0000000000060154
AUTHOR
Belén Ferrer
Ship-in-a-bottle synthesis of triphenylamine inside faujasite supercages and generation of the triphenylamminium radical ion
Abstract The ship-in-a-bottle synthesis of triphenylamine encapsulated within basic X zeolite has been accomplished by reacting sodium diphenylamide with bromobenzene in the presence of a bifunctional palladium (Hartwig–Buchwald conditions). The presence of incarcerated triphenylamine was demonstrated by dissolving the zeolite with concentrated HF and analyzing the organic material in the dichloromethane extract. Laser flash photolysis (266 nm) gives rise to the generation of triphenylamminium radical cation detected as a transient species decaying in hundreds of microseconds. Upon repetitive cyclic voltammograms, zeolite encapsulated triphenylamine shows a reversible oxidation–reduction pr…
Autonomous artificial nanomotor powered by sunlight
Light excitation powers the reversible shuttling movement of the ring component of a rotaxane between two stations located at a 1.3-nm distance on its dumbbell-shaped component. The photoinduced shuttling movement, which occurs in solution, is based on a “four-stroke” synchronized sequence of electronic and nuclear processes. At room temperature the deactivation time of the high-energy charge-transfer state obtained by light excitation is ≈10 μs, and the time period required for the ring-displacement process is on the order of 100 μs. The rotaxane behaves as an autonomous linear motor and operates with a quantum efficiency up to ≈12%. The investigated system is a unique example of an artif…
Novel image processing approach to detect malaria
In this paper we present a novel image processing algorithm providing good preliminary capabilities for in vitro detection of malaria. The proposed concept is based upon analysis of the temporal variation of each pixel. Changes in dark pixels mean that inter cellular activity happened, indicating the presence of the malaria parasite inside the cell. Preliminary experimental results involving analysis of red blood cells being either healthy or infected with malaria parasites, validated the potential benefit of the proposed numerical approach. S.F. acknowledges the grant from Area Science Park of Trieste. J.G. acknowledges the support he got from project FIS2013-47548-P. D.M. and B.F. acknowl…