Palladium Catalyst with Task-Specific Ionic Liquid Ligands: Intracellular Reactions and Mitochondrial Imaging with Benzothiadiazole Derivatives.

A water-soluble and charge-tagged palladium complex (PdMAI) was found to function inside breast cancer live cells of the MCF-7 lineage as an efficient catalyst for cross-coupling reaction. PdMAI, bearing two ionophilic task-specific ionic liquids as ligands, efficiently catalyzed both in cellulo Suzuki and Buchwald-Hartwig amination reactions. For the first time, therefore, the Buchwald-Hartwig amination is described to occur inside the highly complex cellular environment. The 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BTD) core was used as the base for the syntheses, and two π-extended fluorescent derivatives (BTD-2APy) and (BTD-1AN), which were found to emit in the green and red channels, had impressive mitochondrial affinity. These chromophores allowed for selective mitochondrial imaging and tracking.

Carbon dots (C-dots) from cow manure with impressive subcellular selectivity tuned by simple chemical modification.

Improved cellular selectivity for nucleoli staining was achieved by simple chemical modification of carbon dots (C-dots) synthesized from waste carbon sources such as cow manure (or from glucose). The C-dots were characterized and functionalized (amine-passivated) with ethylenediamine, affording amide bonds that resulted in bright green fluorescence. The new modified C-dots were successfully applied as selective live-cell fluorescence imaging probes with impressive subcellular selectivity and the ability to selectively stain nucleoli in breast cancer cell lineages (MCF-7). The C-dots were also tested in four other cellular models and showed the same cellular selection in live-cell imaging experiments.

Influence of hydrodynamic conditions on the degradation of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride solutions on boron-doped diamond anodes.

This study assessed the influence of hydrodynamic conditions on the degradation process of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMImCl) solution on a boron-doped diamond anode in a filter-type electrochemical reactor configuration. The results show that this parameter did not significantly affect this process when operating in the laminar regime. However, in the transition regime (Re ≥ 2000), higher flow rates resulted in a faster removal of BMImCl and total organic carbon, making the process more efficient. Following BMImCl degradation, nitrates were generated at the cathode, then reduced at the cathode to ammonium; combination with free chloride produced at the anode led to the transformation of chloride into combined chlorine forms instead of more toxic oxianions such as chlorate and perchlorate. Thus, the flow rate can be a key parameter for defining operating conditions in which the target BMImCl is more effectively degraded with reduced generation of undesirable secondary products.

Probing the mechanism of the Ugi four-component reaction with charge-tagged reagents by ESI-MS(/MS).

The mechanism of the Ugi four-component reaction has been investigated by electrospray ionization (tandem) mass spectrometry using charge-tagged reagents (a carboxylic acid or an amine) to favour detection. Key intermediates were transferred directly via ESI(+) from the reaction solution to the gas phase and characterized by MS measurements and MS/MS collision induced dissociation. The Mumm rearrangement (final step) was also investigated by both travelling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry and DFT calculations. The data seem to consolidate the amazingly selective mechanism of this intricate four-component reaction.