Benzothiazinone [HRP]

A deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level is a prerequisite for polymer donor material to boost the organic solar cells (OSCs) performance by achieving high open circuit voltage (V-oc). Abandoning the traditional concept of donor-acceptor (D-A) structure, two copolymers PBTZ-4TC and PBTZ-C4T based on acceptor(1)-pi-acceptor(2) (A(1)-pi-A(2)) architecture, where thiophene as the bridge, the difluorinated benzotriazole (BTZ) as A(1) unit alternating copolymerized with 4,4'-dicarboxylate-substituted difluorotetrathiophene (4TC) and 3,3'-dicarboxylate-substituted difluorotetrathiophene (C4T) as A(2), respectively, are developed. Because of the double acceptor blocks with high electron affinity, both A(1)-pi-A(2) type copolymers possess the lower HOMO levels of 5.52-5.56 eV, which are lower than most D-A type donors. Polymer PBTZ-4TC and PBTZ-C4T have the same backbone but only differ with the position of carboxylate substituent on the A(2) unit. Intriguingly, subtle optimizing the position of the carboxylate-substitute causes a significantly difference on the properties of the A(1)-pi-A(2) type copolymers. PBTZ-C4T with more planar geometry is demonstrated with better light absorption, higher crystallinity, more pronounced temperature-dependent aggregation effect, and favorable bulk heterojunction morphology but with slightly higher HOMO level and more emission energy loss relative to the PBTZ-4TC. The PBTZ-C4T device exhibits the higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.34% than the PBTZ-4TC-based one (8.75%). These results reveal that concept of A(1)-pi-A(2) type copolymers not only can afford more flexibility in tuning the energy levels to achieve the deep HOMO levels but also can provide a facial strategy to greatly enrich the types of polymer donors for high-performance OSCs.

Bortezomib (Btz) is an active agent used to treat multiple myeloma (MM). Not all patients who receive Btz-containing therapy show a favorable response. Interaction of cellular adhesion molecules with MM and bone marrow stromal cells is crucial for the survival of MM cells. However, little is known about the role of these molecules in the sensitivity of MM to Btz-containing therapy. Thus, we evaluated the correlation between the level of cellular adhesion molecules in MM cells and the efficacy of Btz plus dexamethasone (Bd) therapy. The expression of the neural cell adhesion molecule gene (NCAM, also known as CD56), ITGA4, CXCR4, and other genes were analyzed in 74 samples of primary MM cells collected from patients before they received Bd therapy. Of the eight genes tested, expression of NCAM was lower among patients who responded poorly to Bd therapy. In vitro expression of NCAM induced by transfection of MM cells enhanced their sensitivity to Btz treatment by causing accumulation of polyubiquitinated proteins. Our results indicate that expression of NCAM is associated with better response to Btz treatment and is a promising candidate biomarker for predicting response to therapies involving Btz.