Squamous cell carcinoma of the penis (PSC) is a rare disease with limited information on the molecular events leading to malignant transformation. In a third of PSC cases, presence of human papilloma ...virus (HPV) is found. The APOBEC3 family of proteins is known to play a significant role in defense against HPV infection, but their role in PSC is largely unknown. In this study, we aim to assess mRNA expression levels of APOBEC3 family members in HPV+ and HPV- PSC to get insight into their association with clinicopathological features and to evaluate their prognostic impact. Expression levels of six APOBEC3 family members in tissue from 50 patients with PSC were determined by RT-PCR and correlated with clinical and histopathological features. Lower expression of APOBEC3A, APOBEC3B, and APOBEC3C was observed in advanced PSC stages. Except for APOBEC3D, HPV+ samples showed higher expression of APOBEC3s compared to HPV- samples. In univariate analyses, APOBEC3A and APOBEC3C expression tended to be associated with disease-free survival and APOBEC3A expression with overall survival; however, multivariable analyses failed to confirm these associations with outcome. More extensive external validation and functional laboratory studies are needed to evaluate further their role in PSC development and progression.
We aimed to identify novel markers for aggressive prostate cancer in a STAT3-low proteomics-derived dataset of mitochondrial proteins by immunohistochemical analysis and correlation with ...transcriptomic data and biochemical recurrence in a STAT3 independent PCa cohort. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPE) sample selection for proteomic analysis and tissue-microarray (TMA) generation was conducted from a cohort of PCa patients. Retrospective data analysis was performed with the same cohort. 153 proteins differentially expressed between STAT3-low and STAT3-high samples were identified. Out of these, 46 proteins were associated with mitochondrial processes including oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), and 45 proteins were upregulated, including NDUFS1/ATP5O. In a STAT3 independent PCa cohort, high expression of NDUFS1/ATP5O was confirmed by immunocytochemistry (IHC) and was significantly associated with earlier biochemical recurrence (BCR). mRNA expression levels for these two genes were significantly higher in intra-epithelial neoplasia and in PCa compared to benign prostate glands. NDUFS1/ATP5O levels are increased both at the mRNA and protein level in aggressive PCa. Our results provide evidence that NDUFS1/ATP5O could be used to identify high-risk PCa patients.
Quinoxaline has recently gained interest as monomer in conjugated copolymers because of its easy synthetic accessibility and successful use in highly efficient organic solar cells. In this ...contribution, we introduce a quinoxaline–fluorene-co-polymer, PFQ10, synthesized by copolymerization of 5,8-dibromo-6,7-difluoro-2-(2-hexyldecyl)oxyquinoxaline and 9,9-dioctyl-9
H
-9-fluorene-2,7-bis(boronic acid pinacol ester) using the Suzuki–Miyaura reaction. By optimization of the reaction conditions, polymers with molecular weights up to 17.2 kDa and a low dispersity of 1.3 were obtained. PFQ10 showed blue photoluminescence with an emission maximum at 459 nm and a relative fluorescence quantum yield of 0.37. As proof of principle, PFQ10 was employed in organic light-emitting diodes and showed a blue–green electroluminescence.
Graphical abstract
Organic solar cells are on the dawn of the next era. The change of focus toward non-fullerene acceptors has introduced an enormous amount of organic n-type materials and has drastically increased the ...power conversion efficiencies of organic photovoltaics, now exceeding 18%, a value that was believed to be unreachable some years ago. In this Review, we summarize the recent progress in the design of ladder-type fused-ring non-fullerene acceptors in the years 2018–2020. We thereby concentrate on single layer heterojunction solar cells and omit tandem architectures as well as ternary solar cells. By analyzing more than 700 structures, we highlight the basic design principles and their influence on the optical and electrical structure of the acceptor molecules and review their photovoltaic performance obtained so far. This Review should give an extensive overview of the plenitude of acceptor motifs but will also help to understand which structures and strategies are beneficial for designing materials for highly efficient non-fullerene organic solar cells.
Profiting from inorganic modifications: The organic perylene structure was functionalized with inorganic silicon and germanium atoms. The broad absorption of the perylenes is represented by the hills ...in the background of the image, and the planar fused ring structure is illustrated by the leaves in the trees. The modified materials have beneficial properties for their application as electron acceptors in organic solar cells. More information can be found in the Research Article by M. Haas, T. Rath and co‐workers (DOI: 10.1002/chem.202301337).
A series of non‐fullerene acceptors based on perylene monoimides coupled in the peri position through phenylene linkers were synthesized via Suzuki‐coupling reactions. Various substitution patterns ...were investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations in combination with experimental data to elucidate the geometry and their optical and electrochemical properties. Further investigations of the bulk properties with grazing incidence wide angle X‐ray scattering (GIWAXS) gave insight into the stacking behavior of the acceptor thin films. Electrochemical and morphological properties correlate with the photovoltaic performance of devices with the polymeric donor PBDB‐T and a maximum efficiency of 3.17 % was reached. The study gives detailed information about structure–property relationships of perylene‐linker‐perylene compounds.
Out with the old, in with the new: Perylene monoimide has long been in the shadow of its famous sibling: perylene diimide. And this, despite its talents! In this study, perylene monoimide takes the spotlight and it has things to tell.
Organic solar cells have been continuously studied and developed through the last decades. A major step in their development was the introduction of fused-ring non-fullerene electron acceptors. Yet, ...beside their high efficiency, they suffer from complex synthesis and stability issues. Perylene-based non-fullerene acceptors, in contrast, can be prepared in only a few steps and display good photochemical and thermal stability. Herein, we introduce four monomeric perylene diimide acceptors obtained in a three-step synthesis. In these molecules, the semimetals silicon and germanium were added in the bay position, on one or both sides of the molecules, resulting in asymmetric and symmetric compounds with a red-shifted absorption compared to unsubstituted perylene diimide. Introducing two germanium atoms improved the crystallinity and charge carrier mobility in the blend with the conjugated polymer PM6. In addition, charge carrier separation is significantly influenced by the high crystallinity of this blend, as shown by transient absorption spectroscopy. As a result, the solar cells reached a power conversion efficiency of 5.38 %, which is one of the highest efficiencies of monomeric perylene diimide-based solar cells recorded to date.
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•Copper indium sulfide-polymer hybrid solar cells in inverted and regular architecture.•Regular solar cells exhibit higher PCEs than inverted solar cells.•PEDOT:PSS is more efficient ...as hole extraction layer than MoO3 and V2O5.•Encapsulated solar cells in inverted geometry show promising lifetimes.
In this study, the influence of device architecture (regular versus inverted) and different interlayers on performance and lifetime of polymer-nanocrystal hybrid solar cells is explored. The absorber layers of the investigated solar cells consist of the low band gap conjugated polymer poly9-(1-octylnonyl)-9H-carbazole-2,7-diyl-2,5-thiophenediyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-4,7-diyl-2,5-thiophenediyl (PCDTBT) and copper indium sulfide (CIS) nanocrystals. These are prepared directly in the polymer matrix via an in situ approach using copper and indium xanthates, which are converted to CIS nanocrystals by mild thermal annealing. Different interlayers – poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and inorganic metal oxides (V2O5, MoO3) – are used as hole extraction layers between absorber and anode. All three layers were successfully applied in solar cells in regular architecture. Using an inverted device design, a PEDOT:PSS interlayer and Ag electrodes, open circuit voltages of 550mV could be obtained, which are comparable to values obtained with solar cells having easily oxidizing low work function metal electrodes. However, inverted solar cells with a V2O5 hole extraction layer could not be obtained due to possible incompatibility of the V2O5 coating process with the underlying absorber layer. In the case of MoO3 interlayers, the introduction of additional layers led to working inverted solar cells.
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•Three derivatives of Poly(fluorene-alt-bithiophene) with straight or branched or both were synthesized.•The polymers and their binary blends with indene-C60 bisadduct are ...investigated regarding their general properties, morphology, photophysics, charge transport and photovoltaic device performance.•Straight side-chains promote aggregation and cause detrimental charge-trapping at grain boundaries.•Branched side-chains generate disorder, which is detrimental for charge transport across the conjugated polymer phase.•Combination of both side-chains is the ideal way to get the best morphology for an organic solar cell, preventing strong aggregation, but still allowing appropriate effective charge transport through well-distributed ordered nanophases.
In organic optoelectronics, order of conjugated molecules is required for good charge transport, but strong aggregation behavior may generate grain boundaries and trapping, opposing those benefits. Side chains on a polymer’s backbone are major reason for and also tool to modify its morphological characteristics. In this report, we show on the example poly(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-co-bithiophene) (F8T2) that by a combination of two types of side-chains on the backbone of equal number of carbons, one promoting crystallization, another hindering it, organization of the main chains can be controlled, without changing its major properties. We compare the traditional F8T2 derivative with octyl substituent with two modified species, one containing solely 2-ethylhexyl side-chains and another with both types randomly distributed. Thermal characteristics, photophysics and morphology are compared and effects on film formation and charge transport in bulk-heterojunction blends demonstrated on photovoltaic devices utilizing F8T2s as donor and the fullerene derivative ICBA as acceptor material.
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