Self-organized structures in a superorganism: do ants “behave” like molecules?

While the striking structures (e.g. nest architecture, trail networks) of insect societies may seem familiar to many of us, the understanding of pattern formation still constitutes a challenging problem. Over the last two decades, self-organization has dramatically changed our view on how collective decision-making and structures may emerge out of a population of ant workers having each their own individuality as well as a limited access to information. A variety of collective behaviour spontaneously outcome from multiple interactions between nestmates, even when there is no directing influence imposed by an external template, a pacemaker or a leader. By focussing this review on foraging structures, we show that ant societies display some properties which are usually considered in physico-chemical systems, as typical signatures of self-organization. We detail the key role played by feed-back loops, fluctuations, number of interacting units and sensitivity to environmental factors in the emergence of a structured collective behaviour. Nonetheless, going beyond simple analogies with non-living self-organized patterns, we stress on the specificities of social structures made of complex living units of which the biological features have been selected throughout the evolution depending on their adaptive value. In particular, we consider the ability of each ant individual to process information about environmental and social parameters, to accordingly tune its interactions with nestmates and ultimately to determine the final pattern emerging at the collective level. We emphasize on the parsimony and simplicity of behavioural rules at the individual level which allow an efficient processing of information, energy and matter within the whole colony.     

Fast characterization of foodstuff by headspace mass spectrometry (HS-MS)

The field of the rapid characterization of products by HS-MS is reviewed. The general principle of HS-MS systems consists of introducing volatile components present in the HS of a sample without prior chromatographic separation into the ionization chamber of a mass spectrometer. The spectrum resulting from simultaneous ionization and fragmentation of the mixture of molecules introduced constitutes a “fingerprint” that is characteristic of the product being analyzed. Exploitation of this spectral information allows one determine the composition of the sample.     

Retrodienic reactions XVI - flash thermolytic generation of reactive functional allenes

Butadienal 1, propadienol 2 and propadienamine 3 are synthesized by flash vacuum thermolysis of their anthracenic Diels-Alder adducts and characterized at low temperature.     

Apurinic DNA reactivity: Modelisation of apurinic DNA breakage with phenylhydrazine and formation of a pyrazole adduct

We have elucidated the exact mechanism of apurinic oligodeoxynucleotide d(Tp[AP]pT) cleavage by phenylhydrazine and shown that the final isolated product is in fact a 3-substituted derivative of 1-phenyl-pyrazole.     

Structure of absintholide a new guaianolide dimer of Artemisia absinthium L.

Absintholide $\text{1}$ is a new guaianolide dimer whose structure and stereochemistry has been elucidated on the basis of high resolution n.m.r.     

Growth ofschizosaccharomyces pombe on glucose-malte mixtures in continuous cell-recycle cultures kinetics of substrate utilization

The aerobic growth ofSchizosaccharomyces pombe on mixtures of glucose and malate was investigated during continuous high cell density cultures with partial cell-recycle using a membrane bioreactor. Determination of the specific metabolic rates relative to substrates and products allowed the capacity of the yeast to metabolize malic acid under both oxidative metabolism (carbon limited cultures) and oxidofermentative metabolism (carbon sufficient cultures) situations to be characterized. Under carbon limiting conditions, the specific rate of malate utilization was dependent on the residual concentration and a limit for a purely oxidative breakdown without ethanol formation was observed for a characteristic ratio between the rates of substrate consumption qm/qg of 1.63 g.g^-1. In addition, the mass balance analysis revealed the incorporation of malic acid into biomass. In carbon excess environments, the specific rate of malate utilization was dependent on both the residual malate and the specific rate of glucose consumption indicating that in addition to its conversion into ethanol malate can be respiratively metabolized for qm/qg ratios higher than 0.4 g.g^-1.     

Selenium-77 nuclear magnetic resonance in mono- and disubstituted benzo[b]selenophenes

The ⁷⁷Se chemical shifts of 79 mono- or disubstituted benzo[b]selenophenes are reported. The results in the 2- and 3-substituted derivatives closely parallel those previously obtained in the corresponding selenophenes. The measured parameters also correlate well with those measured in benzo[b]tellurophenes. The ¹²⁵Te and ⁷⁷Se chalcogen nuclei appear to be much more sensitive to substituent effects than the more classical nuclei. The effects of Cr(acac)₃, Eu(dpm)₃ and concentration on the ⁷⁷Se NMR spectra are briefly discussed.