Publications related to Isolation, Characterisation and Reactivity of N-Heterocyclic Diazoolefins

Novel Alkynylation Methods through the Combination of Hypervalent Iodine Reagents and Alkynyl-trifluoroborate Salts

The alkyne motif is a versatile functional group often encountered in organic chemistry. It can be involved in various transformations such as the alkyne-azide cycloaddition and has found widespread application in medicinal chemistry, chemical biology and ...

EPFL2024

Structure and dynamics of liquid water from ab initio simulations: adding Minnesota density functionals to Jacob's ladder

Ursula Röthlisberger, Justin Villard, Martin Peter Bircher

The accurate representation of the structural and dynamical properties of water is essential for simulating the unique behavior of this ubiquitous solvent. Here we assess the current status of describing liquid water using ab initio molecular dynamics, wit ...

Royal Soc Chemistry2024

Confinement-Controlled Crystallization of Guanine

Esther Amstad, Chuen-Ru Li

Guanine crystals are frequently encountered in nature in the beta-polymorph to create structural colors, to enhance the vision of creatures, and for camouflage. Unfortunately, it is challenging to control the crystallization of guanine in aqueous condition ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

The Mn(VII)-H2O2 oxidation process: Abatement of electron-deficient N-containing organic compounds

Urs von Gunten, Ke Xu

Chemical oxidants applied in water treatment are electrophiles, which preferentially attack sites with higher electron density. This typically results in less efficient oxidative abatement of organic compounds with electronwithdrawing substituents. In this ...

Elsevier Science Sa2024

Augmenting large language models with chemistry tools

Philippe Schwaller, Oliver Tobias Schilter, Andres Camilo Marulanda Bran, Carlo Baldassari

Large language models (LLMs) have shown strong performance in tasks across domains but struggle with chemistry-related problems. These models also lack access to external knowledge sources, limiting their usefulness in scientific applications. We introduce ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Deoxygenative Transformation of Alcohols via Phosphoranyl Radical from Exogenous Radical Addition

Xile Hu, Tao Xu, Chao Fan

A general approach to the direct deoxygenative transformation of primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols has been developed. It undergoes through phosphoranyl radical intermediates generated by the addition of exogenous iodine radical to trivalent alkoxy ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2024

New Applications of 1,3,2-Diazaphospholenes in Catalysis

Johannes Klett

The constant urge to construct new molecules in an economical and sustainable fashion led to the development of numerous metal-catalyzed transformations. Organocatalysts consisting of abundant and more sustainable elements offer an elegant solution to over ...

EPFL2024

Biobased Composites from Eugenol- and Coumarin-Derived Methacrylic Latex and Hemp Nanocellulose: Cross-Linking via [2+2] Photocycloaddition and Barrier Properties

Yves Leterrier, Sara Dalle Vacche

A novel-biobased latex was synthesized by redox-initiated emulsion copolymerization of ethoxy dihydroeugenyl methacrylate with 5 wt % of a photosensitive methacrylate containing a coumarin group. A stable copolymer latex having 16 wt % solids content and a ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Reactions of hypobromous acid with dimethyl selenide, dimethyl diselenide and other organic selenium compounds: kinetics and product formation

Urs von Gunten

Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for many living organisms particularly due to its unique redox properties. We recently found that the sulfur (S) analog for dimethyl selenide (DMSe), i.e. dimethyl sulfide (DMS), reacts fast with the marine oxida ...

Royal Soc Chemistry2024

The molecular scale mechanism of deposition ice nucleation on silver iodide

Mária Lbadaoui-Darvas, Athanasios Nenes, André Welti

Heterogeneous ice nucleation is a ubiquitous process in the natural and built environment. Deposition ice nucleation, i.e. heterogeneous ice nucleation that - according to the traditional view - occurs in a subsaturated water vapor environment and in the a ...

Royal Soc Chemistry2024

Oxidation processes and me

Urs von Gunten

This publication summarizes my journey in the field of chemical oxidation processes for water treatment over the last 30+ years. Initially, the efficiency of the application of chemical oxidants for micropollutant abatement was assessed by the abatement of ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2024

Chalcogen bonding catalysis

Jieping Zhu

Catalysts play a major role in chemical synthesis, and catalysis is considered to be a green and economic process. Catalysis is dominated by covalent interactions between the catalyst and substrate. The design of non-covalent catalysts came into limelight ...

Royal Society of Chemistry2024

Development of Sustainable Carbohydrate-Based Solvents by Acetal Functionalisation of Biomass

Anastasiia Komarova

Organic solvents are ubiquitous in industrial and domestic applications from the production of pharmaceuticals to household consumer products. The negative impact of most traditional solvents, especially aprotic types, on the environment, health, and safet ...

EPFL2024

Modeling, design and economics of PEC devices

Alexandre Dominique M. Cattry

Photo-electrochemical (PEC) devices allow for converting solar energy into chemical energy and for the production of energetically dense solar fuels. Light absorption, charge separation and transport, electrochemical reactions, and ionic transport are requ ...

EPFL2024

From roots to canopy: Unraveling the influence of species diversity on tree water relations under warmer and drier climates

Eugénie Isabelle Mas

The worsening of drought events with rising air temperature alters tree water relations causing severe hydraulic impairments and widespread forest mortality. Mixing tree species with contrasting hydraulic traits could reduce forest vulnerability to extreme ...

EPFL2024

Investigations about the Chemistry of Tetraarylethene- and Iridium-Based Luminophores

Anastasia Gitlina

The work described in this thesis focuses on two classes of luminophores: tetraarylethene-based polymers and Ir(III) complexes with orthometalated ligands. Tetraarylethene-based polymers show aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and they are of interest for ...

EPFL2024

Biobased surfactant

Jeremy Luterbacher, Stefania Bertella, Anastasiia Komarova, Songlan Sun

The present invention relates to a compound of the general formula (I), (II) and (III), more specifically of formula (Ia), (Ib), (Ic)wherein R11 and R12 or R21 and R22 or R31 and R32 are both hydrogen or form together with CHR50 a cyclic moiety or one of R ...

2024

Biobased surfactant

Jeremy Luterbacher, Stefania Bertella, Anastasiia Komarova, Songlan Sun

The present invention relates to a compound of the general formula (I), and (II)wherein one of R11 and R12 is hydrogen and the other is -CH2-R70, and one of R13 and R14 is hydrogen and the other is -CH2-R71, or wherein one of R11 and R12 is hydrogen and th ...

2024

Controlling On-Surface Photoactivity: The Impact of π-Conjugation in Anhydride-Functionalized Molecules on a Semiconductor Surface

Karl-Heinz Ernst, Christian Wäckerlin

On-surface synthesis has become a prominent method for growing low-dimensional carbon-based nanomaterials on metal surfaces. However, the necessity of decoupling organic nanostructures from metal substrates to exploit their properties requires either trans ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2024

From Surfactants to 3D Printing: How Ion-Chelator Pair Interactions Affect the Mechanical Properties of Bioinspired Materials

Gaia De Angelis

The remarkable adaptability observed in marine ecosystems has often inspired researchers when developing new soft materials. The research undertaken in this thesis explores how ion chelator pair interactions influence the mechanical properties of bioinspir ...

EPFL2024