International Group Work for Sustainable Chemistry

As part of a transnational degree programme, students in the UK and China were linked together to carry out group work. This was enabled by having two versions of our FHEQ Level 4 Sustainable Chemistry module; in person for UK students, and by distance learning for Chinese students. Groups were instructed to discuss issues relating to the UN Sustainable Development Goals in their respective countries and report back individually. Students who found the assignment interesting were more likely to indicate they would keep in touch, while those students who had fewer interactions or found the assessment guidelines unclear found the assignment less interesting and were less likely to wish to remain in touch. This kind of assignment is an example of what can be done with links to other institutions around the world

Diels Alder-mediated release of gemcitabine from hybrid nanoparticles for enhanced pancreatic cancer therapy

Abstract Hybrid nanoparticles (HNPs) have shown huge potential as drug delivery vehicles for pancreatic cancer. Currently, the first line treatment, gemcitabine, is only effective in 23.8% of patients. To improve this, a thermally activated system was developed by introducing a linker between HNPs and gemcitabine. Whereby, heat generation resulting from laser irradiation of the HNPs promoted linker breakdown resulting in prodrug liberation. In vitro evaluation in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells, showed the prodrug was 4.3 times less cytotoxic than gemcitabine, but exhibited 11-fold improvement in cellular uptake. Heat activation of the formulation led to a 56% rise in cytotoxicity causing it to outperform gemcitabine by 26%. In vivo the formulation outperformed free gemcitabine with a 62% reduction in tumor weight in pancreatic xenografts. This HNP formulation is the first of its kind and has displayed superior anti-cancer activity as compared to the current first line drug gemcitabine after heat mediated controlled release

Systematic decomposition of the neutrinoless double beta decay operator

We discuss the systematic decomposition of the dimension nine neutrinoless double beta decay operator, focusing on mechanisms with potentially small contributions to neutrino mass, while being accessible at the LHC. We first provide a (d = 9 tree-level) complete list of diagrams for neutrinoless double beta decay. From this list one can easily recover all previously discussed contributions to the neutrinoless double beta decay process, such as the celebrated mass mechanism or ¿exotics¿, such as contributions from left-right symmetric models, R-parity violating supersymmetry and leptoquarks. More interestingly, however, we identify a number of new possibilities which have not been discussed in the literature previously. Contact to earlier works based on a general Lorentz-invariant parametrisation of the neutrinoless double beta decay rate is made, which allows, in principle, to derive limits on all possible contributions. We furthermore discuss possible signals at the LHC for mediators leading to the short-range part of the amplitude with one specific example. The study of such contributions would gain particular importance if there were a tension between different measurements of neutrino mass such as coming from neutrinoless double beta decay and cosmology or single beta decay

QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories : challenges and perspectives

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.Peer reviewe

The structure of phosphine-functionalised silsesquioxane-based dendrimers: a molecular dynamics study

Molecular dynamics modelling has been used to simulate the structures of phopshine-functionalised, silsesquioxane-based dendrimers whose excellent catalytic properties have been previously demonstrated. The effect of changing the chemical composition of the dendrimer branches is simulated. The results indicate that adding a methylene unit to a branch increases the overall size of the dendrimer but replacing a methylene unit with an oxygen atom decreases the size of the dendrimer. The size and shape of the dendrimers have also been simulated on changing the temperature and polarity of the solvent. The distribution of phosphine groups on the exterior has also been modelled and this suggests that all are available for bonding to catalytic metals in all the compounds.</p

The structure of phosphine-functionalised silsesquioxane-based dendrimers: a molecular dynamics study

Molecular dynamics modelling has been used to simulate the structures of phopshine-functionalised, silsesquioxane-based dendrimers whose excellent catalytic properties have been previously demonstrated. The effect of changing the chemical composition of the dendrimer branches is simulated. The results indicate that adding a methylene unit to a branch increases the overall size of the dendrimer but replacing a methylene unit with an oxygen atom decreases the size of the dendrimer. The size and shape of the dendrimers have also been simulated on changing the temperature and polarity of the solvent. The distribution of phosphine groups on the exterior has also been modelled and this suggests that all are available for bonding to catalytic metals in all the compounds.</p

Synthesis and computer modelling of hydroxy-derivatised carbosilane dendrimers based on polyhedral silsesquioxane cores

Divergent synthesis methods have been used to prepare 2nd generation dendrimers based on polyhedral silsesquioxane cores with up to 72 terminal groups at their surface. Repetitive hydrosilation/allylation of vinyl-functionalised polyhedral silsesquioxanes produce chlorosilyl- and allyl-derivatised dendrimers respectively. Hydroboration/oxidation of the allyl-functionalised dendrimers produces alcohol (hydroxy) terminated dendrimers. Energy minimisation and molecular dynamics techniques have been used to model the architectures of the dendrimers. The results show the dendrimers are relatively spherical, globular molecules, with a large proportion of the terminal hydroxy groups located in a shell at the exterior of the dendrimer. As the number of terminal groups on the dendrimers increases the number of the dendrimer branches that back fold towards the core of the dendrimer also increases.</p