Highly Specific and Wide Range NO Sensor with Color Readout.

We present a simple and inexpensive method to implement a Griess-Saltzman-type reaction that combines the advantages of the liquid phase method (high specificity and fast response time) with the benefits of a solid implementation (easy to handle). We demonstrate that the measurements can be carried out using conventional RGB sensors; circumventing all the limitations around the measurement of the samples with spectrometers. We also present a method to optimize the measurement protocol and target a specific range of NO concentrations.

New nanostructured materials: synthesis of dodecanuclear Ni(II) complexes and surface deposition studies.

Microwave-assisted synthesis has been used to obtain the family of dodecanuclear Ni(II) complexes [Ni12(NO3)(MeO)12(MeC6H4CO2)9(MeOH)10(H2O)2][ClO4]2 (1), [Ni12(NO3)(MeO)12(BrC6H4CO2)9(MeOH)10(H2O)2][ClO4]2 (2), [Ni12(CO3)(MeO)12(MeC6H4CO2)9(MeOH)10(H2O)2]2[SO4] (3) and [Ni12(NO3)(MeO)12(MeC6H4CO2)9(MeOH)8(H2O)7][NO3]2 (4). They contain three {Ni4O4} cubane units which template around a central μ6 anion, either NO3(-) or CO3(2-). Their magnetic properties have been studied by superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry and high-field EPR measurements.

Molecular [(Fe3)–(Fe3)] and [(Fe4)–(Fe4)] coordination cluster pairs as single or composite arrays.

The synthesis of molecular cluster pairs is a challenge for coordination chemists due to the potential applications of these species in molecular spintronics or quantum computing. The ligand H(4)L, 1,3-bis-(3-oxo-3-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-propionyl)-2-methoxybenzene, has been successfully used to obtain a series of such complexes using the basic Fe(III) trinuclear carboxylates as starting materials. Synthetic control has allowed the isolation of the two molecular cluster pairs that form the composite [Fe(4)O(2)(PhCO(2))(6)(H(2)L)(pz)](2)[Fe(3)O(PhCO(2))(5)(py)(H(2)L)](2) (1).

Microwave assisted synthesis and magnetic properties of octanuclear and enneanuclear Ni(II) complexes: an unprecedented coordination mode for the NO(2)(-) ligand.

Octanuclear and enneanuclear Ni(II) complexes have been synthesized using a microwave reactor. The octanuclear complex Ni(8) presents a new triply bridging coordination mode for the NO(2)(-) ligand.