Archive for the ‘RSC Advances’ Category

Minerals2Materials – Interview with Foster Mbaiwa

On 26th – 27th June 2023, in celebration of Professor Nora de Leeuw’s 60th birthday, University College London held a two day symposium including presentations and discussions on recent experimental and theoretical progress in the investigation of mineral-based materials.

RSC Advances were lucky enough to sponsor the event and offer a bursary to an early career researcher from Africa to attend and give an oral presentation at this event.

Foster Mbaiwa is an Associate Professor in Physical Chemistry at Botswana International University of Science and Technology. He completed his PhD on dipole moment effect effects in photodetachment from cluster anions at Washington University, St. Louis in 2011. His research interests surround the production of biodiesel from various feedstocks and catalytic conversion to hydrocarbon fuels using mixed metal oxides, as well as molecular dynamics simulation of industrially important liquid mixtures.

At the conference, Foster presented a computational study of the decarboxylation of methyl palmitate using NiMoO4 catalyst – towards improving the flow properties of biodiesel”.

 

Professor Nora de Leeuw, Associate Professor Foster Mbaiwa and RSC Advances Assistant Editor Namita Datta

Foster told us more about the research and what he hopes to achieve in the future. He gave some advice for early career researchers and his thoughts on open access publishing.

What is the focus of your research and why it is of current interest?

The focus of this research is to improve the flow properties of biodiesel. Essentially, we want to make sure that biodiesel is similar to fossil fuel so that it doesn’t harm the engine. There are many ways you can do this, for example, mixing the fuel so that it is 90% diesel and 10% biodiesel. Or you can change the chemical structure and composition of biodiesel, so it is closer to diesel. We can use a catalyst to convert the biodiesel in the hopes of creating a cleaner, more available diesel, thus reducing the demand for fossil fuel. The focus of this study is finding a catalyst that is able to do that without producing small chain hydrocarbons – we want to improve the catalytic selectivity.

What are the key design considerations for your study?

It is important that the catalyst is safe and environmentally friendly. The catalyst should reduce the energy demand on the whole process. We must also consider the recyclability of the catalyst. Of course, we must consider affordability too – catalyst with metal centres (such as copper) are cheaper.

Which part of the research proved to be the most challenging?

The surface selection. Selecting a surface with all the right properties can be challenging. If you don’t choose the right surface, the catalyst can be too reactive.

To go about this, we started with the current catalysts that are used. Currently, the active centre used is nickel – it is easily attainable as it a by-product of a copper mine in Botswana. Understanding these surfaces allowed us to suggest improvements.

What aspect of the work are you most excited about?

The application of reactive molecular dynamics to catalysis – using computational chemistry to map reactions and visualise new structures. Although new to me, this field has been around for a long time and has proven to be highly effective.

How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article? What do you have planned next?

I actually completed my PhD in the United States on the photoelectron spectroscopy of anions. When I moved back home there wasn’t as much funding for laboratory work, so I changed direction to computing. I had support from the Centre for High-Performance Computing and I managed to adapt.

Hopefully, funding permitting, I can move from the computer back to the lab to design catalysts based on what’s been discovered through the simulations. The aim is to perfect a catalyst for the decarboxylation of methyl esters into green diesel.

In the future, through collaboration, I would like to return to spectroscopy. For instance, exploring computational chemistry in the direction of spectroscopy. Combining mass spectrometry of anions with theoretical calculations could be really interesting in terms of astrophysics. One idea I’m interested in is the application of theoretical mass spectrometry in studying ions which can only occur under extreme conditions, hence difficultly to study this experimentally.

What advice would you give to students and early career researchers in a similar situation to yourself?

PhD students – talk to people! The more you network the more you’ll realise you’re not the only person with problems. The chances are you will find someone who can help you. Make sure to really think about the research you’re doing now because it might be the defining research of your life. Could you see yourself doing this forever? If not, that’s okay! You can always change direction, it is one of the freedoms of life.

Early career researchers – don’t run away from your mentors too quickly. There will always be someone with more experience than you – learn from them.

What are some of the challenges you have faced as a researcher working in Botswana and what positive progress have you seen throughout your career so far?

Laboratory resources are limited and even with computational chemistry you need high computational power. The Centre for High Performance Computing is great but a lot of researchers in Africa rely on it – it’s a limited resource. Computational chemistry is not taught here because we simply don’t have the resources. However, throughout my career I’ve seen a lot of great students who are willing to take on the challenge and learn on the fly.

Do you have any recommendations for improving the STEM workforce to create an environment that better supports researchers from lower- and middle-income countries? Is there anything publishers such as the RSC can do to help?

Following on from my previous answer, it would be great to see publishers such as the RSC provide funding for students to learn computational science. We have benefited from this in the past and it contributes to the positive progress we’ve made. The computational chemistry society is very supportive and helps create a great network for researchers in Africa and the UK.

Finally, what are your thoughts on open access publishing?

As a researcher, and end user of published research, open access is the best! It allows for easy access to papers – it’s like gold! In that regard it helps a lot of researchers from poorly funded universities and institutions.*

However, at the same time, there is the idea that open access is motivated by money rather than research. The pressure to publish is very much there, and there’s a belief that “predatory” open access journals benefit from this. Also, from a university management perspective, there’s this idea that papers in open access journals are generally of lower quality – this might be because the reviewing process often leaves something to be desired.

My advice to researchers would be to avoid these “predatory” journals. My advice to publishers would be to ensure that peer review is rigorous and so does not tarnish the benefits of open access.**

Anything else to note?

I would like to thank RSC Advances for this opportunity – I am very grateful.

*RSC’s journals provide APC waivers for authors from low and middle income countries, in line with the Research4Life programme.

**RSC Advances has recently introduced Transparent Peer Review (TPR) as an option for authors. TPR is where the reviewer reports, authors’ response to reviewers, and decision letters are published alongside the manuscript. A top priority for the journal is to ensure rigorous and high-quality peer review, so by offering TPR we hope to ensure transparency around the peer review process, offering our readers a chance to understand the scientific discussions behind an accepted article. Please see here for more information on TPR.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

RSC Advances Outstanding Student Paper Awards 2022

We are delighted to announce our winners for the RSC Advances Outstanding Student Paper Awards 2022.

These awards recognise outstanding work published in the journal in 2022, for which a substantial component of the research was conducted by a student. We received over 550 nominations, highlighting the incredible talent and potential within the next generation of chemists. The nominations were shortlisted, and the winning papers were then selected by our Editorial Board and Associate Editors.

Below, we congratulate the winner of each subject category, and highlight the research paper that won them the award. We look forward to witnessing their continued growth and impact as they embark on a promising career in the field of chemistry.

Analytical chemistry

Margaret MacConnachie, Queen’s University, Canada

Margaret is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Sex determination of mummies through multi-elemental analysis of head hair using electrothermal vaporization coupled to inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

Originally hailing from Alberta, Canada, Margaret moved to Ontario to pursue her bachelor’s degree at Queen’s University. She received her BScH in 2018, with a major in chemistry and a minor in classical studies. During the last year of her degree, she completed a fourth-year research project on the analysis of solder for applications in forensic science, which sparked her interest in analytical chemistry. Following the completion of her undergraduate work, she stayed at Queen’s University to complete a PhD under the supervision of Dr. Diane Beauchemin, working on projects which combine elemental analysis with both forensic and archaeological sciences. She recently submitted her thesis, titled ‘Novel Forensic and Archaeological Applications of Methods Involving the Direct Multi-Elemental Analysis of Solid Materials’. In the last year of her doctoral program, she received a MITACS Globalink Research Award which allowed her to spend six months working in an archaeometry research group at the University of Southern Denmark (Odense campus). Although interested in many areas of analytical chemistry, she has a particular passion for the intersection between chemical analysis, cultural heritage, and archaeology.

 

Biological and Medicinal Chemistry

Toni Pringle, Newcastle University, UK

Toni is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in The influence of degree of labelling upon cellular internalisation of antibody-cell penetrating peptide conjugates

Toni is a 4th year postgraduate researcher working with Dr James Knight at Newcastle University. Her research focuses on synthesis and preclinical evaluation of radioimmunoconjugates for positron emission tomography and fluorescence imaging, and cancer therapy. This includes the development of dual-modal antibody constructs for pre- and intra-operative imaging of sarcoma to enhance both surgical planning and the identification of tumour margins. She is also developing novel antibody constructs with cell-internalising properties for both diagnosis and therapy of cancer. Her current position follows the award of a 1st class MChem (Hons) degree in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry from Newcastle University. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking in the Lake District, snowboarding and sailing.

 

Catalysis

Gen Li, Dalian University of Technology, China

Gen is recognised for his outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Highly dispersed ruthenium nanoparticles on nitrogen doped carbon toward efficient hydrogen evolution in both alkaline and acidic electrolytes

Gen Li obtained his B.S degree (2019) and M.S. (2022) degree in chemical engineering from Dalian University of Technology. He is now a Ph.D. student at the Dalian University of Technology under the supervision of Professor Yujiang Song. His current research mainly focus on electrocatalysts and membrane electrode assembly toward hydrogen evolution reaction and/or oxygen evolution reaction in polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis.

 

Computational & Theoretical Chemistry

                      

Stephanie Linker & Christian Schellhaas, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

Stephanie and Christian are recognised for their outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Polar/apolar interfaces modulate the conformational behavior of cyclic peptides with impact on their passive membrane permeability

Stephanie holds a double degree in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. In her studies she focused on the development of computational models for complex biological processes. Afterwards, Stephanie joined the Computational Chemistry group of Prof. Riniker at ETH Zurich, Switzerland for her PhD.  There she used molecular dynamics simulations to study the permeability mechanism of large drug molecules. After defending her PhD in January 2023, Stephanie joined Merck (EMD) as a Computational Chemist. Beyond her academic achievements, Stephanie is a passionate advocate for science and is active in the board of the Swiss chemical society where she is responsible for international collaborations.

Christian studied Interdisciplinary Sciences with a focus on Chemical Biology and Theoretical Chemistry at ETH Zurich. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in the field of protein engineering under supervision of Prof. Bruno Correia at EPFL Lausanne. Initially, Christian started working on the computational design of proteins during his master’s thesis project in the research group of Prof. Possu Huang at Stanford University. Inspired by the work on the conformational behaviour of cyclic peptides, his current research interest focuses on the conformational dynamics of proteins and how these dynamics can inform the design of binding proteins. In his leisure time, Christian likes to play tennis and to make most of the Swiss Alps, be it by hiking in summer or skiing in winter.

 

Energy Chemistry

Karina Asheim, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

Karina is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Improved electrochemical performance and solid electrolyte interphase properties of electrolytes based on lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide for high content silicon anodes

Karina graduated from a 5-year Master’s program in chemical engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 2016. During the study she specialized in materials science and materials for energy technology, finishing with a Master Thesis on Mg-ion batteries. Continuing in the world of batteries, she started on a PhD project in Li-ion batteries where the work focussed on electrolyte for silicon-based anodes. The work was supervised by Prof. Ann Mari Svensson, was carried out at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and was completed in 2021. Now Karina works on battery separators for a Norwegian polymer R&D company called Norner AS.

 

Environmental Chemistry

Cui Li, China University of Geosciences, China

Cui is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Response of chlorinated hydrocarbon transformation and microbial community structure in an aquifer to joint H2 and O2

Cui Li, doctor from China University of Geosciences, majoring in Environmental Science and Engineering. The research direction focuses on microorganisms, with the goal of achieving efficient treatment of pollutants. The main researches are environmental microbiology, microbial community function and its transformation mechanism of organic pollutants. Published 3 SCI papers and applied for 2 utility model patents during the doctoral period.

 

Food Chemistry

Xingyu Ding, Nanjing Tech University, China

Xingyu is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Preparation of chitosan-coated polystyrene microspheres for the analysis of trace Pb(II) ions in salt by GF-AAS assisted with solid-phase extraction

Ding Xingyu, was born in Jiangsu Province, China in 1997. Her bachelor’s and master’s degrees were obtained from Nanjing University of Technology under the supervision of Associate Professor Li Yi, and all of her research achievements are inseparable from his guidance and assistance. Her research direction is food safety, and the title of her master’s project is “Research and Preparation of Novel Polymer Carriers for Concentration and Enrichment of Harmful Heavy Metal Ions”.

This article, “Preparation of Chitosan-coated Polystyrene Microspheres for the Analysis of Trace Pb(II) Ions in Salt by GF-AAS Assisted with Solid-phase Extraction”, focuses on the enrichment and analysis of harmful heavy metal lead in food. This article studies and prepares a polymer microsphere to overcome the interference of high salt background and achieve the separation and detection of heavy metal lead.

In the future, food safety will receive increasing attention, and the enrichment materials and detection methods for heavy metals will also show diversified development. Xingyu hopes that the food safety industry will flourish and more scholars will join in.

 

Inorganic Chemistry

Nicole DiBlasi, University of Notre Dame, USA

Nicole is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Pu(III) and Cm(III) in the presence of EDTA: aqueous speciation, redox behavior, and the impact of Ca(II)

Nicole A. DiBlasi is a Scientist in Actinide Analytical Chemistry at Los Alamos National Lab with 8 years of experience in actinide and environmental radiochemistry. After receiving her bachelor’s in chemistry from the University of Missouri in 2016, Nicole pursued her doctorate in actinide chemistry at the University of Notre Dame under the guidance of Dr. Amy E. Hixon where her doctoral research focused on the speciation, solubility, and redox behaviour of the Pu-EDTA system under conditions relevant for deep geological repositories. In addition to her dissertation work, Nicole was able to participate in other projects including work with novel actinide compound synthesis and characterization and the development of synthesis methods for post-detonation nuclear melt glass reference materials for use in nuclear forensics. Following the completion of her Ph.D. in 2021, Nicole became a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe, Germany, where she performed research on actinide- and technetium-organic interactions under alkaline and high ionic strength conditions. In late 2022, Nicole accepted a position as a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory where she performs high accuracy, high precision analyses on actinide materials as part of the Radiochemistry team in the Actinide Analytical Chemistry group.

 

Materials Chemistry

Despoina Eleftheriadou, University College London, UK

Despoina is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in An alginate-based encapsulation system for delivery of therapeutic cells to the CNS

Despoina Eleftheriadou obtained her MEng in Chemical Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2016. She then completed her M.Sc. in Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine at University College London in 2018. During this time, she was able to work on various projects including nanobiomaterials for Alzheimer’s disease treatment and immunomodulation for therapeutic cell transplantation in the CNS. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University College London Centre for Nerve Engineering, focusing on mathematical modelling led design of nerve repair constructs. Her research interest lies in working at the interface of engineering and life sciences.

 

Nanoscience

Rabia Tahir, National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan

Rabia is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in First observation on emergence of strong room-temperature ferroelectricity and multiferroicity in 2D-Ti3C2Tx free-standing MXene film

Born in Multan (southern Punjab city of Pakistan) and completed her Bachelor’s degree from The Women University Multan (WUM), Rabia Tahir is currently enrolled as a PhD student at Department of Physics, School of Natural Sciences (SNS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan. Under the expert guidance of her supervisor, Prof. Dr. Syed Rizwan, she embarks on a journey to explore the unique properties and potential applications of 2D materials such as MXene and their potential as a ferroelectric and multiferroic material that has been a long-standing issue of interest in the research community. Rabia Tahir reported the ferroelectricity and multiferroicity in 2D Ti3C2Tx MXene for the first time that may revolutionize next-generation data storage devices with enhanced functionalities.

Rabia Tahir is also hired as research associate under the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan under project No. 20-14784/NRPU/R&D/HEC/2021. In her leisure time, she likes to play sports and reads books with inspiring lessons.

 

Organic Chemistry

Alejandro O. Viviano-Posadas, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

Alejandro is recognised for his outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Efficient fluorescent recognition of ATP/GTP by a water-soluble bisquinolinium pyridine-2,6-dicarboxamide compound. Crystal structures, spectroscopic studies and interaction mode with DNA

Alejandro Viviano was born in Mexico City. He received his B.Sc. (2019) and M.Sc. (2021) degrees with theses focused on the synthesis and luminescent properties of novel Pd/Pt-based complexes with analytical applications. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. with Professor Alejandro Dorazco at the Chemistry Institute from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

His research involves the molecular recognition of neurotransmitters and nucleotides using novel organometallic and organic receptors. To date, their scientific results have been published in seven research articles. (ORCID: 0000-0002-3588-5836)

 

Physical Chemistry

Rawia Msalmi, Sfax University, Tunisia

Rawia is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Organically tuned white-light emission from two zero-dimensional Cd-based hybrids

Dr. Rawia Msalmi obtained a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the Faculty of Sciences of Sfax, Sfax University, Tunisia. During her thesis, she performed the physico-chemical characterization of Cd- and Pb-based white light emitter hybrid materials (WLEHMs). Her research focus was on the contribution of the organic molecules and the tridimensional assembly mode in the performance of the emitted white light. She has published the findings of her Ph.D. study in four peer-reviewed journal articles. In line with her Ph.D. work, she contributed in other research papers on the study of optical behavior of one-dimensional Cu-based perovskites published in Journal of Material Chemistry C as second co-author.

Dr. Rawia Msalmi is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Physico-Chemistry of the Solid State, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Sciences of Sfax, Sfax University, Tunisia, under the supervision of professor Houcine Naïli. Her present investigation focuses on the stabilization and physico-chemical characterization of lead-free hybrid materials for environmentally friendly photovoltaic solar cells and lighting sources. She co-supervises research activities in the same field. Thus far, she has 10 publications in highly impacted journals.

 

Please join us in congratulating all of our winners for their exceptional achievement.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

RSC Advances Welcomes Stephen Ojwach as a New Associate Editor

The RSC Advances team are delighted to welcome Professor Stephen Ojwach as our newest Associate Editor!

Professor Stephen Ojwach, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Research Areas: organometallic chemistry, homogeneous catalysis, coordination chemistry, ligand design, transition metal chemistry, and green chemistry.

Prof Ojwach obtained his PhD in Organometallic Chemistry and Homogeneous Catalysis from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa under the supervision of Professor James Darkwa. Currently a professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, he is also a visiting professor at a number of institutions: the University of Lethbridge, Canada, RWTH Aachen University and Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, and University of Strasbourg, France, among others.

Prof Ojwach has made exemplary contribution to the design and development of transition metal complexes as catalysts for various organic transformations, including, but not limited to, oligomerization, polymerization, carbonylation, and hydrogenation reactions. His research involves careful manipulation of ligand design to optimize the catalytic properties (Structure-Property-Activity-Relationship, SPAR) of complexes in given transformation. Kinetics, mechanistic and theoretical studies are undertaken to offer insights for rationale future catalyst designs.

Prof Ojwach has published over 100 research articles in the fields of inorganic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, and catalysis in a broad scope of journals such as RSC Advances, Dalton Transactions, Organometallics, Molecular Catalysis, and Inorganic Chemistry.

Check out Prof Ojwach’s latest RSC publications!

Structural and ethylene oligomerization studies of chelating (imino)phenol Fe(ii), Co(ii) and Ni(ii) complexes: an experimental and theoretical approach
Makhosonke Ngcobo, Holliness Nose, Arumugam Jayamani and Stephen O. Ojwach
New J. Chem., 2022,46, 6219-6229

Carboxamide carbonyl-ruthenium(II) complexes: detailed structural and mechanistic studies in the transfer hydrogenation of ketones
Robert T. Kumah, Paranthaman Vijayan and Stephen O. Ojwach
New J. Chem., 2022,46, 3146-3155

Role of π-conjugation on the coordination behaviour, substitution kinetics, DNA/BSA interactions, and in vitro cytotoxicity of carboxamide palladium(II) complexes
Reinner O. Omondi, Nicole R. S. Sibuyi, Adewale O. Fadaka, Mervin Meyer, Deogratius Jaganyi and Stephen O. Ojwach.
Dalton Trans., 2021,50, 8127-8143

Prof Ojwach is looking forward to receiving your papers! Submit to RSC Advances today. Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

RSC Advances Science Communications: Potential use of exopolysaccharides

The group of Dr. Lin Zhou have a research interest in Schizophyllan (SPG). As a biological macromolecule polysaccharide, SPG demonstrates good biological activity such as anti-tumor, anti-aging, antioxidant and moisturizing etc. The large molecular weight and high viscosity of SPG can also affect the level of dissolved oxygen in the later stage of fermentation, which limits the yield of SPG. In addition, separation and purification of SPG is time and cost intensive. The traditional herbal medicine contains great health value. Therefore, researchers have focused on the overall activity of the fermentation broth to expand the application of S. commune liquid fermentation.

In the article “Enhanced exopolysaccharide yield and antioxidant activities of Schizophyllum commune fermented products by the addition of Radix Puerariae, the medicinal edible fungus Schizophyllum commune (S. commune) was used as the starting strain, and the traditional Chinese medicine Radix Puerariae (RP) was used as the medicinal substrate to expand the application of the S. commune fermentation liquids. The results showed that the addition of Pueraria did not affect the structure of Schizophyllan (SPG), the exopolysaccharide of S. commune, but the yield of SPG was significantly improved, which provided a theoretical basis for the industrial production of SPG. In addition, RP can also increase the antioxidant activity of the fermented supernatant from the S. commune fermentation system. These antioxidant activities mainly come from the puerarin from RP and some new ingredients that are synthesized during the fermentation process such as resveratrol. Therefore, this study proves the feasibility of the Schizophyllum liquid fermentation system as a bioreactor and provides a reference for the biotransformation of edible medicinal fungi such as Cordyceps militaris and Ganoderma lucidum etc.

Resumen gráfico: Mayor rendimiento de exopolisacáridos y actividades antioxidantes de los productos fermentados de Schizophyllum commune mediante la adición de Radix Puerariae

Firstly, this research confirmed the feasibility of using the liquid fermentation of Schizophyllum commune as a biotransformer, and provided a reference for the expanded application of Schizophyllum commune and other medicinal and edible fungi. The results also shed light on the comprehensive utilization of traditional herbal medicine and plant substrates.

For the bidirectional fermentation system, monitoring of the fermentation process and evaluation of the biological activity of the fermentation products are the hotspots of future research. Follow up work about the anti-aging activity and underlying mechanisms of fermented S. commune by a Caenorhabditis elegans model will be reported in the near future. 

I thank Dr. Lin Zhou for his cordial responses.

 

Read the article:

Enhanced exopolysaccharide yield and antioxidant activities of Schizophyllum commune fermented products by the addition of Radix Puerariae. Yongfei Deng, Qian Huang, Lu Hu, Tao Liu, Bisheng Zheng, Dengjun Lu, Chaowan Guo and Lin Zhou. RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 38219–38234.

 

About the web writer:

 

Cristian M. O. Lépori is a Doctor in Chemical Sciences and is currently a CONICET researcher at the Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Argentina. His research area is “Comprehensive approach through the articulation of knowledge and new strategies for the development of innovative products and processes applicable to health and the environment”. He likes to plan, organize and carry out science dissemination activities. You can find him on Twitter at @cristianlepo.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Editor’s collection: A Decade of Progress in Click Reactions Based on CuAAC

We are delighted to share with you our latest collection on A Decade of Progress in Click Reactions Based on CuAAC, guest edited by Associate Editor Prof. Manojit Pal (Dr Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences, India).

We are inviting submissions of new papers and review articles to this collection!

About the Collection

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022 was awarded jointly to Prof. Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Prof. Morten Meldal and Prof. K. Barry Sharpless for their work in the development of biorthogonal and click chemistry. Bioorthogonal chemistry has made it possible to monitor the chemical processes occurring in living cells, without interfering with native biochemical systems or causing cellular toxicity. Click chemistry has revolutionized the routes of molecular construction and has applications in drug discovery and development, medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry, analytical chemistry, materials science, surface science, and more!

However, click chemistry has not gone unnoticed over the years; many chemists have made contributions (both big and small) to this exciting area of research. So, in celebration of the Nobel Prize, we are excited to announce a new collection comprising of relevant papers published over last 10 years. The collection, handpicked by Prof. Pal, predominantly covers the application of click reactions in the areas of bioorganic and medicinal chemistry, with papers devoted to the development of methodologies also included.

RSC Advances is most cited gold open access journal dedicated to the chemical sciences and all publications in our journal are free to access. We hope you enjoy reading these articles!

Read the full collection

If you would like to submit your research to this collection, and give your work the global visibility it deserves, you can do so now!

All submissions will be subject to an initial assessment by Associate Editors and, if suitable for the journal, they will be subject to rigorous peer review to meet the usual high standards of RSC Advances.

Submit your research

Meet the Editor

Manojit Pal received his PhD from Jadavpur University, India in 1995 under the guidance of Prof. Nitya G. Kundu. He then worked in various industrial R&D centres including Alembic, Sun Pharma, Matrix Lab, and Dr Reddy’s Lab Ltd. In 2009, he joined Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Science where he now continues as a Professor of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, as well as Chief Scientist of the CIMPS Department.

Prof. Pal became an Associate Editor at RSC Advances in 2015, FRSC in 2016, Adjunct Faculty-Manipal University in 2018, and member of Editorial Board – Bioorganic Chemistry in 2019. He also became an invited member of ACS in 2019. Furthermore, in 2020, his name was featured in Stanford’s top 2% list of scientists in the world, and in 2022, he received a certificate for publishing open access articles with Elsevier, four of which were linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

His research interests include development of new chemical entities under the new drug discovery programme in various therapeutic areas, namely tuberculosis, inflammation, obesity, psoriasis, and cancer. Other major areas of focus include transition metal / non-metal catalysed reactions, sonochemical approaches, green chemistry, heterocycle synthesis, and more! He has authored/co-authored more than 280 research publications, as well as 18 review articles, several patents, a book chapter, and a book.

RSC Advances Royal Society of Chemistry

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

RSC Advances Popular Advances Interview with Abdu Saeed

We are very pleased to introduce Dr Abdu Saeed who is the corresponding author of the RSC Advances article, antibacterial activity of the micro and nanostructures of the optical material tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum and its application as an antimicrobial coating. This was well received by reviewers and was handpicked by our handling editors to be part of our Popular Advances collection – a big congratulations to all the authors!

Dr Saeed told us more about the work that went into this study and what he hopes to achieve in the future. You can explore other articles in our 2022 Popular Advances online collection here!

 

Meet the Author:

Abdu Saeed was born in Ibb, Yemen, in 1979. After obtaining two degrees in physics (from Ibb University and Taiz University, respectively) he was selected as a teaching assistant at Thamar University. Afterwards, he pursued an MSc and PhD in applied experimental physics at King Abdulaziz University, Saudia Arabia, where he was selected as the best postgraduate student! Nowadays, Dr Saeed works in multidisciplinary fields including energy, electrical properties, nanotechnology, and polymer science. Currently, Dr Saeed and his group are studying the bio applications of the optical material tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum.

 

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist and why it is of current interest?
This research focuses mainly on estimating the antibacterial activity of Alq3, but the effect of particle size (micro- and nano- structures) of the Alq3 powders was also investigated. Furthermore, we successfully incorporated this material with polystyrene to form an antibacterial composite for coating purposes.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?
Alq3 is one of the most famous small molecular semiconductors with efficient electroluminescence and fluorescence properties. Since this material was used to manufacture the first OLED, it has been utilized massively in fabricating optoelectrical devices. However, it has not been used in bio applications. Therefore, we think use as an antibacterial coating could bring more interest to Alq3 in bio applications. 

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?
I was studying the toxicity of this material and found two things: Firstly, this material has high toxicity and, when used as a dye for fluorescence bioimaging, the captured images had high fluorescence. These results gave the motivation to utilize this material in new bio applications. Secondly, we spent three months overcoming bacterial contamination in the lab while doing the cell viability experiments. These two things motivated us to study whether Alq3 can be used as an antibacterial agent.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?
Alq3 is an attractive and exciting material. It has different crystal structures, and it is considered the most popular organometallic semiconductor in OLED. Its molecular structure has a conjugated π-electron system, which is advantageous for many applications. This material has electroluminescence (EL) and photoluminescence (PL) properties. EL properties make it an excellent material for optoelectronics devices; PL properties make it a good material for optical applications. Its diverse properties and current applications make it an excellent candidate for more investigations into new applications.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?
We tested the antibacterial activity of the Alq3 samples on seven different human pathogenic bacterial strains representing Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria: Escherichia coli ATCC 11775 (EC), Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 (EF), Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 13883 (KP), Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 33591 (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027 (PA), Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 12600 (SA), and Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC 14028 (ST). Estimating the IC50 for this material against the bacterial strains was the most challenging part of this study.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
We are most excited about using Alq3 in biosensor applications, particularly in bioimaging. We believe that it will be interesting to make modifications, such as using an appropriate material as a surface modifier containing optimized ligands to synthesize Alq3 into a core-shell form. This could further reduce Alq3’s toxicity whilst maintaining its impressive fluorescence.

What is the next step? What work is planned?
We will use what we have achieved to identify and obtain further uses for Alq3. We will study its antifungal activity and incorporate it with suitable polymers for its antifungal tests. Additionally, we hope to check its interaction with different viruses. The first use of Alq3 for bioimaging was by us – we believe there is still much more effort to be made to optimize the use of Alq3 in bioimaging. 

 

Antibacterial activity of the micro and nanostructures of the optical material tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum and its application as an antimicrobial coating

Graphical abstract: Antibacterial activity of the micro and nanostructures of the optical material tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum and its application as an antimicrobial coating

 

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

RSC Advances Popular Advances Interview with James Knight

We are excited to introduce Dr James Knight, who is the corresponding author of the RSC Advances article, The influence of degree of labelling upon cellular internalisation of antibody-cell penetrating peptide conjugates. The manuscript was well received by reviewers and was handpicked by our handling editors to be part of our Popular Advances collection.

Dr Knight told us more about the work that went into this paper and what he hopes to achieve in the future. You can explore other articles in our 2022 Popular Advances online collection here!

Meet the Author:

Dr James Knight is lecturer in radiochemistry at the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University. His research surrounds the synthesis and preclinical evaluation of radiopharmaceuticals for imaging and therapeutic applications. Additionally, he is the Degree Programme Director for MSc Drug Chemistry and the lead for radiochemistry within the Discovery of Medicines research theme in the Faculty of Medical Sciences. Interestingly, he also recently co-authored two textbooks on click chemistry and its role in radiochemistry!

The first author, Toni Pringle, is a PhD student who led the research in this paper!

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist and why it is of current interest?
In the present era of precision medicine, antibodies have emerged as an important class of highly target-specific therapeutic drugs, particularly in oncology, yet their inefficient cellular internalisation limits their scope of application to disease targets situated on the exterior side of the cell membrane. This article is based on research led by PhD student Toni Pringle who modified Herceptin (an antibody used to treat HER2-positive breast and gastric cancers) with a peptide that confers cell-penetrating properties and examined how the extent of this modification affected the uptake of Herceptin in human breast cancer cells, resulting in data that advances our understanding of the cell-internalising properties of these constructs.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?
The results of our study shine a light on the significant influence of a fundamental molecular design parameter – the degree of cell-penetrating peptide labelling. Notably, we found that a radiolabelled analogue of Herceptin modified with five cell-penetrating peptides had uptake in HER2-expressing cells 14.7-fold higher after 48 hours compared to an equivalent analogue with no peptide modification. The scale of this enhancement is exciting when you consider its implications for enhancing the therapeutic index of antibody-drug conjugates, as well as its potential to expand the scope of antibody-based positron emission tomography imaging agents to include disease biomarkers located in the intracellular environment.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?
The main focus of our research is the development of radiopharmaceuticals that can be used as imaging and/or therapeutic agents for cancer. We are particularly interested in radiopharmaceuticals based on antibody-cell penetrating peptide conjugates (Ab-CPPs) and our motivation in this case was to understand the extent to which cellular internalisation of cancer target-specific Ab-CPP is affected by the degree of peptide labelling. Our group is keen to expand in this area and we felt it was crucial to get a firm handle on this important parameter.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?
To allow us to determine the degree of peptide labelling, we decided to use a bioconjugation strategy based on strain-promoted alkyne-azide cycloaddition as this provided a convenient way to measure this parameter by depletion of the alkyne absorbance in the UV region. We also had to think carefully about how to approach the cell-based assays which were fairly complex due to the need to consider several factors, such as the specific activity of the radiolabelled Ab-CPPs, cell numbers and how these would change over the course of the experiment (and how to account for this), the sensitivity of the gamma counter, and of course, radio-protection measures at each stage etc. I must say that Toni did a fabulous job here in the planning and implementation of these experiments.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?
Working with radioisotopes can be challenging as the agents we put so much effort into making are continually and irretrievably disappearing from the moment we make them! As a result, we have to plan our work very carefully, and often this involves coordinating the activities of several people!

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
Radiochemistry and imaging at Newcastle University is thriving and enjoying a period of expansion. The imminent opening of our radiopharmaceutical GMP suite will grant us the ability to readily translate our probes into the clinic, and we have a dedicated network of academics and clinicians supporting us in this endeavour. For me, this is an incredibly exciting prospect!

What is the next step? What work is planned?
We’re taking this forward in two ways. First, we are applying this approach to antibody-drug conjugates to examine the influence of DOL upon therapeutic efficacy in target cell populations. Second, we are developing PET radioligands based on Ab-CPPs to target intracellular biomarkers that arise early in the development of pancreatic cancer to facilitate early detection. In each case, we are applying new, improved cell penetrating peptides. We are looking forward to sharing the results of these investigations soon!

 

The influence of degree of labelling upon cellular internalisation of antibody-cell penetrating peptide conjugates.

Graphical abstract: The influence of degree of labelling upon cellular internalisation of antibody-cell penetrating peptide conjugates

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

September 2022 RSC Advances Review Articles

Welcome to September’s Review round up!

Every month we update our 2022 Reviews in RSC Advances collection to showcase all of the review articles published in RSC Advances in 2022. Don’t forget to come back next month to check out our latest reviews.

We hope you enjoy reading and as always, all of our articles are open access so you can easily share your favourites online and with your colleagues.

Explore the full collection!

Browse a selection of our September reviews below:

The diversity and utility of arylthiazoline and aryloxazoline siderophores: challenges of total synthesis
Karolina Kamińska, Andrzej Mular, Evgenia Olshvang, Nils Metzler Nolte, Henryk Kozłowski, Elżbieta Wojaczyńska and Elżbieta Gumienna-Kontecka
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 25284-25322

Optical bio-sensing of DNA methylation analysis: an overview of recent progress and future prospects
Mina Adampourezare, Mohammad Hasanzadeh and Farzad Seidi
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 25786-25806

Synthesis and pharmacological activities of azo dye derivatives incorporating heterocyclic scaffolds: a review
Kibrom Mezgebe and Endale Mulugeta
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 25932-25946

Electrochemical Detection of selected Heavy Metals in Water: a case study of African experiences
Enyioma C. Okpara, Omolola E. Fayemi, Olanrewaju B. Wojuola, Damian C. Onwudiwe and Eno E. Ebenso
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 26319-26361

Nanozyme-based sensors for detection of food biomarkers: a review
Fareeha Arshad, Noor Faizah Mohd-Naim, Rona Chandrawati, Daniel Cozzolino and Minhaz Uddin Ahmed
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 26160-26175

Mechanism and behavior of caffeine sorption: affecting factors
Merve Fakioğlu and Yasemen Kalpaklı
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 26504-26513

Recovery and utilization of crude glycerol, a biodiesel byproduct
Yujia Liu, Biqi Zhong and Adeniyi Lawal
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 27997-28008

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

September 2022 Popular Advances Articles

Welcome to September’s Popular Advances article round up!

Every month we update our 2022 RSC Advances Popular Advances Article Collection to showcase all of the articles selected by our reviewers and handling editors as Popular Advances in 2022. Don’t forget to come back next month to check out our latest Popular articles.

We hope you enjoy reading and as always, all of our articles are open access so you can easily share your favourites online and with your colleagues.

Explore the full collection!

Efficient and practical synthesis of monoalkyl oxalates under green conditions
Tatiana Barsukova, Takeyuki Sato, Haruki Takumia and Satomi Niwayama
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 25669-25674

A simple and direct ionic chromatography method to monitor galactose oxidase activity
Eden Kaddouch, Maria E. Cleveland, David Navarro, Sacha Grisel, Mireille Haon, Harry Brumer, Mickaël Lafond, Jean-Guy Berrin and Bastien Bissaro
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 26042-26050

Enhanced transformation of CO2 over microporous Ce-doped Zr metal–organic frameworks
Juan Bai, Ziwei Song, Lijuan Liu, Xu Zhu, Faming Gao and Raghunath V. Chaudhari
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 26307-26318

Stereoselective synthesis of C3-tetrasubstituted oxindoles via copper catalyzed asymmetric propargylation
Jiao-Mei Wang, Yu Zhao, Chang-Sheng Yao and Kai Zhang
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 26727-26732

Synthesis and Hybridizing Properties of P Stereodefined Chimeric [PS]-{DNA:RNA} and [PS]-{DNA:(2’-OMe)-RNA} Oligomers
Katarzyna Jastrzębska, Anna Maciaszek, Rafał Dolot, Agnieszka Tomaszewska-Antczak, Barbara Mikołajczyk and Piotr Guga
RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 26815-26824

Antibacterial activity of the micro and nanostructures of the optical material tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum and its application as an antimicrobial coating
Abdu Saeed, Aysh Y. Madkhli, Rami Adel Pashameah, Noor M. Bataweel, Mir Ali Razvi and Numan Salah
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 27131-27144

The influence of degree of labelling upon cellular internalisation of antibody-cell penetrating peptide conjugates
Toni A. Pringle, Oliver Coleman, Akane Kawamura and James C. Knight
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 27716-27722

One-pot synthesis of chromenes in the presence of nano-cellulose/Ti(IV)/Fe3O4 as natural-based magnetic nano-catalysts under solvent free conditions
Raziyeh Gholami, Abdolhamid Bamoniri and Bi Bi Fatemeh Mirjalili
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 27555-27563

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest  Popular Advances articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Welcome to our new Associate Editors: Shivani Bhardwaj Mishra and Chiharu Tokoro

The RSC Advances team are delighted to welcome Professor Shivani Bhardwaj Mishra and Professor Chiharu Tokoro as our new Associate Editors!

Professor Shivani Bhardwaj Mishra, University of South Africa

Research Areas: Sol-gel technology, nanomaterials, ceramics and water treatment.

Professor Shivani Bhardwaj Mishra is Founder and Director of Academy of Nanotechnology and Waste water Innovations [ANWWI]. She is serving as an Adjunct Professor at Hebei University of Science and Technology, China and as International Advisory Board member at TU Wien, Austria. This has boosted her academic career allowing her to expand her research expertise with joint projects, publications and knowledge exchange activities. Over twenty years of her academic experience accounts for teaching organic chemistry and research in the field of nanomaterials, nanocomposites and its various environmental and material applications. Besides, her core research interest is waste valorization to promote sustainability and circular economy growth. Her educational background involves a PhD in Chemistry from Jamia Millia Islamia, Master of Science [Organic Chemistry] and Bachelor of Science [Chemistry] from University of Madras, India.

For her outstanding profile and academic achievements, she was inducted as prestigious Fellow member of Royal Society of Chemistry in 2015 and is a member of American Chemical Society, USA, South African Chemical Society and many others. She is the recipient of many accolades and among these are, Distinguished Woman Scientist award from Department of Science and Technology, South Africa, Woman in Research Leadership Award from University of South Africa and recognised as Top 10 researchers at University of Johannesburg. She is Associate Editor for Frontiers for Green and sustainable chemistry and Guest Associate Editor for Medicinal and Pharmaceutical chemistry, editorial board member and reviewer for various journals. She has more than hundred publications in renowned journals.

Read Shivani’s recent RSC Advances publication: 

Mechanistic pathways for the degradation of SMX drug and floatation of degraded products using F-Pt co-doped TiO2 photocatalysts, M Jahdi, SB Mishra, EN Nxumalo, SD Mhlanga, AK Mishra, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 27662-27675, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA05009A

 

Professor Chiharu Tokoro, Waseda University

 

Research Areas: Mineral processing, resource recycling, environmental purification, powder technologies and chemical engineering.

Professor Chiharu Tokoro received her Dr. Eng from the University of Tokyo in 2003. She then went on to work at Waseda University where she has currently held the position of Professor since 2015. From 2021 she also became a Professor at Professor at the School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo.

Professor Chiharu Tokoro is currently on the Editorial Board for Elsevier’s Advanced Powder Technology. She has won the 2020 Waseda Research Award, was a finalist for the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2021 in Engineering and Technology and won the Waseda University Best Paper award in 2021.

The Tokoro Lab is currently focusing their efforts into three research areas, developing recycling systems, using powder simulations to explore various powder processes and developing technologies for recovering metals from wastewater.

 

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)