Ultra-Microporous Fe-MOF with Prolonged NO Delivery in Biological Media for Therapeutic Application

Nitric oxide (NO), a key element in the regulation of essential biological mechanisms, presents huge potential as therapeutic agent in the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with open metal sites are promising carriers for NO therapies but delivering it over an extended period in biological media remains a great challenge due to i) a fast degradation of the material in body fluids and/or ii) a rapid replacement of NO by water molecules onto the Lewis acid sites. Here, a new ultra-narrow pores Fe bisphosphonate MOF, denoted MIP-210(Fe) or Fe(H2O)(Hmbpa) (H4mbpa = p-xylenediphosphonic acid) is described that adsorbs NO due to an unprecedented sorption mechanism: coordination of NO through the Fe(III) sites is unusually preferred, replacing bound water, and creating a stable interaction with the free H2O and P-OH groups delimiting the ultra-narrow pores. This, associated with the high chemical stability of the MOF in body fluids, enables an unprecedented slow replacement of NO by water molecules in biological media, achieving an extraordinarily extended NO delivery time over at least 70 h, exceeding by far the NO kinetics release reported with others porous materials, paving the way for the development of safe and successful gas therapies.

Cation/Anion Doping Strategy for Na4MnV(PO4)3 with High Energy Density and Long Cycling Life through Construction by Aspergillus niger

Na4MnV(PO4)3 (NMVP) has gained attention for its high redox potential, good cycling stability, and competitive price but suffers from poor intrinsic electronic conductivity and Jahn-Teller effect from Mn3+. In this work, cation/anion doping strategy was used for Aspergillus niger-bioderived carbon-coated NMVP (NMVP/AN) to improve the structural stability and electrochemical performance, where Al3+ doping inhibited the dissolution of Mn and enhanced the Mn3+/Mn2+ redox pair activity; besides, F- doping not only weakens the Na2-O bond but also endows the hierarchical and porous structure of NMVP/AN, which led to a more rapid and fluid transfer of Na+. The elaborately designed Na3.9Mn0.9Al0.1V(PO4)3/AN (NMAVP/AN) exhibits 105.9 mA h g-1 at 0.5 C, and the as-prepared Na3.1MnV(PO3.7F0.3)3/AN (NMVPF/AN) delivers 104.1 mA h g-1 at 5 C. Further demonstration of the hard carbon//NMAVP/AN full cell manifests the good potential of Al3+-doped NMVP/AN for practical applications (100.6 mA h g-1 at 1 C). These findings open up the possibility of unlocking the high-performance Na superionic conductor (NASICON).

Facile and Bioinspired Approach from Gallic Acid for the Synthesis of Biobased Flame Retardant Coatings of Basalt Fibers

A sustainable, bioinspired approach to functionalize basalt fibers with an innovative gallic acid (GA)-iron phenyl phosphonate complex (BF-GA-FeP), for the purpose of improving the flame retardancy in composite materials, is developed. BFs were at first pretreated with O3, obtaining surface free hydroxyl groups that allowed the subsequent covalent immobilization of biosourced GA units on the fiber through ester linkages. Phenolic -OH groups of the GA units were then exploited for the complexation of iron phenyl phosphonate, resulting in the target-complex-coated BF fiber (BF-GA-FeP). Microwave plasma atomic emission spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses of BF-GA-FeP highlighted an increase in iron content, modification of fiber morphology, and occurrence of phosphorus, respectively. BFs, modified with a low amount of the developed complex, were used to reinforce a poly(lactic acid) (PLA) matrix in the production of a biocomposite (PLA/BF-FeP). PLA/BF-FeP showed a higher thermal stability than neat PLA and PLA reinforced with untreated BFs (PLA/BF), as confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis. The cone calorimeter test highlighted several advantages for PLA/BF-FeP, including a prolonged time to ignition, a reduced time to flame out, an 8% decrease in the peak heat release rate, and a 15% reduced fire propagating index compared to PLA/BF.

Recent Developments on the Catalytic and Biosensing Applications of Porous Nanomaterials

Nanoscopic materials have demonstrated a versatile role in almost every emerging field of research. Nanomaterials have come to be one of the most important fields of advanced research today due to its controllable particle size in the nanoscale range, capacity to adopt diverse forms and morphologies, high surface area, and involvement of transition and non-transition metals. With the introduction of porosity, nanomaterials have become a more promising candidate than their bulk counterparts in catalysis, biomedicine, drug delivery, and other areas. This review intends to compile a self-contained set of papers related to new synthesis methods and versatile applications of porous nanomaterials that can give a realistic picture of current state-of-the-art research, especially for catalysis and sensor area. Especially, we cover various surface functionalization strategies by improving accessibility and mass transfer limitation of catalytic applications for wide variety of materials, including organic and inorganic materials (metals/metal oxides) with covalent porous organic (COFs) and inorganic (silica/carbon) frameworks, constituting solid backgrounds on porous materials.

New isoreticular phosphonate MOFs based on a tetratopic linker

The tetratopic linker 1,1,2,2-tetrakis(4-phosphonophenyl)ethylene (H₈TPPE) was used to synthesize the three new porous metal-organic frameworks of composition [M₂(H₂O)₂(H₂TPPE)]·xH₂O (M = Al³⁺, Ga³⁺, Fe³⁺), denoted as M-CAU-53 under hydrothermal reaction conditions, using the corresponding metal nitrates as starting materials. The crystal structures of the compounds were determined ab initio from powder X-ray diffraction data, revealing small structural differences. Proton conductivity measurements were carried out, indicating different conductivity mechanisms. The differences in proton conductivity could be linked to the individual structures. In addition, a thorough characterization via thermogravimetry, elemental analysis, IR-spectroscopy as well as N₂- and H₂O-sorption is given.