Publications by Cesare Berton | EPFL Graph Search

Synthetic Receptors with Micromolar Affinity for Chloride in Water

Kay Severin, Farzaneh Fadaei Tirani, Damien Wen Chen, Cesare Berton, Sylvain Alexandre Marie Sudan

A water-soluble coordination cage was obtained by reaction of Pd(NO3)2 with a 1,3-di(pyridin-3-yl)benzene ligand featuring a short PEG chain. The cavity of the metal-organic cage contains one nitrate anion, which is readily replaced by chloride. The appare ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2023

Controlling DNA nanodevices with light-switchable buffers

Cristian Pezzato, Cesare Berton, Valentin Jean Périllat

Control over synthetic DNA-based nanodevices can be achieved with a variety of physical and chemical stimuli. Actuation with light, however, is as advantageous as difficult to implement without modifying DNA strands with photo-switchable groups. Herein, we ...

Royal Society of Chemistry2023

Dissecting the photoacidity of spiropyran/merocyanine molecular switches in water

Cesare Berton

Photochemistry is a discipline that studies the interaction between light and matter with the scope to induce chemical transformations. The first conjugation between light and chemistry can be dated back to the lifespan of Giacomo Luigi Ciamician, who is c ...

EPFL2023

Photoacidity of Indolinospirobenzopyrans in Water

Cristian Pezzato, Cesare Berton

The reversible isomerism of indolinospirobenzopyrans is perhaps among the most studied phenomena in the field of molecular switches. Although they began to gain attention as early as 70 years ago following the seminal work of Hirshberg and Fischer, who wer ...

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH2023

A Mesoionic Diselenolene Anion and the Corresponding Radical Dianion

Rosario Scopelliti, Kay Severin, Farzaneh Fadaei Tirani, Andrzej Sienkiewicz, Cesare Berton, Abdusalom Suleymanov, Zhaowen Dong

Dichalcogenolenes are archetypal redox non-innocent ligands with numerous applications. Herein, we describe a diselenolene ligand with fundamentally different electronic properties. By selenation of a C2-protected imidazolium salt, we have prepared a mesoi ...

2022

The effect of temperature on the photoacidity of merocyanine photoacids in water

Cristian Pezzato, Cesare Berton, Valentin Jean Périllat

Merocyanine photoacids are molecular photoswitches that can be used to regulate acid-base reactions reversibly. Despite their growing impact across multiple research areas including materials science and nanotechnology, the effect of temperature on their f ...

Elsevier Sci Ltd2022

Correction: Light-induced assembly and disassembly of polymers with PdnL2n-type network junctions

Kay Severin, Cristian Pezzato, Cesare Berton, Rujin Li

Correction for 'Light-induced assembly and disassembly of polymers with PdnL2n-type network junctions' by Ru-Jin Li et al., Chem. Sci., 2021, DOI: ; 10.1039/d1sc00127b. ...

2021

Light-induced assembly and disassembly of polymers with PdnL2n-type network junctions

Kay Severin, Cristian Pezzato, Cesare Berton, Rujin Li

Polymers containing PdnL2n complexes as network junctions were obtained by reaction of poly(ethylene glycol)-linked N-donor ligands with Pd2+. The addition of a metastable state photoacid renders the networks light sensitive, and gel–sol transitions can be ...

2021

Light‐switchable buffers

Rosario Scopelliti, Kay Severin, Farzaneh Fadaei Tirani, Daniel Maria Busiello, Cristian Pezzato, Stefano Zamuner, Cesare Berton

A visible light-switchable buffer system based on a protonated merocyanine photoacid is presented. Para -substitution of the indolium side with a methoxy group affords a compound suitable for making hydrolytically stable aqueous buffers whose pH can be tun ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2021

Thermodynamics and kinetics of protonated merocyanine photoacids in water

Rosario Scopelliti, Kay Severin, Farzaneh Fadaei Tirani, Euro Solari, Daniel Maria Busiello, Cristian Pezzato, Stefano Zamuner, Cesare Berton

Metastable-state photoacids (mPAHs) are chemical species whose photo-activated state is long-lived enough to allow for proton diffusion. Liao's photoacid (1) represents the archetype of mPAHs, and is being widely used on account of its unique capability to ...

2020