A determination method of pristine multiwall carbon nanotubes in rat lungs after intratracheal instillation exposure by combustive oxidation-nondispersive infrared analysis

This paper describes a method for determination of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in rat lungs after intratracheal instillation exposure. The MWCNTs were quantitatively decomposed to CO₂ by combustive oxidation and were then determined by non-dispersive infrared analysis. Samples were pretreated by acid digestion, muffle ashing and in situ preheating to remove interferences due to coexisting biological carbon from the lung tissue sample, while preserving the MWCNTs as in its their original form. The preservation was confirmed by transmission electron microscopic observation of the pretreated samples of exposed lung tissues and by the fact that the recoveries of MWCNTs spiked to the lung tissues were close to 100%. The detection limit for MWCNTs obtained by the proposed method was 0.30 μg and the repeatability as expressed by the relative standard deviation was 5.6% (n = 4). The method was sufficiently sensitive and precise to apply to real samples of rat lung to investigate the in vivo persistence of intratracheally instilled MWCNTs. To our knowledge, this is the first report of this type of sample pretreatment and direct determination of pristine MWCNTs without modification or tagging. Conventional indirect methods use tagging with other compounds or metal impurities in the CNTs for detection, and the detachment of these tags can increase uncertainties in the determination of the CNTs. The tags can also change how the CNTs persist in vivo, which can lead to an incorrect understanding of the persistence of pristine CNTs in vivo.     

Ruthenium- and gold-catalysed sequential reactions: a straightforward synthesis of substituted oxazoles from propargylic alcohols and amides

A convenient and straightforward one-pot reaction of propargylic alcohols bearing a terminal alkyne moiety with amides by the sequential action of ruthenium and gold catalysts gives the corresponding substituted oxazoles in good yields with a complete regioselectivity.     

Development of aromatic ethers as solvents for a calix[6]arene derivative and extraction of amino acids and proteins

Journal of Inclusion Phenomena and Macrocyclic Chemistry - Calixarene derivatives are excellent host compounds for ionic species in liquid–liquid extraction. However, many studies using...     

Thermally stable organic electroluminescent device using novel amorphous molecular charge-transport materials, 4,4′,4“-tris[bis(4′-tert-butyl-biphenyl-4-yl)amino]triphenylamine and 4,4,4“-tri(n-carbazolyl)triphenylamine

For the purpose of developing an amorphous molecular material with a high glass-transition temperature (Tg) and a low ionization potential for use as a charge-transport layer in organic electroluminescent (EL) devices, a novel starburst molecule, 4,4′,4“-tris[bis(4′-tert-butylbiphenyl-4-yl)amino]triphenylamine (t-Bu-TBATA), was designed and synthesized. t-Bu-TBATA was found to form readily a stable glass with a Tg of 203 °C. A multilayer EL device consisting of double hole-transport layers of t-Bu-TBATA and 4,4′,4“-tri(N-carbazolyl)triphenylamine and an emitting layer of tris(8-quinolinolato)aluminum was fabricated and its performances were examined. The device was found to exhibit good performances and to be thermally stable, operating even at 170 °C.     

Synthesis of pure blue emissive poly(2,7‐carbazole)s anchored by electron donor pendant

Three novel poly(2,7‐carbazole)s having hole injection and transporting pendent moieties of carbazole and triphenylamine at the N‐position were synthesized for achieving pure blue electroluminescence. The N‐pendants in the polymers correspond to N‐phenylcarbazol‐2‐yl ( P1 ), N,N‐diphenylamino‐N‐phenylcarabazol‐2‐yl ( P2) , and 4‐phenyl having a hydrocarbon chain with a triphenylamine terminal ( P3 ), respectively. Electronic, optical, and electroluminescence properties of these polymers were compared with those of a poly(2,7‐carbazole) directly connected with triphenylamine at the N‐position ( P0 ) having an aggregation‐induced emissive property. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra suggested that they could emit in the region of blue light in the film state. Especially, P2 that has the fixed and large diphenylaminocarbazolyl pendant showed a deep‐blue fluorescence with CIE(x, y) = (0.15, 0.07). The P0 , P2 , and P3 based light emitting diode devices showed maximum electroluminescence wavelengths in the range of 430–450 nm. The P2 device showed pure blue emission (CIE[x, y] = [0.18, 0.16]), high luminance (1130 cd/m²) and current density (628 mA/cm²) at 8 V, whereas low‐energy emissions around 500–600 nm were emerged at higher than 9 V. The P0 and P3 devices also showed a blue electroluminescence in the range of 8–11 V, but their luminance and efficiency were low. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 2526–2534     

Environment-sensitive fluorophores with benzothiadiazole and benzoselenadiazole structures as candidate components of a fluorescent polymeric thermometer

An environment-sensitive fluorophore can change its maximum emission wavelength (λ(em)), fluorescence quantum yield (Φ(f)), and fluorescence lifetime in response to the surrounding environment. We have developed two new intramolecular charge-transfer-type environment-sensitive fluorophores, DBThD-IA and DBSeD-IA, in which the oxygen atom of a well-established 2,1,3-benzoxadiazole environment-sensitive fluorophore, DBD-IA, has been replaced by a sulfur and selenium atom, respectively. DBThD-IA is highly fluorescent in n-hexane (Φ(f) =0.81, λ(em) =537?nm) with excitation at 449?nm, but is almost nonfluorescent in water (Φ(f) =0.037, λ(em) =616?nm), similarly to DBD-IA (Φ(f) =0.91, λ(em) =520?nm in n-hexane; Φ(f) =0.027, λ(em) =616?nm in water). A similar variation in fluorescence properties was also observed for DBSeD-IA (Φ(f) =0.24, λ(em) =591?nm in n-hexane; Φ(f) =0.0046, λ(em) =672?nm in water). An intensive study of the solvent effects on the fluorescence properties of these fluorophores revealed that both the polarity of the environment and hydrogen bonding with solvent molecules accelerate the nonradiative relaxation of the excited fluorophores. Time-resolved optoacoustic and phosphorescence measurements clarified that both intersystem crossing and internal conversion are involved in the nonradiative relaxation processes of DBThD-IA and DBSeD-IA. In addition, DBThD-IA exhibits a 10-fold higher photostability in aqueous solution than the original fluorophore DBD-IA, which allowed us to create a new robust molecular nanogel thermometer for intracellular thermometry.