Incorporation of CuS nanoparticles into the framework of ZIF-8 provides a chance to integrate near-infrared (NIR) light/low pH triggered release and chemo-photothermal therapy into one system. For the first time, we observed that the framework of ZIF-8 could be disintegrated at pH 7.4 under NIR laser irradiation.

No abstract

The quantitative detection methods for many microplastic (MP) polymers in the environment are inadequate. For example, effective detection methods for nylon (polyamide, PA), a widely used plastic, in different environmental samples are still lacking. In the present study, a method based on acid depolymerization−liquid chromatography−tandem mass spectrometry (LC−MS/MS) and without the separation of MPs from samples was developed to quantify nylon MPs. After removing the background monomer compounds, PA6 and PA66 were efficiently depolymerized to 6-aminocaproic acid and adipic acid, respectively, and detected by LC−MS/MS. Accordingly, the quantity of nylon MPs was accurately calculated. By using the proposed method, the recovery of spiked PA6 and PA66 MPs in the environmental samples ranged from 90.8 to 98.8%. The limits of quantification for PA6 and PA66 MPs were 0.680 and 4.62 mg/ kg, respectively. PA MPs were widely detected in indoor dust, sludge, marine sediment, freshwater sediment, fishery sediment, and fish guts and gills with concentrations of 0.725−321 mg/kg. Extremely high concentrations of PA66 MPs were detected in indoor dust and fish guts and gills, indicating the unequivocal risk of human exposure through dust ingestion and dietary exposure.

No abstract

Gold- or carbon-based photothermal therapy (PTT) agents have shown encouraging therapeutic effects of PTT in the near-infrared region (NIR) in many preclinical animal experiments. It is expected that gold/carbon hybrid nanomaterial will possess combinational NIR light absorption and can achieve further improvement in photothermal conversion efficiency. In this work, we design and construct a novel PTT agent by coating a carbon nanosphere with patchy gold. To synthesize this composite particle with Janus structure, a new versatile approach based on a facile adsorption-reduction method was presented. Different from the conventional fabrication procedures, the formation of patchy gold in this approach is mainly a thermodynamics-driven spontaneous process. The results show that when compared with the conventional PTT agent gold nanorod the obtained nanocomposites not only have higher photothermal conversion efficiency but also perform more thermally stable. On the basis of these outstanding photothermal effects, the in vitro and in vivo photothermal performances in a MCF-7 cells (human breast adenocarcinoma cell line) and mice were investigated separately. Additionally, to further illustrate the advantage of this asymmetric structure, their potential was explored by selective surface functionalization, taking advantage of the affinity of both patchy gold and carbon domain to different functional molecules. These results suggest that this new hybrid nanomaterial can be used as an effective PTT agent for cancer treatment in the future.