Publications by authors named "K H Merkel"

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), crystalline and porous conjugated structures, are of great interest for sustainable energy applications. Organic building blocks in COFs with suitable electronic properties can feature strong optical absorption, whereas the extended crystalline network can establish a band structure enabling long-range coherent transport. This peculiar combination of both molecular and solid-state materials properties makes COFs an interesting platform to study and ultimately utilize photoexcited charge carrier diffusion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of 57 iron bis(dithiolene)-N-heterocyclic carbene adducts were conducted to determine what parameters predict, and possibly influence, the coordination of these aforementioned adducts. The parameters considered herein include three different types of nuclear magnetic resonance (C-NMR, Se-NMR, and P-NMR) isotropic chemical shifts, the Tolman Electronic Parameter (TEP), the Huynh Electronic Parameter (HEP), and the percent buried volume (%) of the different N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) calculated from DFT. These parameters were selected based upon prior literature connection to σ-donor ability, π-acidity, and steric effects.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study investigates the degradation of six different types of absorbable surgical threads commonly used in clinical practice, focusing on their response to exposure to physiological fluids. The threads were subjected to hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation in physiological saline, bile, and pancreatic juice. Our findings demonstrate that bile and pancreatic juice, particularly when contaminated with bacterial strains such as , spp.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Bombali virus (BOMV) is a new type of ebolavirus found in free-tailed bats across several African countries including Sierra Leone, Guinea, Kenya, and Mozambique.
  • - Researchers screened bat lungs and blood samples from Côte d'Ivoire and Tanzania but only found BOMV RNA in one bat from Tanzania, which is the first time ebolavirus has been detected in that country.
  • - This discovery extends the known distribution of BOMV and confirms that these bats can serve as natural hosts for the virus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Measles is a highly contagious airborne viral disease. It can lead to serious complications and death and is preventable by vaccination. The live-attenuated measles vaccine (LAMV) derived from a measles virus (MV) isolated in 1954 has been in use globally for six decades and protects effectively by providing a durable humoral and cell-mediated immunity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF