Southwest University of Science & Technology

This study investigates the allelopathic and parasitic effects of Cuscuta chinensis on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), focusing on germination, seedling growth, and plant health.Fresh juice, aqueous, and ethanol extracts exhibited strong inhibitory effects on germination, with the aqueous extract completely suppressing it (0%) and ethanol extract nearly eliminating it (0.33% at 10 mg/mL).HPLC identified cinnamic acid, hydrocinnamic acid, and caffeic acid as key allelochems.C. chinensis powder reduced germination at higher concentrations (73.33%) but increased germination energy (70.00%) and promoted shoot growth and leaf development at medium concentrationsParasitism was confirmed through in vitro and pot experiments, showing a 42% infection rate in vitro and 81% in pots.Despite significant parasitic interactions, tomato plants showed no immediate visible damage, indicating a need for further study on long-term effects.

The efficient purification of radioactive iodine aerosols is essential in developing nuclear energy.Using existing materials and processing processes, it is hard to efficiently purify iodine aerosols and iodine gas simultaneously.Membranes with excellent adsorption and filtration properties are suitable candidates for efficient purificationA simple one-step synthetic strategy developed from the electrospinning method fabricates a multifunctional composite nanofibrous membrane material (ZIF-8@PVP/PAN).The ZIF-8 crystals coated the fiber surface, and some were embedded into the PVP/PAN fiber without significantly changing the fiber diameter distribution.The ZIF-8@PVP/PAN membrane shows outstanding adsorption properties with a maximum adsorption capacity of 2898 mg/g for iodine gas and 456 mg/g for Me iodide.In addition, at a face velocity of 5 cm/s, it exhibits excellent filtration efficiency of 99.91% for PM_0.3 with a much lower pressure drop of 79 Pa.Combine the DFT theor. calculations and characterization results, it can be considered that active adsorption sites provided by the PVP/PAN fiber framework and the loaded ZIF-8 enhanced the iodine adsorption together.The efficient filtration results from the synergistic effect of interception, adsorption, and electrostatic attraction.The ZIF-8@PVP/PAN composite membrane with excellent multifunctional performance and outstanding thermal and radiation stability provides a potential material for efficiently purifying iodine aerosols and iodine gas in reprocessing plants under practical working conditions.

The secondary near-infrared region (NIR-II) fluorescence imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) offers a noninvasive and light-controllable treatment option for deep-seated cancers. However, the development of NIR-II photothermal agents (NIR-II PTAs) that possess the desired properties of high molar absorption coefficient (ε), fluorescence quantum yield (QY), and photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE) remain a challenge due to the contradiction between radiative and nonradiative processes. Herein, we propose a novel side-chain heteroatom substitution engineering strategy to simultaneously enhance ε, QY, and PCE by modifying the molecular planarity. Remarkably, by increasing the number of oxygen atoms in the alkyl chains from DTIC, DO1TIC, to DO2TIC, the D-A interaction was enhanced and the molecular planarity was optimized. Theoretical calculations indicated that DO2TIC has a smaller energy gap and closer packing, which may lead to effective regulation of radiative and nonradiative transition processes. Notably, we achieved the excellent ε value of 2.61 × 10⁵ M^-1 cm^-1 for the NIR-II PTA from DO2TIC, which is attributed to the enhanced molecular planarity. This value surpasses that of most previously developed NIR-II PTAs, resulting in boosted QY and PCE in its nanoparticle state. With these advantages, DO2TIC NPs demonstrated high signal-to-background ratio (SBR = 13.50) imaging of the vascular system and NIR-II imaging-guided PTT for effective tumor elimination using a 1064 nm laser. This study provides a new perspective for developing versatile NIR-II excited phototheranostic systems, enabling potent bioimaging and cancer therapy.