Highly efficient removal of toxic Cr(VI) from aqueous media remains a crucial concern for ecosystem protection and public health. Herein, we demonstrated a new approach to solve this issue by constructing alkyl thiolcontaining Zr-based metal−organic framework (MOF) adsorbents using simple and inexpensive mercaptosuccinic acid (MSA) and meso-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) as ligands. These chemically stable MOFs could be prepared in an uncomplicated, green, cost-effective, and scalable way. The interaction mechanism between alkyl thiol groups in MOFs and Cr(VI) was investigated in detail. Thanks to the formation of a Cr(VI)−thiolate complex and the oxidation of thiol groups, these designed MOFs not only exhibited high Cr(VI) adsorption capacities (202.0 and 138.7 mg/g for Zr-MSA and Zr-DMSA, respectively) but also displayed the immobilization ability for concomitant resultant Cr(III). Even in the presence of high concentrations of possibly coexistent interfering ions, the thiol-containing MOFs can still work effectively to decontaminate the Cr(VI) species. In addition, the strategy of introducing thiol groups into MOFs for Cr(VI) reduction and concomitant Cr(III) immobilization is universal for other MOFs, as verified by thiol-containing UiO-66 and MOF-808 prepared by a one-pot method. Therefore, our work not only produces several effective Cr(VI) adsorbents but also sets a general guideline for the construction of Cr(VI) adsorbents by introducing thiol groups into porous materials.

A simple route to fabricate peptide modified spherical gold nanoparticles with enhanced retention performance in tumor sites for improved photothermal treatment.

Starvation‐dependent differential stress sensitization effect between normal and tumor cells provides a potentially promising strategy to amplify chemotherapy effects and reduce side effects. However, the conventional starvation approaches such as glucose oxidase (Gox)‐induced glucose depletion and nanomedicine‐enabled vascular embolism usually suffer from aggravated tumor hypoxia, systemic toxicity, and unpredictable metabolic syndrome. Herein, a novel “valve‐closing” starvation strategy is developed to amplify the chemotherapy effects via closing the “valve” of glucose transported into tumor cells, which is accomplished by a glucose transporters 1 (GLUT1, valve of glucose uptake) inhibitor (Genistein, Gen) and chemotherapeutic agent (Curcumin, Cur) coloaded hybrid organosilica‐micelles nanomedicine (designated as (Gen + Cur)@FOS) with controllable stability. In vitro and in vivo results demonstrate that (Gen + Cur)@FOS can effectively reduce glucose/adenosine triphosphate levels in tumor cells by inhibiting GLUT1 expression (i.e., “valve‐closing”) to induce the starvation of tumor cells, thus weakening the resistance of tumor cells to apoptosis caused by chemotherapy, and consequently contributing to the remarkably improved antitumor efficiency and minimized side effects based on the stress sensitization effect mediated by GLUT1 inhibition‐induced starvation. This “valve‐closing” starvation strategy provides a promising paradigm for the development of novel nanotherapeutics with amplified chemotherapy effect.

Photothermal therapy combined with chemotherapy based on nanomedicine has been considered as a promising strategy for improving therapeutic efficacy in the tumor. However, the nanomedicine can be easily cleared by...