A series of α-Ni(OH)2-Ni3S4 hybrid structures are prepared as advanced electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) via a feasible in situ sulfidation approach. The α-Ni(OH)2-Ni3S4 hetero-interfaces endow hybrid structures with reduced γ-NiOOH formation energy and methanol adsorption energy, and thus a significantly enhanced electrocatalytic activity for MOR.

The propensity of the 5-formyluracil and 5-formylcytosine, i.e. oxidative lesions and epigenetic intermediates, in acting as intrinsic DNA photosensitizers is unraveled by using a combination of molecular modeling, simulation and spectroscopy. Exploration of potential energy surfaces and non-adiabatic dynamics confirm a higher intersystem crossing for 5-formyluracil, whereas the kinetic models evidence

While there have been no cases of type-2 wild poliovirus for over 20 years, transmission of type-2 vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV2) and associated paralytic cases in several continents represent a threat to eradication. The withdrawal of the type-2 component of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV2) was implemented in April 2016 to stop VDPV2 emergence and secure eradication of all poliovirus type 2. Globally

We conduct a techno-economic analysis of electrochemical water deionization technologies. The objective of the analysis is to compare cost, volume, and energy consumption of membrane capacitive deionization (mCDI) to intercalative deionization techniques. Here, we first explore the concept of hybrid capacitive deionization (HCDI), i.e., a cation intercalation electrode paired with an activated carbon

We have fabricated an ultrasensitive exosome biosensor based on multipedal DNA walker with the core of target exosome. Specific recognition is achieved by introducing CD63 aptamer and facile separation is the benefit of magnetic Fe3O4@Au nanoparticles. Limit of detection down to 6 /μL is obtained with excellent selectivity.

Correction for ‘O2-(6-Oxocyclohex-1-en-1-yl)methyl diazen-1-ium-1,2-diolates: a new class of nitric oxide donors activatable by GSH/GSTπ with both anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic activities against melanoma’ by Chengfeng Bai et al., Chem. Commun., 2017, 53, 5059–5062.

There is broad interest in engineering phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) for its biocatalytic applications in industry and medicine. While site-specific mutagenesis has been employed to improve PAL stability or substrate specificity, combinatorial techniques are poorly explored. Here, we report development of a directed evolution technique to engineer PAL enzymes. Central to this approach is a high-throughput

A stable nanoscaled single-excitation ratiometric luminescent pH sensor (MPDB-PCN) over a broad pH range from 2.5 to 8.6 is fabricated through post-synthetic modification of PCN-224 with naphthalimide-derived molecules. Due to the rapid, sensitive and linear response to pH, MPDB-PCN is capable of detecting 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NPA), an acid neurotoxin in food safety, with a low detection limit

The amyloid cascade theory attributes the neurodegeneration observed in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to the deposition of amyloid β (Aβ) peptide into plaques and fibrils in the AD brain. The metal ion hypothesis which implicates several metal ions, viz. Zn, Cu and Fe in the AD pathology on account of their abnormal accumulation in the Aβ plaques along with an overall dyshomeostasis of these metals in the

In this work, we investigated the catalytic effect of adding sulfur on Zn/ZSM-5 catalyst for direct conversion of ethane to aromatics. We show that the continuous addition of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) effectively stabilizes zinc, prevents coking and results in a highly selective and stable catalyst. Considering the high content of sulfur in shale gas resources, these results highlight the importance of

We report on the development of high-throughput fluorogenic assay that can streamline directed evolution of enantioselective sulfoxide reductases. As a model, we have evolved methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MsrA) to expand its limited substrate scope. The resulting mutant MsrA can resolve a range of new challenging racemic sulfoxides with high efficiency including the pharmaceutically relevant albendazole

A versatile low-temperature molten salt approach has been developed for fabricating MoS2@CoS2 heterostructures electrocatalyst, where low-cost molten KSCN serves as both the reaction medium and sulfur source. The as-obtained electrocatalyst with defect-rich structure is highly efficient for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), delivering a low overpotential of 96 mV at an HER current density of 10 mA

Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy was employed to study an active electrocatalyst, hyperfine β-FeOOH nanorods (⌀3 × 13 nm) surface-modified with amorphous Ni hydroxide. The nearest neighbor structure and valence of Fe3+ ions did not change under water oxidation condition, while changes in the nearest neighbor ordering of Ni2+ ions and a reversible transition to Ni3+ were observed in accrodance

This paper reports novel Cu-catalyzed three-component coupling reactions using nitriles, 1,3-dienes and silylboranes. The desired reactions proceed at room temperature and yield ,-unsaturated ketones with a (dimethylphenylsi-lyl)methyl moiety at the -position with high regioselectivity. Diverse nitriles participate in the reaction and the corre-sponding products were obtained in good to high yields

In bioconjugation chemistry, achieving the target-specific reaction for a non-modified amino acid is challenging. Here, we report a novel nucleobase-involved native chemical ligation (NbCL) that allows a site-specific oligonucleotide-peptide conjugation via a new S-N acyl transfer reaction between an oxanine nucleobase and N-terminal cysteine.