Life Cycle Impact Assessment of Solution Combustion Synthesis of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles and Its Comparison with More Conventional Strategies.

This paper represents the first attempt to quantitatively and reliably assess the environmental sustainability of solution combustion synthesis (SCS) with respect to other soft chemistry strategies, which are more conventionally employed in the preparation of engineered oxide nanomaterials, namely hydrolytic and non-hydrolytic sol-gel syntheses (i. e., HSGS and NHSGS).

Microwave-Assisted Vacuum Synthesis of TiO Nanocrystalline Powders in One-Pot, One-Step Procedure.

A new method for fast and simple synthesis of crystalline TiO nanoparticles with photocatalytic activity was developed by carrying out a classic sol-gel reaction directly under vacuum. The use of microwaves for fast heating of the reaction medium further reduces synthesis times. When the solvent is completely removed by vacuum, the product is obtained in the form of a powder that can be easily redispersed in water to yield a stable nanoparticle suspension, exhibiting a comparable photocatalytic activity with respect to a commercial product.

Iminium ion catalysis: the enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation-acetalization cascade of naphthols with α,β-unsaturated cyclic ketones.

The first enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation-acetalization-cascade of naphthols with α,β-unsaturated cyclic ketones and 1H-inden-1-ones was realized. 9-Amino(9-deoxy)epi-quinine A was the catalyst of choice for the realization of polycyclic structures with high enantiocontrol.

A straightforward route to enantiopure 2-substituted-3,4-dehydro-β-proline via ring closing metathesis.

The synthesis of unusual cyclic amino acids, that may be envisaged as proline analogs, is an area of great interest for their potential applications as scaffolds for the design of bioactive peptidomimetics or units for the creation of novel foldamers. We have carried out the preparation of cyclic dehydro-β-amino acids starting from allylic carbonates via a two-step allylic amination/ring closing metathesis (RCM) protocol. The introduction of the allylamino moiety has been carried out either without a catalyst, through an S(N)2' reaction, or in the presence of iridium complexes.