This review highlights the recent advances in the use of activity-based probes (ABPs) and affinity-based probes (AfBPs), and summarizes their design strategies (based on inhibitors and substrates) and detection approaches.

An efficient, metal-free catalytic system for the conversion of CO2 and epoxides to cyclic carbonates under mild conditions with good-to-excellent yields (57-99%) was developed. A possible reaction mechanism involving the electrophilic activation of epoxides by benzyl cations and nucleophilic activation of CO2 by DMF is proposed.

Tyrosinase is an important enzyme in controlling the formation of melanin in melanosome, and plays a key role in the pigmentation of hair and skin. The abnormal expression or activation of tyrosinase is associated with several diseases such as albinism, vitiligo, melanoma and Parkinson disease. Excessive deposition of melanin could cause diseases such as freckles and brown spots in the human body, and it is also closely related to browning of fruits and vegetables and insect molting. Detecting and inhibiting the activity of tyrosinase is of extraordinary value in the progress of diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. Therefore, many selective optical detection probes and small molecular inhibitors have been developed, and have made significant contributions to the basic and clinical research on these diseases. In this paper, the detection and inhibition of tyrosinase and their application in whitening products are reviewed, with special emphasis on development of fluorescent probes and inhibitors. Hopefully, this review will help design more efficient and sensitive tyrosinase probes and inhibitors, as well as shed light on novel treatment of diseases such as melanoma.

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Aryl(alkyl) halides and silver salts were studied as environmentally benign initiating systems for cationic polymerization of isobutyl vinyl ether (IBVE). The reactivity of the benzyl cations could be effectively controlled by using dimethyl sulfide (Me2S) as an additive, which was shown to be an effective Lewis base (LB), and diethyl ether as a reaction solvent. Detailed study of various benzyl cations and the order of addition of the reagents revealed that the reaction was controlled by the electronic and steric features of aryl(alkyl) halides, LBs, and IBVE, and a plausible reaction mechanism was presented. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015, 53, 2050–2058

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