Synthesis of 4-substituted-1,2,3-triazole carbanucleoside analogues of ribavirin via click chemistry

The synthesis and biological evaluation as antiviral agents of a series of racemic 4-aryl-1,2,3-triazolo-2',3'-dideoxy-2'-iodocarbanucleosides and 4-aryl-1,2,3-triazolo-2',3'-dideoxy-2',3'-didehydrocarbanucleosides is presented. These compounds were produced using a click chemistry approach, with the iodoazide 13a as the key intermediary.     

Real-space direct visualization of the layer-dependent roughening transition in nanometer-thick Pb films

By means of variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy we studied the thickness-dependent roughening temperature of Pb films grown on Cu(111), whose electronic structure and total energy is controlled by quantum well states created by the spatial confinement of electrons. Large scale STM images are employed to quantify the layer population, i.e., the fraction of the surface area covered by different Pb thicknesses, directly in the real space as a function of temperature. The roughening temperature oscillates repeatedly with bilayer periodicity plus a longer beating period, mirroring the thickness dependence of surface energy calculations. Conditions have been found to stabilize at 300 K Pb films of particular magic thicknesses, atomically flat over microns.     

Pd(0) supported onto monolithic polymers containing IL-like moieties. Continuous flow catalysis for the Heck reaction in near-critical EtOH

Long-term stable Pd(0) catalysts can be easily supported onto polymeric monoliths containing methyl-imidazole moieties and the corresponding reactors based on these materials can be applied for the continuous Heck reaction in near-critical EtOH.     

The role of nanocellulose fibers, starch and chitosan on multipolysaccharide based films

Thin nanocomposite films of thermoplastic starch, chitosan and cellulose nanofibers (bacterial cellulose or nanofibrillated cellulose) were prepared for the first time by solvent casting of water based suspensions of the three polysaccharides. The role of the different bioploymers on the final properties (thermal stability, transparency, mechanical performance and antimicrobial activity) of the films was related with their intrinsic features, contents and synergic effects resulting from the establishment of interactions between them. Thermoplastic starch displays an important role on the thermal stability of the films because it is the most stable polysaccharide; however it has a negative impact on the mechanical performance and transparency of the films. The addition of chitosan improves considerably the transparency (up to 50 % transmittance for 50 % of chitosan, in respect to the amount of starch), mechanical performance and antimicrobial properties (at least 25 % of chitosan and no more than 10 % of cellulose nanofibers are required to observe bacteriostatic or bactericidal activity) but decrease their thermal stability. The incorporation of cellulose nanofibers had the strongest positive impact on the mechanical properties of the materials (increments of up to 15 and 30 MPa on the Young′s modulus and Tensile strength, respectively, for films with 20 % of BC or NFC). Nonetheless, the impact in thermal stability and mechanical performance of the films, promoted by the addition of chitosan and cellulose nanofibres, respectively, was higher than the expected considering their percentage contents certainly because of the establishment of strong and complex interactions between the three polysaccharides.     

Combined effects of electric field and hydrostatic pressure on electron states in asymmetric GaAs/(Ga,Al) triple quantum dots

The combined effects of an in-growth direction applied electric field and hydrostatic pressure on the exciton binding energy and photoluminescence energy transitions are reported in this work for triple vertically coupled quantum dots. The calculations have been carried out within the effective mass approximation, and using a variational procedure. The results show that the exciton binding energy and the photoluminescence energy transitions are functions of external probes like the hydrostatic pressure and the applied electric field.     

Simultaneous Differential Pulse Adsorptive Stripping Determination of Imipramine and Its Metabolite Desipramine by the PLS‐1 Multivariate Method

A method, using stripping differential pulse voltammetry, for the simultaneous determination of Imipramine and its metabolite Desipramine is reported. Both compounds produce, at glassy carbon electrode, an electrochemical signal due to an adsorptive‐oxidative process. The voltammograms show a very high overlap degree between IM and DE peaks. The multivariate calibration method PLS‐1 was employed for the simultaneous determination of both compounds. An experimental design together with the response surface methodology has been used to find the optimum experimental conditions. The developed procedure has been utilized in the analysis of fortified human serum samples with good recovery values for each analyte.     

Onset of Chiral Adenine Surface Growth

The structure and stability of adenine crystals and thin layers has been studied by using scanning tunneling microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and density functional theory calculations. We have found that adenine crystals can be grown in two phases that are energetically quasi‐degenerate, the structure of which can be described as a pile‐up of 2D adenine planes. In each plane, the structure can be described as an aggregation of adenine dimers. Under certain conditions, kinetic effects can favor the growth of the less stable phase. These results have been used to understand the growth of adenine thin films on gold under ultra‐high vacuum conditions. We have found that the grown phase corresponds to the α‐phase, which is composed of stacked prochiral planes. In this way, the adenine nanocrystals exhibit a surface that is enantiopure. These results could open new insight into the applications of adenine in biological, medical, and enantioselective or pharmaceutical fields.