Analysis and evaluation of a novel renal transplantation program. A case study

In 2011, a new and innovative collaborative program was established in Spain between the Autonomous Community of La Rioja and the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country in the matter of kidney transplant coordination, with the objective of increasing the number of kidney donors and the access of patients to kidneys for transplantation through a shared waiting list and a joint organization. Seven years after the foundation of the program, La Rioja had already transplanted 100 kidneys, and an analysis was carried out to assess its efficacy as well as some possible points for improvement. To do so, data from all patients and donors involved in the 100 procedures were collected and examined, looking for possible indicators and reasons for the failure or success of each transplantation as a function of certain variables, such as the region were the kidneys were extracted or the distance and time that the organ had to travel before being implanted into the recipient. It could be obtained from the achieved results that there were no significant differences in the outcomes of the patients based on the regions of origin of the kidneys, but a significant correlation was found between glomerular filtration rates (GFR) at the time of hospital discharge and the number of hours that the organs remained stored until being transplanted into the receptor. After analyzing whether conditions of storage could affect somehow the overall function of the kidneys, it was concluded that the organ cooling mechanism during the process should be further controlled; the amount of time and conditions in which the organs remained stored affected their overall functionality at the date of hospital discharge, so La Rioja needs to concentrate on reducing such time in future procedures and improving the storage conditions of kidneys to provide better outcomes for their patients.Ingeniería Biomédica (Plan 2010

Diseño, síntesis, y estudio cristalográfico de nuevos materiales metal-orgánicos de indio y su aplicación en el ámbito de las reacciones multicomponente de Strecker y Ugi

El campo de las redes de coordinación metal-orgánicas, conocidas por su denominación y abreviatura inglesa (Metal-Organic Frameworks, MOF) constituye un área en auge, novedosa pero ya con una destacada madurez gracias a más de dos décadas de investigación. Se trata de materiales formados por la combinación de cationes metálicos enlazados mediante moléculas orgánicas resultando en estructuras cristalinas tridimensionales. Como parte de la Química Reticular, el diseño y la obtención de MOFs ha permitido explorar un campo muy versátil, con amplia variabilidad estructural cuyas aplicaciones se extienden a lo largo de un gran abanico de opciones: estudios catalíticos, almacenamiento y separación de gases, sensores, captación y adsorción de agua, entre otros..

Conversion of biogenic aragonite into hydroxyapatite scaffolds in boiling solutions

The interaction of Sepia officinalis cuttlefish bone, made of aragonitic CaCO3, with (NH4)2HPO4 boiling solutions produces porous carbonate-bearing hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) scaffolds with extremely large specific surface area. Percentages of aragonite into hydroxyapatite conversion close to 90% are reached after 10 hours for all the conditions explored, though higher efficiency of the transformation process is achieved by increasing the concentration of the (NH4)2HPO4 solution. The conversion has a pseudomorphic character since it occurs with the accurate preservation of the external shape as well as the primary macro- and microtextural features of the biomineral. Moreover, the mineral replacement transformation is accompanied by a significant increase in surface area, which most likely relates to newly formed porosity. We proposed that this transformation occurs through an interface coupled dissolution–crystallization mechanism, which is continuously promoted by the release of CO2 to the atmosphere. The generation of newly formed porosity would be the consequence of the preservation of the biomineral's external shape, which requires the balance of both molar volume and solubility changes involved in the mineral transformation

Conversion of biogenic aragonite into hydroxyapatite scaffolds in boiling solutions

The interaction of Sepia officinalis cuttlefish bone, made of aragonitic CaCO, with (NH)HPO boiling solutions produces porous carbonate-bearing hydroxyapatite (Ca(PO)(OH)) scaffolds with extremely large specific surface area. Percentages of aragonite into hydroxyapatite conversion close to 90% are reached after 10 hours for all the conditions explored, though higher efficiency of the transformation process is achieved by increasing the concentration of the (NH)HPO solution. The conversion has a pseudomorphic character since it occurs with the accurate preservation of the external shape as well as the primary macro- and microtextural features of the biomineral. Moreover, the mineral replacement transformation is accompanied by a significant increase in surface area, which most likely relates to newly formed porosity. We proposed that this transformation occurs through an interface coupled dissolution-crystallization mechanism, which is continuously promoted by the release of CO to the atmosphere. The generation of newly formed porosity would be the consequence of the preservation of the biomineral's external shape, which requires the balance of both molar volume and solubility changes involved in the mineral transformation.Financial support from projects CGL2013-47988-C2-1-P and MAT2014-52069-R (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors thank the staff of ICTS Centro Nacional de Microscopía Electrónica for kindly providing technical support. The authors are indebted to Dr. Emilio Matesanz from the X-ray Diffraction Central Service of the Complutense University (UCM) for assistance with XRD measurements and interpretation. D. R.-F. thanks the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport for funding through a research initiation scholarship

Anionic and neutral 2D indium metal-organic frameworks as catalysts for the Ugi one-pot multicomponent reaction

Two metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) made of indium and 1,3,5-tris(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene (H3btb) and having a layered structure have been synthesized under solvothermal conditions: [In(btb)(H2O)(DMF)]·L (InPF-50) and [In2(btb)2Cl2]2−·[(CH3)2NH2]22+·L (InPF-51). The structures of both materials have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The synthetic study which has been carried out demonstrates the influence of the selected indium salt in obtaining each MOF. The structure of both materials consists of pairs of catenated layers, where the metal atoms display coordinated solvent ligands that provide potential open metal sites. The accessibility to these sites along with the presence of Lewis basic sites in the form of uncoordinated oxygen atoms make InPF-50 and -51 efficient catalysts for the four-component Ugi reaction. We attribute this high activity not only to the presence of both acid and basic sites, but also to their convenient locations in the MOF structures. This is further supported by the comparison with [In3O(btb)2(HCO2)]·L, InPF-110, a highly porous indium MOF that only displays Lewis acid sites, and shows lower activity.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities Project MAT2016-78465-R, MAT2017-82288-C2-2-P, and CTQ2017-87262-R. D. R.-F. acknowledges an FPU scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. F. G. acknowledges the Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities, for funding through the “Ramón y Cajal” program.We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI

A mesoporous indium metal-organic framework: remarkable advances in catalytic activity for strecker reaction of ketones

With the aim of developing new highly porous, heterogeneous Lewis acid catalysts for multicomponent reactions, a new mesoporous metal-organic framework, InPF-110 ([InO(btb)(HCOO)(L)], (Hbtb = 1,3,5-tris(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene acid, L = methanol, water, or ethanol), has been prepared with indium as the metal center. It exhibits a Langmuir surface area of 1470 m g, and its structure consists of hexagonal pores with a 2.8 nm aperture, which allows the diffusion of multiple substrates. This material presents a large density of active metal sites resulting in outstanding catalytic activity in the formation of substituted α-aminonitriles through the one-pot Strecker reaction of ketones. In this respect, InPF-110 stands out compared to other catalysts for this reaction due to the small catalyst loadings required, and without the need for heat or solvents. Furthermore, X-ray single crystal diffraction studies clearly show the framework-substrate interaction through coordination to the accessible indium sites.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) Projects MAT2013-45460-R, MAT2014-52085-C2-2, and CTQ2014-61748-EXP. D.R.-F. acknowledges an FPU scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. Financial support by Fundación General CSIC (Programa ComFuturo) is acknowledged (F.G.)

Group 13th metal-organic frameworks and their role in heterogeneous catalysis

Through the pages of this review, we describe the most important MOFs so far built with the group 13th elements: indium, gallium and aluminum, with particular emphasis on indium-based materials. We also review the role of these materials as heterogeneous catalysts in several organic transformations. Thus, on one hand, we comment on the MOFs developed along the years with these three p-elements in order to appreciate the evolution of the control of the synthesis process that now allows developing green materials using environmentally friendly conditions. On the other hand, we review the different approaches of these MOFs as heterogeneous catalysts used both in standard well-known organic transformations and in multicomponent coupling reactions.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO – Spain) projects MAT2013-45460-R, MAT2014-52085-C2-2-P, MAT2016-78465-R and CTQ2014-61748-EXP, Fondo Social Europeo from the European Union. Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid S2013/MIT-2740 (PHAMA 2.0). D.R.-F. acknowledges an FPU scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. Financial support by Fundación General CSIC (Programa ComFuturo) is acknowledged (F.G.)

Angstrom-resolved metal-organic framework-liquid interfaces

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of crystalline materials with a variety of applications in gas storage, catalysis, drug delivery or light harvesting. The optimization of those applications requires the characterization of MOF structure in the relevant environment. Dynamic force microscopy has been applied to follow dynamic processes of metal-organic-framework material. We provide images with spatial and time resolutions, respectively, of angstrom and seconds that show that Ce-RPF-8 surfaces immersed in water and glycerol experience a surface reconstruction process that is characterized by the diffusion of the molecular species along the step edges of the open terraces. The rate of the surface reconstruction process depends on the liquid. In water it happens spontaneously while in glycerol is triggered by applying an external force.We thank the financial support from the European Research Council ERC – AdG – 340177 (3DNanoMech) and the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) (MAT2016-76507-R, MAT2013-44858-R, MAT2016-78465-R, and CTQ2014-61748-EXP). F.G. acknowledges financial support by MINECO (Programa Ramón y Cajal)