Over the last few years, one of the most important and complex problems facing our society is treating infectious diseases caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDRB), by using current market-existing antibiotics. Driven by this need, we report for the first time the development of the multifunctional popcorn-shaped iron magnetic core-gold plasmonic shell nanotechnology-driven approach for targeted magnetic separation and enrichment, label-free surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection, and the selective photothermal destruction of MDR Salmonella DT104. Due to the presence of the "lightning-rod effect", the core-shell popcorn-shaped gold-nanoparticle tips provided a huge field of SERS enhancement. The experimental data show that the M3038 antibody-conjugated nanoparticles can be used for targeted separation and SERS imaging of MDR Salmonella DT104. A targeted photothermal-lysis experiment, by using 670 nm light at 1.5 W cm(-2) for 10 min, results in selective and irreparable cellular-damage to MDR Salmonella. We discuss the possible mechanism and operating principle for the targeted separation, label-free SERS imaging, and photothermal destruction of MDRB by using the popcorn-shaped magnetic/plasmonic nanotechnology.

More than a billion people lack access to safe drinking water that is free from pathogenic bacteria and toxic metals. The World Health Organization estimates several million people, mostly children, die every year due to the lack of good quality water. Driven by this need, we report the development of PGLa antimicrobial peptide and glutathione conjugated carbon nanotube (CNT) bridged three-dimensional (3D) porous graphene oxide membrane, which can be used for highly efficient disinfection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacteria and removal of As(III), As(V), and Pb(II) from water. Reported results demonstrate that versatile membrane has the capability to capture and completely disinfect pathogenic pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 bacteria from water. Experimentally observed disinfection data indicate that the PGLa attached membrane can dramatically enhance the possibility of destroying pathogenic E. coli bacteria via synergistic mechanism. Reported results show that glutathione attached CNT-bridged 3D graphene oxide membrane can be used to remove As(III), As(V), and Pb(II) from water sample at 10 ppm level. Our data demonstrated that PGLa and glutathione attached membrane has the capability for high efficient removal of E. coli O157:H7 bacteria, As(III), As(V), and Pb(II) simultaneously from Mississippi River water.

Tumor metastasis is responsible for 1 in 4 deaths in the United States. Though it has been well-documented over past two decades that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in blood can be used as a biomarker for metastatic cancer, there are enormous challenges in capturing and identifying CTCs with sufficient sensitivity and specificity. Because of the heterogeneous expression of CTC markers, it is now well understood that a single CTC marker is insufficient to capture all CTCs from the blood. Driven by the clear need, this study reports for the first time highly efficient capture and accurate identification of multiple types of CTCs from infected blood using aptamer-modified porous graphene oxide membranes. The results demonstrate that dye-modified S6, A9, and YJ-1 aptamers attached to 20–40 μm porous garphene oxide membranes are capable of capturing multiple types of tumor cells (SKBR3 breast cancer cells, LNCaP prostate cancer cells, and SW-948 colon cancer cells) selectively and simultaneously from infected blood. Our result shows that the capture efficiency of graphene oxide membranes is ∼95% for multiple types of tumor cells; for each tumor concentration, 10 cells are present per milliliter of blood sample. The selectivity of our assay for capturing targeted tumor cells has been demonstrated using membranes without an antibody. Blood infected with different cells also has been used to demonstrate the targeted tumor cell capturing ability of aptamer-conjugated membranes. Our data also demonstrate that accurate analysis of multiple types of captured CTCs can be performed using multicolor fluorescence imaging. Aptamer-conjugated membranes reported here have good potential for the early diagnosis of diseases that are currently being detected by means of cell capture technologies.

We report a strategy to fabricate a rapid and stable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based hybrid nanomaterial using gold nanopopcorns attached single-walled carbon nanotubes (AuNP@f3-SWCNTs) for label-free detection and photothermal killing of bacteria. Herein, previously ester-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (f1-SWCNTs) undergo 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with in-situ generated nitrile imine under Microwave (MW) irradiation to form a doubly ester terminated SWCNTs cycloadduct (f2-SWCNTs). The ester terminals are further modified with 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) under MW-irradiation to form thiol-terminated SWCNTs templates (f3-SWCNTs) that allow gold nanopopcorns (AuNPs) to covalently and uniformly attach at a minimum inter-particle distance thus yielding a hybrid nanomaterial (AuNP@f3-SWCNT) with good aqueous stability and abundant ‘hotspots’. Consequently, monoclonal E. coli antibody-conjugated bioassays fabricated with our AuNP@f3-SWCNT substrates (mAb-AuNP@f3-SWCNT) rapidly detect E. coli in water with good selectivity and impressive SERS sensitivity. The detection limit of E. coli 49979, selected as a model to establish proof of principle, was found to be 1.0×102 CFU/mL. Furthermore, the AuNP@f3-SWCNT hybrid nanomaterial offers impressive photothermal pathogen killing effects. The synergy-type enhancement effect arising from the inherent noble properties of the respective components of the hybrid nanomaterial indicate that our AuNP@f3-SWCNT has the potential for further application in multiplex detection in samples.

The syntheses of an important class of hitherto unreported 1,3,5-pyrazoles, inspired by an unanticipated eliminatory ring opening are described. The reported pyrazole compounds were constructed through the Huisgen cyclization of 2-methylene-1,3,3-trimethylindoline and an in situ generated nitrile imine. The newly formed spiro-pyrazoline intermediate presumably then undergoes a ring opening/elimination process to afford a pyrazole, as evidenced by single X-ray crystal data. The current report constitutes the first formal observation of this kind of ring opening involving a spiro-pyrazoline intermediate.

No abstract

The regioselective synthesis of 3,5-disubstituted isoxazoles was achieved through the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides with 1,1-disubstituted bromoalkenes. The substituted bromoalkenes function as alkyne synthons which were used to construct 5,5-disubstituted bromoisoxazoline intermediates that aromatize to the analogous isoxazoles through the loss of HBr.

The stereoselectivity associated with the coaddition of a chiral and an achiral cycloalkenyl anion to a squarate ester has been examined. The selective formation of polycyclic ketones is observed in all cases, although dual protonation at both of the available enolate sites in their penultimate cyclooctatrienyl dianion precursors was sometimes noted. Proof that the stereoselection was the result of interconversion between a pair of helical octatetraene intermediates, with resultant erosion of original stereogenicity, was established by isolation of diastereomeric monoadducts and separate submission of these hydroxy cyclobutenones to the original reaction conditions. The final stages of the cascade proceed via the lower energy transition state option where nonbonded steric effects are skirted as much as possible. These features are coordinated with subsequent stereocontrolled trans/annular aldol reactions during the quenching process. The adherence to these mechanistic guidelines is so all-encompassing that product stereochemistry can be reliably predicted from the outset.