Pier Luigi Gentili

Università degli Studi di Perugia | UNIPG

Researchers working in the field of Artificial Intelligence and human-level intelligent agents are driven by the ambitious projects of understanding the foundations and running mechanisms of the human mind, and trying to reproduce them artificially. These projects have been receiving a renewed spur by the research initiative named “The Decade of th...

Neuromorphic engineering promises to have a revolutionary impact in our societies. A strategy to develop artificial neurons (ANs) is to use oscillatory and excitable chemical systems. Herein, we use UV and visible radiation as both excitatory and inhibitory signals for the communication among oscillatory reactions, such as the Belousov-Zhabotinsky...

The goals and targets included in the 2030 Agenda compiled by the United Nations want to stimulate action in areas of critical importance for humanity and the Earth. These goals and targets regard everyone on Earth from both the health and economic and social perspectives. Reaching these goals means to deal with Complex Systems. Therefore, Complexi...

Human interaction with the world is dominated by uncertainty. Probability theory is a valuable tool to face such uncertainty. According to the Bayesian definition, probabilities are personal beliefs. Experimental evidence supports the notion that human behavior is highly consistent with Bayesian probabilistic inference in both the sensory and motor...

Chemical micro-heterogeneity is an attribute of all living systems and most of the soft and crystalline materials. Its characterization requires a plethora of techniques. This work proposes a strategy for quantifying the degree of chemical micro-heterogeneity. First of all, our approach needs the collection of time-evolving signals that can be fitt...

Photochromic compounds are employed in implementing neuron surrogates. They will boost the development of neuromorphic engineering in wetware. In this work, the photochromic behaviours of (E)-3,4,6-trichloro-2-(p-diazenil)-phenol (t-DZH) and its conjugated phenoxide base (t-DZ) have been investigated experimentally in three different media: (1) pur...

Gluten related‐disorders have a prevalence of 1‐5% worldwide triggered by the ingestion of gluten proteins in wheat, rye, barley, and some oats. In wheat gluten, the most studied protein is gliadin, whose immunodominant 33‐mer amino acid fragment remains after digestive proteolysis and accumulates in the gut mucosa. Here, we report the formation of...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an interdisciplinary research line that aims to devise intelligent machines. Chemical Artificial Intelligence (CAI) focuses on designing intelligent chemical systems, primarily in wetware. This work shows that intelligent chemical systems can be implemented by devising neural surrogates that, by interplaying, can giv...

The contemporary Information and Communication Technologies and always faster means of transport facilitate the interconnection among the humans on Earth as never before. There is the awareness that every human is a node of a giant network, which is the humanity on Earth. A problem in a community might easily become a global issue and involve every...

Fuzzy logic models human capacity to make decisions using natural language, and it is widely used in the field of Artificial Intelligence. This contribution supports the hypothesis that the effectiveness of fuzzy logic in mimicking human capability to compute with words is due to the structural and functional analogies between the human nervous sys...

A brand-new photochemical oscillator is designed in this work. It consists of two thermally reversible photochromic compounds. One photochrome is inverse and autocatalytic because the photoproduct emits a fluorescence that enhances its own production. The other photochrome is direct and not fluorescent. The two photochromes have specific spectral f...

Radiation up-conversion through triplet-triplet annihilation mechanism has been widely studied, mostly in solution and de-aerated conditions. We propose oil-in-silica up-converting nanocapsules resulting in a robust solid-like material able to generate...

Il Prof. Pier Luigi Gentili, docente e ricercatore di Chimica Fisica presso l’Università di Perugia, ha conseguito la laurea ed il dottorato in Chimica. La sua attività di ricerca e didattica è focalizzata sulla Complessità, confidando nel “Natural Computing” come efficace strategia per comprendere i Sistemi Complessi e affrontare le sfide della Co...

Materials based on ordered protein aggregates have recently received a lot of attention for their application as drug carriers, due to their biocompatibility and their ability to sequester many biological fluids. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is a good candidate for this use due to its high availability and tendency to aggregate and gel under acidic c...

The structural features of a series of diverse Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) have been investigated and characterized by means of two fluorescent probes. The spectral and photophysical properties of the latter are strictly dependent on the experienced environment, so that they can provide insights into the polarity, viscosity, hydrogen-bond network...

div> The structural features of a series of diverse Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) have been investigated and characterized by means of two fluorescent probes. The spectral and photophysical properties of the latter are strictly dependent on the experienced environment, so that they can provide insights into the polarity, viscosity, hydrogen-bond n...

Our societies are profoundly affected by the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In fact, AI is applied in many fields: in science, medicine, security, economy, and well-being [1]. There are two strategies to develop AI. One is by writing human-like intelligent programs running in computers or special-purpose hardware. The other is through...

The up-conversion process based on triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA-UC) is one of the most promising strategies to combine the low energy of two photons to generate one photon with higher energy, giving rise to an Anti-Stoke emission.1 TTA-UC has been attracting great attention for the potential application in many fields (for example in solar ene...

Neuromorphic engineering devises and implements surrogates of neurons to contrive brain-like computing machines. This work presents the design and computational analysis of two artificial neuron models based on photochromic compounds. The first system is a model of a pacemaker neuron. It consists of two direct thermally reversible photochromic comp...

Our societies are profoundly affected by the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In fact, AI is applied in many fields: in science, medicine, security, economy, and well-being [1]. There are two strategies to develop AI. One is by writing human-like intelligent programs running in computers or special-purpose hardware. The other is through...

The global challenges of the XXI century require a more in-depth analysis and investigation of complex systems [...]

The luminescent behavior of semiconductor nanocrystals is a sensitive reporter of their electronic properties and of the impact of surface passivation on the excitonic state. In this work, CdSe nanocrystals (CdSe-Nc) are prepared in microemulsions and the effects of tripeptide Glutathione (GSH) as a stabilizing ligand, are examined. The CdSe sampl...

The story of information processing is a story of great success. Todays' microprocessors are devices of unprecedented complexity and MOSFET transistors are considered as the most widely produced artifact in the history of mankind. The current miniaturization of electronic circuits is pushed almost to the physical limit and begins to suffer from var...

The story of information processing is a story of great success. Todays' microprocessors are devices of unprecedented complexity and MOSFET transistors are considered as the most widely produced artifact in the history of mankind. The current miniaturization of electronic circuits is pushed almost to the physical limit and begins to suffer from var...

Neuromodulation is the alteration of neuronal and synaptic properties in the context of neuronal circuits. It allows anatomically defined circuits to produce multiple outputs reconfiguring networks into different functional circuits. In this work, neuromodulation is mimicked using a solution of two direct photochromic compounds, a naphthopyran and...

ISBN: 978-88-94952-15-5 Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) are a novel class of organic liquids that are gaining relevance in the green chemistry framework thanks to their environmental friendly properties [1]. These liquids are formed by weak inter- and intra-molecular interactions occurring between a hydrogen bond donor molecule (HBD) and a hydrogen...

Our societies are profoundly affected by the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In fact, AI is applied in many fields: in science, medicine, security, economy, and well-being [1]. There are two strategies to develop AI. One is by writing human-like intelligent programs running in computers or special-purpose hardware. The other is through...

When UV–vis radiation interacts with matter, it can play as either a pump, or a developer, or a signal. In this paper, we show that when UV–vis radiation interacts with very-far-from-equilibrium systems, it can exert its threefold role. It can originate oscillations when it works as a pump. It can track the hydrodynamics of fluids by inducing fluor...

The comprehension and control of the interactions between nanoparticles and proteins at a molecular level are crucial to improve biomedical applications of nanomaterials and to develop nanosystems able to influence and regulate the conformational changes in proteins. In this work, we explore the interactions between Gramicidin A peptide (GramA) and...

The challenges that humanity is facing spur universities to reorganize chemistry education. A contribution to the project of reimagining chemistry education is a novel interdisciplinary course that presents the properties of complex systems through the theories of out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics, nonlinear dynamics, and natural computing. This co...

A composite heterogeneous photocatalyst based on silver bromide was prepared by a reaction of silver exchanged zirconium phosphate (ZrP) and HBr. The ZrP/AgBr composite containing 53 wt% AgBr was tested in the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) and exhibited higher catalytic activity with respect to pure AgBr. As a matter of fact, the...

The hydrogel obtained by a zwitterionic N-oxide surfactant is proposed as the core of a pH-responsive artificial gland model. The viscosity and pH variations, induced by pulse additions of acid and base, are investigated by a pyridinium salt and alizarin red S, respectively. The artificial gland model is implemented by enclosing the gel within a di...

Complex Systems are natural systems that science is unable to describe exhaustively. Examples of Complex Systems are both unicellular and multicellular living beings; human brains; human immune systems; ecosystems; human societies; the global economy; the climate and geology of our planet. This book is an account of a marvelous interdisciplinary jo...

Scientists want to comprehend and control complex systems. Their success depends on the ability to face also the challenges of the corresponding computational complexity. A promising research line is artificial intelligence (AI). In AI, fuzzy logic plays a significant role because it is a suitable model of the human capability to compute with words...

This work is an important contribution to the development of neuromorphic engineering based on solutions of nonlinear chemical systems. It reports the results of experiments and simulations regarding the optical communication between the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction and photochromic and luminescent materials. It demonstrates that thermally reversi...

Two chloromethyl phenylcarbamate based chiral stationary phases, one containing an amylose-type chiral selector (Lux Amylose 2, from Phenomenex) and the other a cellulose-type one (Lux Cellulose-4, from Phenomenex), were successfully used for the chiral resolution of three helical chromenes featuring a helicene-like structure. The compound bearing...

Neuromorphic engineering promises to have a revolutionary impact in our societies. A strategy to develop artificial neurons (ANs) is to use oscillatory and excitable chemical systems. Herein, we use UV and visible radiation as both excitatory and inhibitory signals for the communication among oscillatory reactions, such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky...

Nowadays, science is spurred to win the Complexity Challenges. There are challenges regarding Natural Complexity. But there are also challenges regarding Computational Complexity. A strategy to face both of them consists in developing Chemical Artificial Intelligence. Its development requires an analysis of the Human Nervous System and Human Intell...

Triplet-triplet annihilation based upconversion emission (TTA-UC), through energy transfer processes among organic dyes, has been achieving great attentions for the potential applications in different fields; an important step forward the application of TTA-UC systems in real devices is the incorporation of the dye couple into solid supports.

Excited state proton transfer (ESPT) in Indigo (Ind) and its mono hexyl-substituted derivative (NHxInd) in solution was investigated experimentally as a function of solvent viscosity, polarity and temperature, and theoretically by time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) calculations. Although a single emission band is observed, the fluorescence decays (collecte...

This work demonstrates the computational power of a hydrodynamic photochemical oscillator based on a photochromic naphthopyran, generating aperiodic time series. The chaotic character of the time series is tested by calculating its largest Lyapunov exponent and the correlation dimension of its attractor after building its phase space through the Ta...

The results of a systematic investigation on the photocatalytic water oxidation activity of eight Ir complexes are reported. In particular, [Cp*IrLn]Xm [1, Ln = (H2O)3, X⁻m = (NO3⁻)2; 2, Ln = N-dimethylimidazolin-2-ylidene and (Cl⁻)2; 4, Ln = 1,1′-dimethyl-3,3′-ethylene-diimidazol-2,2′- diylidene and Cl⁻ X⁻ = PF6⁻; 5, Ln = 2-phenylpyridine (ppy) an...

The peculiar photobehaviour of a symmetrical arylenevinylene anthracene derivative bearing mild electron donors (alkoxy groups) at the sides of its structure has been fully comprehended through this study. An investigation into the effect of solvent polarity and temperature on the stationary fluorescence spectrum allowed a clear dual emission to be...

The steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence of nine ternary solid solutions, whose general formula is La2xGa2yIn2zO3, used as heterogeneous photocatalysts for the production of hydrogen by water spitting, has been investigated in order to characterize the properties of their electronic excited states. The comparison with the parent binary...

The convective motions within a solution of a photochromic spiro-oxazine being irradiated by UV only on the bottom part of its volume, give rise to aperiodic spectrophotometric dynamics. In this paper, we study three nonlinear properties of the aperiodic time series: permutation entropy, short-term predictability and long-term unpredictability, and...

This work presents the analysis of the deterministic part of human colour perception at the computational, algorithmic and implementation levels. At the computational and algorithmic levels, we invoke the theory of Fuzzy sets. At the implementation level, we present Biologically Inspired Photochromic Fuzzy Logic (BIPFUL) systems that are useful to...

A push-pull N-methylpyridinium fluorescent dye with a pyrenyl group as electron-donor portion was investigated within the nano-heterogeneous media provided by some micellar systems. The molecule was studied by stationary and time-resolved spectroscopic techniques in spherical micellar solutions and viscoelastic hydrogels, in order to cast light on...

Photochromic fuzzy logic systems have been designed that extend human visual perception into the UV region. The systems are founded on a detailed knowledge of the activation wavelengths and quantum yields of a series of thermally reversible photochromic compounds. By appropriate matching of the photochromic behaviour unique colour signatures are ge...

The temperature effect on the photophysical parameters of four acetylene-derivatives [bis(phenylethynyl)-anthracenes and -fluorenes with substituents of different electron acceptor efficiencies] has been investigated by absorption and emission spectroscopy, using stationary and pulsed (ns/fs resolution) techniques. The nature of the central nucleus...

In this work, we present the hydrogen production by photolysis, sonolysis and sonophotolysis of water in the presence of newly synthesized solid solutions of rare earth, gallium and indium oxides playing as catalysts. From the experiments of photolysis, we found that the best photocatalyst is the solid solution Y0.8Ga0.2InO3 doped by sulphur atoms....

Two novel helical naphthopyrans have been synthesised. The helical scaffold has the interesting effect of increasing the thermal stability of the transoid-trans (TT) open isomer formed upon UV irradiation of the closed form (CF), which transforms these naphthopyrans from thermal to photochemical photochromes. The photochromic performance is excelle...

Forecasting of aperiodic time series is a compelling challenge for science. In this work, we analyze aperiodic spectrophotometric data, proportional to the concentrations of two forms of a thermoreversible photochromic spiro-oxazine, that are generated when a cuvette containing a solution of the spiro-oxazine undergoes photoreaction and convection...

A new class of AgCl-based composite photocatalysts has been quickly and easily obtained by using nanosized silver(I) exchanged α-zirconium phosphate as precipitating agent. Different ZP/xAgCl composite catalysts, having AgCl/ZP molar ratio (x) = 0.28, 0.56, 1.16, were prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron micro...

The Human Nervous System is an outstanding example of natural complex system. Its hierarchical architecture and its basic nonlinear working principles store the secrets of Complexity. Of course, a scrutiny of the Human Nervous System is going to have a profound impact on the challenges to Complexity. In this contribution, we present the first resul...

The Human Sensory System consists of seven distinct elements: the visual, olfactory, gustatory, auditory, superficial somatosensory, inner somatosensory along with vestibular, and thermosensory systems. Each of them is provided with a specialized sets of receptor cells and is able to perceive a stimulus of specific modality. The power to finely dis...

Oxytetracycline (OX) and Doxycycline (DX) are antibiotics belonging to the family of tetracyclines. We present a UV-Visible steady state and time-resolved experimental study of OX and DX and their biologically active Mg2+ complexes loaded within a hydrogel matrix. Hydrogels are a three dimensional network of worm-like micelles, mutually intertwined...

This work presents a steady-state and time-resolved UV-visible spectroscopic investigation of two antibiotics belonging to the family of tetracyclines (Doxycycline and Oxytetracycline) in the micellar medium provided by p-dodecyloxybenzyltrimethylammonium bromide (pDoTABr). The spectroscopic analysis have been performed in absorption and emission w...

Science is urged to win the Complexity Challenges. One strategy to reach this goal consists in developing Artificial Intelligence because the human nervous system is a prototype of Natural Complex System that can solve few Computational Complexity problems quite easily. To try to understand human intelligence at the “implementation level”, we are p...

A vertical thermal gradient is generated in a solution of a thermoreversible photochromic spiro-oxazine in methanol or acetone by UV irradiation at the bottom of the solution and evaporation of solvent at the top. When the gradient is sufficiently high, it triggers color oscillations and waves due to hydrodynamic convective motion of the solution....

The triplet-triplet annihilation based up-conversion process, involving a platinum octaethyl-porphyrin (PtOEP) as a sensitizer and tetraphenyl-pyrene (TPPy) as an emitter, has been investigated in homogeneous solutions of toluene, bromobenzene and anisole, and oil-in-water microemulsions of the TX-100 surfactant, where toluene constitutes the non-p...

Current computers process information through transistors and electrical signals. The futuristic chemical computers will store, process, and convey information by using molecules, their assemblies, and physical and chemical signals. It is possible to compute by exploiting a single molecule or large collections of them. Different kinds of logic can...

Current computers process information through transistors and electrical signals. The futuristic chemical computers will store, process, and convey information by using molecules, their assemblies, and physical and chemical signals. It is possible to compute by exploiting a single molecule or large collections of them. Different kinds of logic can...

We present an unusual upconversion process based on the sensitized triplet–triplet annihilation where the triplet energy of the donor exceeds that of the acceptor. Either a palladium octaethyl-porphyrin (PdOEP) or a platinum octaethyl-porphyrin (PtOEP) are the sensitizers, whereas tetraphenyl-pyrene (TPPy) is the emitter. The two couples convert th...

The coordination polymers [Sr(Hpcp)2(H2O)]n, 1, and [Ba(Hpcp)2(H2O)]n, 2, (H2pcp = p,p′-diphenylmethylenediphosphinic acid) are isomorphous and consist of 1D chains. The solid compounds were characterized by X-ray diffraction, solid state NMR spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The photophysical properties of 1 and 2 were also investigated...

Finger on the pulse: in a system of two pulse-coupled Belousov-Zhabotinsky oscillators, introducing a time delay or increasing the coupling strength brings about novel dynamic features (see picture, the two oscillators are shown in different colors), such as reversal of the roles of excitatory and inhibitory coupling or fast anti-phase oscillation....

A new family of layered metal(III)-phosphono-carboxylate nanostructures (M=Y, Eu, Tb, Er, and Yb) was hydrothermally synthesized and their structures and morphologies were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and TEM. 4-[Bis(phosphonomethyl)amino]caproic acid and 4- [bis(phosphonomethyl)amino]undecanoic acid, with general formula (H(2)O(3)PCH(...

We demonstrate experimentally that the well-known oscillatory Belousov- Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction can be exploited to process both Boolean and fuzzy logic if the input variables are either the volumes or the phase of addition of pulse-injected solutions of inhibitor (bromide) and activator (silver ion) and the output variable is the oscillation per...

Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier for the next future and, in order to favour a worldwide sustainable economy, it is necessary to produce it from an abundant material, such as water, and through a renewable energy source. Therefore, a compelling strategy entails splitting water by exploiting solar energy. Water does not absorb the frequencies...

1,3-Dihydro-1,3,3-trimethyl-8'-nitro-spiro[2H-indole-2,3'-[3H]naphth[2,1-b][1,4]oxazine] (SpO) is a photochromic, acidichromic and metallochromic compound. Its chromogenic properties are characterized in acetonitrile, at room temperature. They are exploited to process both boolean and Fuzzy logic. By using HClO(4), AlCl(3) and Cu(ClO(4))(2) as chem...

Diazonaphthoquinones (DNQs) are the photoactive components of resists used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Exposed to radiation these compounds release molecular nitrogen undergoing a ring contraction (Wolff rearrangement). In this work the photobehavior of three compounds bearing two and three chromophoric DNQ units has been studied. Ph...

Single molecules or their assemblies are information processing devices. Herein it is demonstrated how it is possible to process different types of logic through molecules. As long as decoherent effects are maintained far away from a pure quantum mechanical system, quantum logic can be processed. If the collapse of superimposed or entangled wavefun...

Current Information Technology is pursuing a revolution in the design of computing machines: it is trying to pass from macroscopic processors miniaturized through top-down approaches, to microscopic processors made of single molecules assembled through bottom-up approaches. When computations are carried out by single atoms and molecules, quantum lo...

In this work, the structural and photophysical characterization of newly synthesized La2xGa2yIn2zO3 solid solutions is presented. By changing the relative amounts of La, Ga and In in La2xGa2yIn2zO3, it has been possible to prepare polyphasic samples whose compositions have been determined by means of the X-ray powder diffraction and micro-Raman tec...