Iridium-mediated Bond Activation and Water Oxidation as an Exemplary Case of CARISMA, A European Network for the Development of Catalytic Routines for Small Molecule Activation

CARISMA is a currently running COST Action that pools leading European experts in computational and experimental chemistry to foster synergies for developing new catalytic processes for the transformation of abundant small molecules such as water, carbon dioxide, or ammonia into high-value chemicals and energy-relevant products. CARISMA promotes new collaborations, exchange of knowledge and skills, frontier training to young as well as established researchers, and a platform for the advancement of theoretical and experimental research in an iterative process, comprised of expertise in various connate domains including synthesis, catalysis, spectroscopy, kinetics, and computational chemistry. These interactions stimulate the discovery of new and efficient catalytic processes, illustrated in the second part of this contribution with the collaborative development of powerful iridium-based complexes for bond activation and water oxidation catalysis

Small molecule activation

The activation of small molecules has become an increasingly popular area of research over the last years, and there are many reasons to be captivated by this fascinating topic

KUINKA AVUSTAN LÄHEISTÄNI? : Toiminnallinen iltapäivä omaishoitajille ergonomisesta työskentelystä

Opinnäytetyön tilaaja oli Kokkolan vanhuspalvelut. Kotihoidon työntekijät olivat huomanneet puutteita omaishoitajien työergonomiassa ja tuoneet esiin tarpeen järjestää heille aiheesta koulutusta. Omaishoito ja omaishoitajien jaksaminen on ajankohtainen asia. Opinnäytetyö toteutettiin projektina yhteistyössä Kokkolan vanhuspalveluiden ja SenioriKaste-hankkeen kanssa. Projektin tarkoituksena oli järjestää Kokkolan seudun omaishoitajille toiminnallinen iltapäivä ergonomisesta työskentelystä. Projektin tavoitteena oli vähentää omaishoitajien työn kuormittavuutta opettamalla heitä hyödyntämään oman kehon painopisteitä ja luonnollisia liikeratoja avustamis- ja hoitotoimenpiteissä. Projekti sisälsi toiminnallisten iltapäivien suunnittelun, toteutuksen ja kirjallisen osuuden. Tietoperustassa käsittelimme omaishoitoa ja ergonomiaa. Projektin suunnittelu-osiossa selvitimme myös ohjausmenetelmiä omaishoitajille. Toiminnallisia iltapäiviä järjestettiin kolme samanlaista kevään 2016 aikana Kokkolassa, kaksi suomenkielistä ja yksi ruotsinkielinen. Omaishoitajat kutsuttiin tilaisuuteen kirjeillä. Toiminnalliset iltapäivät rakentuivat luennosta, apuväline-esittelystä ja käytännön harjoitteista. Luennoitsijoina toimivat alan asiantuntijat. Lopuksi omaishoitajat vastasivat palautekyselyyn. Omaishoitajilla ei ollut ennestään tietoa perusergonomiasta. Apuvälineiden tuntemuksessa oli myös puutteita. Saamamme palautteen perusteella omaishoitajat kokivat toiminnallisen iltapäivän hyödyllisenä. Se antoi heille perustietoa ergonomiasta ja toimintamalleja käytännön harjoitteiden avulla. Omaishoitajat saivat tiedon lisäksi myös vertaistukea. SenioriKaste-hankkeen asiantuntijat kokivat toiminnallisten iltapäivien järjestämisen tärkeäksi myös tulevaisuudessa.The subscriber for this thesis was the Elderly Care of Kokkola. The workers of the Home Care Unit had noticed lacking skills in work ergonomics of the caregivers and had brought up the need for training. Coping with workload is a current issue among caregivers. The thesis was executed in co-operation with the Elderly Care of Kokkola and the SenioriKaste project. The purpose of the project was to organize a functional afternoon for the caregivers of Kokkola region regarding ergonomic ways of working. The aim of the project was to reduce workload of the caregivers by educating them how to utilize natural trajectories of their body when assisting and giving treatment. The project included planning and executing the functional afternoon as well as the written part. In the knowledge base we covered care and ergonomics. In the planning part we explained training methods for carers. During the spring of 2016 we organized three similar functional afternoons, out of which 2 were conducted in Finnish and one in Swedish. Carers were invited by letters. The functional afternoon consisted of: lecture, presentation of technical aids and practical exercises. As lecturers we had professionals in the field. As an ending the carers answered a feedback questionnaire. The carers had no previous knowledge regarding basic ergonomic working methods. There was also lack of knowledge regarding technical aids. According to the feedback the carers experienced the afternoon to be useful. It gave them basic information regarding ergonomics and procedures through practical exercises. In addition to information the carers also received peer support from other participants. The experts from the SenioriKaste project also supported organizing similar days in the future

Dissection of the Polar and Non‐Polar Contributions to Aromatic Stacking Interactions in Solution

Abstract: Aromatic stacking interactions have been a matter of study and debate due to their crucial role in chemical and biological systems. The strong dependence on orientation and solvent together with the relatively small interaction energies have made evaluation and rationalization a challenge for experimental and theoretical chemists. We have used a supramolecular cage formed by two tris(pyridylmethyl)amines units to build chemical Double Mutant Cycles (DMC) for the experimental measurement of the free energies of π‐stacking interactions. Extrapolating the substituent effects to remove the contribution due to electrostatic interactions reveals that there is a substantial contribution to the measured stacking interaction energies which is due to non‐polar interactions (−3 to −6 kJ mol−1). The perfectly flat nature of the surface of an aromatic ring gives π‐stacking an inherent advantage over non‐polar interactions with alkyl groups and accounts for the wide‐spread prevalence of stacking interactions in Nature

Chiroptical Enhancement of Chiral Dicarboxylic Acids from Confinement in a Stereodynamic Supramolecular Cage

The fundamental implications that chirality has in science and technology require continuous efforts for the development of fast, economic, and reliable quantitative methods for enantiopurity assessment. Among the different analytical approaches, chiroptical techniques in combination with supramolecular methodologies have shown promising results in terms of both costs and time analysis. In this article, a tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amines (TPMA)-based supramolecular cage is able to amplify the circular dichroism (CD) signal of a series of chiral dicarboxylic acids also in the presence of a complex mixture. This feature has been used to quantify tartaric acid in wines and to discriminate different matrixes using principal component analysis (PCA) of the raw CD data

Preface

Preface to the issue as Guest Edito