SummaryRoot growth is influenced by soil nutrients and neighbouring plants, but how these two drivers affect root interactions and regulate plant growth dynamics is poorly understood. Here, interactions between the roots of maize (Zea mays) and faba bean (Vicia faba) are characterized.Maize was grown alone (maize) or with maize (maize/maize) or faba bean (maize/faba bean) as competitors under five levels of phosphorus (P) supply, and with homogeneous or heterogeneous P distribution.Maize had longer root length and greater shoot biomass and P content when grown with faba bean than with maize. At each P supply rate, faba bean had a smaller root system than maize but greater exudation of citrate and acid phosphatase, suggesting a greater capacity to mobilize P in the rhizosphere. Heterogeneous P availability enhanced the root-length density of maize but not faba bean. Maize root proliferation in the P-rich patches was associated with increased shoot P uptake.Increased P availability by localized P application or by the presence of faba bean exudation stimulated root morphological plasticity and increased shoot growth in maize in the maize/faba bean mixture, suggesting that root interactions of neighbouring plants can be modified by increased P availability.

Summary Nutrient distribution and neighbours can impact plant growth, but how neighbours shape root‐foraging strategy for nutrients is unclear. Here, we explore new patterns of plant foraging for nutrients as affected by neighbours to improve nutrient acquisition. Maize (Zea mays) was grown alone (maize), or with maize (maize/maize) or faba bean (Vicia faba) (maize/faba bean) as a neighbour on one side and with or without a phosphorus (P)‐rich zone on the other in a rhizo‐box experiment. Maize demonstrated root avoidance in maize/maize, with reduced root growth in ‘shared’ soil, and increased growth away from its neighbours. Conversely, maize proliferated roots in the proximity of neighbouring faba bean roots that had greater P availability in the rhizosphere (as a result of citrate and acid phosphatase exudation) compared with maize roots. Maize proliferated more roots, but spent less time to reach, and grow out of, the P patches away from neighbours in the maize/maize than in the maize/faba bean experiment. Maize shoot biomass and P uptake were greater in the heterogeneous P treatment with maize/faba bean than with maize/maize system. The foraging strategy of maize roots is an integrated function of heterogeneous distribution of nutrients and neighbouring plants, thus improving nutrient acquisition and maize growth. Understanding the foraging patterns is critical for optimizing nutrient management in crops.

A zirconium-based metal–organic framework (MOF) was successfully constructed via solvothermal assembly of a triphenylamine-based tricarboxylate ligand and Zr­(IV) salt, the structure simulation of which revealed that it possesses a two-dimensional layered framework with a relatively rare dodecnuclear Zr12 cluster as the inorganic building unit. The inherent photo-responsive property derived from the incorporated photochromic triphenylamine groups combined with its high stability makes the constructed MOF an efficient heterogeneous photocatalyst for the oxidation of sulfides, which is a fundamentally important reaction type in both environmental and pharmaceutical industries. The photocatalytic activity of the constructed MOF was first investigated under various conditions with thioanisole as a representative sulfide substrate. The MOF exhibited both high efficiency and selectivity on aerobic oxidation of thioanisole in methanol utilizing molecular oxygen in air as the oxidant under blue light irradiation for 10 h. Its high photocatalytic performance was also observed when extending the sulfide substrate to diverse thioanisole derivatives and even a sulfur-containing nerve agent simulant (2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide). The high photocatalytic efficiency and selectivity to a broad set of sulfide substrates make the triphenylamine-incorporating zirconium-based MOF a highly promising heterogeneous photocatalyst.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a vital role in both chemistry and physiology. Developing effective photocatalysts becomes a feasible approach to trigger the generation of ROS. Herein, a photosensitive covalent organic framework (COF) was rationally designed and constructed by incorporating the photoactive triphenylamine moieties into its skeleton, characterizations of which not only showed the success formation of the highly crystalline and stable framework, but also revealed the photoactive property derived from triphenylamine-based building block. Electron paramagnetic resonance measurements displayed that the COF was an effective photocatalyst for generating ROS with one unpaired electron, that is, superoxide radical anion (O 2• − ). Subsequently, its high efficiency, selectivity, and reusability in photocatalytic aerobic oxidation of sulfides confirmed that the COF is a promising photocatalyst in the applications of ROS-involved reactions, demonstrating that precisely embedding organic photochromic groups into COFs could be a powerful strategy to fabricate metal-free heterogeneous photocatalysts for targeted reactions.

With the rapid development of the nuclear industry, the effective treatment of radioactive iodine has currently become an urgent but challenging task. Herein, two covalent organic frameworks (COFs), TFBT-1 and TFBT-2, were successfully synthesized for iodine adsorption. Structure analysis revealed that they are both nanoporous materials with one-dimensional channels derived from the packing of the related two-dimensional frameworks. Iodine adsorption experiments demonstrated that both COF materials exhibit effective performance for iodine adsorption, with a maximum amount of upto 3.15 g g–1 for TFBT-1 and 2.60 g g–1 for TFBT-2. The results of experimental analyses of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy clearly revealed that their high performance is attributed to the strong interactions between the adsorbed iodine and the uniformly located abundant nitrogen adsorption sites in the pores of the two COF materials, which are from both pre-introduced acylamides and in situ-generated Schiff base imine groups. The present work revealed that by introducing the nitrogen-rich sites into the frameworks of the COF materials, effective iodine adsorbents can be achieved.