Structure and Luminescence Properties of Eu3+-Doped Cubic Mesoporous Silica Thin Films

Eu3+ ions-doped cubic mesoporous silica thin films with a thickness of about 205 nm were prepared on silicon and glass substrates using triblock copolymer as a structure-directing agent using sol–gel spin-coating and calcination processes. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analysis show that the mesoporous silica thin films have a highly ordered body-centered cubic mesoporous structure. High Eu3+ ion loading and high temperature calcination do not destroy the ordered cubic mesoporous structure of the mesoporous silica thin films. Photoluminescence spectra show two characteristic emission peaks corresponding to the transitions of5D0-7F1 and 5D0-7F2 of Eu3+ ions located in low symmetry sites in mesoporous silica thin films. With the Eu/Si molar ratio increasing to 3.41%, the luminescence intensity of the Eu3+ ions-doped mesoporous silica thin films increases linearly with increasing Eu3+ concentration

Biallelic variants in ZNF142 lead to a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder.

Biallelic variants of the gene encoding for the zinc-finger protein 142 (ZNF142) have recently been associated with intellectual disability (ID), speech impairment, seizures, and movement disorders in nine individuals from five families. In this study, we obtained phenotype and genotype information of 26 further individuals from 16 families. Among the 27 different ZNF142 variants identified in the total of 35 individuals only four were missense. Missense variants may give a milder phenotype by changing the local structure of ZF motifs as suggested by protein modeling; but this correlation should be validated in larger cohorts and pathogenicity of the missense variants should be investigated with functional studies. Clinical features of the 35 individuals suggest that biallelic ZNF142 variants lead to a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder with mild to moderate ID, varying degrees of delay in language and gross motor development, early onset seizures, hypotonia, behavioral features, movement disorders, and facial dysmorphism. The differences in symptom frequencies observed in the unpublished individuals compared to those of published, and recognition of previously underemphasized facial features are likely to be due to the small sizes of the previous cohorts, which underlines the importance of larger cohorts for the phenotype descriptions of rare genetic disorders

Photoreactions of 3-Diazo-3H-benzofuran-2-one; Dimerization and Hydrolysis of Its Primary Photoproduct, A Quinonoid Cumulenone: A Study by Time-Resolved Optical and Infrared Spectroscopy

Light-induced deazotization of 3-diazo-3H-benzofuran-2-one (1) in solution is accompanied by facile (CO)-O bond cleavage yielding 6-(oxoethenylidene)-2,4-cyclohexadien-1-one (3), which appears with a rise time of 28 ps. The expected Wolff-rearrangement product, 7-oxabicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1,3,5-trien-8-ylidenemethanone (4), is not formed. The efficient light-induced formation of the quinonoid cumulenone 3 opens the way to determine the reactivity of a cumulenone in solution. The reaction kinetics of 3 were monitored by nanosecond flash photolysis with optical (λ max ≈ 460 nm) as well as Raman (1526 cm -1) and IR detection (2050 cm -1). Remarkably, the reactivity of 3 is that expected from its valence isomer, the cyclic carbene 3H-benzofuran-2-one-3-ylidene, 2. In aqueous solution, acid-catalyzed addition of water forms the lactone 3-hydroxy-3H-benzofuran-2-one (5). The reaction is initiated by protonation of the cumulenone on its β-carbon atom. In hexane, cumulenone 3 dimerizes to isoxindigo ((E)-[3,3′ ]bibenzofuranylidene-2,2′-dione, 7), coumestan (6H-benzofuro[3,2-c][1]benzopyran-6-one, 8), and a small amount of dibenzonaphthyrone ([1]benzopyrano[4,3-][1]benzopyran-5,11-dione, 9) at a nearly diffusion-controlled rate. Ab initio calculations (G3) are consistent with the observed data. Carbene 2 is predicted to have a singlet ground state, which undergoes very facile, strongly exothermic (irreversible) ring opening to the cumulenone 3. The calculated barrier to formation of 4 (Wolff-rearrangement) is prohibitive. DFT calculations indicate that protonation of 3 on the β-carbon is accompanied by cyclization to the protonated carbene 2H +, and that dimerization of 3 to 7 and 9 takes place in a single step with negligible activation energy.link_to_subscribed_fulltex