Search results for "Theoretical Chemistry"
showing 10 items of 8456 documents
Effects of B-Cell Lymphoma on the Immune System and Immune Recovery after Treatment: The Paradigm of Targeted Therapy
2022
B-cell lymphoma and lymphoproliferative diseases represent a heterogeneous and complex group of neoplasms that are accompanied by a broad range of immune regulatory disorder phenotypes. Clinical features of autoimmunity, hyperinflammation, immunodeficiency and infection can variously dominate, depending on the immune pathway most involved. Immunological imbalance can play a role in lymphomagenesis, also supporting the progression of the disease, while on the other hand, lymphoma acts on the immune system to weaken immunosurveillance and facilitate immunoevasion. Therefore, the modulation of immunity can have a profound effect on disease progression or resolution, which makes the immune syst…
How Can We Improve Vaccination Response in Old People? Part I: Targeting Immunosenescence of Innate Immunity Cells
2022
Vaccination, being able to prevent millions of cases of infectious diseases around the world every year, is the most effective medical intervention ever introduced. However, immunosenescence makes vaccines less effective in providing protection to older people. Although most studies explain that this is mainly due to the immunosenescence of T and B cells, the immunosenescence of innate immunity can also be a significant contributing factor. Alterations in function, number, subset, and distribution of blood neutrophils, monocytes, and natural killer and dendritic cells are detected in aging, thus potentially reducing the efficacy of vaccines in older individuals. In this paper, we focus on t…
More than a Confinement: “Soft” and “Hard” Enzyme Entrapment Modulates Biological Catalyst Function
2019
Catalysis makes chemical and biochemical reactions kinetically accessible. From a technological point of view, organic, inorganic, and biochemical catalysis is relevant for several applications, from industrial synthesis to biomedical, material, and food sciences. A heterogeneous catalyst, i.e., a catalyst confined in a different phase with respect to the reagents’ phase, requires either its physical confinement in an immobilization matrix or its physical adsorption on a surface. In this review, we will focus on the immobilization of biological catalysts, i.e., enzymes, by comparing hard and soft immobilization matrices and their effect on the modulation of the catalysts’ function. Indeed, …
Impact of Organoaluminum Compounds on Phenoxyimine Ligands in Coordinative Olefin Polymerization. A Theoretical Study
2013
The reduction of the phenoxyimine moiety in three individual species—namely free ligand, aluminum complex, and titanium complex—with aluminum alkyls and aluminum hydride has been studied by means of DFT. It was demonstrated that the free phenoxyimine ligand in an equimolar mixture with trimethylaluminum does not undergo reduction. Instead, experimentally observed formation of the six-membered cyclic aluminum–phenoxyimine complex, useful in the ring-opening polymerization of lactones, takes place as the kinetically and thermodynamically favored process. However, it is anticipated that a 2-fold excess of the aluminum compound, especially aluminum hydride, acting on the resulting cyclic comple…
Structural Changes of Titanium Oxide Induced by Chromium Addition as Determined by an X-Ray Diffraction Study
1995
Abstract An X-ray diffraction study has been carried out on a series of polycrystalline TiO 2 (anatase) catalysts containing Cr(III) at different atomic concentrations (0.2-5.0 at. %), prepared by a co-precipitation method. Analysis of the variation of the unit cell parameters of chromium-doped anatase with respect to pure anatase has allowed us to estimate the solubility limit for the system at around 1.4 at. %. There is no evidence for the existence of a separate crystalline chromium oxide phase. Temperature effects on the cell parameter and on the anatase-rutile transformation rate were also analyzed. An increase in temperature produced release of the chromium from the solid solution. At…
Atomic Layer Deposition of Aluminum Oxide on TiO2 and Its Impact on N3 Dye Adsorption from First Principles
2011
The atomic layer deposition of aluminum oxide on an OH-terminated TiO2(101) anatase surface was studied employing density functional theory calculations. The formation of the Al2O3−TiO2 interface during the first atomic layer deposition cycle was modeled by studying the dissociative adsorption of an Al(CH3)3 precursor, followed with a H2O-pulse reaction step that changes the surface termination. Calculations provide evidence for the formation of a discontinuous, atomically rough aluminum oxide layer after the first cycle. To explore the role of the aluminum oxide layer on adsorption of a ruthenium-based N3 dye molecule, various adsorption geometries were investigated. Calculations show that…
Light-induced, site-selective isomerization of glyoxylic acid in solid xenon
2014
Abstract The isomerization of glyoxylic acid (GA) and its water complex was studied in a low temperature xenon matrix. The aim of these studies was to understand how xenon environment affects the cis-trans GA interconversion upon near infrared irradiation. In solid xenon, the GA conformers are embedded in two different matrix sites. These show up as different vibrational bands of GA that exhibit different kinetic rates of isomerization. Upon complexation with water, the isomerization process slows down. Xenon matrix appears not to affect energy relaxation process via intramolecular or intermolecular hydrogen bond as compared with previous experiments in an argon.
First Synthesis of β-Keto Sulfoxides by a Palladium-Catalyzed Carbonylative Suzuki Reaction
2005
[reaction: see text] An unprecedented palladium-catalyzed three-component cross-coupling reaction between alpha-bromo sulfoxide, carbon monoxide, and aromatic boronic acids provides a new and efficient approach to the synthesis of beta-ketosulfoxides. The reaction takes place under mild conditions with a wide range of variously substituted aryl and heteroaryl boronic acids. The carbonylative cross-coupling reaction is strongly favored over competing direct cross-coupling and homocoupling processes, except with boronic acids carrying strong electron-withdrawing substituents.
Nanopore charge inversion and current-voltage curves in mixtures of asymmetric electrolytes
2018
[EN] We consider the screening of the negative charges (carboxylic acid groups) fixed on the surface of a conical-shaped track-etched nanopore by divalent magnesium (Mg2+) and trivalent lanthanum (La3+). The experimental current (I)-voltage (V) curves and current rectification ratios allow discussing fundamental questions about the overcompensation of spatially-fixed charges by multivalent ions over nanoscale volumes. The effects of charge inversion or reversal on nanopore transport are discussed in mixtures of asymmetric electrolytes (LaCl3 and MgCl2 with KCl). In particular, pore charge inversion is demonstrated for La3+ as well as for mixtures of this trivalent ion at low concentrations …
Unprecedented Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reaction of α-Bromo Sulfoxides with Boronic Acids
2003
[reaction: see text] A new Suzuki-type palladium-catalyzed reaction of boronic acids with alpha-bromo sulfoxides has been developed using a protocol similar to the well-documented reaction of boronic acids with aryl halides. Both cross-coupling and homocoupling processes were observed. The best yields in cross-coupling products were obtained when the presence of oxygen was carefully excluded using degassed solvents. The oxidative addition palladium complex intermediate could be isolated and characterized by X-ray single-crystal diffraction.