Aspirin, a well-known pharmaceutical compound, is widely used to illustrate fundamental concepts in pharmaceutical education. This study introduces an experiment that employs conductometry to investigate the alkaline hydrolysis kinetics of aspirin, desinged specifically for undergraduate pharmacy students. Compared with traditional spectrophotometric methods, the conductometric approach simplifies the experimental procedure, operates under milder conditions, enables real-time monitoring, and reduces chemical waste while maintaining comparable accuracy and educational objectives. The experiment yielded a rate constant of 0.166 L & centerdot;mol-1 & centerdot;s-1 at 30.0 degrees C, consistent with values obtained via traditional methods under identical conditions. To facilitate data analysis, a user-friendly nonlinear fitting template was developed. Sixty-eight pharmacy undergraduates successfully completed the experiment, obtaining rate constants ranging from 0.150 to 0.180 L & centerdot;mol-1 & centerdot;s-1, demonstrating both the reliability and the pedagogical suitability of the protocol. Instructor feedback and postexperimental surveys indicated significant improvements in student engagement, conceptual understanding of chemical kinetics, and confidence in laboratory skills. This work provides a practical and scalable alternative to traditional aspirin hydrolysis experiments, enriching existing curricula and laying a foundation for the development of aspirin-based integrated experimental modules that foster a more systematic understanding of pharmaceutical chemistry.

Personalized medicine aims to effectively and efficiently provide customized drugs that cater to diverse populations, which is a significant yet challenging task. Recently, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has transformed the medical field, and was expected to facilitate the efficient design and development of customized drugs through the synergy of their respective advantages. In this study, we present an innovative method that combines AI and 3D printing technology to design and fabricate customized capsules. Initially, we discretized and encoded the geometry of the capsule, simulated the dissolution process of the capsule with classical drug dissolution model, and verified it by experiments. Subsequently, we employed a genetic algorithm to explore the capsule geometric structure space and generate a complex multi-layer structure that satisfies the target drug release profiles, including stepwise release and zero-order release. Finally, Two model drugs, isoniazid and acetaminophen, were selected and fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing technology was utilized to precisely print the AI-designed capsule. The reliability of the method was verified by comparing the in vitro release curve of the printed capsules with the target curve, and the f2 value was more than 50. Notably, accurate and autonomous design of the drug release curve was achieved mainly by changing the geometry of the capsule. This approach is expected to be applied to different drug needs and facilitate the development of customized oral dosage forms.

A biosensor that can detect biomarkers accurately, quickly, and conveniently is important for the diagnosis of various diseases. However, most of the existing detection methods require sample extraction, which makes it difficult to detect and image intracellular molecules or to detect two different types of biomarkers simultaneously. In this study, we constructed a DNA tetrahedral nanoprobe (DTP) capable of detecting both miR378 and telomerase, both of which are tumor markers. In the presence of miR378, FAM on the molecular beacon of DTP fluoresced via Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET), and the limit of detection was 476 pM with excellent specificity. When present, telomerase binds to telomerase substrate (TS) primers, extending the repeat sequence (TTAGGG)n to trigger Cy3 fluorescence. A strong linear relationship existed between the fluorescence intensity of Cy3 and the number of HeLa cells. The limit of detection was 800 HeLa cells. In addition, DTP was less cytotoxic to and biocompatible with HeLa cells and fluoresced only in cancer cells, which can help to sensitively distinguish between normal and cancer cells. In conclusion, DTP can simultaneously detect the content of miR378 and activity of telomerase and realize intracellular imaging, which has broad application prospects in early cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Elimination of tumors by regulating the immune system is the primary research focus in the rapidly developing field of immune-oncology. Current immunotherapeutic strategies mainly include immune checkpoint blockade therapy, adoptive immune cell therapy, and cancer vaccines. Among them, tumor antigen-based cancer vaccines can potentially elicit specific and potent anti-tumor immune responses with less toxicity and side effects, which are recognized as promising treatments in immunotherapy. The selection of tumor antigens is the primary determinant of cancer vaccine design, whereas systematic reviews based on them are scarce. In the present review, currently known tumor antigens and recent developments in cancer vaccines based on tumor antigens, including traditional antigen vaccines, neoantigen vaccines, shared antigen vaccines, and oral antigen vaccines, in hopes of providing fundamental basis for further development of novel cancer vaccine-based therapies, are summarized.

Micromorphology engineering and co-catalyst construction are considered as feasible approaches to boost the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance. Herein, we combined two approaches to construct a new photocatalyst with titanium dioxide (TiO2) hierarchical microspheres (HMSs) as support and atomically dispersed platinum (Pt) species as co-catalyst (donated as TiO2 HMSs@xPt). The as-prepared TiO2 HMSs@xPt photocatalysts exhibited combined advantages including adequate light harvesting, improved charge-carrier separation and transport, abundant active sites, and reduced Pt consumption, which are favorable for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Specifically, the optimized TiO2 HMSs@0.36Pt exhibits a remarkable photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of 11.7 mmol g-1h-1 under simulated AM 1.5G solar light irradiation, which is 50 times and 4.8 times higher than those of pure TiO2 HMSs and traditional anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) with the same Pt loading, respectively.

This work demonstrates for the first time that a photochromic metal organic framework (pMOF) can be employed as a promising class of NIR-II photothermal material based on the photoinduced donor-acceptor intermolecular charge transfer process. After further surface-modification, such UV-activated pMOF-a nanoparticles allow the strong inhibition of 4T1 cancer cells under 1064 nm laser irradiation.

物理化学提供应用于化学及相关领域的基本概念和原理,是药学各专业的重要基础理论课程.本文通过教学试验证明过程性考核模式可以提高主、被动学习型学生的物理化学成绩,对消极学习型学生的成绩影响不明显.

Defective TiO2 nanocrystals (D-TiO2) were synthesized by a simple, mild and green sol–gel hydrothermal method. The as-prepared sample possesses a high specific surface area of 173.6 m2/g and high crystallinity of anatase phase without any calcination. Raman, EPR and XPS spectrum confirmed the existence of oxygen vacancies in D-TiO2. These oxygen vacancies provide D-TiO2 with visible-light photocatalytic activity, as demonstrated by the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). The degradation pathway of RhB over D-TiO2 was investigated, and the possible photocatalytic mechanism was also proposed. The excellent photocatalytic property of D-TiO2 was mainly attributed to the synergistic effect between the high surface area and abundant oxygen vacancies. This work presents a new route to synthesize high-performance visible-light-responsive TiO2 photocatalyst.

AbstractA graphene oxide (GO)—nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI)—biochar composite (GO‐nZVI/BC) was synthesized prior to characterization by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectroscopy analyses. Batch experiments were performed at different initial Cr(VI) concentrations, contact times, and solution pH values. The effects of coexisting anions and chelating agents were also examined. The results indicated that the removal of Cr(VI) was highly pH‐dependent and reached a maximum capacity at pH of 2. The equilibrium data were fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model, and the kinetic data fitted better with the pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model. The increasing concentrations of EDTA in aqueous solutions were favorable to the removal of Cr(VI), while significantly inhibited adsorption. Furthermore, the GO‐nZVI/BC maintained ~84.5% of its original capacity after aging in the air for 25 weeks. Based on the removal efficiency, GO‐nZVI/BC can be considered to be an effective material for water treatment applications.Practitioner points Biochar‐supported graphene oxide‐coated nanoscale zerovalent iron (GO‐nZVI/BC) was synthesized and used to treat Cr(VI) from solution. Cr(VI) removal was pH‐dependent and obeyed the Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo‐second‐order model. GO‐nZVI/BC maintained ~84.5% of its original capacity after aging for 25 w in the air.

Fresh and dehydrated banana peels were used as biomass feedstock to produce highly effective sorbent biochars through a facile one-step hydrothermal carbonization approach with 20% vol phosphoric acid as the reaction medium. The elemental ratio of oxygen content of the two as-prepared biochars were about 20%, and the FT-IR analysis confirmed the existence of abundant surface functional groups such as hydroxyl and carboxyl which greatly enhanced the adsorption performance. The sorbents showed excellent lead clarification capability of 359 mg.g(-1) and 193 mg.g(-1) for dehydrated and fresh banana peels based biochars, respectively. The change of the C=O/O-C=O and the appearance of Pb-O/Pb-O-C on the surface after adsorption confirmed that the ion exchange might be the dominant mechanism. The dehydration and pulverization pre-treatment and the addition of phosphoric acid can benefit the formation of those functional groups and hydrothermal carbonization can be a promising method to transfer biomass like fruit peels into biochars with excellent adsorption performance. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The continuous and large-area films of transition metal disulfides (MS2, M = Mo, W, Fe, Co, Ni) were prepared on the conducting glass using pulsed laser deposition followed by chemical vapour deposition. The metal oxide precursor was deposited onto the substrate by pulsed laser deposition, and then the oxides were rapidly sulfurized by chemical vapour deposition. As a result, the functional films exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity as a counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells due to their uniformity, crack free and adhesive. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The methyl ammonium lead iodide perovskite nanowire/nanocube can be fabricated with an improved two-step spin-coating process by adjusting the amount of dimethyl formamide. The hybrid structure enhanced the efficiency of electron/hole separation and charge transfer at the electron transport layer/perovskite/hole transport layer interfaces, benefiting from the improvement of electron/hole injection balance. The dynamic time parameters based on the half-baked cells, only containing electron transport layer or the hole transport layer, could assert rationality of the hypothesis by photoluminescence decays.

The electron diffusion in the TiO2 aggregate network was enhanced through the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles with preferential filling at the necks between adjacent TiO2 aggregates, which resulted in strengthening the connections, while retaining the porous structure of the TiO2 network. The fortified necks was found to reduce the transport resistance (Rt) by allowing facile transfer of electrons from one aggregate to another, while the scattering effect of the TiO2 aggregate network got weakened with adding the TiO2 nanoparticles as a result of reduction of the light scattering centers such as the necks and gaps between the aggregates. However, due to the increase in surface area as the TiO2 nanoparticles were added, the diminished light scattering effect of the aggregate network was compensated and even the highest performance was achieved when the 10% TiO2 nanoparticle was added into the TiO2 aggregate film, suggesting that widening necks between sub-micrometer sized light scatters such as an aggregate would be a good strategy in achieving further improvement of power conversion efficiency of dye sensitized solar cells through the improved charge transport property.

Hollow hemispherical titanium dioxide (TiO2) aggregates (HHTAs) consisting of P25 TiO2 nanocrystallites were prepared by a coaxial electrospray method and applied to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Although the photoelectrode film constructed with HHTAs possesses an internal surface area lower than that of one with dispersed P25 TiO2 nanocrystallites and thus achieves less dye adsorption, it may generate effective light scattering, which would significantly extend the traveling distance of light within the photoelectrode film and therefore enhance the light-harvesting efficiency, leading to higher power-conversion efficiency (PCE). A bilayer photoelectrode film that consists of HHTAs as the top layer and P25 nanocrystallites as the base layer was also prepared for DSCs. This bilayer structure combines the merits of HHTAs for light scattering and nanocrystallites for sufficient surface area for dye adsorption and, accordingly, results in higher PCE than that of P25 nanocrystallites and HHTAs. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that the photoexcited electrons transporting in the HHTA photoelectrode suffer less recombination than that in the P25 nanocrystallite photoelectrode, due mainly to lower specific surface area in the HHTA photoelectrode exposed to electrolyte, which contains oxidized species.

Single-crystalline TiO2 nanorods (TiO2 NRs) are grown directly on FTO substrates by hydrothermal methods. The diameters and lengths of TiO2 NRs are easily controlled by growth conditions. When used in hybrid solar cells, TiO2 NRs function as the continuous pathway for fast electron transport to charge collecting electrode, demonstrating a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.21% with 140 nm long TiO2 NRs. The bilayer polymer coating are introduced into 500 nm long TiO2 NRs to reduce the surface roughness, resulting in the improved contact between the polymer blend and silver electrode and an enhanced PCE from 2.70 to 3.07%.

The influences of morphology and thickness of zinc oxide (ZnO) buffer layers on the performance of inverted polymer solar cells are investigated. ZnO buffer layers with different morphology and thickness varying from several nanometers to ≈55 nm are fabricated by adjusting the concentration of the precursor sol. The ZnO buffer layers with nearly same surface quality but with thickness varying from ≈7 to ≈65 nm are also fabricated by spinning coating for comparison. The photovoltaic performance is found to be strongly dependent on ZnO surface quality and less dependent on the thickness. The use of dense and homogenous ZnO buffer layers enhances the fill factor and short‐circuit current of inverted solar cell without sacrificing the open‐circuit voltage of device due to an improvement in the contact between the ZnO buffer layer and the photoactive layer. Inverted devices with a dense and homogenous ZnO buffer layer derived from 0.1 M sol exhibit an overall conversion efficiency of 3.3% which is a 32% increase compared to devices with a rough ZnO buffer layer made from 1 M sol, which exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 2.5%. The results indicate that the efficiency of inverted polymer solar cells can be significantly influenced by the morphology of the buffer layer.

CdS/CdSe quantum dots co-sensitized TiO2 solar cell was prepared by combining the successive ion layer absorption and reaction (SILAR) method and chemical bath deposition (CBD) method for the fabrication of CdS and CdSe quantum dots, respectively. The effect of CdSe deposition time on the solar cell performance was investigated. It was found that the optimized deposition time for CdSe was 3 h, yielding solar cell power conversion efficiency of 3.3%. The methods introduced in this paper are a simple route for the fabrication of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells with achieving descent power conversion efficiency.

The influences of thermal annealing on the microstructure, dye-adsorption, surface area, electrical properties and power conversion efficiency of well-crystallized TiO2 photoelectrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells have been systematically investigated. Although the heat treatment of TiO2 photoelectrodes at higher temperatures was found to result in an enhanced electron transport, it was accompanied with a reduced specific surface area and less adsorbed dye molecules. A power conversion efficiency of 5.1 +/- 0.2% was obtained with a negligible deviation for the samples heat-treated at temperatures ranging from 350 degrees C to 600 degrees C.