Photochemical behavior of a new long-chain UV absorber derived from 4-tert-butyl-4'-methoxydibenzoylmethane

A new UV filter, the 1-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-2-decanyl-3-(4'-methoxyphenyl)-propane-1,3-dione, called C10-DBM, was prepared by grafting a 10-carbon aliphatic chain to the alpha-carbonyl position of 4-tert-butyl-4'-methoxydibenzoylmethane (BM-DBM), a well-known and often used UV filter. The UV-A absorption efficiency of organic solutions containing the new filter was tested and compared with identical solutions containing BM-DBM with or without irradiation (xenon lamp). The originality of this new filter is that its UV-A absorbance appeared during irradiation of the molecule. Although the molar absorption coefficient of C10-DBM in the UV-A domain was lower than that of BM-DBM, the solutions absorption exhibited a much more photostable behavior under irradiation. In this study, we first demonstrated that C10-DBM was a precursor of BM-DBM (enol isomer) by means of high-performance liquid chromatography followed by mass spectrometry. Indeed, we showed that the UV-A absorption of C10-DBM solutions appearing during the irradiation of the molecule was due to a Norrish-II reaction (beta-cleavage), which induced the release of the BM-DBM enol form and 1-decene. Then, we established a kinetic model for the photochemistry of C10-DBM and fitted the variation of UV absorption spectra to confirm the proposed mechanism.     

Optical and electrochemical cations recognition and release from N-azacrown carbazoles

Two azacrown derivatives of carbazole have been prepared and their dipole moments in the excited state were estimated from solvatochromism. Their complexation constant K with calcium and sodium cations have been determined from the absorption spectra, the fluorescence spectra and, independently, from the first oxidation potential shift, as a function of the concentration in sodium and calcium perchlorates, when K is lower than 10⁵. The fluorescence spectra of the calcium and sodium complexes in acetonitrile show two bands different from the fluorescence of the free probes, one from the excited complex similar to the fluorescence of the protonated probes and the other one from the nitrogen decoordinated cation complexes. These results are typical for moderatly polar crowned merocyanines with the ionophore acting as an electron-donor substituent. The stepwise decoordination rate of the calcium and sodium cations from the nitrogen atom of the fluorophore is competitive with the rate constant of fluorescence which accounts for the multiple fluorescence but does not allow a distant diffusion of the cations. From the study of the longer lived radical-cation of the azacrown carbazoles, generated electrochemically, the metal cations are completely released from the azacrown receptor as revealed by the unsensitivity of the second oxidation potential to the perchlorate salts. From the probe-cation pair with the higher association constant (log K > 6) the oxidation peak for the complex allows to estimate the decrease of K upon the oxidation of the probe to be a value of K ?⁺/K = 8 × 10^-4.     

Water vapor sorption in naphthalenic sulfonated polyimide membranes

The water vapor uptake of sulfonated polyimides (SP) was investigated by electronic microbalance (IGA, Hiden) from 15 to 55°C. The sigmoïdal isotherms obtained (BET II type) are considered as dual sorption (concave part) plus clustering (convex part) and are fitted with good agreement by Park’s equation. Zimm–Lundberg’s method is used to study the clustering process of water molecules: limit clustering activity, a^*, and the number of molecules per cluster are estimated.

To obtain a better understanding of polymer structure and isotherm analysis, H⁺ (counter-ions of sulfonic groups) were replaced by ions with a smaller hydration shell (Cs⁺ and EDAH⁺). Comparison of the three isotherms shows no significant difference in the water affinity of the cations. This is attributed to a partial control of the sorption by microcavities existing in the membrane.     

Push–Pull Buta‐1,2,3‐trienes: Exceptionally Low Rotational Barriers of Cumulenic CC Bonds and Proacetylenic Reactivity

A variety of asymmetrically donor–acceptor‐substituted [3]cumulenes (buta‐1,2,3‐trienes) were synthesized by developed procedures. The activation barriers to rotation ΔG^≠ were measured by variable temperature NMR spectroscopy and found to be as low as 11.8 kcal mol^?1, in the range of the barriers for rotation around sterically hindered single bonds. The central C?C bond of the push–pull‐substituted [3]cumulene moiety is shortened down to 1.22 Å as measured by X‐ray crystallography, leading to a substantial bond length alternation (BLA) of up to 0.17 Å. All the experimental results are supported by DFT calculations. Zwitterionic transition states (TS) of bond rotation confirm the postulated proacetylenic character of donor–acceptor [3]cumulenes. Additional support for the proacetylenic character of these chromophores is provided by their reaction with tetracyanoethene (TCNE) in a cycloaddition‐retroelectrocyclization (CA–RE) cascade characteristic of donor‐polarized acetylenes.     

Aptamer enzymatic cleavage protection assay for the gold nanoparticle-based colorimetric sensing of small molecules

A label-free, homogeneous aptamer-based sensor strategy was designed for the facile colorimetric detection of small target molecules. The format relied on the target-induced protection of DNA aptamer from the enzymatic digestion and its transduction into a detectable signal through the length-dependent adsorption of single-stranded DNA onto unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The proof-of-principle of the approach was established by employing the anti-tyrosinamide aptamer as a model functional nucleic acid. In the absence of target, the aptamer was cleaved by the phosphodiesterase I enzymatic probe, leading to the release of mononucleotides and short DNA fragments. These governed effective electrostatic stabilization of AuNPs so that the nanoparticles remained dispersed and red-colored upon salt addition. Upon tyrosinamide binding, the enzymatic cleavage was impeded, resulting in the protection of the aptamer structure. As this long DNA molecule was unable to electrostatically stabilize AuNPs, the resulting colloidal solution turned blue after salt addition due to the formation of nanoparticle aggregates. The quantitative determination of the target can be achieved by monitoring the ratio of absorbance at 650 and 520 nm of the gold colloidal solution. A limit of detection of ∼5 μM and a linear range up to 100 μM were obtained. The sensing platform was further applied, through the same experimental protocol, to the adenosine detection by using its DNA aptamer as recognition tool. This strategy could extend the potentialities, in terms of both simplicity and general applicability, of the aptamer-based sensing approaches.     

Direct TLC/MALDI–MS coupling for modified polyamidoamine dendrimers analyses

Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) are synthetic dendrimers which present attractive properties for the biological and biomedical fields, as they proved to be efficient drug and gene carriers. In order to increase their transfection efficiency, chemical modifications of the amino end-groups had been reported. In this work, the synthesis of the ammonia-cored G1(N) PAMAM and the consecutive chemical modification with glycine or phenylalanine amino-acids were monitored using the coupling of thin layer chromatography (TLC) with matrix–assisted laser desorption ionization–mass spectrometry (MALDI–MS). Thus, the monitoring of the PAMAM synthesis included the identification of the by-products such as defective structures of PAMAM dendrimers as well as the study of phenylalanine-grafted PAMAM oligomer distribution.     

Scattering of ultrasonic shock waves in suspensions of silica nanoparticles

Experiments are carried out to assess, for the first time, the validity of a generalized Burgers' equation, introduced first by Davidson [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 54, 1331-1342 (1973)] to compute the nonlinear propagation of finite amplitude acoustical waves in suspensions of "rigid" particles. Silica nanoparticles of two sizes (33 and 69 nm) have been synthesized in a water-ethanol mixture and precisely characterized via electron microscopy. An acoustical beam of high amplitude is generated at 1 MHz inside a water tank, leading to the formation of acoustical shock waves through nonlinear steepening. The signal is then measured after propagation in a cylinder containing either a reference solution or suspensions of nanoparticles. In this way, a "nonlinear attenuation" is obtained and compared to the numerical solution of a generalized Burgers' equation adapted to the case of hydrosols. An excellent agreement (corresponding to an error on the particles size estimation of 3 nm) is achieved in the frequency range from 1 to 40 MHz. Both visco-inertial and thermal scattering are significant in the present case, whereas thermal effects can generally be neglected for most hydrosols. This is due to the value of the specific heat ratio of water-ethanol mixture which significantly differs from unity.     

Order-disorder transition in supramolecular polymers

In supramolecular polymers, directional interactions control the constituting units connectivity, but dispersion forces may conspire to make complex organizations. Here we report on the long-range order and order-disorder transition (ODT) of main-chain supramolecular polymers based on poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) spacers functionalized on both ends with thymine. Below the ODT temperature (T(ODT)), these compounds are semicrystalline with a lamellar structure, showing nanophase separation between crystallized thymine planes and amorphous PPO layers. Above T(ODT), they are amorphous and homogeneous even though their X-ray scattering spectrum reveals a peak. This peak is due to correlation hole effect resulting from contrast between end-functional groups and spacer. Macroscopically, the transition is accompanied by dramatic flow and mechanical properties changes.