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A series of liquid and photoliquefiable azobenzene (Azo) derivatives (Azo-Cn-Br) have been synthesized for molecular solar thermal fuels. Each of the liquid and photoliquefiable azo derivatives shows a high degree of isomerization, a fast isomerization rate, a long half-life, an appropriate energy storage density, and a solvent-free “charging” and “discharging” process. The photoliquefied azo derivatives can isomerize upon UV light irradiation at low temperatures to give the “UV-charged” azo ones. Therefore, the phase transition enthalpy is stored simultaneously along with the isomerization enthalpy. The “UV-charged” azo derivatives are capable of releasing heat under the manipulation of blue light.

The interaction between ribavirin (RIB) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) has been investigated by fluorescence quenching technique in combination with UV-vis absorption and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies under the simulative physiological conditions. The quenching of BSA fluorescence by RIB was found to be a result of the formation of RIB-BSA complex. The binding constants and the number of binding sites were calculated at three different temperatures. The values of thermodynamic parameters ∆H, ∆S, ∆G at different temperatures indicate that hydrophobic and hydrogen bonds played important roles for RIB-BSA association. The binding distance r was obtained according to the theory of Förster's non-radiation energy transfer. The displacement experiments was performed for identifying the location of the binding site of RIB on BSA. The effects of common ions on the binding constant of RIB and BSA were also examined. Finally, the conformational changes of BSA in the presence of RIB were also analyzed by CD spectra and Synchronous fluorescence spectra.

To determine the genetic diversity and population structure of sweet potato accessions cultivated in China, and to establish the genetic relationships among their germplasm types, a representative collection of 240 accessions was analyzed using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The mean genetic similarity coefficient, Nei's gene diversity, and shared allele distance of tested sweet potato accessions were 0.7302, 0.3167 and 0.2698, respectively. The 240 accessions could be divided into six subgroups and five subpopulations based on NJ clustering and STRUCTURE results, and obvious genetic relationships among the tested sweet potato accessions were identified. The marker-based NJ clustering and population structure showed no distinct assignment pattern corresponding to flesh color or geographical ecotype of the tested sweet potato germplasm. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed small but significant difference between white and orange-fleshed sweet potato accessions. Small but significant difference were also observed among sweet potato accessions from the Southern summer-autumn sweet potato region, the Yellow River Basin spring and summer sweet potato region, and the Yangtze River Basin summer sweet potato region. This study demonstrates that genetic diversity in the tested sweet potato germplasm collection in China is lower than that of some reported sweet potato germplasm collections from other regions. Pedigree investigations suggest that more diverse Chinese sweet potato varieties should be formed by broadening the selection scope of breeding parents and incorporating the introduced varieties into future breeding programs.

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