Structure–Property Relationships in Click‐Derived Donor–Triazole–Acceptor Materials

To shed light on intramolecular charge‐transfer phenomena in 1,2,3‐triazole‐linked materials, a series of 1,2,3‐triazole‐linked push–pull chromophores were prepared and studied experimentally and computationally. Investigated modifications include variation of donor and/or acceptor strength and linker moiety as well as regioisomers. Photophysical characterization of intramolecular charge‐transfer features revealed ambipolar behavior of the triazole linker, depending on the substitution position. Furthermore, non‐centrosymmetric materials were subjected to second‐harmonic generation measurements, which revealed the high nonlinear optical activity of this class of materials.     

Partially Hydrogenated Graphene Materials Exhibit High Electrocatalytic Activities Related to Unintentional Doping with Metallic Impurities

Partially hydrogenated graphene materials, synthesized by the chemical reduction/hydrogenation of two different graphene oxides using zinc powder in acidic environment or aluminum powder in alkaline environment, exhibit high electrocatalytic activities, as well as electrochemical sensing properties. The starting graphene oxides and the resultant hydrogenated graphenes were characterized in detail. Their electrocatalytic activity was examined in the oxygen reduction reaction, whereas sensing properties towards explosives were tested by using picric acid as a redox probe. Findings indicate that the high electrocatalytic performance originates not only from the hydrogenation of graphene, but also from unintentional contamination of graphene with manganese and other metals during synthesis. A careful evaluation of the obtained data and a detailed chemical analysis are necessary to identify the origin of this anomalous electrocatalytic activity.     

Correlation‐assisted nearest shrunken centroid classifier with applications for high dimensional spectral data

High throughput data are frequently observed in contemporary chemical studies. Classification through spectral information is an important issue in chemometrics. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) fails in the large‐p‐small‐n situation for two main reasons: (1) the sample covariance matrix is singular when p > n and (2) there is an accumulation of noise in the estimation of the class centroid in high dimensional feature space. The Independence Rule is a class of methods used to overcome these drawbacks by ignoring the correlation information between spectral variables. However, a strong correlation is an essential characteristic of spectral data. We proposed a new correlation‐assisted nearest shrunken centroid classifier (CA‐NSC) to incorporate correlation information into the classification. CA‐NSC combines two sources of information [class centroid (mean) and correlation structure (variance)] to generate the classification. We used two real data analyses and a simulation study to verify our CA‐NSC method. In addition to NSC, we also performed a comparison with the soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) approach, which uses only correlation structure information for classification. The results show that CA‐NSC consistently improves on NSC and SIMCA. The misclassification rate of CA‐NSC is reduced by almost half compared with NSC in one of the real data analyses. Generally, correlation among variables will worsen the performance of NSC, even though the discriminatory information contained in the class centroid remains unchanged. If only correlation structure information is used (as in the case of SIMCA), the result will be satisfactory only when the correlation structure alone can provide sufficient information for classification. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

π‐Expanded α,β‐Unsaturated Ketones: Synthesis,Optical Properties,and Two‐Photon‐Induced Polymerization

A library of π‐expanded α,β‐unsaturated ketones was designed and synthesized. They were prepared by a combination of Wittig reaction, Sonogashira reaction, and aldol condensation. It was further demonstrated that the double aldol condensation can be performed effectively for highly polarized styrene‐ and diphenylacetylene‐derived aldehydes. The strategic placement of two dialkylamino groups at the periphery of D ‐π‐A‐π‐D molecules resulted in dyes with excellent solubility. These ketones absorb light in the region 400–550 nm. Many of them display strong solvatochromism so that the emission ranges from 530–580 nm in toluene to the near‐IR region in benzonitrile. Ketones based on cyclobutanone as central moieties display very high fluorescence quantum yields in nonpolar solvents, which decrease drastically in polar media. Photophysical studies of these new functional dyes revealed that they possess an enhanced two‐photon absorption cross section when compared with simpler ketone derivatives. Due to strong polarization of the resulting dyes, values of two‐photon absorption cross sections on the level of 200–300 GM at 800 nm were achieved, and thanks to that as well as the presence of the keto group, these new two‐photon initiators display excellent performance so that the operating region is 5–75 mW in some cases.     

Estimation of Lattice Enthalpies of Ionic Liquids Supported by Hirshfeld Analysis

New measurements of vaporization enthalpies for 15 1:1 ionic liquids are performed by using a quartz‐crystal microbalance. Collection and analysis of 33 available crystal structures of organic salts, which comprise 13 different cations and 12 anions, is performed. Their dissociation lattice enthalpies are calculated by a combination of experimental and quantum chemical quantities and are divided into the relaxation and Coulomb components to give an insight into elusive short‐range interaction enthalpies. An empirical equation is developed, based on interaction‐specific Hirshfeld surfaces and solvation enthalpies, which enables the estimation of the lattice enthalpy by using only the crystal‐structure data.     

Enantioselective comprehensive two‐dimensional gas chromatography. A route to elucidate the authenticity and origin of Rosa damascena Miller essential oils

The analysis of Bulgarian and Turkish Rosa damascena Miller essential oils was performed by flow‐modulated comprehensive two‐dimensional gas chromatography using simultaneous detection of the second column effluent by flame ionization and quadrupole mass spectrometric detection. Enantioselective separations were obtained by running the samples on 2,3‐di‐O‐ethyl‐6‐O‐tert‐butyldimethylsilyl‐β‐cyclodextrin column as the first column and on polyethylene glycol as the second column. The determination of enantiomeric or diastereomeric excess of some terpenoic solutes is a possible route for quality or authenticity control as well as for the elucidation of the country of origin.     

Vortex‐assisted liquid–liquid microextraction using a low‐toxicity solvent for the determination of five organophosphorus pesticides in water samples by high‐performance liquid chromatography

Vortex‐assisted liquid–liquid microextraction followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography with UV detection was applied to determine Isocarbophos, Parathion‐methyl, Triazophos, Phoxim and Chlorpyrifos‐methyl in water samples. 1‐Bromobutane was used as the extraction solvent, which has a higher density than water and low toxicity. Centrifugation and disperser solvent were not required in this microextraction procedure. The optimum extraction conditions for 15 mL water sample were: pH of the sample solution, 5; volume of the extraction solvent, 80 μL; vortex time, 2 min; salt addition, 0.5 g. Under the optimum conditions, enrichment factors ranging from 196 to 237 and limits of detection below 0.38 μg/L were obtained for the determination of target pesticides in water. Good linearities (r > 0.9992) were obtained within the range of 1–500 μg/L for all the compounds. The relative standard deviations were in the range of 1.62–2.86% and the recoveries of spiked samples ranged from 89.80 to 104.20%. The whole proposed methodology is simple, rapid, sensitive and environmentally friendly for determining traces of organophosphorus pesticides in the water samples.     

Induction of targeted necrosis with HER2-targeted platinum(iv) anticancer prodrugs

It is well-recognized that the failure of many chemotherapeutics arises due to an inability to induce apoptosis. Most cancers acquire a myriad of pro-survival adaptations, and the vast heterogeneity and accumulation of multiple often unrelated anti-apoptotic signaling pathways have been a major stumbling block towards the development of conventional chemotherapeutics, which can overcome drug resistance. We have developed highly potent and selective HER2-targeted Pt(iv) prodrugs bearing anti-HER2/neu peptides that induce targeted necrosis as a novel strategy to circumvent apoptosis-resistance. These Pt(iv)–peptide conjugates exhibit a unique biphasic mode of cytotoxicity comprising rapid killing of cancer cells via necrosis in the first phase followed by an extended and gradual phase of delayed cell death. We demonstrate that these Pt(iv)–peptide prodrugs are more potent than their Pt(ii) congeners in direct cell-killing and exhibit comparable long-term inhibition of proliferative capacity and with greater selectivity against HER2-positive cancer cells.