Ravindra P. Jumde

A chiral organocatalytic polymer-based monolithic reactor

Radical copolymerisation of divinylbenzene and a properly modified enantiomerically pure imidazolidinone inside a stainless steel column in the presence of dodecanol and toluene as porogens afforded the first example of a chiral organocatalyst immobilized onto a monolithic reactor. Organocatalyzed cycloadditions between cyclopentadiene and cinnamic aldehyde were performed under continuous-flow conditions; by optimizing the experimental set up, excellent enantioselectivities (90% ee at 25 °C) and high productivities (higher than 330) were obtained, thus showing that a catalytic reactor may work efficiently to continuously produce enantiomerically enriched compounds. The same catalytic reactor was also employed to carry out three different stereoselective transformations in continuo, sequentially, inside the chiral column (Diels–Alder, 1,3-dipolar nitrone-olefin cycloaddition, and Friedel–Crafts alkylation); excellent results were obtained in the case of the former two reactions (up to 99% yield, 93% ee and 71% yield, 90% ee, at 25 °C, respectively). In addition to simplify the product recovery, the monolithic reactor performed better than the same supported organocatalyst in a stirred flask and could be kept working continuously for more than 8 days.

Gold nanoparticles obtained by aqueous digestive ripening: Their application as X-ray contrast agents

A preparative protocol to synthesize large quantities of size-controlled gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), stabilized by CH3O-PEG5000-SH (PEG-SH) in aqueous medium, is reported. The combination of metal vapor synthesis (MVS) technique with digestive ripening process allowed to obtain PEGylated Au NPs with mean core particle size of 3.8nm and hydrodynamic diameters centered at 8.0nm which were effectively used as computed tomography (CT) contrast agents for in vivo experiments on mice. The surface functionalization together with the small hydrodynamic diameters of the engineered Au nanoparticles permitted their efficient renal clearance, still retaining a prolonged blood circulation and a stealth capability.