Lumtec (Taiwan)

The ligand H3 L (6-[3-oxo-3-(2-hydroxyphenyl)propionyl]pyridine-2-carboxylic acid), which exhibits two different coordination pockets, has been exploited to engender and study energy transfer (ET) in two dinuclear [LnIII LnIII '] analogues of interest, [EuYb] and [NdYb]. Their structural and physical properties have been compared with newly synthesised analogues featuring no possible ET ([EuLu], [NdLu], and [GdYb]) and with the corresponding homometallic [EuEu] and [NdNd] analogues, which have been previously reported. Photophysical data suggest that ET between EuIII and YbIII does not occur to a significant extent, whereas emission from YbIII originates from sensitisation of the ligand. In contrast, energy migration seems to be occurring between the two NdIII centres in [NdNd], as well as in [NdYb], in which YbIII luminescence is thus, in part, sensitised by ET from Nd. This study shows the versatility of this molecular platform to further the investigation of lanthanide-to-lanthanide ET phenomena in defined molecular systems.

A 2D MOF-based artificial light-harvesting system as chloroplast mimic with high solar spectrum efficiency and energy transfer efficiency shows high-efficiency photocatalytic activity towards artemisinin production.

We report a seed-mediated synthesis strategy to control the size of gold nanoparticles at the atomic scale in the 2-5 nm size range. Starting from 2 nm seeds, a regrowth in organic solvent with a designed amount of precursor can achieve in a predictive fashion a precise mean size with a 0.3 nm resolution. We show that these monodisperse nanoparticles assemble into a 2D hexagonal lattice over a distance that can span tens of micrometers.

Nucleation kinetics in gas phase remains an open issue with no general model. The derivation of the reaction constants assuming a canonical ensemble fails to describe anisotropic materials such as oxides. We have developed a general and versatile model using activated complex kinetics with a microcanonical approach. This approach handles the kinetics issue in cluster growth when the transient nature of the processes hinders the use of the canonical ensemble. The model efficiently reproduces experimental size distributions of alumina clusters formed by laser ablation with different buffer gas densities, including magic numbers. We show that the thermodynamic equilibrium is not reached during the growth. The bounding energy measured is 10 times lower than the one deduced from DFT calculation, but also the one expected from the bulk cohesive energy.

The abnormal variation of the mucin 1 (MUC1) protein level is associated with the development of multiple cancers, and the monitoring of trace MUC1 can be useful for early disease diagnosis. Here, on the basis of the synchronization of DNA-fueled sequence recycling and dual rolling circle amplification (RCA), the establishment of a non-label and highly sensitive fluorescent aptamer-based detection strategy for the MUC1 protein biomarker is described. The target MUC1 binds the aptamer hairpin probe and causes its structure switching to release an ssDNA tail to trigger the recycling of the complex via two toehold-mediated strand displacement reactions under assistance of a fuel DNA. Such a recycling amplification leads to the formation of a partial dsDNA duplex with two primers at both ends, which cooperatively bind the circular DNA ring template to start the dual RCA to produce many G-quadruplex sequences. The protoporphyrin IX dye further associates with the G-quadruplex structures to show a dramatically elevated fluorescent signal for sensitively detecting MUC1 with a low detection limit of 0.5 pM. The established aptamer-based detecting strategy is also highly selective and can realize assay of MUC1 in diluted human serums, highlighting its potential for the detection of different protein biomarkers at low contents.

Combing the excellent catalytic and optical properties of MoS2 QDs, the MoS2 QDs-based co-catalytic Fenton system was developed for highly sensitive photoluminescence sensing of H2O2 and glucose.

The development of new aggregation-induced emission (AIE) systems is a hot research topic, from which functional materials with diversified structures and properties are derived. Here, based on rare, non-emissive and highly electron-withdrawing heteroaromatics of 1,4,5,8-tetraazaanthracene (TAA), experimental and theoretical studies reveal that attaching phenyl rotors to TAA is crucial to creating a new N-type AIE core structure. Furthermore, by covalent attachment of electron-donating aromatic amines to the peripheries of the AIE core, red AIEgens could be obtained readily, which exhibit excellent photostability for long-term lysosome tracking. This work not only provides a new strategy to design heterocycle-containing AIEgens from non-emissive heteroaromatics but also stimulates more their applications as bio-imaging materials.