Benzylfentanyl as a Surrogate Template for Fentanyl-Selective Imprinted Polymers.

The illicit use of fentanyl has led to hundreds of thousands of opioid-related deaths worldwide. Therefore, the detection of fentanyl by law enforcement and recreational users is of utmost importance. However, current detection methods are expensive, time-consuming, require special storage conditions, and necessitate complex instrumentation that is generally unportable and requires skilled personnel to operate.

Analytical Perspectives in the Study of Polyvalent Interactions of Free and Surface-Bound Oligonucleotides and Their Implications in Affinity Biosensing.

The high affinity and/or selectivity of oligonucleotide-mediated binding offers a myriad of therapeutical and analytical applications, whose rational design implies an accurate knowledge of the involved molecular mechanisms, concurring equilibrium processes and key affinity parameters. Oligonucleotide-functionalized gold surfaces or nanostructures are regularly employed analytical platforms for the development of label-free optical or electrochemical biosensors, and recently, novel detection platform designs have been increasingly considering the synergistic effect of polyvalent binding, involving the simultaneous interaction of two or several oligonucleotide strands. Considering the general lack of studies involving ternary single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) interactions, a complementary analytical workflow involving capillary gel electrophoretic (CGE) mobility shift assay, microcalorimetry and computational modeling has been deployed for the characterization of a series of free and surface-bound binary and ternary oligonucleotide interactions.

Dirichlet Polynomials and Entropy.

A Dirichlet polynomial in one variable y is a function of the form d(y)=anny+⋯+a22y+a11y+a00y for some n,a0,…,an∈N. We will show how to think of a Dirichlet polynomial as a set-theoretic bundle, and thus as an empirical distribution. We can then consider the Shannon entropy H(d) of the corresponding probability distribution, and we define its (or, classically, its ) by L(d)=2H(d).

Improved Enantioselectivity for Atenolol Employing Pivot Based Molecular Imprinting.

In the last few decades, molecular imprinting technology went through a spectacular evolution becoming a well-established tool for the synthesis of highly selective biomimetic molecular recognition platforms. Nevertheless, there is still room for advancement in the molecular imprinting of highly polar chiral compounds. The aim of the present work was to investigate the favorable kosmotropic effect of a ternary complex involving a polar chiral template (eutomer of atenolol) and a functional monomer, bridged by a central metal ion through well-defined, spatially directional coordinate bonds.