Article
Polymer Science
Zhong'an Li, Xiaobo Zang, Yibin Li, Qianqian Li, Zhen Li
Summary: Dendronized hyperbranched polymers (DHPs) are a promising structure platform for high-performance second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials. A new A(3)+B-2-type DHP (HP2) was reported, which exhibited high thermal stability and a high second-harmonic generation coefficient, making it suitable for second-order NLO applications.
MACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jiaxin Liu, Wenbo Wu
Summary: Organic/polymeric second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials have played a significant role in laser technology and optical fiber communication, but the intermolecular electrostatic interactions limit their efficiency. Dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers have been proposed as better alternatives for highly efficient NLO materials. Dendronized hyperbranched polymers (DHPs) have shown many advantages in the NLO field, such as easy synthesis, large NLO coefficients, and high orientation stability.
Article
Optics
Bong-Rim Shin, Se-In Kim, Dongwook Kim, Mojca Jazbinsek, Woojin Yoon, Hoseop Yun, In Cheol Yu, Fabian Rotermund, O-Pil Kwon
Summary: A new pi-conjugated cationic chromophore based on phenolic N-pyrimidinyl stilbazolium and its non-centrosymmetric crystals are reported in this study. The chromophore exhibits large molecular optical nonlinearity and co-existence in solution, while displaying a macroscopic second-order nonlinear optical response in the crystalline state.
OPTICS AND LASER TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Maria San Anselmo, Elena Lantero, Yunuen Avalos-Padilla, Ines Bouzon-Arnaiz, Miriam Ramirez, Alejandro Postigo, Jose Luis Serrano, Teresa Sierra, Silvia Hernandez-Ainsa, Xavier Fernandez-Busquets
Summary: The development of improved therapeutic compounds and targeted delivery strategies for antimalarial drugs is essential due to the increasing resistance of Plasmodium to existing medication. This study presents the use of dendronized hyperbranched polymers (DHPs) coated with heparin for specific targeting of Plasmodium-infected red blood cells. The resulting DHP-heparin complexes exhibit antimalarial activity and specific targeting capabilities.
ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Maria San Anselmo, Elena Lantero, Yunuen Avalos-Padilla, Ines Bouzon-Arnaiz, Miriam Ramirez, Alejandro Postigo, Jose Luis Serrano, Teresa Sierra, Silvia Hernandez-Ainsa, Xavier Fernandez-Busquets
Summary: Due to the increasing resistance of Plasmodium to current antimalarial drugs, it is necessary to develop improved therapeutic compounds and targeted delivery strategies. Loading antimalarials into nanocarriers specifically targeted to the parasite can result in lower overall doses and reduced side effects for patients, while increasing the lethality towards the pathogen by delivering higher local amounts to parasitized cells.
ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Polymer Science
Sijin Huang, Xin Huang, Tengfei Mao, Husheng Yan
Summary: In this study, a two-step method was developed to synthesize hyperbranched polymers with periphery guanidine groups without using any organic solvents. The guanidine-rich hyperbranched polymers showed lower cytotoxicity and hemolytic activity compared to their precursor hyperbranched polylysines. They also exhibited enhanced cellular uptake and penetration ability of doxorubicin in pancreatic cancer cells. Co-administration of the guanidine-rich hyperbranched polymers with doxorubicin and gemcitabine significantly enhanced the anticancer activity of the drugs in PANC-1 xenograft mouse models.
EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Lian Zhang, Fenggang Liu, Ruoxi Yang, Fuyang Huo, Weijun Zhang, Yu Zhang, Chuying Liu, Chunngai Hui, Jiahai Wang
Summary: Highly efficient binary cross-linkable/self-assembled dendritic chromophores FZL1-FZL4 were developed through Anthracene-maleimide Diels-Alder reaction and π-π interaction. The materials achieved high electro-optic coefficients and long-term alignment stability through the formation of covalently or non-covalently cross-linked networks after electric field poling orientation. The excellent electro-optic coefficient and stability indicate practical application prospects for organic electro-optic materials.
Article
Optics
Karolina Waszkowska, Pierre Josse, Clement Cabanetos, Philippe Blanchard, Bouchta Sahraoui, Dominique Guichaoua, Igor Syvorotka, Olha Kityk, Robert Wielgosz, Patrick Huber, Andriy Kityk
Summary: The study demonstrates that a reliable and accessible tool for designing materials with nonlinear meta-optics can be achieved by combining large-scale, self-organized nanoporosity in monolithic solids with confinement-controllable orientational order of chromophores.
Article
Polymer Science
Diana Serbezeanu, Ana-Maria Macsim, Ionela-Daniela Carja, Corneliu Hamciuc, Marius Pislaru, Tachita Vlad-Bubulac
Summary: Liquid crystalline hyperbranched poly(aryl ester)s were synthesized with high thermal stability and char yield, and their chemical structure was confirmed by various spectroscopic techniques.
HIGH PERFORMANCE POLYMERS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sylvain Achelle, Egor V. Verbitskiy, Michaela Feckova, Filip Bures, Alberto Barsella, Francoise Robin-le Guen
Summary: A series of V-shaped methylpyrimidinium salts with diphenylamino-electron-donating groups were designed, showing good NLO properties in the study. The 2,4-disubstituted pyrimidinium core exhibited enhanced NLO response and increased dipole moment compared to 4,6-disubstitution. Among the series, (E,E)-2,4-Bis[4-(diphenylamino)styryl]-1-methylpyrimidin-1-ium methanesulfonate was identified as the best NLO-phore with a figure of merit of mu beta(0)/MW=3.4x10(-48) esu mol g(-1).
Article
Polymer Science
Yifan Xu, Rui Zu, Neela H. Yennawar, Venkatraman Gopalan, Robert J. Hickey
Summary: Tailored polymer materials with high-glass transition temperatures, cross-linked matrices, and strong intermolecular interactions containing electric-field poled nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophores are promising for applications in optical telecommunication, high-performance computing, and data transmission. An alternative approach is introduced in which a NLO chromophore is cocrystallized with a polymer, forming a noncentrosymmetric hybrid host-guest complex, creating materials exhibiting second harmonic generation (SHG) properties. The innovative method involves aligning and maintaining a cocrystalline domain orientation through the formation of hybrid host-guest complexes to impart SHG properties.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Seung-Jun Kim, Se-In Kim, Mojca Jazbinsek, Woojin Yoon, Hoseop Yun, Dongwook Kim, In Cheol Yu, Fabian Rotermund, O-Pil Kwon
Summary: A new class of highly efficient nonlinear optical organic salt crystals, based on two electron-withdrawing groups (EWGs), has been reported. The crystals exhibit enhanced microscopic and macroscopic optical nonlinearity, making them promising materials for various nonlinear optical applications.
ADVANCED PHOTONICS RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Takuma Watabe, Hideyuki Otsuka
Summary: We present a new method for achieving swelling-induced mechanochemistry using a multinetwork (MN) strategy, which allows polymer networks to repeatedly swell with monomers and solvents. The isotropic expansion of the first network (FN) provides sufficient force to drive the mechanochemical scission of a radical-based mechanophore, difluorenylsuccinonitrile (DFSN). The MN polymers not only demonstrate the ability to modify networks through swelling force, but also show tunable reactivity of the dissociative unit through hierarchical network architecture design.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Anna Popczyk, Anna Grabarz, Yohan Cheret, Abdelkrim El-Ghayoury, Jaroslaw Mysliwiec, Bouchta Sahraoui
Summary: In this paper, a series of thiophene derivatives with different acceptor moieties were investigated for their nonlinear optical properties. It was found that molecules with extended conjugation length and nitro or dicyano groups as acceptors exhibit profound intramolecular charge transfer. These derivatives showed promising potential for optoelectronic and photonic applications, with noteworthy second harmonic generation response in purely organic systems and competitive trans-cis-trans isomerization times compared to commercial azobenzenes. By making small changes in the design of the acceptor moiety, it is possible to efficiently control and tailor the nonlinear response of the molecules.
Review
Polymer Science
Shigeru Yamago
Summary: Recent developments in one-step radical polymerization have allowed for precise control over the structure of hyperbranched polymers, with a new monomer design method successfully changing the reactivity of dormant groups and enabling control over branching structures.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Wenbo Wu, Bin Liu
NATIONAL SCIENCE REVIEW
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jican Hao, Zechao Zhuang, Jiace Hao, Kecheng Cao, Yuxiong Hu, Wenbo Wu, Shuanglong Lu, Chan Wang, Nan Zhang, Dingsheng Wang, Mingliang Du, Han Zhu
Summary: This study presents a strain relaxation strategy to determine lattice strains in bimetallic MNi alloys and achieves outstanding CO2-to-CO conversion efficiency. The molecular dynamics simulations and density functional theory calculations reveal the effectiveness of strain relaxation in improving CO2RR activity and selectivity.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Wenbo Wu, Bin Liu
Summary: Organic functional materials have broad applications in various fields, and their optical properties can be improved through simple polymerization. Polymerization can enhance properties such as spectral shift, photosensitization, two-photon absorption, photocatalytic efficiency, phosphorescence, delayed fluorescence, and emission. The opportunities for designing high performance optical materials using polymerization are promising.
MATERIALS HORIZONS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shengming Gan, Wenbo Wu, Guangxue Feng, Zhiming Wang, Bin Liu, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: This study presents a universal method to fabricate organic nanoparticles with controllable sizes and finds that approximately 45 nm is the optimal size for AIE nanoparticles in photodynamic therapy (PDT). Unlike conventional nanoparticles, AIE nanoparticles show enhanced fluorescence and ROS generation as their sizes increase from 6 to approximately 45 nm. Further increase in size enhances brightness but reduces ROS production. Experimental results confirm that 45 nm AIE nanoparticles exhibit the highest cellular uptake, deepest penetration depth, and best photodynamic killing effect.
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jiaxin Liu, Wenbo Wu
Summary: Organic/polymeric second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials have played a significant role in laser technology and optical fiber communication, but the intermolecular electrostatic interactions limit their efficiency. Dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers have been proposed as better alternatives for highly efficient NLO materials. Dendronized hyperbranched polymers (DHPs) have shown many advantages in the NLO field, such as easy synthesis, large NLO coefficients, and high orientation stability.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Leilei Shi, Xiaoxiao Liu, Yuzhen Li, Sha Li, Wenbo Wu, Xihui Gao, Bin Liu
Summary: Metabolic engineering labeled anaerobic oncolytic bacteria can effectively ablate melanoma by modifying the bacterial metabolic substrate and photosensitizer, enabling engineered bacteria to proliferate in the tumor and stimulate immune environment, eliminate the hypoxic region, and then exert a photodynamic effect in the oxygen-rich region to completely remove melanoma.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Yuping Zhou, Wenbo Wu, Pengxiang Yang, Duo Mao, Bin Liu
Summary: The study presents a novel approach for the treatment of bacterial infection using nanoparticles that can achieve deep chemiluminescent imaging-guided photothermal therapy and nitric oxide gas therapy. The nanoparticles can precisely track infection-induced inflammation and actively eradicate bacteria through photothermal and nitric oxide therapy, leading to rapid recovery of infected tissues.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Leilei Shi, Peng Zhang, Xiaoxiao Liu, Yuzhen Li, Wenbo Wu, Xihui Gao, Bin Liu
Summary: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a widely accepted treatment for malignant tumors. However, current applications are hindered by tumor hypoxia and intracellular oxidative resistance. Inhibiting histone deacetylases (HDACs) can reverse hypoxia and elevate oxidative status. The development of activity-based photosensitizers targeting HDACs can overcome these limitations and fully harness the potential of PDT for malignant tumor treatment.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yajing Jiang, Linlin Zhu, Wenbo Wu
Summary: The development of fluorophores with powerful features, such as aggregation-induced emission (AIE), for disease diagnosis and treatment has gained significant attention. Nanoprobes with AIE in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) have shown great potential in deeper penetration depth, better resolution, higher signal-to-noise ratio, and lower side effects. This article summarizes the latest advances in NIR-II AIE nanoprobes for cancer theranostics, focusing on the design of multifunctional AIE agents with strong NIR-II emission, effective photothermal conversion, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, as well as their biomedical applications in imaging diagnosis, image-guided surgery, and image-guided phototherapy. The opportunities and challenges in this field are also discussed.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jiabao Luo, Ping Yang, Jingxi Cheng, Jiaqi Fan, Weiying Zhou, Yaru Lu, XiaoBao Xie, Wenbo Wu, Xinguo Zhang
Summary: This study successfully synthesized two efficient far-red/near-infrared photosensitizers with bright emission, which showed advantages in discriminating different types of bacteria and distinguishing dead and live cells, and demonstrated broad-spectrum antibacterial properties. The study also revealed the antimicrobial mechanism and showed the potential of these photosensitizers for treating infected burns in vivo.
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Wenjie Liang, Gang Nie, Jinjin Che, Zhengjiang Zhang, Dugang Chen, Wenbo Wu
Summary: There is a lack of effective and friendly diagnostic technique for alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Fluorescence imaging, which has been widely applied in disease diagnostic ascribed to the merits of high sensitivity, excellent temporal resolution and minimal invasiveness, is probably a good candidate for ALD studying.
SENSORS AND ACTUATORS B-CHEMICAL
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Yonggang Li, Peng Zhang, Yujun Xie, Jiapei Yang, Yuqi Yang, Leilei Shi, Wenbo Wu, Zhen Li
Summary: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a powerful cancer treatment tool due to its noninvasive and spatiotemporal selectivity. Residue of photosensitizers (PSs) after PDT causes post-treatment side effects, which has hindered clinical translation. To solve this issue, PSs with multiple degradation modes are developed. These PSs can produce different reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon laser excitation, and the residual PSs can be further oxidized for biodegradation and excretion. SQSe shows the highest killing efficiency and degradation ability, as confirmed by in vitro and in vivo results. Its postoperative safety is also verified.
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Yaru Lu, Wenbo Wu
Summary: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising cancer treatment method due to its high precision and minimally invasive properties. Conjugated polymers (CPs) can improve the efficiency of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by photosensitizers (PSs), leading to enhanced PDT efficacy. CPs can also provide additional functions to the system, such as photothermal effects and drug-delivery capacity, enabling synergistic therapy with PDT.
ADVANCED THERAPEUTICS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Biomaterials
Jingxi Cheng, Yuping Zhou, Shidang Xu, Yujun Xie, Duo Mao, Wenbo Wu, Zhen Li
Summary: Three conjugated polymers with the same donor-acceptor structure but different architectures show both Type-I and Type-II photosensitization abilities simultaneously. Among them, the hyperbranched polymer demonstrates the best performance in both in vitro and in vivo experiments, surpassing the commonly used clinical photosensitizer hemoporfin.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY B
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xiaolei Cai, Aishwarya Bandla, Can Wang, Yu-Hang Liu, Chan Kim Chuan, Yu Xu, Xingang Liu, Shidang Xu, Wenbo Wu, Nitish Thakor, Bin Liu
Summary: This study presents a photothermal-activatable liposome for photoacoustic image-guided therapy of ischemic stroke. The technology, with strong photothermal properties and amplified photoacoustic signals, achieves rapid release of tPA using near-infrared laser and successfully restores perfusion in a rat ischemia model. Precise control of tPA release at the ischemic region is achieved through photoacoustic image-guided NIR laser irradiation, showing promise for translational applications.
