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Carthamus tinctorius L. is a multifunctional cash crop. Its flowers and seeds are extensively used in traditional herbal medicine in China, Korea, Japan, and other Asian countries, for treating various ailments such as gynecological, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular diseases as well as blood stasis and osteoporosis. More than 100 compounds have been isolated and identified from C. tinctorius. Flavonoids and alkaloids, especially the quinochalcone c-glycoside hydroxysafflor yellow A, N-(p-Coumaroyl)serotonin, and N-feruloylserotonin, are responsible for most of the pharmacological activities of C. tinctorius. In this paper, comprehensive and up-to-date information on the phytochemistry and pharmacology of C. tinctorius is presented. This information will be helpful for further explorations of the therapeutic potential of C. tinctorius and may provide future research opportunities.

Interlaboratory performance statistics was determined for a method developed to measure the resistant starch (RS) content of selected plant food products and a range of commercial starch samples. Food materials examined contained RS (cooked kidney beans, green banana, and corn flakes) and commercial starches, most of which naturally contain, or were processed to yield, elevated RS levels. The method evaluated was optimized to yield RS values in agreement with those reported for in vivo studies. Thirty-seven laboratories tested 8 pairs of blind duplicate starch or plant material samples with RS values between 0.6 (regular maize starch) and 64% (fresh weight basis). For matrixes excluding regular maize starch, repeatability relative standard deviation (RSDr) values ranged from 1.97 to 4.2%, and reproducibility relative standard deviation (RSDR) values ranged from 4.58 to 10.9%. The range of applicability of the test is 2–64% RS. The method is not suitable for products with <1% RS (e.g., regular maize starch; 0.6% RS). For such products, RSDr and RSDR values are unacceptably high.

In this Feature Article, we introduce how to manipulate the motion of electrons or molecules by external stimuli, to achieve switchable properties in molecule-based single crystals.

Full-carbon electronics at the scale of several angstroms is an expeimental challenge, which could be overcome by exploiting the versatility of carbon allotropes. Here, we investigate charge transport through graphene/single-fullerene/graphene hybrid junctions using a single-molecule manipulation technique. Such sub-nanoscale electronic junctions can be tuned by band gap engineering as exemplified by various pristine fullerenes such as C 60 , C 70 , C 76 and C 90 . In addition, we demonstrate further control of charge transport by breaking the conjugation of their π systems which lowers their conductance, and via heteroatom doping of fullerene, which introduces transport resonances and increase their conductance. Supported by our combined density functional theory (DFT) calculations, a promising future of tunable full-carbon electronics based on numerous sub-nanoscale fullerenes in the large family of carbon allotropes is anticipated.

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