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Solution-processed BHJ solar cells based on a porphyrin small molecule as the donor material exhibit a PCE of up to 7.23%.

In the fi eld of nanomedicine, nanoparticles with various functions are required for in vivo applications such as biomedical imaging and drug delivery. Therefore, chemical functionalization of nanoparticles has been extensively investigated. Herein, nanodiamond (ND) coated with polyglycerol (PG) and its derivatives is reported to impart good solubility in a physiological environment, a stealth nature to avoid nonspecifi c uptake, a targeting property to be taken up by a specifi c cell, and an acid-responsive drug release property to kill cancer cells. ND is fi rst grafted with PG and the resulting ND-PG has a high solubility in physiological media. Since a large number of hydroxyl groups in PG provide scaffolds for further surface functionalization, the targeting RGD peptide and Pt-based drug are immobilized to give ND-PG-RGD, ND-PG-Pt and ND-PG-RGD-Pt. The ND with intrinsic fl uorescence is also functionalized by PG and RGD to confi rm cellular uptake and intracellular localization fl uorescently. The results of the cell experiments indicate that PG coating shielded fND from the uptake by HeLa and U87MG cells. In contrast, fND-PG-RGD is taken up by U87MG, not HeLa cells, exhibiting high targeting effi cacy. When ND-PG-RGD-Pt is applied, U87MG is selectively killed against HeLa. The multi-functional ND is a promising prodrug in targeting chemotherapy.

A nanodiamond-polyglycerol-gadolinium(ll) conjugate has been designed and prepared as novel nanodiamond-based magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agent dispersible in physiological media. Detonation nanodiamond (dND) was first grafted with polyglycerol (PG) through ring-opening polymerization of glycidol to impart dispersibility to dND in physiological media. Since the hydroxyl group in PG serves as a scaffold for further surface functionalization, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) was immobilized on the surface of dND-PG through multistep organic transformations and Gd(III) ion was complexed in the last step. The resulting dND-PG-Gd(III) exhibited good dispersibility (> 4.5 mg/mL) and stability (> 3 months) in phosphate buffered saline (PBS). In vitro MR evaluation indicates that water proton T1 relaxivity or r1 of dND-PG-Gd(III) in aqueous solutions is larger than that of Magnevist® and the difference in the relaxivity becomes larger under weaker magnetic fields. The good dispersibility together with relatively high T1 relaxivity makes dND-PG-Gd(III) a promising contrast agent for in vivo MR imaging.

SummaryA gene vector consisting of nanodiamond, polyglycerol, and basic polypeptide (ND-PG-BPP) has been designed, synthesized, and characterized. The ND-PG-BPP was synthesized by PG functionalization of ND through ring-opening polymerization of glycidol on the ND surface, multistep organic transformations (–OH → –OTs (tosylate) → –N3) in the PG layer, and click conjugation of the basic polypeptides (Arg8, Lys8 or His8) terminated with propargyl glycine. The ND-PG-BPP exhibited good dispersibility in water (>1.0 mg/mL) and positive zeta potential ranging from +14.2 mV to +44.1 mV at neutral pH in Milli-Q water. It was confirmed by gel retardation assay that ND-PG-Arg8 and ND-PG-Lys8 with higher zeta potential hybridized with plasmid DNA (pDNA) through electrostatic attraction, making them promising as nonviral vectors for gene delivery.

Two‐armed chiral calix[4]arenes (3a–c) functionalized at the lower ring with L‐tryptophan units have been prepared and the structures of these receptors characterized by IR, MS, 1H, and 13C NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The enantioselective recognition of these receptors has been studied by fluorescence titration and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The receptors exhibited different chiral recognition abilities towards some enantiomers of chiral materials and formed 1:1 complexes between host and guest. Receptor 3a exhibits excellent enantioselective fluorescent recognition ability towards the N‐Boc‐protected alanine anion and 3b reveals good enantioselective recognition ability towards the enantiomers of mandelate.(© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007)

Oxides (such as SiO2, TiO2, ZrO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CeO2) have often been used to prepare supported Pt catalysts for CO oxidation and other reactions, whereas metal phosphate-supported Pt catalysts for CO oxidation were rarely reported. Metal phosphates are a family of metal salts with high thermal stability and acid-base properties. Hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, denoted as Ca-P-O here) also has rich hydroxyls. Here we report a series of metal phosphate-supported Pt (Pt/M-P-O, M = Mg, Al, Ca, Fe, Co, Zn, La) catalysts for CO oxidation. Pt/Ca-P-O shows the highest activity. Relevant characterization was conducted using N2 adsorption-desorption, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) atomic emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), CO2 temperature-programmed desorption (CO2-TPD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and H2 temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR). This work furnishes a new catalyst system for CO oxidation and other possible reactions.

Chlorin e6, loaded on the surface of SPION-PG-Lys8 through electrostatic attraction, was delivered preferentially into mitochondria of SKOV3 ovarian cancer cells, improving efficacy of photodynamic therapy significantly.