The Antibacterial Drug Candidate SBC3 is a Potent Inhibitor of Bacterial Thioredoxin Reductase

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem for public health and associated with increasing economic costs and mortality rates. Silver and silver-related compounds have been used for centuries due to their antimicrobial properties. In this work, we show that 1,3-dibenzyl-4,5-diphenyl-imidazol-2-ylidene silver(I) acetate/NHC*-Ag-OAc (SBC3) is a reversible, high affinity inhibitor of E. coli thioredoxin reductase (TrxR; K_i=10.8±1.2 nM). Minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) tests with different E. coli and P. aeruginosa strains demonstrated that SBC3 can efficiently inhibit bacterial cell growth, especially in combination with established antibiotics like gentamicin. Our results show that SBC3 is a promising antibiotic drug candidate targeting bacterial TrxR.     

Ir(III) and Ru(II) Complexes in Photoredox Catalysis and Photodynamic Therapy: A New Paradigm towards Anticancer Applications

Individually, photoredox catalysis (PC) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) are well-established concepts that have experienced a remarkable resurgence in recent years, leading to significant progress in organic synthesis for PC and clinical approval of anticancer drugs for PDT. But, very recently, new photoredox catalyst systems based on Ir(III) and Ru(II) complexes have garnered significant interest because they can simultaneously be used as PDT agents apart from their demonstrated PC activity. This highlight discusses the unique PC behavior of emerging Ir(III)- and Ru(II)-based systems while also examining their potential PDT activity in cancer treatment.     

Building up PtII−Thiosemicarbazone−Lysine−sC18 Conjugates

Three chiral tridentate N^N^S coordinating pyridine-carbaldehyde (S)-N4-(α-methylbenzyl)thiosemicarbazones (HTSCmB) were synthesised along with lysine-modified derivatives. One of them was selected and covalently conjugated to the cell-penetrating peptide sC18 by solid-phase peptide synthesis. The HTSCmB model ligands, the HTSCLp derivatives and the peptide conjugate rapidly and quantitatively form very stable Pt^II chlorido complexes [Pt(TSC)Cl] when treated with K₂PtCl₄ in solution. The Pt(CN) derivatives were obtained from one TSCmB model complex and the peptide conjugate complex through Cl⁻→CN⁻ exchange. Ligands and complexes were characterised by NMR, IR spectroscopy, HR-ESI-MS and single-crystal XRD. Intriguingly, no decrease in cell viability was observed when testing the biological activity of the lysine-tagged HdpyTSCLp, its sC18 conjugate HdpyTSCL-sC18 or the PtCl and Pt(CN) conjugate complexes in three different cell lines. Thus, given the facile and effective preparation of such Pt-TSC-peptide conjugates, these systems might pave the way for future use in late-stage labelling with Pt radionuclides and application in nuclear medicine.     

电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法测定辛酸铑催化剂中铂钯铅铁铜铝镍

准确测定辛酸铑催化剂中杂质元素含量,是判定产品是否合格的重要指标之一。以往常采用直流电弧发射光谱法(摄谱法)进行检测,但测定周期长,且重复性较差。用电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法(ICP-AES)测定辛酸铑催化剂中微量杂质元素时,辛酸铑催化剂样品中含有的大量有机组分和铑基体会对测定有严重干扰。实验采用反复滴加硝酸消解样品中有机组分,再用王水溶解盐类,选用合适背景点扣除的方式消除铑基体的干扰,建立了使用ICP-AES测定辛酸铑催化剂中0.001%~0.1%(质量分数)Pt、Pd、Pb、Fe、Cu、Al、Ni等7种微量杂质元素的方法。各元素在0.10~10.00μg/mL范围内与其发射强度呈线性关系,相关系数均大于0.9999;方法检出限(μg/mL)为0.075(Pt)、0.0033(Pd)、0.015(Pb)、0.0036(Fe)、0.010(Cu)、0.001(Al)、0.012(Ni)。实验方法用于测定辛酸铑催化剂样品中Pt、Pd、Pb、Fe、Cu、Al、Ni,结果的相对标准偏差为(RSD,n=7)为1.4%~9.6%。按照实验方法测定辛酸铑催化剂中Pt、Pd、Pb、Fe、Cu、Al、Ni,并与直流电弧发射光谱法的测定结果进行比对,结果相一致。     

Predictive association of metal–organic systems in the solid-state: the molecular electrostatic potential based approach

Designing crystalline solids with improved properties or performances remains a challenging task, despite great strides that have been made within the field of crystal engineering since its birth several decades ago. Herein, we are bringing examples that illustrate recent successes in taking supramolecular synthetic guidelines from the organic crystal engineering and adjusting those to metal-containing systems, particularly to the lower-dimensional ones. The versatility of calculated molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) as a new crystal engineering tool is demonstrated.     

Component spectroscopic properties of light-harvesting complexes with DFT calculations

Photosynthesis is a fundamental process in biosciences and biotechnology that influences profoundly the research in other disciplines. In this paper, we focus on the characterization of fundamental components, present in pigment-protein complexes, in terms of their spectroscopic properties such as infrared spectra, nuclear magnetic resonance, as well as nuclear quadrupole resonance, which are of critical importance for many applications. Such components include chlorophylls and bacteriochlorophylls. Based on the density functional theory method, we calculate the main spectroscopic characteristics of these components for the Fenna-Matthews-Olson light-harvesting complex, analyze them and compare them with available experimental results. Future outlook is discussed in the context of current and potential applications of the presented results.     

Electrical properties of calcia-stabilised zirconia ceramics

The electrical properties of cubic, calcia-stabilised zirconia ceramics, Ca_xZr_1-xO_2-x: 0.12 ≤ x ≤ 0.18 have been investigated using impedance spectroscopy to separate bulk, grain boundary and electrode contact impedances. The most appropriate equivalent circuit to characterise the bulk response required inclusion of a dielectric component, represented by a series RC element, in parallel with the oxide ion conductivity represented by a parallel combination of a resistance, capacitance and constant phase element. The dielectric component may be attributed to defect complexes involving immobile oxygen vacancy pairs whereas long range conduction involves single oxygen vacancies.     

Pt-WC/Mnt三元纳米复合材料的制备及其电催化性能

以剥离后的蒙脱石(Mnt)片层为载体、六氯化钨(WCl6)为钨源,通过浸渍负载及原位还原碳化获得了碳化钨(WC)与蒙脱石(Mnt)纳米复合材料,然后将氯铂酸(H2PtCl6)通过浸渍负载于复合材料上,并在氢气(H2)中还原得到Pt-WC/Mnt三元纳米复合催化材料。采用X射线粉末衍射和透射电子显微镜对三元纳米复合催化材料的物相、形貌和结构进行表征,采用三电极体系和循环伏安法测试了样品的电催化性能。结果表明:样品物相主要为WO3和WC,蒙脱石片层结构明显,铂(Pt)纳米粒子均匀分布于WC/Mnt复合材料的外表面。Pt-WC/Mnt三元纳米复合材料对甲醇电催化氧化具有较高的催化活性,并且在酸碱体系中均具有良好的稳定性。     

电子行业用高纯钯的制备研究

高纯钯在电子行业等领域应用广泛，需求迫切。以氯化钯为原料，提出采用氯化铵沉淀-氨水配合联合工艺净化钯溶液，水合肼还原纯净钯溶液制备高纯钯。结果表明，固体氯化钯溶解后，在合适的条件下，该钯溶液经过氧化-氯化铵沉淀、氨水配合有效去除杂质元素，获得纯净二氯四氨合钯溶液，再经水合肼还原后，获得纯度99.999%高纯钯，其碳、氧、氮等杂质元素总含量小于355×10^-6。