We report a fluorescent probe for the selective detection of mitochondrial glutathione (GSH). The probe, containing triphenylphosphine as a mitochondrial targeting group, exhibited ratiometric and selective detection of GSH over Cys/Hcy. The probe was used for imaging mitochondrial GSH in living HeLa cells.

ABSTRACTTwo n-type conjugated D-A copolymers, P(TVT-NDI) and P(FVF-NDI) with thienylene-vinylene-thienylene (TVT) or furanylene-vinylene-furanylene (FVF) as donor (D) units and naphthalene diimide (NDI) as the acceptor (A) units, were synthesized by the Stille coupling copolymerization. The two polymers possess good solubility, high thermal stability, and broad absorption bands with absorption edges at 866 nm for P(TVT-NDI) and 886 nm for P(FVF-NDI). The LUMO energy levels of P(TVT-NDI) and P(FVF-NDI) are −3.80 eV and −3.76 eV respectively, so the two polymers are suitable for the application as acceptor in blending with most polymer donor in PSCs based on the energy level matching point of view. All polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) were fabricated with P(TVT-NDI) or P(FVF-NDI) as acceptor and medium bandgap polymer J51 as donor for investigating the photovoltaic performance of the two n-type conjugated polymer acceptors. And higher power conversion efficiency of 6.43% for P(TVT-NDI) and 5.21% for P(FVF-NDI) was obtained. The results indicate that arylenevinylenearylene–naphthalene diimide copolymer are promising polymer acceptor for all–PSCs. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017, 55, 1757–1764

•We developed a multi-emissive fluorescent probe for the selective detection of GSH and Cys.•The probe was composed of covalently linked BODIPY and coumarin fluorophores.•White fluorescence was observed at GSH concentration of 0.4 mM.•The probe was used to detect GSH and Cys in living cells.Glutathione (GSH) and cysteine (Cys) play different roles in biological systems, thus the discrimination between them is of great importance. Herein we report a multi-emissive fluorescent probe for the selective detection of GSH and Cys. The probe was composed of covalently linked BODIPY and coumarin fluorophores. The BODIPY fluorophore was designed to react with GSH and Cys and generate different products with distinct photophysical properties, and the coumarin fluorophore acted as an internal standard. The probe exhibited green emission in aqueous solution. Upon addition of Cys, it yielded nitrogen-substituted BODIPY with weak fluorescence and free coumarin with blue emission. In the presence of glutathione, it generated mono- and di-sulfur substituted BODIPY and coumarin, resulting in various emission colors at different concentrations of GSH. Interestingly, the solution exhibited white fluorescence at GSH concentration of 0.4 mM. The probe was capable of detecting and imaging GSH and Cys in living HeLa cells, indicating its significant potential in biological applications.Download high-res image (160KB)Download full-size image

•We developed a ratiometric fluorescent probe for the selective detection of thiophenol based on a new sensing strategy.•The probe showed fast response towards thiophenols over aliphatic thiols and displayed ∼650-fold fluorescence ratio variation and a remarkable detection limit of 36.9 nM.•The probe was used to detect thiophenol in water samples and in living cells.We report a fluorescent probe for thiophenol based on a new sensing strategy via the aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction between thiophenol and mono-chlorinated BODIPY, which enable the ratiometric detection of thiophenol. The probe showed fast response towards thiophenols over aliphatic thiols and displayed ∼650-fold fluorescence ratio variation and a remarkable detection limit of 36.9 nM. A linear calibration graph indicated that it can be potentially employed to detect thiophenol quantitatively. Its potential applications were confirmed by employing it for detection of thiophenol in water samples and fluorescence imaging of thiophenol in living cells.A fluorescent probe with the novel design strategies for the highly sensitive and selective detection of thiophenol and its fluorescence imaging in living cellsDownload high-res image (97KB)Download full-size image

An alternating copolymer (P(IDT-NDI)) containing indacenodithienothiophene (IDT) and naphthalene diimide (NDI) units was synthesized for application as an acceptor material in all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs). The polymer possesses a low bandgap of 1.51 eV, a suitable LUMO level of −3.84 eV and a HOMO level of −5.75 eV for use as an acceptor material instead of PCBM. Three conjugated polymers including J50 and J51 with a medium bandgap (ca. 1.9 eV) and PTB7-Th with a low bandgap (1.59 eV) were selected as donor materials for the investigation of the photovoltaic performance of the nonfullerene acceptor P(IDT-NDI). The champion all-PSCs with P(IDT-NDI) as an acceptor demonstrated power conversion efficiencies of 3.63%, 4.12% and 5.33% for the polymer donors PTB7-Th, J50 and J51, respectively. The results indicate that the complementary absorption of the polymer donor with polymer acceptor is very important for high performance all-PSCs and P(IDT-NDI) is a promising polymer acceptor for all-PSCs.

•GC × GC-TOFMS and GC × GC-FID analysis UCMs of aromatic fraction of heavy oil.•Compounds in UCMs were separated and recognized by GC × GC.•Abundant aromatic biomarker compounds were detected for the first time by GC × GC.•Some compounds could be used to characterize the biodegradation degree.The aromatic hydrocarbon fractions of five crude oils representing a natural sequence of increasing degree of biodegradation from the Liaohe Basin, NE, China, were analyzed using conventional gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC). Because of the limited peak capability and low resolution, compounds in the aromatic fraction of a heavily biodegraded crude oil that were analyzed by GC–MS appeared as unresolved complex mixtures (UCMs) or GC “humps”. They could be separated based on their polarity by GC × GC. UCMs are composed mainly of aromatic biomarkers and aromatic hydrocarbons with branched alkanes or cycloalkanes substituents. The quantitative results achieved by GC × GC-FID were shown that monoaromatic hydrocarbons account for the largest number and mass of UCMs in the aromatic hydrocarbon fraction of heavily biodegraded crude oil, at 45% by mass. The number and mass of diaromatic hydrocarbons ranks second at 33% by mass, followed by the aromatic biomarker compounds, triaromatic, tetraaromatic, and pentaaromatic hydrocarbons, that account for 10%, 6%, 1.5%, and 0.01% of all aromatic compounds by mass, respectively. In the heavily biodegraded oil, compounds with monocyclic cycloalkane substituents account for the largest proportion of mono- and diaromatic hydrocarbons, respectively. The C4-substituted compounds account for the largest proportion of naphthalenes and the C3-substituted compounds account for the largest proportion of phenanthrenes, which is very different from non-biodegraded, slightly biodegraded, and moderately biodegraded crude oil. It is inferred that compounds of monoaromatic, diaromatic and triaromatic hydrocarbons are affected by biodegradation, that compounds with C1-, C2-substituents are affected by the increase in degree of biodegradation, and that their relative content decreased, whereas compounds with C3-substituents or more were affected slightly or unaffected, and their relative content also increased. The varying regularity of relative content of substituted compounds may be used to reflect the degree of degradation of heavy oil. Moreover, biomarkers for the aromatic hydrocarbons of heavily biodegraded crude oil are mainly aromatic steranes, aromatic secohopanes, aromatic pentacyclotriterpanes, and benzohopanes. According to resultant data, aromatic secohopanes could be used as a specific marker because of their relatively high concentration. This aromatic compound analysis of a series of biodegraded crude oil is useful for future research on the quantitative characterization of the degree of biodegradation of heavy oil, unconventional oil maturity evaluation, oil source correlation, depositional environment, and any other geochemical problems.

A new α-cyanostilbene derivative, CDB-DMA12, was designed and synthesized as a supramolecular chemosensor for the detection of sodium houttuyfonate (SH) via aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE), which could efficiently bind with SH, then induce an obvious fluorescence enhancement and visible absorption red-shifting (by the naked eye). Accordingly, a linear relationship was found when plotting the fluorescence intensity at 558 nm against SH concentration, with an estimated detection limit of 8.5 μM. Interestingly, morphology changes from nanoparticles to sheet, scroll and tube-shaped aggregates were observed on CDB-DMA12 after the addition of SH. Moreover, CDB-DMA12 showed high selectivity to SH among other sulfonyl containing species, which is attributed to the synergistic effect of its quaternary ammonium, the hydrogen bonding of the active group sites and the twelve carbon containing long-aliphatic chain units. In addition, the results paved a new way for the detection/recognition of amphiphilic natural products in aqueous solution with high sensitivity and selectivity. Besides, it provided a possible approach for the preparation of new fluorescent micro/nano-scaled architectures through the solution self-assembly of oppositely-charged amphiphiles.

A thiourea-functionalized π-conjugated cyanostilbene derivative of (Z)-N-((4-(2-cyano-2-phenylvinyl)phenyl)carbamothioyl)acetamide (CN-S) has been designed, synthesized and characterized by standard spectroscopic analyses. CN-S exhibited excellent aggregation-induced emission property in DMSO/water mixture with high water fraction and showed highly selective and sensitive recognition towards Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions with large fluorescence changes. On addition of Cu2+ to CN-S, it displayed a turn-off fluorescent response and generated a Cu–CN-S complex which was also confirmed by theoretical calculation. However, the complex of Cu–CN-S showed a turn-on fluorescent response to Hg2+ with high selectivity and sensitivity because of a desulfurization reaction. In addition, there is a good linear relationship (R2 = 0.9966) between the fluorescence intensity and the concentration of Hg2+. The detection limit of Hg2+ is 45 nM. By this novel strategy, this single molecule (CN-S) can be used as fluorescent sensor to detect Hg2+ specifically.

•CoMoO4 nanorods (NRs) show excellent electrocatalytic performance.•CoMoO4 nanorods (NRs) exhibit a low potential, Tafel slope and superior durability.•The CoMoO4 NRs show superior durability at the 350 mV in alkaline solution and the current density still remains ∼94% of initial value after 10 h.We have developed the CoMoO4 nanorods (NRs) electrode with a specific one-dimensional nanostructure, which exhibited superior electrocatalytic performance for Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER), such as lower potential (343 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2), Tafel slope (67 mV decade−1) and excellent catalytic stability (for 10 h). Benefiting from enhancement of electrical conductivity and one-dimensional nanostructure, the CoMoO4 NRs show improved OER activity than Co3O4 cubes, demonstrating that one-dimensional nanostructures could be promising to achieve the OER catalysts with excellent property.

An alternating copolymer (P(IDT-NDI)) containing indacenodithienothiophene (IDT) and naphthalene diimide (NDI) units was synthesized for application as an acceptor material in all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs). The polymer possesses a low bandgap of 1.51 eV, a suitable LUMO level of −3.84 eV and a HOMO level of −5.75 eV for use as an acceptor material instead of PCBM. Three conjugated polymers including J50 and J51 with a medium bandgap (ca. 1.9 eV) and PTB7-Th with a low bandgap (1.59 eV) were selected as donor materials for the investigation of the photovoltaic performance of the nonfullerene acceptor P(IDT-NDI). The champion all-PSCs with P(IDT-NDI) as an acceptor demonstrated power conversion efficiencies of 3.63%, 4.12% and 5.33% for the polymer donors PTB7-Th, J50 and J51, respectively. The results indicate that the complementary absorption of the polymer donor with polymer acceptor is very important for high performance all-PSCs and P(IDT-NDI) is a promising polymer acceptor for all-PSCs.

We report a fluorescent probe for the selective detection of mitochondrial glutathione (GSH). The probe, containing triphenylphosphine as a mitochondrial targeting group, exhibited ratiometric and selective detection of GSH over Cys/Hcy. The probe was used for imaging mitochondrial GSH in living HeLa cells.