Molecular transition-metal phosphonates

Molecular transition-metal phosphonates are of relatively recent origin and can be assembled by several synthetic strategies. The nuclearity and the structure of the metal aggregates can be modulated by several factors including the stoichiometry of the reactants, nature of the metal precursor and the type of phosphonic acid used. This perspective summarizes some of the recent work carried out on copper(II)-, zinc(II)- and cadmium(II) phosphonates with particular emphasis on their synthesis and structure.     

Targeted highly sensitive detection of multi-drug resistant Salmonella DT104 using gold nanoparticles

Monoclonal antibody-conjugated popcorn-shape gold nanotechnology-driven approach to selectively detect multiple drug resistant (MDRB) Salmonella typhimurium DT104 bacteria has been developed. We demonstrate that the gold nanotechnology based assay is capable of measuring the amount of MDRB in food samples.     

Rapid Colorimetric Identification and Targeted Photothermal Lysis of Salmonella Bacteria by Using Bioconjugated Oval‐Shaped Gold Nanoparticles

Salmonella bacteria are the major cause for the infection of 16 million people worldwide with typhoid fever each year. Antibiotic‐resistant Salmonella strains have been isolated from various food products. As a result, the development of ultrasensitive sensing technology for detection and new approaches for the treatment of infectious bacterial pathogens that do not rely on traditional therapeutic regimes is very urgent for public health, food safety, and the world economy. Driven by this need, we report herein a nanotechnology‐driven approach that uses antibody‐conjugated oval‐shaped gold nanoparticles to selectively target and destroy pathogenic bacteria. Our experiments have shown the use of a simple colorimetric assay, with an anti‐salmonella antibody conjugated to oval‐shaped gold nanoparticles, for the label‐free detection of S. typhimurium with an excellent detection limit (10⁴ bacteria per mL) and high selectivity over other pathogens. When bacteria conjugated to oval‐shaped gold nanoparticles were exposed to near‐infrared radiation, a highly significant reduction in bacterial cell viability was observed due to photothermal lysis. Ideally, this nanotechnology‐based assay would have enormous potential for rapid, on‐site pathogen detection to avoid the distribution of contaminated foods.     

A room temperature alternative of the Claisen rearrangement route to ortho allylated phenols: unique reactivity pattern of allylindium reagents

Quinol ethers and quinone monoketals are shown to undergo formal anti-Michael addition reactions with allylindium reagents at room temperature to give only ortho allylated phenols in good yields.     

Liquid biopsy technologies based on membrane microfluidics: High-yield purification and selective quantification of biomarkers in nanocarriers

Liquid biopsy, screening cancer non-invasively and frequently by detecting and quantifying molecular markers in physiological fluids, would significantly improve cancer survival rate but it remains a distant goal. The key obstacles presented by the highly heterogeneous samples are rapid/high-yield purification and precise/selective marker capture by their antibody and oligo probes. As irregular expressions of these molecular biomarkers are the key signals, quantifying only those from the cancer cells would greatly enhance the performance of the screening tests. The recent discovery that the biomarkers are carried by nanocarriers, such as exosomes, with cell-specific membrane proteins suggests that such selection may be possible, although a new suite of fractionation and quantification technologies would need to be developed. Although under-appreciated, membrane microfluidics has made considerable contributions to resolving these issues. We review the progress made so far, based on ion-selective, track-etched, and gel membranes and advanced electrophoretic and nano-filtration designs, in this perspective and suggest future directions.     

Irreversibility of the threshold field for dendritic flux avalanches in superconductors

Hysteretic effects are seen in the upper and lower threshold fields for the appearance of dendritic flux instabilities, first explained in Yurchenko et al. [Phys. Rev. B 76 (2007) 092504], in NbN-films. We have measured the threshold fields at increasing and decreasing applied fields at different temperatures and proposed a mechanism explaining how the hysteresis arises by analyzing the field profiles inside the sample.     

Appearance of an inhomogeneous superconducting state in La0.67Sr0.33MnO3-YBa2Cu3O7-La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 trilayers

An experimental study of proximity effect in La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃-YBa₂CU₃O₇-La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ trilayers is reported. Transport measurements on these samples show clear oscillations in critical current (I _c) as the thickness of La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ layers (d _F) is scanned from ∼50 ? to ∼ 1100 ?. In the light of existing theories of ferromagnet-superconductor (FM-SC) heterostructures, this observation suggests a long range proximity effect in the manganite, modulated by its weak exchange energy (∼2 meV). The observed modulation of the magnetic coupling between the ferromagnetic LSMO layers as a function of d _F, also suggests an oscillatory behavior of the SC order parameter near the FM-SC interface.      

Substituent effects in the reaction between benzaldehydes and polyacrylonitrile radicals

The effects of substituents on the reaction of benzaldehydes with polyacrylonitrile radicals have been studied in terms of the multiparameter equations based on Swain and Lupton's Field and Resonance (F and R) components with the unique positional weighting factors f and r developed by Williams and Norrington. From the nature of the reaction constants, a polar transition state has been postulated.