The Benzylperoxyl Radical as a Source of Hydroxyl and Phenyl Radicals

The benzyl radical ( 1 ) is a key intermediate in the combustion and tropospheric oxidation of toluene. Because of its relevance, the reaction of 1 with molecular oxygen was investigated by matrix‐isolation IR and EPR spectroscopy as well as computational methods. The primary reaction product of 1 and O₂ is the benzylperoxyl radical ( 2 ), which exists in several conformers that can easily interconvert even at cryogenic temperatures. Photolysis of radical 2 at 365 nm results in a formal [1,3]‐H migration and subsequent cleavage of the O?O bond to produce a hydrogen‐bonded complex between the hydroxyl radical and benzaldehyde ( 4 ). Prolonged photolysis produces the benzoyl radical ( 5 ) and water, which finally yield the phenyl radical ( 7 ), CO, and H₂O. Thus, via a sequence of exothermic reactions 1 is transformed into radicals of even higher reactivity, such as OH and 7 . Our results have implications for the development of models for the highly complicated process of combustion of aromatic compounds.     

Inherently Chiral Macrocyclic Oligothiophenes: Easily Accessible Electrosensitive Cavities with Outstanding Enantioselection Performances

Linear conjugated oligothiophenes of variable length and different substitution pattern are ubiquitous in technologically advanced optoelectronic devices, though limitations in application derive from insolubility, scarce processability and chain‐end effects. This study describes an easy access to chiral cyclic oligothiophenes constituted by 12 and 18 fully conjugated thiophene units. Chemical oxidation of an “inherently chiral” sexithiophene monomer, synthesized in two steps from commercially available materials, induces the formation of an elliptical dimer and a triangular trimer endowed with electrosensitive cavities of different tunable sizes. Combination of chirality with electroactivity makes these molecules unique in the current oligothiophenes literature. These macrocycles, which are stable and soluble in most organic solvents, show outstanding chiroptical properties, high circularly polarized luminescence effects and an exceptional enantiorecognition ability.     

Photodynamic Therapy Efficacy Enhanced by Dynamics: The Role of Charge Transfer and Photostability in the Selection of Photosensitizers

Progress in the photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer should benefit from a rationale to predict the most efficient of a series of photosensitizers that strongly absorb light in the phototherapeutic window (650–800 nm) and efficiently generate reactive oxygen species (ROS=singlet oxygen and oxygen‐centered radicals). We show that the ratios between the triplet photosensitizer–O₂ interaction rate constant (k_D) and the photosensitizer decomposition rate constant (k_d), k_D/k_d, determine the relative photodynamic activities of photosensitizers against various cancer cells. The same efficacy trend is observed in vivo with DBA/2 mice bearing S91 melanoma tumors. The PDT efficacy intimately depends on the dynamics of photosensitizer–oxygen interactions: charge transfer to molecular oxygen with generation of both singlet oxygen and superoxide ion (high k_D) must be tempered by photostability (low k_d). These properties depend on the oxidation potential of the photosensitizer and are suitably combined in a new fluorinated sulfonamide bacteriochlorin, motivated by the rationale.     

About Earthquake Forecasting by Markov Renewal Processes

We propose and validate a new method for the evaluation of seismic hazard. In particular, our aim is to model large earthquakes consistently with the underlying geophysics. Therefore we propose a non-Poisson model, which takes into account occurrence history, improved with some physical constraints. Among the prevalent non-Poisson models, we chose the Markov renewal process, which is expected to be sufficient to capture the main characteristics, maintaining simplicity in analysis. However, due to the introduction of some physical constraint, our process differs significantly from others already presented in literature. A mixture of exponential + Weibull distributions is proposed for the waiting times and their parameters are estimated following the likelihood method. We validated our model, using data of earthquakes of high severity occurred in Turkey during the 20th century. Our results exhibit a good accordance with the real events.     

Alkaline Earth–Olefin Complexes with Secondary Interactions

Strontium and calcium (alkaline earth: Ae) olefin complexes stabilised by secondary Ae???F?C and β‐agostic Ae???H?Si interactions are presented. Olefin coordination onto the alkaline earths is plain in the solid state, and it is thermodynamically favoured over the coordination of THF. The existence of the Ae???olefin interactions is corroborated by solution NMR data and DFT computations. The coordination mode of the olefin varies with steric effects and, if enforced, olefin dissociation can be compensated by the other non‐covalent interactions, as supported by DFT computations.     

TREN (Tris(2-aminoethyl)amine): an effective scaffold for the assembly of triple helical collagen mimetic structures

A new scaffold, TREN-(suc-OH)(3) where TREN is tris(2-aminoethyl)amine and suc is the succinic acid spacers, was incorporated to assemble triple helices composed of Gly-Nleu-Pro sequences (Nleu denotes N-isobutylglycine). Extensive biophysical studies which include denaturation studies, CD and NMR spectroscopy, and molecular modeling demonstrated that TREN-[suc-(Gly-Nleu-Pro)(n)-NH(2)](3) (n = 5 and 6) form stable triple helical structures in solution. A comparative analysis of TREN-assembled and KTA-assembled collagen mimetics (KTA denotes Kemp triacid, 1,3,5-trimethylcyclohexane-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid) indicates that the flexibility of the TREN scaffold is superior to the KTA scaffold in inducing triple helicity. This effect most likely arises from the flexibility of the TREN scaffold which allows the three peptide chains to adjust their register for a tighter triple helical packing.     

Low-power optical vibration detection by photoconductance monitoring with a laser speckle pattern

We present a quantitative evaluation of the performance of a photoconductance-monitoring sensor array in a speckle-based vibration detection configuration. The device is found to be capable of detecting nanometer-amplitude vibrations in a single shot with incident intensities of only a few microwatts per square centimeter at kilohertz frequencies. This performance indicates that the photoconductance-monitoring array requires approximately 3 orders of magnitude lower intensity to achieve the same displacement sensitivity as competing technologies, such as photo-electromotive-force detectors.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of N-thia-carba-thymidine as an antiherpetic agent

As a continuation of our project aimed at the search for new antiviral agents, the synthesis and biological evaluation of N-thia-carba-thymidine ((1R,2S,4S,5S)-5-methyl-1-{6-thia-4-hydroxy-5-[(hydroxy)-methyl]bicyclo[3.1.0]hex-2-yl}-1,3-dihydropyrimidine-2,4-dione; compound 8) was carried out employing the carbocyclic enantioenriched intermediate (1R,4S)-4-phenylmethoxy-3-[(phenylmethoxy)methyl]cyclopent-2-en-1-ol, which in turn was prepared from (3R,4S) phenylmethoxy-3-[(phenylmethoxy)methyl]-cyclopent-1-ene. The title compound resulted to be a very potent antiherpetic agent exhibiting a similar potency to acyclovir as shown. The synthetic approach to obtain this carbanucleoside required a novel strategy to introduce a thiirane group fused to a functionalized five-membered ring.