Chiara Lombardi

Stereochemical Assignment of Strigolactone Analogues Confirms Their Selective Biological Activity

Strigolactones (SLs) are new plant hormones with various developmental functions. They are also soil signaling chemicals that are required for establishing beneficial mycorrhizal plant/fungus symbiosis. In addition, SLs play an essential role in inducing seed germination in root-parasitic weeds, which are one of the seven most serious biological threats to food security. There are around 20 natural SLs that are produced by plants in very low quantities. Therefore, most of the knowledge on SL signal transduction and associated molecular events is based on the application of synthetic analogues. Stereochemistry plays a crucial role in the structure-activity relationship of SLs, as compounds with an unnatural D-ring configuration may induce biological effects that are unrelated to SLs. We have synthesized a series of strigolactone analogues, whose absolute configuration has been elucidated and related with their biological activity, thus confirming the high specificity of the response. Analogues bearing the R-configured butenolide moiety showed enhanced biological activity, which highlights the importance of this stereochemical motif.

Carborane-BODIPY Dyads: New Photoluminescent Materials through an Efficient Heck Coupling

A small library of carborane-BODIPY/aza-BODIPY dyads were efficiently synthesized by means of a novel convergent synthetic approach, the key step of which is a Pd-catalyzed Heck coupling reaction. The structural characterization and photoluminescence properties of the newly synthesized dyads were evaluated. The presence of the carborane did not significantly alter the photophysical patterns of the BODIPY or aza-BODIPY in the final fluorophores, but it produced a decrease of the emission fluorescent quantum yields that was in the range from 1.4 % for aza-BODIPY to 48 % for BODIPY-dyads. The carborane-BODIPY dyads were successfully incorporated into cells, especially compounds 2, 4 and 13, demonstrating their cytoplasmic localization. The fluorescent and biocompatibility properties make these compounds good candidates for in vitro cell tracking.

L'economia insegna a scegliere. Matrimonio e tradimento come metafora economica da Machiavelli a Lloyd Roth e Alvin Shapley

The essay aims at analyzing the relationships between literature and economy in Machiavelli’s Mandragola , focusing not simply on the thematic level, but specifically on the concepts of choice and desire as conceived by the logic of the first capitalism. Both these concepts will later support the economic thought of Paretus and the modern theory of games as well, this latter applying to various fields such as psychology, sociology, ethics etc. Starting from these premises, this contribution will try to demonstrate how Machiavelli’s Mandragola plotted the notions of choice and desire as the principal strengths of modern economic rationality. The narrative expedient of the mandragola , indeed, represents the winning means of reaching what we may call, though anachronistically, a Nash equilibrium : every character, without exception, obtains his pay-off . This equilibrium concerns marriage, but at the same time is achieved through marriage’s negation (that is through the betrayal), thus implying the representation of dynamics and power relations which complicate, discuss and reallocate the initial conditions of stability.

Dalla parte dell'uomo. L’economia nella letteratura e nelle scienze umane

Il Focus del quarto numero di CoSMo raccoglie i contributi di studiosi, principalmente di area umanistica, che nel corso di una giornata di studi hanno discusso di un problema molto dibattuto nella riflessione contemporanea: il rapporto tra uomo ed economia. Punto di riferimento imprescindibile e costituito, in Italia, dall’opera di Luciano Gallino, che tratta l’economia e la sociologia a partire da una rinnovata, critica, riflessione umanistica. In Finanzcapitalismo. La civilta del denaro in crisi , lo studioso ha definito “mega-macchine sociali” le “grandi organizzazioni gerarchiche che usano masse di esseri umani come componenti o servo-unita”; il finanzcapitalismo puo essere percio inteso come “una mega-macchina creata con lo scopo di massimizzare e accumulare, sotto forma di capitale e insieme di potere, il valore estraibile sia dagli esseri umani sia dagli ecosistemi” 1 . Prendere in considerazione i rapporti tra economia e scienze umane (e, nel nostro caso, soprattutto la letteratura) non significa avere la pretesa di riuscire a spostare in maniera significativa il baricentro di tale controversa relazione sull’uomo ne, tanto meno, trovare risposte ai problemi mondiali che sono quotidianamente al centro dell’attenzione scientifica e mediatica, come la crisi economica , tanto piu in interventi proposti da studiosi di altre discipline come quelle letterarie. Tuttavia, abbiamo ritenuto importante proporre un ripensamento delle intersezioni tra queste discipline, un tempo maggiormente collegate, per una piu ampia comprensione reciproca 2 . Come ha messo in evidenza Lino Sau nella nota che segue questa introduzione, infatti, la tendenza degli ultimi due secoli ha portato a una sempre maggiore dicotomia tra la letteratura e l’economia, scienza quest’ultima che finisce essere inevitabilmente considerata “senza cuore” – sans entraille s, per usare l’espressione gia flaubertiana intorno alla quale si muove il suo saggio.

L'Apocalisse nella letteratura (Marlowe, Shakespeare, Dostoevskij): tempo, intreccio, allegorie

The essay examines Revelation both as a literary text and as a narrative device. In this intellectual framework, The Author discusses three main issues: the ways in which Time is perceived and represented within the text; the circulation of the apocalyptic imaginery as a literary paradigm used to interpret History; the characterization of Revelations language as unveiling and utopian at the same time. On this ground the essay studies Revelations reception within literary domain, and in particular in Elizabethan theatre and in Dostoevskijs novels.