Benzobisoxazole cruciforms: a tunable, cross-conjugated platform for the generation of deep blue OLED materials

Four new cross-conjugated small molecules based on a central benzo[1,2-d:4,5-d′]bisoxazole moiety possessing semi-independently tunable HOMO and LUMO levels were synthesized and the properties of these materials were evaluated experimentally and theoretically. The molecules were thermally stable with 5% weight loss occurring well above 350 °C. The cruciforms all exhibited blue emission in solution ranging from 433–450 nm. Host–guest OLEDs fabricated from various concentrations of these materials using the small molecule host 4,4′-bis(9-carbazolyl)-biphenyl (CBP) exhibited deep blue-emission with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.15 ≤ x ≤ 0.17, 0.05 ≤ y ≤ 0.11), and maximum luminance efficiencies as high as ∼2 cd A−1. These results demonstrate the potential of benzobisoxazole cruciforms as emitters for developing high-performance deep blue OLEDs.We would like to thank Dr Sarah Cady, Dr Kamel Harrata and Mr Steven Veysey of Iowa State University (ISU) Chemical Instrumentation Facility for compound analysis. We thank Eeshita Manna for technical assistance. We also thank the National Science Foundation (CHE-1413173) for financial support of this work. RK and JS were partially supported by Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science and Engineering, USDOE. Ames Laboratory is operated by Iowa State University for the US Department of Energy (USDOE) under Contract No. DE-AC 02-07CH11358. Computational resources were provided in part by the MERCURY consortium (http://mercuryconsortium.org/) under NSF grants CHE-0116435, CHE-0521063, CHE-0849677, and CHE-1229354. (CHE-1413173 - National Science Foundation; Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science and Engineering, USDOE; DE-AC 02-07CH11358 - Iowa State University for the US Department of Energy (USDOE); CHE-0116435 - MERCURY consortium under NSF; CHE-0521063 - MERCURY consortium under NSF; CHE-0849677 - MERCURY consortium under NSF; CHE-1229354 - MERCURY consortium under NSF)http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2016/TC/C5TC03622D#!divAbstractPublished versio

Information and decision-making needs among people with affective disorders – results of an online survey

Sarah Liebherz, Lisa Tlach, Martin Härter, Jörg Dirmaier Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany Background: Patient decision aids are one possibility for enabling and encouraging patients to participate in medical decisions.Objective: This paper aims to describe patients’ information and decision-making needs as a prerequisite for the development of high-quality, web-based patient decision aids for affective disorders.Design: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey by using a self-administered questionnaire including items on Internet use, online health information needs, role in decision making, and important treatment decisions, performing descriptive and comparative statistical analyses.Participants: A total of 210 people with bipolar disorder/mania as well as 112 people with unipolar depression participated in the survey.Results: Both groups specified general information search as their most relevant information need and decisions on treatment setting (inpatient or outpatient) as well as decisions on pharmacological treatment as the most difficult treatment decisions. For participants with unipolar depression, decisions concerning psychotherapeutic treatment were also especially difficult. Most participants of both groups preferred shared decisions but experienced less shared decisions than desired.Discussion and conclusion: Our results show the importance of information for patients with affective disorders, with a focus on pharmacological treatment and on the different treatment settings, and highlight patients’ requirements to be involved in the decision-making process. Since our sample reported a chronic course of disease, we do not know if our results are applicable for newly diagnosed patients. Further studies should consider how the reported needs could be addressed in health care practice. Keywords: bipolar disorder, computer/Internet technology, depression, empirical supported treatment, mood disorders, pharmacotherap

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in pediatric patients with mitral valve regurgitation-case-control study and review of the literature

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effectiveness of chronic administration of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in pediatric patients with mitral valve regurgitation. DESIGN, SETTING, PATIENTS, INTERVENTIONS: This was a case-control study of all echocardiograms of patients with moderate-to-severe mitral valve regurgitation, who underwent chronic administration of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors between January 1990 and December 2006 at a single center. OUTCOME MEASURES: Echocardiographic parameters (left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, left ventricular posterior wall diameter, interventricular septum diameter, left atrium to aortic root diameter ratio, grade of mitral valve regurgitation, shortening fraction) were analyzed before and during therapy with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in 12 patients and compared with 12 patients without medications after one month and one year. RESULTS: Twenty-four consecutive pediatric patients (median age of 7 years with a range 1 month-16 years) with moderate-to-severe mitral valve regurgitation were included. Data are given as standard deviation scores (z-scores) derived from body-surface-adjusted normal values. During angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition left ventricular end-diastolic diameter decreased from mean z-score 2.04 to 1.66 (after 1 month) and to 1.73 (after 1 year), while left ventricular posterior wall diameter decreased from 0.25 to 0.12 (after 1 year), respectively. Shortening fraction, interventricular septum diameter, grade of mitral valve regurgitation, and left atrium to aortic root diameter ratio remained stable. CONCLUSIONS: In this case-control study of patients with moderate-to-severe mitral valve regurgitation effectiveness of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition on left ventricular dimensions and function after 1 month and 1 year is limited. Reviewing the literature, the lack of long-term follow-up studies with large patient cohorts and controversial study-results in adults require a prospective long-term multicenter follow-up study in pediatric patients

Influence of Conjugation Axis on the Optical and Electronic Properties of Aryl-Substituted Benzobisoxazoles

Six different 2,6-diethyl-4,8-diarylbenzo­[1,2-<i>d</i>:4,5-<i>d</i>′]­bis­(oxazoles) and four different 2,4,6,8-tetraarylbenzobisoxazoles were synthesized in two steps: a Lewis acid catalyzed orthoester cyclization followed by a Suzuki or Stille cross-coupling with various arenes. The influence of aryl group substitution and/or conjugation axis variation on the optical and electronic properties of these benzobis­(oxazole) (BBO) compounds was evaluated. Structural modifications could be used to alter the HOMO, LUMO, and band gap over a range of 1.0, 0.5, and 0.5 eV, respectively. However, depending on the location and identity of the substituent, the HOMO level can be altered without significantly impacting the LUMO level. This is supported by the calculated frontier molecular orbitals. Our results indicate that the FMOs and band gaps of benzobisoxazoles can be readily modified either jointly or individually