Wearing face masks as a potential source for inhalation and oral uptake of inanimate toxins - A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: From 2020 to 2023 many people around the world were forced to wear masks for large proportions of the day based on mandates and laws. We aimed to study the potential of face masks for the content and release of inanimate toxins. METHODS: A scoping review of 1003 studies was performed (database search in PubMed/MEDLINE, qualitative and quantitative evaluation). RESULTS: 24 studies were included (experimental time 17 min to 15 days) evaluating content and/or release in 631 masks (273 surgical, 228 textile and 130 N95 masks). Most studies (63%) showed alarming results with high micro- and nanoplastics (MPs and NPs) release and exceedances could also be evidenced for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), xylene, acrolein, per-/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), phthalates (including di(2-ethylhexyl)-phthalate, DEHP) and for Pb, Cd, Co, Cu, Sb and TiO2. DISCUSSION: Of course, masks filter larger dirt and plastic particles and fibers from the air we breathe and have specific indications, but according to our data they also carry risks. Depending on the application, a risk-benefit analysis is necessary. CONCLUSION: Undoubtedly, mask mandates during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic have been generating an additional source of potentially harmful exposition to toxins with health threatening and carcinogenic properties at population level with almost zero distance to the airways.

Hydrophilicity and Microsolvation of an Organic Molecule Resolved on the Sub-molecular Level by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy.

Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy was used to follow the formation of a solvation shell around an adsorbed functionalized azo dye from the attachment of the first water molecule to a fully solvated molecule. Specific functional groups bind initially one water molecule each, which act as anchor points for additional water molecules. Further water attachment occurs in areas close to these functional groups even when the functional groups themselves are already saturated. In contrast, water molecules surround the hydrophobic parts of the molecule only when the two-dimensional solvation shell closes around them. This study thus traces hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of an organic molecule down to a sub-molecular length scale.

Bidentate cycloimidate palladium complexes with aliphatic and aromatic anagostic bonds.

Palladium(II) complexes of bidentate cycloimidate ligand systems with a triarylmethyl moiety exhibit exceptional downfield shifts in proton NMR spectra due to rare anagostic interactions.

Cage hydrocarbons derived from dibenzosuberenone.

The reinvestigation of the synthesis of the fascinating cage compound 2 reveals an incorrect structure of photodimer 2, as well as of the putatively isolated intermediate 9. These products have to be reassigned as monomeric pyramidalized alkene 3 and spirocyclic dichloride 10, respectively.

A domino annulation reaction under Willgerodt-Kindler conditions.

Butanone side chains at arenes and hetarenes, efficiently introduced by a Heck-type reaction, are transformed to annulated thieno[3,2-b]thiophenes in a domino redox process under Willgerodt-Kindler conditions. A nucleophilic aromatic substitution with an intermediary thioenolate is a reasonable key step of this process.

Reactions of glycidyl derivatives with ambident nucleophiles; part 2: amino acid derivatives.

A three-step procedure for the synthesis of multifunctionalized heterocycles from a pyroglutamic acid derivative, glycidyl components and anilines by nucleophilic substitution and cobalt catalysis is presented.

A gold-catalyzed domino process to the steroid framework.

The facile formation of the B and C ring of rac-desoxyequilenin and of a chrysenone derivative in just one preparative step is demonstrated, applying a gold-catalyzed domino process, which involves a benzopyrylium cation as the key intermediate and an intramolecular [3 + 2] cycloaddition as the key step.

A platinum-catalyzed annulation reaction leading to medium-sized rings.

A platinum-catalyzed domino process with intermediate benzopyrylium cations reaches its optimum utility in the formation of 7- and 8-membered rings. With iron(III) chloride, a tetracyclic product is isolated, derived from an oxidative transformation of a metal-carbene intermediate.

Isoindoles and dihydroisoquinolines by gold-catalyzed intramolecular hydroamination of alkynes.

The title compounds are enantioselectively synthesized in just two preparative steps, making use of the Ugi-four-component reaction with an amino acid as chiral component, followed by a gold-catalyzed hydroamination.

Total synthesis of heliophenanthrone.

The total synthesis of rac-heliophenanthrone (3a) was achieved by a convergent approach, making use of a transition-metal-catalyzed domino process with an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction at an isobenzopyrylium cation as key step.

Transition Metal Catalyzed Coupling Reactions under C-H Activation.

C-C coupling by transition metal catalyzed C-H activation has developed into a diverse area of research. The applicable catalysts are manifold, and the variety of products obtained range from basic chemicals to pharmaceuticals and building blocks for carbon networks. One reaction, in which several C-C bonds are formed under C-H activation of a methyl group, is the conversion of ortho-iodoanisole according to Equation (1).