RSC Advances

Zheng, Zu-Guo; Lu, Chong; Thu, Pyone Myat; Zhang, Xin; Li, Hui-Jun; Li, Ping; Xu, Xiaojun

doi: 10.1039/c9ra90010apmid: 35532512

Correction for ‘Praeruptorin B improves diet-induced hyperlipidemia and alleviates insulin resistance via regulating SREBP signaling pathway’ by Zu-Guo Zheng et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 354–366.

Liang, Dong; Wang, Yan; Wang, Sifan; Song, Chengkun; Shi, Yonghe; Liu, Qinghao; Zhu, Hailin; Li, Xia; Liu, Laishuan; Zhu, Na

doi: 10.1039/c8ra10544hpmid: 35517290

Chiral 1,2-diols with a high yield could be directly prepared from asymmetric di-hydroxylation of olefins via an eco-friendly and enduring catalyst, in which abundant “chiral pools” of polyoxometalate-ionic liquid were target-designed into the silicic framework (POM-ILS) and well stabilized in aqueous media.

Qi, Yawei; Zhu, Lifang; Gao, Congjie; Shen, Jiangnan

doi: 10.1039/c8ra09875apmid: 35517273

A novel nanofiltration membrane prepared by modification of a commercial membrane surface is fabricated using polydopamine (PDA) and hydroxyl propyl trimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan (HACC) mixed with chitosan (CN) and chelated silver (Ag) nanoparticles. The surface chemical composition, cross-sectional morphology, hydrophilicity and surface structure of the prepared membranes were examined by scanning electron microscopy, water contact angle measurements, and atomic force microscopy, respectively. The membrane performance was evaluated in terms of volumetric flux and protein rejection. In addition, the antifouling and antibacterial properties of the membranes were also explored. The results demonstrated that the prepared membranes exhibited an excellent antifouling property due to their three-layer architecture and it provided a special layer to promote the antibacterial property. According to the results, the modified membrane has a significantly improved flux recovery rate (over 96%). Besides, the antibacterial activity tests showed that the proposed three-layer architecture modification extensively prevented bacterial growth on the membrane surface.

Cui, Congcong; Han, Lu; Che, Shunai

doi: 10.1039/c8ra09130gpmid: 35517265

The organization of amphiphilic molecules into well-defined geometries and morphologies is an area of fundamental and practical importance. Herein, we report silica cubosomes synthesized by the cooperative self-assembly of the amphiphilic star polymer poly(ethylene glycol)-(polystyrene)2. The silica cubosomes exhibit a spherical shape and a highly ordered bicontinuous diamond-surface structure. A new synthesis-field diagram was constructed based on the mass ratio of THF, HCl (2 M) and the polymer. Moreover, the mechanism of the formation of silica cubosomes has been revealed. Due to the inorganic framework, the silica cubosomes show enhanced stability and a wide scope of applications.

Rizvi, Asfa; Ahmed, Bilal; Zaidi, Almas; Khan, Mohd. Saghir

doi: 10.1039/c9ra00333apmid: 35517307

Heavy metals are toxic environmental contaminants, which severely affect microbial composition and functions and, concurrently, crop production. Due to these issues, the present study focussed on the selection of metal tolerant microbes endowed with metal detoxification abilities and their role in the management and remediation of metal contaminated soils. The metal tolerant bacterium BM2, identified as Bacillus subtilis by 16SrRNA gene sequencing, survived well under metal pressure and tolerated 1600 and 2000 μg mL−1 of Ni and Pb, respectively. The inhibitory impact of metals on wheat increased consistently with a progressive increase in metal concentration. Deposition of Ni and Pb within root and leaf and oxidative stress were validated by SEM, EDX and CLSM. The overall growth parameters of wheat grown under metal stress were improved following B. subtilis BM2 colonization. As an example, B. subtilis with 195 mg Pb kg−1 enhanced the length and dry biomass of shoots by 14% and 23%, respectively, over the control. Also, strain BM2 improved the grain yield significantly by 49% at 870 mg Ni kg−1 and by 50% at 585 mg Pb kg−1 compared to uninoculated plants. Moreover, B. subtilis BM2 relieved the metal stress on wheat and caused a significant drop in proline and malondialdehyde content and the activities of antioxidant enzymes, like catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione reductase (GR). This study, therefore, provided solutions to the metal toxicity problems faced by winter wheat and clearly suggests that the metal detoxification potential of B. subtilis BM2 could be greatly useful in the management of metal polluted soils.

Umrao, Saurabh; S, Anusha; Jain, Vasundhara; Chakraborty, Banani; Roy, Rahul

doi: 10.1039/c8ra10035gpmid: 35517283

Smartphone-based fluorescence detection is a promising avenue for biosensing that can aid on-site analysis. However, quantitative detection with fluorescence in the field has been limited due to challenges with robust excitation and calibration requirements. Here, we show that ratiometric analysis with Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between dye pairs on DNA aptamers can enable rapid and sensitive kanamycin detection. Since our detection scheme relies on ligand binding-induced changes in the aptamer tertiary structure, it is limited only by the kinetics of ligand binding to the aptamer. Our FRET-based kanamycin binding aptamer (KBA) sensor displays two linear ranges of 0.05–5 nM (detection limit of 0.18 nM) and 50–900 nM of kanamycin. The aptamer displays high specificity even in the presence of the ‘natural’ background from milk. By immobilizing the aptamer in the flow cell, our KBA sensor design is also suitable for repeated kanamycin detection. Finally, we show that the ratiometric FRET-based analysis can be implemented on a cheap custom-built smartphone setup. This smartphone-based FRET aptamer scheme detects kanamycin in a linear range of 50–500 nM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 28 nM.

Wei, Fengyu; Wang, Hui; Ran, Wei; Liu, Tao; Liu, Xueting

doi: 10.1039/c8ra10238dpmid: 35517270

A S–N co-doped CoFe2O4@rGO@TiO2 (CFGT-S/N) nanocomposite was successfully synthesized via a facile vapor-thermal method. XRD, XPS, FT-IR and FETEM results confirmed that N and S were co-doped into the lattice of TiO2. Photocatalytic tests indicated that CFGT-S/N exhibited excellent UV-Vis photocatalytic activity for decompositions of different organic dyes, including methyl orange (MO), rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB). Particularly, the photocatalytic degradation rate of MO was about 33% higher than that when using P25 under visible light irradiation. The higher UV-Vis light photocatalytic activity of CFGT-S/N can be attributed to the synergetic effects of the strong absorption of visible light, the narrow band gap, improved separation of photo-generated electron/hole pairs, and the enhancement of the enrichment of pollutant dye molecules by S, N co-doping, CoFe2O4 and rGO. Moreover, this photocatalyst was superparamagnetic, which enables it to be easily recovered by an external magnetic field, and maintained stable photocatalytic efficiency over five cycles. Hence, CFGT-S/N with its highly efficient, recoverable and stable photocatalytic properties shows great potential for environmental treatment.

Huo, Jingpei; Zou, Wanying; Zhang, Yubang; Chen, Weilan; Hu, Xiaohong; Deng, Qianjun; Chen, Dongchu

doi: 10.1039/c9ra00093cpmid: 35517266

Light-emitting electrochemical cell of bithiazole-based material was fabricated by solution processing rendered high external quantum efficiency over 12.8% and luminance of 1.8 104 cd m−2.

Kim, Jahee; Lim, Yi Rang; Yoon, Yeoheung; Song, Wooseok; Park, Bo Keun; Lim, Jongsun; Chung, Taek-Mo; Kim, Chang Gyoun

doi: 10.1039/c9ra00041kpmid: 35517303

Single source precursors for coating and subsequent thermal decomposition processes enable a large-scale, low-cost synthesis of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). However, practical applications based on two-dimensional TMDs have been limited by the lack of applicable single source precursors for the synthesis of p-type TMDs including layered tungsten diselenide (WSe2). We firstly demonstrate the simple and facile synthesis of WSe2 layers using a newly developed precursor that allows improved dispersibility and lower decomposition temperature. We study the thermal decomposition mechanism of three types of (Cat+)2[WSe4] precursors to assess the most suitable precursor for the synthesis of WSe2 layers. The resulting chemical and structural exploration of solution-processed WSe2 layers suggests that the (CTA)2[WSe4] may be a promising precursor because it resulted in the formation of high-crystalline WSe2. In addition, this study verifies the capability of WSe2 layers for multifunctional applications in optoelectronic and electronic devices. The photocurrent of WSe2-based photodetectors shows an abrupt switching behavior under periodic illumination of visible or IR light. The extracted photoresponsivity values for WSe2-based photodetectors recorded at 0.5 V correspond to 26.3 mA W−1 for visible light and 5.4 mA W−1 for IR light. The WSe2-based field effect transistors exhibit unipolar p-channel transistor behavior with a carrier mobility of 0.45 cm2 V−1 s−1 and an on-off ratio of ∼10.

Liu, Fei; Wang, Yuwei; Kong, Xianggui; Lei, Deqiang; Zhang, Fazhi; Lei, Xiaodong

doi: 10.1039/c8ra10432hpmid: 35517279

Recently, using sunlight as a driving force with transitional metal oxides as photocatalysts, due to their unique optical and catalytic properties for organic reactions, has been considered to be a promising strategy in synthetic chemistry. Here, a hierarchically structured photocatalyst, a NiFe mixed metal oxide coated Nb2O5 (denoted as Nb2O5@NiFe-MMO) rod array has been successfully fabricated using Nb foil as a substrate. The Nb2O5 rod array was synthesized by the oxidative etching of Nb metal on the surface of the a substrate. The coating NiFe-MMO was obtained by the calcination of a NiFe layered double hydroxide (NiFe-LDH) precursor via the in situ epitaxial growing technique. The Nb2O5@NiFe-MMO rod array extended the photoresponse light region from ultraviolet light around 400 nm to visible light around 600 nm. With the well-designed architecture and highly dispersed NiO and Fe2O3, the as-prepared photocatalyst exhibited excellent activity and recyclability toward the reaction of aerobic coupling under relatively green conditions, with catalytic efficiency of 228 μmol cm−2 (the area is that of the Ni foil substrate) at 30 °C for 5 h. The present work provides a new strategy for the exploration of excellent structured photocatalysts based on transition metal oxide materials for selective aerobic oxidation of benzylamine to imine.