Xingfa Gao

Unraveling stress-induced toxicity properties of graphene oxide and the underlying mechanism.

Graphene oxide shows stress-induced toxicity properties in vivo under different pathophysiological conditions. A dual-path chemical mechanism, involving the overproduction of hydroxyl radicals and the formation of oxidizing cytochrome c intermediates, is responsible for the toxicity properties.

The inhibition of migration and invasion of cancer cells by graphene via the impairment of mitochondrial respiration.

Graphene and its derivatives have become important nanomaterials worldwide and have potential medical applications including in vivo diagnosis, drug delivery, and photothermal therapy of cancer. However, little is known about their effect on the metastasis of cancer cells, which is the cause of over 90% of patient deaths. In the present investigation, we provide direct evidence that low concentrations of pristine graphene and graphene oxide show no apparent influence on the viability of MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells, PC3 human prostate cancer cells, as well as B16F10 mouse melanoma cells. However, both pristine graphene and graphene oxide can effectively inhibit the migration and invasion of these cancer cells. Further studies indicate that exposure of cells to graphene led to the direct inhibition of the electron transfer chain complexes I, II, III and IV, most likely by disrupting electron transfer between iron-sulfur centers, which is due to its stronger ability to accept electrons compared to iron-sulfur clusters through theoretical calculations. The decreased electron transfer chain activity caused a reduction in the production of ATP and subsequent impairment of F-actin cytoskeleton assembly, which is crucial for the migration and invasion of metastatic cancer cells. The inhibition of cancer cell metastasis by graphene and graphene oxide might provide new insights into specific cancer treatment.

Gd-metallofullerenol nanomaterial as non-toxic breast cancer stem cell-specific inhibitor

The contemporary use of nanomedicines for cancer treatment has been largely limited to serving as carriers for existing therapeutic agents. Here, we provide definitive evidence that, the metallofullerenol nanomaterial Gd@C82(OH)22, while essentially not toxic to normal mammary epithelial cells, possesses intrinsic inhibitory activity against triple-negative breast cancer cells. Gd@C82(OH)22 blocks epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition with resultant efficient elimination of breast cancer stem cells (CSCs) resulting in abrogation of tumour initiation and metastasis. In normoxic conditions, Gd@C82(OH)22 mediates these effects by blocking TGF-β signalling. Moreover, under hypoxic conditions found in the tumour microenvironment, cellular uptake of Gd@C82(OH)22 is facilitated where it functions as a bi-potent inhibitor of HIF-1α and TGF-β activities, enhancing CSC elimination. These studies indicate that nanomaterials can be engineered to directly target CSCs. Thus, Gd-metallofullerenol is identified as a kind of non-toxic CSC specific inhibitors with significant therapeutic potential.

Mechanism of pH-switchable peroxidase and catalase-like activities of gold, silver, platinum and palladium

Despite being increasingly used as artificial enzymes, little has been known for the origin of the pH-switchable peroxidase-like and catalase-like activities of metals. Using calculations and experiments, we report the mechanisms for both activities and their pH-switchability for metals Au, Ag, Pd and Pt. The calculations suggest that both activities are intrinsic properties of metals, regardless of the surfaces and intersections of facets exposed to environments. The pre-adsorbed OH groups on the surfaces, which are only favorably formed in basic conditions, trigger the switch between both activities and render the pH-switchability. The adsorption energies between H2O2 and metals can be used as convenient descriptors to predict the relative enzyme-like activities of the metals with similar surface morphologies. The results agree with the enzyme-mimic activities that have been experimentally reported for Au, Ag, Pt and predict that Pd should have the similar properties. The prediction, as well as the predicted activity order for the four metals, has been verified by the experimental tests. The results thus provide an in-depth insight into the peroxidase-like and catalase-like activities of the metals and will guide the de novo design, synthesis and application of artificial enzymes based on inorganic materials.

Oxidation Unzipping of Stable Nanographenes into Joint Spin-Rich Fragments

When an all-benzenoid nanographene is linearly unzipped into oxygen-joined fragments, the oxidized benzenoid rings (aromatic sextets) selectively adopt the low-spin (DeltaS = 0) or high-spin conformation (DeltaS = 1) to yield the thermally most stable isomer. The selection of the conformation depends simply on the position of the aromatic sextets: the inner ones prefer the high-spin conformation, whereas the peripheral ones prefer the low-spin conformation. Therefore, the resulting most stable isomer has a total spin whose value equals the number of inner aromatic sextets (n(i)) along the oxidizing line. The nanographene fragments contained in this isomer have a ferromagnetic spin coupling. Due to the tautomerization between the high-spin and low-spin conformations, there also exist other possible isomers with higher energies and with spins at ground state ranging from 0 to (n(i) - 1). The rich geometrically correlated spins and the adjustable energy gaps indicate great potential of the graphene oxides in spintronic devices.

Mechanisms of Oxidase and Superoxide Dismutation-like Activities of Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Palladium, and Their Alloys: A General Way to the Activation of Molecular Oxygen

Metal and alloy nanomaterials have intriguing oxidase- and superoxide dismutation-like (SOD-like) activities. However, origins of these activities remain to be studied. Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we investigate mechanisms of oxidase- and SOD-like properties for metals Au, Ag, Pd and Pt and alloys Au4-xMx (x = 1, 2, 3; M = Ag, Pd, Pt). We find that the simple reaction-dissociation of O2-supported on metal surfaces can profoundly account for the oxidase-like activities of the metals. The activation (Eact) and reaction energies (Er) calculated by DFT can be used to effectively predict the activity. As verification, the calculated activity orders for series of metal and alloy nanomaterials are in excellent agreement with those obtained by experiments. Briefly, the activity is critically dependent on two factors, metal compositions and exposed facets. On the basis of these results, an energy-based model is proposed to account for the activation of molecular oxygen. As for SOD-like activities, the mechanisms mainly consist of protonation of O2(•-) and adsorption and rearrangement of HO2(•) on metal surfaces. Our results provide atomistic-level insights into the oxidase- and SOD-like activities of metals and pave a way to the rational design of mimetic enzymes based on metal nanomaterials. Especially, the O2 dissociative adsorption mechanism will serve as a general way to the activation of molecular oxygen by nanosurfaces and help understand the catalytic role of nanomaterials as pro-oxidants and antioxidants.

[2+1] Cycloaddition of Nitrene onto C60 Revisited: Interconversion between an Aziridinofullerene and an Azafulleroid†

It is known that organic azides react with a [6,6] bond of C60 through a 1,3-dipolar [3+2] cycloaddition to afford triazolines. Thermolysis of a triazoline, followed by concomitant loss of nitrogen, gives rise to a [1,6]azafulleroid 1 and a [1,2]aziridinofullerene 2 (Scheme 1). Both 1 and 2 can also be obtained directly from the reaction of C60 and azides at higher temperatures, but the ratio of 1:2 depends on the nature of the substituent. Furthermore, azides have major associated problems in regards to toxicity and explosibility. Thus, new useful methods for the preparation of azafulleroids and aziridinofullerenes are expected. Sulfilimines are known to generate an N-substituted nitrene in thermal and photochemical reactions. Recently, it has been reported that N-sulfenylsulfilimine generates a sulfenylnitrene under mild conditions. Nitrenes readily react with alkenes to afford the corresponding three-membered aziridines. In this context, a nitrene is expected to be a key intermediate, instead of an azide, in the aziridination of fullerene. In the course of our study on the development of synthetic methodology for the preparation of [1,2]aziridinofullerene, we carried out the photoreaction of C60 with an N-p-toluenesulfonylsulfilimine having a dibenzothiophene structure (3 ; Scheme 2) to accomplish the regioselective

Deciphering the underlying mechanisms of oxidation-state dependent cytotoxicity of graphene oxide on mammalian cells

The promising broad applications of graphene oxide (GO) derivatives in biomedicine have raised concerns about their safety on biological organisms. However, correlations between the physicochemical properties, especially oxidation degree of GOs and their toxicity, and the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Herein, we evaluated the cytotoxicity of three GO samples with various oxidation degrees on mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs). Three samples can be internalized by MEFs observed via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and were well tolerant by MEFs at lower doses (below 25μg/ml) but significantly toxic at 50 and 100μg/ml via Cytell Imaging System. More importantly, as the oxidation degree decreased, GO derivatives led to a higher degree of cytotoxicity and apoptosis. Meanwhile, three GOs stimulated dramatic enhancement in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in MEFs, where the less oxidized GO produced a higher level of ROS, suggesting the major role of oxidative stress in the oxidation-degree dependent toxicity of GOs. Results from electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometry showed a strong association of the lower oxidation degree of GOs with their stronger indirect oxidative damage through facilitating H2O2 decomposition into OH and higher direct oxidative abilities on cells. The theoretical simulation revealed the key contributions of carboxyl groups and aromatic domain size of nanosheets to varying the energy barrier of H2O2 decomposition reaction. These systematic explorations in the chemical mechanisms unravel the key physicochemical properties that would lead to the diverse toxic profiles of the GO nanosheets with different oxygenation levels, and offer us new clues in the molecular design of carbon nanomaterials for their safe applications in biomedicine.

Open-Shell Singlet Character of Stable Derivatives of Nonacene, Hexacene and Teranthene

The electronic ground states of the recently synthesized stable nonacene derivatives (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 1261) are open-shell singlets with a polyradical nature instead of closed-shell singlets as originally assumed, according to the unrestricted broken spin-symmetry density functional theory (UBS-DFT) computations (at B3LYP/6-31G*). It is the bulky protecting groups, not the transfer from the open-shell singlet to closed-shell singlet ground state, that stabilizes these longest characterized acenes. Similar analyses also confirmed the open-shell singlet character of the hexacene and teranthene derivatives.

Single Layer of Polymeric Cobalt Phthalocyanine: Promising Low‐Cost and High‐Activity Nanocatalysts for CO Oxidation

The catalytic behavior of transition metals (Sc to Zn) combined in polymeric phthalocyanine (Pc) is investigated systematically by using first-principles calculations. The results indicate that CoPc exhibits the highest catalytic activity for CO oxidation at room temperature with low energy barriers. By exploring the two well-established mechanisms for CO oxidation with O2 , namely, the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (LH) and the Eley-Rideal (ER) mechanisms, it is found that the first step of CO oxidation catalyzed by CoPc is the LH mechanism (CO + O2 → CO2 + O) with energy barrier as low as 0.65 eV. The second step proceeds via both ER and LH mechanisms (CO + O → CO2 ) with small energy barriers of 0.10 and 0.12 eV, respectively. The electronic resonance among Co-3d, CO-2π*, and O2 -2π* orbitals is responsible for the high activity of CoPc. These results have significant implications for a novel avenue to fabricate organometallic sheet nanocatalysts for CO oxidation with low cost and high activity.