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Targeted codelivery and controlled release of drug/siRNA (small interfering RNA) in a safe and effective vehicle hold great promises for overcoming drug resistance and optimal efficacy in cancer treatment; however, rational design and preparation of such vehicles remain a critical challenge. Thus, glyco‐nanofibers (GNFs) are fabricated via supermolecular assembly of polyanionic siRNA and cationic vesicles to simultaneously deliver siRNA and doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) in vitro and in vivo. The vesicles are created through self‐assembly of a positively charged amphiphilic lactose derivative featuring a lactose moiety and a ferrocenium unit on either end of the molecule. The GNFs display excellent biocompatibility, enhanced cell‐penetrating ability, and hepatoma targetability. The high transport efficiency of siRNA, effective gene silencing ability, and enhanced cytotoxicity to HepG2 cells of GNFs loaded with DOX are observed in vitro. Furthermore, in vivo experiments show reduced systemic toxicity and enhanced therapeutic efficacy of DOX to both HepG2 and HepG2/ADR subcutaneous tumor‐bearing nude mice. This work proves the electrostatic self‐assembly between cationic carbohydrates and polyanionic siRNA to be a convenient and effective strategy to fabricate a single vehicle for safe and effective codelivery of drug/siRNA, which can be used to combine chemo‐ and gene‐therapy against cancers and other diseases.

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Hydrogen bonding (H-bond) interaction significantly influences the separation of acetic acid (HAc) from the HAc/H(2)O mixtures, especially the dilute solution, in distillation processes. It has been examined from the HAc mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrahydrates by analyzing the structures, binding energies, and infrared vibrational frequencies from quantum chemical calculations. For the first coordinate shell the 6-membered head-on ring is surely the most favorable structure because it has (1) the most favorable H-bonding parameters, (2) almost the largest binding energy per H-bond, (3) the biggest wavenumber shifts, and (4) the highest ring distribution (the AIMD simulations). Moreover, the comparison of the calculations with the experiments (the X-ray scattering data and IR frequencies) suggests that the possible structures in dilute aqueous solution are those involving two or more coordinate shells. The H-bonding in these water-surrounded HAc hydrates are the origin of the low-efficiency problem of isolating HAc from the dilute HAc/H(2)O mixtures. It is apparently a tougher work to break the H-bonds among HAc and the surrounded H(2)O molecules with respect to the case of more concentrated solutions, where the dominant structures are HAc or H(2)O aggregates.

Supramolecular glyco-nanovesicles (SeSe-(P5)2⊃Man-NH3+) based on the host-guest complex of diselenium-bridged pillar[5]arene dimer and mannose derivative have been successfully developed for the first time, which possessed tumor microenvironment-responsiveness and specific targetability...