Pain shared, pain halved? Cooperation as a coping strategy for innovation barriers

The paper analyses the relationship between the perception of barriers to innovation and the firm’s propensity to cooperate to mitigate their effect. First, we look at whether cooperation with research organizations or private firms is associated with experiencing different types of barriers, for example, financial constraints, lack of human capital or uncertain market demand. Second, we test whether experiencing several types of barriers simultaneously has a super-modular effect on the propensity to cooperate tout court, and the choice of cooperation partner. We find that having to face a single, specific constraint leads to firms ‘sharing the pain’ with cooperation partners—both research organization and other firms. However, the results of a super-modularity test show that having to cope with different barriers is a deterrent to establishing cooperation agreements, especially when firms lack finance, adequate skills and information on technology or markets. The paper adds to the innovation literature by identifying the factors associated with firms’ coping with different barriers by applying a selective cooperation strategy

Electrophile, Substrate Functionality, and Catalyst Effects in the Synthesis of α-Mono and Di-Substituted Benzylamines via Visible-Light Photoredox Catalysis in Flow

We report herein the facile and one-pot synthesis of α-mono- and di-substituted benzylamines from cheap and readily available α-amino acids, via photocatalytic decarboxylative arylation in flow. This enables to access intermediates and building blocks that are difficult to obtain via other synthetic routes, but are key for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and fine chemicals. The optimal decarboxylative conditions were identified through a high-throughput evaluation of catalysts, organic or inorganic bases, ligands, and reaction parameters (i. e., contact time, temperatures, and photoelectron power). The reaction turned out to be electronically controlled as the yields increased with increasing electron-density on the aryl moiety. The results were correlated with the redox properties of the photocatalysts, deriving catalyst structure-performance relationships which can facilitate the future identification of even better materials. In addition, compared to traditional batch chemistry, the use of a flow protocol led to quicker reactions (30 min instead of 12–72 h) and ensured more predictable reaction scale-ups

Un nouvel aspect des relations aliment-microflore digestive : l'effet rémanent de certains régimes alimentaires sur l'établissement de deux souches de Clostridium dans le tractus digestif de souris gnotoxéniques

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