Synthetic Access to Aromatic α-Haloketones

α-Haloketones play an essential role in the synthesis of complex N-, S-, O-heterocycles; of which some exhibit a remarkable biological activity. Research further illustrated that α-bromo-, α-chloro-, and α-iodoketones are key precursors for blockbuster pharmacological compounds. Over the past twenty years, substantial advances have been made in the synthesis of these industrially relevant building blocks. Efforts have focused on rendering the synthetic protocols greener, more effective and versatile. In this survey, we summarised and thoroughly evaluated the progress of the field, established in the past two decades, in terms of generality, efficacy and sustainability.     

Novel conductive nanocomposites from perfluoropolyether waterborne polyurethanes and carbon nanotubes

The exceptional electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been exploited for the preparation of conductive nanocomposites based on a large variety of insulating polymers. Among these, perfluoropolyether‐polyurethanes (PFPE‐PUs) represent a class of highly performing fluorinated materials with excellent water/oil repellency, chemical resistance, and substrate adhesion. The incorporation of highly conductive fillers to this class of highly performing materials allows them to be exploited in new technological and industrial fields where their unique properties need to be combined with the electrical conductivity or the electrostatic dissipation properties of carbon nanotubes. However, no studies have been presented so far on nanocomposites based on PFPE‐PUs and CNTs. In this work, polymer nanocomposites based on waterborne PFPE‐PUs and increasing amounts of carboxylated multiwall CNTs (COOH‐CNTs) were prepared and characterized for the first time. The effect of increasing concentration of COOH‐CNTs on the physical, mechanical, and surface properties of the nanocomposites was investigated by means of rheological measurements, dynamic mechanical analysis, thermal characterization, optical contact angle measurements, and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, electrical measurements showed that the highly insulating undoped PFPE‐PU system undergoes substantial modifications upon addition of COOH‐CNTs, leading to the formation of conductive nanocomposites with electrical conductivities as high as 1 S/cm. The results of this study demonstrate that the addition of COOH‐CNTs to PFPE‐PU systems represents a promising strategy to expand their possible use to technological applications where chemical stability, water/oil repellence and electrical conductivity are simultaneously required. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Picosecond spectroscopy of hydrogenated MBE-GaAs

Picosecond-resolved and steady-state photoluminescence at LHe temperature in low-energy ion-gun hydrogenated GaAs/GaAlAs heterostructures are reported. The exciton in the GaAs layer shows an increase in lifetime — up to a factor of 3 — for moderate hydrogenation, followed by a sharp decrease below the value for the untreated sample, for higher H doses. Luminescence efficiency shows a consistent behavior. Incorporation of H generates a strong D-A band falling 64 meV below the gap energy. The behavior for heavy hydrogenation indicates the formation of a new type of deep defect, not ascribed to surface damage, because of the protective GaAlAs layer, plus the fact that the excitonic emission of the latter shows no variation.     

Weil Representation and Metaplectic Groups over an Integral Domain

Given F a locally compact, nondiscrete, non-archimedean field of characteristic ≠ 2 and R an integral domain such that a non-trivial smooth character χ: F → R ^× exists, we construct the (reduced) metaplectic group attached to χ and R. We show that it is in the expected cases a double cover of the symplectic group over F. Finally, we define a faithful infinite dimensional R-representation of the metaplectic group analogue to the Weil representation in the complex case.     

Weak localization of light in a disordered microcavity

We report the observation of weak localization of light in a semiconductor microcavity. The intrinsic disorder in a microcavity leads to multiple scattering and hence to static speckle. We show that averaging over realizations of the disorder reveals a coherent backscattering cone that has a coherent enhancement factor > or =2, as required by reciprocity. The coherent backscattering cone is observed along a ring-shaped pattern due to confinement by the microcavity.     

Mesh locking effects in the finite volume solution of 2-D anisotropic diffusion equations

Strongly anisotropic diffusion equations require special techniques to overcome or reduce the mesh locking phenomenon. We present a finite volume scheme that tries to approximate with the best possible accuracy the quantities that are of importance in discretizing anisotropic fluxes. In particular, we discuss the crucial role of accurate evaluations of the tangential components of the gradient acting tangentially to the control volume boundaries, that are called into play by anisotropic diffusion tensors. To obtain the sought characteristics from the proposed finite volume method, we employ a second-order accurate reconstruction scheme which is used to evaluate both normal and tangential cell-interface gradients. The experimental results on a number of different meshes show that the scheme maintains optimal convergence rates in both L² and H¹ norms except for the benchmark test considering full Neumann boundary conditions on non-uniform grids. In such a case, a severe locking effect is experienced and documented. However, within the range of practical values of the anisotropy ratio, the scheme is robust and efficient. We postulate and verify experimentally the existence of a quadratic relationship between the anisotropy ratio and the mesh size parameter that guarantees optimal and sub-optimal convergence rates.     

A mixed finite element/finite volume approach for solving biodegradation transport in groundwater

A numerical model for the simulation of flow and transport of organic compounds undergoing bacterial oxygen- and nitrate-based respiration is presented. General assumptions regarding microbial population, bacteria metabolism and effects of oxygen, nitrogen and nutrient concentration on organic substrate rate of consumption are briefly described. The numerical solution techniques for solving both the flow and the transport are presented. The saturated flow equation is discretized using a high-order mixed finite element scheme, which provides a highly accurate estimation of the velocity field. The transport equation for a sorbing porous medium is approximated using a finite volume scheme enclosing an upwind TVD shock-capturing technique for capturing concentration-unsteady steep fronts. The performance and capabilities of the present approach in a bio-remediation context are assessed by considering a set of test problems. The reliability of the numerical results concerning solution accuracy and the computational efficiency in terms of cost and memory requirements are also estimated. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development and Characterization of Curcumin-Silver Nanoparticles as a Promising Formulation to Test on Human Pterygium-Derived Keratinocytes

Pterygium is a progressive disease of the human eye arising from sub-conjunctival tissue and extending onto the cornea. Due to its invasive growth, pterygium can reach the pupil compromising visual function. Currently available medical treatments have limited success in suppressing efficiently the disease. Previous studies have demonstrated that curcumin, polyphenol isolated from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, induces apoptosis of human pterygium fibroblasts in a dose- and time-dependent manner showing promising activity in the treatment of this ophthalmic disease. However, this molecule is not very soluble in water in either neutral or acidic pH and is only slightly more soluble in alkaline conditions, while its dissolving in organic solvents drastically reduces its potential use for biomedical applications. A nanoformulation of curcumin stabilized silver nanoparticles (Cur-AgNPs) seems an effective strategy to increase the bioavailability of curcumin without inducing toxic effects. In fact, silver nitrates have been used safely for the treatment of many ophthalmic conditions and diseases for a long time and the concentration of AgNPs in this formulation is quite low. The synthesis of this new compound was achieved through a modified Bettini’s method adapted to improve the quality of the product intended for human use. Indeed, the pH of the reaction was changed to 9, the temperature of the reaction was increased from 90 °C to 100 °C and after the synthesis the Cur-AgNPs were dispersed in Borax buffer using a dialysis step to improve the biocompatibility of the formulation. This new compound will be able to deliver both components (curcumin and silver) at the same time to the affected tissue, representing an alternative and a more sophisticated strategy for the treatment of human pterygium. Further in vitro and in vivo assays will be required to validate this formulation.