This paper documents and reinvestigates the solid-state and crystal structures of 4,4'-azobis-4-cyanopentanoic acid (ACPA), a water-soluble azobis-nitrile of immense utility as a radical initiator in living polymerizations and a labile mechanophore that can be embedded within long polymer chains to undergo selective scission under mechanical activation. Surprisingly, for such applications, both the commercially available reagent and their derivatives are used as "single initiators" when this azonitrile is actually a mixture of stereoisomers. Although the racemate and compounds were identified more than half a century ago and their enantiomers were separated by classical resolution, there have been confusing narratives dealing with their characterization, the existence of a conglomeratic phase, and fractional crystallization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOrig Life Evol Biosph
September 2022
By paraphrasing one of Kipling's most amazing short stories (How the Leopard Got His Spots), this article could be entitled "How Sugars Became Homochiral". Obviously, we have no answer to this still unsolved mystery, and this perspective simply brings recent models, experiments and hypotheses into the homochiral homogeneity of sugars on earth. We shall revisit the past and current understanding of sugar chirality in the context of prebiotic chemistry, with attention to recent developments and insights.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConglomerate crystallization is required for many deracemization or enantioenrichment protocols. Here, we report the metal-mediated mechanochemical transformation of racemic compounds of some proteinogenic amino acids - valine, leucine and isoleucine - into their corresponding conglomerates. Specifically, ZnO has the ability to promote and stabilize the conglomerate phase of these amino acids to an extent where the racemic compound is not observed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Fac Cien Med Univ Nac Cordoba
February 2019
Introduction: Urinary incontinence is a very frequent pathology in the female population, however it remains a hidden health problem. The main objective of the work is to cross-culturally adapt the BISC-Q questionnaire to be use spanish speaking population. Material and method: The cross-cultural adaptation of the Questionnaire (BICS-Q) was carried out in the following stages: initial translation, synthesis of the translations, retro-translation, expert committee, pre-test and review of the adaptation process by the researchers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCrystal growth by oriented attachment involves the spontaneous self-assembly of adjoining crystals with common crystallographic orientations. Herein, we report the oriented attachment of gypsum crystals on agitation to form stereoselective mesoscale aggregates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF