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Examples of plastic solar-cell technology to illustrate core concepts in chemistry are presented. The principles of operations of a plastic solar cell could be used to introduce key concepts, which are fundamentally important to understand photosynthesis and the basic process that govern most novel optoelectronic devices.

Abstract: Strategies to synthesize a cationic carbosilane dendron containing the antibiotic penicillin V potassium salt (PenVK) at the focal point are discussed. The preparation of such a compound requires the [...]

Poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS)-based microfluidic devices are now commonly used for a wide variety of biological experiments, including cell culture assays. However, the porous, hydrophobic polymer matrix of PDMS rapidly absorbs small hydrophobic molecules, including hormones and most small-molecule drugs. This makes it challenging to perform experiments that require such substances in PDMS microfluidic devices. This study presents evidence that a sol--gel treatment of PDMS that fills the polymer matrix with silica nanoparticles is effective at reducing the absorption of drugs into the material while preserving its biocompatibility, transparency, and oxygen permeability. We show that the absorption of two anticancer drugs, camptothecin and a kinase inhibitor, is reduced to such an extent that on-chip microfluidic cell culture experiments can recapitulate the results obtained off-chip. 10.1021/ac101870s

There is increasing demand for automated and quantitative cell culture technology, driven both by the intense activity in stem ceil biology and by the emergence of systems biology. We built a fully automated cell culture screening system based on a microfluidic chip that creates arbitrary culture media formulations in 96 independent culture chambers and maintains cell viability for weeks. Individual culture conditions are customized in terms of cell seeding density, composition of culture medium, and feeding schedule, and each chamber is imaged with timelapse microscopy. Using this device, we perform the first quantitative measurements of the influence of transient stimulation schedules on the proliferation, osteogenic differentiation, and motility of human primary mesenchymal stem cells.

Research has been conducted on the soluble C (sub)60 -(pi-conjugated oligomer) dyads. The synthesis of these dyads has been carried out and the results indicate that in the resulting electro- and photoactive dyads the singlet-singlet energy transfer and the intramolecular electron transfer compete with each other in the photoexcited oligomer deactivation.

A general synthetic route for the preparation of optically active TTF and TCAQ dimers containing binaphthyl units is developed. The synthesis of binaphthyl derivatives bifunctionalized with triphenylophosphine, phosphonate, hydroxymethyl, and bromomethyl groups will allow to extend this synthetic route to many other electroactive dimers with enhanced dimensionality and even to different conjugated-non-conjugated block copolymers.

A general synthetic route for the preparation of optically active block copolymers containing binaphthyl units is developed. The synthesis of binapthyl derivatives bifunctionalized with either carboxaldehyde or cyanomethyl groups will allow to extend this synthetic route to many other difunctionalized chromophores and lumophores.

The synthesis of metallocene-type dinuclear complexes, (TiCl2(eta5-C5H5))2 (mu-eta5-(C5H4)2SiMe2) (1) and (TiCl2(eta5-C5Me5))2(mu-eta5-eta5-(C5H4)2SiMe2) (2) proceeds through the reaction of Tl2(Me2Si(C5H4)2) with 2 equivalent of Cp'TiCl3, where Cp' refers to eta5-C5H5 or eta5-C5Me5. The dinuclear complexes are characterized by the bridging (dimethylsilylidene)bis(cyclo-pentadienyl) ligand and exhibit reactivity toward LiR, which results in a yield of (TiMe2(eta5-C5H5))2(mu-eta5-eta5-(C5H4)2SiMe2) (3) and (TiR2(eta5-C5Me5))2 (mu-eta5-eta5-(C5H4)2SiMe2) (4). The mu-oxo derivative (TiCl(eta5-C5H5))2 (mu-O) (mu-eta-eta5-(C5H4)2SiMe2) (6) is synthesized by the oxidation reaction of compound 1.

The synthesis, characterization, electrochemical, optical and photophysical examination of two novel poly(fluorene-alt-thiophene) conjugated polymers endowed with pendant perylenediimide electron acceptor units are described. The studies have shown a route to the synthesis of easily functionalizable monomers paving the way to the preparation of functionalized polymers with different properties and applications.

1,4-Dinitro-2-methylpyrrole (NMP), resulting from the reaction between sorbic acid and nitrite, has mutagenic properties and its alkylating capacity is examined. The calculated energy barrier for the alkylation of 4-(p-nitrobenzyl)pyridine (NBP) for NMP and the value of the fraction of alkylating agent forming the adduct are consistent with mutagenicity of NMP.

A computational study is carried out on the aqueous p[K.sub.a] of some saturated and unsaturated cyclic and linear esters and ketones, with the integral equation formalism polarizable continuum model for solvation by using a proton exchange mechanism. The low p[K.sub.a] value has shown that deprotonated diketene has not interconverted to a more stable, less acidic [alpha]-[beta] unsaturated isomer.