A simple "reagent-free" thermal air treatment turns active carbon into a mildly oxidized material with increased quinoidic content that catalytically dehydrogenates saturated N-heterocycles to the corresponding aromatic compounds. Thermal decarboxylation improves the activity of the catalyst further, making it overall more efficient compared to other widely used carbocatalysts such as oxidized carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide and untreated active carbons. The substrate scope covers 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines (THQ), 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carbolines and related N-heterocyclic structures. The developed protocol also successfully dehydrogenates 3-(cyclohexenyl)indoles to 3-aryl indoles, opening a concise transition metal-free approach to (hetero)biaryls as exemplified with the synthesis of the core structure of progesterone receptor antagonist. Hammett plots, deuterium KIE measurements and computations at DFT level suggest that bimolecular hydride transfer mechanism is more likely to operate between THQs and the o-quinoidic sites of the catalyst, than the addition-elimination hemiaminal route. Comparison of structural parameters and catalytic performance of various oxidized carbon materials, prepared by different oxidative and optional post treatments, revealed that quinoidic content and surface area correlate with the obtained yields, while carboxylic acid content has a clear inhibiting effect for the studied oxidative dehydrogenations (ODHs). The carbocatalyst itself can be prepared from inexpensive and environmentally benign starting materials and its catalytic activity can be enhanced by a simple thermal oxidation in air that produces no reagent waste. Furthermore, oxygen is used as terminal oxidant, and the carbocatalyst is recyclable at least six times without a notable loss of activity.

New strategies to characterize the effects of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) based on omics technologies are emerging. However, given the intricate interplay of multiple regulatory layers, the study of a single molecular species in exposed biological systems might not allow the needed granularity to successfully identify the pathways of toxicity (PoT) and, hence, portraying adverse outcome pathways (AOPs). Moreover, the intrinsic diversity of different cell types composing the exposed organs and tissues in living organisms poses a problem when transferring in vivo experimentation into cell-based in vitro systems. To overcome these limitations, we have profiled genome-wide DNA methylation, mRNA and microRNA expression in three human cell lines representative of relevant cell types of the respiratory system, A549, BEAS-2B and THP-1, exposed to a low dose of ten carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) for 48 h. We applied advanced data integration and modelling techniques in order to build comprehensive regulatory and functional maps of the CNM effects in each cell type. We observed that different cell types respond differently to the same CNM exposure even at concentrations exerting similar phenotypic effects. Furthermore, we linked patterns of genomic and epigenomic regulation to intrinsic properties of CNM. Interestingly, DNA methylation and microRNA expression only partially explain the mechanism of action (MOA) of CNMs. Taken together, our results strongly support the implementation of approaches based on multi-omics screenings on multiple tissues/cell types, along with systems biology-based multi-variate data modelling, in order to build more accurate AOPs.

TiO2 and ZnO single and multilayers were deposited on hydroxyl functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes using atomic layer deposition. The bare carbon nanotubes and the resulting heterostructures were characterized by TG/DTA, Raman, XRD, SEM-EDX, XPS, TEM-EELS-SAED and low temperature nitrogen adsorption techniques, and their photocatalytic and gas sensing activities were also studied. The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were uniformly covered with anatase TiO2 and wurtzite ZnO layers and with their combinations. In the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange, the most beneficial structures are those where ZnO is the external layer, both in the case of single and double oxide layer covered CNTs (CNT-ZnO and CNT-TiO2-ZnO). The samples with multilayer oxides (CNT-ZnO-TiO2 and CNT-TiO2-ZnO) have lower catalytic activity due to their larger average densities, and consequently lower surface areas, compared to single oxide layer coated CNTs (CNT-ZnO and CNT-TiO2). In contrast, in gas sensing it is advantageous to have TiO2 as the outer layer. Since ZnO has higher conductivity, its gas sensing signals are lower when reacting with NH3 gas. The double oxide layer samples have higher resistivity, and hence a larger gas sensing response than their single oxide layer counterparts.