TY - JOUR A1 - Rietsch, P. A1 - Sobottka, S. A1 - Hoffmann, Katrin A1 - Hildebrandt, P. A1 - Sarkar, B. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Eigler, S. T1 - Identification of the Irreversible Redox Behavior of Highly Fluorescent Benzothiadiazoles N2 - Redox switches are applied in various fields of research, including molecular lifts, electronic devices and sensors. Switching the absorbance between UV and Vis/NIR by redox processes is of interest for applications in light harvesting or biomedicine. Here, we present a series of push-pull benzothiadiazole derivatives with high fluorescence quantum yields in solution and in the crystalline solid state. Spectroelectrochemical analysis reveals the switching of UV-absorption in the neutral state to Vis/NIR absorption in the reduced state. We identify the partial irreversibility of the switching process, which appears to be reversible on the cyclic voltammetry timescale. KW - Redox switch KW - Electrochemistry KW - Dye KW - Fluorescence KW - Absorption KW - Sensor KW - Benzothiadiazole PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-520865 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/cptc.202000050 SN - 2367-0932 VL - 4 IS - 9 SP - 668 EP - 673 PB - Wiley Online Library AN - OPUS4-52086 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rietsch, P. A1 - Sobottka, S. A1 - Hoffmann, K. A1 - Popov, A. A. A1 - Hildebrandt, P. A1 - Sarkar, B. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Eigler, S. T1 - Between Aromatic and Quinoid Structure: A Symmetrical UV to Vis/NIR Benzothiadiazole Redox Switch N2 - Reversibly switching the light absorption of organic molecules by redox processes is of interest for applications in sensors, light harvesting, smart materials, and medical diagnostics. This work presents a symmetrical benzothiadiazole (BTD) derivative with a high fluorescence quantum yield in solution and in the crystalline state and shows by spectroelectrochemical analysis that reversible switching of UV absorption in the neutral state, to broadband Vis/NIR absorption in the 1st oxidized state, to sharp band Vis absorption in the 2nd oxidized state, is possible. For the one-electron oxidized species, formation of a delocalized radical is confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroelectrochemistry. Furthermore, our results reveal an increasing quinoidal distortion upon the 1st and 2nd oxidation, which can be used as the leitmotif for the development of BTD based redox switches. KW - Dye KW - Electrochemistry KW - Switch KW - Redox KW - Sensor KW - Photophysics KW - Quantum yield KW - photoluminescence PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-517222 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202004009 VL - 26 IS - 72 SP - 17361 EP - 17365 PB - Wiley-VCH GmbH AN - OPUS4-51722 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Haugen, Øyvind P. A1 - Polanco-Garriz, Itziar A1 - Alcolea-Rodriguez, Victor A1 - Portela, Raquel A1 - Bæra, Rita A1 - Sadeghiankaffash, Hamed A1 - Hildebrandt, Jana A1 - Ciornii, Dmitri A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Barbero, Francesco A1 - Fenoglio, Ivana A1 - Reinosa, Julián J. A1 - Fernández, José F. A1 - Katsumiti, Alberto A1 - Camassa, Laura M.A. A1 - Wallin, Håkan A1 - Zienolddiny-Narui, Shan A1 - Afanou, Anani K. T1 - Activation of Toll-like receptor 2 reveals microbial contamination beyond endotoxins on micro- and nanoplastics N2 - Current literature on health hazards associated with micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) is largely influenced by studies that insufficiently account for potential microbial contamination of their test materials. This may lead to misinterpretation of outcomes, as the test materials may be incorrectly considered pristine MNPs. The present study screened eight MNP test materials for microbial contaminants using Toll-like receptor (TLR) reporter cells for TLR2 and TLR4 and the commonly used Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) assay. Our results show that MNPs testing negative for endotoxins, based on the absence of TLR4 activation and negative LAL results, may still contain microbial ligands that selectively activate TLR2. Moreover, five of the eight MNP test materials contained microbial ligands capable of activating TLR2 and/or TLR4. Compared to the LAL assay, TLR4-based screening effectively detected endotoxin contamination. Overall, we found that the TLR reporter cell assay provides broader coverage than the LAL assay in detecting microbial ligands, which appear to be highly prevalent in MNP test materials. KW - Nanoplastics KW - Microplastics KW - Microbial contamination PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653286 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tiv.2025.106190 SN - 0887-2333 VL - 112 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-65328 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -