Free Chain Research Articles

Synthesis of Biodiesel from Avocado Seed Oil Transesterification Method Using Beef Bone Catalyst

Avocado seeds have a relatively high content of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester, so they have the potential to be used as raw material for biodiesel. The process of processing biodiesel from avocado seeds is through a transesterification reaction, using a heterogeneous catalyst in the form of a stable bovine bone and green technology. This study uses a cow bone catalyst to produce biodiesel from avocado seed oil through a transesterification process. Biodiesel has characteristics; density of 0.75 g/cm3, FFA 0.468%, and acid number 0.732 mg-KOH/g. The transesterification process at 60° for 1 hour obtained an FFA of 1.50% to 0.468% and yield biodiesel 28.8%. The research showed that all biodiesel quality tests at SNI 04-7182-2015 except for the quality density test. The FTIR results of biodiesel are: wave number 2585-2956 cm-1 C-C (alkane) asymmetrical stretching shows free fatty acid chain bonds, 1749.88 cm-1 Carbonyl ester group C=O, peak-C-H group wavelength at 1459 cm-1, The position of the carbonyl ester is strengthened by the presence of the C-O ester position at a wavelength at 1378 cm-1, the C-H group (alkane) with a length at 1060 cm-1.

Balancing the strength and toughness of polypropylene/carbon nanotube nanocomposites by shear and high‐temperature annealing

AbstractMelt‐mixed polypropylene (PP) and multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are molded by compression molding, conventional injection molding, and interval injection molding (IntM). IntM can provide high‐shear stress promoting the dispersion of CNTs and forming many shish‐kebab structures, which can improve the strength at the cost of toughness. Meanwhile, high‐temperature annealing (HTA) can be finished in 3 min and can release free molecular chains, enhance orientation, and further promote the dispersion of CNTs, thus improving toughness at the expense of strength. Therefore, in this work, IntM and HTA are combined, which can balance and enhance both the toughness and strength of PP‐CNT nanocomposites. For different CNT contents, the enhancement effect also differs. The combined IntM and HTA do not require replacing existing production equipment, so this research can provide a more economical and practical approach to enhancing PP‐CNT nanocomposites.Highlights HTA can be finished in 3 min and promote the dispersion of CNT agglomerates. IntM can enhance the orientation and dispersion of CNTs. Combined IntM and HTA can enhance and balance toughness and strength.

Disregarded Free Chains Affect Bacterial Adhesion on Cross-Linked Polydimethylsiloxane Surfaces.

The surface properties exhibited by chemically cross-linked polydimethylsiloxanes (CPDMS) such as morphology, stiffness, and wettability have garnered great interest in the study of bacteria-material interactions. Nevertheless, the hidden factor of uncross-linked free PDMS chains that dissociate in CPDMS has often been overlooked when studying the biofilm formation on these polymeric elastomer surfaces. Here, we undertake a comparative characterization of the effects of free chains in CPDMS on bacterial adhesion to both flat and textured Sharklet CPDMS surfaces. Surprisingly, compared to unextracted surfaces, removing free chains from flat and textured CPDMS through solvent extraction results in a tremendous increase in bacterial colony-forming units for both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria up to 2-3 orders in the initial adhesion stage of 2 h. These findings demonstrate that the solvent extraction of free chains from CPDMS is essential in studying the interactions between bacteria and silicone elastomer materials when focusing on a single variable.

Experimental Study of New Antioxidant to Inhibit Spontaneous Combustion of Coal

ABSTRACT Free radicals and metal ions are key factors causing coal spontaneous combustion. In order to effectively suppress coal spontaneous combustion, experiments were conducted using luteolin as an inhibitor, luteolin is abbreviated as LUT. The influence of different concentrations of LUT on the spontaneous combustion heat characteristics of coal was tested using a C600 high-precision microcalorimeter, and the inhibition mechanism was inferred by FTIR. The experimental results show that LUT is an effective coal oxygen inhibitor, under the same action conditions, different concentrations of LUT can absorb heat to different degrees, delay the initial exothermic temperature of coal, prolong the heat absorption phase of coal. Compared with raw coal, 6 wt% LUT absorbs the most heat, the starting exothermic temperature is delayed by 46°C, and the activation energy is increased by 47.89 kJ/mol, the functional group -OH content decreased by 43.4%, -CH3 decreased by 32.1%, -CH2-decreased by 37.76%. Based on this, the mechanism of inhibition is inferred, LUT not only removes free radicals (ROO•) during the chain initiation stage and captures free radicals (•OH) in the reaction chain but also chelates metal ions to inhibit the catalytic effect of metal ions during the free radical reaction, which can play a dual role in preventing free radical generation and interrupting the free radical chain reaction. The results of the study can provide a novel, environmentally friendly and effective way to prevent the spontaneous combustion of coal.

Novel PEG6000-Silica-MWCNTs Shape-Stabilized Composite Phase-Change Materials (ssCPCMs) for Thermal-Energy Storage.

This paper describes the preparation of new PEG6000-silica-MWCNTs composites as shape-stabilized phase change materials (ssPCMs) for application in latent heat storage. An innovative method was employed to obtain the new organic-inorganic hybrid materials, in which both a part of the PEG chains, used as the phase change material, and a part of the hydroxyl functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-OH), used as thermo-conductive fillers, were covalently connected by newly formed urethane bonds to the in-situ-generated silica matrix. The study's main aim was to investigate the optimal amount of PEG6000 that can be added to the fixed sol-gel reaction mixture so that no leakage of PEG occurs after repeated heating-cooling cycles. The findings show that the optimum PEG6000/NCOTEOS molar ratio was 2/1 (~91.5% PEG6000), because both the connected and free PEG chains interacted strongly with the in-situ-generated silica matrix to form a shape-stabilized material while preserving high phase-transition enthalpies (~153 J/G). Morphological and structural findings obtained by SEM, X-ray and Raman techniques indicated a distribution of the silica component in the amorphous phase (~27% for the optimum composition) located among the crystalline lamellae built by the folded chains of the PEG component. This composite maintained good chemical stability after a 450-cycle thermal test and had a good storage efficiency (~84%).

Inflammatory Bowel Disease-Associated Colorectal Cancer: Translational and Transformational Risks Posed by Exogenous Free Hemoglobin Alpha Chain, A By-Product of Extravasated Erythrocyte Macrophage Erythrophagocytosis.

Colonic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) encompasses ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's colitis (CC). Patients with IBD are at increased risk for colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CACRC) compared to the general population. CACRC is preceded by IBD, characterized by highly heterogenous, pharmacologically incurable, pertinacious, worsening, and immune-mediated inflammatory pathologies of the colon and rectum. The molecular and immunological basis of CACRC is highly correlated with the duration and severity of inflammation, which is influenced by the exogenous free hemoglobin alpha chain (HbαC), a byproduct of infiltrating immune cells; extravasated erythrocytes; and macrophage erythrophagocytosis. The exogenous free HbαC prompts oxygen free radical-arbitrated DNA damage (DNAD) through increased cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), which is exacerbated by decreased tissue antioxidant defenses. Mitigation of the Fenton Reaction via pharmaceutical therapy would attenuate ROS, promote apoptosis and DNAD repair, and subsequently prevent the incidence of CACRC. Three pharmaceutical options that attenuate hemoglobin toxicity include haptoglobin, deferoxamine, and flavonoids (vitamins C/E). Haptoglobin's clearance rate from plasma is inversely correlated with its size; the smaller the size, the faster the clearance. Thus, the administration of Hp1-1 may prove to be beneficial. Further, deferoxamine's hydrophilic structure limits its ability to cross cell membranes. Finally, the effectiveness of flavonoids, natural herb antioxidants, is associated with the high reactivity of hydroxyl substituents. Multiple analyses are currently underway to assess the clinical context of CACRC and outline the molecular basis of HbαC-induced ROS pathogenesis by exposing colonocytes and/or colonoids to HbαC. The molecular immunopathogenesis pathways of CACRC herein reviewed are broadly still not well understood. Therefore, this timely review outlines the molecular and immunological basis of disease pathogenesis and pharmaceutical intervention as a protective measure for CACRC.

Cationic tall oil lignin-starch copolymer as a flocculant for clay suspensions

In this study, a novel cationic tall oil lignin (TOL)-starch copolymer was successfully prepared by the polymerization reaction of TOL, starch and a cationic monomer of (3-acrylamidopropyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride (APTAC) through the free radical chain extension. 1H NMR and 1H–1H COSY studies demonstrated that the TOL and starch were covalently linked by the APTAC to produce the cationic copolymers. The copolymerization reaction reduced the phenolic content of TOL, yielding an increment in the solubility, molecular weight (Mw), and charge density of the cationic copolymer. Moreover, the thermochemical analysis indicated that the obtained copolymer, CR5-pH11, with the largest Mw possessed the highest glass transition temperature (Tg) of 184 °C due to the insertion of a long APTAC chain and the presence of starch and TOL. Owing to its highest charge density (3.6 meq/g) and largest Mw (56,100 kg/mol), CR5-pH11 exhibited the most efficient flocculation behavior in the kaolin suspension under altered agitation and gravitational forces as confirmed by focused beam reflectance measurement and sedimentation techniques. This study provided a new strategy to developing sustainable cationic lignin-starch flocculant for clay suspension systems.

Ising analogs of quantum spin chains with multispin interactions

A new family of free fermionic quantum spin chains with multispin interactions was recently introduced. Here we show that it is possible to build standard quantum Ising chains---but with inhomogeneous couplings---which have the same spectra as the novel spin chains with multispin interactions. The Ising models are obtained by associating an antisymmetric tridiagonal matrix to the polynomials that characterize the quasienergies of the system via a modified Euclidean algorithm. For the simplest nontrivial case, corresponding to the Fendley model, the phase diagram of the inhomogeneous Ising model is investigated numerically. It is characterized by gapped phases separated by critical lines with order-disorder transitions depending on the parity of the total number of energy density operators in the Hamiltonian.

Approaches of lipid oxidation mechanisms in oil matrices using association colloids and analysis methods for the lipid oxidation.

Lipid oxidation is one of the key chemical reactions in foods containing fats and oils during production and storage. For several decades, many researchers have tried to understand the mechanisms of lipid oxidation and ways to control the rates of lipid oxidation. Theories of autoxidation or free radical chain reaction have been developed to successfully explain the phenomenon observed in oxidized lipids. Many studies have been conducted to explain the other factors that can affect the lipid oxidation such as food matrix, oxidation time and temperature, transition metal ions, pigments with sensitizing abilities, and surface-active compounds such as phospholipids, free fatty acids, monoacylglycerols, and diacylglycerols. Several strategies were developed to evaluate the degree of oxidation and oxidative stability. This review provides crucial information on the mechanism of lipid oxidation affected amphiphilic compounds and association colloids. This review article will extensively discuss about the methods for determining the oxidative stability.

Effect of molecular structure change on the properties of persistent free radicals during coal oxidation

This study is aimed at exploring the effect of molecular structure changes on the properties of persistent free radicals in coal during the heating process of coal spontaneous combustion (CSC). Therefore, the persistent free radicals and main functional groups variation characteristics in the process of coal oxidation were analyzed by means of in situ electron spin resonance and in situ infrared spectroscopy, and the change relationship between the molecular structure of coal and the persistent free radicals in coal during the reaction was further discussed by correlation analysis. The results showed that the concentration of persistent free radicals showed a stage change of “first decreasing, then increasing and then decreasing”. The g-factor decreases gradually and the heteroatom free radicals are consumed continuously. Dehydrogenation oxidation reaction causes the weakening of the “electron-proton” interaction, which narrows the line-width (ΔH) of free radicals. The phenolic hydroxyl as the electron donating group is converted into -CO functional group through dehydrogenation and oxidation reaction, which promotes the formation and accumulation of persistent free radicals in coal. Under the influence of phenolic hydroxyl, the relationship between the stretching vibration strength of aromatic ring CH and the properties of persistent free radicals in coal shows a similar change law with phenolic hydroxyl. In addition, the chain structure represented by –CH2-, –CH3/–CH2- is continuously consumed in the oxidative dehydrogenation reaction, triggering a series of free radical reactions. The free radicals formed in this process are affected by the steric hindrance of polymer networks and the electron delocalization of aromatic group in coal, so the persistent free radicals can be formed and accumulated. The dehydrogenation and oxidation reaction of the active group led to the reduction of g-factor and ΔH. Persistent free radicals play an important role in the free radical chain reaction that triggers CSC, so preventing the dehydrogenation and oxidation reaction of hydroxyl (especially phenolic hydroxyl) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (especially –CH2- and –CH3/–CH2-) is the key to prevent CSC.

Volume-to-area law entanglement transition in a non-Hermitian free fermionic chain

We consider the dynamics of the non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model arising as the no-click limit of a continuously monitored free fermion chain where particles and holes are measured on two sublattices. The model has \mathcal{PT}𝒫𝒯-symmetry, which we show to spontaneously break as a function of the strength of measurement backaction, resulting in a spectral transition where quasiparticles acquire a finite lifetime in patches of the Brillouin zone. We compute the entanglement entropy’s dynamics in the thermodynamic limit and demonstrate an entanglement transition between volume-law and area-law scaling, which we characterize analytically. Interestingly we show that the entanglement transition and the \mathcal{PT}𝒫𝒯-symmetry breaking do not coincide, the former occurring when the entire decay spectrum of the quasiparticle becomes gapped.

Superoxide dismutase activity levels in parturients on intermittent preventive treatment with sulphadoxine pyrimethamine and their controls at current confinements

Malaria prevention in pregnancy especially in endemic areas has been greatly emphasized. This is especially so during the antenatal periods. Malaria prevention is important for reducing the problems of malaria in pregnancy. Early trimester miscarriages, preterm labours, anaemia in pregnancy, small for date babies and increased admissions into special care baby units are some of the problems encountered that are traceable to malaria infection. It is also noteworthy that some favourable antioxidants have been noted to help pregnant women enjoy and cope with their pregnancies. In that same way, it has also been noted that optimal levels of superoxide dismutase is equally necessary to help pregnant women enjoy uneventful pregnancies as well as stay free from some problems associated with malaria in pregnancy. Objectives: We have comparatively and objectively assessed the plasma Levels of superoxide dismutase in Parturients on Intermittent Preventive Treatment with Sulphadoxine Pyrimethamine and their Controls at Current Confinements. Method: This comparative study was conducted at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owerri, South East Nigeria. Owerri is widely known for its heavy malaria endemicity. Prior to participant recruitment, appropriate ethical clearance was applied for and obtained from the ethics committee of FMC Owerri. This enabled the commencement of the longitudinal recruitment of participants after due counseling and adequate informed consent involving both study groups. This bench-based research and cross-sectional descriptive study involved two hundred and ninety-six (296) consented participants. The participants were made to understand clearly the study protocol as well as satisfy the inclusion criteria for either the study (case) or control groups. Upon recruitment, participants were then followed up all throughout their entire antenatal course culminating in the delivery. The follow up enabled the collection of blood samples for the estimation of Superoxide Dimutase (SOD) plasma levels at delivery. The SOD levels were estimated using the Misra and Fridovich method, 1972. The ability of superoxide dismutase to inhibit the auto oxidation of adrenaline at pH 10.2 makes this reaction a basis for the SOD assay. Superoxide anion (O2) generated by the xanthine oxidase reaction is known to cause the oxidation of adrenaline to adrenochrome. The yield of adrenochrome produced per superoxide anion introduced increased with increasing pH and also with increasing concentration of adrenaline. These led to the proposal that auto oxidation of adrenaline proceeds by at least two distinct pathways, one of which is a free radical chain reaction involving superoxide radical and hence could be inhibited by SOD. Data analysis: Data computation and analysis were done using the computer Software Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0 (SPSS, Inc, 2007, Chicago). Important descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, range, percentages etc) were determined for continuous variables. P-value less than (<0.05) at 95% confidence interval was considered statistically significant. Result: The mean serum level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the study group was 12.61 U/ml ± 3.105 while the minimum and maximum serum superoxide dismutase were 7 and 20 U/ml respectively. For their controls, the mean serum level of superoxide dismutase was 11.69 U/ml ± 2. 969. However, the minimum and maximum serum superoxide dismutase were 7 and 20 U/ml respectively. The difference was found to be statistically significant (p= 0.011) with odds ratio 1.12 (CI of 95% 1.024-1.193).

Quenched Kitaev chain: Analogous model of gravitational collapse

We investigate generalized thermalization in an isolated free fermionic chain evolving from an out of equilibrium initial state through a sudden quench. We consider the quench where a fermionic chain is broken into two disjoint chains. We focus on the evolution of the local observables namely, occupation number, nearest neighbor hopping, information sharing and out-of-time-order correlations after the quench and study the relaxation of the observable, leading to generalized Gibbs ensemble for the system in the thermodynamic limit though it has been argued that noninteracting or free fermionic models in general do not relax to the generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE). We obtain the light cone formed by the evolution of the observables along the fermionic lattice chain due to the sudden quench which abides by the Lieb-Robinson bound in quantum systems. We also analytically study a simpler model which captures the essential features of the system. Our analysis strongly suggest that the internal interactions within the system do not remain of much importance once the quench is sufficiently strong.

P4 TRANSTHYRETIN–INDUCED CARDIAC AMYLOIDOSIS: A RARE MUTATION IN AN ITALIAN FAMILIAL CASE

Abstract A 65–year–old man came to our hospital for a subacute stroke of the left parietotemporal area. An aorto–coronary bypass for stable coronary artery disease and aortobisiliac bypass for infrarenal aortic aneurysm (with post–operative courses complicated by multiple atrial fibrillation paroxisms which were pharmacologically cardioverted) was reported. No undergoing anticoagulant therapy for CHADSVASc=1 was reported. Hypothesizing a cardioembolic origin of the stroke, echocardiographic analysis was performed which showed increased ventricular thickness and mass, inhomogeneous texture, reduced systolic function and strain with apical sparing, II degree diastolic dysfunction and severe left atrial dilatation. The strong suspicion of amyloidosis, raised by the echocardiographic findings, was confirmed by bone scintigraphy. The absence of free immunoglobulin chains in blood and urine and a normal protein electrophoretic pattern, would have instead excluded the diagnosis of AL amyloidosis. Thus we performed genetic testing to characterize the type of ATTR (transthyretin). An homozygous Val142Ile mutation in exon 4 of the TTR gene was found. This mutation, typically found in patients of African ancestry, is extremely rare in the Caucasian population. In fact, only 5 cases of patients with this mutation and with phenotypic manifestations very similar to the African ancestral ones have been so far reported, thus indicating that this mutation is not restricted to African ancestry but may be an underestimated Caucasian variant. The large GnomAD database estimates that this homozygous mutation is present in only 0.72% of the general population, while the remaining part of the carriers are heterozygous. Val142Ile leads to increased formation of amyloid fibrils and to the formation of a particularly unstable TTR tetramer. This variant is associated with a worse quality of life, a higher incidence of AF and a lower survival than the wild type TTR. In light of the worse clinical outcomes associated to this variant it is therefore essential to maintain a high level of clinical suspicion in order to perform an early diagnosis from a clinical and molecular point of view in order to be able to direct the patient as soon as possible to the current available therapies that can modify the course of the pathology and avoid premature fatal events.

A critical examination of force–extension relationship for freely jointed chain model

The pioneering paper by Kuhn and Grün (1942) provided a thorough understanding of the finite extensibility of the freely-jointed chain model in polymer science. In their work, the relative number of conformations are evaluated through the introduction of a non-Gaussian probability distribution for the free (subjected to zero force) chains. However, Flory (1969) pointed out that this distribution does not truly describe the probability for the end-to-end vector of the chain. To tackle this issue, a corrected probability distribution was proposed and compared with the original form. Despite this improvement, numerous research studies still rely upon the original formulation of Kuhn and Grün, without being aware of Flory’s correction. The present work attempts to clarify the fundamental difference between the two probabilities through recognition of the distinct underlying ensembles. Then, the influence of this correction is studied on the force–extension relationship of the individual chain, as well as on some well-known micromechanics-based network models. Finally, it is demonstrated that misuse of the probability distribution can lead to significant discrepancy in the force–extension relationship of a coil-rod chain, a model for the building element of some biopolymer gels.

Experimental and Theoretical Study on Crown Ether-Appended-Fe(III) Porphyrin Complexes and Catalytic Oxidation Cyclohexene with O2.

Modifying non-precious metal porphyrins at the meso-position is sufficient to further improve the ability to activate O2 and the selectivity of the corresponding redox products. In this study, a crown ether-appended Fe(III) porphyrin complex (FeTC4PCl) was formed by replacing Fe(III) porphyrin (FeTPPCl) at the meso-position. The reactions of FeTPPCl and FeTC4PCl catalysed by O2 oxidation of cyclohexene under different conditions were studied, and three main products, 2-cyclohexen-1-ol (1), 2-cyclohexen-1-one (2), and 7-oxabicyclo[4.1.0]heptane (3), were obtained. The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, and the addition of axial coordination compounds on the reactions were investigated. The conversion of cyclohexene reached 94% at 70 °C after 12 h, and the selectivity toward product 1 was 73%. The geometrical structure optimization, molecular orbital energy level analysis, atomic charge, spin density, and density of orbital states analysis of FeTPPCl, FeTC4PCl, as well as the oxygenated complexes (Fe-O2)TCPPCl and (Fe-O2)TC4PCl formed after adsorption of O2, were carried out using the DFT method. The results of thermodynamic quantity variation with reaction temperature and Gibbs free energy variation were also analysed. Finally, based on experimental and theoretical analysis, the mechanism of the cyclohexene oxidation reaction with FeTC4PCl as a catalyst and O2 as an oxidant was deduced, and the reaction mechanism was obtained as a free radical chain reaction process.

Comparative study of charge order in undoped infinite-layer nickelate superconductors

To understand the microscopic mechanism of the charge order observed in the parent compound of the infinite-layer nickelate superconductors, we consider a minimal three-legged model consisting of a two-legged Hubbard ladder for the Ni $3d_{x^2-y^2}$ electrons and a free conduction electron chain from the rare-earths. With highly accurate density matrix renormalization group calculations, when the chemical potential difference is adjusted to make the Hubbard ladder with $1/3$ hole doping, we find a long-range charge order with period $3$ in the ground state of the model, while the spin excitation has a small energy gap. Moreover, the electron pair-pair correlation has a quasi-long-range behavior, indicating an instability of superconductivity even at half-filling. As a comparison, the same method is applied to a pure two-legged Hubbard model with $1/3$ hole doping in which the period-3 charge order is a quasi-long range one. The difference between them demonstrates that the free electron chain of the three-legged ladder plays the role of a charge reservoir and enhances the charge order in the undoped infinite-layer nickelates.

Molecular simulation of crystal nucleation and growth of structurally restricted polymer nanocomposites

This study reveals important features of crystal nucleation and growth in coarse-grained structurally restricted polymer systems (i.e., one end of the chain is grafted on the surface of one-dimensional filler) based on the Monte Carlo simulation on cubic lattice. The structurally restricted polymer system includes two kinds of polymers: terminally grafted and free chains. The existence of more grafted chains increases the crystal nuclei number in the structurally restricted polymer systems, which shortens the nucleation induction time and accelerates crystallization. Intramolecular nucleation occurs when the chain structure is limited. Then, with the increase of restricted chains, the nucleation mechanism changes to intermolecular nucleation. When the interface interaction is introduced into the system, the change of crystallization rate is the result of the competition between conformation entropy and chain mobility. The chain elongation increases with the enhancement of interface interaction, which leads to the increase of the loss of conformational entropy and is conducive to the formation of crystal nucleus. However, the chain mobility slows down with the enhancement of interface interaction, which will hinder the formation of crystal nucleus. By tailoring the interface interaction, the crystal morphologies of polymer nanocomposites can be adjusted to form the unique nanohybrid shish-kebab structures, that is, the filler is used as shish, the crystal regions generated by free chains are attached to the outside of crystal regions generated by restricted chains to form kebabs. Furthermore, the length of grafted chains has different effect on the crystallization depending on the concentration of grafted chains.

5613423 TREATMENT OF ERYTHROID PRECURSOR CELLS FROM β-THALASSEMIC PATIENTS WITH ISOXAZOLE DERIVATIVES: POTENT INDUCTION OF FETAL HEMOGLOBIN

Background: Increased production of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) can be beneficial for β-thalassemia patients and several clinical trials in β-thalassemia and/or sickle-cell disease (SCD) are ongoing using HbF inducers, such as NCT01245179 (based on the HDAC inhibitor Panobinostat), NCT00790127 (based on 2,2-dimethylbutyrate, HQK-1001) and NCT03877809 (based on the mTOR inhibitor sirolimus). Methods: In this context, new molecules able to induce HbF are needed. In this communication, we have studied in deep a new class of promising HbF inducers characterized by an isoxazole chemical skeleton. These derivatives are 3,4-isoxazolediamide compounds recently synthesized in our laboratories. The original structures of two natural molecules, geldanamycin and radicicol, known to be natural Hsp (Heat Shot Protein) inhibitors, were modified to lead to a novel class of synthetic compounds, containing the isoxazole nucleus, and displaying potent and selective inhibition of Hsp90. Here we used erythroid precursors cells (ErPCs) isolated from β-thalassemic patients and treated with appropriate concentrations of 8 isoxazole derivatives previously demonstrated to be able to induce erythroid differentiation of K562 cells. Results: We demonstrated the high efficacy of the analyzed isoxazoles in inducing HbF. Some derivatives demonstrated an activity even higher than other HbF inducers used as positive controls, such as Hydroxyurea (HU) or Sirolimus. Most of the isoxazole derivatives displayed high effects in decreasing the excess of free α-globin chains in treated ErPCs. All the compounds were assayed for genotoxicity through the Ames test, employing the histidine-requiring Salmonella typhimurium mutant TA 97A, TA98, TA100 and TA1535 strains that allow to check frameshift mutation and base-pair substitution, with and without metabolic activation induced by S9 Mix. These assays excluded any drawbacks related to genotoxicity. Summary - Conclusion: We may therefore conclude that these novel isoxazoles could be proposed for clinical studies for possible therapeutic application for the treatment of β-thalassemia. These compounds have been recently patented as potential therapeutic agents for β-thalassemia (US Patent 11077116). Acknowledgements This study was sustained by the Wellcome Trust (innovator award 208872/Z/17/Z), by AIFA (AIFA-2016-02364887) and by the UE THALAMOSS Project (Thalassemia Modular Stratification System for Personalized Therapy of Βeta-Thalassemia; no. 306201-FP7-HEALTH-2012-INNOVATION-1). We thank A.L.T. (Associazione per la lotta alla Talassemia) “Rino Vullo” - Ferrara, and A.V.L.T. (Associazione Veneta per la Lotta alla Talassemia) “Elio Zago” - APS – Rovigo.

Synthesis, characterization and application of high sulfur content polymeric materials from fatty acids

A new series of high sulfur content polymers containing various amounts of fatty acids (oleic acid (OA), linoleic acid (LA) and linolenic acid (LnA)) was synthesized via inverse vulcanization method and characterized successfully. In particular, the effect of double bonds and free alkyl chains on polysulfur copolymers has been investigated systematically by using OA with one double bond, LA with two double bonds and LnA with three double bonds. The copolymers with functional carboxylic acid groups are soluble in common organic solvents, processable and electroactive. Also, the usage of the copolymers was tested in the removal of methylene blue and as a cathode material in LiS battery. Results showed that the polymers can be a potential material for use in dye removal.