RSC

The authors regret that the original author list was incomplete. The full, corrected author list is presented herein to clarify the authorship of this article. In addition, the acknowledgements section should be revised to include the funding provided by the National Science Foundation. The corrected Acknowledgements is presented below. The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.

The static and dynamic magnetic response of the newly synthesized CoFe 2 O 4-Ag hetero nano-system showed significant enhancement in the effective energy barrier and reduction of the magnetic hardness of CoFe 2 O 4 upon interaction with non-magnetic Ag as compared to neat CoFe 2 O 4. The observed magnetic properties of CoFe 2 O 4-Ag have been dissected in detail using the superparamagnetic Stoner-Wohlfarth and Neel-Arrhenius/Vogel-Fulcher models with the aid of micromagnetic simulations.

Lignocellulosic materials can be utilized in the production of platform chemicals such as hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). HMF production has been investigated in various aqueous, solvent, biphasic and ionic liquid systems. Aqueous medium usually suffers from a low HMF yield (usually 50 to 60% while using fructose as feedstock) due to the production of by-products and the decomposition of HMF. A higher HMF production was achieved by applying biphasic systems, however, these systems face some technical challenges including solvent recovery, process complexity and environmental issues, which prevent its practical implementations at industrial scales. The unique properties of ionic liquids (IL) s make them promising solvents for producing HMF from polysaccharides. In this review, the effects of various parameters such as catalysts, solvents, and process conditions on the production of HMF from various lignocellulosic feedstocks as well as systems developed for purifying HMF after production are discussed. Generally, the yield of HMF production in the IL systems was higher than 80% when fructose was used as the raw material, but was less than 50% when cellulose or other polysaccharides were used. However, the IL system is complicated and has a challenging recovery process. The proposed IL systems are also not environmentally friendly. The main emphasis of this paper is on the industrial applicability of proposed processes for producing HMF.

Palladium doped silica (Pd/SiO2) mesoporous material was synthesized via a sol–gel route using the P123 triblock copolymer as structure directing agent. Pd/SiO2 was efficiently used as a catalyst for Suzuki, Heck and Sonogashira reactions under microwave irradiation. The catalyst exhibited high activity for all the coupling reactions and can be recycled nine times without a significant loss in its catalytic activity.

Tin mono-sulfide (SnS) nanorods (NRs) have been successfully synthesized through a solvothermal process using hydrated tin(II) chloride and sodium sulfide as precursors and N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) as solvent. The Reitveld refined powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Raman and 119 Sn solid-state NMR experiments have confirmed the presence of a SnS phase with Pnma space group and a SnS 2 phase with P 3m1 space group as a minor impurity. HRTEM and HRSEM studies have confirmed the nanoparticle shape as nanorods (NRs). The growth of the NRs has been explained from the observation that by increasing the solvothermal temperature, nanorods grow preferentially in the [100] direction. Optical properties of the SnS nanorods were measured and it was found that all NRs have an indirect band gap in the range of 1.10 eV to 1.2 eV. The electrochemical properties for lithium storage (half-cell configuration) have been tested against Li/Li + using conventional polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) binder and an eco-friendly, low cost binder, carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC). After fifty cycles of chargedischarge, the CMC binder electrode shows a superior electrochemical charge storage property of 591 mA h g À1 compared with 385 mA h g À1 for the PVDF binder electrode, at 160 mA g À1 current rate.

Continuously increasing consumption of antibiotics in health care has led to increased concentration of these compounds in surface water through wastewater treatment systems, which in turn cause adverse effects on the aquatic ecosystems of the receiving water bodies because of the intrinsic biological activity of these compounds. However, there are limited efforts on the remediation of water pollution because of antibiotics using an effective and clean technology. In this study, the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 , CdS, and ZnS semiconductor nanoparticles was employed to degrade the metronidazole antibiotic using visible light irradiation. These particles were also modified by silver doping to improve their degradation efficiency. Note that doping with silver greatly enhanced the degradation efficiency of these nanoparticles. The specific concentration of silver dopants necessary to achieve the maximum degradation efficiency was also identified for TiO 2 , CdS, and ZnS nanoparticles. The basic mechanism of doping and the photocatalytic processes were explored in detail. A kinetic study of the degradation reaction fits first order kinetics well for all three cases. The reusability and stability of these photocatalysts was confirmed by cyclic degradation tests.

Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN), a relatively new low energy separation technology, has been used to reduce metal contamination of ring closing metathesis reaction products. The catalysts used were readily available commercial Hoveyda-Grubbs and Umicore M series catalysts. These reactions were performed in a flow reactor with in-line membrane separation, and high catalyst retention can be achieved. In the flow reactor set up a beneficial effect on catalyst life-time on changing from solvents such as dichloromethane to environmentally more benign acetone, which reduces initiation rates, was demonstrated.

A single-phase and crystalline NiS 2 nanoflake layer was produced by a facile and novel approach consisting of a two-step growth process. First, a Ni(OH) 2 layer was synthesized by a chemical bath deposition approach using a nickel precursor and ammonia as the starting solution. In a second step, the obtained Ni(OH) 2 layer was transformed into a NiS 2 layer by a sulfurization process at 450 C for 1 h. The XRD analysis showed a single-phase NiS 2 layer with no additional peaks related to any secondary phases. Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy further confirmed the formation of a single-phase NiS 2 layer. SEM revealed that the NiS 2 layer consisted of overlapping nanoflakes. The optical bandgap of the NiS 2 layer was evaluated with the Kubelka-Munk function from the diffuse reflectance spectrum (DRS) and was estimated to be around 1.19 eV, making NiS 2 suitable for the photodegradation of organic pollutants under solar light. The NiS 2 nanoflake layer showed photocatalytic activity for the degradation of phenol under solar irradiation at natural pH 6. The NiS 2 nanoflake layer exhibited good solar light photocatalytic activity in the photodegradation of phenol as a model organic pollutant.

Silymarin coated gold nanoparticles with a mean size of 20 nm were synthesized and functionalized in one pot using silymarin as a reducing and stabilizing agent. Conjugation of gold with silymarin was confirmed with FT-IR and UV-visible techniques. The aim of this study was to investigate the hepatoprotective and antifibrotic potential of Silymarin coated gold nanoparticles. For this purpose oxidative liver damage was induced in Wistar rats by intraperitoneal injection of CCl 4 dissolved in olive oil (1 : 1 v/v, 1 ml kg À1 ).

The use mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride (mpg-C 3 N 4 ) in conjunction with tertiary amines as initiators in visible-lightinduced free radical polymerization is described. The initiation mechanism involves photoinduced free radical generation by scavenging holes with amines and subsequent hydrogen abstraction. The efficiency of the photoinitiation is controlled by the nature of the amines and specific surface area of the carbon nitride powder. Apparently, amines with higher basicity and available hydrogens provide more favorable conditions for the photoinitiation process. Due to its heterogeneous nature, the photoinitiator preserves its photoinitiation activity after the polymerization and can easily be separated and used for further polymerizations.

Considering the subdued efficacy of a single therapeutic modality in successful treatment of cancer, cooperative inhibition of cancer progression employing a combination of two or more therapeutic approaches is currently in vogue. An example of this strategy is the combination of chemotherapy and siRNA based therapy. However, development of delivery systems capable of successfully loading siRNA as well as a chemotherapeutic drug simultaneously and delivering both the cargos to the target site has been considered an uphill task. The present study demonstrates the development of an innovative polyfunctional delivery system capable of loading siRNA and a chemotherapeutic drug concurrently and delivering the two payloads to the tumor site in a targeted manner. In the present study, liver cancer specific antibody conjugated PAMAM-dendrimer-siRNA complex functionalized and cisplatin loaded PLGA nanocomposites were developed. PAMAM dendrimers being cationic polymers facilitate binding of negatively charged siRNA. In this nanocomposite system (Ab@PAMAM-siRNA@Cis-PLGA NC), liver cancer specific antibody (Ab) serves the purpose of targeting the immuno-nanocomposite to the cells expressing liver cancer antigens; siRNA is the gene knockdown agent; cisplatin is the therapeutic anticancer-drug; PLGA NPs act as cisplatin delivery vehicle, provide a scaffold to dendrimer and also subdue its cytotoxicity; PAMAM acts as siRNA carrier and may facilitate endosomal escape. The promise of polyfunctional Ab@PAMAM-siRNA@Cis-PLGA NC to be used in cancer therapy was highlighted from the in vivo data enumerating synergistic anti-cancer effect of the two payloads resulting in enhanced apoptosis of cancer cells and augmenting survival of the treated animals.

The constant thickness in the microfluidic channel is used for controlled absorption of red and blue light to measure red blood cell hemoglobin and height mapping. High speed recording of the height mapping provides us the membrane fluctuation.

Face detection methods are typically considered multiple images for each individual, but in real-world only one training image per person is available. The Robust Sparse Coding by Category (SRC) has been successfully used in face recognition. But the idea and approach continues to be promoted. In this paper, we enhance face detection using sparse matrix classification by using gray wolf optimazation algorithm for parameter setting. This effectively makes the size of dictionaries to keep the detection rate up and the number of variables does not depend on the number of classes (people), also with the proposed method rate of calculations significantly reduced.

Dye wastewater has caused severe environmental and health problems. In this work, we have fabricated a novel low-cost membrane with good methylene blue dye adsorption and antibacterial property from naturally sustainable lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus).

Sodium acetate and sodium acetate-d 3 solutions in water and heavy water were studied using Raman spectroscopy over a wide concentration range and from low wavenumbers (40 cm À1) up to 4200 cm À1. In the terahertz region the broad breathing mode Na-O at 189 cm À1 was detected as well as a broad shoulder at 245 cm À1 of the restricted translation band of acetate-water. Fundamental modes of CH 3 CO 2 À (aq) and acetate-d 3 , CD 3 CO 2 À (aq), were assigned and discussed according to pseudo C s symmetry. The vibrational isotope effect of the CH 3 /CD 3 group was observed and the Teller-Redlich product rule confirmed the assignments. Additionally, band assignments of CH 3 CO 2 À and CD 3 CO 2 À in heavy water were reported and discussed. By changing from H 2 O to D 2 O, relatively strong H-bonding between the oxygen atoms of acetate causes a change in the vibrational energy levels of the dissolved acetate. The symmetric stretching mode of the CO 2 group for CH 3 CO 2 À in water and heavy water was obtained at 1413.5 cm À1 and 1418.6 cm À1 respectively and for CD 3 CO 2 À in water and heavy water, the symmetric stretch was obtained at 1407.5 cm À1 and 1412.4 cm À1 , respectively. Coupling of the intramolecular acetate bands is fairly extensive and therefore DFT calculations were carried out on discrete acetate-water (heavy water) clusters. The clusters with the general stoichiometry CH 3 CO 2 À $nH 2 O$mH 2 O (n ¼ 1-5, m ¼ 1) and n the number of first shell water molecules and m the second shell were considered and calculations at the B3LYP 6-311++G(3df,2pd) level were performed. The frequency calculations on CH 3 CO 2 À $5H 2 O and CD 3 CO 2 À $5H 2 O clusters supported the assignments of the fundamental modes. The geometrical parameters such as bond length and bond angles of acetate in solution state were obtained. The influence of acetate on the O-H stretching band of water was measured as a function of concentration in order to determine the influence of the methyl group on the structure of water. No enhancement of the water structure around the nonpolar methyl group could be detected nor the existence of dangling nO-H bonds at $3670 cm À1. In NaCF 3 CO 2 solutions, however, dangling nO-H bonds could be observed at $3670 cm À1 caused by the hydrophobic CF 3 group. Finally, the nature of the ion pairs formed between Na + and acetate were discussed in NaCH 3 CO 2 (aq) and in concentrated solutions no contact ion pairs could be detected.

Poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) is widely used in medicine due to its high biocompatibility. In this study, itaconic acid (IA) was co-polymerized with N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) monomer to prepare the pH sensitive hydrogels. These copolymer hydrogels were prepared using ultra-violet (UV) induced methods at ambient temperature. Monomer and cross-linking agent (N,N -methylene-bisacrylamide (MBAAm)) concentration effects on preparation of this copolymer hydrogel were investigated using swelling, FT-IR, and SEM. The prepared copolymer hydrogel is highly pH sensitive. The percentage swell of the copolymer hydrogels was found to increase from 150 to 3011% as the pH value of the swelling solution varied from 4 to 10. These pH sensitive copolymer hydrogels present a promising approach for drug delivery applications.

This study investigates the effects of surface ligand distribution pattern (ligand clustering and density) on the internalisation of nanoparticles by a bronchial epithelial in vitro model (Calu-3 cells cultured as polarised layers). Control of ligand clustering and its surface density was achieved through the use of ovalbumin as an intermediate species to anchor the ligand to the nanoparticle surface. The model particulate system consisted of polystyrene nanoparticles surface-decorated via the adsorption of ovalbumin with conjugated folate ligand. The density of the displayed ligand was manipulated by controlling the conjugation level of folate to ovalbumin, while ligand clustering was achieved by co-adsorption of varying mixtures of folate-ovalbumin conjugate (at different ligand density levels) and unconjugated ovalbumin. Increasing overall ligand density on the nanoparticle surface resulted in increased internalisation of modified nanoparticles by the cells, up to a saturation level. Surface ligand density also affected the cellular uptake pathway; from predominantly clathrin to predominantly caveolae-mediated as the ligand density is increased. We further demonstrate that surface clustering of the folate ligand enhances cellular internalisation of nanoparticles, relative to its dispersed surface distribution. Our work suggests a simple way to prepare a model system where surface manipulations of ligand density and its distribution are possible and which can be used to study nanoparticle-cell interaction processes.

A new practical approach has been adopted for the resolution (from racemic and non-racemic mixtures) of DL-selenomethionine using achiral phase chromatography supplemented with (À)-quinine as a chiral inducing reagent (CIR) and for the resolution of three racemic b-blockers (orciprenaline, betaxolol and atenolol) using L-Glutamic acid as a CIR. These analytes were pre-mixed with CIR and were applied to plain silica gel plates. The chromatograms were developed with the mobile phase having no chiral additive. Investigations were carried out by varying the pH, temperature and ratio of CIR to analytes. Native enantiomers were isolated and the detection limit for each enantiomer of SeMet was found to be 0.18 mg mL À1 and for enantiomers of the b-blockers it was found to be in the range of 1.2-1.8 mg mL À1. Optimized structures of transient diastereomers based on density functional theory using the Gaussian 09 Rev. A.02 program and hybrid density functional B3LYP with 6-31G* basis set have been developed. The separation mechanism has also been explained.

The nanostructure and the oxygen storage capacity against reactive oxygen species (ROS) are essential features to take into account during the design of a new material that will be used as the basis of novel therapeutic technologies. Here we evaluate the incorporation of nano-ceria, which has a demonstrated ability to scavenge free radicals under physiological conditions comparable to those observed for superoxide dismutase and catalase, to TiO 2 crystalline assemblies. The material was planned to merge the scavenging properties of CeO 2 on a specifically designed structured TiO 2 substrate. The presence of Ce atoms has a clear influence on the materials' morphologies, distorting the anatase crystal lattice and inducing the formation of fullerene-like structures. The cytotoxicity of the materials against L929 fibroblasts after 24 hours of cell culture was evaluated. Both structural and oxidative properties of the materials have a clear effect on fibroblast viability; in fact it was demonstrated that cellular proliferation can be modulated by varying the Ce 3+ /Ti 4+ molar ratio. 1C8 † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Material structural characterization: EDX; nano-particles size distribution histograms; d eq Ti-O , d ap Ti-O , d eq O-O , d sh O-O , d ush O-O distances computed considering the extreme planar condition with u ¼ 0.25; detailed information used in molecular modeling and Rietveld method; FT-Raman spectra; photoluminescence spectra. Fibroblast and adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells (A549) proliferation in the presence of Ce-doped TiO 2 fullerene-like materials. See

A detailed atomistic model of amorphous diamond-like carbon was developed combining experimental neutron scattering data (K. W. R. Gilkes, P. H. Gaskell and J. Robertson, Phys. Rev. B, 1995, 51, 12303) with the hybrid reverse Monte Carlo method. From the experimentally consistent nanoscale model of the disordered tetrahedral carbon we computed various properties, including: binding energy distribution, neighbor distribution function, bond angle distribution, cluster size distributions for different C-C bond lengths, and percolation threshold. Analysis of microscopic configurations revealed that the network structure of the studied amorphous diamond-like carbon lacks any graphitic fragments (i.e., regular hexagons with a 120u C-C-C bond angle). We found that for the assumed C-C bond length ¡ 1.42 Å (i.e., sp2 hybridization), the carbon network is poorly connected with a 70% contribution from isolated carbon atoms. The percolation threshold corresponds to a C-C bond length ¡ 1.52 Å , which is close to 1.54 Å (i.e., C-C bond length in perfect diamond). This finding is consistent with experimental high levels of tetrahedral bonding (i.e., sp3 hybridization) reported for high density tetrahedral amorphous carbons (i.e., sp3 fraction of 80-85%). Thus, we concluded that the HRMC method complemented with cluster size analysis and determination of percolation threshold is a promising methodology in studies of ill-defined carbonaceous materials.

Protected arginine thioacid enables convenient N-acylation with no detectable racemization. We report efficient syntheses of potentially biologically active arginine conjugates and novel arginine-containing di-, tri-and tetrapeptides in good yields without loss of chiral integrity.

Quantification of BF 4 À ions infiltrated into micropores of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) in 1 M (Et 4 N) + (BF 4 ) À in a propylene carbonate solvent using ex situ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and a polytetrafluoroethylene internal standard, is presented. The measured concentrations of BF 4 À ions in the pores of the ACFs are correlated to their capacitances. ; Fax: +82 42 8218896; Tel: +82 42 8215483 † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Additional experimental details and related discussions, 11 B NMR spectra of BF 4 À ions on ACFs, quantication details of BF 4 À ions inltrated into the pores of ACFs and conversion details of the capacitance to electron concentration. See

Porphyrin derivatives such as heme, which is present in blood, and chlorophylls found in plants and bacteria, are complexes of high chemical stability which can survive hundreds of millions of years. Examples from the fossil record are highlighted.

Novel semi-crystalline sulfonated copolymers (sPS(B-SA)) have been synthesized by sulfonation of multiblock copolymers of syndiotactic polystyrene with cis-1,4-polybutadiene (sPSB), using a two-stage solution process comprising the addition of thiolacetic acid to the butadiene units, followed by the in situ oxidation of the thioacetyl moieties with performic acid. The sulfonation process is quantitative, chemoselective, cheap and more environmentally benign than similar methods previously reported; in addition it allows achieving high ion exchange capacity values (up to 4.48 equiv. per kg). The sPS(B-SA)s are crystalline, preserving the native polymorphic behavior of the crystalline syndiotactic polystyrene segments. Thin films of sPS(B-SA) samples show a phase separated morphology at the nanometer scale evidenced by tapping mode and tunneling current atomic force microscopy; proton conductive regions embedded in a hard-hydrophobic matrix of syndiotactic polystyrene were actually observed.

Marfil-Carmona, R. (2008). Cajas de ahorros y Educación Artística. La cultura como factor de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa. En L.M. Martínez, R. Gutiérrez y C. Escaño (Coords.), Nuevas propuestas de acción en Educación Artística (pp. 159-166). Málaga: Universidad de Málaga.

An accurate and efficient characterization of the polyelectrolyte properties for cytoskeleton filaments are key to the molecular understanding of electrical signal propagation, bundle and network formation, as well as other relevant physicochemical processes associated with biological functions in eukaryotic cells and their potential nanotechnological applications. In this article, we introduce an innovative multi-scale approach able to account for the atomistic details of a proteins molecular structure, its biological environment, and their impact on electrical impulses propagating along wild type Actin filaments. The approach provides a novel, simple, accurate, approximate analytic expression for the characterization of electrical impulses in the shape of soliton waveforms. It has been successfully used to determine the effects of electrolyte conditions and voltage stimulus on the electrical impulse shape, attenuation and kern propagation velocity in these systems. Our results pre...

HCl and H 2 SO 4 media. The charge transfer resistance and double layer capacitance values confirmed the adsorption of the polymer on the metal surface. The open circuit potential study proved the formation of polymer film on the metal surface and the stability of the formed film.