Regularly, teaching laboratories use chemicals hazardous to health. Students must be aware of such hazards, to safely perform didactic experiments. The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) is a hazard communication tool designed to harmonize the classification with a standardized labeling system worldwide. This work aimed at investigating whether undergraduate students correctly identify the hazards associated with a series of chemicals handled during practical laboratory classes. A questionnaire was administered to the students using the hazard classification established by the GHS as reference. They had to match each chemical with one or more pictograms and hazard classes. Statistical tests were performed to correlate the association between right answers and background items, such as having contact with chemicals during earlier classes, having contact with chemical labels at work or having received training courses in hazard communication. The overall assessment showed that students do not recognize GHS pictograms, especially those representing health hazards and thus, they were not aware of the hazards they were exposed to. Many are the reasons for that. At last, strategies to embed health and safety practices into formal education are needed to strengthen the prevention culture in such a learning environment.

Existe grande interesse no estudo de heterodímeros constituídos por metaloporfirinas e ftalocianinas de carga oposta, uma vez que estes sistemas são modelos do special pair da fotossíntese e dispositivos moleculares promissores para a transferência de elétrons unidirecional. Neste trabalho foram sintetizadas novas metaloporfirinas catiônicas, e investigada a formação de heteroagregados com metaloftalocianinas aniônicas em DMSO. Estes novos derivados porfirínicos catiônicos apresentam grupos benzílicos ligados aos nitrogênios piridínicos da tetra-(piridil)porfirina (H2TPyP), resultando em compostos que são mais hidrofóbicos e que apresentam sistemas p adicionais em relação aos ligantes tetra-(metilpiridínio)porfirina (H2TMPyP) e tetra-(trimetilaminofenil)porfirina (H2TAPP). Observou-se que a estequiometria dos agregados formados e os valores de constante de associação entre as porfirinas catiônicas e as ftalocianinas aniônicas são dependentes do metal coordenado a ambos os macrociclos. As Zn(II)porfirinas formam em solução preferencialmente o agregado de estequiometria 1:1 (porfirina:ftalocianina) no meio reacional, enquanto que no caso das Pd(II)porfirinas pode ocorrer a formação de agregados 1:1 ou 1:2 (porfirina:ftalocianina). Os valores de K PI, por sua vez, são sempre maiores para os agregados formados com as ftalocianinas de Cu(II), sendo este comportamento relacionado com a menor distorção para fora do plano da ligação Cu-N comparada com a ligação Ni-N em decorrência da ligação axial de uma molécula de DMSO ao íon metálico coordenado à ftalocianina. Os valores de K PI também são menores para os heterodímeros formados com as porfirinas que apresentam os meso-susbtituintes benzílicos mais volumosos, em função da disposição angular dos mesmos em relação ao plano do anel porfirínico que provoca um maior impedimento estérico. Estes resultados demonstram que a associação entre macrociclos tetrapirrólicos pode ser controlada através de vários fatores estruturais. Estes fatores também podem conduzir a diferentes propriedades fotofísicas destes heteroagregados; estudos neste sentido estão em andamento.

There is great interest in the investigation of heterodimers formed by metalloporphyrins and metallophthalocyanines grafted with oppositely charged substituents, since these systems are models of the photosynthetic special pair and promising unidirectional electron transfer molecular devices. In the present study new cationic metalloporphyrin derivatives were synthesized and their association with anionic metallophthalocyanines forming heteroaggregates, investigated. These new cationic porphyrins derivatives show benzylic groups bound to the pyridyl nitrogen atoms of tetra-(pyridyl)porphyrin (TPyP), resulting in additional p systems and more hydrophobic compounds if compared with tetra-(methylpiridinium)porphyrin (H2TMPyP) and tetra-(trimethylaminophenyl)porphyrin (H2TAPP) ligands. It could be observed that both stoichiometry and association constants between cationic porphyrins and anionic phthalocyanines depend on the metal complexed to the macrocycles. Zn(II)porphyrins form preferentially aggregates of 1:1 stoichiometry (porphyrin:phthalocyanine), but when the porphyrin is coordinated to Pd(II) 1:1 and 1:2 (porphyrin:phthalocyanine) aggregates are present in solution. The K PI values are always higher for the heterodimers ZnPorphyrin/CuPhthalocyanine; this behavior is related to the less pronounced out-of-plane distortion of Cu-N compared to Ni-N binding, as a result of axial ligation of a DMSO molecule to the metal ion inserted into the macrocycle core. The K PI values are lower for the heterodimers containing the porphyrins that present the larger benzylic meso-substituent, due to the steric hindrance caused by these groups. These results show that many structural features can control the association between tetrapyrrolic macrocycles. Not only the association can be modulated by these structural factors, but also different photophysical properties should be displayed by these aggregates, and studies in this direction are under way.