Breath Analysis: A Promising Tool for Disease Diagnosis-The Role of Sensors.

Early-stage disease diagnosis is of particular importance for effective patient identification as well as their treatment. Lack of patient compliance for the existing diagnostic methods, however, limits prompt diagnosis, rendering the development of non-invasive diagnostic tools mandatory. One of the most promising non-invasive diagnostic methods that has also attracted great research interest during the last years is breath analysis; the method detects gas-analytes such as exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and inorganic gases that are considered to be important biomarkers for various disease-types. The diagnostic ability of gas-pattern detection using analytical techniques and especially sensors has been widely discussed in the literature; however, the incorporation of novel nanomaterials in sensor-development has also proved to enhance sensor performance, for both selective and cross-reactive applications. The aim of the first part of this review is to provide an up-to-date overview of the main categories of sensors studied for disease diagnosis applications via the detection of exhaled gas-analytes and to highlight the role of nanomaterials. The second and most novel part of this review concentrates on the remarkable applicability of breath analysis in differential diagnosis, phenotyping, and the staging of several disease-types, which are currently amongst the most pressing challenges in the field.

Multiphotocatalyst Cascades: From Furans to Fused Butyrolactones and Substituted Cyclopentanones.

High value oxygenated polycycles have been rapidly and efficiently accessed from simple precursors in one pot processes. The reported methodology relies on a new and mild method for butenolide synthesis mediated by thiols. The initial photooxygenation and butenolide synthesis have been merged with subsequent photoredox reactions to achieve rare dual-photocatalyst cascades affording various fused butyrolactones. Ground state Lewis acid activity for methylene blue has been unveiled and then exploited in the synthesis of substituted cyclopentanones.