With particle sizes down to the nanoscale, nanometal−organic frameworks (NMOFs) with well-controllable dimensions exhibit many potential applications in drug delivery, biosensing, and biomedical imaging. Although the microemulsion method provides an efficient approach for preparing nanoparticles, the synthesis of NMOFs with narrow size distribution is a great challenge. In this work, nanoscale zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (NZIFs), considered as a subclass of MOFs, were synthesized by the ionic liquid-containing microemulsion system of H 2 O/BmimPF 6 / TX-100. The obtained NZIFs have extremely small size of no more than 2.3 nm, narrow distribution of less than 0.5 nm, and good thermal stabilities. By addition of ethanol into the H 2 O/BmimPF 6 / TX-100 system, [Cu 3 (BTC) 2 (H 2 O) 3 ] n (HKUST-1) was successfully synthesized with nanodimensions similar to those of NZIFs. The molecule dynamic simulation reveals that one new microemulsion was formed in which the ethanol and water molecules were capsuled by the surfactant TX-100 and BmimPF 6 . This new microemulsion is beneficial to the dissolution of organic ligand 1,3,5benzenetricarboxylic acid. This work hopefully provides new insights into the green production of nanoscale MOFs.

Understanding the self-assembly mechanisms of amphiphilic molecules in solutions and regulating their phase behaviors are of primary significance for their applications. To challenge the reported direct phase transitions from nonlamellar to ordered lamellar phases, the self-assembly and phase behavior of the 1-hexadecyl-3methylimidazolium chloride aqueous dispersions were studied using a strategy of isothermal incubation after the temperature jump. A disordered lamellar phase (identified as the lamellar liquid-crystal (L α ) phase), serving as an intermediate, was found to bridge the transition from a spherical micellar (M) phase to a lamellar-gel (L β ) phase. Meanwhile, the nonsynchronicity in the tail and headgroup regions of the ionic liquid surfactant during the transition process was also unveiled, with the former being prior to the latter. The in-depth understanding of the self-assembly mechanisms may help push forward the related applications in the future.

Among various applications, ionic liquids (ILs) have been used as antimicrobial agents in laboratories, possibly through induction of the leakage of bacteria. A molecular-level understanding of the mechanism that describes how ILs enhance the permeation of membranes is still lacking. In this study, the effects of imidazolium-based ILs with different alky chain lengths on the structure and phase behavior of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine (POPE), which is a representative bacteria-membrane-rich lipid, have been investigated. By employing differential scanning calorimetry and synchrotron small-and wide-angle X-ray scattering techniques, we found that ILs with longer alkyl chains influenced the phase behavior more effectively, and lower IL concentrations are needed to induce phase separation for both lamellar liquid crystalline phase and nonlamellar inverted hexagonal phase of POPE. Interestingly, the IL with an alkyl chain of 12 carbon atoms ([C 12 mim]Cl) shows a difference. It exhibits a stronger disturbing effect on the POPE bilayer structure than [C 16 mim]Cl, indicating that the ability of ILs to influence the membrane structures is dependent not only on the alkyl chain length of ILs, but also on the degree of matching of the alkyl chain lengths of ILs and lipids. The new lamellar and nonlamellar structures induced by ILs both have smaller repeat distances than that of pure POPE, implying thinner membrane structures. Data of the fluorescence-based vesicle dye leakage assay are consistent with these results, particularly the defects caused by IL-induced phase separation can enhance the membrane permeability markedly. The present work may shed light on our understanding of the antimicrobial mechanism of ILs.

Ionic liquids (ILs), although being a class of promising green solvents, have received many reports on the toxicity to living organisms. In this work, aiming at elucidating the disruptive effect of ILs to cell membrane lipid rafts, we investigated the effect of three 1-octylimidazolium-based ILs on the properties of the liquid ordered phase (L o , a commonly used lipid raft model) of egg sphingomyelin (SM)-cholesterol model membrane. We found that, in the absence of cholesterol, a very low IL:SM molar ratio of 0.01:1 could disrupt the integrity of the bilayer structure. In sharp contrast, the presence of cholesterol in lipid bilayers helps the L o phase resist the damaging effect of the ILs. For the role of the IL headgroup, we found that the mono-and trisubstituted species show a stronger destructive effect on the structures of the model rafts than the commonly used disubstituted counterpart.

This paper demonstrates that the parity‐time (PT$PT$)‐symmetric non‐Hermitian Hamiltonian for a periodically driven system can be generated from a kernel Hamiltonian by a generalized gauge transformation. The kernel Hamiltonian is Hermitian and static, while the time‐dependent transformation operator has to be PT$PT$ symmetric and non‐unitary in general. Biorthogonal sets of eigenstates appear necessarily as a consequence of the non‐Hermitian Hamiltonian. The wave functions and associated non‐adiabatic Berry phase γn$\gamma _{n}$ for the nth eigenstate are obtained analytically. The classical version of the non‐Hermitian Hamiltonian becomes a complex function of canonical variables and time. The corresponding kernel Hamiltonian is derived with PT$PT$ symmetric canonical‐variable transfer in the classical gauge transformation. Moreover, with the change of position‐momentum to angle‐action variables it is revealed that the non‐adiabatic Hannay's angle normalΔθH$\Delta \theta _{\text{H}}$ and Berry phase satisfy precisely the quantum‐classical correspondence, γn=(n+1/2)normalΔθH$\gamma _{n}= (n+1/2)\Delta \theta _{\text{H}}$.

Ionic liquids (ILs) are potential green solvents with very broad application aspects. Their toxicity and other biological effects are largely related to their hydrophobic property. Unfortunately, it is still unknown...

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Gauge Transformation The front cover design is inspired by an ancient Chinese folk tale, “the Cowherd and the Vega”. The Vega was a carefree goddess, and the Cowherd was a hard‐working cattle herder on the earth. They lived in two different worlds, but accidentally met and fell in love. According to the tale, they meet every year on the bridge of magpies. In the cover design, depicting the research reported by Jiu‐Qing Liang and co‐workers in article number 2200069, the Vega represents the Berry phase, which comes from the quantum world. The Cowherd represents the Hannay angle, which comes from classical world. The bridge of magpies is the PT‐symmetric non‐Hermitian. A certain connection between the Berry phase and Hannay angle is called the quantum–classical correspondence.