Liquid crystal based sensors monitoring lipase activity: a new rapid and sensitive method for cytotoxicity assays.

In this work we present liquid crystal (LC) based sensor devices to monitor cell viability. The sensing layer is composed by the LC and a planar monolayer of phospholipids. In the presence of minute traces of phospholipases, which hydrolyze enzymatically phospholipids, the LC-lipid interface is disintegrated. This event causes a change in orientation of the LC, which was followed in a polarized microscope. The lipase activity can be used to measure the cell viability, since members of this enzyme family are released by cells, as they undergo necrosis. The described sensor was used to monitor the presence of the lipases released from three different cell lines, which were either exposed to highly cytotoxic model compounds (sodium azide and paracetamol) or subjected to freeze-thaw cycles to induce cell death by a non-chemical based inducer for apoptosis, such as temperature. Finally, the comparison of lipase activity detected by a state-of-the-art fluorescence assay to the LC based system resulted in the superiority of the LC system concerning incubation time and sensitivity.

Palladium-catalyzed C-F activation of polyfluoronitrobenzene derivatives in Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions.

Highly fluorinated nitrobenzene derivatives are suitable substrates for palladium-catalyzed C-F bond arylation using readily available palladium catalysts under both conventional heating and microwave conditions. Arylation occurs ortho to the nitro group offering a synthetic route to polyfluorinated 2-arylnitrobenzene systems. The regiochemistry of the arylation reactions suggests that there is a significant directing interaction between the nitro group and the incoming nucleophilic palladium catalyst which is facilitated by the presence of several fluorine atoms attached the ring. Investigations into the regioselectivity and reactivity of several tetrafluoro- and trifluoronitrobenzene derivatives provides further evidence for the highly nucleophilic character of the oxidative addition step in contrast to the concerted mechanism of more conventional Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions involving aryl iodides and bromides.

A general route to fully terminally tert-butylated linear polyenes.

Starting from the readily available α,ß-unsaturated ketone, 3-tert-butyl-4,4-dimethyl-2-pentenal, higher vinylogues, and fully terminally tert-butylated polyolefins with up to 13 consecutive conjugated double bonds have been prepared by either McMurry dimerization or Wittig chain-elongation routes. The highly unsaturated conjugated π systems, which show a remarkable stability, have been characterized by spectroscopic methods and, in many cases, by X-ray structural analysis. The yields are high enough to allow for thorough chemical reactivity studies.

Influence of halogen substituents on the self-assembly of oligothiophenes--a combined STM and theoretical approach.

Iodinated quaterthiophenes 2-3 have been synthesized and their self-assembling behavior investigated at the liquid-solid interface by means of high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy in comparison to parent oligothiophene 1. All three compounds spontaneously give well-ordered 2D crystalline monolayers at the graphite surface and order in a lamella-type arrangement of the conjugated backbones concomitant with an interlocking of the alkyl side chains. Symmetrically substituted oligothiophenes 1 and 3 without a relevant dipole moment self-assemble in a similar fashion, exhibiting comparable unit cells, whereas monoiodo derivative 2 arranges as pairs along the lamella axis due to the presence of a permanent dipole moment induced by the polarizable halogen group. Corroborated by quantum chemical calculations, novel head-to-head (iodo-iodo) intermolecular interactions were found to take place for this unsymmetrical derivative. The investigation of mixed solutions clearly reveals that at the solid-liquid interface a homogeneous layer of this compound is formed, which comprises the highest packing density leading to a separation process at the interface.

Electronic energy levels in all-trans long linear polyenes: the case of the 3,20-di(tert-butyl)-2,2,21,21-tetramethyl-all-trans-3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19-docosanonaen (ttbp9) conforming to Kasha's rule.

The absorption, fluorescence and fluorescence excitation spectra for 3,20-di(tert-butyl)-2,2,21,21-tetramethyl-all-trans-3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19-docosanonaen (ttbP9) in dilute solutions of 2-methylbutane were recorded at temperatures over the range 120-280 K. The high photostability of this nonaene allows us to assert that it exhibits a single fluorescence and that this can be unequivocally assigned to emission from its 1(1)B(u) excited state, it being the first excited electronic state. Available photophysical data for this polyene and the wealth of information reported for shorter all-trans polyenes allow us to conclude that if the first excited electronic state for the chromophore possessed 2(1)A(g) symmetry, then the energy of such a state might have been so close to that of the 1(1)B(u) state that: 1) the radiationless internal conversion mechanism would preclude the observation of the emission from the 1(1)B(u) state reported in this work and 2) the 2(1)A(g) state reached through internal conversion would be vibrationally coupled to 1(1)B(u) and would facilitate the detection of the emission from 2(1)A(g), which was not observed in any of the solvents used in this work. The spectroscopic and photochemical implications of these findings for other polyenes are discussed.