Surfactant (bi)layers on gold nanorods

Gold nanorods in aqueous solution are generally surrounded by surfactants or capping agents. This is crucial for anisotropic growth during synthesis and for their final stability in solution. When CTAB is used, a bilayer has been evidenced from analytical methods even though no direct morphological characterization of the precise thickness and compactness has been reported. The type of surfactant layer is also relevant to understand the marked difference in further self-assembling properties of gold nanorods as experienced using 16-EO(1)-16 gemini surfactant instead of CTAB. To obtain a direct measure of the thickness of the surfactant layer on gold nanorods synthesized by the seeded growth method, we coupled TEM, SAXS, and SANS experiments for the two different cases, CTAB and gemini 16-EO(1)-16. Despite the strong residual signal from micelles in excess, it can be concluded that the thickness is imposed by the chain length of the surfactant and corresponds to a bilayer with partial interdigitation.     

Water adsorption on SrTiO3(001): I. Experimental and simulated STM

Density functional theory-based simulations of scanning tunneling micrographs were used for comparison to published experimental images of reconstructed SrTiO₃(001) surfaces. It was found that the addition of dissociatively adsorbed H₂O to the presently accepted structural solution of the 2 × 1 reconstruction is more consistent with the experimental data. A proposed model for the c(4 × 4) reconstruction, based on the hydrated 2 × 1 structure, agrees well with experiment and is consistent with a formation process consisting of the simple dehydration of a wet 2 × 1 structure.     

Towards dual photodynamic and antiangiogenic agents: design and synthesis of a phthalocyanine-chalcone conjugate

A phthalocyanine-chalcone conjugate has been designed to combine the vascular disrupting effect of chalcones with the photodynamic effect of phthalocyanines. This potential dual photodynamic and antiangiogenic agent was obtained by the condensation of a tetrahydroxylated non-peripherally substituted Zn(ii) phthalocyanine with an amino chalcone converted into the corresponding activated isocyanate. The conjugate was fully characterized.     

Picoliter cell lysate assays in microfluidic droplet compartments for directed enzyme evolution

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Highlights? Microfluidic droplet compartments miniaturize cell lysate screening assays ? Picoliter single-cell lysate assays comparable in sensitivity to macroscale ? Directed evolution results in improved clones validating this experimental set-up ? Precision of droplet sorting enables enrichment of clones with slight improvements     

c(4 × 2) and related structural units on the SrTiO3(001) surface: scanning tunneling microscopy, density functional theory, and atomic structure

Density functional theory is used to simulate high-bias, constant-current scanning tunneling micrographs for direct comparison with experimental images. Coupled to previous spectroscopic data, these simulations are used to determine the atomic structure of Ti-rich nanostructures on strontium titanate (001) surfaces. These nanostructures have three consecutive TiO(x) surface layers and exploit the distinctive structural motif of the c(4 × 2) reconstruction as their main building block. A structural model of a characteristic triline defect is also proposed.     

AlCl3-promoted reaction of cycloalkanones with hydrazones: a convenient direct synthesis of 4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-indazoles and their analogues

The AlCl₃-promoted reactions of cycloalkanones with hydrazones are described. This approach represents a mild and operationally simple method to access 2,3-diaryl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-indazoles and their analogues in good to moderate yields.     

Chimie des sucres sans groupements protecteurs : synthese de carbamates,d'urees et de thiourees en position 1 du lactose

The anomeric hydroxyl of lactose was carbamoylated selectively by treating the free sugar with alkylisocyanates, thus without preliminary protection of the other hydroxyls of the lactose molecule. Moreover, the readily available 1-aminolactose and 1-octyl-aminolactose reacted with isocyanates and isothiocyanates to afford selectively $\text{N}$-lactosyl $\text{N′}$-alkylureas and $\text{N}$-lactosyl $\text{N′}$-alkylthioureas, respectively.     

Conversion of 1,3-oxathiolanes to 1,4-oxathianes using a silylated diazoester

Treatment of substituted 1,3-oxathiolanes with ethyl (triethylsilyl)diazoacetate in the presence of a copper catalyst effects one-carbon ring expansion to the corresponding 3-triethylsilyl-1,4-oxathiane-3-carboxylates. Subsequent desilylation can be brought about by treatment with tetrabutylammonium fluoride.