Synthesis and Crystal Structure of 4-(4,6-Dimethoxylpyrimidin-2-yl)-3-thiourea Carboxylic Acid Ethyl Ester

4-（4,6-Dimethoxyl-pyrimidin-2-yl）-3-thiourea carboxylic acid ethyl ester was synthesized by the reaction of 2-amino-4,6-dimethoxyl pyrimidine, potassium thiocyanate and methyl chloroformate in ethyl acetate. Single crystals suitable for X-ray measurement were obtained by recrystallization with the solvent of dimethyl formamide at room temperature. The crystal structure was determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. Crystallographic data： C10H14N4O4S, M, = 286.31, monoclinic, space group C2/c with a = 2.5309（3）, b = 0.67682（6）, c = 1.74237（19） nm, β = 114.744（3）°, V= 2.7106（5） nm3, Dc = 1.403 g/cm3, p = 0.225 mm-1, F（000） = 1200, Z= 8, R= 0.0514 and wR= 0.1529.

[Cd(bpy)(tp)(H_2O)]_n: An Interesting Brickwall-like Supramolecular Array Assembled by Intermolecular Interaction

The polymeric solid, [Cu（bpy）（tp）（H2O）]n 1 （tp = terephthalate, bpy = 2,2＇-bipyridine）, has been obtained from the hydrothermal approach and characterized by X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, IR spectra and thermogravimetric analysis. Compound 1 crystallizes in triclinic, space group P1 with a = 9.360（2）, b = 9.872（2）, c = 10.774（2）A, α = 106.281（5）, β = 112.471（5）, γ = 96.697（3）°, V = 854.5（3）A^3, Z = 2, GOF = 1.09, R = 0.0318 and wR = 0.0845. X-ray single-crystal analysis reveals that 1 is an interesting 3D staggered brickwall-like supramolecular array assembled through aromatic π-π stacking and hydrogen bonding interactions of 1D infinite zigzag polymeric chains.

Twisted Helical Microfibers by Hierarchical Self-Assembly of an Aromatic Oligoamide Foldamer

A series of aromatic oligoamide foldamers based on 8-fluoro amino-quinoline carboxyl acid have been synthe- sized and characterized. Studies show that these foldamers self-assemble to form well-defined twisted helical mi- crofibers in chloroform-methanol （1 ： 1, V/V） binary solvent due to the intermolecular π-π stacking and van der Waals forces of aliphatic chains, which are supported by SEM, TEM and XRD. It is also revealed that the assembly morphologies show strong dependence on the length of alkyl chains.

Design and Fabrication of Functional Hydrogels through Interfacial Engineering

Hydrogels have drawn considerable attention in the past two decades due to their excellent biocompatibility and multi-stimuli responsiveness. They have a wide range of applications in the fields related to tissue engineering, sensors and biomedicine. Their applications are strongly influenced by the surface properties of hydrogels and the interfacial interactions between hydrogels and other substrates. In particular, the surface wettability and adhesion of hydrogels decide their applications as drug carriers and wound dressing materials. Nevertheless, there is a lack of systematic discussion on the surface functionalization strategies of hydrogels. Therefore, this review aims at summarizing the strategies of functionalizing the surfaces of hydrogels and bonding hydrogels with other solid substrates. It also explores the challenges and future perspectives of interfacial engineering of hydrogels.

Construction of Vesicles, Micro/Nanorods and Ultralong Nanotubes through the Self-Assembly of Non-Classical Amphiphiles with Rigid Conformation

Amphiphilic molecules have long been regarded as an important class of supramolecular building blocks for the fabrication of nanomaterials. While most previous researches have mainly focused on amphiphlies with flexible structures, in this work, four novel amphiphiles possessing wholly-rigid skeletons have been designed and synthe- sized. These molecules were built by using 4,4＇-bipyridin-l-ium or viologen as hydrophilic moieties and phenyl or biphenyl as hydrophobic segments, bridged by a pyridazine unit. Their self-assembly behavior has been investigated by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, atomic force microscopy （AFM） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, which revealed they could self-assemble into well-ordered nanoarchitectures with various morphologies such as vesicles, micro/nanorods and nanotubes in water or methanol, depending on their hydrophilic/hydrophobic fraction ratios.