Polyurethane sponges bearing cucurbituril adsorb Cr(III) and Pb(II) ions from contaminated water samples.

Water contamination with toxic metals causes harmful effects on the environment and to human health. Although cucurbiturils have carboxyl groups in their portal that can interact with metal ions, there is a lack of studies about their use as metal adsorbent. This scenario has motivated conduction of the present study, which addresses the use of cucurbit[6]uril (CB[6]) and cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) for adsorbing Pb and Cr from water samples, in free forms and immobilized in poly(urethane) sponges.

Solvatochromism and solution π-stacking of N-(4-pyridyl)-1,8-naphthalimide and its corresponding triruthenium coordination complex.

Due to the scarcity of spectroscopic studies on metal-coordinated naphthalimides, and aiming to investigate fundamental spectroscopic aspects, we have described here the aggregates of N-(4-pyridyl)-1,8-naphthalimide (NI-py) in solution as well as solvatochromism displayed by it and by the coordination compounds [RuO(CHCOO)(NI-py)], n = +1 or 0. Based both on theoretical calculations and luminescence spectra, we demonstrated that in aqueous media, the NI-py π-stacking is thermodynamically favored, suggesting a preferable conformation where the pyridine and naphthalene moieties of two NI-py molecules are parallel to each other, but are not co-planar within an individual molecule, due to steric hindrance. The NI-py ππ* band displayed positive solvatochromism, to which the major contribution was the Catalan's SP parameter (solvent polarizability).

Enhanced Li charge storage in naphthalene diimide/vanadium pentoxide intercalates.

,'-Bis(4-aminophenyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalene diimide (NDI-ph) was intercalated into lamellar vanadium pentoxide (VO) in different amounts to prepare hybrid intercalates. The presence of the imide supports the material's ability to form lithium salts with the structural stabilization of the oxide matrix. This effect is remarkable in charge/discharge cycles in terms of Li uptake and discharge by the lamellar intercalates, as we could double the ion uptake capacity (1.

Electrical semiconduction modulated by light in a cobalt and naphthalene diimide metal-organic framework.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as an exciting class of porous materials that can be structurally designed by choosing particular components according to desired applications. Despite the wide interest in and many potential applications of MOFs, such as in gas storage, catalysis, sensing and drug delivery, electrical semiconductivity and its control is still rare. The use and fabrication of electronic devices with MOF-based components has not been widely explored, despite significant progress of these components made in recent years.

Comparison between cucurbiturils and β-cyclodextrin interactions with cholesterol molecules present in Langmuir monolayers used as a biomembrane model.

Specific surface techniques can probe the interaction of cholesterol (Chol) with substances that are able to host and/or sequester this biomolecule, provided that the additives are properly assembled at the interface. Reports on inclusion complexes of Chol with β-cyclodextrins exist in the literature. Here we compare the interaction of β-cyclodextrin and cucurbiturils with Chol present in Langmuir phospholipid (dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, DPPC) monolayers, used as a biomembrane model.

Self-assembled naphthalenediimide derivative films for light-assisted electrochemical reduction of oxygen.

This naphthalene diimide derivative, DC18, forms highly conjugated semiconducting stacked assemblies over electrodes after electrochemical conditioning. These molecular materials are very efficient towards electrochemical photoreduction of oxygen under visible light.

A technique to produce thin cucurbit[6]uril films.

We report a methodology to obtain thin films of cucurbit[6]uril, starting from ammoniacal solutions. This technique is very useful for the obtention of modified electrodes or other substrates for sensor purposes. Cucurbit[6]uril is insoluble in most media, and film formation was impossible until now.