Modification of σ‐Donor Properties of Terminal Carbide Ligands Investigated Through Carbide–Iodine Adduct Formation

The terminal carbide ligands in [(Cy₃P)₂X₂Ru≡C] complexes (X=halide or pseudohalide) coordinate molecular iodine, affording charge‐transfer complexes rather than oxidation products. Crystallographic and vibrational spectroscopic data show the perturbations of iodine to vary with the auxiliary ligand sphere on ruthenium, demonstrating the σ‐donor properties of carbide complexes to be tunable.     

Comment on “Density functional theory study of 1,2‐dioxetanone decomposition in condensed phase”

In the preceding paper results are presented, which are in serious conflict with state‐of‐the‐art ab initio method. Based on these new results the authors propose a new explanation of the reason for the preferential production of a phosphorescent state. Here we show that these controversial results are flawed, since the model use exclude biradical electron structures. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Topology optimization of 3D shell structures with porous infill

This paper presents a 3D topology optimization approach for designing shell structures with a porous or void interior. It is shown that the resulting structures are significantly more robust towards load perturbations than completely solid structures optimized under the same condi-tions. The study indicates that the potential benefit of using porous structures is higher for lower total volume fractions. Compared to earlier work dealing with 2D topology opti-mization, we found several new effects in 3D problems. Most notably, the opportunity for designing closed shells signifi-cantly improves the performance of porous structures due to the sandwich effect. Furthermore, the paper introduces improved filter boundary conditions to ensure a completely uniform coating thickness at the design domain boundary.     

Lipases,liposomes and lipid-prodrugs

Colloidal and interfacial phenomena lie at the core of drug formulation, drug delivery, as well as drug binding and action at diseased sites, e.g., in cancer therapy. We review a class of liposome-based drug-delivery systems whose design and functional properties are intimately controlled by the stability of sub-micron structures, lipid-bilayer interfaces, and interfacially activated enzymes that can be exploited to target and deliver drugs. Moreover these drugs can themselves be special lipid molecules in the form of lipid prodrugs that both form the liposomal carrier as well as the substrate for endogenously upregulated lipases that turn the prodrugs into potent drugs precisely at the diseased site.