Interfacial charge-transfer switch: ruthenium-dppz compounds anchored to nanocrystalline TiO2

The compound Ru(bpy)2(dppz-R)(PF6)2, where bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine and dppz-R is 11-(diethoxyphosphorylmethyl)dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine, was prepared and anchored to mesoporous nanocrystalline (anatase) TiO2 thin films as a probe of the effects of interfacial water on excited-state charge transfer processes at semiconductor interfaces. In nitrogen-saturated fluid acetonitrile, the Ru(bpy)2(dppz-R)(PF6)2 compound was found to be highly photoluminescent. Water was found to quench the excited state by a mechanism adequately described by the Perrin model, from which the radius of quenching was abstracted, 75 +/- 2 A. The Ru(bpy)2(dppz-R)(PF6)2 compounds were found to bind to the TiO2 thin films in high surface coverages, 5 x 10(-8) mol cm(-2). When these films were immersed in acetonitrile, long-lived excited states (tau = 825 ns) that were quenched by the addition of water were observed. About 30% of the excited states could not be quenched by water. Efficient electron injection, phi(inj) = 0.8, was observed after light excitation of Ru(bpy)2(dppz-R)/TiO2 in a 0.1 M LiClO4/acetonitrile solution. The addition of large concentrations of water, >0.5 M, was found to decrease the injection yield to phi(inj) = 0.3.     

Synthetic studies of complex immunostimulants from Quillaja saponaria: synthesis of the potent clinical immunoadjuvant QS-21Aapi

QS-21 is one of the most promising new adjuvants for immune response potentiation and dose-sparing in vaccine therapy given its exceedingly high level of potency and its favorable toxicity profile. Melanoma, breast cancer, small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, HIV-1, and malaria are among the numerous maladies targeted in more than 80 recent and ongoing vaccine therapy clinical trials involving QS-21 as a critical adjuvant component for immune response augmentation. QS-21 is a natural product immunostimulatory adjuvant, eliciting both T-cell- and antibody-mediated immune responses with microgram doses. Herein is reported the synthesis of QS-21A(api) in a highly modular strategy, applying novel glycosylation methodologies to a convergent construction of the potent saponin immunostimulant. The chemical synthesis of QS-21 offers unique opportunities to probe its mode of biological action through the preparation of otherwise unattainable nonnatural saponin analogues.     

Synthesis and reactivity of new trimethylplatinum(IV) complexes containing chiral Schiff bases as ligands: Crystal structure of (OC-6-44-C)-[PtIMe3{κ-(R)-Ph2P(C6H4)CHNC*H(Ph)Me-P,N}]

Reaction of the tetranuclear complex [PtIMe₃]₄ with the ligand (S)- and (R)-Ph₂P(C₆H₄)CHNC*H(Ph)Me in a 1:4 molar ratio yields the mononuclear neutral complexes in diastereoisomeric mixtures [PtIMe₃{κ²-Ph₂P(C₆H₄)CHNC*H(Ph)Me-P,N}]. Iodide abstraction from mixture with AgBF₄ in the presence of pyridine (Py) induces a reductive elimination reaction with loss of ethane, leading to the cationic complex [PtMe(Py){κ²-Ph₂P(C₆H₄)CHNC*H(Ph)Me-P,N}][BF₄] [C* = (S)-, 3; (R)-, 4]. When this reaction was carried out in the presence of PPh₃ a consecutive orthometallation reaction with loss of methane is produced, forming the cationic complex [Pt(PPh₃){κ³-Ph₂P(C₆H₄)CHNC*H(C₆H₄)Me-C,P,N}][BF₄], [(S)-, 5; (R)-, 6]. All species were characterised in solution by ¹H and ³¹P{¹H} NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and mass spectrometry.The crystal structure of the diastereoisomer (OC-6-44-C)-[PtIMe₃{κ²-(R)-Ph₂P(C₆H₄)CHNC*H(Ph)Me-P,N}] has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.     

Scalar field dynamics in a BTZ background with generic boundary conditions

We revisit the dynamics of a massive scalar field in a Banados, Teitelboim, and Zanelli background taking into account the lack of global hyperbolicity of the spacetime. We approach this issue using the strategy of Ishibashi and Wald which finds a unique smooth solution as the causal evolution of initial data, each possible evolution corresponding to a positive self-adjoint extension of certain operator in a Hilbert space on the initial surface. Moreover, solutions obtained this way are the most general ones satisfying a few physically sensible requirements. This procedure is intimately related to the choice of boundary conditions and the existence of bound states. We find that the scalar field dynamics in the (effective) mass window \(-3/4\le m_e^2\ell ^2<0\) can be well defined within a one-parametric family of distinct boundary conditions (\(-3/4\) being the conformally coupled case), while for \(m_e^2\ell ^2\ge 0\) the boundary condition is unique (only one self-adjoint extension is possible). It is argued that there is no sensible evolution possible for \(m_e^2\ell ^2<-1\), and also it is shown that in the range \(m_e^2\ell ^2 \in [-1,-3/4)\) there is a U(1) family of allowed boundary conditions, however, the positivity of the self-adjoint extensions is only motivated but not proven. We focus mainly on describing the dynamics of such evolutions given the initial data and all possible boundary conditions, and in particular we show the energy is always positive and conserved.     

Structure correlation of silylated dicarboxylic acid monomer and its respective oligomeric polyamide-imide using experimental and theoretical vibrational spectra

Correlation between theoretical and experimental (infrared and Raman spectroscopies) vibrational spectra of two compounds, both with a silyl group present in their main chain and with an optically active structure (L-valine) as side group, was performed. These compounds are based in a chiral dicarboxylic acid monomer and its respective polyamide-imide, oligomer that was previously synthesized by a direct polycondensation. Spectra were recorded in the region comprised between 500 and 4000?cm^?1 for infrared and Raman analysis. The Raman spectra were obtained through a 1064?nm laser as excitation source.

Theoretical models were carried out in order to find the optimal molecular geometry of the analyzed systems, with a complete assignment of their vibrational spectra. The Raman experimental data obtained with a Nd:YAG laser for this kind of silylated organic compounds, and the comparison between these results with the theoretical data is a useful advance in the polymer synthesis field, which can be used as reference for subsequent studies.     

Solvent and concentration effects on the visible spectra of tri-para-dialkylamino-substituted triarylmethane dyes in liquid solutions

We have characterized the spectroscopy properties of crystal violet (CV+) and ethyl violet (EV+) in liquid solutions as a function of the solvent type and dye concentration. The analysis of how solvent properties and dye concentration affects the electronic spectra of these tri-para-dialkylamino substituted tryarylmethane (TAM+) dyes was performed on the basis of two spectroscopic parameters, namely the difference in wavenumber (deltanu) between the maximum and the shoulder that appears in the short-wavelength side of the respective maximum visible band (deltanu = 1/lambda(shoulder)-1/lambda(max) cm(-1)), and the wavelength of the maximum absorption (lambda(max)). The solvent and the concentration effects on lambda(max) and deltanu have indicated that both solute/solute (ion-pairing and dye aggregation) and solute/solvent (H-bonding type) interactions modulate the shape of the visible electronic spectra of these dyes in solution. In solvent with small dieletric constant (epsilon < approximately 10), the formation of ion-pairs represents a major contribution to the shaping of these spectra. Upon increasing dye concentration the formation of ion-pairs was characterized by an increase in deltanu observed concomitantly with a red shift in lambda(max) In chloroform and chlorobenzene the ion-pair association constant of CV+ and EV+ with Cl- ions were found to be in the order of 10(6) and 10(5) M(-1), respectively. In trichloroethylene the association constant for the CV+Cl- pair was 10(8) M(-1). In water, dye aggregation instead of ion-pairing represents a major contribution to the shaping of the visible spectra of CV+ and EV+. Dye aggregation was indicated by an increase in deltanu observed concomitantly with a blue shift in lambda(max) upon increasing dye concentration. The distinct behavior of deltanu for dye aggregation and ion-pairing as a function of dye concentration can therefore assist in the characterization of these two distinct phenomena. The solute/solvent interactions were studied in a series of polar solvents in which solute/solute interactions do not occur in any detectable extent. The dependence found for deltanu as a function of the Kamlet-Tafts solvatochromic parameters (alpha, beta and pi*) is in keeping with previous inferences indicating that the splitting in the overlapped absorption band of CV+ and EV+ in hydroxilated solvents arises from a perturbation in the molecular symmetry induced by hydrogen bonding (donor-acceptor) type interactions with solvent molecules. A distinction between the effects of solute/solute and solute/solvent interactions on the visible spectra of these dyes is provided.     

Integration of gold nanoparticles in optical resonators

The optical absorption of one-dimensional photonic crystal based resonators containing different types of gold nanoparticles is controllably modified by means of the interplay between planar optical cavity modes and localized surface plasmons. Spin-casting of metal oxide nanoparticle suspensions was used to build multilayered photonic structures that host (silica-coated) gold nanorods and spheres. Strong reinforcement and depletion of the absorptance was observed at designed wavelength ranges, thus proving that our method provides a reliable means to modify the optical absorption originated at plasmonic resonances of particles of arbitrary shape and within a wide range of sizes. These observations are discussed on the basis of calculations of the spatial and spectral dependence of the optical field intensity within the multilayers.     

Multicomponent effective medium-correlated random walk theory for the diffusion of fluid mixtures through porous media

Molecular transport in nanoconfined spaces plays a key role in many emerging technologies for gas separation and storage, as well as in nanofluidics. The infiltration of fluid mixtures into the voids of porous frameworks having complex topologies is common place to these technologies, and optimizing their performance entails developing a deeper understanding of how the flow of these mixtures is affected by the morphology of the pore space, particularly its pore size distribution and pore connectivity. Although several techniques have been developed for the estimation of the effective diffusivity characterizing the transport of single fluids through porous materials, this is not the case for fluid mixtures, where the only alternatives rely on a time-consuming solution of the pore network equations or adaptations of the single fluid theories which are useful for a limited type of systems. In this paper, a hybrid multicomponent effective medium-correlated random walk theory for the calculation of the effective transport coefficients matrix of fluid mixtures diffusing through porous materials is developed. The theory is suitable for those systems in which component fluxes at the single pore level can be related to the potential gradients of the different species through linear flux laws and corresponds to a generalization of the classical single fluid effective medium theory for the analysis of random resistor networks. Comparison with simulation of the diffusion of binary CO(2)/H(2)S and ternary CO(2)/H(2)S/C(3)H(8) gas mixtures in membranes modeled as large networks of randomly oriented pores with both continuous and discrete pore size distributions demonstrates the power of the theory, which was tested using the well-known generalized Maxwell-Stefan model for surface diffusion at the single pore level.