Monodisperse silica-coated polyvinylpyrrolidone/NaYF(4) nanocrystals with multicolor upconversion fluorescence emission.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Zhengquan Li.
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In this Communication, we report the fabrication of well-crystallized rutile-phase TiO2 hollow spheres using potassium titanium oxalate as the precursor. The spheres exhibited unique three-dimensional hierarchical architectures and demonstrated a significantly improved photocatalytic performance. The synthetic strategy used in this process represents a general approach and therefore may contribute to the formation mechanisms of hollow nanostructures.
In this paper, we have developed a solution-phase template approach to synthesize Cu(2)S nanoribbons for the first time. Bi(2)S(3) nanoribbons act as both template and reactant when treated with small CuCl particles, generating Cu(2)S nanoribbons with the assistance of the solvent ethanol. Nanoribbons with different compositions of Bi(2)S(3) and Cu(2)S also could be obtained through controlling the reaction time. This kind of template method is expected to be a general template approach due to its slow reaction rate and simplicity.
The multi-walled and bamboo-like well-crystalline CNx nanotubes with controllable nitrogen concentration (x = 0.05-1.02) were synthesized. The stoichiometry of as-prepared CNx (x congruent with 1.02) is close to that of the theoretically predicted graphite-like CN.
A new type of hierarchical structure, a core-shell structure with spherically aligned nanorods, was prepared via a simple room-temperature solution-based catalytic route in the case of alpha-MnO2.
Under the guidance of bioassay, the EtOAc extract fraction of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Galla Chinese was found to be efficient in inhibiting the NS3 protease of HCV and purified the fraction to get three polyphenol compounds 1,2,6-tri-O-galloyl-beta-D-glucose (1), 1,2,3,6-tetra-O-galloyl-beta-D-glucose (2), and 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-galloyl-beta-D-glucose (3), which were identified as inhibitors of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) NS3 protease. Compounds 1, 2, and 3 inhibited HCV NS3 protease with IC50 of 1.89, 0.75, and 1.60 microM, respectively.
A solution surface-erosion route was successfully employed to produce one-dimensional (1D) ZnO nanostructures. ZnO nanorod arrays and three-dimensional urchin-like assemblies could be selectively obtained with different manipulations. In this process, zinc foil was introduced to an organic solution system and acted both as a reactant and substrate to support the 1D nanostructures obtained. This method, without any template, apparatus, surfactants, or additional heterogenous substrates, has greatly simplified the preparation of oriented 1D ZnO nanostructures. In particular, this simple route could be carried out at room temperature over a period as short as several minutes, thus it could be conveniently transferred to industrial applications. The possible formation mechanism, erosion process, and influence factors were also investigated.
Thermally stable hematite (alpha-Fe(2)O(3)) hollow nanowires were synthesized by a vacuum-pyrolysis route from beta-FeOOH nanowires for the first time. The products can catalyze the oxidation of almost 100% carbon monoxide at 320 degrees C, exhibiting excellent catalytic performances despite their small BET surface area.
A general synthetic route has been developed for the growth of metal phosphide, oxide, sulfide, and tungstate nanowires in aqueous solution. In detail, cetyltrimethylammonium cations (CTA(+)) can be combined with anionic inorganic species along a co-condensation mechanism to form lamellar inorganic-surfactant intercalated mesostructures, which serve as both microreactors and reactants for the growth of nanowires. For example, GaP, InP, gamma-MnO(2), ZnO, SnS(2), ZnS, CdWO(4), and ZnWO(4) nanowires have been grown by this route. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the synthesis of GaP and InP nanowires in aqueous solution has been achieved. This strategy is expected to extend to grow nanowires of other materials in solution or by vapor transport routes, since the nanowire growth of any inorganic materials can be realized by selecting an appropriate reaction and its corresponding lamellar inorganic-surfactant precursors.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is the pathogen of SARS, which caused a global panic in 2003. We describe here the screening of Chinese herbal medicine-based, novel small molecules that bind avidly with the surface spike protein of SARS-CoV and thus can interfere with the entry of the virus to its host cells. We achieved this by using a two-step screening method consisting of frontal affinity chromatography-mass spectrometry coupled with a viral infection assay based on a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-luc/SARS pseudotyped virus. Two small molecules, tetra-O-galloyl-beta-D-glucose (TGG) and luteolin, were identified, whose anti-SARS-CoV activities were confirmed by using a wild-type SARS-CoV infection system. TGG exhibits prominent anti-SARS-CoV activity with a 50% effective concentration of 4.5 microM and a selective index of 240.0. The two-step screening method described here yielded several small molecules that can be used for developing new classes of anti-SARS-CoV drugs and is potentially useful for the high-throughput screening of drugs inhibiting the entry of HIV, hepatitis C virus, and other insidious viruses into their host cells.
Long-chain polymer-assisted growth of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures has been investigated in previous research. This kind mild method has lots of merits such as not requiring complex procedures, without template supporting etc. Can the short-chain polymer also be used to grow long nanowires? In the present work, a short-chain polymer (PEG400) was found to promote the formation of 1D ZnO nanostructures, which cannot be obtained by long-chain polymers (such as PEG10000). Moreover, nanowires and nanorods can be selectively synthesized by using short-chain polymers. The influence factors for the formation of 1D ZnO nanostructures were also investigated in detail. The XRD, Raman spectrum, XPS, SEM, TEM, ED, HRTEM, EDXA, and PL spectra have been provided for the characterization of the as-obtained nanowires and nanorods.
Self-supported patterns of oriented alignment of beta-FeOOH nanowires are fabricated through a simple solution reaction from the complex [Fe(phen)(3)](2+) at 60 degrees C. The alignment of nanowires with a diameter of 40 nm and length of 6 mum is relatively uniform. HRTEM studies show that the growing direction of beta-FeOOH nanowires is perpendicular to the orientation plane of self-formed beta-FeOOH flake-like substrates. In the reaction and crystal growth process, the precursor [Fe(phen)(3)](2+) is undoubtedly vital to the formation of nanowire alignment. In detail, the formation of aligned nanowires is thought to be realized by controlling two competing reactions. Electrochemical and UV-visible measurements suggest that the product might have potential applications in lithium batteries and semiconductor electronics. This synthetic process is simple, mild, clean, reproducible, and free of any template; it provides a novel pathway for the low-temperature growth of nanowires and their simultaneous oriented alignment.
Frontal affinity chromatography (FAC) using immobilized polyclone antibodies of compound A coupled with mass spectrometry was used for the screening of affinity compounds from an extract of Phyllanthus urinaria L. Mass spectrometry was used as an analyzer of FAC. It can analyze the frontal affinity chromatogram of each compound of the extract in one program. The extract was dissolved in 2 mM NH4OAc at a concentration of 10 microg/ mL, then loaded on the immobilized antibody column, and data were collected from mass spectrometry to get a frontal affinity chromatogram. The screening of extract resulted in brevifolin, brevifolin carboxylic acid, corilagin, ellagic acid, and phyllanthusiin U. Activity analyses give high inhibitory activities to these compounds. This research work afforded us a new approach to find new leading compounds from nature or a man-made combinatorial library that have different structure styles or to find substitutes for the synthetic active compound that has high toxicity.
Carbon hollow spheres (400-600 nm) and vessels (400 nm x 3000 nm) have been synthesized from sp3-CCl4 at 190 and 230 degrees C, respectively. The HRTEM images and Raman spectra reveal the sp2 nature of the as-obtained products, indicating that the transformation from carbon sp3 to sp2 occurs in the reactions. The possible mechanism has also been proposed.
A new coordination-polymer-precursor route has been developed to synthesize nanowires under hydrothermal conditions. In the present work, well-aligned gamma-MnO(2) nanowires, growing along the [0 0 2] axis, have successfully been prepared by selecting an appropriate coordination polymer [[Mn(SO(4))(4,4'-bpy)(H(2)O)(2)](n)] as precursor. In comparison with the experimental results from other coordination-polymer precursors, it is found that only [[Mn(SO(4))(4,4'-bpy)(H(2)O)(2)](n)] is appropriate for the formation of gamma-MnO(2) crystal lattices during the process of oxidization. The IR absorption spectra of as-obtained precipitates at different reaction intervals minutely describe the reaction process, due to the different coordination abilities of ligands in the coordination polymer. More evidence about the mechanism will be further explored in the future study. Further observations show the ordered alignment of nanowires' tops and such well-aligned nanowires provide more possible applications in lithium batteries.