Abstract Nontoxic liquid metals (conductive materials in a liquid state at room temperature) are an emerging class of materials for applications ranging from soft electronics and robotics to medical therapy and energy devices. Their sticky and corrosive properties, however, are becoming more of a critical concern for circuits and devices containing other metals as these are easily destroyed or contaminated by the liquid metals. Herein, a feasible method for fabricating highly conductive graphene‐coated liquid metal (GLM) droplets is reported and their application as nonstick, noncorrosive, movable, soft contacts for electrical circuits is demonstrated. The as‐prepared GLM droplets consist of a liquid‐phase soft core of liquid metal and a slippery outer layer of graphene sheets. These structures address the issue of simultaneous control of the wettability and conductivity of a soft electronic contact by combining extraordinary properties, i.e., nonstick, noncorrosive, yet exhibiting high electronic conductivity while in contact with metal substrates, e.g., Au, Cu, Ag, and Ni. As proof‐of‐concept, the as‐prepared GLM droplets are demonstrated as floating electrodes for movable, recyclable electronic soft contacts in electrical circuits.
Room-temperature gallium-based liquid metals (e. g. Galinstan) are emerging materials for a wide range of applications spanning from soft robotics to a medium for running chemical reactions. However, Galinstan suffers from rapid oxide formation at the surface, limiting its application. Similarly, this surface oxidation renders it difficult to determine the surface free energy of Galinstan. Herein, the interfacial properties of Galinstan in contact with argon, acid, base, water, and organic solvents were investigated, yielding kinetic information regarding the removal by acids and bases, knowledge about oxo-hydroxide/hydroxide species at the Galinstan/water interface, and an estimated value of the dispersive contribution of the surface free energy. The dispersive contribution of the surface free energy of Galinstan was calculated to be (239.7±9.1) mN/m, around 40 % of the total surface free energy. By employing the dispersive surface tension of Galinstan, the interfacial tension between a liquid and Galinstan can be easily obtained, facilitating the design and application of liquid metal-based devices.
IN THE CRYSTAL STRUCTURE OF THE TITLE COMPOUND [SYSTEMATIC NAME: 6,7-dimeth-oxy-12-methyl-16,18-dioxa-12-aza-tetra-cyclo-[12.7.0.0(4,9).0(15,19)]henicosa-1(21),4,6,8,14,19-hexaen-3-ol], C(21)H(25)NO(5), the benzene rings exhibits a dihedral angle of 14.95 (4)°. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by pairs of O-H⋯O hydrogen bonding into inversion dimers. These dimers are further connected by C-H⋯O inter-actions.
Twenty-two 2-aryl-9-methyl-3,4-dihydro-β-carbolin-2-ium bromides along with four 9-demethylated derivatives were synthesized and characterized by spectroscopic analysis. By using the mycelium growth rate method, the compounds were evaluated for antifungal activities in vitro against six plant pathogenic fungi, and structure-activity relationships (SAR) were derived. Almost all of the compounds showed obvious inhibition activity on each of the fungi at 150 μM. For all of the fungi, 10 of the compounds showed average inhibition rates of >80% at 150 μM, and most of their EC50 values were in the range of 2.0-30.0 μM. SAR analysis showed that the substitution pattern of the N-aryl ring significantly influences the activity; N9-alkylation improves the activity, whereas aromatization of ring-C reduces the activity. It was concluded that the present research provided a series of new 2-aryl-9-alkyl-3,4-dihydro-β-carbolin-2-iums with excellent antifungal potency and structure optimization design for the development of new carboline antifungal agents.
The relation between microRNAs (miRNAs) and malignant melanoma has been demonstrated in previous studies, while there was little research about miR-139-5p and malignant melanoma. The aim of this study is to investigate the ability of miR-139-5p in malignant melanoma cells via the modulation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway by targeting IGF1R. MiR-139-5p expression in malignant melanoma tissues and 5 malignant melanoma cell lines was detected. The melanoma cells were transfected with miR-139-5p mimic negative control (NC) sequence, miR-139-5p mimic, IGF1R overexpressed recombinant plasmid NC or IGF1R overexpressed sequence. The expression of Akt signaling pathway-related protein was evaluated. The biological functions in malignant melanoma cells were evaluated by a string of experiments. MiR-139-5p expressed a poor level in tissues and cell lines of malignant melanoma. Overexpressed miR-139-5p suppressed the cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and contributed to the promoted apoptosis of malignant melanoma cells by decreasing IGF1R. MiR-139-5p down-regulated the IGF1R expression, and IGF1R accelerated the activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. miR-139-5p reversed the promotive impacts of IGF1R on the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. The study validates that miR-139-5p could suppress malignant melanoma progression through the repression of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway by down-regulating IGF1R. Therefore, miR-139-5p could pave a new way for the treatment of malignant melanoma.
An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.
Abstract Mechanically controlled polymerization that employs the mechanical energy to fabricate novel synthetic materials has attracted considerable interest. However, only a few examples have been achieved so far, owing to the limited choices of materials and strategies. Herein, a versatile, liquid metal (LM)‐mediated mechanochemical polymerization method (LMMMP) is developed for the air‐compatible, robust preparation of polymers in an aqueous solution. This method involves the simultaneous disruption of bulk LMs into micro‐ and nanodroplets and the combination of monomers into polymers during ultrasonic irradiation. The pristine and reactive LM surface continuously generated by ultrasound endows this polymerization method with excellent oxygen tolerance, high reaction rate, and the ability to produce polymers with high molecular weight from a wide variety of water‐soluble monomers. Besides, LM droplets are readily reclaimed and reused for polymerization. The authors envision that the LMMMP promotes the utilization of mechanical energy for the synthesis of functional polymers, constitutes a novel fabrication approach for polymer–LM nanocomposites, and provides new insight into the design of LM‐based platforms for polymerization.
The dysregulation of cysteine cathepsin protease activity is pivotal in tumorigenic transformation. However, the underlying mechanism of cathepsin proteases in lung cancer remains unknown. Here, we identified that cathepsin V (CTSV) is upregulated in metastatic tissues of lung cancer patients and correlates with poor prognosis. Depletion of CTSV inhibited the metastasis of lung cancer. Mechanistic studies showed CTSV cleaves fibronectin, E-cadherin and N-cadherin to remodeling the extracellular matrix (ECM), thereafter promoted the metastasis of lung cancer. We confirmed that the N-glycosylation of CTSV at sites N221 and N292 determines its extracellular secretion and thereby contributes to the metastasis of lung cancer cells. Importantly, the level of CTSV in serum distinguished lung cancer patients with healthy donors and high levels of glycosylated CTSV (43-kDa band) were correlated with lymph node metastasis in lung cancer. Together, our findings reveal both the molecular mechanism by which CTSV drives the metastasis of lung cancer and the clinical relevance of CTSV glycosylation, suggesting that the glycosylated CTSV-targeting approach is a promising strategy for lung cancer with metastasis.Funding Information: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (82002428, 81972740, 81601991 and 82060529).Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.Ethics Approval Statement: The protocols for all human specimen studies and cell studies were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (GZR2020-154), and informed written consent was obtained from all donors.This study was approved by the Animal Ethical and Welfare Research Committee of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and performed strictly according to established ARRIVE criteria guidelines.
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