Nanostructured indium tin oxide slides for small-molecule profiling and imaging mass spectrometry of metabolites by surface-assisted laser desorption ionization MS.

Due to their electrical conductivity and optical transparency, slides coated with a thin layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) are the standard substrate for protein imaging mass spectrometry on tissue samples by MALDI-TOF MS. We have now studied the rf magnetron sputtering deposition parameters to prepare ITO thin films on glass substrates with the required nanometric surface structure for their use in the matrix-free imaging of metabolites and small-molecule drugs, without affecting the transparency required for classical histology. The custom-made surfaces were characterized by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, ellipsometry, UV, and laser desorption ionization MS (LDI-MS) and employed for the LDI-MS-based analysis of glycans and druglike molecules, the quantification of lactose in milk by isotopic dilution, and metabolite imaging on mouse brain tissue samples.

Preparation of 3-D scaffolds in the SiO2-P2O5 system with tailored hierarchical meso-macroporosity.

Herein we report for the first time the synthesis of three-dimensional scaffolds in the binary system SiO2-P2O5 exhibiting different scales of porosity: (i) highly ordered mesopores with diameters of ca. 4 nm; (ii) macropores with diameters in the 30-80 μm range with interconnections of ca. 2-4 and 8-9 μm; and (iii) ultra-large macropores of ca.

The mechanism of the (bispidine)copper(II)-catalyzed aziridination of styrene: a combined experimental and theoretical study.

Experimental and DFT-based computational results on the aziridination mechanism and the catalytic activity of (bispidine)copper(I) and -copper(II) complexes are reported and discussed (bispidine=tetra- or pentadentate 3,7-diazabicyclo[3.1.1]nonane derivative with two or three aromatic N donors in addition to the two tertiary amines).