Cobalt-Catalyzed Reductive Cross-Coupling Between Styryl and Benzyl Halides.

A simple and efficient protocol for the direct reductive cross-coupling between alkenyl and benzyl halides using a Co/Mn system has been developed. This reaction proceeds smoothly in the presence of [CoBr2 (PPh3 )2 ] as the catalyst, with NaI as an additive in acetonitrile with a broad scope of functionalized alkenyl and benzyl halides. Different functional groups are tolerated on both coupling partners, thus, significantly extending the general scope of transition-metal-catalyzed benzylation of alkenyl halides. Moderate to excellent yields were also obtained. From a mechanistic point of view, a radical chain mechanism was proposed. This reaction is stereospecific and some studies suggest the retention of the double-bond configuration.

Single-step turn-on homogeneous fluorescent immunosensor for rapid, sensitive, and selective detection of proteins.

Quick & easy: A simple and positive-readout fluorescent immunosensor was developed based on a quencher composed of a 3 nm gold nanoparticle (GNP) covalently linked to a Fab fragment, which proved to be stable and specific. The method allows for direct and sensitive detection of target antigens in homogeneous solutions in one step without any separation steps. It has been successfully applied to rapidly quantify the amount of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in human saliva samples.