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AUROlite, consisting of gold supported on titania (picture shows extrudates in a steel net cage), is a robust catalyst for the production of catalyst-free HCOOH/NEt(3) adducts from H(2), CO(2), and neat NEt(3). Pure HCOOH is freed from the adducts by amine exchange.

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We introduce the concept of circular dichroism (CD) imaging CDi, which is made possible by the use of the highly collimated light beam of synchrotron radiation (SR) only available at Diamond Light Source B23 beamline for surface scanning of solid samples. At the moment, the space resolution is about 1 mm2, but there are prospects to increase it to at least 0.1 mm2 in the near future. We apply SR-CDi to thin films of conjugated polymers, which give rise to large chiral aggregates. Electronic CD is able to reveal and characterize these supramolecular structures; thus, SR-CDi provides the ultimate complement to microscopy for investigating local domains with different molecular order and to fill a gap between a purely morphological knowledge and an intimate insight into the molecular level. As a corollary of this proof-of-concept work, we showed that such a new technique may provide rational and successful protocols to obtain homogeneous active layers for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices

A new chiral diketonate ligand based on carvone binds early lanthanides. The Eu complex displays high circularly polarized (g(lum) = 0.82) red luminescence under near-UV excitation in the solid state. This is the first report on such CPL activity in the solid state with a rigorous protocol to exclude artifacts. Paramagnetic NMR spectroscopy revealed the nature and structure of the active species.

The encapsulation of poorly water-soluble compounds such as perfumes, flavors, and bioactive molecules is a key step in the formulation of a large variety of consumer products in the fields of household care and personal care. We study the encapsulation ability of an amphiphilic poly(ethylene glycol)- graft -poly(vinyl acetate) (PEG- g -PVAc) graft copolymer, extending the focus to the entire phase diagram of polymer/perfume/water systems with three common natural fragrances. The three perfume molecules (2-phenyl ethanol, L-carvone, and α-pinene) possess different water affinities, as expressed by their octanol/water partition coefficients. The investigation of the polymorphism of PEG- g -PVAc in these systems is carried out by means of dynamic light scattering, small-angle X-ray scattering, NMR spectroscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The results presented here demonstrate that the choice of fragrance can dramatically affect the supramolecular structures formed by the polymer in aqueous solution, with important consequences on formulations of industrial interest such as the demixing of complex perfume blends when one or more of the components have no chemical affinity for any of the polymer blocks.

The synthesis of several novel poly-(phenyleneethynylene)s (PPEs) functionalized with different natural α-amino acids methyl esters has been achieved through Cassar−Heck−Sonogashira reaction. Five different derivatives have been prepared varying the nature of the amino acid (Gly, Leu, Nmethyl Leu, Phe, and Val), and their aggregation behavior has been investigated by means of UV−vis absorption, circular dichroism (CD), and fluorescence spectroscopies in different conditions of aggregation. ECD measurements provided unique information about the structural organization of the aggregates dispersed in solution and as thin films. The effects of the nature of the amino acidic moiety, the consequences of chirality, and the role played by intermolecular hydrogen bonds have been elucidated.

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