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Molecular and microscopic studies were performed to identify Chroococcidiopsis sp., an endolithic cyanobacterium, isolated from gypsum rocks of Atacama Desert (Chile). It was adapted to grow in mineral liquid medium, with 9 mM nitrate, bubbled with CO-enriched air (2.5 % v/v), and continuously illuminated with a white light of 70 μmol photons m s. The obtained biomass (productivity of 0.21 g L d) had a C/N ratio of 6.67, and it contained carbohydrates (45.40 % of dry weight), proteins (36.72 %), lipids (5.60 %) nucleic acids (3.90 %) and ashes (8.28 %). The lipid fraction was particularly rich in palmitic (29.86 % of total fatty acids), linoleic (18.20 %), palmitoleic (12.75 %), linolenic (10.92 %), stearic (9.64 %) and capric acid (6.29 %). Chroococcidiopsis sp. accumulated phycobiliproteins in a light-dependent process and produced 204 mg g, under incident light of 10 μmol photons·m·s, with a relative abundance of 40.9 % for phycocyanin, 23.3 % for phycoerythrin, and 35.8 % for allophycocyanin. The biomass from this cyanobacterium can be a good source of these pigments, especially APC (maximum of 95 mg g dw), which are of interest for pharmacological, cosmetic, and food industries., This work was funded by MCIU/AEI (Spain) and FEDER (UE) (grantreference PGC2018–094076-B-I00) and by a PhD-Grant from the R&DPlan of the University of Huelva, Spain, for Zaida Montero.

Titanium dioxide (TD) and graphene oxide (GO) were synthesized by sol-gel and improved Hummers method, respectively. This study shows the results of the incorporation through four different conditions (sol-gel, sol-gel and ultrasonic, annealed, and UV radiation, C1 to C4, respectively). It was observed that a homogeneous incorporation of TD on sheets of GO was obtained satisfactorily. The composites of TiO2/GO were characterized using different techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Raman spectroscopy, and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The photocatalytic activity of the composites was determined from the degradation of the dye azo tartrazine using UV and solar radiation. The best incorporation of TD nanoparticles on GO was obtained with condition C3 (thermal incorporation method) at a temperature of 65°C. This shows a uniformity in the size and shape of the TD as well as an excellent adherence to the sheet of GO. This addition is accomplished by ionic bonding in the presence of electrostatic Coulomb forces. The C3 composite degraded the tartrazine dye using UV radiation and sunlight. With the latter, the degradation time was three times faster than using UV light.

Ion mobility spectrometry was utilized to corroborate the identity of streptorubin B (2) as the natural product produced by Streptomyces coelicolor. Natural product 2 was initially assigned as butylcycloheptylprodigiosin (3), and only relatively recently was this assignment clarified. We present additional evidence of this assignment by comparing collisional cross sections (Ω) of synthetic standards of 2, 3, and metacycloprodigiosin (4) to the cyclic prodiginine produced by S. coelicolor. Calculated theoretical Ω values demonstrate that cyclic prodiginines could be identified without standards. This work highlights ion mobility as an efficient tool for the dereplication of natural products.

Over the years, human adenovirus (HAdV) has progressively been recognized as a significant viral pathogen. Traditionally associated with self-limited respiratory, gastrointestinal, and conjunctival infections, mainly in immunocompromised patients, HAdV is currently considered to be a pathogen presenting significant morbidity and mortality in both immunosuppressed and otherwise healthy individuals. Currently available therapeutic options are limited because of their lack of effectivity and related side effects. In this context, there is an urgent need to develop effective anti-HAdV drugs with suitable therapeutic indexes. In this work, we identified new serinol-derived benzoic acid esters as novel scaffolds for the inhibition of HAdV infections. A set of 38 compounds were designed and synthesized, and their antiviral activity and cytotoxicity were evaluated. Four compounds (13, 14, 27, and 32) inhibited HAdV infection at low micromolar concentrations (2.82–5.35 μM). Their half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values were lower compared to that of cidofovir, the current drug of choice. All compounds significantly reduced the HAdV DNA replication process, while they did not block any step of the viral entry. Our results showed that compounds 13, 14, and 32 seem to be targeting the expression of the E1A early gene. Moreover, all four derivatives demonstrated a significant inhibition of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) DNA replication. This new scaffold may represent a potential tool useful for the development of effective anti-HAdV drugs., This work has been supported by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Plan Estatal 2017-2020 Retos-Proyectos I+D+i (PID2019-104767RB-I00), Ministerio de Economı́a y Competitividad, Plan Estatal 2013-2016 Retos-Proyectos I + D + i (CTQ2016-78580-C2-2-R) and by Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Subdirección General de Redes y Centros de Investigación Cooperativa, Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad, Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD16/0016/0009), cofinanced by European Development Regional Fund “A way to achieve Europe”, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Proyectos de Investigación en Salud (PI17/01055; PI18/01191) and Proyectos de Desarrollo Tecnológico en Salud (DTS17/00130), the Spanish Adenovirus Network (AdenoNet, BIO2015/68990-REDT), and the program “Nicolás Monardes” (C-0059-2018), Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Junta de Andalucía. M.V.-H. also thanks Ministerio de Economı́a y Competitividad, Plan Estatal 2013-2016 Excelencia I+D+i (CTQ2016-78703-P).

Light cycle oil (LCO) is an inexpensive feedstock for the production of high-added-commercial-value-mono-aromatic compounds such as benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX). To extend the knowledge on the processing of LCO for BTX production, the hydrocracking reaction was studied using a commercial NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst, ZSM-5 zeolite and their mechanical mixtures (20/80, 30/70 and 50/50) for processing tetralin as model feedstock in a bench-scale-trickle-bed reactor at 450–500 °C, 3.9–5.9 MPa, 1.3 1/h and H2/feed volume ratio of 168–267 m3/m3. Accessible, well-dispersed and strong Brönsted acid sites eased the hydrocracking of tetralin to BTX and the metallic hydrogenation functions from nickel–molybdenum catalysts were also required to minimize deactivation. To achieve suitable tetralin conversions (86–95 wt%), high BTX selectivity in the liquid phase (44–70 wt%) and suitable catalytic activities for coke precursor hydrogenation (to reduce deactivation), NiMo/Al2O3//ZSM-5 mixtures (50–80 ZSM-5) were employed, which probed to be effective.

Furfural is a toxic compound that can be found in a wide variety of everyday food and beverages, notably espresso coffee. Given the toxicity of furfural, exposure could lead to liver and skin cancer. Recently, graphene oxide (GO) has been used for application in Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (SPME) due to its large surface area and wide variety of oxygenated functional groups, which makes it an excellent support for the adsorption of different organic compounds. Therefore, in this work a thermally reduced graphene oxide coating (rGOC) was synthetized for the micro-extraction of furfural in espresso coffee. This rGOC was able to absorb the furfural from espresso coffee despite having thickness of around only 1.9 μm. An analysis and optimization of extraction conditions of the furfural in the espresso coffee was carried out and then applied to the quantification of furfural. The furfural was quantified using a Gas Chromatograph coupled to a Mass Spectrometer (GC–MS). The concentration of furfural found was 2.1724 ± 0.0837 mg/L using rGOC whereas with commercial DVB/CAR/PDMS fiber was 2.0766 ± 0.0444 mg/L. The present work attempts to expand the applications of GO in SPME through the analysis of furfural in complex matrix foodstuffs such as espresso coffee. The application of rGOC, as presented in this article, has the advantage of being easy to prepare, requires a low quantity of material and together with its low cost, such application can easily be used instead of commercial fibers.

Three-dimensional graphene materials (3D) have attracted great interest in recent years due to the outstanding properties that are product of the combination between graphene intrinsic properties and 3D materials macroscopic properties, such as porosity and easy manipulation due to their macroscopic scale dimensions. These characteristics have given them notorious advantage for various applications over other materials. This study reports a methodology to obtain a 3D material made with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) using spherical particles of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) as sacrificial template. CaCO3 particles were coated with graphene oxide (GO), using a layer-by-layer procedure (LbL) and later, templates were removed using acid solution. The obtained monolith retains the shape of the templates. The morphology, thermal stability and chemical composition of the monolith were characterized by several techniques: X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that the obtained monolith has spherical hollow spaces distributed throughout the 3D structure. In addition, physisorption analysis using N2 revealed that the obtained monolith increased 40% its surface area compared to a conventional rGO aerogel prepared without using sacrificial templates.

The synthesis and surface-specific spectroscopic analysis of α-pinene isotopologues and their corresponding secondary organic material is reported., Atmospheric aerosol–cloud interactions remain among the least understood processes within the climate system, leaving large uncertainties in the prediction of future climates. In particular, the nature of the surfaces of aerosol particles formed from biogenic terpenes, such as α-pinene, is poorly understood despite the importance of surface phenomena in their formation, growth, radiative properties, and ultimate fate. Herein we report the coupling of a site-specific deuterium labeling strategy with vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy to probe the surface C–H oscillators in α-pinene-derived secondary organic aerosol material (SOM) generated in an atmospheric flow tube reactor. Three α-pinene isotopologues with methylene bridge, bridgehead methine, allylic, and vinyl deuteration were synthesized and their vapor phase SFG spectra were compared to that of unlabeled α-pinene. Subsequent analysis of the SFG spectra of their corresponding SOM revealed that deuteration of the bridge methylene C–H oscillators present on the cyclobutane ring in α-pinene leads to a considerable signal intensity decrease (ca. 30–40%), meriting speculation that the cyclobutane moiety remains largely intact within the surface bound species present in the SOM formed upon α-pinene oxidation. These insights provide further clues as to the complexity of aerosol particle surfaces, and establish a framework for future investigations of the heterogeneous interactions between precursor terpenes and particle surfaces that lead to aerosol particle growth under dynamically changing conditions in the atmosphere.

CeO2 nanoparticles were incorporated in waterborne binders containing high biobased content (up to 70%) in order to analyze the anticorrosion performance for direct to metal coatings. Biobased binders were synthesized by batch miniemulsion polymerization of 2-octyl acrylate and isobornyl methacrylate monomers using a phosphate polymerizable surfactant (Sipomer PAM200) that lead to the formation of phosphate functionalized latexes. Upon the direct application of such binders on steel, the functionalized polymer particles were able to interact with steel, creating a thin phosphatization layer between the metal and the polymer and avoiding flash rust. The in situ incorporation of the CeO2 nanoparticles during the polymerization process led to their homogeneous distribution in the final polymer film, which produced outstanding anticorrosion performance according to the Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy measurements. In fact, steel substrates coated with the hybrid polymer film (30–40 µm thick) showed high barrier corrosion resistance after 41 days (~1000 h) of immersion in NaCl water solution and active inhibition capabilities thanks to the presence of the CeO2 nanoparticles. This work opens the door to the fabrication of sustainable hybrid anticorrosion waterborne coatings. This research was funded by the Spanish Government, grant numbers MINECO CTQ-2017-87841-R and CER-20191003, and by the Basque Government “Grupos Consolidados del Sistema Universitario Vasco”, grant number IT999-16.

Graphene oxide (GO) is a carbon material with wide chemistry, and its functionalization represents the main challenge to develop multi-functional materials for different applications. Besides to epoxide and carboxyl groups, the alkenes that arise during the graphite oxidation seem to provide an excellent approach for developing selective reactions. In specific, α,β-unsaturated acids can be functionalized by thiol-ene Michael addition (TEMA) using base catalysts. However, when base catalysts are used, the thiol-epoxide ring opening reaction (TEROR) has been considered as the predominant and unique reaction. Therefore, there is a need to understand the reactivity of the GO when TEMA and TEROR take place from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. Herein, we studied the functionalization of GO and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) with cysteamine (CA) using different base catalysts. XPS results revealed that despite the thermal reduction of GO, the functionalization was possible confirming the coupling reaction between the CA and α,β-unsaturated acids of RGO by TEMA. In addition, a quantitative analysis was conducted via fluorescent labelling corroborating that TEMA produced more CA molecules bonded to GO than TEROR.

Nowadays there is not an effective drug for the treatment of infections caused by human adenovirus (HAdV) which supposes a clinical challenge, especially for paediatric and immunosuppressed patients. Here, we describe the design, synthesis and biological evaluation as anti-adenovirus agents of a new library (57 compounds) of diester, monoester and triazole derivatives based on 3-amino-1,2-propanediol skeleton. Seven compounds (17, 20, 26, 34, 44, 60 and 66) were selected based on their high anti-HAdV activity at low micromolar concentration (IC50 from 2.47 to 5.75 µM) and low cytotoxicity (CC50 from 28.70 to >200 µM). In addition, our mechanistic assays revealed that compounds 20 and 44 might be targeting specifically the HAdV DNA replication process, and compound 66 would be targeting HAdV E1A mRNA transcription. For compounds 17, 20, 34 and 60, the mechanism of action seems to be associated with later steps after HAdV DNA replication., This work has been supported by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Plan Estatal 2017-2020 Retos - Proyectos I + D + i (PID2019-104767RB-I00); Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Plan Nacional I + D + i 2013-2016, Retos-Proyectos (CTQ2016-78580-C2-2-R); Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Subdirección General de Redes y Centros de Investigación Cooperativa, Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD16/0016/0009), cofinanced by European Development Regional Fund “A way to achieve Europe”, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Proyectos de Investigación en Salud (PI17/01055; PI18/01191) and Proyectos de Desarrollo Tecnológico en Salud (DTS17/00130), the Spanish Adenovirus Network (AdenoNet, BIO2015/68990-REDT), and the program “Nicolás Monardes” (C-0059-2018), Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Junta de Andalucía.

Spalting fungal pigments have shown potential in technologies ranging from green energy generation to natural colorants. However, their unknown toxicity has been a barrier to industrial adoption. In order to gain an understanding of the safety of the pigments, zebrafish embryos were exposed to multiple forms of liquid media and solvent-extracted pigments with concentrations of purified pigment ranging from 0 to 50 mM from Chlorociboria aeruginosa, Chlorociboria aeruginascens, and Scytalidium cuboideum. Purified xylindein from Chlorociboria sp. did not show toxicity at any tested concentration, while the red pigment dramada from S. cuboideum was only associated with significant toxicity above 23.2 uM. However, liquid cultures and pigment extracted into dichloromethane (DCM) showed toxicity, suggesting the co-production of bioactive secondary metabolites. Future research on purification and the bioavailability of the red dramada pigment will be important to identify appropriate use, however, purified forms of the blue-green pigment xylindein are likely safe for use across industries. This opens the door to the adoption of green technologies based on these pigments, with potential to replace synthetic colorants and less stable natural pigments.

We report the metabolomics-driven genome mining of a new cyclic-guanidino incorporating non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) gene cluster and full structure elucidation of its associated hexapeptide product, faulknamycin. Structural studies unveiled that this natural product contained the previously unknown (R,S)-stereoisomer of capreomycidine, d-capreomycidine. Furthermore, heterologous expression of the identified gene cluster successfully reproduces faulknamycin production without an observed homologue of VioD, the pyridoxal phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme found in all previous l-capreomycidine biosynthesis. An alternative NRPS-dependent pathway for d-capreomycidine biosynthesis is proposed.

Artificial lake expansion and high mercury loading synergistically increase mercury contamination risk from gold mining., Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is the largest global source of anthropogenic mercury emissions. However, little is known about how effectively mercury released from ASGM is converted into the bioavailable form of methylmercury in ASGM-altered landscapes. Through examination of ASGM-impacted river basins in Peru, we show that lake area in heavily mined watersheds has increased by 670% between 1985 and 2018 and that lakes in this area convert mercury into methylmercury at net rates five to seven times greater than rivers. These results suggest that synergistic increases in lake area and mercury loading associated with ASGM are substantially increasing exposure risk for people and wildlife. Similarly, marked increases in lake area in other ASGM hot spots suggest that “hydroscape” (hydrological landscape) alteration is an important and previously unrecognized component of mercury risk from ASGM.

Graphene oxide (GO) is an important platform that can be functionalized due notably to its wide variety of functional groups. The functionalization is a critical step leading the production of GO b...

A semi-crystalline iron-based metal-organic framework (MOF), in particular Fe-BTC, that contained 20 wt.% Fe, was sustainably synthesized at room temperature and extensively characterized. Fe-BTC nanopowders could be used as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of dihydroxybenzenes (DHBZ), from phenol with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), as oxidant under organic solvent-free conditions. The influence of the reaction temperature, H2O2 concentration and catalyst dose were studied in the hydroxylation performance of phenol and MOF stability. Fe-BTC was active and stable (with negligible Fe leaching) at room conditions. By using intermittent dosing of H2O2, the catalytic performance resulted in a high DHBZ selectivity (65%) and yield (35%), higher than those obtained for other Fe-based MOFs that typically require reaction temperatures above 70 °C. The long-term experiments in a fixed-bed flow reactor demonstrated good Fe-BTC durability at the above conditions., The authors thank the financial support by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) for the grant number 764635 and the project 256296; and to TNM for the supporting project 5627.19.P. Also, to the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICINN) and FEDER program (EU) through the projects: CTM2016-76454-R (MICINN) and RTI2018-095052-B-I00 ((MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE).

In recent years, human adenovirus (HAdV) infections have shown a high clinical impact in both immunosuppressed and immunocompetent patients. The research into specific antiviral drugs for the treatment of HAdV infections in immunocompromised patients constitutes a principal objective for medicinal chemistry due to the lack of any specific secure drug to treat these infections. In this study, we report a small-molecule library (67 compounds) designed from an optimization process of piperazine-derived urea privileged structures and their biological evaluation: antiviral activity and cytotoxicity. The active compounds selected were further evaluated to gain mechanistic understanding for their inhibition. Twelve derivatives were identified that inhibited HAdV infections at nanomolar and low micromolar concentrations (IC50 from 0.6 to 5.1 μM) with low cytotoxicity. In addition, our mechanistic assays suggested differences in the way the derivatives exert their anti-HAdV activity targeting transcription, DNA replication and later steps in the HAdV replication cycle. Furthermore, eight of the 12 studied derivatives blocked human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) DNA replication at low micromolar concentrations. The data provided herein indicates that the 12 thiourea/urea piperazine derivatives studied may represent potential lead compounds for clinical evaluation and development of new anti-HAdV drugs., This work has been supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Plan Estatal 2013–2016 Retos-Proyectos I + D + i (CTQ2016-78580-C2-2-R) and by Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Subdirección General de Redes y Centros de Investigación Cooperativa, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD16/0016/0009) – co-financed by European Development Regional Fund “A way to achieve Europe”, Operative program Intelligent Growth 2014–2020, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III(DTS17/00130) and the Spanish Adenovirus Network (AdenoNet, BIO2015/68990-REDT) grants. MVH also thanks Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Plan Estatal 2013–2016 Excelencia I + D + i (CTQ2016-78703-P). JSC is a researcher belonging to the program “Nicolás Monardes” (C-0059-2018), Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Junta de Andalucía, Spain. FA thanks Dipartimento di Farmacia e Scienze della Salute e della Nutrizione-Dipartimento di Eccellenza MIUR L 232/2016". JAV thanks Junta de Andalucia (Contrato de Garantías Juveniles).

Graphene oxide is widely-used for many applications because of its surface area and the variety of oxygen functional groups that possess. This latter feature allows it to be a good candidate for polar compounds adsorption such as furfural. Furfural is a toxic compound that has been detected in a wide variety of foods of daily consumption. Frequent exposure in high doses can represent a risk to human health. In the present work, it is proposed an easy procedure to obtain reduced graphene oxide based coatings through dip-coating for Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (SPME) of furfural. The coatings were made with graphene oxide and carboxylated graphene oxide. These coatings were thermally reduced and then tested using a furfural standard. The thermally reduced graphene oxide coatings were characterized using FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy and SEM. SEM micrographs revealed that graphene oxide based fibers had thickness values between 1.5 and 2.5 μm approximately. Subsequently the results of furfural extraction were compared with those obtained from the Divinylbenzene/Carboxen/Polydimethylsiloxane (DVB/CAR/PDMS) commercial fibers.

Single-celled bacteria are capable of acting as a community by sensing and responding to population density via quorum signalling. Quorum signalling in Chromobacterium violaceum, mediated by the luxI/R homologue, cviI/R, regulates a variety of phenotypes including violacein pigmentation, virulence and biofilm formation. A number of biological and organic molecules have been described as quorum signalling inhibitors but, to date, metal-based inhibitors have not been widely tested. In this study, we show that quorum sensing is inhibited in C. violaceum in the presence of sub-lethal concentrations of cadmium salts. Notable Cd2+-inhibition was seen against pigmentation, motility, chitinase production and biofilm formation. Cd-inhibition of quorum-signalling genes occurred at the level of transcription. There was no direct inhibition of chitinase activity by Cd2+ at the concentrations tested. Addition of the cognate quorum signals, N-hexanoyl homoserine lactone or N-decanoyl homoserine lactone, even at concentrations in excess of physiological levels, did not reverse the inhibition, suggesting that Cd-inhibition of quorum signaling is irreversible. This study represents the first description of heavy metal-based quorum inhibition in C. violaceum.

The regular use of light cycle oil (LCO) for diesel fuel production by hydrotreatment (HDT) procedures has been facing difficulties of complying with the currently stricter environmental regulations due to the low quality of this middle distillate with high sulfur, nitrogen, and aromatic contents. An interesting alternative is to obtain valuable petrochemicals from this feedstock. LCO presents a high percentage of diaromatic hydrocarbons (naphthalene derivatives). To facilitate the study of the effect of the experimental conditions, a review regarding the hydrogenation-hydrocracking (HYD-HCK) procedures for obtaining enriched streams containing benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) from model mixtures (naphthalene, methylnaphthalenes, and tetralin) is presented. In addition to the economic advantages of using a middle distillate of reduced marketability, this research work opens the door to the development of technologies for obtaining valuable chemicals such as BTX from oil sources. The focus on model mixtu...

This paper is about the set-up and start-up of a decentralized anaerobic pilot plant for producing domestic service water from domestic wastewater. The plant consists of a two-stage anaerobic digestion process for degrading organic matter and a third-stage for ammonium removal using the Anammox process. Each reactor was started independently with synthetic wastewater of stage-specific composition. They were then fed incrementally with municipal wastewater (MWW). The average removal efficiency of the two-stage digestion process operated with 100% MWW was 62% with 24-hour retention time. The Anammox stage achieved a maximum ammonium removal efficiency of 95% with 100% MWW, if the NO2-N to NH4-N ratio was set at 1.14. The plant was operated for 200 days. The average removal efficiencies were 81% for COD and 96% for NH4-N, with average treated effluent concentrations of 39 mg-COD/l and 1 mg-NH4-N/l. Thus the self-defined service water limits of 75 mg-COD/l and 10 mg-NH4-N/l were achieved easily.

Wood colored internally by fungi has long been used by woodcrafters and artisans as a substitute for synthetic dyes. Recent advances in the field of spalted wood have led to methods by which the fungal dyes can be extracted from either a fungal solution or colonized wood and then reapplied to clear wood. This takes the “guess work” out of spalting, as well as the time necessary for fungal colonization; however, it requires organic solvents like dichloromethane, which are toxic and not readily available to consumers. Herein, the authors show that the dyes can be successfully carried and blended together (to increase the range of colors) in a range of natural oils. The blue–green dye of Chlorociboria species, called xylindein, carried best in raw linseed oil, the red dye of Scytalidium cuboideum performed best in Danish oil, although more dye could be carried in raw linseed oil, and the yellow dye of Scytalidium ganodermophthorum performed best in walnut oil. The ability to carry and mix these dyes in easily purchased, nontoxic oils opens up their use to woodworkers who seek to follow the traditions of spalted wood, but do not have the skills or time to work with live fungal cultures or fungal dyes suspended in toxic organic solvents.

The aim of this work is to estimate some nitrogen (N)-adsorption properties and the N-adsorption capacity (q) required for commercial application in the ultra-low sulfur diesel production. Hydroxyl (OH) groups and interactions among the commercial adsorbent Selexsorb® CDX (CDX) and pyridine and indole were studied by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The adsorption of N-compounds from three diesel fuels over CDX was estimated at CDX/fuel ratio: 0.01–0.09 g/g, Contact time: 1–60 m, 303 K, and 0.078 MPa in a batch setup. It was concluded that an appropriate N-adsorbent should have high densities of suface OH groups and Lewis and Bronsted strong-acid sites and a q ≥ 0.70 mmol/g.

In the present work the gene expression levels and enzyme activity of phenylalanine-ammonia-lyase (PAL) were investigated in plants of the model legume Lotus japonicus under control and stress conditions. PAL is the key enzyme of the phenylpropanoid pathway, a route that involves numerous branches that lead to the production of a wide range of metabolites that can play an important role in the response to different kind of environmental stress. Unexpectedly treatment with salt caused decrease in activity of PAL in roots and the expression of several isogenes for PAL was significantly altered in roots or leaves; although the most highly expressed one, LjPAL10, remained unaffected by the treatment. Changes in tissue contents of some phenolic compounds, namely increase of quercetin glycosides and decrease of some phenylpropanoids were observed. The possible physiological meaning of the accumulation of phenolic compounds together with the changes in PAL enzyme activity is discussed.

Textile inkjet printing is an increasingly popular process in the textile industry, as it allows for the incorporation of complex and detailed patterns onto fabrics, as well as the production of small and medium volumes of printed text. Unfortunately, most of the dyes used by the textile industry come from synthetic and/or non-renewable sources. There has been some research to date in using fungal pigments from wood rotting fungi (&lsquo, spalting&rsquo, fungi) as textile dyes, however these have never been tested in inkjet printing. Of particular interest is the red crystallizing pigment from Scytalidium cuboideum, which has previously shown exceptional stability on textiles. To test this pigment in an inkjet setting, cotton and polyester fabrics were printed with three different ink formulations involving the red pigment: hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), ethanol, and acetone. The CTAB and ethanol-based ink formulations formed a &lsquo, mesh-like&rsquo, structure on the surface of the cotton and polyester fibers, and turned the fabric purple. Acetone formulas formed crystal structures on the surface and turned the fabric red. These results show promise for turning the red pigment of S. cuboideum into an environmentally friendly, inkjet colorant, however further research is required to evaluate the crocking and explain the crystallization differences between inks.

Amino acids are important compounds for GO functionalization because they can improve GO properties for many applications ranging from biomedicine to depollution. However, amino acids can act as nucleophiles or as reducing agents for GO functionalization or reduction, respectively. Hence, we systematically studied the GO functionalization/reduction using glycine as a model amino acid under basic conditions at room temperature. Attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the modified GO with glycine. We found that low glycine concentrations produced an epoxide ring opening reaction, whereas an increase in glycine concentration led to GO reduction. The basic medium allowed to conserve the carboxylic acid groups, whereas the GO reduction mechanism was governed by the partial hydrolysis of epoxide groups and the subsequent reduction of carboxylic acids to carbonyls. This article opens up the opportunity to study and control the conditions in which different amino acids could be used for either GO functionalization or GO reduction.

[EN] The promising applications of metal-organic frameworks (MOF) can be widened if these materials were additive manufactured to develop three-dimensional (3D) MOF architectures. In this work, iron-based MOF/silicon carbide (SiC) composite aqueous inks with a high solids content (64 ​wt%) are printed into 3D periodic lattices by a direct ink writing technique (Robocasting). MOF appear fully integrated within the cellular architectures, which display total porosities in the range of 74–78% depending on the scaffold design. The 3D MOF-Fe/SiC structures exhibit good mechanical strength (~4.6 ​MPa) and a semiconductor-like behaviour. The structures show a remarkable response in the hydroxylation of phenol with hydrogen peroxide, demonstrating high selectivity and yield to dihydroxybenzene species., This work was supported by the following funding organisms and projects: Spanish Government under the project RTI2018-095052-BI00 (MICINN/AEI/FEDER, UE), Community of Madrid under the project S2018/EMT-4341, CSIC project I-COOPþ 2019 (Ref. COOPB20405), TNM projects 7936.20-P and 9063.20-P, and CONACYT under the project 764635. Authors thank Dr. D. Pérez-Coll for his experimental assistance in the electrical measurements.

Background : Edible microalgae are marine or fresh water mesophilic species. Although the harvesting of microalgae offers an abundance of opportunities to the food and pharmaceutical industries, the possibility to use extremophilic microalgae as a food source for animals is not well-documented. Objective : We studied the effects of dietary supplementation of a powdered form of the acidophilic microalga Coccomyxa onubensis on growth and health parameters of laboratory rats. Method : Four randomly organized groups of rats ( n =6) were fed a standard diet (Diet 1, control) or with a diet in which 0.4% (Diet 2), 1.25% (Diet 3), or 6.25% (Diet 4) (w/w) of the standard diet weight was substituted with dried microalgae powder, respectively. The four groups of animals were provided ad libitum access to feed for 45 days. Results : C. onubensis biomass is rich in protein (44.60% of dry weight) and dietary fiber (15.73%), and has a moderate carbohydrate content (24.8%) and a low lipid content (5.4%) in which polyunsaturated fatty acids represent 65% of the total fatty acid. Nucleic acids are present at 4.8%. No significant difference was found in growth rates or feed efficiency ratios of the four groups of rats. Histological studies of liver and kidney tissue revealed healthy organs in control and C. onubensis -fed animals, while plasma hematological and biochemical parameters were within healthy ranges for all animals. Furthermore, animals fed a microalgae-enriched diet exhibited a statistically significant decrease in both blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The blood triglyceride content and very low density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels decreased by about 50% in rats fed Diet 4. Conclusions : These data suggest that C. onubensis may be useful as a food supplement for laboratory animals and may also serve as a nutraceutical in functional foods. In addition, microalgae powder-supplemented diets exerted a significant hypocholesterolemic and hypotriglyceridemic effect in animals. Keywords: Coccomyxa onubensis; rats; safe food; nutraceuticals; hypolipidemic induction (Published: 17 October 2016) Citation: Food & Nutrition Research 2016, 60: 30472 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/fnr.v60.30472

Coccomyxa sp. (strain onubensis) is an acidic environment microalga, which was grown under spring outdoor conditions of Huelva province (southwest, Spain). A 6 L pilot tubular photobioreactor was used to determine the influence of the environmental light and temperature conditions on the microalga growth and its intracellular content of carotenoids. Cloudy days supplied the adequate light intensity (maximum 1070 μmol photons m-2 s-1) and temperature (maximum 32ºC) regimes for a biomass productivity of 0.28 g L-1 d-1 with an intracellular content of lutein (4.8 mg g-1 dry weight) and eventually β-carotene (0.8 mg g-1) obtained at the end of the day evening. This work supplies guidelines for a large-scale outdoor culture of Coccomyxa. sp. to supply lutein-enriched biomass, with the advantage of the growth at pH 2.5, which preserves cultures from contamination.

A thin stand-alone waterborne coating that combines hydrophobicity and a built-in ability to in-situ phosphatize low carbon steel substrates, avoiding flash rust in the interface is presented. Despite the hydrophobicity of the coating is enhanced by the presence of a fluorinated comonomer, the barrier protection is substantially decreased as compared with a pure acrylate coating. The bad performance is independent of the thickness and it is mostly attributed to the lack of coalescence of the copolymer particles containing fluorinated comonomer (detected by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)). The best way to hinder this harmful effect is to trigger the formation of the in-situ phosphatization layer on the metallic surface; namely slowly drying the coating at 60 % of relative humidity (R.H.). The combination of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Scanning Kelvin Probe (SKP) has shown the beneficial effect of having a protected interface when it is exposed either to bulk electrolyte or to a droplet of 3.5 wt.% NaCl. A methodology using both techniques to evaluate coatings with an artificial defect has proved that the phosphatization is governing the corrosion protection for these coatings.

A. baumannii is one of the most important multidrug-resistant microorganisms in hospital units. It is resistant to many classes of antibiotics and the development of new therapeutic strategies is necessary. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of a set of piperazine-derived thioureas against 13 clinical strains of colistin-resistant A. baumannii. Six derivatives were identified to inhibit bacterial growth of 46% of the A. baumannii strains at low micromolar concentrations (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration from 1.56 to 6.25 μM). A common structural feature in most active compounds was the presence of a 3,5-bis-trifluoromethyl phenyl ring at the thiourea function. In addition, the ability of the compounds to inhibit production of nitric oxide (NO) was examined in RAW 264.7 murine macrophages, highlighting the potential of piperazine-derived thioureas as promising scaffolds for the design of new combined anti-bacterial/anti-inflammatory agents., This work has been supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Plan Estatal 2013-2016 Retos-Proyectos I + D + i (CTQ2016-78580-C2-2-R). MVH also thanks Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Plan Estatal 2013-2016 Excelencia I + D + i (CTQ2016-78703-P). This work has been also supported by Plan Nacional de I + D + i 2013-2016 and Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Subdirección General de Redes y Centros de Investigación Cooperativa, Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD16/0016/0009)—co-financed by European Development Regional Fund A way to achieve Europe, Operative program Intelligent Growth 2014-2020). T.C.C. is supported by the V Plan Propio of the University of Seville with a postdoctoral contract as research personnel in training. JSC is a researcher belonging to the program “Nicolás Monardes” (C-0059-2018), Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Junta de Andalucía, Spain. MEPI is a researcher belonging to the program “Nicolás Monardes” (C1-0038-2019), Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Junta de Andalucía, Spain. S.M, F.A, L.F and A.R.C. thank Dipartimento di Farmacia e Scienze della Salute e della Nutrizione-Dipartimento di Eccellenza MIUR L 232/2016”. Authors also thank CITIUS (Centro de Investigación, Tecnología e Innovación de la Universidad de Sevilla) for its important contribution in recording NMR and Mass spectra.

To achieve high naphthalene conversion and selectivity to tetralin as a first step for BTX production, experiments were carried out in a bench-scale setup processing four model mixtures with a commercial CoMo/Al2O3 catalyst at 250°C-375°C, 1.96-7.84 MPa, and 0.7-1.4 h−1. Model mixtures were prepared by dissolving in n-hexadecane: naphthalene (10 wt%), dibenzothiophene (1.5 wt%) and carbazole (0.05 wt%). Without dibenzothiophene and carbazole, naphthalene conversion and selectivity to tetralin reached 95.6 and 97.2wt%, respectively at 250°C, 1.96 MPa and 1.2 h−1. With dibenzothiophene and carbazole, naphthalene conversion dropped to 38.3 wt% (selectivity to tetralin = 99.6 wt%) at the same experimental conditions. Temperature and pressure were increased to 300°C and 2.94 MPa to enhance naphthalene conversion (97.4 wt%); (selectivity to tetralin = 87.0 wt%). HDS and HDN were complete yet accompanied by a loss in the catalyst activity due to deactivation by coke. [Received: December 11, 2017; Accepted: May 9, 2018]

Pigments from wood-decay fungi (specifically spalting fungi) have a long history of use in wood art, and have become relevant in modern science due to their longevity and colorfastness. They are presently under investigation as colorants for wood, bamboo, oils, paints and textiles. Major hurdles to their commercialization have been color repeatability (in that the same strain of the same species of fungus may produce different colors over time), and the binding of the pigments to glass storage containers. This is persistent as they do not naturally exist in a loose form. Due to these issues, the &lsquo, standard&rsquo, color for each was historically determined not by the amount of pigment, but by the color in a solution of dichloromethane (DCM), using the CIE L*a*b colorspace. This method of standardization severely limited the use of these pigments in industrial applications, as without a dry form, standard methodologies for repeatable color processing into other materials could not be easily implemented. Recent studies have developed a method to crystalize the red pigment from Scytalidium cuboideum (Sacc. &amp, Ellis) Sigler &amp, Kang, producing a highly pure (99%) solid crystal named &lsquo, Dramada&rsquo, Herein a method is detailed to compare the molarity of this crystallized pigment to variations in the color, to determine a color saturation curve (by weight) for the pigment from S. cuboideum in DCM and acetone. The molarities for this experiment ranged from 0.024 mM to 19 mM. Each molarity was color read and assigned a CIEL*a*b* value. The results showed that there was a correlation between the molarity and color difference, with the maximum red color occurring between 0.73 mM and 7.3 mM in DCM and between 0.97 mM to 0.73 mM in acetone. Extremely low molarities of pigment produced strong coloration in the solvent, and changes in molarity significantly affected the color of the solution. Having a saturation and color curve for the crystal &lsquo, from S. cuboideum will allow for the reliable production of distinct colors from a known quantity (by weight) of pigment, erasing the final hurdle towards commercial development of the crystallized pigment from S. cuboideum as an industrial dyestuff.

We recently screened a series of new aziridines β-D-galactopyranoside derivatives for selective anticancer activity and identified 2-methyl-2,3-[N-(4-methylbenzenesulfonyl)imino]propyl 2,3-di-O-benzyl-4,6-O-(S)-benzylidene-β-D-galactopyranoside (AzGalp) as the most promising compound. In this article, we explore possible mechanisms involved in the cytotoxicity of this aziridine and evaluate its selective anticancer activity using cancer cells and normal cells from a variety of tissues. Our data show that AzGalp induces DNA damage (detected with the comet assay). Cells deficient in the DNA repair pathway nucleotide excision repair (NER) were hypersensitive to the cytotoxicity of this compound. These results suggest that AzGalp induces bulky DNA adducts, and that cancer cells lacking a functional NER pathway may be particularly vulnerable to the anticancer effects of this aziridine. Several experiments revealed that neither the generation of oxidative stress nor the inhibition of glycolysis played a significant role in the cytotoxicity of AzGalp. The combinations of AzGalp with either oxaliplatin or 5-fluorouracil slightly improved the ability of both anticancer drugs to selectively kill cancer cells. AzGalp also displayed selective cytotoxicity against a panel of malignant cells versus normal cells; the highest selectivity was observed for two acute promyelocytic leukemia cell lines. Additional preclinical studies are necessary to evaluate the anticancer potential of AzGalp.

Forearc basins are areas underexplored by academic or industrial research. They are not considered as potential areas by the industry because only three giant oil fields have been formed in this type of basin. One of them is located in the northern Peruvian forearc system: the Talara Basin (1.7 billion bbl to date). The aim of this work is to provide insights for the oil industry about the tectonic style and the tectonic-sedimentation relationships within this basin to decipher its petroleum potential, using surface and subsurface data (seismic lines, well-logs). From a tectonic point of view, we demonstrate that the basin is not a pull-apart basin, but an accretionary prism built by deep-seated north-verging thrusts reworked by shallow gravitational normal faults. A tectonic model is developed, which involves the north-westward propagation of thrust culminations accompanied by the development of southeast-facing normal faults since Eocene times. This tectonic model renews our perception about the entire Peruvian forearc and suggests that anticline traps, which have never been explored, should become a new target for a future hydrocarbon exploration.

Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) is widely used to improve the corrosion resistance and protection of magnesium and its alloys by the formation of ceramic oxide layers. However, this anodization processes generate porous and rough layers with poor tribological properties. In order to improve corrosion protection and tribological capabilities, three different post-treatments (novel sol–gel coating, polytetrafluoroethylene and acrylate-ethylene copolymer with nanoparticles) have been used as sealing agents on PEO anodized AZ91D magnesium alloys. Characterization of unsealed and sealed systems was made by Fourier transform IR (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) in order to know the chemical structure, morphology and composition of PEO/coating systems. Corrosion resistance was evaluated by electrochemical measurements (open circuit potential and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) in 5 wt.% NaCl solution at room temperature and by accelerated neutral salt spray test. Tribological properties were obtained using a ball-on-disk test. According to results, post-treatments have improved the corrosion protection performance of PEO systems. However, while internal physical interlocking of pores seemed to be crucial to enhance corrosion protection using polytetrafluoroethylene and sol–gel post-treatments, the formation of an external top layer was the main cause of the improvement of the barrier properties for acrylate–ethylene copolymer post-treatment. On the other hand, despite that tribological performance was mainly governed by the PEO coating, the formation of a top layer on the surface and its chemical composition can significantly reduce the friction coefficient.

The aim of this work was to study the removal of nitrogen (N-) compounds for ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) production purposes by using three commercial materials: selexsorb® CDX (CDX), silica gel (SG), and activated carbon VG-077 (VG-077). The experiments were conducted in three steps: (1) Adsorption of quinoline, indole, or carbazole from model fuels (300wppm in a 1:1g/g nhexadecane:toluene mixture) in a batch setup; adsorption of N- compounds from straight run gas oil (SRGO): (2) in a batch setup, and (3) in a fixed-bed column (FBC). Langmuir and Freundlich models were considered for modeling the adsorption isotherms of quinoline, indole, carbazole from model fuels and N-compounds from SRGO. Clark and Thomas models were employed for fitting the FBC

In this study, the effect of abiotic stress on the acidophilic eukaryotic microalga, Coccomyxa onubensis, was analyzed for the production of lutein and PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids). It grows autotrophically at a pH of 2.5. It showed a growth rate of 0.30 d−1, and produced approximately 122.50 mg·L−1·d−1 biomass, containing lipids (300.39 mg g−1dw), lutein (5.30 mg g−1dw), and β-carotene (1.20 mg g−1dw). The fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) fraction was 89.70 mg g−1dw with abundant palmitic acid (28.70%) and linoleic acid (37.80%). The addition of 100 mM NaCl improved the growth rate (0.54 d−1), biomass productivity (243.75 mg·L−1·d−1), and lipids accumulation (416.16 mg g−1dw). The microalga showed a lutein content of 6.70 mg g−1dw and FAME fraction of 118.90 mg g−1dw; 68% of the FAMEs were PUFAs. However, when 200–500 mM salt was added, its growth was inhibited but there was a significant induction of lutein (up to 7.80 mg g−1dw). Under continuous illumination with PAR (photosynthetically active radiations) +UVA (ultraviolet A, 8.7 W m−2), C. onubensis showed a growth rate of 0.40 d−1, and produced 226.3 mg·L−1·d−1 biomass, containing lipids, (487.26 mg g−1dw), lutein (7.07 mg g−1dw), and FAMEs (232.9 mg g−1dw); 48.4% of the FAME were PUFAs. The illumination with PAR + UVB (ultraviolet B, 0.16 W m−2) was toxic for cells. These results indicate that C. onubensis biomass is suitable as a supplement for functional foods and/or source of high added value products.

The Er 3+ -doped bismuth titanate (Bi 4 Ti 3 O 12 , BIT) nanoparticles were synthesized by a combined sol–gel and hydrothermal method under a partial oxygen pressure of 30 bar. The composition and morphology were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman scattering. They showed pure and homogeneous spherical BIT nanoparticles with a size below the 30 nm. The incorporation of Er ions showed a strong decrease in the lattice parameters, as well as averaged particle size. The photoluminescence up-conversion (excitation wavelength =1480 nm) showed an enhancement of the infrared emission (980 nm) as Er concentration increased, achieving a maximum for 6% mol, while photoluminescence spectra (excitation wavelength =473 nm) showed a strong green emission (529 and 553 nm) with a maximum at 4% mol.

Enviromentally friendly calcium-exchange derived from naturally occurring sodium-bentonite clays (Wyoming) are shown to significantly enhance resistance to corrosion protection in organic coatings applied on aluminium under aggressive environment typical from industrial areas. Two pigments classified as ion-exchange were also studied for comparison (Shieldex and Al-Zn-vanadate hydrotalcite) together with zinc chromate as reference corrosion protection pigment. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is used to study the corrosion protection in the metal/coating interface of pigmented alkyd coatings and a blank coating (without corrosion inhibitor pigment) in combination with visual inspection. The protection performance of these specimens was studied using outdoor exposure (two atmospheres with different aggressiveness) and accelerated tests (condensing humidity, salt spray and Kesternich tests, respectively). Results have shown strong dependence of the coating performance with the aggressive environment (e.g. Cl, H, SO) for all coatings formulated with ion-exchange pigments. The corrosion protection of the underlying aluminium substrate provided by calcium-exchange bentonite coating was shown under the presence of cationic aggressive agents in accelerated corrosion tests (specifically in Kesternich test). However, poor performance was observed for this coating using chlorides as an aggressive agent. Therefore, the presence of bentonite pigment improves the corrosion protection due to the cation-exchange mechanism., The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support for this work from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain (CICYT-MAT 2005-06261). Authors would like to thanks to J. Guzmán of Productos Diez for coating manufacture, Tolsa SA for supplying the anticorrosive pigment and the language revision by Mrs. Mª Begoña Vega Carpintero (BSc English Philology). J.M. Vega also acknowledges the PhD scholarship financed by CSIC-MICINN.

Silicon carbide (SiC) cellular ceramic skeletons based on ceramic pillars of ∼250 μm in diameter and porous micro-channels of ∼700 μm were used as support to grow long and aligned crystalline carboxyl functionalized carbon nanotubes (COx) by floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition. The resulting hybrid COx/SiC material retained water and allowed the flow of oils and gasoline through the specimen, showing, thus, superhydrophobic and superoleophilic properties. In addition, the developed hybrid material exhibited high electrical conductivity with a good ohmic contact at the COx–SiC interface.

Algae fully acclimated to different light intensities express different characteristics. At low light intensities, most algae produce more light-harvesting pigments to improve their photosynthetic efficiency. In contrast, at high light intensities, some algae produce high concentrations of “sunscreen” pigments to protect the cell from exposure to excess ultraviolet and PAR light. Coccomyxa onubensis grows selectively at pH 2.5, which is a competitive advantage for massive production. The alga pigment profile is rich in carotenoids, especially lutein. In this research we studied the effect of low to moderate light intensity shifts on lutein accumulation of C. onubensis cultures, doubly aimed at understanding the light-dependent role of main carotenoids in acid-tolerant microalgae and at developing strategies to induce β-carotene and mainly lutein accumulation with applied purposes. Coccomyxa cells were grown at 50, 140 and 400 μmol photons m− 2 s− 1, reaching their maximum growth rates and carotenoid productivities at 400 μmol photons m− 2 s− 1. Lutein accumulation slightly depended on biomass concentration and maximum productivities of biomass and lutein were achieved in relatively dense cultures of 0.7 and 1 g L− 1. The main results indicate that C. onubensis is a very promising lutein accumulating microorganism if incubated under a suitable cultivation strategy mainly consisting of transferring relatively low biomass concentration cultures either from low to moderate light intensity or from moderate to low light intensity, therefore profiting from either pigment light-capturing or light-dissipation activities.

Nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotube (CNT) bundles exhibiting pine-tree-like morphologies were synthesized on silicon–silicon oxide (Si/SiO2) substrates using a pressure-controlled chemical vapor deposition process. Electron field emission (FE) measurements showed a notable emission improvement at low turn-on voltages for the CNT pine-like morphologies (e.g., 0.59 V/µm) in comparison with standard aligned N-doped CNTs (>1.5 V/µm). We envisage that these pine-tree-like structures could be potentially useful in the fabrication of efficient FE and photonic devices.

While ionomers are well known for their healing ability under ballistic impact conditions, the present work focusses on elucidating the effect of both the free carboxylic content and the cluster state on well-controlled isothermal low temperature healing of surface scratches in ionomer blends. It is shown that under the conditions explored the healing efficiency depends primarily on the amount of free carboxylic groups and the presence of clusters plays a secondary role. A free carboxylic end group concentration of about 3 mol% is required to obtain optimal healing.

This review summarizes the most recent results obtained in the analysis of two important metabolic pathways involved in the release of internal sources of ammonium in the model legume Lotus japonicus: photorespiratory metabolism and asparagine breakdown mediated by aparaginase (NSE). The use of photorespiratory mutants deficient in plastidic glutamine synthetase (GS2) enabled us to investigate the transcriptomics and metabolomic changes associated with photorespiratory ammonium accumulation in this plant. The results obtained indicate the existence of a coordinate regulation of genes involved in photorespiratory metabolism. Other types of evidence illustrate the multiple interconnections existing among the photorespiratory pathway and other processes such as intermediate metabolism, nodule function, and secondary metabolism in this plant, all of which are substantially affected in GS2-deficient mutants because of the impairment of the photorespiratory cycle. Finally, the importance of asparagine metabolism in L. japonicus is highlighted because of the fact that asparagine constitutes the vast majority of the reduced nitrogen translocated between different organs of this plant. The different types of NSE enzymes and genes which are present in L. japonicus are described. There is a particular focus on the most abundant K(+)-dependent LjNSE1 isoform and how TILLING mutants were used to demonstrate by reverse genetics the importance of this particular isoform in plant growth and seed production.

Graphene oxide (GO) has recently become an attractive building block for fabricating graphene-based functional materials. GO films and fibers have been prepared mainly by vacuum filtration and wet spinning. These materials exhibit relatively high Young's moduli but low toughness and a high tendency to tear or break. Here, we report an alternative method, using bar coating and drying of water/GO dispersions, for preparing large-area GO thin films (e.g., 800-1200 cm(2) or larger) with an outstanding mechanical behavior and excellent tear resistance. These dried films were subsequently scrolled to prepare GO fibers with extremely large elongation to fracture (up to 76%), high toughness (up to 17 J/m(3)), and attractive macroscopic properties, such as uniform circular cross section, smooth surface, and great knotability. This method is simple, and after thermal reduction of the GO material, it can render highly electrically conducting graphene-based fibers with values up to 416 S/cm at room temperature. In this context, GO fibers annealed at 2000 °C were also successfully used as electron field emitters operating at low turn on voltages of ca. 0.48 V/μm and high current densities (5.3 A/cm(2)). Robust GO fibers and large-area films with fascinating architectures and outstanding mechanical and electrical properties were prepared with bar coating followed by dry film scrolling.

Novel highly electrically conducting nanocomposites consisting of a silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) ceramic matrix containing up to 13.6 vol.% of nitrogen-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNx) were fabricated. As-synthesized CNx were treated with hydrogen peroxide in order to efficiently detach/isolate the nanotubes from bundles, then they were mixed with the ceramic powders and fully densified using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. Composites containing 13.6 vol.% CNx reached an electrical conductivity of 2174 S m −1 that is the highest value reported hitherto for carbon nanotubes/Si 3 N 4 nanocomposites. The nitrogen doping also favored a strong mechanical interlocking between the nanotubes and the Si 3 N 4 matrix; when compared to the undoped carbon nanotubes. These novel nanocomposites could be used in devices associated to power generation or telecommunications.

Two types of Si 3 N 4 composites containing graphene nanostructures using two different graphene sources, pristine graphene nanoplatelets and graphene oxide layers were produced by Spark Plasma Sintering. The maximum toughness of 10.4 MPa m 1/2 , measured by flexure testing of pre-cracked bars, was achieved for a composite (∼60β/40α-Si 3 N 4 , ∼300 nm grain size) with 4 vol.% of reduced graphene oxide, indicating a toughening enhancement of 135% when compared to a similar Si 3 N 4 . This was also accompanied by a 10% increase in flexure strength (1040 MPa). For the composites with thicker graphene nanoplateletes only a 40% of toughness increase (6.6 MPa m 1/2 ) without strength improvement was observed for the same filler content. The large difference in the maximum toughness values accomplished for both types of composites was attributed to variations in the graphene/Si 3 N 4 interface characteristics and the extent of monolayer graphene exfoliation.

In the present work a thin, stand-alone waterborne coating with excellent anticorrosion performance was successfully designed thanks to a built-in ability to in-situ phosphatize low carbon steel substrates. During film formation, the phosphate functionalities, incorporated by using a phosphate functional surfmer, were able to interact with steel leading to a thin iron phosphate passive layer at the coating-metal interface, as proven by SEM-EDX, FTIR and XPS. The phosphatization layer that plays a key role on the excellent anticorrosion properties obtained (measured by EIS analysis of coated sample immersed in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution and in an aggressive salt spray chamber), strongly depends on the humidity at which the waterborne dispersion is applied; at relative humidity above 60%, optimum performance is achieved.