This study investigates the phylogenetic relationships among the blueberry species (Vaccinium section Cyanococcus) using whole-genome data from 96 samples representing 21 species, including cultivars and putative hybrids, collected across the eastern United States. Despite the ecological and economic importance of blueberries, evolutionary relationships within the group remain incompletely resolved due to factors such as hybridization, polyploidy, and morphological similarity among species. By applying phylogenomic approaches to genomic data, this research aims to reconstruct a robust species phylogeny and clarify evolutionary relationships within the genus. The phylogeny will provide a framework for understanding diversification patterns in blueberries and support future studies of character evolution, hybridization, and species boundaries within the group.

The Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) has experienced significant habitat loss and population declines across their historic range in the southwestern United States; as such, the species has been listed as threatened by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. To mitigate declines, captive breeding programs have reintroduced large numbers of hatchlings into suitable habitat at the Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area (MMWMA), which lies within the northern genetic cluster of Texas Horned Lizards. Long-term reintroduction success relies on the management of demographic factors and genetic variance. While demographic viability inherently increases with supplementation from an introduced population, the maintenance of genetic diversity within a reintroduced population must also be accounted for. If genetic management within captive breeding programs is not considered, the reintroduced population risks reduced allelic diversity and lower evolutionary potential, inbreeding depression, adaptation to captivity, or outbreeding depression if management units are mixed. We genotyped all captive-bred Texas Horned Lizards reintroduced in 2023 (N = 456 hatchlings) using 10 microsatellite loci to assess how genetically representative the introduced group is relative to natural populations. Measures of genetic diversity (uHe, He, Ho, AR) were calculated in GenAlEx, and full-sib groupings were constructed in COLONY. Results suggest that the differentiation between the captive and Northern populations is low (average Zoo population pairwise Fst: 0.014), and measures of genetic diversity were very similar (uHe, He, Ho, AR), indicating that the genetic diversity of the reintroduced hatchling population is representative of genetic diversity in North cluster populations. Linkage disequilibrium-based estimates of effective population size, however, reveal a small genetic effective population size (Ne = 37.2 - 44.6 individuals), which will quickly lead to a loss of genetic diversity. The small effective population size of a single reintroduced cohort and high post-release mortality rates underscore the need for continued annual supplementation to buffer against genetic drift, thereby promoting the long-term survival of managed Texas Horned Lizard populations.

Biaryl motifs are central in pharmaceutical drug design, yet conventional synthesis via palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling poses increasing sustainability and cost concerns. The study presented herein explores a greener alternative to palladium by employing iron(II) complexes supported by tetra-aza macrocyclic ligands for the direct arylation of pyrrole with phenylboronic acids. Under aerobic conditions, the optimized [Fe2+L1(Cl)2] catalyst featuring Me2Cyclam, (L1; 1,8-dimethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane), exhibited broad substrate compatibility across 23 boronic acid derivatives. The method showed excellent functional group tolerance, including halides and esters, and provided yields up to 66%, which was clearly dependent on steric and electronic effects. Mechanistic experiments ruled out an outer-sphere radical pathway and instead suggested an Fe(III)–OOH species as the key oxidant, while DFT analysis supports enhanced boron electrophilicity for electron-withdrawing substituents, consistent with transmetalation as a central activation step. These findings highlight the potential of earth-abundant iron catalysts as sustainable, cost-effective platforms for C–C bond formation in complex molecular scaffolds.

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are emerging nanocarbon materials with tunable electronic structures and strong NIR emission, making them promising for bioimaging and optoelectronic applications. The chromophores responsible for GQDs’ NIR emission are often poorly characterized, limiting rational design and clinical applications. Extended π-conjugation, charge-transfer excitations, the presence of diradicaloids, stacking of multiple GQD layers, and blocking of nonradiative decay (as seen in non-aromatic fluorescence) may all contribute to GQDs’ NIR emission. Computation may help disentangle these contributions and aid development of NIR-emitting GQD nanostructures. However, predictive modeling of candidate GQD structures’ stability and NIR emission remains challenging. In this work, we develop a benchmark set of 16 well-defined GQD nanostructures known to emit in the NIR-I window, and we benchmark computational workflows for predicting these structures’ thermodynamic stability and NIR emission. Our workflows combine fast “pre-screening” of thermodynamic stability with symmetry-broken and symmetry-restricted time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) predictions of absorption and emission, selected according to the open- or closed-shell nature of
each nanostructure. We find that B3LYP provides acceptable agreement with experimental absorption, while CAM-B3LYP shows good agreement with experimental emission, and that a “synthetic feasibility” descriptor provides reasonable initial screening. We believe that this workflow provides the foundation for high-throughput computational studies accelerating development of NIR-emitting GQDs.

Alkyl phosphate surfactants were synthesized for the development of a dendricore micelle as a potential drug delivery platform. Conventional surfactant micelles often dissociate under physiological dilution due to their high critical micelle concentrations, limiting their utility. To address this limitation, a dendrimer scaffold templated by surfactants is being constructed through reaction of an amine with succinic anhydride followed by iterative Boc deprotection and carbodiimide coupling. This architecture is expected to enhance micelle stability and support dual-drug delivery.