Magnetic Shape Memory Turns to Nano: Microstructure Controlled Actuation of Free-Standing Nanodisks.

Magnetic shape memory materials hold a great promise for next-generation actuation devices and systems for energy conversion, thanks to the intimate coupling between structure and magnetism in their martensitic phase. Here novel magnetic shape memory free-standing nanodisks are proposed, proving that the lack of the substrate constrains enables the exploitation of new microstructure-controlled actuation mechanisms by the combined application of different stimuli-i.e.

Lorentz microscopy sheds light on the role of dipolar interactions in magnetic hyperthermia.

Monodispersed Fe3O4 nanoparticles with comparable size distributions have been synthesized by two different synthesis routes, co-precipitation and thermal decomposition. Thanks to the different steric stabilizations, the described samples can be considered as a model system to investigate the effects of magnetic dipolar interactions on the aggregation states of the nanoparticles. Moreover, the presence of magnetic dipolar interactions can strongly affect the nanoparticle efficiency as a hyperthermic mediator.

Porphyrin conjugated SiC/SiOx nanowires for X-ray-excited photodynamic therapy.

The development of innovative nanosystems opens new perspectives for multidisciplinary applications at the frontier between materials science and nanomedicine. Here we present a novel hybrid nanosystem based on cytocompatible inorganic SiC/SiOx core/shell nanowires conjugated via click-chemistry procedures with an organic photosensitizer, a tetracarboxyphenyl porphyrin derivative. We show that this nanosystem is an efficient source of singlet oxygen for cell oxidative stress when irradiated with 6 MV X-Rays at low doses (0.

Cytocompatibility and cellular internalization mechanisms of SiC/SiO2 nanowires.

First evidence of in vitro cytocompatibility of SiC/SiO2 core-shell nanowires is reported. Different internalization mechanisms by adenocarcinomic alveolar basal epithelial cells, monocytic cell line derived from an acute monocytic leukemia, breast cancer cells, and normal human dermal fibroblasts are shown. The internalization occurs mainly for macropinocytosis and sporadically by direct penetration in all cell models considered, whereas it occurred for phagocytosis only in monocytic leukemia cells.

A sequential Pd/norbornene-catalyzed process generates o-biaryl carbaldehydes or ketones via a redox reaction or 6H-dibenzopyrans by C-O ring closure.

o-Biaryl carbaldeydes and ketones are obtained through the one-pot reaction of o-aryl iodides with o-bromobenzyl alcohols under the catalytic action of Pd and norbornene, in the presence of a base. The same reaction can also give dibenzopyrans by Pd and norbornene catalysis with a different termination, leading to C-O ring closure. In both cases the process first leads to a five-membered palladacycle, which controls C-C coupling, then to a seven-membered oxapalladacycle, which gives aldehydes and ketones or dibenzopyrans.