RSC Advances

Wang, Qiang; Liang, Hongwei; Wu, Dun

doi: 10.1039/c9ra02533bpmid: 35520575

We report herein that zinc and cobalt bimetallic-organic-framework (BMOF) crystalline micro-rods are able to be constructed instantly with the eco-friendly glutamate ligand and building unit of double metallic ions. After carbonization and acid leaching of these precursors, the resultant heteroatom-doped porous carbon occupies not only the enriched mesopore architectures but the ultrathin graphitic networks. Moreover, due to cyclizing dehydration reaction of the glutamate ligand upon thermal conversion, the predominant pyrrolic and pyridinic nitrogen atom sites within the carbon lattices are achieved. The supercapacitor electrodes from these carbonaceous materials without any conductive addictive deliver an impressive specific gravimetric capacitance of 230 F g−1 and a specific areal capacitance of 50 μF cm−2 at a current density of 1 A g−1 in alkaline aqueous electrolyte.

Ma, Nan; Ma, Bing; Zhou, Yanling; Zhu, Haibo; Zhou, Ying; Huan, Zhiguang; Wang, Peiji; Chang, Jiang

doi: 10.1039/c9ra02496dpmid: 35520577

Although the akermanite (Ca2MgSi2O7) bioceramic has been confirmed to possess favorable osteogenic activity, until now little was known about its in vivo subchronic systemic toxicity, which is important for determining the biocompatibility and the clinical applications of the material in bone implants. In this study, the subchronic systemic toxicity of akermanite bioceramic was for the first time investigated according to well-accepted ISO standard methods. Following the method, healthy adult Wistar rats were injected with certain amounts of extracts of akermanite bioceramic that was intended to simulate the ionic product during the degradation of the material when implanted into the body. At day 28 after injection, the general body conditions, blood cytology, blood biochemistry and histology of all important organs of the rats were examined. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the hemoglobin concentration, red blood cell count, platelet count and white blood cell count between the rats with injection of akermanite bioceramic extracts and the saline control. The indicators of liver function, including aspartate aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase, and kidney function, including blood urea nitrogen and creatinine, did not show significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). In addition, the results of histological examination showed that the extract of akermanite bioceramic did not cause any pathological changes to important organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys. These findings demonstrated that the ionic product derived from the degradation of akermanite bioceramic did not cause in vivo subchronic systemic toxicity. The results of the current study provided more strengthened evidence for the biosafety of akermanite bioceramic and suggest that this material with desirable biocompatibility may be a potential candidate for orthopedic clinical applications.

Han, Qingyan; Lu, Zhu; Gao, Wei; Zhou, Wanting; Qi, Jianxia; Hao, Aihua; Dong, Jun

doi: 10.1039/c9ra03182kpmid: 35520563

The ability to control the upconversion (UC) luminescence patterns in space from lanthanide-doped UC luminescence materials is very important for many applications including three-dimensional color displays, optical waveguides and optical communication. In this work, the fascinating UC luminescence patterns could be adjusted from the blue or green flower-like emission pattern to the red flame-like irradiation pattern with a red luminescence enhancement from a single β-NaYF4:Yb3+/(Tm3+ or Er3+) microcrystal (MC) by varying the excitation position. The red-to-blue (R/B) and the red-to-green (R/G) emission intensity ratios from the single MC particle that the focal point position of excitation NIR laser is on the side lace are much stronger than that in the case of the focused laser beam on the center. We think that the physical mechanism from the changes in the luminescence pattern and the emission intensity ratio is explained by the optical waveguide effect based on the total reflection effect. These results provide a new strategy for facilitating fundamental investigations of the UC micro/nano-materials, which will lead to promising applications in three-dimensional color display, optical waveguides and optical communication.

Yu, Chuan-ming; Zhuang, Xiao-hui; Zeng, Sheng-wei; Dong, Qi-xing; Jing, Zhan-xin; Hong, Peng-zhi; Li, Yong

doi: 10.1039/c9ra01258cpmid: 35520591

In this paper, poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) foams were synthesized using a high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) technique with Span 80 and with 900 °C calcined oyster shell powder as a co-emulsifier, 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator and deionized water as the dispersing phase. SEM images revealed that the materials possess a hierarchical porous structure of nano/micro size, which resulted in saturated oil adsorption in only half a minute. The dispersing phase amount was investigated for its effect on adsorption. The optimized foams have 24.8–58.3 g g−1 adsorbencies for several organic solvents, and they demonstrated superhydrophobicity and excellent oleophilicity with the water contact angle (WCA) even close to 149° and oil contact angle approaching 0°. Moreover, the foams displayed high oil retention under pressure. The adsorption–centrifugation cycling results indicated high repeatability of the recovered foams. All of these features predicted the potential applications of superhydrophobic foams in oil–water separation.

Iftikhar, Fizza; Ali, Hamad; Musharraf, Syed Ghulam

doi: 10.1039/c9ra01744epmid: 35520581

Pharmacologically mediated reactivation of γ-globin gene with an increase in fetal hemoglobin production, is a cost effective experimental therapeutic intervention for the management of β-hemoglobinopathies. Investigation of new pharmacological agents as HbF inducers from natural resources is desirable to develop safe and effective HbF inducers. We evaluated selected cinchona alkaloids (cinchonidine and quinidine) for their potential of erythroid differentiation and augmentation of fetal hemoglobin production. K562 cells were used as in vitro experimental model. Erythroid differentiation of K562 cells was studied using a benzidine assay, and total hemoglobin was estimated through a calorimetric method. Whereas, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to analyse γ-globin gene expression, and flow cytometry and immunofluorescence microscopy for evaluating HbF production. Cinchona alkaloids showed dose dependent erythroid differentiation, time driven cellular proliferation, with kinetics of hemoglobin accumulation in K562 cells. The findings of qRT-PCR showed an increase in expression of γ-globin mRNA content (3.17-fold in cinchonidine and 2.03-fold increase in quinidine treated K562 cells), accompanied by an increase in fetal hemoglobin production. Altogether, this study demonstrates that cinchona alkaloids can be used as therapeutic agents in treating β-thalassemia after further biological investigation.

Dong, Jun-Liang; Zhu, Peng-Yin; Du, Jia-Qiang; Xie, Fei; Lan, Hai-Ming; Yang, Ru-Xia; Yang, Li-Zheng; Wang, Duo-Zhi

doi: 10.1039/c9ra03082dpmid: 35520568

Six new metal–organic coordination polymers (CPs) [Ni(L)(2,5-TDC)(H2O)]n (1), [Ni(L)(1,3-BDC)(H2O)]n (2), [Ni(L)(1,4-BDC)(H2O)]n (3), [Mn(L)(2,5-TDC)(H2O)]n (4), [Mn(L)(2,6-PYDC)(H2O)]n (5) and [Mn(L)(1,4-NDC)]n (6) were achieved by reactions of the corresponding metal salt with mixed organic ligands (L = 3,6-bis(benzimidazol-1-yl)pyridazine, 2,5-H2TDC = thiophene-2,5-dicarboxylic acid, 1,3-H2BDC = isophthalic acid, 1,4-H2BDC = terephthalic acid, 2,6-H2PYDC = pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid, 1,4-H2NDC = naphthalene-1,4-dicarboxylic acid) under solvothermal condition. CPs 1–6 were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, IR, TG, XRD and elemental analyses. Their structures range from the intricate 3D CPs 1, 3, 4 and 6 to the 2D coordination polymer 2 and the infinite 1D chain 5. The CPs 1–4 and 6 underlying networks were classified from the topological viewpoint, disclosing the distinct sql (in 1), pcu (in 3 and 6), new topology (in 2), and dia (in 4) topological nets. Moreover, analysis of thermal stability shows that they had good thermal stability. Finally, magnetic properties of CPs 1–6 have been studied, the results showed that complex 2 had ferromagnetic coupling and complexes 1, 3–6 were antiferromagnetic.

López-Sánchez, J.; Serrano, A.; Campo, A. del; Abuín, M.; Salas-Colera, E.; Muñoz-Noval, A.; Castro, G. R.; Figuera, J. de la; Marco, J. F.; Marín, P.; Carmona, N.; Rodríguez de la Fuente, O.

doi: 10.1039/c9ra03283epmid: 35520560

The purpose of this work is to fabricate self-assembled microstructures by the sol–gel method and study the morphological, structural and compositional dependence of ε-Fe2O3 nanoparticles embedded in silica when glycerol (GLY) and cetyl-trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) are added as steric agents simultaneously. The combined action of a polyalcohol and a surfactant significantly modifies the morphology of the sample giving rise to a different microstructure in each of the studied cases (1, 3 and 7 days of magnetic stirring time). This is due to the fact that the addition of these two compounds leads to a considerable increase in gelation time as GLY can interact with the alkoxide group on the surface of the iron oxide precursor micelle and/or be incorporated into the hydrophilic chains of CTAB. This last effect causes the iron oxide precursor micelles to be interconnected forming aggregates whose size and structure depend on the magnetic stirring time of the sol–gel synthetic route. In this paper, crystalline structure, composition, purity and morphology of the sol–gel coatings densified at 960 °C are examined. Emphasis is placed on the nominal percentage of the different iron oxides found in the samples and on the morphological and structural differences. This work implies the possibility of patterning ε-Fe2O3 nanoparticles in coatings and controlling their purity by an easy one-pot sol–gel method.

Abbas, Syed Kumail; Atiq, Shahid; Saleem, Murtaza; Riaz, Saira; Naseem, Shahzad; Anwar, M. Sabieh

doi: 10.1039/c9ra03295apmid: 35520564

One-dimensional nanorod arrays exhibiting hierarchical flowerlike morphologies, of Co and Ni based ferrites were synthesized by hydrothermal treatment and using ammonium fluoride (NH4F) as a mineralizing agent. The effects of NH4F concentration and synthesis temperature were probed to control the morphology of these nanorods that were formed as a result of crystal nucleation. It was observed that a higher concentration of NH4F leads to several other nucleation sites above these nanorods while controlled concentration of precursors and NH4F results in the synthesis of floral patterns. The specific geometries of these nanorods leads to a shape anisotropy effect resulting in increased magnetic coercive fields. To study the effect of magnetic field on the resistance and current density, impedance spectroscopy and I–V–R characteristics, respectively, were performed. Nanorods show enhanced values for resistance with the increase in magnetic field confirming the effect of magnetoresistive coupling while a decrease in current densities with increasing magnetic field highlights the potential of these structures for magnetoresistive applications.

Su, Mei; Li, Cheng-yuan; Zhou, Lin; Yan, Yun-yi; Ao, Lu-yao; Wang, Guang-ji; Fang, Wei-rong; Li, Yun-man

doi: 10.1039/c9ra90042jpmid: 35532405

Correction for ‘Anti-ulcerogenic effect of KFP-H008 against ethanol-induced gastric ulcer via p38 MAPK/NF-κB pathway’ by Mei Su et al., RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 49423–49435.

Choodet, Cherdpong; Toomjeen, Pakawat; Phanchai, Witthawat; Matulakul, Piyaporn; Thanan, Raynoo; Sakonsinsiri, Chadamas; Puangmali, Theerapong

doi: 10.1039/c9ra01497gpmid: 35520541

An elevated level of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) in biosamples has been found to correlate to oxidative stress, and it has been assigned as a critical biomarker of various diseases. Herein, insights into the mechanisms of an aptasensor, based on citrate-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), for 8-oxo-dG detection were elucidated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and validated experimentally. We found that the binding mechanism for binding between the anti-8-oxo-dG aptamer and 8-oxo-dG has the following characteristic stages: (i) adsorption stage, (ii) binding stage, and (iii) complex stabilization stage. Our simulations also reveal the binding sites between the anti-8-oxo-dG aptamer and 8-oxo-dG formed through hydrogen bonding during complex formation. A shortened anti-8-oxo-dG-aptamer was also engineered using in silico design, which was expected to improve the analytical performance of the colorimetric aptasensor. The mechanisms of the colorimetric aptasensor in the presence and absence of 8-oxo-dG were also investigated, and found to be in good agreement with the experiments. Complete understanding of the mechanism of the colorimetric aptasensor would open the door for development of novel naked-eye aptasensors.