Themed collection 2019 International Open Access Week Collection

The dynamic fluctuations of bioactive species in living cells are associated with numerous physiological and pathological phenomena. The emergence of organelle-targeted fluorescent probes has significantly facilitated our understanding on the biological functions of these species. This review describes the design, applications, challenges and potential directions of organelle-targeted bioactive species probes.

Naked-eye comparison of reaction profiles is a powerful tool to extract mechanistic information – FAQ, video tutorial and templated examples included.

Biosensors with high sensitivity, selectivity and a low limit of detection, reaching nano/picomolar concentrations of biomolecules, are important to the medical sciences and healthcare industry for evaluating physiological and metabolic parameters.

The biomedical applications of the recently emerging carbon quantum dots are reviewed.

The advent of the clinically approved drug cisplatin started a new era in the design of metallodrugs for cancer chemotherapy.

In this review, we discuss the recent advances in green synthesis of silver nanoparticles, their application as antimicrobial agents and mechanism of antimicrobial mode of action.

Arylhydrazines are extremely valuable compounds in organic chemistry that are widely used for the synthesis of a variety of biologically active molecules such as indoles, indazoles, pyrazoles, aryltriazoles, β-lactams and quinazolines.

Due to their large specific surface area and abundant active surficial sites, MXenes can adsorb various environmental pollutants.

This review article surveys literature methods for the synthesis of six-membered cyclic carbonates using various substrates in the presence of CO₂ with special emphasis on the mechanistic aspects of the reactions.

CO₂ hydrogenation to hydrocarbons over heterogeneous catalysts.

Functional active wound dressings are expected to provide a moist wound environment, offer protection from secondary infections, remove wound exudate and accelerate tissue regeneration, as well as to improve the efficiency of wound healing.

A molecular design strategy is established to access diverse enzyme-activated probes that are excitable and emit in the NIR (I and II) region with favorable Stokes shifts, enabling targeted cancer imaging by real-time monitoring enzyme activities.

Plasmonic black gold converts CO₂ to methane using solar energy.

The reductive cross coupling of pyridinium salts derived from readily available primary alkyl amines with aryl halides has been achieved under mild reaction conditions using a nickel catalyst.

Photoredox-mediated alkylation of heteroaryl sulfones under redox-neutral, acid-free conditions to create drug-like molecules.

By breaking the centrosymmetry of the structure, the most strained carbon nanohoops become fluorescent as predicted by optical selection rules.

Highly crystalline, monodisperse, imine-linked covalent organic framework nanoparticles were obtained under Sc(OTf)₃-catalyzed conditions and enlarged by a slow monomer addition technique that prevents secondary nucleation.

MOF gels with intrinsic emission color are prepared with 5-boronoisophthalic acid and Eu³⁺, Tb³⁺, and/or Dy³⁺. Single-metal gels exhibit trichromatic fluorescence, so full color emissions are readily obtained by tuning the type and/or ratio of Ln³⁺ ions to prepare mixed-metal gels. Nano-ribbons form from the precursors and then entangle together to generate the gels.

A bioctahedral Ag₁₀ kernel is locked by a pair of Mo₇O₂₆¹⁰⁻ anions to form an inner Ag₁₀@(Mo₇O₂₆)₂ core which is further encapsulated by an outer Ag₇₀ shell to form three-shell Ag₁₀@(Mo₇O₂₆)₂@Ag₇₀ nanoclusters.

Site-selective conjugation generally requires both (i) molecular engineering of the protein of interest to introduce a conjugation site at a defined location and (ii) a site-specific conjugation technology.

An efficient, metal-free strategy for the intermolecular three-component carbopyridylation of styrenes, enabled by Hantzsch ester and visible light, has been described.

Synthetic non-heme iron-oxo and iron-halide complexes promote selective halogenation of the sp³-C–H bonds via hydrogen atom abstraction and halide rebound phenomenon.

The to date largest comparative study of nine state-of-the-art drug target prediction methods finds that deep learning outperforms all other competitors. The results are based on a benchmark of 1300 assays and half a million compounds.

Electrical conductivity is engendered in a pyrene containing hexa-zirconium(IV) metal–organic framework by physically encapsulating fullerenes within MOF cavity.

We describe the development of a bifunctional linker that simultaneously allows site-specific protein modification and palladium-mediated bioorthogonal decaging.

Aromatic acids are converted into aryl bromides simply and efficiently via decarboxylation providing new depth and insight into Hunsdiecker-type reactivity.

The first water-soluble NIR AIEgen was synthesized and used for ultrafast wash-free cellular imaging and photodynamic cancer cell ablation.

Nanoscopy compatible fluorescent tubulin probes can be used to stain microtubules and chitin-rich taenidia in the insect tracheoles.

A large scale benchmark for molecular machine learning consisting of multiple public datasets, metrics, featurizations and learning algorithms.

A simple method is demonstrated to prepare functionalized spongy graphene/hydrogenated titanium dioxide (FG-HTiO₂) nanocomposites as interconnected, porous 3-dimensional (3D) network crinkly sheets.

Many strategies have been developed to overcome the critical obstacles of fast recombination of photogenerated charges and the limited ability of semiconductor photocatalysts to absorb visible light.

We report a straightforward chemical methodology for controlling the thickness of black phosphorus flakes down to the monolayer limit by layer-by-layer oxidation and thinning, using water as solubilizing agent.

Chiral N,N′-bis(1-phenylethyl)perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid diimide (BPP) exhibits solid-state aggregation-induced enhanced circularly polarized luminescence (AIEnh-CPL) in KBr, PMMA, and myo-IPU matrices..

In this paper, the effect of external electric field on nanobubbles adsorbed on the surface of hydrophobic particles during air flotation was studied by molecular dynamics simulations.

This paper reports the removal of paraquat from an aqueous solution using prepared carbonated jujube seed (JS/HSO-700).

A new Fe₃O₄–Ag nanocomposite was prepared via solvothermal method, demonstrating potential application in catalytic degradation of wastewater treatment and composite materials.

Sensitive and rapid detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) without using antibody or biomolecular modifications in water is achieved using a novel water-stable luminescent metal–organic framework (LMOF) termed Zr-CAU-24.

Some limited models have been suggested to determine the conductivity of polymer carbon nanotube (CNT) nanocomposites (PCNTs).

Improved performances of optical phased arrays have been achieved assisted by graphene nanoheaters and air trenches.

Preparation process of Nafion/Fe₃O₄–SGO composite membranes.

Paclitaxel prodrug based mixed micelles with high drug loading and tumor targeting capacity for elevated chemotherapy.