To develop injectable formulation and improve the stability of curcumin (Cur), Cur was encapsulated into monomethyl poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (ε-caprolactone)-poly (trimethylene carbonate) (MPEG-P(CL-co-TMC)) micelles through a single-step solid dispersion method. The obtained Cur micelles had a small particle size of 27.6 ± 0.7 nm with polydisperse index (PDI) of 0.11 ± 0.05, drug loading of 14.07 ± 0.94%, and encapsulation efficiency of 96.08 ± 3.23%. Both free Cur and Cur micelles efficiently suppressed growth of CT26 colon carcinoma cells in vitro. The results of in vitro anticancer studies confirmed that apoptosis induction and cellular uptake on CT26 cells had completely increased in Cur micelles compared with free Cur. Besides, Cur micelles were more effective in suppressing the tumor growth of subcutaneous CT26 colon in vivo, and the mechanisms included the inhibition of tumor proliferation and angiogenesis and increased apoptosis of tumor cells. Furthermore, few side effects were found in Cur micelles. Overall, our findings suggested that Cur micelles could be a stabilized aqueous formulation for intravenous application with improved antitumor activity, which may be a potential treatment strategy for colon cancer in the future.

Scalable synthesis of CBDA-4, a thermocleavable diacid building block, was accomplished by capturing and photodimerizing a metastable crystalline solid of trans-cinnamic acid.

Highlights d An integrated approach is designed to screen type VI-A anti-CRISPR (AcrVIA) candidates d A series of prophages are discovered in regions encoding AcrVIAs d AcrVIAs inhibit Cas13a RNA targeting in bacteria and human cells d AcrVIAs impede programmable RNA base editing by blocking dCas13a-based toolkit

A linear polyester was synthesized from furfural-based monomer through solvent-free polymerization using sunlight and the polymer structure was confirmed by a single crystal X-ray structure of a partially polymerized intermediate.

A cis-3,4-di­(furan-2-yl)­cyclobutane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid (CBDA-2) is readily prepared stereospecifically from trans-3-(2-furyl)­acrylic acid, a furfural-derived compound, through a solid-state [2 + 2] photocycloaddition in 95% isolated yield. The cyclobutane ring in CBDA-2 shows desired stabilities during thermal, sunlight, and chemical tests. The single crystal structure of CBDA-2 revealed the geometry of this molecule and orientation of the two dicarboxylic acid groups displaying its potential to serve as a unique, semirigid diacid building block in material science. A preliminary study showed that condensation of this diacid with glycerol yielded a green polymer with good stability. The diacid could also be used as a cross-linker for a biobased epoxy to yield an exceptionally hard and solvent-resistant thermoset.

Two stereoregular 2D polyesters were synthesized by using topochemical polymerization of symmetric four-armed monomers. The monomers contain reactive carbon–carbon double bond(s) on each arm. The critical assemblies with multiple preorganized reactive centers were characterized by powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction. The solvent-free polymerization could be carried out with sunlight or UV irradiation. The locally confined photopolymerization process dimerized all of the olefins within the 2D bricklayer packing, which led to the formation of 2D polymers in the solid state. The process was monitored by FT-IR, and the products were confirmed by solid state NMR. After hydrolysis of the 2D polyester, the newly formed carbon–carbon single bonds during the [2 + 2] photocyclization were directly revealed by the single crystal structure of the hydrolysis product. Ultrathin sheets of the 2D polymer were observed under SEM and TEM after exfoliation.

Polymeric micelles co-delivered hydrophilic doxorubicin and hydrophobic curcumin improved cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and cellular uptake in vitro and enhanced antitumor and anti-metastasis activity in vivo on breast carcinoma.

Two polymeric ladders were synthesized by topochemical polymerization. The critical assemblies with multiple reactive centers were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Approximately 64% and 70% of the mass of the two polymeric ladders can be derived from biomass, respectively.