The methane dry reforming (DRM) reaction can convert CO₂ and CH₄, both of which contribute to climate change, into syngas, which holds great significance in mitigating specific environmental issues stemming from the greenhouse effect. Nonetheless, the challenges that persist include the substantial energy consumption and the catalyst’s susceptibility to deactivation, both of which necessitate solutions. Herein, we developed a catalyst, PdCe/S1, featuring small-sized Pd species and CeO₂ stabilized on pure silicon zeolite (silicalite-1), which is employed in the DRM reaction. It can achieve 97% CH₄ conversion and 98% CO₂ conversion at 750 °C, surpassing binary Pd/CeO₂ and Pd/S1 catalysts. The small size of CeO₂ stabilized by silicalite-1 promotes oxygen defects formation and enhances the CO₂ adsorption capacity. The introduction of silicalite-1 further enhances the interaction between Pd and CeO₂, boosting DRM performance.

Immune cells are essential components of the human immune system, playing a critical role in maintaining human health and defending against diseases. Changes in nutritional metabolism influence the activation, proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation direction, and other behaviors of immune cells, affecting immune function. Amino acids, fundamental nutrients in all living organisms, are crucial for maintaining redox balance, regulating energy, supporting biosynthesis, and preserving homeostasis. The availability of amino acids influences the behaviors and functions of immune cells significantly. Therefore, understanding the intricate relationship between amino acid metabolism and immune cell behavior leads to identifying unique therapeutic targets and improving clinical outcomes. The review summarizes the impact of different types of amino acid metabolism on the behaviors of dendritic cells and T cells, hoping to provide a valuable reference for researchers and clinicians in related fields.

Dysfunction of ion channels, often caused by mutations in natural proteins, can lead to various channelopathies. Their artificial analogs have shown great promise to substitute the abnormal channels. Here, we report a supramolecular potassium channel that forms through the self-assembly of pyrene-crown ether conjugated by intermolecular π-π interactions. The self-assembled dimer of this channel was optimized and calculated to have a binding energy of −27.4 kcal/mol (1 kcal=4.18 kJ). Evidence for the formation of an active ion channel by PC5 was confirmed using a planar lipid bilayer (BLM) workstation, while no such activity was observed for R-PC5. The K⁺/Na⁺ selectivity was reversed in the reduced form, R-PC5, due to the elimination of the planar structure of PC5, resulting in R-PC5 functioning as a Na⁺ carrier. Additionally, incorporating the pyrene group facilitates imaging in living cells, providing a potentially viable method for investigating the behaviors of artificial ion channels in living systems.

Herein, a turn-on fluorescent probe for the detection of lead ions was developed using 7-diethylaminocoumarin as the fluorophore and dibenzo-18-crown-6 as the recognition unit. The response performance to lead ions was systematically studied. The probe showed specific selectivity and high sensitivity to lead ions, with fluorescence intensity at 496 nm increasing linearly with lead ion concentration (R ²=0.995) over the range of 1.0×10⁻⁷–1.0×10⁻⁶ mol/L, and an LOD of 11.4 nmol/L. Job’s plot revealed that the probe forms a 1:1 stoichiometry complex with lead ions during the recognition process. Furthermore, the sensing mechanism of the probe was confirmed by density functional theory calculations, indicating that the recognition mechanism is based on photoinduced electron transfer (PET). The introduction of lead ions blocks PET, resulting in fluorescence enhancement. Finally, it was applied in the detection of practical water samples and bioimaging, demonstrating high application value in the field of chemosensors.

Vascular endothelial growth factor 2 (VEGFR2) plays a vital role in regulating of tumor metastasis and angiogenesis, which has emerged as one of the effective targets for clinical tumor therapy. Herein, a series of novel facilely accessible 4-phenoxyquinoline derivatives was prepared and assessed for their antitumor activity against three human tumor cell lines (SGC-7901, HepG2 and A549). Among these compounds, 6a, 6b and 6c show strong antitumor activity on HepG2 cells [the drug concentration of eliminating half of tumor cells (IC₅₀)=9.33, 1.84, 8.54 μmol/L]. Notably, compound 6b shows potent selective inhibitory activity against VEGFR2 kinase with an IC50 value of 4.66 nmol/L. The excellent anti-angiogenesis capability of compound 6b was confirmed by tube formation and chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. In vivo studies confirmed that compound 6b was able to inhibit tumor growth in HepG2 xenografts of BALB/c nude mice without obvious side or toxic effects. The results demonstrated that compound 6b exhibited remarkable anti-angiogenesis and tumor growth inhibitory effects with less toxicity in vitro and in vivo models. These findings highlighted the potential of compound 6b as a promising VEGFR2 kinase inhibitor for the development of antitumor drugs.

This study introduces an innovative method for synthesizing mordenite (MOR) by employing a combination of water glass and fumed silica as the silica source. The zeolite produced through this method exhibits a smaller grain size, a larger specific surface area, and a greater number of Brønsted acid sites compared to the conventionally synthesized mordenite using silica sol. Furthermore, the chemical environment of framework Al in MOR zeolites is influenced by different silica sources, leading to varied acid properties between the two MOR zeolites, which results in an enhanced activity of dimethyl ether carbonylation from 50% to over 83%.

Indole derivatives, especially bisindolylesters, have attracted intense attention due to their important applications in medicinal chemistry and organic synthesis. Here we develop a Lewis acid-catalyzed efficient and regioselective strategy to prepare a series of symmetric and unsymmetric bisindolylesters in high to excellent yields under mild conditions. The systematic investigations, which include stoichiometric nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments and structural characterization of intermediates, have provided insights into the possible reaction mechanism for this B(C₆F₅)₃-catalyzed addition reaction. Moreover, the sequential employment of Al(C₆F₅)₃ and B(C₆F₅)₃ as catalysts enabled us to successfully prepare the unsymmetric bisindolyl-compounds in one-pot two-step manner without the separation step.

Herein, we present a photoinduced, CeCl₃-catalyzed three-component decarboxylative reaction that couples carboxylic acids, alkenes and tert-butyl hydroperoxide for the formation of various organic peroxides. The ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) excitation mode allows the decarboxylative alkylation-peroxidation reaction to occur under mild conditions, and is well applicable to primary, secondary and tertiary carboxylic acids and styrene derivatives.