Jiahao Xia, Huaping Xu Chem. J. Chinese Universities, 2021, 42, 997. Selenium is an essential element to human body. Our research group has recently revealed many unique features of selenium-containing bonds. For instance， diselenide bond has dual redox response， and it is also a type of dynamic bond which can undergo exchange reaction under visible light irradiation. Combing those interesting properties of selenium-containing bonds with surface/interface chemistry can endow system with unique responsive behaviors. This article reviews the recent progresses we made in the field of selenium...

Cheng Liu, Yizheng Tan, Chaowei He, Shaobo Ji, and Huaping Xu Adv. Mater., 2021, 33, 2105194. Programming 2D sheets to form 3D shapes is significant for flexible electronics, soft robots, and biomedical devices. Stress regulation is one of the most used methods, during which external force is usually needed to keep the stress, leading to complex processing setups. Here, by introducing dynamic diselenide bonds into shape-memory materials, unconstrained shape programming with light is achieved. The material could hold and release internal stress by themselves through the shape-memory effect,...

Luo Zhang, Chenxing Sun, Yizheng Tan and Huaping Xu CCS Chem., 2022, 4, 2249. Thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) is an essential enzyme for regulating the redox balance in cells, promoting cell proliferation, and inhibiting cell apoptosis. The biochemical pathway of TrxR metabolism involves a series of selenium-sulfur (Se-S) dynamic chemistry.  Theoretically, nanomaterials with Se-S dynamic bonds could exhibit TrxR-mimetic activities to tune TrxR activity and thus affect the cell activities. Herein, we report the selenium-sulfur-doped carbon dots (Se-S-CDs) synthesized by a facile hydrothermal m...

Jiahao Xia, Hongbin Li, Huaping Xu Acta Polym. Sin., 2020, 51, 205.   Sulfur, selenium-containing bonds, including disufide bond (SS), diselenide bond (SeSe), and selenide-sulfide bond (SeS), are an important type of light responsive dynamic covalent bonds. Among them, SS and SeS bonds can undergo exchange reaction with the irridiation of UV light, while SeSe bond only requires visible light due to its weaker bond energy. The purpose of this research is to use atomic force microscope-based single molecule force spectroscopy (AFM-SMFS) measurement to reveal the reasons behind the re...

Yiheng Dai, Tianyu Li, Zhiheng Zhang, Yizheng Tan, Shuojiong Pan, Luo Zhang, and Huaping Xu J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2021, 143, 10709. Intracellular polymerization is an emerging technique that can potentially modulate cell behavior, but remains challenging because of the complexity of the cellular environment. Herein, taking advantage of the chemical properties of organotellurides and the intracellular redox environment, we develop a novel oxidative polymerization reaction that can be conducted in cells without external stimuli. We demonstrate that this polymerization reaction is triggered by t...

Shuojiong Pan, huaping Xu Acta Polymerica Sinica, 2021, 52, 857. Stimuli-responsive polymers are defined as polymers whose structure and properties can be changed in response to minor changes in the surrounding physical or chemical environment. In recent years, our research group pioneered in the research of ROS-responsive tellurium-containing polymers and their application in drug delivery. The work presented in this feature article, starting from the difference of oxidation responsiveness of tellurium and selenium, explored the ultra-sensitive ROS-response of tellurides. Then we studied ...

Chenxing Sun, Shiqian Gao, Yizheng Tan, Zhiheng Zhang, and Huaping Xu ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng., 2021, 7, 3201. The abnormal tumor vasculature in solid tumors creates hypoxia and leads to compromising the delivery and anticancer efficiency of nanomedicine. Nanomaterials with intrinsic antiangiogenesis ability might normalize tumor vessels and improve the therapeutic effect of O2-related treatment like PDT. Herein, we designed and prepared ROS-responsive side-chain selenium-grafted polymers, which had potential antiangiogenic activity, as vehicles to load photodynamic therapeutic agent Ce6 an...

Qiaomei Chen, Yang Yang, Ying Yu, and Huaping Xu J. Chem. Educ.; 2021, 98, 1429. This article introduces a novel experiment that involves vitrimers, a new type of polymer, in polymer chemistry and physics lab courses for undergraduate students. Vitrimers are permanently cross-linked networks that can be reprocessed under certain external stimuli. Therefore, they combine the advantages of traditional thermoplastics (excellent reprocessability) with thermosets (outstanding mechanical properties and environmental stability). They can be regarded as a kind of “special thermoset”, which moves t...