Novel (E)-3,4-dihydroxystyryl aralkyl sulfones and sulfoxides were designed and synthesized as new analogues of 1, which showed interesting multifunctional neuroprotective effects, including antioxidative and antineuroinflammatory properties. Specifically, target compounds display excellent potency in scavenging reactive free radicals and demonstrate potent effects against various kinds of toxicities, including H2O2, 6-hydroxydopamine, and lipopolysaccharide in different types of neuronal cells. The antioxidative properties of the target compounds are more potent than that of 1, and the antineuroinflammatory properties are less strong than that of 1. According to the parallel artificial membrane permeation assay for the blood-brain barrier, target compounds possess greater blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability than 1. In short, due to improvement of the antioxidative effect, stability, and BBB permeability, (E)-3,4-dihydroxystyryl aralkyl sulfones and sulfoxides can thus be considered as potential multifunctional neuroprotective agents and serve as new lead candidates in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Interfacial evaporation using light-absorbing hydrogels offers efficient solar evaporation performance under natural sunlight, ensuring an affordable clean water supply. However, achieving light-absorbing hydrogels with durable and efficient utilization is still a challenge due to inevitable salt accumulation, a difficult-to-control surface morphology, and poor mechanical properties on the surfaces of hydrogel-based evaporators. In this work, a photothermal sponge-like hydrogel with a 3D interconnected porous structure was constructed using low-cost activated carbon as a photothermal material, as well as a double-network polymer chain as the basic skeleton using a simple foaming polymerization strategy. The sponge-like hydrogel evaporator showed tailored surface topography, adequate water transport, excellent elasticity and toughness, good salt rejection, and thermal localization properties. Under the irradiation of simulated sunlight (1.0 kW/m2), a high evaporation rate of 2.33 kg·m–2·h–1 was achieved. Furthermore, efficient salt self-cleaning behavior was achieved due to the fast ion diffusion within the 3D interconnected porous structures. Even in highly concentrated brine of 15 wt %, continuous and efficient water evaporation was still achieved. The excellent evaporation and salt rejection properties of this photothermal sponge-like hydrogel indicated its promising long-term sustainable utilization in seawater desalination.

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