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Autoclave reactor synthesis of upconversion nanoparticles, unreported variables, and safety considerations (2025)
Journal Article
McGonigle, R., Glasgow, J., Houston, C., Cameron, I., Homann, C., Black, D. J., Pal, R., & MacKenzie, L. E. (2025). Autoclave reactor synthesis of upconversion nanoparticles, unreported variables, and safety considerations. Communications Chemistry, 8, Article 36. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-025-01415-3

Autoclave reactors are widely used across chemical and biological sciences, including for the synthesis of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and other nanomaterials. Yet, the details of how autoclave reactors are used in such synthesis are rarely re... Read More about Autoclave reactor synthesis of upconversion nanoparticles, unreported variables, and safety considerations.

Influence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in the synthesis of luminescent NaYF4:Yb,Er upconversion nanoparticles (2023)
Journal Article
Birch, R., Bruckbauer, J., Gajewska, M., Cios, G., Pal, R., & MacKenzie, L. E. (2023). Influence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in the synthesis of luminescent NaYF4:Yb,Er upconversion nanoparticles. Methods and Applications in Fluorescence, 11(3), Article 034001. https://doi.org/10.1088/2050-6120/acd837

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) can be used to produce upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) in an advantageous manner, i.e. at modest temperatures in open-to-air conditions with simple hotplate and flask apparatus. However, the influence of PVP parameters o... Read More about Influence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in the synthesis of luminescent NaYF4:Yb,Er upconversion nanoparticles.

Synthesis and Structural Diversification of Circularly Polarised Luminescence Active, Helically Chiral, “Confused” N,N,O,C‐BODIPYs** (2022)
Journal Article
Clarke, R. G., Weatherston, J., Taj‐Aldeen, R. A., Waddell, P. G., McFarlane, W., Penfold, T. J., Bogaerts, J., Herrebout, W., Mackenzie, L. E., Pal, R., & Hall, M. J. (2023). Synthesis and Structural Diversification of Circularly Polarised Luminescence Active, Helically Chiral, “Confused” N,N,O,C‐BODIPYs**. ChemPhotoChem, 7(1), Article e202200194. https://doi.org/10.1002/cptc.202200194

Helically chiral boron-chelated dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dyes are known to exhibit solution phase circularly polarized luminescence (CPL), but examples are limited to a few synthetically accessible molecular architectures. We report a B−N chelation, S... Read More about Synthesis and Structural Diversification of Circularly Polarised Luminescence Active, Helically Chiral, “Confused” N,N,O,C‐BODIPYs**.

Circularly polarised luminescence in an RNA-based homochiral, self-repairing, coordination polymer hydrogel (2022)
Journal Article
El-Zubir, O., Martinez, P. R., Dura, G., Al-Mahamad, L. L., Pope, T., Penfold, T. J., Mackenzie, L. E., Pal, R., Mosely, J., Cucinotta, F., McGarry, L. F., Horrocks, B. R., & Houlton, A. (2022). Circularly polarised luminescence in an RNA-based homochiral, self-repairing, coordination polymer hydrogel. Journal of Materials Chemistry C Materials for optical and electronic devices, 10(18), https://doi.org/10.1039/d2tc00366j

The aqueous equimolar reaction of Ag(I) ions with the thionucleoside enantiomer (−)6-thioguanosine, ((−)6tGH), yields a one-dimensional coordination polymer {Ag(−)tG}n, the self-assembly of which generates left-handed helical chains. The resulting he... Read More about Circularly polarised luminescence in an RNA-based homochiral, self-repairing, coordination polymer hydrogel.

Lanthanide luminescence from supramolecular hydrogels consisting of bio-conjugated picolinic-acid-based guanosine quadruplexes (2022)
Journal Article
Kotova, O., O’Reilly, C., Barwich, S. T., Mackenzie, L. E., Lynes, A. D., Savyasachi, A. J., Ruether, M., Pal, R., Möbius, M. E., & Gunnlaugsson, T. (2022). Lanthanide luminescence from supramolecular hydrogels consisting of bio-conjugated picolinic-acid-based guanosine quadruplexes. Chem, 8(5), 1395-1414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2022.01.015

The formation of bio-inspired healable lanthanide luminescent hydrogels is detailed. These materials are composed of K(I)-stabilized guanosine quadruplexes (G4) that were bio-conjugated to mannose-derived picolinic acid ligand 1 using boric acid chem... Read More about Lanthanide luminescence from supramolecular hydrogels consisting of bio-conjugated picolinic-acid-based guanosine quadruplexes.

Circularly polarised luminescence laser scanning confocal microscopy to study live cell chiral molecular interactions (2022)
Journal Article
Stachelek, P., MacKenzie, L., Parker, D., & Pal, R. (2022). Circularly polarised luminescence laser scanning confocal microscopy to study live cell chiral molecular interactions. Nature Communications, 13(1), Article 533. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28220-z

The molecular machinery of life is founded on chiral building blocks, but no experimental technique is currently available to distinguish or monitor chiral systems in live cell bio-imaging studies. Luminescent chiral molecules encode a unique optical... Read More about Circularly polarised luminescence laser scanning confocal microscopy to study live cell chiral molecular interactions.

Low-temperature open-air synthesis of PVP-coated NaYF4:Yb,Er,Mn upconversion nanoparticles with strong red emission (2022)
Journal Article
MacKenzie, L. E., Alvarez-Ruiz, D., & Pal, R. (2022). Low-temperature open-air synthesis of PVP-coated NaYF4:Yb,Er,Mn upconversion nanoparticles with strong red emission. Royal Society Open Science, 9(1), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211508

Cubic (α-phase) NaYF4:Yb,Er upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are uniquely suited to biophotonics and biosensing applications due to their near-infrared excitation and visible red emission (λex approx. 660 nm), enabling detection via thick overlying... Read More about Low-temperature open-air synthesis of PVP-coated NaYF4:Yb,Er,Mn upconversion nanoparticles with strong red emission.

Helicate-to-tetrahedron transformation of chiral lanthanide supramolecular complexes induced by ionic radii effect and linker length (2021)
Journal Article
Yim, K.-H., Yeung, C.-T., Probert, M. R., Chan, W. T. K., MacKenzie, L. E., Pal, R., Wong, W.-T., & Law, G.-L. (2021). Helicate-to-tetrahedron transformation of chiral lanthanide supramolecular complexes induced by ionic radii effect and linker length. Communications Chemistry, 4, Article 116. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-021-00553-8

Controlled formation of desired lanthanide supramolecular complexes is challenging because of the difficulties in predicting coordination geometry, as well as a labile coordination number. Herein, we explore the effect of ionic radii and linker lengt... Read More about Helicate-to-tetrahedron transformation of chiral lanthanide supramolecular complexes induced by ionic radii effect and linker length.

Circularly polarized lanthanide luminescence for advanced security inks (2020)
Journal Article
MacKenzie, L. E., & Pal, R. (2021). Circularly polarized lanthanide luminescence for advanced security inks. Nature Reviews Chemistry, 5, 109-124. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-020-00235-4

Authenticating products and documents with security inks is vital to global commerce, security and health. Lanthanide complexes are widely used in luminescent security inks due to their unique and robust photophysical properties. Lanthanide complexes... Read More about Circularly polarized lanthanide luminescence for advanced security inks.

Nimodipine reduces dysfunction and demyelination in models of multiple sclerosis (2020)
Journal Article
Desai, R. A., Davies, A. L., Del Rossi, N., Tachrount, M., Dyson, A., Gustavson, B., Kaynezhad, P., MacKenzie, L., van der Putten, M. A., McElroy, D., Schiza, D., Linington, C., Singer, M., Harvey, A. R., Tachtsidis, I., Golay, X., & Smith, K. J. (2020). Nimodipine reduces dysfunction and demyelination in models of multiple sclerosis. Annals of Neurology, 88(1), 123-136. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.25749

Objective: Treatment of relapses in multiple sclerosis (MS) has not advanced beyond steroid use, which reduces acute loss of function, but has little effect on residual disability. Acute loss of function in an MS model (experimental autoimmune enceph... Read More about Nimodipine reduces dysfunction and demyelination in models of multiple sclerosis.

Rapid Time-Resolved Circular Polarization Luminescence (CPL) Emission Spectroscopy (2020)
Journal Article
MacKenzie, L. E., Pålsson, L.-O., Parker, D., Beeby, A., & Pal, R. (2020). Rapid Time-Resolved Circular Polarization Luminescence (CPL) Emission Spectroscopy. Nature Communications, 11, Article 1676. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15469-5

Circular polarisation luminescence (CPL) emission spectroscopy is a powerful tool for probing the fundamental chiroptical features of optically emissive chiral molecular systems. However, uptake of CPL spectroscopy has been impeded by the limitations... Read More about Rapid Time-Resolved Circular Polarization Luminescence (CPL) Emission Spectroscopy.

Synthesis of water-soluble chiral DOTA lanthanide complexes with predominately twisted square antiprism isomers and circularly polarized luminescence emission (2019)
Journal Article
Dai, L., Zhang, J., Chen, Y., MacKenzie, L. E., Pal, R., & Law, G.-L. (2019). Synthesis of water-soluble chiral DOTA lanthanide complexes with predominately twisted square antiprism isomers and circularly polarized luminescence emission. Inorganic Chemistry, 58(19), 12506-12510. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b01799

One-step cyclization of a tetraazamacrocycle 5 with 70% yield in a 25-g scale was performed. Its chiral DOTA derivatives, L4, has ∼93% of TSAP coordination isomer in its Eu(III) and Yb(III) complexes in aqueous solution. [GdL4]5– exhibits a high rela... Read More about Synthesis of water-soluble chiral DOTA lanthanide complexes with predominately twisted square antiprism isomers and circularly polarized luminescence emission.

Science podcasts: analysis of global production and output from 2004 to 2018 (2019)
Journal Article
MacKenzie, L. E. (2019). Science podcasts: analysis of global production and output from 2004 to 2018. Royal Society Open Science, 6(1), Article 180932. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180932

Since 2004, podcasts have emerged as a decentralized medium for science communication to the global public. However, to date, there have been no large-scale quantitative studies of the production and dissemination of science podcasts. This study iden... Read More about Science podcasts: analysis of global production and output from 2004 to 2018.

Selective cellular imaging with lanthanide based upconversion nanoparticles (2018)
Journal Article
Nampi, P. P., Vakurov, A., Mackenzie, L. E., Scrutton, N. S., Millner, P. A., Jose, G., & Saha, S. (2019). Selective cellular imaging with lanthanide based upconversion nanoparticles. Journal of Biophotonics, 12(4), Article e201800256. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbio.201800256

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) with sodium yttrium fluoride, NaYF4 (host lattice) doped with Yb3+ (sensitizer) and Er3+ (activator), were synthesized via hydrothermal route incorporating polyethyleneimine (PEI) for their long‐term stability in wa... Read More about Selective cellular imaging with lanthanide based upconversion nanoparticles.

Oximetry using multispectral imaging: theory and application (2018)
Journal Article
MacKenzie, L. E., & Harvey, A. R. (2018). Oximetry using multispectral imaging: theory and application. Journal of Optics, 20(6), Article 063501. https://doi.org/10.1088/2040-8986/aab74c

Multispectral imaging (MSI) is widely applied across various imaging modalities as a technique for measurement of blood oxygen saturation (OS) in vivo, consequently providing new information about physiology and disease development. This tutorial aim... Read More about Oximetry using multispectral imaging: theory and application.

The theoretical molecular weight of NaYF4:RE upconversion nanoparticles (2018)
Journal Article
Mackenzie, L. E., Goode, J. A., Vakurov, A., Nampi, P. P., Saha, S., Jose, G., & Millner, P. A. (2018). The theoretical molecular weight of NaYF4:RE upconversion nanoparticles. Scientific Reports, 8(1), Article 1106. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19415-w

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are utilized extensively for biomedical imaging, sensing, and therapeutic applications, yet the molecular weight of UCNPs has not previously been reported. Herein, we present a theory based upon the crystal structur... Read More about The theoretical molecular weight of NaYF4:RE upconversion nanoparticles.

Spectroscopic oximetry in the eye: a review (2017)
Journal Article
MacKenzie, L. E., Harvey, A. R., & McNaught, A. I. (2017). Spectroscopic oximetry in the eye: a review. Expert Review of Ophthalmology, 12(4), 345-356. https://doi.org/10.1080/17469899.2017.1318067

Introduction: Non-invasive measurement of blood oxygen saturation via spectroscopic imaging has provided insights into ocular physiology and the development of a variety of ocular conditions, including retinal vascular occlusion, diabetic retinopathy... Read More about Spectroscopic oximetry in the eye: a review.

A multispectral microscope for in vivo oximetry of rat dorsal spinal cord vasculature (2017)
Journal Article
van der Putten, M. A., MacKenzie, L. E., Davies, A. L., Fernandez-Ramos, J., Desai, R. A., Smith, K. J., & Harvey, A. R. (2017). A multispectral microscope for in vivo oximetry of rat dorsal spinal cord vasculature. Physiological Measurement, 38(2), Article 205. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6579/aa5527

Quantification of blood oxygen saturation (SO2) in vivo is essential for understanding the pathogenesis of diseases in which hypoxia is thought to play a role, including inflammatory disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and rheumatoid arthritis... Read More about A multispectral microscope for in vivo oximetry of rat dorsal spinal cord vasculature.