Université de Fribourg

New Antimicrobial and Biocompatible Implant Coating with Synergic Silver–Vancomycin Conjugate Action

Varisco, Massimo ; Khanna, Nina ; Brunetto, Priscilla S. ; Fromm, Katharina M.

In: ChemMedChem, 2014, vol. 9, no. 6, p. 1221-1230

Materials foreign to the body are used ever more frequently, as increasing numbers of patients require implants. As a consequence, the numbers of implant-related infections have grown as well, and with increasing resistance. Treatments often fail; thus, new antibacterial coating strategies are being developed by scientists to avoid, or at least strongly reduce, bacterial adhesion to implant...

Université de Fribourg

Synthesis of hydrophilic and hydrophobic carbon quantum dots from waste of wine fermentation

Varisco, Massimo ; Zufferey, Denis ; Ruggi, Albert ; Zhang, Yucheng ; Erni, Rolf ; Mamula, Olimpia

In: Royal Society Open Science, 2017, vol. 4, no. 12, p. 170900

Wine lees are one of the main residues formed in vast quantities during the fermentation of wine. While toxic when applied to plants and wetlands, it is a biodegradable material, and several alternatives have been proposed for its valorization as: dietary supplement in animal feed, source for various yeast extracts and bioconversion feedstock. The implementation of stricter environment...

Université de Fribourg

Heptacoordinate Coii complex: a new architecture for photochemical hydrogen production

Lucarini, Fiorella ; Pastore, Mariachiara ; Vasylevskyi, Serhii ; Varisco, Massimo ; Solari, Euro ; Crochet, Aurélien ; Fromm, Katharina M. ; Zobi, Fabio ; Ruggi, Albert

In: Chemistry - A European Journal, 2017, vol. 23, no. 28, p. 6768-6771

The first heptacoordinate cobalt catalyst for light-driven hydrogen production in water has been synthesized and characterized. Photochemical experiments using [Ru(bpy)₃]²⁺ as photosensitizer gave a turnover number (TON) of 16300 mol H₂ (mol cat.)⁻¹ achieved in 2 hours of irradiation with visible (475 nm) light. This promising result provides a path forward in the...