Synthesis of bis(amidoxime)s and evaluation of their properties as uranyl-complexing agents

Uranium pollution involves high toxicity and radioactivity and, therefore, constitutes a grave threat to human health and the environment. Chelation is an effective method for sequestering uranium. It is well known that chelators based on oxime groups are able to complex uranyl cations efficiently. To this end, various bis(amidoxime)s were synthesized by reaction of hydroxylamine with the corresponding dinitriles. In these compounds the amidoximes are separated by chains of various lengths, some including a heterocycle (pyridine or 1,3,5-triazine). The abilities of these bis(amidoxime)s to complex uranyl cation in water were evaluated by determining their affinity constants and thermodynamic parameters by means of Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC). DFT calculations were also performed, to determine the optimum structures of the complexes formed between uranyl cations and the oximate groups. A tetrakis(amidoxime), also synthesized in this work, shows good affinity for uranium, and a single molecule is able chelate several uranyl cations. These results are of importance for the remediation of uranium-polluted wastewaters, and open up several perspectives for the design and synthesis of new amidoxime compounds.     

Exploiting Synergistic Effects in Organozinc Chemistry for Direct Stereoselective C‐Glycosylation Reactions at Room Temperature

Pairing a range of bis(aryl) zinc reagents ZnAr₂ with the stronger Lewis acidic [(ZnAr^F₂)] (Ar^F=C₆F₅), enables highly stereoselective cross‐coupling between glycosyl bromides and ZnAr₂ without the use of a transition metal. Reactions occur at room temperature with excellent levels of stereoselectivity, where ZnAr^F₂ acts as a non‐coupling partner although its presence is crucial for the execution of the C(sp²)–C(sp³) bond formation process. Mechanistic studies have uncovered a unique synergistic partnership between the two zinc reagents, which circumvents the need for transition‐metal catalysis or forcing reaction conditions. Key to the success of the coupling is the avoidance of solvents that act as Lewis bases versus diarylzinc compounds (e.g. THF).     

A first low‐resolution difference Fourier map of phosphorus in a membrane protein from near‐edge anomalous diffraction

Crystal diffraction of three membrane proteins (cytochrome bc₁ complex, sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺ ATPase, ADP‐ATP carrier) and of one nucleoprotein complex (leucyl tRNA synthetase bound to tRNAleu, leuRS:tRNAleu) was tested at wavelengths near the X‐ray K‐absorption edge of phosphorus using a new set‐up for soft X‐ray diffraction at the beamline ID01 of the ESRF. The best result was obtained from crystals of Ca²⁺ ATPase [adenosin‐5′‐(β,γ‐methylene) triphosphate complex] which diffracted out to 7 Å resolution. Data were recorded at a wavelength at which the real resonant scattering factor of phosphorus reaches the extreme value of ?20 electron units. The positions of the four triphosphates of the monoclinic unit cell of the ATPase have been obtained from a difference Fourier synthesis based on a limited set of anomalous diffraction data.     

52Cr spinor condensate: a biaxial or uniaxial spin nematic

We show that the newly discovered 52Cr Bose condensate in zero magnetic field can be a spin nematic of the following kind: a "maximum" polar state, a "colinear" polar state, or a biaxial nematic ferromagnetic state. We also present the phase diagram with a magnetic field in the interaction subspace containing the chromium condensate. It contains many uniaxial and biaxial spin nematic phases, which often but not always break time reversal symmetry, and can exist with or without spontaneous magnetization.     

Effect of damage in neural networks

The effect of damage on the pattern recognition in the Hopfield-model of neural networks is studied. It is assumed that in a damaged network the synaptic efficaciesJ _i,j=J_j,i, between pairs of neuronsS _i andS _j follow the Hebb rule with probability (1–p) and are equal to zero with probabilityp. Numerical simulations are performed for a net consisting of 400 neurons. It is investigated in detail how the retrieval of noisy patterns and the storage capacity of the net depends, for varying initial noise, on the concentrationp of the damaged synaptic efficacies.     

A new method for characterization of low grade gliomas using ultra low field magnetic resonance imaging

Low grade gliomas were studied with ultra low field magnetic resonance imaging (ULF MRI). The tumors exhibited high tissue contrast in both T₁ and T₂-weighted images as compared to normal brain tissue. Moreover they were sharply delineated towards the surrounding brain tissue. When compared with X-ray computed tomography the tumors were more readily detected and delineated by using ultra-low field magnetic imaging. A computerassisted classification procedure was used to define new regions of interest for relaxation time estimation. By using this procedure more accurate estimations of the T₁ and T₂ values were obtained.     

The effect of core and lanthanide ion dopants in sodium fluoride-based nanocrystals on phagocytic activity of human blood leukocytes

Sodium fluoride-based β-NaLnF4 nanoparticles (NPs) doped with lanthanide ions are promising materials for application as luminescent markers in bio-imaging. In this work, the effect of NPs doped with yttrium (Y), gadolinium (Gd), europium (Eu), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb) and terbium (Tb) ions on phagocytic activity of monocytes and granulocytes and the respiratory burst was examined. The surface functionalization of <10-nm NPs was performed according to our variation of patent pending ligand exchange method that resulted in meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) molecules on their surface. Y-core-based NCs were doped with Eu ions, which enabled them to be excited with UV light wavelengths. Cultures of human peripheral blood (n = 8) were in vitro treated with five different concentrations of eight NPs for 24 h. In summary, neither type of nanoparticles is found toxic with respect to conducted test; however, some cause toxic effects (they have statistically significant deviations compared to reference) in some selected doses tested. Both core types of NPs (Y-core and Gd-core) impaired the phagocytic activity of monocytes the strongest, having minimal or none whatsoever influence on granulocytes and respiratory burst of phagocytic cells. The lowest toxicity was observed in Gd-core, Yb, Tm dopants and near-infrared nanoparticles. Clear dose-dependent effect of NPs on phagocytic activity of leukocytes and respiratory burst of cells was observed for limited number of samples.