The M3@Singapore is an exciting international conference hosted by Institute of Materials Research and Engineering of A*STAR, Singapore. It provides a unified platform for people to discuss sciences and collaborations, meet old friends, and make new friends. The 4th M3@Singapore is coming soon - you are cordially invited!

The combined use of hydrogels and nanoparticles in a single entity has gained enormous interests in areas such as catalysis, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, biosensors, biomedical therapy, and drug delivery. In this review, recent literature describing these technologies is summarized and an outlook on the promising future of this emerging field is provided.

This paper provides a brief review of the research progress in the design and synthesis of luminescent photonic nanocomposite systems comprised of rare-earth doped particulates dispersed in a continuous polymeric matrix.

The molecular dynamics of polythiophene were computed with a new algorithm including the quantized nature of vibrations. The algorithm reproduces the quantum energies of vibrational modes (black line and blue dots), lost in standard MD (red line, blue triangles). Nuclear dynamics have a significant effect on donor energetics and the performance of organic solar cells.

Chelate-bridging ligand L1 has been designed via click reaction and used in the isolation of a double 1,2,3-triazole-bridged Cu(ii) dimer with weak ferromagnetic interaction.

Gold nanoparticle cluster arrays prepared with a high throughput and low cost method is capable for quantitative analysis with surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Using thiol as a test analyte, the substrates show high sensitivity (10 nM), with a steep response to changes in concentration and standard deviation in intensities typically below 15 %.

A series of polyurethane/clay (PU/clay) nanocomposites were prepared using blending and polymerisation approaches. The intercalation or exfoliation behaviour of PU/clay nanocomposites is largely dependent on the PU/clay synthesis methods, showing that dispersion of clay into prepolymer matrix before the chain extension process markedly enhanced the mechanical properties of the resulting nanocomposites.

A series of random polymers poly(azulene-fluorene-benzothiadiazole) were synthesised via Suzuki coupling reactions. The effect of benzothiadiazole and azulene units on the optical and electrochemical properties was studied. Electrochromic studies revealed that introduction of benzothiadiazole in part improved the redox stability of azulene-based copolymers.

The complexation constants, K₁, and the corresponding ΔH^° and TΔS^° values have been determined for the 1 : 1 host-guest complexes of β-cyclodextrin and two β-cyclodextrin linked trimers with crystal violet, pyronine B, and rhodamine B in aqueous solution. In some cases, K₂ for complexation by a second β-cyclodextrin or β-cyclodextrin linked trimer has also been determined.

An improved synthetic method was developed for tris(bidentate)iridium(iii) complexes containing 1,10-phenathroline and methylated derivatives, the parent compound was resolved, and structural and circular dichroism studies were undertaken. Cytotoxicity and cell entry studies of Ir(iii) complexes against a range of bacteria indicate that 3+ metal centres have difficulty crossing the microbial cell wall.

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs), formed in heat processed or dry food by Maillard reactions, contribute to flavour and brown colour and when formed in vivo leads to complications of type II diabetes. For milk powder, AGE formation was found to increase with lipid content as a matrix effect rather than an effect of lipid oxidation.

Organic peroxides have been of great importance because of the unusual reactivity of the O–O bond linkage whose decomposition into free radicals is applicable in the fabrication of synthetic polymers. Also some of 1,2,4-trioxane derivatives are employed as potent antimarial agents.

An eco-friendly one-pot five-component synthesis of novel 1,2,3-triazole-linked pentasubstituted 1,4-dihydropyridines under ultrasonic and microwave irradiation is described. All compounds were evaluated for antibacterial activity, antifungal activity, antioxidant activity, and photophysical properties.

A novel amperometric glucose sensor based on Pd nanoporous gold films (NPGF) has been developed for determination of glucose. The combination of NPGF and Pd in the sensor would lead to the improvement of analytical performance, characterized by broader linear range and lower detection limit for glucose determination.

The preparation of two isolated diastereomers of 4,5-methano-l-lysine from l-methionine is described. Such α-amino acids with highly strained rings are of significant interest as mimics of natural amino acids, for incorporation into conformationally constrained peptidomimetics, and as biologically active compounds or their precursors.

Two new, efficient and simple routes using Heck-type reaction and intramolecular cyclization were developed for the synthesis of the naturally occurring cytotoxic alkaloid 2-(4-oxo-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2-yl)-1H-indole-3-carbaldehyde (bouchardatine).