Targeted cancer therapy has become one of the most important medical methods because of the spreading and metastatic nature of cancer. Based on the introduction of AS1411 and its four-chain structure, this paper reviews the research progress in cancer detection and drug delivery systems by modifying AS1411 aptamers based on graphene, mesoporous silica, silver and gold. The application of AS1411 in cancer treatment and drug delivery and the use of AS1411 as a targeting agent for the detection of cancer markers such as nucleoli were summarized from three aspects of active targeting, passive targeting and targeted nucleic acid apharmers. Although AS1411 has been withdrawn from clinical trials, the research surrounding its structural optimization is still very popular. Further progress has been made in the modification of nanoparticles loaded with TCM extracts by AS1411. Graphical Abstract

This work reports a simple water-phase microwave method for the synthesis of water-soluble red emission Ag2S quantum dots at low temperatures without the need for an anaerobic process. It is worth noting that the prepared water-soluble Ag2S quantum dots enjoy positive water dispersion stability. 3-(4,5)-Dimethylthiahiazo­(-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) results showed that the prepared Ag2S quantum dots had promising biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity. In addition, we further applied the low-toxicity near-infrared Ag2S quantum dots for cell imaging, demonstrating a promising biological probe for cell imaging.

Logic gates are devices that can perform Boolean logic operations and are the basic components of integrated circuits for information processing and storage. In recent years, molecular logic gates are gradually replacing traditional silicon-based electronic computers with their significant advantages and are used in research in water quality monitoring, heavy metal ion detection, disease diagnosis and treatment, food safety detection, and biological sensors. Logic gates at the molecular level have broad development prospects and huge development potential. In this review, the development and application of logic gates in various fields are used as the entry point to discuss the research progress of logic gates and logic circuits. At the same time, the application of logic gates in quite a few emerging fields is briefly summarized and predicted.

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have attracted much attention of many researchers because of their low cytotoxicity, good optical stability, and excellent photoluminescence property, which make them novel nanostructured materials in many application fields ranging from energy to biomedicine and the environment. In this work, highly fluorescent nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) were synthesized through microwave heating using sodium citrate and triethanolamine as raw materials. The as-prepared N-GQDs showed considerable bright blue fluorescence with a quantum yield of 8% and excellent uniform dispersion with an average diameter of approximately 5.6 nm; they also exhibited excellent stability and pH-sensitive properties. Furthermore, we demonstrated the application of N-GQDs as probes for metal ion detection. The results indicated that N-GQDs responded rapidly toward Fe3+ because of the static quenching mechanism. A detection method was proposed, with detection linear in two ranges from 20 to 70 nM (F = −0.9666 CFe3+ (nM) + 608.85 (R = 0.9740)) and from 1 to 100 μM (F = −12.04 CFe3+ (μM) + 1191.94 (R = 0.9541)); the lowest detection limit of 9.7 nM for Fe3+ was obtained. The results obtained in this work lay the foundation for the development of high-performance and robust metal ion detection sensors. Moreover, it can also possibly be used as a new type of fluorescent ink.

This review comprehensively summarizes potential biological application using aptamer-functionalized nanomaterials platform, focusing on explaining syntheses, properties, prospects and challenges.

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In this paper, we report a novel approach for AS1411 G-quadruplex and folic acid-templated dual-targeting fluorescent Au nanocomposite with DOX and its application to bioimaging.

The design of palladium-based nanostructures has good prospects in various applications. This paper reports a simple one-step synthesis method of PdCuAu nanoparticles (PdCuAu NPs) prepared directly in aqueous solution. PdCuAu NPs have attracted much attention owing to their unique synergistic electronic effect, optical and catalytic performance. As temperature sensor, PdCuAu NPs are sensitive to the fluorescence intensity change in the temperature range of 4-95 • C, which is due to its unique optical properties. The prepared PdCuAu NPs have excellent catalytic performance for peroxidase-like enzymes. It can catalyze TMB rapidly in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and oxidize it to visible blue product (oxTMB). Based on its unique peroxidase-like properties, this study used PdCuAu NPs colorimetric platform detection of hydrogen peroxide and glucose. The linear ranges of hydrogen peroxide and glucose were 0.1-300 µM and 0.5-500 µM, respectively, and the detection limits (LOD) were 5 and 25 nM, respectively. This simple and rapid method provides a good prospect for the detection of H 2 O 2 and glucose in practical applications.