RSC Advances Blog

200th RSC Advances Article published online: A biochip for detecting ocean microbes

14 Nov 2011

Fujii and co-workers have fabricated a microfluidic device capable of analyzing microbial genes in deep sea environments. The genetic analyzer consists of a PDMS–glass microfluidic device that is capable of cell lysis, DNA purification, PCR, and optical detection. The Integrated In Situ Analyzer was named “IISA-Gene’’. It was developed and evaluated in Tokyo as a result of a fruitful collabotation between the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

“We were able to use IISA-Gene to achieve spatiotemporally resolved profiling of microbial ecosystems in ocean environments”, claims Fujii. The technique which incorporates microfluidic technology minimises the risks of contamination through sample collections and manipulations.

By employing a simple flow-through PCR method, complicated genetic analyses can be automatically performed in extreme oceanic conditions. The performance of the system has been examined through at-sea experiments, taking it down to the deep sea using a remotely-operated vehicle. “Field evaluations at deep sea have shown that the amplification of the eubacterial universal 16S rRNA gene and the recovery of the PCR product to the surface”, says Fujii. The technology could provide a significant step to aid the discovery of further microbial life-forms in our oceans.

This is the 200^th article published online by RSC Advances, a newly launched Journal by the Royal Society of Chemistry. You can download the full article for free by simply registering here.

Integrated in situ genetic analyzer for microbiology in extreme environments
Tatsuhiro Fukuba, Akimitsu Miyaji, Takuji Okamoto, Takatoki Yamamoto, Shohei Kaneda and Teruo Fujii
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 1567-1573

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Announcement: RSC Advances is now indexed in SCI

10 Nov 2011

By Kathleen Too, Deputy Editor.

We are pleased to announce that RSC Advances is now fully indexed in Thomson Reuters SCI-expanded databases including ISI Web of Science. This will enhance the visibility and discoverability of all the articles published. Issues 1-6 of RSC Advances are already listed on ISI. Congratulations to the authors who have their articles cited already!

Below is a list of RSC Advances articles that have already received citations:

The role of the intermolecular potential on the dynamics of ethylene confined in cylindrical nanopores
Fernando J. A. L. Cruz, Erich A. Müller and José P. B. Mota
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 270-281

Fabrication of cuprous oxide nanoparticles by laser ablation in PVP aqueous solution
Peisheng Liu, Zhigang Li, Weiping Cai, Ming Fang and Xiangdong Luo
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 847-851

A novel application of porphyrin nanoparticles as an effective fluorescent assay platform for nucleic acid detection
Junfeng Zhai, Hailong Li and Xuping Sun
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 36-39
DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00026H

Please remember that all our articles are free to download until December 2012!

RSC Advances publishes high quality articles covering emerging areas and multidiciplinary fields. The subject coverage includes: Analytical, Biological, Catalysis, Environmental, Inorganic, Materials, Physical, Organic, Nanoscience, Energy, Food, Chemical Biology and Medicinal. More information on our scope can be read here.

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Latest advances in fluorinated contrast agents for MRI

04 Nov 2011

By Kathleen Too, Deputy Editor.

There are an increasing number of articles reporting novel fluorinated responsive (smart) agents, micelles, dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers being investigated as targets for ¹⁹F-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

James Knight (University of Alberta, Canada) and co-workers based at Cardiff University, UK, give a pertinent account of the latest developments in the field. Their review article also covers multimodal contrast agents containing ¹⁹F nuclei.

Read the review article for free upon a simple registration process:

Fluorinated contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging; a review of recent developments
James C. Knight, Peter G. Edwards and Stephen J. Paisey
RSC Adv., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00627D, Review

A simplified representation of a micelle containing a hydrophobic core with a large population of fluorine nuclei. The incorporation of n-butyl acrylate (purple spheres) into the hydrophobic block via statistical copolymerisation has been shown by Peng et al. (Biomacromolecules, 2009, 374) to enable longer T2 relaxation times by lowering the glass transition temperature.

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Radioactive iodine remediation using chalcogels

27 Oct 2011

By Kathleen Too, Deputy Editor.

Picture of Cg-7C chalcogels in a glass vial. This is the typical appearance of C-cast gels following supercritical drying.

“Chalcogen-based aerogels could be used to capture and immobilize radioactive iodine”, say scientists in the US.

In order to maximize the efficiency of nuclear power production, fuel reprocessing will be required. Although the most efficient and final methods of reprocessing have not yet been identified, the current proposed methods will involve measureable quantities of long-lived radioactive species such as ¹²⁹I and ⁹⁹Tc. These radioisotopes have long half-lives (hundreds-of-thousands to millions of years) and are usually immobilised in glass and safely disposed of in geological repositories. Here, the authors investigate the option of using chalcogen-based aerogels (a.k.a. chalcogels) as sorbents to capture radioactive iodine gas from the off-gas at a future reprocessing facility.

The chalcogels discussed in this work are aerogels assembled with Ge-S structural units and an additional interlinking metal. The team led by Brian Riley at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, USA, provides some understanding of the chemical and thermal stability of the chalcogel-sorbed iodine phases. “High affinity was obtained with the Pt-Ge-S chalcogels, both under a saturated iodine environment and gas containing low I₂(g) concentrations,” says Riley and co-workers. The maximum iodine loading was shown to be about 240 mass% and over 99% of the available iodine gas was removed from flowing dry air containing I₂(g) at 4.2 ppm.

They conclude that “improvements to the chalcogels are needed to lower cost, provide a strong iodine chemisorption, and prevent desorption during consolidation”. The authors also give a brief overview of the application of chalcogels as a waste form for radioisotopes. This article provides some insight into how these materials could be consolidated into a chalcogenide glass as a final waste form product. Chalcogenide glasses have a well-known high-iodine solubility.

“This work is on-going and involves collaboration with Mercouri Kanatzidis at Northwestern University,” adds Riley.

Read the full article for free until December 2012:

Chalcogen-based aerogels as a multifunctional platform for remediation of radioactive iodine
Brian J. Riley, Jaehun Chun, Joseph V. Ryan, Josef Matyáš, Xiaohong S. Li, Dean W. Matson, Shanmugavelayutham K. Sundaram, Denis M. Strachan and John D. Vienna
RSC Adv., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00351H, Paper

Change in the appearance of P-cast Pt-Ge-S gel (Cg-3P) during the gelation process over the course of 144 h (in the hydrogel state)

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Festival of Lights in RSC Advances

26 Oct 2011

By Kathleen Too, Deputy Editor.

Happy Diwali!

Diwali is also known as the “festival of lights”and RSC Advances joins in the celebration by highlighting the latest articles published that involve light. Please note that all our content are free to download upon a simple registration process.

A lot of reactions need light to happen and other molecules emit light. These chemical reactions have applications in organoelectronics such as organic light-emitting diodes, photovoltaics or in bio-labelling techniques and photocatalytic reactions such as light-induced water splitting, etc…

Below is a selection of RSC Advances articles that may be of interests to you:

Blue phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes containing carbazole-functionalized phenylpyridine for organic light-emitting di odes: energy transfer from carbazolyl moieties to iridium(III) cores
Hoe-Joo Seo, Myungkwan Song, Sung-Ho Jin, Jung Hei Choi, Seong-Jae Yun and Young-Inn Kim
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 755-757, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00140J, Communication

The electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection of IS6110 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis based on a luminol functionalized gold nanoprobe
Jie Jiang, Ying Chai and Hua Cui
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 247-254, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00206F, Paper

Monodisperse CeO2/CdS heterostructured spheres: one-pot synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen activity
Xi-Hong Lu, Shi-Lei Xie, Teng Zhai, Yu-Feng Zhao, Peng Zhang, Yue-Li Zhang and Ye-Xiang Tong
RSC Adv., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00252J, Communication

Hierarchical Bi7O9I3 micro/nano-architecture: facile synthesis, growth mechanism, and high visible light photocatalytic performance
Xin Xiao and Wei-De Zhang
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 1099-1105, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00323B, Paper

Chemical reactions under autogenic pressure at elevated temperature to fabricate photo-luminescent Ga2O3 nanocrystals and their coatings
Pani P. George, Vilas G. Pol, Yuri Koltypin, Makluf Shirly Ben-David, I. Genish and Aharon Gedanken
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 619-624, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00277E, Paper

Synthesis of FeS2 and Co-doped FeS2 films with the aid of supercritical carbon dioxide and their photoelectrochemical properties
Jiqing Jiao, Liuping Chen, Daibin Kuang, Wei Gao, Huajie Feng and Jian Xia
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 255-261, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00066G, Paper

Well-crystallized square-like 2D BiOCl nanoplates: mannitol-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and improved visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance
Jinyan Xiong, Gang Cheng, Guangfang Li, Fan Qin and Rong Chen
RSC Adv., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00335F, Paper

Length control of Ag nanorods in mesoporous SiO2–TiO2 by light irradiation
Go Kawamura, Mai Murakami, Teruhisa Okuno, Hiroyuki Muto and Atsunori Matsuda
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 584-587, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00317H, Communication

A dithienyl benzotriazole-based poly(2,7-carbazole) for field-effect transistors and efficient light-emitting diodes
Bo Liu, Yingping Zou, Shanghui Ye, Yuehui He and Kechao Zhou
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 424-428, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00134E, Paper

One-pot synthesis and characterization of well defined core–shell structure of FePt@CdSe nanoparticles
Thuy T. Trinh, Derrick Mott, Nguyen T. K. Thanh and Shinya Maenosono
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 100-108, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00012H, Paper

RSC Advances wishes a Happy Diwali to all our hindu authors, referees, readers and editors!

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RSC Advances: Asian Coordination Chemistry

24 Oct 2011

By Kathleen Too, Deputy Editor.

RSC Advances was proud to sponsor a poster prize at the 3rd Asian Coordination Chemistry conference in New Delhi, India.

Congratulations to Dr Sandeep Kumar Dey, from the group of Prof Gopal Das of the Indian Institute of Technology in Gauhati, for his poster on anion binding and host-guest chemistry with tripodal ligands. Unfortunately, Dr Dey could not stay for the closing ceremony so the prize was accepted on his behalf by Professor M. Yamashita. See picture below.

Professor M. Yamashita (left) accepting the poster prize on behalf of Sandeep Dey. The prize was awarded by Professor Mike Ward (right), Editorial Board Chair of RSC Advances

In addition to the certificate Dr Dey was awarded a copy of the book ‘Organometallic Chemistry’ by Ian J S Fairlamb, Jason M Lynam, M G Humphrey, and published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The latest inorganic chemistry articles published in RSC Advances can be freely downloaded here.

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Flexible HVO paper as cathode for Li-ion batteries

17 Oct 2011

By Kathleen Too, Deputy Editor.

Could rechargeable batteries for portable electronic devices be flexible and rollable?

Scientists in Singapore show that hydrated vanadium pentoxide (HVO)-based bulky paper are excellent candidates for cathodes in lithium ion batteries. Paper is lightweight, low-cost and flexible and provide many advantages over carbon nanotubes and graphene nanosheets.

The team led by Tuti Mariana Lim and Qingyu Yan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore prepared bulky paper from HVO nanobelts, which they synthesised using a very efficient hydrothermal method (up to 99% yield). The nanobelts were several micrometers long, ~20nm in diameter and ~10nm in thickness. Flexible bulky-paper cathodes were made without the addition of binders.

“These flexible electrodes show high reversible Li storage capacities, good high C-rate performance with ~100% coulombic efficiency,” claim Lim and Yu.

“These promising properties of binder-free flexible electrodes can be an important step for development of rollable rechargeable battery with desired energy storage performance.”

Read the full paper for free upon a simple registration process:

Facile preparation of hydrated vanadium pentoxide nanobelts based bulky paper as flexible binder-free cathodes for high-performance lithium ion batteries

Xianhong Rui, Jixin Zhu, Weiling Liu, Huiteng Tan, Daohao Sim, Chen Xu, Hua Zhang, Jan Ma, Huey Hoon Hng, Tuti Mariana Lim and Qingyu Yan
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 117-122

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PVA excellent for solar cell encapsulation

12 Oct 2011

By Kathleen Too, Deputy Editor.

French scientists explain how polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is an excellent oxygen-barrier polymer for solar cell encapsulation. The team led by Jean-Luc Gardette, at the University of Clermont, conducted photochemical studies of PVA under solar light. They showed that the photooxidative degradation of PVA are restricted to the first 5 micron at the surface of the exposed films. The researchers also identified the low molecular weight products such as carboxylic acids that can be trapped in the film or migrate in the gas phase and they proposed an oxidative mechanism to account for these modifications.

However, the most appealing property of PVA is its “high stability upon irradiation in the absence of oxygen, even after long exposure in conditions of accelerated ageing”, says Gardette. Indeed, PVA is an excellent candidate for the multilayer encapsulation system of Organic Solar Cells (OSCs) due to its high durability, “as long as the PVA layer is protected from
air by an inorganic layer as a first outside layer in the inorganic/organic multistack”.

Photochemical behavior of PVA as an oxygen-barrier polymer for solar cell encapsulation
Julien Gaume, Pascal Wong-Wah-Chung, Agnès Rivaton, Sandrine Thérias and Jean-Luc Gardette
RSC Adv., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00350J

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Detecting vancomycin-resistant bug with DNA sensor

07 Oct 2011

By Kathleen Too, Deputy Editor.

Scientists in China have improved the accuracy of DNA sensors for use in disease detection.

DNA sensors detect pathogenic and genetic diseases by binding to target DNA strands that are related to the disease and giving a signal that shows how much of the DNA is present. Recent developments in the technology make use of gold nanoparticles functionalised with primer strands that bind to the DNA of interest. When the primers link to the targets, changes in the nanoparticles’ UV-visible absorbance provide a quantifiable signal.

Ken Cham-Fai Leung from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and coworkers have modified this approach to improve the sensitivity and accuracy.

Sensors employing gold nanoparticles randomly functionalised with single-stranded primer DNA can lead to primer strand cross-binding, resulting in agglomeration. This can entrap the nanoparticles and reduce the number of primer strands available for binding to the target DNA, leading to inaccurate changes in absorbance signals.

Primer strands attached to a gold nanoparticle

The monofunctionalised nanoparticles form discrete nanostructures (left), whilst randomly functionalised nanoparticles tend to aggregate (right)

To combat this problem, Leung and his team made monofunctionalised gold nanoparticles to which just one primer strand complementary to the target DNA was attached. The team used the nanoparticles to detect a DNA strand just 10 bases long, related to Enterococcus faecalis, a bacterium that can cause life-threatening infections. The shorter primer strands then needed to attach to the nanoparticles displayed reduced steric and electrostatic repulsions, decreasing the tendency for agglomeration. ‘Using these structurally well-defined, monofunctionalised gold nanoparticles will provide more quantitative results for DNA detection,’ says Leung.

The nanoparticle complexes are soluble in organic solvent mixtures in which longer DNA sequences are typically denatured; using such solvents could provide novel approaches for gene delivery.

‘The work has enriched our current understanding of DNA hybridisation in organic media, and it clearly shows good potential for future applications in biomedical research and new sensor developments,’ says Cong Yu, an expert in nucleic acid chemistry from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, China.

Sarah Farley

The above story was published in Chemistry World on the 7th October 2011: Detecting diseases with DNA sensors

The full article is free to download after a simple registration process:

DNA hybridization of pathogenicity island of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis with discretely functionalized gold nanoparticles in organic solvent mixtures
Chun-Pong Chak, Josie M. Y. Lai, Kathy W. Y. Sham, Christopher H. K. Cheng and Ken Cham-Fai Leung, RSC Adv., 2011
DOI:10.1039/c1ra00304f, Advanced Article

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RSC Advances Blog

200th RSC Advances Article published online: A biochip for detecting ocean microbes

Announcement: RSC Advances is now indexed in SCI

Latest advances in fluorinated contrast agents for MRI

Radioactive iodine remediation using chalcogels

Festival of Lights in RSC Advances

RSC Advances: Asian Coordination Chemistry

Top ten most accessed articles in September

Flexible HVO paper as cathode for Li-ion batteries

PVA excellent for solar cell encapsulation

Detecting vancomycin-resistant bug with DNA sensor

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