The Tolman length: is it positive or negative?

By means of a large-scale molecular dynamics simulation, we show that the Tolman length, although positive, is much smaller in magnitude than previously reported. We found that the range of interparticle interaction can significantly affect the magnitude of the Tolman length. When the range of interaction is longer than five molecular diameters, the Tolman length is on the order of a few hundredths of the molecular diameter, rather than a few tenths known previously.     

The Application of HEXS and HERFD XANES for Accurate Structural Characterisation of Actinide Nanomaterials: The Case of ThO2

The structural characterisation of actinide nanoparticles (NPs) is of primary importance and hard to achieve, especially for non-homogeneous samples with NPs less than 3 nm. By combining high-energy X-ray scattering (HEXS) and high-energy-resolution fluorescence-detected X-ray absorption near-edge structure (HERFD XANES) analysis, we have characterised for the first time both the short- and medium-range order of ThO₂ NPs obtained by chemical precipitation. By using this methodology, a novel insight into the structures of NPs at different stages of their formation has been achieved. The pair distribution function revealed a high concentration of ThO₂ small units similar to thorium hexamer clusters mixed with 1 nm ThO₂ NPs in the initial steps of formation. Drying the precipitates at around 150 °C promoted the recrystallisation of the smallest units into more thermodynamically stable ThO₂ NPs. HERFD XANES analysis at the thorium M₄ edge, a direct probe for f states, showed variations that we have correlated with the breakdown of the local symmetry around the thorium atoms, which most likely concerns surface atoms. Together, HEXS and HERFD XANES are a powerful methodology for investigating actinide NPs and their formation mechanism.     

100 years of chromatography—or is it 171?

It is pointed out that the term 'chromatography' existed already before Tswett introduced it for the separation technique he described.     

The ester group: how hydrofluoroalkane-philic is it?

Pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs) have been recognized as potential devices for the delivery of systemically acting drugs, including biomolecules, to and through the lungs. Therefore, the development of novel excipients capable of imparting stability to suspension formulations in hydrofluoroalkane (HFA) propellants is of great relevance because many of the drugs of interest are poorly soluble in HFAs. In this work, we use ab initio calculations and chemical force microscopy (CFM) to determine the HFA-philicity of the biodegradable and biocompatible ester moiety quantitatively. The complementary information obtained from the binding energy calculations and adhesion force measurements are used to gain microscopic insight into the relationship between the chemistry of the moiety of interest and its solvation in HFA. A lactide (LA)-based copolymer surfactant was synthesized and characterized, and its ability to stabilize a dispersion of micronized budesonide in HFA227 was demonstrated. These results corroborate the ab initio calculations and CFM and show that the LA-based moiety is a suitable candidate for enhancing the stability of dispersions in HFA-based pMDIs.     

Cyclophanes or Cyclodextrins: What is the Best Host for Aromatic Volatile Organic Compounds?

The first results of the complexing ability of cyclobis-(paraquat-p-phenylene) as supramolecular host with different aromatic volatile organic compounds are presented. The formation constants of cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) with toluene and halogenobenzenes were determined in aqueous solution by static headspace associated with gas chromatography and compared with the ones obtained by cyclodextrins. The data indicated the formation of 1:1 inclusion compounds in both cases. The results underlined a greater complexation ability for cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) which was confirmed by a theoretical study.     

Dealing with Crystal Forms (The Kingdom of Serendip?)

The variety of crystal forms that may be associated with one specific molecule of interest can be extremely large: in addition to polymorphs, all sorts of crystalline solids can be obtained, from molecular and ionic co‐crystals to hydrates/solvates, to, needless to say, polymorphs of all these new crystal forms. Lack of predictability of crystallization experiments, far from representing a failure or a nuisance, should encourage in the crystal maker the same attitude shown by the three princes of Serendip (who were making unexpected discoveries by virtue of their “sagacity and readiness of mind”) to be ready to pick new avenues as the crystal experiments will yield something unplanned for.     

The toxicity outcome of silica nanoparticles (Ludox?) is influenced by testing techniques and treatment modalities

We analyzed the influence of the kind of cytotoxicity test and its application modality in defining the level of hazard of the in vitro exposures to nanostructures. We assessed the cytotoxicity induced by two different Ludox? silica nanoparticles (NPs), AS30 and SM30, on three human cell lines, CCD-34Lu, A549, and HT-1080. Dynamic light scattering measurements showed particle agglomeration when NPs are diluted in culture medium supplemented with fetal calf serum. We examined the impact of such particle aggregation on the cytotoxicity by exposing the cells to NPs under different treatment modalities: short incubation (2?h) in serum-free medium or long incubation (24–72?h) in serum-containing medium. Under this last modality, NP suspensions tended to form aggregates and were toxic at concentrations five- to tenfold higher than in serum-free medium. The results of cell survival varied considerably when the long-term clonogenic assay was performed to validate the data of the short-term MTS assay. Indeed, the half maximum effective concentrations (EC₅₀) in all the three cell lines were four- to fivefold lower when calculated from the data of clonogenic assay than of MTS. Moreover, the mechanisms of NP toxicity were cell-type-specific, showing that CCD-34Lu are prone to the induction of plasma membrane damages and HT-1080 are prone to DNA double-strand break and apoptosis induction. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the choice of testing strategy and treatment conditions plays an important role in assessing the in vitro toxicity of NPs.

The Thermochemistry of London Dispersion-Driven Transition Metal Reactions: Getting the ‘Right Answer for the Right Reason’

Reliable thermochemical measurements and theoretical predictions for reactions involving large transition metal complexes in which long-range intramolecular London dispersion interactions contribute significantly to their stabilization are still a challenge, particularly for reactions in solution. As an illustrative and chemically important example, two reactions are investigated where a large dipalladium complex is quenched by bulky phosphane ligands (triphenylphosphane and tricyclohexylphosphane). Reaction enthalpies and Gibbs free energies were measured by isotherm titration calorimetry (ITC) and theoretically ‘back-corrected’ to yield 0 K gas-phase reaction energies (ΔE). It is shown that the Gibbs free solvation energy calculated with continuum models represents the largest source of error in theoretical thermochemistry protocols. The (‘back-corrected’) experimental reaction energies were used to benchmark (dispersion-corrected) density functional and wave function theory methods. Particularly, we investigated whether the atom-pairwise D3 dispersion correction is also accurate for transition metal chemistry, and how accurately recently developed local coupled-cluster methods describe the important long-range electron correlation contributions. Both, modern dispersion-corrected density functions (e.g., PW6B95-D3(BJ) or B3LYP-NL), as well as the now possible DLPNO-CCSD(T) calculations, are within the ‘experimental’ gas phase reference value. The remaining uncertainties of 2–3 kcal mol⁻¹ can be essentially attributed to the solvation models. Hence, the future for accurate theoretical thermochemistry of large transition metal reactions in solution is very promising.     

The indirect through-space F-F coupling in peri-difluoronaphthalene: is it anisotropic?

The (1)H, (19)F and (13)C spectra have been obtained of a sample of peri-difluoronaphthalene dissolved in the nematic liquid crystalline solvent ZLI 1695. The (13)C satellite spectra from the six, single-(13)C isotopomers at natural abundance in both the (1)H and (19)F spectra were identified and analysed to yield a set of residual total, anisotropic spin-spin couplings, T(ij). This was achieved by first obtaining residual (13)C-(19)F and (13)C-(1)H couplings from a proton-encoded, (13)C detected, local field 2D spectrum. The 45 values of T(HH), T(HF) and T(CH) were used to obtain the structure of the molecule, and then to estimate whether there is a significant contribution from the component along the magnetic field, J, of the anisotropic, electron-mediated, spin-spin coupling tensors for (13)C-(19)F and (19)F-(19)F pairs. It is found that there is strong evidence for a significant contribution of J to T(FF) but not for the (13)C-(19)F pairs.     

Needs for fundamental reference data for analytical atomic spectroscopy: What we lack — Why it matters: Preface of the proceedings of a workshop

Results of a workshop on the needs of the analytical atomic spectroscopy community for fundamental reference data are presented. Areas of unique need and of needs in common with other areas of science are highlighted.     

The Clar Structure in Inorganic BN Analogues of Polybenzenoid Hydrocarbons: Does it Exist or Not?

The Clar structure of polybenzenoid hydrocarbons (PBHs) have attracted considerable interest of both theoretical and experimental chemists since it was proposed in the 1950s. However, it remains unclear whether the Clar structure could exist in inorganic PBHs, the boron nitride (BN) analogues where the alternate boron and nitrogen atoms are used to replace the carbon atoms of PBHs. Here, we carry out thorough density functional theory (DFT) calculations to probe the possibility of Clar structures in BN analogues of PBHs. A strong correlation (r²=0.975) between the ring number (n=3–10) of BN analogues of [n]acenes and energy differences between the most and least stable isomers is identified, suggesting the existence of Clar structures in inorganic PBHs. In addition, the slightly weaker correlations in comparison to that (r²=0.989) of the organic PBHs is rationalized by the reduced aromaticity, which is revealed by two aromatic indices: ELF_π and SCI.     

A three-component protocol for the enantiodifferentiation of amines using triphenyl borate and BINOL: is it an ion pair or an amine-coordinated complex?

The structure of the borate complex responsible for the enantiodifferentiation of amines using a previously reported three-component protocol has been established. The choice between an ion pair and an amine-coordinated complex with the N atom of the amine coordinated to the B atom is favored for the former structure based on the DFT-calculated ¹¹B NMR chemical shifts. In contrast to expectations, the anisotropies of the quadrupolar ¹¹B nucleus for the two structures were calculated to be indistinguishable with regard to their effect on the linewidth of the NMR signal.     

One-electron oxidized product of difluoroiron(III) porphyrin: is it iron(IV) porphyrin or iron(III) porphyrin π-cation radical?

The electronic structure of [Fe(TMP)F(2)], which is formally a one-electron oxidation equivalent above [Fe(III)(TMP)F(2)](-), has been examined in solution by (1)H NMR, UV-Vis, and M?ssbauer spectroscopy. In CD(2)Cl(2)-CD(3)OD solution at 193 K, the pyrrole-H and m-H signals appeared at 128.2 and 116.7 ppm, respectively. The UV-Vis spectrum showed broad absorption bands at 560-680 nm. The M?ssbauer spectrum taken in frozen toluene-methanol solution exhibited a very broad single line from which the IS and QS values were determined by computer simulation to be 0.50 and 0.14 mm s(-1), respectively. On the basis of these results, it was concluded that the one-electron oxidized product of [Fe(TMP)F(2)](-) should be formulated as the iron(III) radical cation [Fe(III)(TMP˙)F(2)], not as iron(IV) porphyrin [Fe(IV)(TMP)F(2)] as previously suggested.     

Surface tension of an ideal solid: What does it mean?

The surface tension (ST) of an ideal (rigid, smooth, and inert) solid surface is usually calculated from a set of two equations: the Young equation and an additional equation that expresses the correlation between the individual STs of two phases and their interfacial tension. The present discussion suggests that this calculated ST may not be an appropriate characteristic of wettability of a solid surface. The reasons include the nonmeasurability of this ST and theoretical aspects related to the rigidity and inertness of an ideal solid. Instead, it is suggested to measure the contact angles of a set of a few standard liquids, from which a ‘wettability index’ can be calculated by properly averaging the wettability indices calculated for each of standard liquid. The optimal identity of these liquids and the optimal weights of the averages should be found by experimentation.     

Energetics of OH− or H+ dependent nitrate uptake by Catharanthus roseus cells: Electrophysiological effects

The electrical potential across the plasmalemma and the tonoplast were recorded, in Catharanthus roseus cells, by pushing a glass microelectrode through a cell with the tip consecutively in the cell wall, the cytoplasm and the vacuole. The electrical potential difference between the cytoplasm and the external medium (E_CO) was about −71 mV and the mean potential difference at the tonoplast (E_VC) about +22 mV. In culture conditions, during the first two days following the transfer of the cells into a fresh medium, nitrate uptake by the cells was marked by a hyperpolarization of the plasmalemma (about −18 mV) and a simultaneous alkalinization of the external medium (1.3 pH units). Similar data were also obtained in short experiments (less than 10 min) with cells bathed in nitrate solutions (10 mM NaNO₃). Evidence for the existence of nitrate cotransport with H⁺ or OH⁻ as counterions at the plasmalemma is discussed.