Solvent Casting and UV Photocuring for Easy and Safe Fabrication of Nanocomposite Film Dressings

The aim of this work was to optimize and characterize nanocomposite films based on gellan gum methacrylate (GG-MA) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for application in the field of wound dressing. The films were produced using the solvent casting technique coupled with a photocuring process. The UV irradiation of GG-MA solutions containing glycerol as a plasticizer and different amounts of silver nitrate resulted in the concurrent crosslinking of the photocurable polymer and a reduction of Ag ions with consequent in situ generation of AgNPs. In the first part of the work, the composition of the films was optimized, varying the concentration of the different components, the GG-MA/glycerol and GG-MA/silver nitrate weight ratios as well as the volume of the film-forming mixture. Rheological analyses were performed on the starting solutions, whereas the obtained films were characterized for their mechanical properties. Colorimetric analyses and swelling studies were also performed in order to determine the AgNPs release and the water uptake capacity of the films. Finally, microbiological tests were carried out to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of the optimized films, in order to demonstrate their possible application as dressings for the treatment of infected hard-to-heal wounds, which is a demanding task for public healthcare.     

Quotients of the unit ball of ℂn for a free action of ℤ

LetB _n be the unit ball of ℂⁿ and ℤ ≅ Γ ⊂ AutB _n be generated by a parabolic element of AutB _n. We show that the quotientB _n/Γ is biholomorphic to a holomorphically convex domain of ℂⁿ, whose automorphism group is explicity described. It follows thatB _n/ℤ is Stein for any free action of ℤ. Investigation partially supported by University of Bologna. Funds for selected research topics. The second author was supported by an Instituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica grant.     

A modular invariant partition function for the fivebrane

We compute an invariant partition function for the chiral two-form of the M theory fivebrane compactified on the six-torus T⁶. From a manifestly invariant formalism, we prove that the partition function has an additional symmetry. The combination of these two symmetries ensures invariance. Thus, whether or not a fully covariant Lagrangian is available, the fivebrane on the six-torus has a consistent quantum theory.     

Synthesis and Screening of New Chiral Ligands for the Copper‐Catalysed Enantioselective Allylic Substitution

The synthesis of the new chiral ligands 6ae, 8ae, 9ae , and 11ae starting from the chiral β‐[(Boc)amino]sulfonamide 3ae is reported. The β‐amino group of 3ae was deprotected and condensed with 3,5‐dichlorosalicylaldehyde ( 4 ) to yield the known Schiff base 5ae , which was then reduced to the amino compound 6ae (Scheme 3). Alternatively, condensation of the free amino compound with 2‐(diphenylphosphanyl)benzaldehyde ( 7 ) afforded the imino ligand 8ae which upon reduction yielded the amino ligand 9ae (Scheme 4). The free amino compound derived from 3ae was also coupled with 2‐(diphenylphosphanyl)benzoic acid ( 10 ) to give ligand 11ae (Scheme 5). These ligands were tested in the copper‐catalysed allylic substitution reaction of cinnamyl (=3‐phenylprop‐2‐enyl) phosphate 12 with diethylzinc as a nucleophile. Ligands 5ae, 6ae, 8ae , and 11ae gave excellent ratios (100 : 0) of the S_N2′/S_N2 products (Scheme 6 and Table 1). Ligand 11ce , identified from the screening of a small library of ligands of general formula 11 , promoted the allylic substitution reaction with moderate enantioselectivity (40% for the S_N2′ product 13 (Scheme 8 and Table 3)).     

Numerical Investigation of a MILD Combustion Burner: Analysis of Mixing Field, Chemical Kinetics and Turbulence-Chemistry Interaction

A numerical study of a jet-in-hot coflow (JHC) burner emulating Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion conditions was carried out by solving the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations in a two-dimensional axisymmetric domain and using the Eddy Dissipation Concept (EDC) for the turbulence-chemistry interaction treatment. A systematic methodology was used to analyze all possible sources of discrepancies observed between experimental and numerical data, trying to shedding light on the suitability of specific models for MILD combustion. In this regard, the deficiencies that may come from turbulence model or kinetic scheme have been shown by comparative study on four variants of the k-ε model (i.e. the standard, modified, realizable and RNG) together with the Reynolds stress model and three kinetic schemes namely KEE-58, DRM-19 and DRM-22. A variation of an EDC parameter (i.e. increasing the constant of the fine structure residence time) was proposed for better consideration of MILD combustion features and to overcome the over-prediction of peak temperature observed at downstream. In such a manner encouraging results were also obtained for the prediction of major combustion products as well as for CO and OH.     

Structural aspects of a trimetallic CuII derivative: cytotoxicity and anti-proliferative activity on human cancer cell lines

A trimetallic Cu^II derivative, [Cu₃(L)₂(CF₃COO)₂] (1) (where H₂L = N,N′-bis(salicylidene)-1,3-propanediamine), was prepared and characterized. In 1, the two terminal Cu^II ions are linked to the central Cu^II by trifluoroacetato and doubly bridging phenoxido. Both the square-pyramidal and octahedral geometries are observed among two different Cu^II centers in the linear arrangement of the trimetallic unit. Compound 1 is characterized by IR and UV-Vis spectra. Compound 1 has high cytotoxic activity in breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), colorectal carcinoma (HCT116) and particularly, in ovarian carcinoma (A2780) cell line compared to a lung adenocarcinoma cell line. The IC₅₀ in A2780 cells is 25 times lower than the respective value for normal human primary fibroblasts demonstrating 1 has higher cytotoxicity towards cancer cells. Additionally, combination of DOX with 1 induces a higher loss of HCT116 cell viability compared with each drug alone.     

Partial functionalisation of C4-symmetric tetramethoxyresorcinarenes

Investigations into the distal-functionalisation of the phenols of racemic C₄-symmetric tetramethoxyresorcinarene has led to a simple, single-step procedure that allows the isolation of gram quantities of partially silylated derivatives, with the targeted distally silylated resorcinarene being obtained in a yield of 31%. These partially silylated derivatives would serve as versatile intermediates for the selective functionalisation of this elegant architecture. The solid-state structures of many of these derivatives have been determined by single crystal X-ray crystallography.