The investigation on p-nitrophenylacetonitrile solubility in ethanol, methanol, isopropanol, n-propanol, acetonitrile, acetone, ethyl acetate, toluene, n-butanol, cyclohexane, 2-butanone, isobutanol, acetic acid, 1,4-dioxane, water, and ethylbenzene was performed via the shake-flask technique covering the temperature range from 278.15 to 333.15 K at local atmospheric pressure. The mole fraction solubility of p-nitrophenylacetonitrile increased with an increase of the studied temperature and followed a sequence in the 16 solvents with the exception of 1,4-dioxane: ethyl acetate > acetone > (acetonitrile, 2-butanone) > toluene > acetic acid > ethylbenzene > methanol > ethanol > n-propanol > n-butanol > isopropanol > isobutanol > cyclohexane > water. There was no solvation or polymorphic transformation during the experiment process. Correlation was made for the obtained p-nitrophenylacetonitrile solubility in the 16 solvents using the λh, Apelblat, Wilson, and NRTL models. The obtained maximum relative average deviation was 2.67%, and root-mean-square deviation, 2.57 × 10–3. The solute–solvent and solvent–solvent interactions were studied based on the linear solvation energy relationship approach. Furthermore, the thermodynamic dissolution properties, reduced excess enthalpy, and activity coefficient under infinitesimal condition were also computed.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have recently emerged as excellent hosting matrices for enzyme immobilization, offering superior physical and chemical protection for biocatalytic reactions.However,for multienzyme and cofactordependent biocatalysis,the subtle orchestration of enzymes and cofactors is largely disrupted upon immobilizing in the rigid crystalline MOF network, whichl eads to am uchr educed biocatalytic efficiency.H erein, we constructed hierarchically porous MOFs by controlled structural etching to enhance multienzyme and cofactor-dependent enzyme biocatalysis.The expanded sizeo ft he pores can provide sufficient space for accommodated enzymes to reorientate and spread within MOFs in their lower surface energy state as well as to decrease the inherent barriers to accelerate the diffusion rate of reactants and intermediates.M oreover,t he developed hierarchically porous MOFs demonstrated outstanding tolerance to inhospitable surroundings and recyclability.

Complementary peptide-induced super-assembly of biocatalytic MOFs is developed for programmed enzyme cascades on demand.

Brf1 (TFIIB-related factor 1) plays a crucial role in cell transformation and tumorigenesis. However, the significance of Brf1 expression in human HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) cases remains to be addressed. In this study, biopsies of human HCC, liver tumor samples of mice and cell lines of normal and tumor liver were utilized to determine the alteration of Brf1 expression using cytological and molecular biological approaches. Brf1 expression is increased in human HCC cases, which is correlated with shorter survival times. Levels of Brf1 and Pol III (RNA polymerase III-dependent) gene transcription in HCC patients with alcohol consumption are higher than the cases of non-HCC with or without alcohol intake. Induction of Brf1 and Pol III genes by ethanol in hepatoma cells is higher than in non-tumor cells. Ethanol increases the rate of cell transformation. Repression of Brf1 inhibits alcohol-promoted cell transformation. Alcohol consumption enhances Brf1 expression to promote cell transformation. These studies demonstrate that Brf1 is a new biomarker of HCC.

A new gold complex that shows the AIE effect as well as the thermochromic fluorescence switch is reported. This interesting phenomenon is attributed to changes in the intermolecular Au∙∙∙Au interactions and the formation of nano-aggregates.

Novel-morphological Fe3O4 nanosheets with magnetochromatic property have been prepared by a modified solvothermal method. Such nanosheets could form one-dimension photonic crystal under an external magnetic field. The Fe3O4 nanosheets suspension could strongly diffract visible light and display varied colors with changing the intensity of the magnetic field. The photonic response is rapid, fully reversible and widely tunable in the entire visible spectrum. Excellent magnetic properties of these Fe3O4 nanosheets are exhibited with a high saturation magnetization (82.1 emu/g), low remanence (13.85 emu/g) and low coercive force (75.95 Oe). The amount of the solvent diethylene glycol (DEG) plays a key role in the formation of the sheet-shaped morphology. When the ratio of the DEG reaches 100%, the growing of the crystal plane (111) of Fe3O4 is inhibited and the sheet-like Fe3O4 crystals are formed.

Biocatalytic metal-organic framework (MOF) composites, synthesized by interfacing MOFs with biocatalytic components, possess the unprecedented synergetic properties that is hard to achieve by the conventional strategies, represents one of the next-generation composite materials for diverse biotechnological applications. Until now , research on the applications of biocatalytic MOFs is still in its preliminary stage, with a wide variety of studies being focusing on the bioprotection role of MOFs. However, their diversity of building units, molecular-scale tunability, modular synthetic routes, and more detailed understanding of the heterogeneous MOF-biointerface could even lead to completely new applications and potentials beyond our current imagination. The most recent rapid advanced progress in biocatalytic MOFs present ground-breaking applications in smart and tunable biocatalysis, precision nanomedicine, vaccine and gene delivery, biosensing and nano-biohybrids. Herein, the general and advanced synthesis strategies for improving the materials properties of biocatalytic MOFs, from tuning biocatalytic activity to framework stability to synergistic properties with other materials, are summarized. Then, the latest state-of-the-art applications of the biocatalytic MOF systems and recent advanced developments that are shaping this emerging field are surveyed. Finally, to define promising research directions, a critical evaluation and future prospects for the potential applications of biocatalytic MOFs are provided.

Soft structures in nature, such as supercoiled DNA and proteins, can organize into complex hierarchical architectures through multiple noncovalent molecular interactions. Identifying new classes of natural building blocks capable of facilitating long-range hierarchical structuring has remained an elusive goal. We report the bottom-up synthesis of a hierarchical metal-phenolic mesocrystal where self-assembly proceeds on different length scales in a spatiotemporally controlled manner. Phenolic-based coordination complexes organize into supramolecular threads that assemble into tertiary nanoscale filaments, lastly packing into quaternary mesocrystals. The hierarchically ordered structures are preserved after thermal conversion into a metal-carbon hybrid framework and can impart outstanding performance to sodium ion batteries, which affords a capability of 72.5 milliampere hours per gram at an ultrahigh rate of 200 amperes per gram and a 90% capacity retention over 15,000 cycles at a current density of 5.0 amperes per gram. This hierarchical structuring of natural polyphenols is expected to find widespread applications.