The direct oxidative coupling reaction has been an attractive tool for environmentally benign chemistry. Reported herein is that the hypervalent iodine catalyzed oxidative metal-free cross-coupling reaction of phenols can be achieved using Oxone as a terminal oxidant in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropan-2-ol (HFIP). This method features a high efficiency and regioselectivity, as well as functional-g...

and Introduction: Chitin, the second-most abundant polysaccharide found in nature, has increased biocompatibility and biodegradability compared to cellulose, the most abundant polysaccharide. Found in crustaceans, cephalopods and mushrooms, chitin can be used to create new polymeric devices and to reinforce pre-existing technologies for various applications [1]. In this project, chitin nanofibe...

Abstract Synthetic chemists have learned to mimic nature in using hydrogen bonds and other weak interactions dictate the spatial arrangement of reaction substrates stabilize transition states enable highly efficient selective reactions. The activation a catalyst molecule itself by hydrogen‐bonding networks, order enhance its catalytic activity achieve desired outcome, is less explored organic s...

Donor–acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASAs) are visible-light-responsive photoswitches with a variety of emerging applications in photoresponsive materials. Their two-step modular synthesis, centered on the nucleophilic ring opening an activated furan, makes DASAs readily accessible. However, use less reactive donors or acceptors renders process slow and low yielding, which has limited their devel...

Aggregation of amyloid beta (Aβ) into oligomers and fibrils is believed to play an important role in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To gain further insight into the principles of aggregation, we have investigated the induction of β-sheet secondary conformation from disordered native peptide sequences through lipidation, in 1-2% hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) in phosphate buffered sa...

Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia in the elderly. Pathologically it is characterized by the presence of amyloid plaques and neuronal loss within the brain tissue of affected individuals. It is now widely hypothesised that fibrillar structures represent an inert structure. Biophysical and toxicity assays attempting to characterize the formation of both the fibrillar and the in...

The aim of this study was to characterize the influence of functionalization of synthetic poly-(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) nanofibers on mechanical properties such as maximum load, elongation, and Young's modulus. Furthermore, the impact of osteoblast growth on the various nanofiber scaffolds stability was determined. Nanofiber matrices composed of PLLA, PLLA-collagen, or BMP-2-incorporated PLLA wer...

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are a promising grid-level storage technology due to the abundance and low cost of sodium. The development new electrolytes for SIBs is imperative since it impacts battery life capacity. Currently, sodium hexafluorophosphate (NaPF6) used as benchmark salt, but highly hygroscopic generates toxic HF. This work describes synthesis series borate salts, with electrochemic...

This thesis details the development of new materials for high-performance chemical sensing as well as organic electronic applications. In Chapter 2, we develop a chemiresistive material based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) functionalized polythiophene, with a largely simplified fabrication process. The sensor shows high sensitivity and selectivity fo...