Graphene oxide (GO) and its derivatives are promising metal-free heterogeneous catalysts due to their high surface area and rich chemical properties. We developed a bifunctional boron-doped sulfonated graphene oxide (BS-GO) and demonstrated its excellent catalytic conversion of glucose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in a one-pot reaction. BS-GO afforded a high HMF yield of 36.0% from glucose without the use of additives or strong acids. Furthermore, the origin of the catalytic active sites of BS-GO was investigated, unveiling the unique bifunctional catalytic mechanism; it was revealed that two disjunct moieties, boronic acid and phenylsulfonic acid, in a single nanosheet of BS-GO catalyst have a bifunctional effect resulting in excellent catalytic production of HMF. This study suggests the potential of BS-GO as a green and sustainable carbocatalyst for reforming biomass to produce value-added chemicals. We anticipate that the unique structural design presented in this study will provide a guide to afford viable carbocatalysts for diverse organic reactions.Transition-metal sulfides have been extensively studied as anode materials for use in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) due to their multi-electron reactions, high rate performance, and abundant available resources. However, the practical capacities of metal sulfides remain low due to conductivity issues, volume expansion, and the use of traditional carbonate electrolytes. To overcome these drawbacks, ether electrolytes can be combined with nanoparticle-based metal sulfide anodes. Herein, a nanoparticle-based nickel monosulfide (NiS) anode with high rate performance in the ether electrolytes of SIBs/PIBs was prepared by heating a mixture of nickel nanoparticles with sulfur. In SIBs, the NiS anode capacity was 286 mA h g-1 at a high current density of 100 A g-1, and excellent cycling performance was observed at 25 A g-1 with a capacity of 468 mA h g-1 after 1000 cycles. Moreover, a full-cell containing a Na3V2(PO4) cathode demonstrated a rate performance of 65 mA h g-1 at a high current density of 100 A g-1. In PIBs, the NiS electrode capacity was 642 and 37 mA h g-1 at 0.5 and 100 A g-1, respectively.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/o-pentagalloylglucose.html  Hence, the synthesised NiS nanoparticles possessed excellent storage capability, regardless of the alkali-ion type, suggesting their potential use as robust NiS anodes for advanced battery systems.Two novel helical aromatic foldamer derivatives TPA-Q6(n-He) and TPA-Q6(i-Bu) were synthesized and characterized by introducing n-hexyloxy and isobutoxy side chains, respectively, and modifying quinoline amide foldamers with the triphenylamine (TPA) moiety at the N-terminus. X-ray single crystal diffraction analyses and theoretical calculations showed that the quinoline amide hexamer derivative TPA-Q6(i-Bu) enabled one-dimensional (1D) helical self-assembly in solids due to the synergistic interaction of the flexible π units of TPA, the steric hindrance of the alkyl groups, and methanol molecules. The chemical modification of the TPA end group significantly enhanced the fluorescence due to the intramolecular charge transfer. Steady-state fluorescence spectra and transient decay curves showed that TPA-Q6(i-Bu) forming a 1D helical assembly obviously exhibited a redshift of the emission wavelength and an increase of phosphorescence lifetimes in crystals compared with TPA-Q6(n-He) adopting the alternating insertion arrangement induced by the long alkyl chains. The results offered a new way to explore the intrinsic relationship among molecular structures, packing modes and optical properties for foldamers.Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is frequently used in cancer treatment in clinical settings. However, its applications in stroma-rich solid tumors, e.g., triple negative breast cancer, are limited by abnormal mechanical microenvironments. Solid stress accumulated in stroma-rich solid tumors compresses tumor blood vessels, hampers the delivery of photosensitizers (PSs) in tumor tissues, and poses a major challenge for potent PDT. Here, we report a novel combination strategy to augment PDT based cancer therapy by combining hydroxyethyl starch-chlorin e6 conjugate self-assembled nanoparticles (HES-Ce6 NPs) with the transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) inhibitor LY2157299 (LY). HES-Ce6 conjugates, as synthesized by one step esterification reaction, could self-assemble into uniform HES-Ce6 NPs, which exhibited enhanced photostability and generated more reactive oxygen species (ROS) under 660 nm laser irradiation than free Ce6. Prior to PDT, intragastric administration of LY decreased collagen deposition, alleviated solid stress, and decompressed tumor blood vessels. As a result, the reconstructed tumor mechanical microenvironment promoted accumulation and penetration of HES-Ce6 NPs into tumor tissues, contributing to augmented antitumor efficacy of HES-Ce6 NP mediated PDT. Modulating tumor mechanical microenvironments using TGFβ blockade to enhance the delivery of PSs in tumors with excessive extracellular matrix represents an efficient strategy for treating stroma-rich solid tumors.Surfactant plays a remarkable role in determining the growth process (facet exposition) of colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) and the formation of self-assembled NC superstructures, the underlying mechanism of which, however, still requires elucidation. In this work, the mechanism of surfactant-mediated morphology evolution and self-assembly of CeO2 nanocrystals is elucidated by exploring the effect that surfactant modification has on the shape, size, exposed facets, and arrangement of the CeO2 NCs. It is directly proved that surfactant molecules determine the morphologies of the CeO2 NCs by preferentially bonding onto Ce-terminated 100 facets, changing from large truncated octahedra (mostly 111 and 100 exposed), to cubes (mostly 100 exposed) and small cuboctahedra (mostly 100 and 111 exposed) by increasing the amount of surfactant. The exposure degree of the 100 facets largely affects the concentration of Ce3+ in the CeO2 NCs, thus the cubic CeO2 NCs exhibit superior oxygen storage capacity and excellent supercapacitor performance due to a high fraction of exposed active 100 facets with great superstructure stability.