Acetic Anhydride as an Oxygen Donor in the Non-Hydrolytic Sol–Gel Synthesis of Mesoporous TiO2 with High Electrochemical Lithium Storage Performances

An original, halide-free non-hydrolytic sol–gel route to mesoporous anatase TiO₂ with hierarchical porosity and high specific surface area is reported. This route is based on the reaction at 200 °C of titanium(IV) isopropoxide with acetic anhydride, in the absence of a catalyst or solvent. NMR spectroscopic studies indicate that this method provides an efficient, truly non-hydrolytic and aprotic route to TiO₂. Formation of the oxide involves successive acetoxylation and condensation reactions, both with ester elimination. The resulting TiO₂ materials were nanocrystalline, even before calcination. Small (about 10 nm) anatase nanocrystals spontaneously aggregated to form mesoporous micron-sized particles with high specific surface area (240 m² g⁻¹ before calcination). Evaluation of the lithium storage performances shows a high reversible specific capacity, particularly for the non-calcined sample with the highest specific surface area favouring pseudo-capacitive storage: 253 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 C and 218 mAh g⁻¹ at 1 C (C=336 mA g⁻¹). This sample also shows good cyclability (92 % retention after 200 cycles at 336 mA g⁻¹) with a high coulombic efficiency (99.8 %). Synthesis in the presence of a solvent (toluene or squalane) offers the possibility to tune the morphology and texture of the TiO₂ nanomaterials.     

Improved determination of sulpiride in plasma by ion-pair liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

A specific and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the measurement of sulpiride in plasma is described. The internal standard used was veralipride, a structurally related substituted benzamide. A fluorescence detector with maximum excitation at 300 nm and maximum emission at 365 nm was used for quantitation. After an alkaline extraction procedure, the benzamides were separated on a 5-micron ODS column using a large organic counter ion in the mobile phase. The detector response was linear from 10 to 1000 ng/ml and the detection limit was 10 ng/ml, which is sensitive enough for pharmacokinetic studies. The suitability of the method for the analysis of biological samples was tested by studying the variation with time of plasma concentrations of sulpiride in normal human volunteers after a single therapeutic 200-mg oral dose of three different formulations of sulpiride.     

Effects of DNA secondary structure on oligonucleotide probe binding efficiency

Secondary structure motifs in nucleic acid probes generally impair intended hybridization reactions and so efforts to predict and avoid such structures are commonly employed in probe design schemes. Another key facet of probe design that has received much less attention, however, is that secondary structure at targeted probe binding site regions may also impair hybridization. Thus, evaluation of both probe and target site secondary structures together should improve hybridization prediction and design effectiveness. Several challenges confound this goal, including imperfect empirical rules and parameters underlying predictions and the fact that folding algorithms scale poorly with respect to sequence length. Here, we attempt to quantify the consequences of target site structure on predicted hybridization using sequences sampled from the human genome. We also provide a methodology for choosing a reasonable “window size” around target sites that is as small as possible without compromising folding algorithm prediction accuracy.     

Visualization of Heterogeneous Oxygen Storage Behavior in Platinum‐Supported Cerium‐Zirconium Oxide Three‐Way Catalyst Particles by Hard X‐ray Spectro‐Ptychography

The cerium density and valence in micrometer‐size platinum‐supported cerium–zirconium oxide Pt/Ce₂Zr₂O_x (x=7–8) three‐way catalyst particles were successfully mapped by hard X‐ray spectro‐ptychography (ptychographic‐X‐ray absorption fine structure, XAFS). The analysis of correlation between the Ce density and valence in ptychographic‐XAFS images suggested the existence of several oxidation behaviors in the oxygen storage process in the Ce₂Zr₂O_x particles. Ptychographic‐XAFS will open up the nanoscale chemical imaging and structural analysis of heterogeneous catalysts.     

Oxygen‐Doped Zig‐Zag Molecular Ribbons

The synthesis of a zig‐zag oxygen‐doped molecular rhombic ribbon has been achieved. This includes oxidative C?C and C?O bond formations that allowed the stepwise elongation and planarization of an oxa‐congener of 2,7‐periacenoacene. X‐ray diffraction analysis corroborated the flat structure and the zig‐zag topology of the O‐doped edges. Photophysical and electrochemical investigations showed that the extension of the peri‐xanthenoxanthene (PXX) into the molecular ribbon induces a noticeable shrinking of the molecular band gap devised by a rising of the HOMO energy level, a desirable property for p‐type organic semiconductors.     

Vinyl nosylates as partner in copper and silver co-catalyzed Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions

Vinyl nosylates, readily obtained from β-dicarbonyl derivatives, could be efficiently engaged in Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions, either cocatalyzed by copper or silver salts. The para-nitrobenzenesulfonate (nosylate) group allows this coupling to be performed under very mild conditions (room temperature). These new leaving group and mild conditions could be applied to the synthesis of acetylenic coumarinyl derivatives and to the total synthesis of an acetylenic monoterpene natural product, named cleviolide.     

Quantum cloning with an optical fiber amplifier

It has been shown theoretically that a light amplifier working on the physical principle of stimulated emission should achieve optimal quantum cloning of the polarization state of light. We demonstrate close-to-optimal universal quantum cloning of polarization in a standard fiber amplifier for telecom wavelengths. For cloning 1-->2 we find a fidelity of 0.82, the optimal value being 5 / 6=0.83.