This review covers the recent progress in the research field of rod-coil block copolymers (BCPs) containing rigid rod-like blocks and flexible coil-like blocks. Their assembly behaviors are fundamentally different from coil-coil BCPs in morphology because of the geometric disparity between the rod and coil segments and anisotropic interactions between rod blocks to form liquid crystalline or crystalline structures. Rod-coil BCPs can self-assemble into diverse nanostructures in selective solvents, such as micelles, cylinders, vesicles, tubules, belts, and rings. This review highlights valuable contributions in the past six years on the self-assembly behavior of rod-coil BCPs controlled by the volume fraction and the composition of the blocks from both the experimental and theoretical perspectives, and their tunable self-assembled nanostructures triggered by external stimuli, such as solvent, pH, temperature, light, and chemical additives. We also briefly introduce emerging applications of rod-coil nanoparticles in the biological field.

Boron–nitrogen coordination in polyurethane elastomers enhances the dynamics of the boronic ester while introduces inter- and intra-molecular interactions, leading to mechanical robustness and excellent self-healing efficiency simultaneously.

SUMMARY The ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy-lysosome systems are major proteolytic pathways, whereas function of the Ub-independent proteasome pathway is yet to be clarified. Here, we investigated roles of the Ub-independent REGγ-proteasome proteolytic system in regulating metabolism. We demonstrate that mice deficient for the proteasome activator REGγ exhibit dramatic autophagy induction and are protected against high-fat diet (HFD)-induced liver steatosis through autophagy. Molecularly, prevention of steatosis in the absence of REGγ entails elevated SirT1, a deacetylase regulating autophagy and metabolism. REGγ physically binds to SirT1, promotes its Ub-independent degradation and inhibits its activity to deacetylate autophagy-related proteins, thereby inhibiting autophagy under normal conditions. Moreover, REGγ and SirT1 dissociate from each other through a phosphorylation-dependent mechanism under energy-deprived conditions, unleashing SirT1 to stimulate autophagy. These observations provide a function of the REGγ proteasome in autophagy and hepatosteatosis, underscoring mechanistically a cross-talk between the proteasome and autophagy degradation system in the regulation of lipid homeostasis.

Hybrid hydrogels based on electrostatic co-assembly of polyoxometalates and ABA triblock copolymers were readily prepared and exhibit excellent luminescence and self-healing performance.