This highlight presents a brief discussion on recent important advancements in the field of the preparation and testing of thermoresponsive polymer grafted porous silica particles as smart pharmaceutical nanocarriers.

The adsorption of NH₃ molecules on (SiO₂)_n (n = 2–7) clusters was explored using various theoretical methods. Topological, electron localization function, and atoms-in-molecules analyses were performed to investigate the bonding characteristics of these complexes.

COMP-B has four pairs of redox peaks in CV curve matching up with four plateaus in the charge/discharge curves. We can conclude that most intercalation/deintercalation reactions occur at a potential of 3.8/3.7 V, which makes its working potential more stable than Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃. This enhancement of electrochemical performance could be attributed to the synergistic effect between monoclinic Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃ and rhombohedral Li₂NaV₂(PO₄)₃.

A series of PtCu alloy nanosponges have been achieved through a facile surfactant-free, bottom-up method and used as electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation.

Cyclophosphamide is used for antineoplastic chemotherapy and as an immunosuppressive agent. Several physical-chemical properties of cyclophosphamide, as well as of some its metabolites, are reported. The results of ab-initio and DFT calculations suggest a way to prepare some derivatives of greater therapeutic efficacy and less toxicity.

The photoluminescence (PL) properties of cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanocrystals (NCs) were systematically analysed at different thioglycollic acid (TGA)/Cd²⁺ molar ratios (n_TGA/n_Cd²⁺). The highest PL intensity was obtained when n_TGA/n_Cd²⁺ was 2. The PL intensity decreased when n_TGA/n_Cd²⁺ was 1.7. When the n_TGA/n_Cd²⁺ was above 2, the complexes restricted the number of CdSe nuclei because of the low free Cd²⁺ ion concentration.

Complexes [[Ln(H₂L)(tta)₂(OAc)]·0.5H₂O]_n (Ln = Eu (1), Gd (2), Dy (3), Yb (4)) are isomorphic with a one-dimensional chain structure prepared in an identical method. Complexes 1 and 4 show luminescence and NIR luminescence properties with the strong and unique emission of Eu^III and Yb^III respectively. Magnetic analysis reveals that the Dy^III ions dominate the antiferromagnetic properties of complex 3, which features SMM behaviour.

This work proposes the surface chemical modification of polypropylene films (PP) by atom transfer radical polymerization using glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) as the graft monomer. Afterwards, the epoxy groups of PP-g-PGMA were used for covalent binding of glucose oxidase (GOD) to obtain an active material (PP-g-PGMA-GOD).

The biophysical technique of a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) enables the study of membrane-active biomolecules, such as antimicrobial or amyloidogenic peptides. This article provides an overview of the QCM-D technique and its capabilities for a comprehensive study of peptide–membrane interactions. QCM-D is a label-free, in vitro method that can detect membrane interactions in real-time and with nanogram sensitivity.

This focus article highlights selected examples of the photoredox catalyst [Cu(dap)₂]Cl in organic synthesis. Atom-transfer radical addition and C–H functionalisation reactions are presented and discussed.