Synthesis and functionalization of NaGdF₄:Yb,Er@NaGdF₄ core–shell nanoparticles for possible application as multimodal contrast agents

• Dovile Baziulyte-Paulaviciene,
• Vitalijus Karabanovas,
• Marius Stasys,
• Greta Jarockyte,
• Vilius Poderys,
• Simas Sakirzanovas and
• Ricardas Rotomskis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1815–1824, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.183

• -octadecene (ODE, 90%) was obtained from Sigma-Aldrich. Tween 80 (polysorbate 80) was purchased from Merck Millipore. Other chemicals including hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, ammonium fluoride, methanol, chloroform, cyclohexane and acetone were obtained from Reachem Slovakia. Synthesis of core β-NaGdF4

• solution. Metal chlorides were mixed with 12 mL oleic acid (OA) and 30 mL 1-octadecene (ODE) in three-neck round-bottom flask and then heated to 150 °C for 40 min. 10 mL of methanol solution containing NaOH (5 mmol) and NH4F (8 mmol) was slowly introduced and the solution was stirred at 50 °C for 30 min

• . After the methanol was evaporated, the solution was heated to 300 °C for 1 h under argon atmosphere. The resultant nanoparticles were precipitated by hexane/acetone (1:4 v/v), collected by centrifugation, washed with acetone and DI water several times, and finally redispersed in cyclohexane. Synthesis

Group-13 and group-15 doping of germanane

• Nicholas D. Cultrara,
• Maxx Q. Arguilla,
• Shishi Jiang,
• Chuanchuan Sun,
• Michael R. Scudder,
• R. Dominic Ross and
• Joshua E. Goldberger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1642–1648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.164

• products were first rinsed with deionized water followed by rinsing with methanol, three times each. The crystals were collected via slow centrifugation and subsequently dried in vacuum. The structure of doped GeH was confirmed using capilary X-ray diffraction using Cu Kα1 radiation (λ = 1.54 nm) on a

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

• (methanol, ethanol, sodium sulphide, sodium sulphite, etc.) are always employed in photocatalytic water splitting reactions to scavenge holes and hence suppress photogenerated charge recombination effectively. When graphene-based nanocomposites are used as photocatalysts for energy generation through the

• of water splitting with GO as a photocatalyst, using methanol as hole scavenger, can be summarized as [107], Eda et al. have investigated the insulator → semiconductor → semimetal transition in RGO with degree of reduction [111]. They found that the energy gap even approaches zero with the extensive

• . Feng et al. reported novel CdS quantum dot (QDs) coupled with g-C3N4 photocatalysts by a chemical impregnation method [16]. The reported photocatalyst was used for visible-light-based H2 evolution from an aqueous methanol solution with Pt as a cocatalyst. The effect of CdS loading was optimized to be

Low-temperature CO oxidation over Cu/Pt co-doped ZrO₂ nanoparticles synthesized by solution combustion

• Amit Singhania and
• Shipra Mital Gupta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1546–1552, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.156

• , cigarettes, proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, air purifiers, methanol production and water-gas shift reaction [1][2][3][4]. The catalytic oxidation of CO was revolutionized by Haruta et al. [5]. They worked on supported nanogold catalysts and found them to be highly active for CO oxidation. Till date

Development of polycationic amphiphilic cyclodextrin nanoparticles for anticancer drug delivery

• Gamze Varan,
• Juan M. Benito,
• Carmen Ortiz Mellet and
• Erem Bilensoy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1457–1468, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.145

• in the range between 75 to 400 nm for different solvents, and ethanol gives the smallest diameter for all CD nanoparticles. The effect of organic solvent selection on nanoparticle diameter was found to follow the order of methanol > acetone > ethanol for 6OCaproβCD nanoparticles and CS-6OCaproβCD

• nanoparticles, and acetone > methanol > ethanol for PC βCDC6 nanoparticles. It is worth noting that ethanol also gave the most monodisperse particles with an acceptable polydispersity index (<0.2) (Table 1). As expected, the core–shell nanoparticles CS-6OCaproβCD had the largest size due to the chitosan coating

• difference between the other solvents/water, and the smallest particle size is obtained in the formulation using ethanol [30]. In another study, Khan et al. prepared gelatine nanoparticles by the nanoprecipitation technique with different organic solvents (methanol, ethanol, acetone, n-propanol and

Low uptake of silica nanoparticles in Caco-2 intestinal epithelial barriers

• Dong Ye,
• Mattia Bramini,
• Delyan R. Hristov,
• Sha Wan,
• Anna Salvati,
• Christoffer Åberg and
• Kenneth A. Dawson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1396–1406, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.141

• . Caco-2 cells were fixed and permeabilised with methanol for 4 min at −20 °C and then carefully washed with PBS three times. Antibody unspecific binding was prevented by treating the cells with a blocking buffer of 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA)-Tween PBS for 30 min (Tween 0.05%, v/v). To stain the

Deposition of exchange-coupled dinickel complexes on gold substrates utilizing ambidentate mercapto-carboxylato ligands

• Martin Börner,
• Laura Blömer,
• Marcus Kischel,
• Peter Richter,
• Georgeta Salvan,
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn,
• Pablo F. Siles,
• Maria E. N. Fuentes,
• Carlos C. B. Bufon,
• Daniel Grimm,
• Oliver G. Schmidt,
• Daniel Breite,
• Bernd Abel and
• Berthold Kersting

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1375–1387, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.139

• acid and NEt3) in methanol at ambient temperature resulted in pale-green solutions. Upon addition of an excess of LiClO4 green, air-sensitive compounds of composition [Ni2L(L’)](ClO4) (where L’ = (HL4)− (6), (HL5)− (7), and (HL6)− (8)) could be obtained in good yields (56–60%). Compounds 6–8 are

Synthesis of [Fe(L_eq)(L_ax)]_n coordination polymer nanoparticles using blockcopolymer micelles

• Christoph Göbel,
• Ottokar Klimm,
• Florian Puchtler,
• Sabine Rosenfeldt,
• Stephan Förster and
• Birgit Weber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1318–1327, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.133

• were already synthesised in methanol [44][50], the coordination polymer [FeLeq(bpey)]n is described here for the first time. The coordination polymers 1, 2 and 3 were synthesised by dissolving the iron(II) complex [FeLeq(MeOH)2] and the respective axial ligand in THF. The solution was refluxed for 1 h

• , Figure S1) in which some of the reflexes are shifted compared to the sample prepared in methanol. Sample 2 ([FeLeq(bpee)]n) is paramagnetic at room temperature with a χMT value of 3.20 cm3·K·mol−1 (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S2). Upon cooling the sample remains in the HS state over the whole

• temperature range, as already reported for the complex synthesised from methanol [50]. Sample 3 ([FeLeq(bpey)]) is paramagnetic at room temperature with a χMT value of 3.23 cm3·K·mol−1, typical for iron(II) complexes in the HS state (bottom of Figure 1). Upon cooling the χMT value remains almost constant down

Oxidative chemical vapor deposition of polyaniline thin films

• Yuriy Y. Smolin,
• Masoud Soroush and
• Kenneth K. S. Lau

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1266–1276, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.128

• conductivity and stability, and often results in a much smoother film surface [17]. Besides THF, methanol is a common solvent that is used in the washing process, and acid-washing (e.g., HCl, HBr, H2SO4) has also been explored as a way to improve film conductivity by improving chain packing and increased

Evaluation of quantum dot conjugated antibodies for immunofluorescent labelling of cellular targets

• Jennifer E. Francis,
• David Mason and
• Raphaël Lévy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1238–1249, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.125

• certain fixation protocols [13][19][30], as well as using paraformaldehyde, ice cold methanol was also tried. Methanol fixation and harsher permeabilisation with up to 1% Triton X-100 was used in an attempt to increase accessibility of the Qdots to complex intracellular antigens. Although methanol

• of the immunofluorescence procedure is shown in Figure 8. Briefly, cells were seeded onto glass coverslips and grown until confluent, washed once in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) (37 °C), and fixed in 4% (w/v) paraformaldehyde (PFA) for 10 min or 100% ice cold methanol (5 min). Cells were washed 3

• × in PBS (5 min), permeabilised with 0.25% Triton X-100 in PBS for 60 min (except methanol fixation), washed again 3× in PBS (5 min), and incubated with 6% bovine serum albumin (BSA, Sigma-Aldrich, UK) in PBS (60 min). Primary antibodies produced in mouse (anti-β-tubulin TUB 2.1, Sigma-Aldrich, UK

A top-down approach for fabricating three-dimensional closed hollow nanostructures with permeable thin metal walls

• Carlos Angulo Barrios and
• Víctor Canalejas-Tejero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1231–1237, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.124

• indicates that the resonance must be sensitive to refractive index changes of the superstrate. This was corroborated by immersing the nanostructure array in different liquids. Figure 5a shows the measured spectral reflectance of a hollow nanopillar array in different top cladding media: air, methanol

• for different superstrate media: air, methanol (MeOH), acetone, isopropanol (IPA), tetrahydrofuran (THF) and deionized water (DIW). b) Spectral position of the reflectance maximum peak as a function of the liquid refractive index. Cross-section of the modelled hollow nanopillar array unit cell. White

Preparation of thick silica coatings on carbon fibers with fine-structured silica nanotubes induced by a self-assembly process

• Benjamin Baumgärtner,
• Hendrik Möller,
• Thomas Neumann and
• Dirk Volkmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1145–1155, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.116

• LPEI aggregates and, consequently, the morphology of the mineralized silica particles. This can be realized by varying the LPEI and/or silica precursor concentration, timespan of silicification [19], media modulation (i.e., partial replacement of water by methanol or other solvents) [20], pH value [21

• methanol, dried under ambient conditions and subsequently dissolved in water by neutralizing with 25 wt % aqueous ammonia solution. The clear polymer solution was transferred into dialysis tubing (Aldrich, cellulose membrane, typical molecular weight cut-off: 3500 kDa) and the dialysis was carried out

• grafted to the carbon fiber surface by heating 1 g fibers in an excess of TEPA reagent (10 mL) at 180 °C for 6 h. The fibers were filtered off, washed with water and methanol and dried at 60 °C. These modified fibers were silicified in a mixture of ethanol, water and TMOS (for each 33 vol %) over a period

ZnO nanoparticles sensitized by CuInZn_xS_2+x quantum dots as highly efficient solar light driven photocatalysts

• Florian Donat,
• Serge Corbel,
• Halima Alem,
• Steve Pontvianne,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Ghouti Medjahdi and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1080–1093, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.110

• calibration curve made with standard solutions of H2O2 [42]. Detection of 1O2: SOSG assay The production of 1O2 was measured by using the Singlet Oxygen Sensor Green (SOSG) probe. 100 µg of SOSG were dispersed in 6.6 mL of methanol in order to prepare a stock solution of SOSG (25 µM). ZnO or ZnO/ZCIS

Structural properties and thermal stability of cobalt- and chromium-doped α-MnO₂ nanorods

• Romana Cerc Korošec,
• Polona Umek,
• Alexandre Gloter,
• Jana Padežnik Gomilšek and
• Peter Bukovec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1032–1042, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.104

• at higher temperatures. This behavior was expected due to the low content of incorporated dopant ions. The main difference between the samples is in the content of adsorbed water, which is released between room temperature and around 250 °C together with the solvent (methanol). The water content

• samples prepared at 170 °C is always by more then one percent lower than in the samples prepared at 90 °C because these nanorods no longer form secondary structures. Methanol is released from 100 to 250 °C in the form of CO2 (m/z 44; Figure 8b). A step at around 250 °C corresponds to the loss of water

• did they destabilize the structure (in this case thermal decomposition would occur at lower temperatures for the doped samples). On heating from room temperature to around 250 °C, adsorbed water is released together with methanol. Water molecules inside the channels are topotactically released at

Recombinant DNA technology and click chemistry: a powerful combination for generating a hybrid elastin-like-statherin hydrogel to control calcium phosphate mineralization

• Mohamed Hamed Misbah,
• Mercedes Santos,
• Luis Quintanilla,
• Christina Günter,
• Matilde Alonso,
• Andreas Taubert and
• José Carlos Rodríguez-Cabello

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 772–783, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.80

• saturated Na2CO3 solution. This organic TA solution was used without further purification. Amine-Azide interconversion: The ELR was dissolved in ultrapure (Millipore) water at 85 mg/mL and 4 °C. Aqueous Na2CO3 (1.5 equiv) and CuSO4 (0.01 equiv) solutions were added. Methanol (2 mL) was added to act as a

• , 36.14, 37.89, and 50.28° 2θ can be assigned to β-TCP phase (JCPDS 01-070-2065). β-TCP is normally synthesized at high temperature, although there are a few examples of β-TCP formation under milder conditions. For example, β-TCP can be synthesized at room temperature in methanol from CaHPO4 and ACP

• formation of neuron-like morphology of ACP phase at the soluble state [13]. The approach used in this work, which avoids the need for substances that may harm the human body (methanol, ethylene glycol, surfactants) [54][55][56], shows the merit of controlling the generation of hybrid materials for potential

First examples of organosilica-based ionogels: synthesis and electrochemical behavior

• Andreas Taubert,
• Ruben Löbbicke,
• Barbara Kirchner and
• Fabrice Leroux

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 736–751, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.77

• was always 16.5 mmol (from TMOS or MTMS and BTMSPA combined; note that BTMSPA contributes two moles of silicon for every mole of silane). The amount of water was 82.5 mmol (1.485 mL) and the amount of acetone or methanol used as solvents was 200 mmol (10.8 mL or 6.4 mL, respectively). In a typical

• h for further condensation. The resulting material was washed extensively by Soxhlet extraction with methanol and was stored in methanol until further use. When acetone was used as solvent, opaque monoliths were obtained whereas transparent monoliths were obtained when using methanol during

• synthesis. Sample nomenclature. Organosilicas made from TMOS and BTMSPA are denoted TBMxx and TBAxx, where xx (fraction of silicon provided by monosilane precursor, not from BTMSPA) = 20, 40, 50, 60. “A” denotes samples made in acetone and “M” denotes samples made in methanol. Samples made from MTMS and

Synthesis of graphene–transition metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles and their application in various fields

• Arpita Jana,
• Elke Scheer and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 688–714, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.74

Nanostructured carbon materials decorated with organophosphorus moieties: synthesis and application

• Giacomo Biagiotti,
• Vittoria Langè,
• Cristina Ligi,
• Stefano Caporali,
• Maurizio Muniz-Miranda,
• Anna Flis,
• K. Michał Pietrusiewicz,
• Giacomo Ghini,
• Alberto Brandi and
• Stefano Cicchi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 485–493, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.52

• was removed. The solid was washed by cycle of dispersion in fresh methanol and centrifugation (six times). The product was recovered and dried (12.5 mg). ICP-AES analysis: phosphorus 0.275%, 0.087 mmol/g. Synthesis of ox-MWCNTs-nitrene-PO (8) To a 50 mL flask were added CNTs (10 mg) and 20 mL of 1,2

• cycle with isopropanol to remove the reaction solvent, three cycles with 1 M aqueous sodium hydroxide, three cycles with aqueous hydrogen chloride 0.1 M, three cycles with methanol and three cycles with isopropyl ether. The reduction was checked by XPS spectroscopy. General procedure for the Staudinger

Association of aescin with β- and γ-cyclodextrins studied by DFT calculations and spectroscopic methods

• Ana I. Ramos,
• Pedro D. Vaz,
• Susana S. Braga and
• Artur M. S. Silva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 348–357, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.37

• -cyclodextrin·methanol·n·H2O (refcode NUNRIX [37]), in which the glucopyranose units already feature a high symmetry due to the presence of the methanol guest. The geometry of γ-CD after further optimisation is depicted in Figure 10. The initial geometry of aescin Ib was taken from its single-crystal diffraction data (refcode

• . Partial 2D ROESY spectrum of a water/methanol solution containing equimolar amounts of γ-CD and aescin. Carbon (and corresponding proton) numbering of aescin. Optimised structures of the theoretical 2β-CD·aescin complex β1 (a) and complex β2 (b). Optimised geometries for three different hypothetical

Functionalized TiO₂ nanoparticles by single-step hydrothermal synthesis: the role of the silane coupling agents

• Antoine R. M. Dalod,
• Lars Henriksen,
• Tor Grande and
• Mari-Ann Einarsrud

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 304–312, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.33

• materials. The resulting hydrophobic properties of the nanoparticles depend on organic chain length and surface coverage [17], and are comparable to results reported by Iijima and co-workers on TiO2 nanoparticles post-modified with decyltrimethoxysilane and APTMS in mixed solutions of toluene and methanol

Template-controlled piezoactivity of ZnO thin films grown via a bioinspired approach

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Fabian Streb,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Zaklina Burghard and
• Joachim Bill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 296–303, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.32

• indicates that the sulfonate functionality leads to a highly polar surface of the template, whereas the carboxylate is less negatively charged. However, it has to be taken into account that the deposition experiments take place in methanol. The solvent influences the effective surface charge of the

• substrate and particles in the solution and therefore, the interaction between both is affected. For example it was found that silica shows a decreasing surface potential if methanol is added to an aqueous electrolyte solution [41][42]. This can be explained by the lower ability of methanol to stabilize

• ions as can be seen from the pKa values reported by Rived et al. [43]. Therefore, it is probable that the surface charge of the used templates is lower in methanol than it could be expected from zeta potential measurements in water. Nevertheless, the polarity of the two templates is high enough to

Colorimetric gas detection by the varying thickness of a thin film of ultrasmall PTSA-coated TiO₂ nanoparticles on a Si substrate

• Urmas Joost,
• Andris Šutka,
• Meeri Visnapuu,
• Aile Tamm,
• Meeri Lembinen,
• Mikk Antsov,
• Kathriin Utt,
• Krisjanis Smits,
• Ergo Nõmmiste and
• Vambola Kisand

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 229–236, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.25

• under reflux conditions. The nanoparticles were washed twice with methanol using centrifugation at 12000g for 1 h. The synthesis was optimized to obtain ultrasmall nanoparticles (roughly 3 nm in diameter) to attain a high sample surface area. Our modified synthesis protocol had a NP yield more than 50

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering of self-assembled thiol monolayers and supported lipid membranes on thin anodic porous alumina

• Marco Salerno,
• Amirreza Shayganpour,
• Barbara Salis and
• Silvia Dante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 74–81, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.8

• , to let the sulfur of the –SH group bind covalently to the Au surface (chemisorption). The substrates were then gently washed with their aqueous solutions and dried under nitrogen flow. All the lipids were dissolved in chloroform/methanol 2:1 vol/vol, dried under a gentle nitrogen flux in a test tube

From iron coordination compounds to metal oxide nanoparticles

• Mihail Iacob,
• Carmen Racles,
• Codrin Tugui,
• George Stiubianu,
• Adrian Bele,
• Liviu Sacarescu,
• Daniel Timpu and
• Maria Cazacu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2074–2087, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.198

• (vs), 1450 (vs), 1589 (vs), 1688 (s), 2545 (vw), 2636 (vw), 3413 (s). Iron furoate [Fe3O(C4H3OCOO)6(CH3OH)3]NO3∙2CH3OH (FeF) was obtained as reddish single crystals following the procedure described by Melnic et. al. [35] from a mixture of Cu2(C4H3OCOO)4∙4H2O, Fe(NO3)3∙9H2O and methanol. The structure

• )3∙9H2O (0.5 g) in 5 mL methanol. The process took place at 60 °C for 5 h, with heating and cooling rates of 0.1 °C/min. Dark brown reddish single crystals were observed directly in the autoclave at the end of the process. The structure of the compound was confirmed by FTIR, EDX and single crystal

A dioxaborine cyanine dye as a photoluminescence probe for sensing carbon nanotubes

• Mohammed Al Araimi,
• Petro Lutsyk,
• Anatoly Verbitsky,
• Yuri Piryatinski,
• Mykola Shandura and
• Aleksey Rozhin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1991–1999, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.190

• product was dissolved in 80% aqueous ethanol and then the solution of sodium acetate (0.2 g) in ethanol was added. The precipitate was filtered out and purified via chromatography on a silica column (7:3 v/v acetone/methanol as an eluent) to yield 300 mg (20%) of product as a green powder. 1H NMR (300 MHz