Ricerc@Sapienza

Ferritin self-assembly has been widely exploited for the synthesis of a variety of nanoparticles for drug-delivery and diagnostic applications. However, despite the crucial role of ferritin self-assembly mechanism for probes encapsulation, little is known about the principles behind the oligomerization mechanism.

Self-assembly of a modified tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine TPMA ligand, zinc(II) or cobalt(II) ions, and amino acids have been used effectively as stereo dynamic optical probes for the determination of the enantiomeric excess of free amino acids either using Electronic or Vibrational Circular Dichroism (CD and VCD). Herein, we report the mechanistic and stereochemical study of the self-assembly process which reveals a complex equilibrium in solution where even small variations in the experimental conditions can profoundly affect the final products of the reaction.

9-Methylcaffeinium iodide, a bio-based salt obtained by reaction of caffeine with methyl iodide, is an imidazolium salt. The electrochemical behaviour of 9-methylcaffeinium iodide was studied by means of cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry and electrolysis. Its behaviour revealed to be very similar to that of common imidazolium salts. In fact, its cathodic reduction yielded the corresponding N-heterocyclic carbene, which was evidenced by its reaction products with dioxygen and with sulfur, although in low amounts.

Singly aquated and diaquated species are key intermediates in the mechanism responsible for the antitumor
activity of cisplatin. Aqua complexes [PtX(NH3)2(H2O)]+ (X ¼ Cl, OH), obtained in water by hydrolysis of
cisplatin and of the inactive isomer transplatin, are transferred into the gas-phase by electrospray
ionization. The so-formed ions, cis- and trans-[PtX(NH3)2(H2O)]+, have been allowed to react with
selected ligands, representing platination targets in the biological environment. The reaction kinetics

The presence of fluorous tails in room-temperature ionic liquids imparts new properties to their already rich spectrum of appealing features. The interest towards this class of compounds that are of ionic nature with melting point less than 25 °C is accordingly growing; in particular, compounds bearing relatively long fluorous tails have begun to be considered. In this invited presentation, we show recent results arising from the systematic study of structural properties of a series of fluorinated room temperature ionic liquids, with growing fluorous chain length.

In this study we have explored, by means of ab initio molecular dynamics, a subset of three different water/cho+–phe? mixtures. We present both structural and dynamical information of these mixtures as revealed by accurate ab initio computations of the forces acting on the atoms. We highlight the presence of a strong hydrogen bond network between the anions, and the persistence of such interaction even at very high water concentration. Furthermore, we show that the water molecules favour the establishment of hydrogen bond contacts with IL ions, up to 1?:?1.5 IL/water molar ratio.

In the field of restoration of cultural heritage, it has been developed coatings containing nanoparticles having multifunctional features, to protect stone materials against environmental degrading agents. Detecting such nanoparticle concentration within the coating, can represent a challenging issue because its monitoring over time can provide insights about the treatment durability. This paper deals with a theoretical basis to develop an instrumental method to fulfil this requirement.

The treatment of excavation by-products has been studied using Fenton and Heterogeneous Fenton processes, by the addition of zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) as catalyzer. This study demonstrated that both methods could significantly reduce the organic content of the liquid extract from excavated soils. Operating parameters, such as pH and catalyzer/oxidant (w/w) ratio, were varied to investigate their influence on the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal efficiency.

This work deals with the treatment of a tannery wastewater by a mixed-iron coated olive stone bio-sorbent particles. Olive stones were used as the support to zero-valent iron and magnetite nanoparticles to develop a new material for the removal of chromium, organic matter and total phenols from the wastewater. The optimal operating conditions were determined in batch reactors, after which the process was scaled-up using fixed-bed columns in series.

In this study the copper and lead adsorption efficiency onto banana peels powder was investigated. The agro-industrial waste recovery represents one of the Circular Economy pillars. In the view of the synthesis of an environmentally friendly adsorbent material, the powder was used without any preliminary chemical or thermal activation, but only after simple washing, drying and grinding. The bio-adsorbent was characterized by the FTIR technique and tested in batch mode on synthetic aqueous solutions containing Pb and Cu in the range 10–90 mg·L− 1.