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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Sperm Micromotors for Cargo Delivery through Flowing Blood
    (Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 2020) Xu, Haifeng; Medina-Sánchez, Mariana; Maitz, Manfred F.; Werner, Carsten; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    Micromotors are recognized as promising candidates for untethered micromanipulation and targeted cargo delivery in complex biological environments. However, their feasibility in the circulatory system has been limited due to the low thrust force exhibited by many of the reported synthetic micromotors, which is not sufficient to overcome the high flow and complex composition of blood. Here we present a hybrid sperm micromotor that can actively swim against flowing blood (continuous and pulsatile) and perform the function of heparin cargo delivery. In this biohybrid system, the sperm flagellum provides a high propulsion force while the synthetic microstructure serves for magnetic guidance and cargo transport. Moreover, single sperm micromotors can assemble into a train-like carrier after magnetization, allowing the transport of multiple sperm or medical cargoes to the area of interest, serving as potential anticoagulant agents to treat blood clots or other diseases in the circulatory system.
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    Mechanistic Understanding of the Heterogeneous, Rhodium-Cyclic (Alkyl)(Amino)Carbene-Catalyzed (Fluoro-)Arene Hydrogenation
    (Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 2020) Moock D.; Wiesenfeldt M.P.; Freitag M.; Muratsugu S.; Ikemoto S.; Knitsch R.; Schneidewind J.; Baumann W.; Schäfer A.H.; Timmer A.; Tada M.; Hansen M.R.; Glorius F.
    Recently, chemoselective methods for the hydrogenation of fluorinated, silylated, and borylated arenes have been developed providing direct access to previously unattainable, valuable products. Herein, a comprehensive study on the employed rhodium-cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene (CAAC) catalyst precursor is disclosed. Mechanistic experiments, kinetic studies, and surface-spectroscopic methods revealed supported rhodium(0) nanoparticles (NP) as the active catalytic species. Further studies suggest that CAAC-derived modifiers play a key role in determining the chemoselectivity of the hydrogenation of fluorinated arenes, thus offering an avenue for further tuning of the catalytic properties. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.
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    Short-Range Cooperative Slow-down of Water Solvation Dynamics Around SO42--Mg2+ Ion Pairs
    (Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 2022) Kundu, Achintya; Mamatkulov, Shavkat I.; Brünig, Florian N.; Bonthuis, Douwe Jan; Netz, Roland R.; Elsaesser, Thomas; Fingerhut, Benjamin P.
    The presence of ions affects the structure and dynamics of water on a multitude of length and time scales. In this context, pairs of Mg2+ and SO42- ions in water constitute a prototypical system for which conflicting pictures of hydration geometries and dynamics have been reported. Key issues are the molecular pair and solvation shell geometries, the spatial range of electric interactions, and their impact on solvation dynamics. Here, we introduce asymmetric SO42- stretching vibrations as new and most specific local probes of solvation dynamics that allow to access ion hydration dynamics at the dilute concentration (0.2 M) of a native electrolyte environment. Highly sensitive heterodyne 2D-IR spectroscopy in the fingerprint region of the SO42- ions around 1100 cm-1 reveals a specific slow-down of solvation dynamics for hydrated MgSO4 and for Na2SO4 in the presence of Mg2+ ions, which manifests as a retardation of spectral diffusion compared to aqueous Na2SO4 solutions in the absence of Mg2+ ions. Extensive molecular dynamics and density functional theory QM/MM simulations provide a microscopic view of the observed ultrafast dephasing and hydration dynamics. They suggest a molecular picture where the slow-down of hydration dynamics arises from the structural peculiarities of solvent-shared SO42--Mg2+ ion pairs.
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    Highly Efficient and Atom Economic Route for the Production of Methyl Acrylate and Acetic Acid from a Biorefinery Side Stream
    (Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 2020) El Ouahabi F.; Polyakov M.; Van Klink G.P.M.; Wohlrab S.; Tin S.; De Vries J.G.
    We report a highly efficient and 100% atom economic synthesis of methyl acrylate and acetic acid via gas phase pyrolysis of methyl 3-acetoxypropionate at 600 °C. The latter can be produced in a single step from methyl levulinate, a side product of Avantium's FDCA process. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.
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    Medical Imaging of Microrobots: Toward In Vivo Applications
    (Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 2020) Aziz, Azaam; Pane, Stefano; Iacovacci, Veronica; Koukourakis, Nektarios; Czarske, Jürgen; Menciassi, Arianna; Medina-Sánchez, Mariana; Schmidt, Oliver G
    Medical microrobots (MRs) have been demonstrated for a variety of non-invasive biomedical applications, such as tissue engineering, drug delivery, and assisted fertilization, among others. However, most of these demonstrations have been carried out in in vitro settings and under optical microscopy, being significantly different from the clinical practice. Thus, medical imaging techniques are required for localizing and tracking such tiny therapeutic machines when used in medical-relevant applications. This review aims at analyzing the state of the art of microrobots imaging by critically discussing the potentialities and limitations of the techniques employed in this field. Moreover, the physics and the working principle behind each analyzed imaging strategy, the spatiotemporal resolution, and the penetration depth are thoroughly discussed. The paper deals with the suitability of each imaging technique for tracking single or swarms of MRs and discusses the scenarios where contrast or imaging agent's inclusion is required, either to absorb, emit, or reflect a determined physical signal detected by an external system. Finally, the review highlights the existing challenges and perspective solutions which could be promising for future in vivo applications.
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    Kinetic Control over Self-Assembly of Semiconductor Nanoplatelets
    (Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 2020) Momper, R.; Zhang, H.; Chen, S.; Halim, H.; Johannes, E.; Yordanov, S.; Braga, D.; Blülle, B.; Doblas, D.; Kraus, T.; Kraus, T.; Bonn, M.; Wang, H.I.; Riedinger, A.
    Semiconductor nanoplatelets exhibit spectrally pure, directional fluorescence. To make polarized light emission accessible and the charge transport effective, nanoplatelets have to be collectively oriented in the solid state. We discovered that the collective nanoplatelets orientation in monolayers can be controlled kinetically by exploiting the solvent evaporation rate in self-assembly at liquid interfaces. Our method avoids insulating additives such as surfactants, making it ideally suited for optoelectronics. The monolayer films with controlled nanoplatelets orientation (edge-up or face-down) exhibit long-range ordering of transition dipole moments and macroscopically polarized light emission. Furthermore, we unveil that the substantial in-plane electronic coupling between nanoplatelets enables charge transport through a single nanoplatelets monolayer, with an efficiency that strongly depends on the orientation of the nanoplatelets. The ability to kinetically control the assembly of nanoplatelets into ordered monolayers with tunable optical and electronic properties paves the way for new applications in optoelectronic devices.
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    TiNb2O7 and VNB9O25 of ReO3 type in hybrid Mg−Li batteries: Electrochemical and interfacial insights
    (Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 2020) Maletti, Sebastian; Herzog-Arbeitman, Abraham; Oswald, Steffen; Senyshyn, Anatoliy; Giebeler, Lars; Mikhailova, Daria
    As one of the beyond-lithium battery concepts, hybrid metal-ion batteries have aroused growing interest. Here, TiNb2O7 (TNO) and VNb9O25 (VNO) materials were prepared using a high-temperature solid-state synthesis and, for the first time, comprehensively examined in hybrid Mg−Li batteries. Both materials adopt ReO3-related structures differing in the interconnection of oxygen polyhedra and the resulting guest ion diffusion paths. We show applicability of the compounds in hybrid cells providing capacities comparable to those reached in Li-ion batteries (LIBs) at room temperature (220 mAh g−1 for TNO and 150 mAh g−1 for VNO, both at 0.1 C), their operability in the temperature range between −10 and 60 °C, and even better capacity retention than in pure LIBs, rendering this hybrid technology superior for long-term application. Post mortem X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals a cathode−electrolyte interface as a key ingredient for providing excellent electrochemical stability of the hybrid battery. A significant contribution of the intercalation pseudocapacitance to charge storage was observed for both materials in Li- and Mg−Li batteries. However, the pseudocapacitive part is higher for TNO than for VNO, which correlates with structural distinctions, providing better accessibility of diffusion pathways for guest cations in TNO and, as a consequence, a higher ionic transport within the crystal structure. © 2020 American Chemical Society