Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the worst pandemic disease of the current millennium. This disease is caused by the highly contagious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which first exhibited human-to-human transmission in December 2019 and has infected millions of people within months across 213 different countries. Its ability to be transmitted by asymptomatic carriers has put a massive strain on the currently available testing resources. Currently, there are no clinically proven therapeutic methods that clearly inhibit the effects of this virus, and COVID-19 vaccines are still in the development phase. Strategies need to be explored to expand testing capacities, to develop effective therapeutics, and to develop safe vaccines that provide lasting immunity. Nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely used in many medical applications, such as biosensing, drug delivery, imaging, and antimicrobial treatment. SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped virus with particle-like characteristics and a diameter of 60–140 nm. Synthetic NPs can closely mimic the virus and interact strongly with its proteins due to their morphological similarities. Hence, NP-based strategies for tackling this virus have immense potential. NPs have been previously found to be effective tools against many viruses, especially against those from the Coronaviridae family. This Review outlines the role of NPs in diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccination for the other two epidemic coronaviruses, the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus and the 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus. We also highlight nanomaterial-based approaches to address other coronaviruses, such as human coronaviruses (HCoVs); feline coronavirus (FCoV); avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV); coronavirus models, such as porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), and transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV); and other viruses that share similarities with SARS-CoV-2. This Review combines the salient principles from previous antiviral studies with recent research conducted on SARS-CoV-2 to outline NP-based strategies that can be used to combat COVID-19 and similar pandemics in the future.

Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles (NPs) are attractive nanomaterials in the field of material science, chemistry, and physics because of their valuable properties, such as soft ferromagnetism, half-metallicity, and biocompatibility. Various structures of Fe3O4 NPs with different sizes, geometries, and nanoarchitectures have been synthesized, and the related properties have been studied with targets in multiple fields of applications, including biomedical devices, electronic devices, environmental solutions, and energy applications. Tailoring the sizes, geometries, magnetic properties, and functionalities is an important task that determines the performance of Fe3O4 NPs in many applications. Therefore, this review focuses on the crucial aspects of Fe3O4 NPs, including structures, synthesis, magnetic properties, and strategies for functionalization, which jointly determine the application performance of various Fe3O4 NP-based systems. We first summarize the recent advances in the synthesis of magnetite NPs with different sizes, morphologies, and magnetic properties. We also highlight the importance of synthetic factors in controlling the structures and properties of NPs, such as the uniformity of sizes, morphology, surfaces, and magnetic properties. Moreover, emerging applications using Fe3O4 NPs and their functionalized nanostructures are also highlighted with a focus on applications in biomedical technologies, biosensing, environmental remedies for water treatment, and energy storage and conversion devices.

Porous molecular crystals are an emerging class of porous materials that is unique in being built from discrete molecules rather than being polymeric in nature. In this study, we examined the effects of molecular structure of the precursors on the formation of porous solid-state structures with a series of 16 rigid aromatics. The majority of these precursors possess pyrazole groups capable of hydrogen bonding, as well as electron-rich aromatics and electron-poor tetrafluorobenzene rings. These precursors were prepared using a combination of Pd- and Cu-catalyzed cross-couplings, careful manipulations of protecting groups on the nitrogen atoms, and solvothermal syntheses. Our study varied the geometry and dimensions of precursors, as well as the presence of groups capable of hydrogen bonding and [π···π] stacking. Thirteen derivatives were crystallographically characterized, and four of them were found to be porous with surface areas between 283 and 1821 m g. Common to these four porous structures were (a) rigid trigonal geometry, (b) [π···π] stacking of electron-poor tetrafluorobenzenes with electron-rich pyrazoles or tetrazoles, and

A method for carboxylation of aryl iodides with carbon dioxide has been developed. The reaction employs low loadings of copper iodide/TMEDA or DMEDA catalyst, 1 atm of CO2, DMSO or DMA solvent, and proceeds at 25–70 °C. Good functional group tolerance is observed, with ester, bromide, chloride, fluoride, ether, hydroxy, amino, and ketone functionalities tolerated. Additionally, hindered aryl iodides such as iodomesitylene can also be carboxylated

Due to their good magnetic properties, excellent biocompatibility, and low price, magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are the most commonly used magnetic nanomaterials and have been extensively explored in biomedical applications. Although magnetic IONPs can be used for a variety of applications in biomedicine, most practical applications require IONP-based platforms that can perform several tasks in parallel. Thus, appropriate engineering and integration of magnetic IONPs with different classes of organic and inorganic materials can produce multifunctional nanoplatforms that can perform several functions simultaneously, allowing their application in a broad spectrum of biomedical fields. This review article summarizes the fabrication of current composite nanoplatforms based on integration of magnetic IONPs with organic dyes, biomolecules (e.g., lipids, DNAs, aptamers, and antibodies), quantum dots, noble metal NPs, and stimuli-responsive polymers. We also highlight the recent technological advances achieved from such integrated multifunctional platforms and their potential use in biomedical applications, including dual-mode imaging for biomolecule detection, targeted drug delivery, photodynamic therapy, chemotherapy, and magnetic hyperthermia therapy.

A method for copper-catalyzed oxidative dimerization of nitronates and enolates using oxygen as terminal oxidant has been developed. Cyclization through oxidative intramolecular coupling is also feasible for both nitronates and enolates. The mild reaction conditions lead to good functional group tolerance.

The emergence of plasmonic nanostars with their attractive properties and unique versatility has enabled a wide range of advanced technologies critical to human health, safety, energy, and environmental remediation with vast potential for further exploration. In addition to their superior surface-to-volume ratios compared to those of other plasmonic nanostructures, plasmonic nanostars arguably possess the largest numbers of hotspots with intensely amplified electric fields when they are subjected to suitable electromagnetic waves to trigger localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). These outstanding characteristics make plasmonic nanostars ideal for many applications that benefit from the plasmonic enhancement effect of LSPR and/or the large surface area. Over the past decade, an increasing number of research endeavors has been reported on the synthesis and application of plasmonic nanostars to advance the state-of-the-art for various existing technologies. These contributions are pertinent to real-time image-guided multifunctional anticancer theranostics, the ultrasensitive on-site detection of the devastating virus SARS-CoV-2, multimodal multiplexed brain imaging, greatly enhanced catalysts for energy and environmental processes, or more efficient and stable solar cells. In addition to the enhancement of important but familiar technologies, plasmonic nanostars have also been employed to push the technological frontiers in multiple fields to enable applications such as maskless write-on lithography, nanosized field electron emitters, coherent random lasers, neural activity modulation, and optically controlled electrical currents. Despite great performance in various fields since their introduction, the nascency of this unique class of plasmonic nanostructures and the rise of unique types of plasmonic nanostars, in addition to the dominance of gold nanostars in recent years, indicate that there are still many opportunities for study, exploration, and development. This Review outlines a comprehensive picture of the current state of plasmonic nanostar research with a focus on their technological and scientific applications. We hope this Review will enlighten future collective endeavors to develop more effective plasmonic nanostars and incorporate them into mainstream technologies so that these stars can truly shine.

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