Distribution and regulatory roles of oxidized 5-methylcytosines in DNA and RNA of the basidiomycete fungi Laccaria bicolor and Coprinopsis cinerea

The formation of three oxidative DNA 5-methylcytosine (5mC) modifications (oxi-mCs)-5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC)-by the TET/JBP family of dioxygenases prompted intensive studies of their functional roles in mammalian cells. However, the functional interplay of these less abundant modified nucleotides in other eukaryotic lineages remains poorly understood. We carried out a systematic study of the content and distribution of oxi-mCs in the DNA and RNA of the basidiomycetes Laccaria bicolor and Coprinopsis cinerea, which are established models to study DNA methylation and developmental and symbiotic processes. Quantitative liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry revealed persistent but uneven occurrences of 5hmC, 5fC and 5caC in the DNA and RNA of the two organisms, which could be upregulated by vitamin C. 5caC in RNA (5carC) was predominantly found in non-ribosomal RNA, which potentially includes non-coding, messenger and small RNA species. Genome-wide mapping of 5hmC and 5fC using the single CG analysis techniques hmTOP-seq and foTOP-seq pointed at involvement of oxi-mCs in the regulation of gene expression and silencing of transposable elements. The implicated diverse roles of 5mC and oxi-mCs in the two fungi highlight the epigenetic importance of the latter modifications, which are often neglected in standard whole-genome bisulfite analyses.

Stoichiometric imbalance-promoted step-growth polymerization based on self-accelerating 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition click reactions

A stoichiometric imbalance-promoted step growth polymerization method was developed based on self-accelerating 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition click reactions of Sondheimer diyne and varied 1,3-dipoles, such as diazo, sydnone, and nitrone groups.

Organogelating and narcissistic self-sorting behaviour of non-preorganized oligoamides

Depending on the length (n) and the nature of the end group (X), structurally flexible oligoamides OAT and OATe were found to be good organogelators and their mixtures showed narcissistic self-sorting in both the xerogel and wet gel states.

Several series of structurally flexible, non-preorganized oligoamides with carboxylic acid, hydride, N-propargyl amide and N-propyl amide end groups were synthesized and characterized. They were found to be strong organogelators for aromatic solvents. Both the number and density of the amide units, and the nature of the end group were found to influence the gel strength as well as the kinetics of gel formation. Oligomers with a higher number and density of amide units were found to form stronger gels. Rather unexpectedly, a slight change of the end group could significantly affect the enthalpy and entropy of formation of the resulting self-assembly. Oligomers with the N-propargyl amide end group were found to be kinetically trapped in the melted state, which devoid them of forming crystalline zone upon cooling. On the other hand, the corresponding saturated N-propyl amide analog did not show the same effect. Upon mixing of these oligomers, narcissistic self-sorting could be observed in both the wet gel and xerogel states if (i) the difference in the number of amide units is greater than one or (ii) the amide unit densities are different. A semi-quantitative assessment of the extent of self-sorting could be achieved by constructing the corresponding phase diagram of the mixed gel systems. It is concluded that narcissistic self-sorting does not just prevail in mixtures making up of structurally different molecules, but appears to be fairly general even in mixtures of structurally similar molecular homologs.

Photochromic, organogelating and self-sorting behaviour of di-(dithienylethene) derivatives

They wouldn't mix! – Narcissistic self-sorting was found to exist in a 1 : 1 mixture of the two photoisomers of a di-(dithienylethene)-containing organgelator.

A photo-responsive poly(amide–triazole) physical organogel bearing azobenzene residues in the main chain

The synthesis of a click poly(amide–triazole) bearing multiple azobenzene units along the main chain was reported.

Total Synthesis of (+)-Aplykurodinone-1

Starting from (R)-citronellic acid and (R)-seudenol, the total synthesis of (+)-aplykurodinone-1, a highly degraded marine steroid, has been achieved in 11 steps and in 19% overall yield with excellent stereochemical control. In addition to the features such as an Ireland-Claisen rearrangement, an intramolecular carbonyl-ene cyclization, and an intramolecular Michael addition, the present synthetic strategy is accomplished without the use of protecting groups.

Different Gelation and Self-Sorting Properties of Two Isomeric Polyamides Owing to the Parallel versus Anti-Parallel Alignment of Backbone Dipoles

Two isomeric bottlebrush polyamides P-1 and A-1, with the same repeating monomer dipole units aligned along the polymer backbone in pseudo-parallel and pseudo-antiparallel fashion, respectively, were synthesized and characterized. Both polymers can form thermoreversible gels with aromatic solvents but P-1 was found to show inferior gelation strength compared with that of A-1. Furthermore, despite their close structural resemblance, a 1:1 mixture of the P-1 and A-1 polymers was shown to exhibit self-sorting in the gel state. Gel formation was found to be a kinetically trapped process through hydrogen bonding, π-π stacking interactions, and side chain interdigitation. The different gelation and self-sorting properties can be explained by the local dipole-dipole interactions originating from the different modes of backbone dipole alignment. In single gel systems, the antiparallel-aligned dipoles in A-1 facilitated a more compact molecular packing owing to the enthalpically more favorable polymer chain association. On the other hand, the parallel-aligned dipoles in P-1 gave rise to a less stable head-to-head packing, which had difficulties to convert to the more stable head-to-tail packing in a kinetically trapped environment. In the mixed gel system, it is the unfavorable hetero-polymer mismatch dipole-dipole interaction that inhibited the mixing of the A-1 and P-1 polymers and led to self-sorting.

The utilization of post-synthetic modification in opto-electronic polymers: an effective complementary approach but not a competitive one to the traditional direct polymerization process

By presenting some typical examples, the recent progress of opto-electronic polymers is reviewed, which were only accessible from the post-synthetic modification strategy.

Transition from low molecular weight non-gelating oligo(amide-triazole)s to a restorable, halide-responsive poly(amide-triazole) supramolecular gel

Switching between non-gelating and gelating polymer: the cation vs anion game.

Synthesis of "Necklace" Polymers by Chain-Walking Polymerization

We report an efficient catalytic synthesis of "necklace" polymers, polyethylene (PE) denpols, utilizing the chain-walking polymerization (CWP). The approach is based on the design of a linear multivalent chain-walking catalyst that can initiate hyperbranched polymerization of ethylene for in situ formation of multiple dendritic PEs covalently tethered to the linear polymer backbone. The simplicity and efficiency of this approach makes it promising for facile preparation of large soluble nanostructures for various potential applications.

Click-dendronized poly(amide-triazole)s--effect of dendron size and polymer backbone symmetry on self-assembling and gelation properties

Nine dendronized poly(amide-triazole)s 2-Gm Gn (m=1-3, n=1-3), were prepared by the 1:1 copolymerization between AA-type dendritic diazides 4-Gm (m=1-3) and BB-type dendritic diacetylenes 5-Gn (n=1-3) under the copper(I)-mediated click coupling conditions. The degree of polymerization value of the polymers was found to range from 15-50, and decreased with increasing size of the dendron, suggesting steric hindrance had a retardation role on the copolymerization efficiency. Based on FT-IR and (1)H NMR studies, it was found that significantly strong, interchain hydrogen bonding between the amide units was present in the solution state after copolymerization, whereas the monomers 4-Gm and 5-Gn were devoid of any intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interaction. Hence a positive allosteric hydrogen-bonding effect was observed after polymerization, and could be rationalized by the zip effect. The strength of the interchain association in polymers 2-Gm Gn was found to decrease with increasing size of the dendron (i.e., 2-G1 G1>2-G1 G2>2-G2 G1≈2-G2 G2>2-G1 G3≈2-G3 G1>2-G2 G3≈2-G3 G2>2-G3 G3). Among the nine polymers, only 2-G1 G2 and 2-G2 G1 were good organogelators for aromatic solvents, while the 2-G2 G2 polymer, bearing the closest structural resemblance to the previously reported organogelator 1-G2 prepared from the polymerization of AB-type monomers, was devoid of gelating power. Careful analysis of structures of the present polymer series 2-Gm Gn and the previously reported series 1-Gn suggested that the polymer backbone symmetry played a subtle role in controlling their self-assembling and gelating properties.

Detection of bacteria using glyco-dendronized polylysine prepared by continuous flow photofunctionalization

Biocompatible glyco-dendronized poly-l-lysine (PLL) polymers carry either three or nine mannose- or galactose-bearing dendrons that selectively bind, and thus can be used to detect, bacteria. Central to the synthesis of glyco-dendronized polymers was the development of a continuous flow [2 + 2] photocycloaddition reaction to connect the dendrons and PLL. Glycodendronized polymers cluster bacteria by binding to cell-surface carbohydrate receptors and thereby result in an easy read-out using microscopic analyses.