Trivalent chromium can be repelled from surface-bound merocyanine upon visible light irradiation, avoiding any chemical desorbent, and thus secondary contamination, to restore the adsorption capacity of the exhausted adsorbents.

Processing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) artificial material requires plasticizer that softens the PVC coating. Currently, utilizing unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters to obtain epoxidized fatty acid methyl ester (EFAME) bio-plasticizers constitutes an environmentally responsible solution to substitute conventional ortho-phthalates that are endocrine disruptors or probable carcinogens. However, commercial EFAMEs, even with the highest epoxy value (ca. 5.5-5.8%) so far, still suffer from fast leaching from the PVC matrix, burdening the environment and shortening lifespan of the artificial material. Here, we report a proof-of-principle demonstration of a new strategy to obtain migration-resistant EFAME that harnesses the midchain hydroxyl of methyl ricinoleate and covalently attachment of a pendant acetate ester. Despite a low epoxy value (3.0%), the engineered bio-plasticizer displays significantly suppressed migration in multiple scenarios compared with one conventional EFAME with much higher epoxy value (5.8%). Circumventing the limit confronting previous strategy that highlights the sole contribution of epoxy value to achievable migration resistance, the rationale herein may provide guidance for designing new EFAMEs with comparable performance to ortho-phthalates, thus bringing the old and oft-maligned PVC artificial material industry one step closer to sustainability.

A light-responsive, non-persistent 2D supramolecular polymer sheet with a potentially diminished environmental impact was reported.

Achieving activatable antibiotics represents one promising solution to tackle the occurrence of side effects, one major issue now plaguing antibiotic usage in collagen-based biomaterials. Despite considerable effort, however, rationale design of activatable antibiotics that display high activation efficiency and uncompromised bactericidal potency in the activated state remains difficult. Here, we demonstrate a design principle that helps to address this challenge. This strategy differs from previous attempts by underscoring photolytic removal of a functionality directly conjugated to the pharmacophore of an antibiotic, enabling not only an activation efficiency significantly improved beyond previous light-activatable antibiotics, but also bactericidal activity in the activated state as potent as the parent drug. Graphical abstract