Crossleonard9603
Size and surface functionality are critically important for organic-inorganic hybrid semiconductive nanocomposites in terms of stable photoelectrochemical properties and superior device performance. The ability of reversible deactivation radical polymerization to control the chain length and dispersity of polymers is herein extended to the tailor-made synthesis of nanocomposites with tunable size, distribution, and surface coating. This is exemplified by the fabrication of cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots (QDs) with uniform sizes from 2 to 10 nm that are intimately coated with poly(3-hexylthiophene) (i.e., CdSe@P3HT).Controllable molecular self-assembly is vital for nanostructure construction. Here, three different self-assembling networks are realized by varying the chemical composition of the molecular building blocks of the same architecture. click here This is the first time that SN electrostatic attraction has been employed to regulate surface self-assembly. All molecular structures are characterized using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy. The density functional theory calculations elaborate the structure formation mechanism.Near-infrared fluorophores are emerging as promising molecular tools for cancer theranostics because of their inherent biodegradability, low toxicity, and synthetic flexibility. However, they still suffer from several limitations, such as poor photostability and insufficient organelle-targeting stability during photothermal therapy. In this work, we introduce an "aldehyde functionalization" strategy for simultaneously enhancing photostability and mitochondria-immobilization of near-infrared fluorophores for the first time. Based on the proposed strategy, representative near-infrared organic molecules, namely AF-Cy, were rationally designed and synthesized. Upon aldehyde modification, the AF-Cy dyes displayed both remarkable photostability and mitochondrial-targeting stability. The strong absorption in the near-infrared region confers the AF-Cy dyes with outstanding fluorescent/photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy capabilities. Finally, in vitro and in vivo studies revealed the enhanced performance in inhibiting the growth of breast tumors under NIR laser radiation, and these results suggested the strong potential of AF-Cy dyes as efficient multimodal imaging-guided photothermal therapy agents, further highlighting the value of this simple strategy in the design high performance near-infrared fluorophores for tumor theranostics.Tri-nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA)-based fluorescent probes were developed and used to image His-tagged-labelled outer membrane protein C (His-OmpC) in live Escherichia coli. One of these probes was designed to light up upon binding, which provided the means to assess changes in the His-OmpC expression levels by taking a simple fluorescence spectrum.Three new ruthenium(ii) complexes containing an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand (RuNHC) have been successfully synthesized and proved to be efficient near-infrared (NIR) ECL (electrogenerated chemiluminescence) luminophores. In addition to the advantages of the lower-charge main motif (+1), the much lower oxidation potentials, and the longer metal to ligand charge transfer (MLCT) absorption bands, most importantly, these RuNHC complexes show higher, or at least comparable, ECL efficiency compared with Ru(bpy)32+ under the same experimental conditions; this demonstrates their great potential for applications in the NIR ECL imaging field in the future.The use of water as a component of deep eutectic systems (DES) has raised some questions regarding its influence on the nature of the mixture. Does it form a DES or an aqueous solution and what is the role of water? In this work, the nature of citric acidl-argininewater mixtures was explored through phase equilibria studies and spectroscopic analysis. In a first step, PC-SAFT was validated as a predictive tool to model the water influence on the solid liquid equilibria (SLE) of the DES reline using the individual-component approach. Hence, activity coefficients in the ternary systems citric acidl-argininewater and respective binary combinations were studied and compared using ePC-SAFT. It was observed that the water-free mixtures citric acidl-arginine showed positive deviation from Raoult's law, while upon addition of water strong negative deviation from Raoult's law was found, yielding melting depressions around 100 K. Besides these strong interactions, pH was found to become acidic (pH = 3.5) upon water addition, which yields the formation of charged species ([H2Cit]- and [l-arg]+). Thus, the increased interactions between the molecules upon water addition might be caused by several mechanisms such as hydrogen bonding or ionic forces, both being induced by water. For further investigation, the liquid mixtures citric acidl-argininewater were studied by FTIR and NMR spectroscopy. FTIR spectra disproved a possible solubility enhancement caused by salt formation between citric acid and l-arginine, while NMR spectra supported the formation of a hydrogen bonding network different from the binary systems citric acidwater and l-argininewater. Either being a DES or other type of non-ideal solution, the liquefaction of the studied systems is certainly caused by a water-mediator effect based on the formation of charged species and cross interactions between the mixture constituents.Colloidal patterning enables the placement of a wide range of materials into prescribed spatial arrangements, as required in a variety of applications, including micro- and nano-electronics, sensing, and plasmonics. Directed colloidal assembly methods, which exploit external forces to place particles with high yield and great accuracy, are particularly powerful. However, currently available techniques require specialized equipment, which limits their applicability. Here, we present a microfluidic platform to produce versatile colloidal patterns within a microchannel, based on sequential capillarity-assisted particle assembly (sCAPA). This new microfluidic technology exploits the capillary forces resulting from the controlled motion of an evaporating droplet inside a microfluidic channel to deposit individual particles in an array of traps microfabricated onto a substrate. Sequential depositions allow the generation of a desired spatial layout of colloidal particles of single or multiple types, dictated solely by the geometry of the traps and the filling sequence.