Singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ), as an important active reagent, has found wide applications in photodynamic therapy (PDT), synthetic chemistry and materials science. Organic conjugated aromatics serving as hosts to capture and release singlet oxygen have been systematically investigated over the last decades. Herein, we present a [6+6] organoplatinum(II) metallacycle by using ~180° dipyridylanthracene donor and ~120° Pt(II) acceptor as the building blocks, which enables the capture and release of singlet oxygen with relatively high photooxygenation and thermolysis rate constants. The photooxygenation of the metallacycle to the corresponding endoperoxide was performed by sensitized irradiation, and the resulting endoperoxide is stable at room temperature and can be stored under ambient condition over months. Upon simple heating the neat endoperoxide under inert atmosphere at 120 °C for 4 h, the resulting endoperoxide can be reconverted to the corresponding parent form and singlet oxygen. The photooxygenation and thermolysis products were characterized by NMR spectroscopy and ESI-TOF-MS analysis. Density functional theory calculations were conducted in order to reveal the frontier molecular orbital interactions and reactivity. This work provides a new material-platform for singlet oxygen related promising applications.

The purposes of this project were to prepare amorphous carbamazepine by dehydration of crystalline carbamazepine dihydrate, and to study the kinetics of crystallization of the prepared amorphous phase. Amorphous carbamazepine was formed and characterized in situ in the sample chamber of a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), and a variable temperature x-ray powder diffractometer (VTXRD). It has a glass transition temperature of 56 degrees C and it is a relatively strong glass with a strength parameter of 37. The kinetics of its crystallization were followed by isothermal XRD, under a controlled water vapor pressure of 23 Torr. The crystallization kinetics are best described by the three-dimensional nuclear growth model with rate constants of 0.014, 0.021, and 0.032 min-1 at 45, 50, and 55 degrees C, respectively. When the Arrhenius equation was used, the activation energy of crystallization was calculated to be 74 kJ/mol in the presence of water vapor (23 Torr). On the basis of the Kissinger plot, the activation energy of crystallization in the absence of water vapor (0 Torr water vapor pressure) was determined to be 157 kJ/mol. Dehydration of the dihydrate is a novel method to prepare amorphous carbamazepine; in comparison with other methods, it is a relatively gentle and effective technique.

SOX10 was identified as a methylated gene in our previous cancer methylome study. Here we further analyzed its epigenetic inactivation, biological functions and related cell signaling in digestive cancers (colorectal, gastric and esophageal cancers) in detail. SOX10 expression was decreased in multiple digestive cancer cell lines as well as primary tumors due to its promoter methylation. Pharmacologic or genetic demethylation reversed SOX10 silencing. Ectopic expression of SOX10in SOX10-deficient cancer cells inhibits their proliferation, tumorigenicity, and metastatic potentials in vitro and in vivo. SOX10 also suppressed the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stemness properties of digestive tumor cells. Mechanistically, SOX10 competes with TCF4 to bind β-catenin and transrepresses its downstream target genes via its own DNA-binding property. SOX10 mutations that disrupt the SOX10-β-catenin interaction partially prevented tumor suppression. SOX10is thus a commonly inactivated tumor suppressor that antagonizes Wnt/β-catenin signaling in cancer cells from different digestive tissues.

Metastasis is a major contributor of death in cancer patients, and there is an urgent need for effective treatments of metastatic malignancies. Herein, ketoprofen (KP) and loxoprofen (LP) platinum(IV) complexes with antiproliferative and antimetastatic properties were designed and prepared by integrating chemotherapy and immunotherapy targeting cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), besides DNA. A mono-KP platinum(IV) complex with a cisplatin core is screened out as a candidate possessing potent anti-proliferative and anti-metastasis activities both in vitro and in vivo. It induces serious DNA damage and further leads to high expression of γ-H2AX and p53. Moreover, it promotes apoptosis of tumor cells through mitochondrial apoptotic pathway Bcl-2/Bax/caspase3. Then, COX-2, MMP-9, NLRP3, and caspase1 as pivotal enzymes igniting inflammation and metastasis are obviously inhibited. Notably, it significantly improves immune response through restraining the expression of PD-L1 to increase CD3 + and CD8 + T infiltrating cells in tumor tissues.

The object of this project was to study the influence of temperature and water vapor pressure on the kinetics and mechanism of dehydration of carbamazepine dihydrate and to establish the relationship between the dehydration mechanism and the solid-state of the anhydrous phase formed. Three experimental techniques were utilized to study the kinetics of dehydration of carbamazepine dihydrate (C15H12N2O.2H2O)-thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and variable temperature powder X-ray diffractometry (VTXRD). These techniques respectively provide information about the changes in weight, heat flow and solid-state (phase) during the dehydration process. The instrumental setup was modified so that simultaneous control of both the temperature and the water vapor pressure was possible. The experiments were carried out at different temperatures, ranging from 26 to 64 degrees C. In the absence of water vapor, the dehydration followed the 2-dimensional phase boundary controlled model at all the temperatures studied. In the next stage, the water vapor pressure was altered while the studies were carried out at a single temperature of 44 degrees C. The dehydration was 2-dimensional phase boundary controlled at water vapor pressures < or = 5.1 torr while the Avrami-Erofeev kinetics (3-dimensional nucleation) was followed at water vapor pressures > or = 12.0 torr. In the former case, the anhydrous phase formed was X-ray amorphous while it was the crystalline anhydrous gamma-carbamazepine in the latter. Thus a relationship between the mechanism of dehydration and the solid-state of the product phase was evident. The dehydration conditions influence not only the mechanism but also the solid-state of the anhydrous phase formed. While the techniques of TGA and DSC have found extensive use in studying dehydration reactions, VTXRD proved to be an excellent complement in characterizing the solid-states of the reactant and product phases.