Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Stewart A Forsyth.
Ionic liquids which are (weak) Lewis bases have a number of interesting and useful properties different to those of traditional ionic liquids, including volatility and the possibility of being distillable in some cases, a base catalysis effect in others and enhancement of the acidity of dissolved acids.
The electrochemical reduction of tetrabutylammonium salts of isostructural pairs of polyoxometalates [Bu4N]2[M6O19], [Bu4N]4[alpha-SiM12O40], and [Bu4N]4[alpha-S2M18O62] (M = Mo or W) has been investigated at glassy carbon electrodes in dissolved and surface-confined states in ionic liquids and other media. In the ionic liquid 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate [BMIM][PF(6)], between two and six reversible one-electron-transfer processes were detected. Detailed studies on the process [alpha-S2W18O62](4-/5-) in a range of ionic liquids, water, and conventional organic solvents (containing 0.1 M electrolyte) suggest that the polarity of the medium plays a key role in the determination of the reversible potential. Reduction processes involving very highly charged [alpha-S2W18O62](8-/9-/10-) species are strongly influenced by the purity of the medium.
A benzothiazole-derived compound (4a) designed to mimic the C(alpha)-C(beta) bond vectors and terminal functionalities of Lys2, Tyr13 and Arg17 in omega-conotoxin GVIA was synthesised, together with analogues (4b-d), which had each side-chain mimic systematically truncated or eliminated. The affinity of these compounds for rat brain N-type and P/Q-type voltage gated calcium channels (VGCCs) was determined. In terms of N-type channel affinity and selectivity, two of these compounds (4a and 4d) were found to be highly promising, first generation mimetics of omega-conotoxin. The fully functionalised mimetic (4a) showed low microM binding affinity to N-type VGCCs (IC(50)=1.9 microM) and greater than 20-fold selectivity for this channel sub-type over P/Q-type VGCCs, whereas the mimetic in which the guanidine-type side chain was truncated back to an amine (4d, IC(50)= 4.1 microM) showed a greater than 25-fold selectivity for the N-type channel.
pi-Conjugated polymers that are electrochemically cycled in ionic liquids have enhanced lifetimes without failure (up to 1 million cycles) and fast cycle switching speeds (100 ms). We report results for electrochemical mechanical actuators, electrochromic windows, and numeric displays made from three types of pi-conjugated polymers: polyaniline, polypyrrole, and polythiophene. Experiments were performed under ambient conditions, yet the polymers showed negligible loss in electroactivity. These performance advantages were obtained by using environmentally stable, room-temperature ionic liquids composed of 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium cations together with anions such as tetrafluoroborate or hexafluorophosphate.
Archetypal O-acetylation reactions of alcohols and carbohydrates proceed rapidly in high yield under mild conditions in a dicyanamide based ionic liquid, that is not only an effective solvent but also an active base catalyst.