxygen adsorption exerts a significant impact on their thermodynamic behaviors.

Kinetic Resolution of Aziridines Enabled by N-Heterocyclic Carbene/Copper Cooperative Catalysis: Carbene Dose-Controlled Chemo-Switchability.

Catalytic kinetic resolution (KR) and dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation (DyKAT) are alternative and complementary avenues to access chiral stereoisomers of both starting materials and reaction products. The development of highly efficient chiral catalytic systems for kinetically controlled processes has therefore been one of the linchpins in asymmetric synthesis. N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)/copper cooperative catalysis has enabled highly efficient KR and DyKAT of racemic N-tosylaziridines by [3+3] annulation with isatin-derived enals, leading to highly enantioenriched N-tosylaziridine derivatives (up to >99 % ee) and a large library of spirooxindole derivatives with high structural diversity and stereoselectivity (up to >95:5 d.r., >99 % ee). Mechanistic studies suggest that the NHC can bind reversibly to the copper catalyst without compromising its catalytic activity and regulate the catalytic activity of the copper complex to switch the chemoselection between KR and DyKAT.

Basin Hopping Genetic Algorithm for Global Optimization of PtCo Clusters.

In general, searching the lowest-energy structures is considerably more time-consuming for bimetallic clusters than for monometallic ones because of the presence of an increasing number of homotops and geometrical isomers. In this article, a basin hopping genetic algorithm (BHGA), in which the genetic algorithm is implanted into the basin hopping (BH) method, is proposed to search the lowest-energy structures of 13-, 38-, and 55-atom PtCo bimetallic clusters. The results reveal that the proposed BHGA, as compared with the standard BH method, can markedly improve the convergent speed for global optimization and the possibility for finding the global minima on the potential energy surface. Meanwhile, referencing the monometallic structures in initializations may further raise the searching efficiency. For all the optimized clusters, both the excess energy and the second difference of the energy are calculated to examine their relative stabilities at different atomic ratios. The bond order parameter, the similarity function, and the shape factor are also adopted to quantitatively characterize the cluster structures. The results indicate that the 13- and the 55-atom systems tend to be icosahedral despite different degrees of lattice distortions. In contrast, for the 38-atom system, Pt10Co28, Pt11Co27, Pt17Co21, Pt19Co19, Pt20Co18, and Pt30Co8 tend to be disordered, while Pt21Co17 presents a defected face-centered cubic (fcc) structure, and the remaining clusters are perfect fcc. The methodology and results of this work have referential significance to the exploration of other alloy clusters.

Synthesis of C4-Aminated Indoles via a Catellani and Retro-Diels-Alder Strategy.

Highly functionalized 4-aminoindoles were synthesized via the three-component cross-coupling of o-iodoaniline, N-benzoyloxyamines, and norbornadiene. The Catellani and retro-Diels-Alder strategy was used in this domino process. o-Iodoaniline, with electron-donating and sterically hindered protecting groups, made the reaction selective toward o-C-H amination. On the basis of density functional theory calculations, the intramolecular Buchwald coupling of this reaction underwent a dearomatization and a 1,3-palladium migration process. The reasons for the control of the chemical selectivity by the protecting groups are given. Moreover, synthetic applications toward 4-piperazinylindole and a GOT1 inhibitor were realized.

Inhibition of Methylglyoxal-Induced AGEs/RAGE Expression Contributes to Dermal Protection by N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) is a major cause of diabetes mellitus (DM) skin complications. Methylglyoxal (MGO), a reactive dicarbonyl compound, is a crucial intermediate of AGEs generation. N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), an active ingredient of some medicines, can induce endogenous GSH and hydrogen sulfide generation, and set off a condensation reaction with MGO. However, there is rare evidence to show NAC can alleviate DM-induced skin injury through inhibition of AGEs generation or toxicity. The present study aimed to observe the effects of NAC on MGO-induced inflammatory injury and investigate the roles of AGEs and its receptor (RAGE) in NAC's dermal protection in human HaCaT keratinocytes. METHODS: The cells were exposed to MGO to simulate a high MGO status in diabetic blood or tissues. The content of AGEs in serum or cell medium was measured with ELISA. The protective effects of NAC against MGO-induce injury were evaluated by administration before MGO one hour, in virtue of cell viability, mitochondrial membrane potential, inflammation reaction, nuclear factor (NF)-κB activation, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 expression, as well as cellular behavioral function. RESULTS: We found the AGEs levels of patients with DM were elevated comparing with healthy volunteers. The in vitro AGEs generation was also able to be enhanced by the exposure of HaCaT cells to MGO, which reduced dose-dependently cellular viability, damaged mitochondrial function, triggered secretion of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8, activated NF-κB and upregulated MMP-9 expression. Furthermore, the exposure caused cellular adhesion and migration dysfunction, as well as collagen type I inhibition. Importantly, before the exposure to MGO, the preconditioning with NAC significantly attenuated MGO-induced AGEs generation, improved cellular viability and mitochondrial function, partially reversed the overexpression of proinflammatory factors and MMP-9, as well as the activation of NF-κB. Lastly, NAC blocked MGO-induced RAGE upregulation, and inhibition of RAGE with its neutralizing antibody significantly alleviated MGO-induced NF-κB activation, MMP-9 upregulation and inflammatory injury in HaCaT cells. CONCLUSION: The present work indicates the administration of NAC can prevent MGO-induced dermal inflammatory injury through inhibition of AGEs/RAGE signal, which may provide a basal support for the treatment of diabetic skin complications with NAC-containing medicines in the future.

Robust indirect band gap and anisotropy of optical absorption in B-doped phosphorene.

A traditional doping technique plays an important role in the band structure engineering of two-dimensional nanostructures. Since electron interaction is changed by doping, the optical and electrochemical properties could also be significantly tuned. In this study, density functional theory calculations have been employed to explore the structural stability, and electronic and optical properties of B-doped phosphorene. The results show that all B-doped phosphorenes are stable with a relatively low binding energy. Of particular interest is that these B-doped systems exhibit an indirect band gap, which is distinct from the direct one of pure phosphorene. Despite the different concentrations and configurations of B dopants, such indirect band gaps are robust. The screened hybrid density functional HSE06 predicts that the band gap of B-doped phosphorene is slightly smaller than that of pure phosphorene. Spatial charge distributions at the valence band maximum (VBM) and the conduction band minimum (CBM) are analyzed to understand the features of an indirect band gap. By comparison with pure phosphorene, B-doped phosphorenes exhibit strong anisotropy and intensity of optical absorption. Moreover, B dopants could enhance the stability of Li adsorption on phosphorene with less sacrifice of the Li diffusion rate. Our results suggest that B-doping is an effective way of tuning the band gap, enhancing the intensity of optical absorption and improving the performances of Li adsorption, which could promote potential applications in novel optical devices and lithium-ion batteries.

Atomic structure and thermal stability of Pt-Fe bimetallic nanoparticles: from alloy to core/shell architectures.

Bimetallic nanoparticles comprising noble metal and non-noble metal have attracted intense interest over the past few decades due to their low cost and significantly enhanced catalytic performances. In this article, we have explored the atomic structure and thermal stability of Pt-Fe alloy and core-shell nanoparticles by molecular dynamics simulations. In Fe-core/Pt-shell nanoparticles, Fe with three different structures, i.e., body-centered cubic (bcc), face-centered cubic (fcc), and amorphous phases, has been considered. Our results show that Pt-Fe alloy is the most stable configuration among the four types of bimetallic nanoparticles. It has been discovered that the amorphous Fe cannot stably exist in the core and preferentially transforms into the fcc phase. The phase transition from bcc to hexagonal close packed (hcp) has also been observed in bcc-Fe-core/Pt-shell nanoparticles. In contrast, Fe with the fcc structure is the most preferred as the core component. These findings are helpful for understanding the structure-property relationships of Pt-Fe bimetallic nanoparticles, and are also of significance to the synthesis and application of noble metal based nanoparticle catalysts.

Structural and electronic properties of ZnO/GaN heterostructured nanowires from first-principles study.

ZnO/GaN alloys have exceptional photocatalytic applications owing to their suitable band gaps corresponding to the range of visible light wavelength and thus have attracted extensive attention over the past few years. In this study, the structural stabilities and electronic properties of core/shell, biaxial, and super-lattice ZnO/GaN heterostructured nanowires have been investigated by means of first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory. The effects of the nanowire size, the GaN ratio, and strain have been explored. It is found that all studied heterostructured nanowires are less stable than pure ZnO nanowires, exhibiting larger sized wires with better structural stabilities and inversely proportional relationship between structural stability and the GaN ratio. Electronic band structures imply that all heterostructured nanowires are semiconductors with the band gaps strongly depending on the GaN ratios as well as mechanical strain. Particularly, for the biaxial and the super-lattice nanowires, their band gaps decrease firstly and then increase with the increasing GaN ratios. Electronic contributions to the valence band maximum (VBM) and the conduction band minimum (CBM) are discussed for exploiting the potential photocatalytic applications.

Atomic-scale insights into structural and thermodynamic stability of Pd-Ni bimetallic nanoparticles.

Atomic-scale understanding of structures and thermodynamic stability of core-shell nanoparticles is important for both their synthesis and application. In this study, we systematically investigated the structural stability and thermodynamic evolution of core-shell structured Pd-Ni nanoparticles by molecular dynamics simulations. It has been revealed that dislocations and stacking faults occur in the shell and their amounts are strongly dependent on the core/shell ratio. The presence of these defects lowers the structural and thermal stability of these nanoparticles, resulting in even lower melting points than both Pd and Ni monometallic nanoparticles. Furthermore, different melting behaviors have been disclosed in Pd-core/Ni-shell and Ni-core/Pd-shell nanoparticles. These diverse behaviors cause different relationships between the melting temperature and the amount of stacking faults. Our results display direct evidence for the tunable stability of bimetallic nanoparticles. This study provides a fundamental perspective on core-shell structured nanoparticles and has important implications for further tailoring their structural and thermodynamic stability by core/shell ratio or composition controlling.

Thermal and shape stability of high-index-faceted rhodium nanoparticles: a molecular dynamics investigation.

Nanosized noble metallic particles enclosed by high-index facets exhibit superior catalytic activity because of their high density of low-coordinated step atoms at the surface, and thus have attracted growing interest over the past decade. In this article, we employed molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the thermodynamic evolution of tetrahexahedral Rh nanoparticles respectively covered by {210}, {310}, and {830} facets during the heating process. Our results reveal that the {210} faceted nanoparticle exhibits better thermal and shape stability than the {310} and {830} faceted ones. Meanwhile, because the {830} facet consists of {210} and {310} subfacets, the stability of the {830} faceted Rh nanoparticle is dominated by the {310} subfacet, which possesses a relatively poor stability. Furthermore, the shape transformation of these nanoparticles occurs much earlier than their melting. Further analyses indicate that surface atoms with higher coordination numbers display lower surface diffusivity, and are thus more helpful for stabilizing the particle shape. This study offers an atomistic understanding of the thermodynamic behaviors of high-index-faceted Rh nanoparticles.

DACT1 is involved in human placenta development by promoting Wnt signaling.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of DACT1 in human placenta tissue and the relationship between DACT1 and target genes of the Wnt signaling pathway. METHOD: Real-time PCR and western blotting were used to detect the expression of DACT1 and the target genes of Wnt signaling pathway in human placenta tissue. And the relationship between them was analyzed using SPSS 19. RESULTS: Real-time PCR results showed that DACT1 expression was significantly higher in 49- to 71-day placenta tissues (mean value = 0.020) than that in 39- to 48-day (the mean value = 0.009). The mRNA expressions of the Wnt signaling pathway target genes, CCND1, CCND2, FOSL1, DAB2 and JUN, were also increased expressed in human placenta tissues. Significant positive associations between DACT1 and CCND1, CCND2, FOSL1, DAB2 and JUN were observed. Western blotting analysis showed that the protein expression of DACT1, CCND1, CCND2, FOSL1, DAB2 and JUN displayed the increasing trend in 43-, 49- and 71-day placenta samples. CONCLUSION: DACT1 might play an important role in human placenta development via promoting Wnt signaling.

Tunable thermodynamic stability of Au-CuPt core-shell trimetallic nanoparticles by controlling the alloy composition: insights from atomistic simulations.

A microscopic understanding of the thermal stability of metallic core-shell nanoparticles is of importance for their synthesis and ultimately application in catalysis. In this article, molecular dynamics simulations have been employed to investigate the thermodynamic evolution of Au-CuPt core-shell trimetallic nanoparticles with various Cu/Pt ratios during heating processes. Our results show that the thermodynamic stability of these nanoparticles is remarkably enhanced upon rising Pt compositions in the CuPt shell. The melting of all the nanoparticles initiates at surface and gradually spreads into the core. Due to the lattice mismatch among Au, Cu and Pt, stacking faults have been observed in the shell and their numbers are associated with the Cu/Pt ratios. With the increasing temperature, they have reduced continuously for the Cu-dominated shell while more stacking faults have been produced for the Pt-dominated shell because of the significantly different thermal expansion coefficients of the three metals. Beyond the overall melting, all nanoparticles transform into a trimetallic mixing alloy coated by an Au-dominated surface. This work provides a fundamental perspective on the thermodynamic behaviors of trimetallic, even multimetallic, nanoparticles at the atomistic level, indicating that controlling the alloy composition is an effective strategy to realize tunable thermal stability of metallic nanocatalysts.

Electrochemical synthesis of tetrahexahedral rhodium nanocrystals with extraordinarily high surface energy and high electrocatalytic activity.

Noble metal nanocrystals (NCs) enclosed with high-index facets hold a high catalytic activity thanks to the high density of low-coordinated step atoms that they exposed on their surface. Shape-control synthesis of the metal NCs with high-index facets presents a big challenge owing to the high surface energy of the NCs, and the shape control for metal Rh is even more difficult because of its extraordinarily high surface energy in comparison with Pt, Pd, and Au. The successful synthesis is presented of tetrahexahedral Rh NCs (THH Rh NCs) enclosed by {830} high-index facets through the dynamic oxygen adsorption/desorption mediated by square-wave potential. The results demonstrate that the THH Rh NCs exhibit greatly enhanced catalytic activity over commercial Rh black catalyst for the electrooxidation of ethanol and CO.

Effect of composition and architecture on the thermodynamic behavior of AuCu nanoparticles.

The chemical and physical properties of nanomaterials ultimately rely on their crystal structures, chemical compositions and distributions. In this paper, a series of AuCu bimetallic nanoparticles with well-defined architectures and variable compositions has been addressed to explore their thermal stability and thermally driven behavior by molecular dynamics simulations. By combination of energy and Lindemann criteria, the solid-liquid transition and its critical temperature were accurately identified. Meanwhile, atomic diffusion, bond order, and particle morphology were examined to shed light on thermodynamic evolution of the particles. Our results reveal that composition-dependent melting point of AuCu nanoparticles significantly departs from the Vegard's law prediction. Especially, chemically disordered (ordered) alloy nanoparticles exhibited markedly low (high) melting points in comparison with their unary counterparts, which should be attributed to enhancing (decreasing) atomic diffusivity in alloys. Furthermore, core-shell structures and heterostructures demonstrated a mode transition between the ordinary melting and the two-stage melting with varying Au content. AuCu alloyed nanoparticles presented the evolution tendency of chemical ordering from disorder to order before melting and then to disorder during melting. Additionally, as the temperature increases, the shape transformation was observed in AuCu nanoparticles with heterostructure or L10 structure owing to the difference in thermal expansion coefficients of elements and/or of crystalline orientations. Our findings advance the fundamental understanding on thermodynamic behavior and stability of metallic nanoparticles, offering theoretical insights for design and application of nanosized particles with tunable properties.

Asymmetric redox benzylation of enals enabled by NHC/Ru cooperative catalysis.

The development of general methods for asymmetric benzylation of prochiral carbon nucleophiles remains a challenge in organic synthesis. The merging of ruthenium catalysis and N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysis for asymmetric redox benzylation of enals has been achieved, which opens up strategic opportunities for the asymmetric benzylation reactions. A wide range of 3,3'-disubstituted oxindoles with a stereogenic quaternary carbon center widely existing in natural products and biologically interesting molecules is successfully obtained with excellent enantioselectivities [up to 99% enantiomeric excess (ee)]. The generality of this catalytic strategy was further highlighted by its successful application in the late-stage functionalization of oxindole skeletons. Furthermore, the linear correlation between ee values of NHC precatalyst and the product elucidated the independent catalytic cycle of either the NHC catalyst or the ruthenium complex.

Risk factors associated with indoor transmission during home quarantine of COVID-19 patients.

Purpose: The study aimed to identify potential risk factors for family transmission and to provide precautionary guidelines for the general public during novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) waves. Methods: A retrospective cohort study with numerous COVID-19 patients recruited was conducted in Shanghai. Epidemiological data including transmission details, demographics, vaccination status, symptoms, comorbidities, antigen test, living environment, residential ventilation, disinfection and medical treatment of each participant were collected and risk factors for family transmission were determined. Results: A total of 2,334 COVID-19 patients participated. Compared with non-cohabitation infected patients, cohabitated ones were younger (p = 0.019), more commonly unvaccinated (p = 0.048) or exposed to infections (p < 0.001), and had higher rates of symptoms (p = 0.003) or shared living room (p < 0.001). Risk factors analysis showed that the 2019-nCov antigen positive (OR = 1.86, 95%CI 1.40-2.48, p < 0.001), symptoms development (OR = 1.86, 95%CI 1.34-2.58, p < 0.001), direct contact exposure (OR = 1.47, 95%CI 1.09-1.96, p = 0.010) were independent risk factors for the cohabitant transmission of COVID-19, and a separate room with a separate toilet could reduce the risk of family transmission (OR = 0.62, 95%CI 0.41-0.92, p = 0.018). Conclusion: Patients showing negative 2019-nCov antigen tests, being asymptomatic, living in a separate room with a separate toilet, or actively avoiding direct contact with cohabitants were at low risk of family transmission, and the study recommended that avoiding direct contact and residential disinfection could reduce the risk of all cohabitants within the same house being infected with COVID-19.