Topic Review
Pyranopterin-Dithiolene Contributions to Moco Enzyme Catalysis
The pyranopterin dithiolene ligand is remarkable in terms of its geometric and electronic structure and is uniquely found in mononuclear molybdenum and tungsten enzymes. The pyranopterin dithiolene is found coordinated to the metal ion, deeply buried within the protein, and non-covalently attached to the protein via an extensive hydrogen bonding network that is enzyme-specific. However, the function of pyranopterin dithiolene in enzymatic catalysis has been difficult to determine. This focused account aims to provide an overview of what has been learned from the study of pyranopterin dithiolene model complexes of molybdenum and how these results relate to the enzyme systems. 
  • 80
  • 04 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Biomass Feedstocks into Biofuel
The conversion of biomass to biofuels as a renewable energy source is continuously gaining momentum due to the environmental concerns associated with using fossil fuels. Biomass is a cost-effective, long-term natural resource that may be converted to biofuels such as biodiesel, biogas, bio-oil, and biohydrogen using a variety of chemical, thermal, and biological methods. Thermochemical processes are one of the most advanced biomass conversion methods, with much potential and room for improvement.
  • 54
  • 26 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Metal Complexes That Induce Ferroptosis for Anticancer Application
The discovery of regulated cell death (RCD) revolutionized chemotherapy. With caspase-dependent apoptosis initially being thought to be the only form of RCD, many drug development strategies aimed to synthesize compounds that turn on this kind of cell death. The induction of ferroptosis through small molecule metal complexes is an emerging anti-cancer strategy. Metallodrugs possess distinctive characteristics because of their metal and ligand composition. Different metal centers can showcase varying coordination geometries and redox capabilities, whereas ligands may also demonstrate diverse biological activities. Furthermore, biothiols have a strong attraction to metal ions, and this interaction can potentially disrupt the cellular redox balance and impair protein and enzyme function. Light exposure sensitizes certain metal complexes, leading to the creation of ROS and singlet O2. This is due to the spin–orbital coupling, which heightens the probability of intersystem crossing. As a result, metal complexes have the potential to disrupt the balance of redox reactions and build up lipid peroxidation, ultimately leading to the occurrence of ferroptosis.
  • 77
  • 24 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Structure and Properties of Graphene Quantum Dots
Graphene quantum dot (GQD) is a new type of carbon nanometer material. In addition to the excellent properties of graphene, it is superior due to the quantum limit effect and edge effect. Because of its advantages such as water solution, strong fluorescent, small size, and low biological toxicity, it has important application potential in various fields, especially in sensors and biomedical areas, which are mainly used as optical electrical sensors as well as in biological imaging and tumor therapy. In addition, GQDs have very important characteristics, such as optical and electrical properties. There are many preparation methods, divided into top-down and bottom-up methods, which have different advantages and disadvantages, respectively. In addition, the modification methods include heterogeneous doping, surface heterogeneity, etc. 
  • 76
  • 17 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Ytterbium Fluoride in Dental Materials
The compound ytterbium trifluoride is used as a component of several dental materials. Ytterbium trifluoride is reported to be insoluble in water. Despite this, its presence is associated with fluoride release from dental materials. There is evidence that it reacts with the components of calcium trisilicate cements to form small amounts of a variety of compounds, including ytterbium oxide, Yb2O3, and calcium–ytterbium fluoride, CaYbF5. In nanoparticulate form, it has been shown to reinforce glass polyalkenoates and it also provides high contrast in X-ray images.
  • 106
  • 12 Jan 2024
Topic Review
X-ray and Nuclear Spectroscopies for Non-Gadolinium MRI Agents
Nanoparticulated manganese cyanoferrate (K2Mn[Fe(CN)6]) and its analogs are non-toxic complexes and prime candidates for the next generation non-gadolinium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agents. L-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (L-XAS) and 57Fe specific nuclear resonant vibrational spectroscopy (NRVS) can be combined as a modern spectroscopic method to evaluate the element specific and isotope specific information about the oxidation states, electronic spin states and the coordination environments for the metals inside these complexes.
  • 123
  • 08 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Production of Scandium Radioisotopes
The concept of theranostics is based on the use of radioisotopes of the same or chemically similar elements to label biological ligands in a way that allows the use of diagnostic and therapeutic radiation for a combined diagnosis and treatment regimen. For scandium, radioisotopes -43 and -44 can be used as diagnostic markers, while radioisotope scandium-47 can be used in the same configuration for targeted therapy.
  • 134
  • 11 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Molecular Mn-Based Contrast Agents
MRI contrast agents are required in clinic to detect some pathologies, such as cancers. Nevertheless, at the moment, only small extracellular and non-specific gadolinium complexes are available for the clinicians. Moreover, safety issues have recently appeared concerning the use of gadolinium complexes, so that alternatives are urgently needed. Manganese-based MRI contrast agents could be one of these alternatives and more and more studies are available in the literature. This work aims at synthesizing all those researches, to highlight all the efforts already made by the scientific community to obtain highly efficient agents, but also evidence the weaknesses of the developed systems.
  • 90
  • 03 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Nitride Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors for UV Nonlinear Optics
Nitride wide-bandgap semiconductors possess a wide tunable energy bandgap and abundant coordination anionic groups. This suggests their potential to display nonlinear optical (NLO) properties in the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength spectrum.
  • 139
  • 02 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Medicinal  Application of Palladium Nanoparticles
Palladium (Pd), a noble metal, has unique properties for C-C bond formation in reactions such as the Suzuki and Heck reactions. Besides Pd-based complexes, Pd NPs have also attracted significant attention for applications such as fuel cells, hydrogen storage, and sensors for gases such as H2 and non-enzymatic glucose, including catalysis. Additionally, Pd NPs are catalysts in environmental treatment to abstract organic and heavy-metal pollutants such as Cr (VI) by converting them to Cr(III). In terms of biological activity, Pd NPs were found to be active against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, where 99.99% of bacteria were destroyed, while PVP-Pd NPs displayed anticancer activity against human breast cancer MCF7.
  • 143
  • 26 Oct 2023
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