Publications

Abstract Thermochemical data of dibenzofuran, a compound of considerable industrial and environmental significance, obtained from experimental calorimetric and computational techniques are reported in this work. The enthalpy of fusion, (19.4 +/- 1.0) kJ mol(-1), at the temperature of fusion, (355.52 +/- 0.02) K, was determined by differential scanning calorimetry measurements of dibenzofuran. From the standard (p degrees = 0.1 MPa) molar enthalpies of formation of crystalline dibenzofuran, (-29.2 +/- 3.8) kJ mol(-1), and of sublimation, (84.5 +/- 1.0) kJ mol(-1), determined at T = 298.15 K by static bomb combustion calorimetry and by vacuum drop microcalorimetry, respectively, it was possible to calculate the enthalpy of formation of the gaseous compound, (55.0 +/- 3.9) kJ mol(-1), at the same temperature. The enthalpy of formation in the gaseous phase was also determined from G3(MP2)//B3LYP calculations. The same computational strategy was employed in the calculation of the standard molar enthalpies of formation, at T = 298.15 K, in the gas-phase, of single methylated derivatives of benzofuran and dibenzofuran.

Abstract A new and efficient process for organic synthesis in aqueous media based on a direct ohmic heating reactor is described. Four representative organic transformations, a Diels-Alder cycloaddition, a nucleophilic substitution, an N-alkylation and a Suzuki cross-coupling reaction, were performed using this process. The results, when compared with those obtained under conventional external heating (oil bath) and microwave heating, showed that ohmic reactor allows faster and more uniform heating and an induced increase of dynamics/mobility of charged species leading in several cases to higher reaction yields and shorter reaction times.

Abstract The standard (p degrees = 0.1 MPa) molar enthalpies of formation, in the crystalline phase, of the cyclic anhydrides of glycine and DL-alanine, at T = 298.15 K, were derived from the standard molar energies of combustion in oxygen, measured by static bomb combustion calorimetry. For these compounds, the standard molar enthalpies of sublimation, at T = 298.15 K, were determined from the temperature-vapour pressure dependence, obtained by the Knudsen mass-loss effusion method. Through the values for the heat capacity differences between the gas and the crystalline phases of the studied compounds, the standard (p degrees = 0.1 MPa) molar enthalpies, entropies and Gibbs energies of sublimation, at T = 298.15 K, were derived. From the experimental values, the standard molar enthalpies of formation, in the gaseous phase, at T = 298.15 K, of glycine anhydride and DL-alanine anhydride were calculated as -(321.0 +/- 1.9) kJ.mol(-1) and -(382.7 +/- 2.0) kJ.mol(-1), respectively. A theoretical study at the G3 and G4 levels has been carried out, and the calculated enthalpies of formation have been compared with the experimental values.

Abstract The structure and membrane interactions of three antimicrobial peptides from the lactoferrin family were investigated through different techniques. Circular dichroism shows that the peptides adopt a secondary structure in the presence of DMPC/DMPG, and DSC reveals that they all interact with these membranes, albeit differently, whereas only LFchimera has an effect in pure zwitterionic membranes of DMPC. DSC further shows that membrane action is weakest for LFcin17-30, increases for LFampin265-284 and is largest for LFchimera. These differences are clearly reflected in a different structure upon interaction, as revealed by SAX. This technique shows that LFcin17-30 only induces membrane segregation (two lamellar phases are apparent upon cooling from fluid phase), whereas LFampin265-284 induces micellization of the membrane with structure compatible to a micellar cubic phase of space group Pm3n, and LFchimera leads to membrane destruction through the formation of two cubic phases, Pn3m and Im3m. These structural results show a remarkable parallel with the ones obtained previously by freeze fracture microscopy of the effect of these peptides against Candida albicans.

Abstract The standard (p degrees = 0.1 MPa) molar enthalpies of formation, in the gaseous phase, of the 2-, 3- and 4-iodobenzonitrile isomers were derived from the combination of the corresponding standard molar enthalpies of formation, in the condensed phase, at T = 298.15 K, and the standard molar enthalpies of sublimation, at the same temperature, calculated respectively from the standard molar energies of combustion in oxygen, measured by rotating-bomb calorimetry, and from the vapour-pressure study of the referred compounds, measured by mass-loss Knudsen effusion technique. The strength of the halogen-halogen and the halogen-cyano intermolecular interactions, in the crystal, are evaluated by the enthalpies and entropies of phase transition of the iodobenzonitrile derived from mass-loss Knudsen technique and differential scanning calorimetry measurements and compared with those reported to fluorobenzonitrile and bromobenzonitrile isomers. The computational calculations complement the experimental work, using different aromaticity criteria (HOMA, NICS, Shannom Aromaticity, PDI and ATI) for the analysis of the electronic behaviour of each iodobenzonitrile isomer.

Abstract Modern societies moved towards academic and professional specialization, and human activity has been rigidly structured and split. The enduring gap between science and art, which academic curricula mirror and sustain, reproduces rather than changes the patterns of social inclusion and exclusion. In this commentary, we review some empirical endeavors to merge poetry with chemistry from an ecological, developmental, and constructivist perspective. It seems Important to involve students in structured activities promoting a socio-historical understanding of the opportunities and constraints acting on chemistry, the significance of chemistry theories and methods, and a holistic approach to chemistry as a field of self-expression and social commitment. By merging poetry with chemistry, we expect not only that students learn chemistry, but also that they develop scientific literacy skills as well as a more critical view on the co-extensiveness of modern challenges.

Abstract The successful high throughput screening of molecule libraries for a specific biological property is one of the main improvements in drug discovery. The virtual molecular filtering and screening relies greatly on quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis, a mathematical model that correlates the activity of a molecule with molecular descriptors. QSAR models have the potential to reduce the costly failure of drug candidates in advanced (clinical) stages by filtering combinatorial libraries, eliminating candidates with a predicted toxic effect and poor pharmacokinetic profiles, and reducing the number of experiments. To obtain a predictive and reliable QSAR model, scientists use methods from various fields such as molecular modeling, pattern recognition, machine learning or artificial intelligence. QSAR modeling relies on three main steps: molecular structure codification into molecular descriptors, selection of relevant variables in the context of the analyzed activity, and search of the optimal mathematical model that correlates the molecular descriptors with a specific activity. Since a variety of techniques from statistics and artificial intelligence can aid variable selection and model building steps, this review focuses on the evolutionary computation methods supporting these tasks. Thus, this review explains the basic of the genetic algorithms and genetic programming as evolutionary computation approaches, the selection methods for high-dimensional data in QSAR, the methods to build QSAR models, the current evolutionary feature selection methods and applications in QSAR and the future trend on the joint or multi-task feature selection methods.

Abstract This work reports an experimental and a theoretical study of two imidazolidine derivatives, hydantoin (CAS No. 461-72-3) and 2-thiohydantoin (CAS No. 503-87-7). The standard (p degrees = 0.1 MPa) molar energies of combustion of hydantoin and 2-thiohydantoin were measured by static and rotating bomb combustion calorimetry, respectively. The standard molar enthalpies of sublimation, at T = 298.15 K, were derived from the temperature dependence of the vapour pressures of these compounds, measured by the Knudsen-effusion technique, and from high temperature Calvet microcalorimetry. The conjugation of these experimental results enables the calculation of the standard molar enthalpies of formation in the gaseous state, at T = 298.15 K, which are discussed in terms of structural contributions. We have also estimated the gas-phase enthalpy of formation from high-level ab initio molecular orbital calculations at the G3MP2B3 level of theory, being the computed values in good agreement with the experimental ones. Furthermore, this composite approach was also used to obtain information about the gas-phase basicities, proton and electron affinities and adiabatic ionization enthalpies.

Abstract The standard (p degrees = 0.1 MPa) molar energies of combustion of 2-methylbenzoxazole and 2,5-dimethylbenzoxazole were measured by static-bomb combustion calorimetry. The standard molar enthalpies of vapourization, at T = 298.15 K, were obtained from high-temperature Calvet microcalorimetry. The experimental results enable the calculation of the standard molar enthalpies of formation in the gaseous state, at T = 298.15 K, for both compounds, being the results discussed in terms of structural and energetic contributions. The theoretically estimated gas-phase enthalpies of formation were calculated from high-level ab initio molecular orbital calculations at the G3(MP2)//B3LYP level of theory. The computed values compare very well with the experimental results obtained in this work and show that the 2,5-dimethylbenzoxazole is enthalpically the most stable compound. Furthermore, this composite approach was also used to obtain information about the gas-phase basicities, proton and electron affinities and adiabatic ionization enthalpies.

Abstract Healthy skin contributes not only to the appearance and body homeostasis of people, but also offers barrier protection against pathogen invasion and water loss. Since beauty plays a vital role in most people's lives, novel cosmetic products are always in the pipelines to meet the demand of the consumer. More effective products such as cosmeceuticals and skin nutraceuticals are gaining popularity among consumers. Many nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals are known to interact with the genome and may therefore cause changes in the skin through altered gene expression. Finding new chemicals and suitable formulations is becoming even more challenging today. Widely investigated formulations include nanotechnology-based carriers such as nanoemulsions, microemulsions and lipid nanoparticles (solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC)). In this chapter, we describe the nature of cosmeceuticals and skin nutraceuticals, the rationale behind their choices, their formulation into nanotechnology based carriers and successful examples of their application for the delivery of active ingredients.