Recently, research group led by Prof. ZHANG Tao and Prof. QIAO Botao from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found a novel approach to selectively obtain linear aldehydes in hydroformylation of styrene and its derivatives by coupling with a water-gas shift reaction on Rh single-atom catalyst supported by CeO2 without using any ligands. The results were publised in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Hydroformylation of olefins is one of the most important homogeneously catalyzed industrial reactions for aldehyde synthesis. Various ligands are usually used to obtain desired linear aldehydes in aliphatic olefin hydroformylation. However, in aromatic hydroformylation it prefers to obtain branched aldehydes with common ligands, posing a grand challenge for the synthesis of linear products. To obtain high selectivity to linear aldehyde, steric hindrance ligands, such as triphosphoramidite and tetradentate phosphine, have to be used, which are generally followed by the problem of high cost and complex synthetic procedure. Therefore, the development of new approaches to manipulate the regioselectivity of styrene hydroformylation remains attractive but challenging in both fundamental study and practical applications. Detailed studies in this work revealed that the in situ H generated from the water-gas shift plays a critical role in determining the high regioselectivity to linear products. Besides, comparied with Rh single-atom catalyst, Rh homogeneous catalysts are much less active because of the inability to catalyse water-gas shift reaction, and Rh nanoparticle catalysts are mainly corresponding phenylpropanols rather than aldehydes, result in the decrease of chemoselectivity. The coupling of a traditionally homogeneous catalysis process with a heterogeneous catalysis reaction to tune product selectivity may provide a new avenue for the heterogenization of homogenous catalysis process. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Projects for Fundamental Research and Development of China, Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, DNL Cooperation Fund, CAS and LiaoNing Revitalization Talents Program. (Text and Imaged by LI Tianbo)

Research group led by Prof. QIN Jianhua from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences made a progress on the fabrication of hybrid hydrogel capsules that enables stem cell organoids engineering in a novel droplet microfluidic system. The results were published in Advanced Science. Recently, there has been a growing interest in building functional 3D organ models in vitro. Organoids are multicellular tissues formed by self-organization of stem cells in 3D culture, representing a new class of organ models that mimic corresponding native organs. Starting as a major technological breakthrough, they have shown enormous potential in organ developmental studies, disease modeling, drug screening, and translational research. Generally, organoid derivation protocols mainly rely on self-organization of stem cells in 3D animal-derived matrices (e.g., Matrigel) by tedious operations. However, organoids are often limited by significant variability and low throughput, which is partially due to the complex and poorly defined matrix, as well as the labor-intensive multistep process in the existing approaches. Advances in biomaterials, especially in hydrogels have offered great opportunities to recreate 3D tissue/organ models with more physiological relevance in a controlled manner. Hydrogels are polymers with high water content, defined compositions and tunable physicochemical properties, which can recapitulate the in vivo microenvironment for the establishment of organ models with higher fidelity. In addition, droplet microfluidic has attracted much attention in building cellular spheroids due to its inherent advantages of high-throughput and controllability. Schematic diagram of all-in-water droplet microfluidic system to fabricate hybrid hydrogel capsules that enable 3D culture and generation of islet organoids. In this research, researchers present a novel strategy for one-step and high-throughput fabrication of hydrogel capsules in a droplet microfluidic system that enables stem cell organoids engineering by combining bioengineering technology, materials and stem cell biology. The proposed capsules allow for 3D culture, growth, and massive generation of human islet organoids from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) in a continuous process. Herein, a microfluidic chip with pneumatic valves was designed and manipulated for the generation of water-in-water droplets that were utilized as templates for fabrication of binary capsules relying on interfacial complexation of oppositely charged Na-alginate (NaA) and chitosan (CS). The islet organoids generated within the capsules exhibited great uniformity on their size and morphology due to the controllable generation progress. Also, these organoids displayed great cellular viability and sensitive glucose-stimulated insulin secretion function. The proposed strategy can not only facilitate the reproducibility of organoids by providing uniform and defined 3D scaffolds, but also be amenable to massive production of organoids. This system is scalable, easy-to-operate and stable, which could offer a robust platform for various stem cell organoids engineering and advancing their biomedical applications. This research was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and National Nature Science Foundation of China. (Text and Image by LIU Haitao, WANG Yaqing)

A research group led by Prof. LIU Xiaoyan and Prof. ZHANG Tao from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed a strategy of photo-thermo catalysis to overcome the oxygen poisoning of supported platinum catalyst in oxidation reaction. The results were published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Influences of light irradiation on T70, Ea, and reaction order of O2. (Image by KANG Lei) Catalytic oxidation reaction using molecular oxygen as the oxidant is industrially important. Supported platinum is one of the most active catalysts for this kind of reactions. Distinct from the CO poisoning in CO oxidation, the active Pt sites on the surface of the catalysts can be easily poisoned by oxygen in most of the oxidation reactions. For instance, the activity of supported Pt catalysts drops sharply with the augment of O2/propane (C3H8) ratios, which is a pervasive problem in supported platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts for hydrocarbon oxidation. The photo-thermo catalysis of semiconductor-supported Pt catalyst (Pt/TiO2-WO3) was found to be capable of dramatically enhancing the catalytic oxidation of C3H8 at low temperatures and high O2/C3H8 ratio (volume ratio: 20). With the irradiation of ultraviolet-visible light, the reaction temperature for 70 % C3H8 conversion (T70) decreased from 324 oC to 90 oC, correspondingly, the apparent activation energy (Ea) reduced more than ten times. The reaction order (n) of the reactants changed sharply, especially for the O2 increased from -1.4 to 0.1. This study not only overcome the oxygen poisoning of the Pt catalyst, but also provided an in-depth insight into the photo-thermo catalysis of the semiconductor supported nonplasmonic metal catalysts. This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China, the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. (Text by KANG Lei)

　　Findings of a new study led by Prof. XU Guowang from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. YANG Chunzhang from the National Cancer Institute shed light on the selective therapeutics for IDH1-mutated glioma by targeting glutathione synthesis pathway.
　　The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Apr. 14. Glioma is the most common type of primary brain tumors. Isocitrate dehydrogenase I (IDH1) mutation is a cancer-associated mutation highly prevalent in patients with glioma.
　　Although the oncogenic role of IDH1 mutation has been shown in several human solid tumors, selective therapeutics for IDH1-mutated malignancies remain unavailable.
　　Glutathione synthesis is controlled by Nrf2 transcription factor, and can be disrupted by triptolide.(Image by YU Di)
　　The researchers demonstrated that glutathione de novo synthesis plays an essential role in IDH1-mutated cancer cells. Glutathione synthesis was controlled by a transcription factor NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), which governs the gene expressions for antioxidative pathway.
　　"Our in vitro findings suggest that the disruption of Nrf2-driven glutathione synthesis pathway establishes synergistic lethality with a neomorphic IDH1 mutation, " said Prof. XU.
　　Triptolide, a diterpenoid epoxide from Tripterygium wilfordii, served as a potent Nrf2 inhibitor. "Triptolide exhibited selective cytotoxicity to patient-derived IDH1-mutated glioma cells in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we studied the anticancer mechanism of triptolide." YANG said.
　　Mechanistically, triptolide compromised the expression of GCLC, GCLM, and SLC7A11, which disrupted glutathione metabolism and established synthetic lethality with reactive oxygen species (ROS) derived from IDH1 mutant neomorphic activity.
　　The study highlights triptolide as a valuable therapeutic approach for IDH1-mutated malignancies by targeting the Nrf2-driven glutathione synthesis pathway.(Text by YU Di)

Research groups led by Prof. WU Zhong-Shuai from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. CHENG Hui-Ming from Institute of metal research of Chinese Academy of Sciences reviewed the chemistry and promising applications of graphene and porous graphene materials (PGMs), and shared new insights on their existing challenges and future opportunities. The review was recently published in Advanced Functional Materials. 
　　Schematic of the chemistry and promising applications of graphene and PGMs. (Image by HUANG Haibo) Graphene and graphene oxide (GO), as wonder-materials, have penetrated nearly every field of research. However, this quick ascent to success has diverted attention away from their chemistry that makes them so “wonderful”. One of the most attractive features is the functionality and assembly of graphene or GO, in which they can be considered as chemically functionalized building blocks for the creation of unconventional porous graphene materials (PGMs) with diversified compositions and micro-, meso- and macro-pores. These PGMs not only combine the merits of both porous materials and graphene, but also have several major advantages over other porous carbon materials when targeted for specific applications. In this review, we first introduce the chemistry and approaches for functionalizing graphene and GO, and subsequently summarize the typical procedures for pore-creation (e.g., in-plane pores, 2D laminar pores, and 3D interconnected pore assemblies), self-assembly and tailoring mechanisms for PGMs to highlight the significance of precise control over the pore morphology, and pore size. Their structure-property relationships are also discussed. Because of the unique pore structures with different morphologies and intriguing properties, PGMs serve as key components in a variety of applications such as energy storage (supercapacitors, metal ion batteries, and new-type batteries), electrocatalysis, and molecular separation (water desalination, and gas separation). Finally, researchers identify the challenges relating to porous graphene from the understanding of chemical self-assembly to specific applications, and provide promising solutions on how to tackle them. This review provides an insightful outlook for the future development of the chemistry and applications of PGMs.
　　This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Postdoctoral Fund, etc. (Text by HUANG Haibo, HOU Xiaocheng).

Research groups led by Prof. QING Guangyan and Prof. LIANG Xinmiao from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed a brand-new dynamic covalent chemical method of Schiff base hydrolysis to realize the precise capture of sialylated glycans. The results were published in J. Am. Chem. Soc.  
　　Significance of sialylated glycan and the enrichment concept. (Image by XIONG Yuting) The sialylated glycans distribute widely on the cell surface as if a layer of "glycocalyx". The outermost position and wide distribution make the sialylated glycans play vital roles in many physiological processes, such as viral infection, immune activation, cancer occurrence, development and migration. Sialylated glycoproteins have been widely used as clinical biomarkers for various cancers. However, identification and analysis of the sialylated glycans is extremely complex and challenging, and a new and highly efficient material system is urgently needed to overcome the problems of sialylated glycan enrichment and separation in complex bio-samples and promote the comprehensive development of glycoproteomics. Based on a strategy of dynamic covalent chemistry, the research teams achieve accurate capture of sialylated glycans. This strategy is different from the traditional static affinity strategy. It cleverly uses the dynamic covalent chemical bonds present in Schiff base, forming a stable complex between its hydrolyzed part and the sialylated glycan. The developed material exhibits excellent enrichment selectivity for the sialylated glycopeptides, high adsorption capacity and satisfactory enrichment recovery rate, reaching a high level in the field of glycopeptide enrichment. This provides biochemists with a novel and powerful strategy that can be used to accurately capture glycan information, which is closely related to the occurrence of cancer and immune diseases. On the other hand, the easy hydrolysis characteristic of the material changes the researchers' knowledge, which the traditional enrichment materials need have good chemical stability. More importantly, the researchers disclosed an interesting story hidden behind the Schiff base hydrolysis reaction, one hydrolysis product forms a stable complex with the sialylated glycan, while the other product occurs ordered self-assembly in solution, both of which remarkably promote the hydrolysis reaction.This study shows the unique advantages of dynamic covalent chemistry in the fields of glycoproteomics and biomolecular sensing. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, DICP Innovation Funding and LiaoNing Revitalization Talents Program. (Text by XIONG Yuting, QING Guangyan)