Metal nanoclusters whose surface ligands are removable while keeping their metal framework structures intact are an ideal system for investigating the influence of surface ligands on catalysis of metal nanoparticles. We report in this work an intermetallic nanocluster containing 62 metal atoms, Au34Ag28(PhC≡C)34, and its use as a model catalyst to explore the importance of surface ligands in promoting catalysis. As revealed by single-crystal diffraction, the 62 metal atoms in the cluster are arranged as a four-concentric-shell Ag@Au17@Ag27@Au17 structure. All phenylalkynyl (PA) ligands are linearly coordinated to the surface Au atoms with staple "PhC≡C-Au-C≡CPh" motif. Compared with reported thiolated metal nanoclusters, the surface PA ligands on Au34Ag28(PhC≡C)34 are readily removed at relatively low temperatures, while the metal core remains intact. The clusters before and after removal of surface ligands are used as catalysts for the hydrolytic oxidation of organosilanes to silanols. It is, for the first time, demonstrated that the organic-capped metal nanoclusters work as active catalysts much better than those with surface ligands partially or completely removed.

Surface and interfacial engineering of heterogeneous metal catalysts is effective and critical for optimizing selective hydrogenation for fine chemicals. By using thiol-treated ultrathin Pd nanosheets as a model catalyst, we demonstrate the development of stable, efficient, and selective Pd catalysts for semihydrogenation of internal alkynes. In the hydrogenation of 1-phenyl-1-propyne, the thiol-treated Pd nanosheets exhibited excellent catalytic selectivity (>97%) toward the semihydrogenation product (1-phenyl-1-propene). The catalyst was highly stable and showed no obvious decay in either activity or selectivity for over ten cycles. Systematic studies demonstrated that a unique Pd-sulfide/ thiolate interface created by the thiol treatment was crucial to the semihydrogenation. The high catalytic selectivity and activity benefited from the combined steric and electronic effects that inhibited the deeper hydrogenation of C=C bonds. More importantly, this thiol treatment strategy is applicable to creating highly active and selective practical catalysts from commercial Pd/C catalysts for semihydrogenation of internal alkynes.

Surface ligands play important roles in controlling the size and shape of metal nanoparticles and their surface properties. In this work, we demonstrate that the use of bulky thiolate ligands, along with halides, as the surface capping agent promotes the formation of plasmonic multiple-twinned Ag nanoparticles with high surface reactivities. The title nanocluster [AgX(S-Adm)] (where X = Cl, Br, I; S-Adm = 1-adamantanethiolate) has a multiple-shell structure with an Ag core protected by a shell of AgX(S-Adm). The Ag core can be considered as 20 frequency-two Ag tetrahedra fused together with a dislocation that resembles multiple-twinning in nanoparticles. The nanocluster has a strong plasmonic absorption band at 460 nm. Because of the bulkiness of S-Adm, the nanocluster has a low surface thiolate coverage and thus unusually high surface reactivities toward exchange reactions with different ligands, including halides, phenylacetylene and thiols. The cluster can be made water-soluble by metathesis with water-soluble thiols, thereby creating new functionalities for potential bioapplications.

The synthesis, structure, substitution chemistry, and optical properties of the gold-centered cubic monocationic cluster [Au@Ag @Au (C≡C Bu) ] are reported. The metal framework of this cluster can be described as a fragment of a body-centered cubic (bcc) lattice with the silver and gold atoms occupying the vertices and the body center of the cube, respectively. The incorporation of alkali metal atoms gave rise to [M Ag Au (C≡C Bu) ] clusters (n=1 for M=Na, K, Rb, Cs and n=2 for M=K, Rb), with the alkali metal ion(s) presumably occupying the vertex site(s), whereas the incorporation of copper atoms produced [Cu Ag Au (C≡C Bu) ] clusters (n=1-6), with the Cu atom(s) presumably occupying the capping site(s). The parent cluster exhibited strong emission in the near-IR region (λ =818 nm) with a quantum yield of 2 % upon excitation at λ=482 nm. Its photoluminescence was quenched upon substitution with a Na ion. DFT calculations confirmed the superatom characteristics of the title compound and the sodium-substituted derivatives.

Highlights d Systematic analysis of CD8 + T cell epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in convalescent samples d CD8 + T cell epitopes highly conserved among human coronaviruses are identified d SARS-CoV-2 variants harbor multiple mutations that reduce cellular immune responses d K417 and L452 of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein are critical in mediating recognition by HLA

Metastasis accounts for majority of cancer deaths in many tumor types including breast cancer. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the driving force for the occurrence and progression of metastasis, however, no targeted strategies to block the EMT program are currently available to combat metastasis. Diverse engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have been reported to exert promising anti-cancer effects, however, no ENMs have been designed to target EMT. Palladium (Pd) nanomaterials, a type of ENM have received substantial concern in nanomedicine due to their favorable photothermal performance for cancer therapeutics. Herein, Pd nanoplates (PdPL) were found to be preferentially biodistributed to both primary tumors and metastatic tumors. Importantly, PdPL showed a significant inhibition of lung metastasis with and without near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. Mechanistic investigations revealed that EMT was significantly compromised in breast cancer cells upon the PdPL treatment, which was partially due to the inhibition of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signaling. Strikingly, the PdPL was found to directly interact with TGF-β proteins to diminish TGF-β functions in activating its downstream signaling, as evidenced by the reduced phosphorylation of Smad2. Notably, TGF-β-independent pathways were also involved in undermining EMT and other important biological processes that are necessary for metastasis. Additionally, NIR irradiation elicited synergistic effects on PdPL-induced inhibition of primary tumors and metastasis. In summary, these results revealed that the PdPL remarkably curbed metastasis by inhibiting EMT signaling, thereby indicating the promising potential of PdPL as a therapeutic agent for treating breast cancer metastases.

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We report herein the synthesis and structure of a 45-atom trigonal-prismatic Au-Ag bimetallic nanocluster, formulated as AuAg(SPhCl)(PPh), based on single-crystal X-ray crystallographic determination. The structure can be described as a core-shell structure with a tricapped trigonal prismatic (ttp1) Au core encaged in a larger (frequency-two) tricapped trigonal prismatic (ttp2) Ag shell. The cluster is terminated by six Ag(PPh) moieties which, along with ttp2 and 27 thiolates, constitute the outer trigonal-prismatic (TP) shell. Each of the three nearly coplanar yet severely distorted "square" faces of TP contains 13 Ag atoms which are arranged in a way reminiscent of the (100) face of a face-centered cubic (fcc) structure. Of the 30 edges formed by these quasi-(100) faces of the TP, only 27 are bridged by the thiolate ligands; three are vacant, one on each "square" face. It is believed that these peculiar vacant ligand sites are caused by steric hindrance of the thiolate ligands in combination with the superatomic electronic shell closing of 1S1P1D rendering 9(ttp1) + 30(ttp2) + 6(TP) - 27(SR) = 18 jellium electrons.