Understanding kinetic solvent effects on hydrogen abstraction reactions from carbon by the cumyloxyl radical

A kinetic study of the hydrogen abstraction reactions from tetrahydrofuran (THF) and cyclohexane (CHX) by the cumyloxyl radical was carried out in different solvents. With THF, a 4.5-fold decrease in rate constant (k(H)) was observed on going from isooctane to 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol. An opposite behavior was observed with CHX, where k(H) increased by a factor 4 on going from isooctane to 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol. The important role of substrate structure and of the solvent hydrogen bond donor ability is discussed.     

One-electron oxidation of ferrocenes by short-lived N-oxyl radicals. The role of structural effects on the intrinsic electron transfer reactivities

A kinetic study of the one electron oxidation of substituted ferrocenes (FcX: X = H, COPh, COMe, CO(2)Et, CONH(2), CH(2)OH, Et, and Me(2)) by a series of N-oxyl radicals (succinimide-N-oxyl radical (SINO), maleimide-N-oxyl radical (MINO), 3-quinazolin-4-one-N-oxyl radical (QONO) and 3-benzotriazin-4-one-N-oxyl radical (BONO)), has been carried out in CH(3)CN. N-oxyl radicals were produced by hydrogen abstraction from the corresponding N-hydroxy derivatives by the cumyloxyl radical. With all systems, the rate constants exhibited a satisfactory fit to the Marcus equation allowing us to determine self-exchange reorganization energy values (λ(NO˙/NO(-))) which have been compared with those previously determined for the PINO/PINO(-) and BTNO/BTNO(-) couples. Even small modification of the structure of the N-oxyl radicals lead to significant variation of the λ(NO˙/NO(-)) values. The λ(NO˙/NO(-)) values increase in the order BONO < BTNO < QONO < PINO < SINO < MINO which do not parallel the order of the oxidation potentials. The higher λ(NO˙/NO(-)) values found for the MINO and SINO radicals might be in accordance with a lower degree of spin delocalization in the radicals MINO and SINO and charge delocalization in the anions MINO(-) and SINO(-) due to the absence of an aromatic ring in their structure.     

Gas-phase ion-molecule reaction of alpha-phenylvinyl cation towards substituted benzenes in the environment of an ITMS

Ion-molecule reactions between the α-phenylvinyl cation (α-PVC) and mono-substituted benzenes have been investigated using a quadrople ion-trap mass spectrometer. The α-PVC, generated by chemical ionization from phenylacetilene, was found to react selectively with mono-substituted benzenes bearing electron withdrawing groups to give the product ions [M + 103](+) and the trans-vinylating product ions [M + 25](+). To characterize the reaction products, a combination of collision-induced dissociation, isotope-labeling experiments and model compounds were used. The results indicate, in addition to direct heteroatom alkylation, high extent of ortho attack. We attributed the positional selectivity of the α-PVC to the nature of the substituent on the neutral molecule. In particular, hydroxy and amino groups promoted the alkenylation at ortho position.     

Non-destructive spectroscopic characterization of parchment documents

Membranaceous substrates - widely found in library heritage - are truly challenging, due to the variety of manufacturing traditions, the intrinsic variability of the animal's skin and the different degradation patterns affecting documents along ageing. Moreover, when dealing with unique and delicate objects as cultural heritage specimens, sampling is never recommended and often explicitly forbidden. Aim of the research presented in this work is to achieve correct protocols for unambiguous characterization of the document's materials chemical structure and of the possible surface treatments.Experimental results allow us to evidence that the chosen non-destructive techniques (Raman, ATR-FTIR and SEM/EDS) provide a good differentiation between parchment manufacturing procedures, western with lime and eastern with enzymatic treatment. Incrustations of salts on the surface as well as superficial treatment with tannin can be clearly detected. Origin of tannin - from the surface or in ink - can also be distinguished.Choice of the better technique is sample-dependent, since preparation methods, degradation, presence of incrustations, amount of tannin, dehairing method can differently affect the spectral features. For instance, Raman appears to be the most effective molecular technique on western parchment, whereas ATR-FTIR allows distinguishing the enzymatic dehairing procedure from the chemical one.     

Polyelectrolyte multilayers as a platform for luminescent nanocrystal patterned assemblies

The fabrication of uniform and patterned nanocrystal (NC) assemblies has been investigated by exploiting the possibility of carefully tailoring colloidal NC surface chemistry and the ability of polyelectrolyte (PE) to functionalize substrates through an electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) strategy. Appropriate deposition conditions, substrate functionalization, and post-preparative treatments were selected to tailor the substrate surface chemistry to effectively direct the homogeneous electrostatic-induced assembly of NCs. Water-dispersible luminescent NCs, namely, (CdSe)ZnS and CdS, were differently functionalized by (1) ligand-exchange reaction, (2) growth of a hydrophilic silica shell, and (3) formation of a hydrophilic inclusion complex, thus providing functional NCs stable in a defined pH range. The electrostatically charged functional NCs represent a comprehensive selection of examples of surface-functionalized NCs, which enables the systematic investigation of experimental parameters in NC assembly processes carried out by combining LbL procedures with microcontact printing and also exploiting NC emission, relevant for potential applications, as a prompt and effective probe for evaluating assembly quality. Thus, an ample showcase of combinations has been investigated, and the spectroscopic and morphological features of the resulting NC-based structures have been discussed.     

Inclusion properties of volatile organic compounds in a calixarene-based organic zeolite

The inclusion properties of a calixarene-based porous material have been studied to investigate the adsorption and the desorption of carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, and water in the zeolite-like structure. Uptake and release processes have been studied both by time-resolved powder X-ray diffraction and by thermogravimetric analysis to obtain structural and kinetic information. The selected guests are able to enter the structure with an increase in the host cell volume and with time-dependent diffusivity coefficients. Chloroform molecules act as a permanent porosity switch promoting a phase transition to non-porous triclinic form.     

Development of a Liquid Chromatography/Amperometric Detection Method for the Determination of Multiresidue Sulfonamide Antibiotics in Meat‐Based Baby Foods

Sulfonamides were oxidized at a polycrystalline gold electrode in neutral buffered phosphate medium at pH 7 and the electrochemical behavior was investigated using cyclic voltammetry technique. A liquid chromatography methodology based on the C₁₈ reverse phase for the simultaneous separation of nine sulfamides, was studied and optimized. The amperometric detector using a polycrystalline gold substrate as working electrode and operating under pulsed amperometric detection mode (PAD) was tested for the determination of the selected molecules. Under optimal chromatographic and amperometric conditions, the limit of detection of the investigated sulfamides are comprised between 1 µM and 0.05 µM and the dynamic linear range spanned generally over three orders of magnitude. A liquid extraction procedure based on the use of acetonitrile solvent was tested and proposed for the quantitative extraction of sulfonamides from homogenized meat samples. The analytical method was successful tested for the determination of sulfonamides in homogenized meat‐based baby foods with reproducibility and recovery levels ranged between 5.0 % and 7.6 %. and 86 %–106 %, respectively.     

Infrared spectra and ultraviolet-tunable laser induced photochemistry of matrix-isolated phenol and phenol-d5

Monomers of phenol and its ring-perdeuterated isotopologue phenol-d(5) were isolated in argon matrices at 15 K. The infrared (IR) spectra of these species were recorded and analyzed. In situ photochemical transformations of phenol and phenol-d(5) were induced by tunable UV laser light. The photoproducts have been characterized by IR spectroscopy supported by theoretical calculations of the infrared spectra. The primary product photogenerated from phenol was shown to be the phenoxyl radical. The analysis of the progress of the observed phototransformations led to identification of 2,5-cyclohexadienone as one of the secondary photoproducts. Spectral indications of other secondary products, such as the Dewar isomer and the open-ring ketene, were also detected. Identification of the photoproducts provided a guide for the interpretation of the mechanisms of the observed photoreactions.     

Characterization of the core oligosaccharide and the O-antigen biological repeating unit from Halomonas stevensii lipopolysaccharide: the first case of O-antigen linked to the inner core

A novel core structure among bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) that belong to the genus Halomonas has been characterized. H. stevensii is a moderately halophilic microorganism, as are the majority of the Halomonadaceae. It brought to light the pathogenic potential of this genus. On account of their role in immune system elicitation, elucidation of LPS structure is the mandatory starting point for a deeper understanding of the interaction mechanisms between host and pathogen. In this paper we report the structure of the complete saccharidic portion of the LPS from H. stevensii. In contrast to the finding that the O-antigen is usually covalently linked to the outer core oligosaccharide, we could demonstrate that the O-polysaccharide of H. stevensii is linked to the inner core of an LPS. By means of high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection we were able to isolate the core decasaccharide as well as a tridecasaccharide constituted by the core region plus one O-repeating unit after alkaline degradation of the LPS. The structure was elucidated by one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy, ESI Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry, and chemical analysis.