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http://hdl.handle.net/10174/29601
2024-03-28T23:29:18ZAssessment of Water Consumers Literacy
http://hdl.handle.net/10174/35536
Title: Assessment of Water Consumers Literacy
Authors: Fernandes, Ana; Figueiredo, Margarida; Chaves, Humberto; Neves, José; Vicente, Henrique
Editors: Balaji, Etikala; Veeraswamy, Golla; Mannala, Prasad; Madhav, Sughosh
Abstract: Nowadays, an increasing amount of water is used without the awareness that this resource is not inexhaustible. In fact, pollution, environmental degradation and/or climate change caused by human activities lead to the degradation of the quality of available water. In 2015, the United Nations warned about the risk of reaching a water deficit of 40%, in 2030, if consumption patterns are not changed. Indeed, population growth is one of the main causes for this deficit. The protection and sustainable consumption of water is one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, to ensure that the world’s population has access to clean water, free from pollution and managed responsibly. Thus, governments and non-governmental organizations must promote the conscious and informed use of water by the population. It is mandatory that the population becomes aware of the need for efficient management of water resources, ensuring their quality and preventing their degradation, in order to not compromise/jeopardize their future availability. The knowledge of the population’s literacy on water issues and on water quality—health interconnections is essential to design plans leading to the implementation of eco-sustainable practices. The goal of this research was to evaluate the literacy of water consumers and to establish a forecast model for water literacy managing. The collection of information was conducted through the inquiry by questionnaire technique and applied on a cohort encompassing 453 participants. The questionnaire includes three main dimensions (Water Quality, Disease Prevention and Sustainability/Public Health Promotion) and in each dimension, four competencies were evaluated (obtain, understand, assess and apply information regarding water consumption). The results obtained allow to assert that in the two first dimensions, the competence in which participants show more difficulty is assess. Regarding the Sustainability/Public Health Promotion,the participants show more difficulty in the competence apply. The model presented in this research, grounded on the connectionist paradigm, has shown great efficiency in the forecast of the target variable. The key contribution of the present research is to present an integrated and systematic approach that can give a contribution to the increase of water literacy, which allows the implementation of eco-sustainable practices.2023-01-01T00:00:00ZAmino acids as chiral building blocks
http://hdl.handle.net/10174/35073
Title: Amino acids as chiral building blocks
Authors: Carreiro, Elisabete P.; Burke, Anthony
Editors: Wojaczyńska, Elżbieta; Wojaczyński, Jacek
Abstract: This chapter is focused on the application of amino acids as building blocks in asymmetric synthesis. As a tool for accessing enantiopure compounds, amino acids have been used in four different ways, (i) as chiral precursors, (ii) as chiral reagents, (iii) as chiral auxiliaries, and (iv) as organocatalysts. For decades amino acids, particularly α-amino acids, have been used consistently for the synthesis of numerous target molecules, which are generally biologically active, and in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical sectors. Moreover, it was only in the last 40 years that they have come into their own, due to the development of the technologies mentioned above, and most particularly in the last 20 years in the case of organocatalysis – the field that won the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2021.2022-08-11T23:00:00ZImmobilization of Functionalized epi-Cinchonine Organocatalysts on Controlled Porous Glass-Beads: Applications in Batch and Continuous Flow
http://hdl.handle.net/10174/35072
Title: Immobilization of Functionalized epi-Cinchonine Organocatalysts on Controlled Porous Glass-Beads: Applications in Batch and Continuous Flow
Authors: Carreiro, Elisabete; Amorim, Ana; Fonseca, Daniela; Burke, Anthony; Hermann, Gesine; Federsel, H-J
Abstract: A well-known squaramide-cinchonine organocatalyst was immobilized in a controlled way onto three types of commercial porous glass beads EziG™ (EziG OPAL, EziG Amber, and EziG Coral) and applied in asymmetric Michael reactions. The performance of the immobilized catalysts was evaluated under batch and continuous-flow conditions, showing promising results in both approaches. In batch reactions, 0.8 and 1.6 mol% of the immobilized cinchonine-squaramide provided the products with excellent yields (up to 99%) and enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee). These excellent results were also verified in the case of continuous-flow reactions, where also 0.8 and 1.6 mol% of the catalyst immobilized onto the glass beads afforded the product with extraordinary yields (up to 99%) and very high enantioselectivities (up to 97% ee). The immobilized catalysts could be recycled (up to seven cycles) using both approaches.2022-09-20T23:00:00ZChapter 7 - Multicomponent Synthesis of Heterocycles
http://hdl.handle.net/10174/33253
Title: Chapter 7 - Multicomponent Synthesis of Heterocycles
Authors: Carreiro, Elisabete; Carolina, Marques; António, Teixeira
Editors: Pinho e Melo, Teresa; Pineiro, Marta
Abstract: This chapter summarizes the synthesis of the main classes of heterocycles, comprising the common heteroatoms (nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur), using multicomponent reactions (MCRs) under sustainable methods. Effectiveness was demonstrated using a minimal number of synthetic steps, targeting the synthesis of biologically active products and high-valuable synthetic building blocks. The chapter is organized according to the increasing order of the heterocyclic ring size and the increasing order of the number of heteroatoms in the ring. Only sustainable methods, with solvent-free or green solvent protocols, catalyst-free methodologies, mild reaction conditions (such as room temperature and less energetic heating sources, microwave or ultrasonic irradiation), and short reaction times, will be highlighted. The literature review was accomplished considering the last decade.2022-07-09T23:00:00Z