p-Sulfonated calix[6]arene modified graphene has been firstly synthesized and provided as a 'turn on' probe for L-carnitine through monitoring the fluorescence signal both in vitro and in living cells.

1,2-bis-(2-pyren-1-ylmethylamino-ethoxy) ethane (NPEY) was synthesized and brought to the surface of graphene nanosheets (GNs) via π-π stacking, which provided a simple and convenient route for processing "turn-on" fluorescent sensor by simply mixing the diluted aqueous solutions of both components. The synthesized NPEY modified graphene nanosheets (NPEY-GNs) not only allows good selectivity toward Mn(2+) with the detection limit of 4.6 × 10(-5) M, but also shows "turn-on" response for Mn(2+) both in vitro and in living cells. These sensing capabilities of NPEY-GNs in living cells make it a robust candidate for many biological fields, such as intracellular tracking, intracellular imaging, etc.

As complex organisms vary in vivo, it remains a challenging task to get fluorescence 'turn on' imaging for special targets. To address this task, we have adopted a new strategy of inducing pillararene based host-guest interactions onto biocompatible graphene. By means of fluorescence competition displacement, hydrazino-pillar[5]arene modified graphene has been synthesized and provided as a 'turn on' probe for paraquat through monitoring of the fluorescence signal both in living cells and mice.

Short-chain and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs and MCCPs) are mixtures of complex chemical compounds with intensive usage. They are frequently detected in various environmental samples. However, the interaction between CPs and plants, especially the biotransformation behaviors of CPs within plants, is poorly understood. In this study, 1,2,5,6,9,10-hexachlorodecane (CP-4, a typical standard of individual SCCP congeners) and 52%-MCCP (a commercial mixture standard of MCCPs with 52% chlorine content by mass) were selected as representative chemicals to explore the metabolic behaviors of SCCPs and MCCPs using suspension rice cell culture exposure systems. Both 79.53% and 40.70% of CP-4 and 52%-MCCP were metabolized by suspension rice cells, respectively. A complementary suspected screening strategy based on the pair mass distances (PMD) analysis algorithm was used to study the metabolism of CPs mediated by the plant cells. Forty and 25 metabolic products for CP-4 and 52%-MCCP, respectively, were identified, including (multi-) hydroxylation, dechlorination, −HCl– elimination metabolites, (hydroxylation-) sulfation, and glycosylation conjugates. Here, we propose a comprehensive metabolic molecular network and provide insight on degradation pathways of SCCPs and MCCPs in plants for the first time, aiding in further understanding of the transformation behaviors of CPs.

Chiroselective recognition of important bioactive substances by artificial receptors in biological environments is a topic of great interest from both a biochemistry and analytical application point of view. Therefore, a b-cyclodextrin modified graphene oxide system was reported, which provided a new enantioselective sensing device for amino acid enantiomers both in vitro and in living cells. The excellent sensing capabilities of this functional graphene oxide in living cells shown here make it a robust candidate for many biological fields, such as intracellular imaging, and intracellular tracking, etc.