There is the need for reproducible, simple, high-yielding synthetic protocols aimed at obtaining carbon dots (CDs) with controlled fluorescence, photothermal and photochemical behavior, surface properties, biocompatibility, tumor targeting ability, drug absorption biodistribution, and tumor uptake. This Letter describes a systematic study on the effect of glucose, fructose, and ascorbic acid as starting materials for the preparation of highly luminescent CDs, characterized by a blue emission. Their composition and morphology are investigated by titration of OH surface groups, spectroscopic techniques, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and their toxicity was tested toward HeLa cells. CDs made using fructose were toxic, while those made from glucose and ascorbic acid showed good biocompatibility. The reproducible and simple synthetic procedure yields luminescent biomass-derived CDs for combined cancer therapy and diagnostics. Their doxorubicin (DOX) drug uptake was measured by spectrofluorimetry, indicating a crucial role of the morphologies of the CDs in controlling DOX loading. The glucose derived CDs showed up to 28% w/w of DOX loading.

The photoreduction potential of a set of four different carbon dots (CDs) was investigated. The CDs were synthesized by using two different preparation methods hydrothermal and pyrolyticand two sets of reagentsneat citric acid and citric acid doped with diethylenetriamine. The hydrothermal syntheses yielded amorphous CDs, which were either nondoped (a-CDs) or nitrogen-doped (a-N-CDs), whereas the pyrolytic treatment afforded graphitic CDs, either non-doped (g-CDs) or nitrogen-doped (g-N-CDs). The morphology, structure, and optical properties of four different types of CDs revealed significant differences depending on the synthetic pathway. The photocatalytic activities of the CDs were investigated as such, that is, in the absence of any other redox mediators, on the model photoreduction reaction of methyl viologen. The observed photocatalytic reaction rates: a-N-CDs ≥ g-CDs > a-CDs ≥ g-N-CDs were correlated with the presence/absence of fluorophores, to the graphitic core, and to quenching interactions between the two. The results indicate that nitrogen doping reverses the photoredox reactivity between amorphous and graphitic CDs and that amorphous N-doped CDs are the most photoredox active, a yet unknown fact that demonstrates the tunable potential of CDs for ad hoc applications.

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We report for the first time that irradiation of four different citric acid-derived carbon dots (CDs), in the absence of any other redox mediators, promotes an organic reaction.

The aerobic oxidative CÀC bond cleavage of vicinal diols catalyzed by vanadium amino triphenolates is described. Our results show that CÀC bond cleavage can be performed in different solvents, under an air or oxygen atmosphere, with a large variety of glycols (cyclic or linear, with aromatic or aliphatic substituents) affording the corresponding carbonyl derivatives with high chemoselectivity.Reactions can be performed with as little as 10 ppm of catalyst reaching TON up to 81,000 and TOFs of up to 4150 h À1 . A reaction mechanism, rationalized by density functional theory calculations, is also proposed.

A new procedure for the transesterification of alkyl acetates and formates with model glycerol acetals (GAs: Solketal and glycerol formal) was explored in the absence of any catalysts at 180−275 °C. Highly selective transformations occurred in both batch and continuous-flow (CF) modes; particularly, the enol derivative isopropenyl acetate (iPAc) was the best performing reactant by which quantitative acetylation reactions were achieved with yields on GAs acetates >95%. An excess acylating agent was necessary (2−20 molar equivs), but the unconverted ester was fully recovered and could be reused. The reaction plausibly involved multiple mechanisms where either the electrophilic and the nucleophilic activation of reagents took place through both traces of acetic acid (formed in situ by the hydrolysis of esters) and the autoprotolysis of GAs. iPAc confirmed a superior performance than other esters also for the high-temperature conversion of glycerol; in this case, although acylation and acetalization processes were simultaneously possible, conditions were optimized to achieve the exhaustive transesterification of glycerol to triacetin, in both batch and CF modes. Triacetin was isolated in 99% yield.

Cancer remains one of the main causes of death in the world. Early diagnosis and effective cancer therapies are required to treat this pathology. Traditional therapeutic approaches are limited by...

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