Neutron Diffraction Analysis of H3Co2[C5H2(t-Bu)3]2, a Molecule with a Triply Hydrogen-Bridged Metal–Metal Bond: Some Comments on Structural Patterns in M(μ-H)nM Systems (n=1, 2, 3, 4)

The structure of H₃Co₂[C₅H₂(t-Bu)₃]₂ has been analyzed by low-temperature single-crystal neutron diffraction techniques, and shown to consist of two CoCp moieties with three hydride ligands bridging the central Co–Co bond. Despite a fairly extensive twinning problem, the structure could be solved and successfully refined to a final R factor of 9.2% for 2024 reflections. Average molecular parameters in the H₃Co₂ core of the molecule are as follows: Co–Co=2.275(21) Å, Co–H=1.637(16) Å, HH=2.050(20) Å, Co–H–Co=88.0(9)°, H–Co–H=77.0(7)°. Also included in this paper is a discussion on the molecular dimensions of symmetric hydride-bridged dinuclear systems (M(-H)_nM, n=1, 2, 3, 4) that have been studied to date by neutron diffraction.     

Nanobodies: Chemical Functionalization Strategies and Intracellular Applications

Nanobodies can be seen as next‐generation tools for the recognition and modulation of antigens that are inaccessible to conventional antibodies. Due to their compact structure and high stability, nanobodies see frequent usage in basic research, and their chemical functionalization opens the way towards promising diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In this Review, central aspects of nanobody functionalization are presented, together with selected applications. While early conjugation strategies relied on the random modification of natural amino acids, more recent studies have focused on the site‐specific attachment of functional moieties. Such techniques include chemoenzymatic approaches, expressed protein ligation, and amber suppression in combination with bioorthogonal modification strategies. Recent applications range from sophisticated imaging and mass spectrometry to the delivery of nanobodies into living cells for the visualization and manipulation of intracellular antigens.     

Microelectrochemical investigation on aluminium–steel friction welds

Aluminium–steel friction welds (AlMgSi0.5/C35 and AlMgSi0.5/X5CrNi18‐10) were electrochemically investigated in a NaAc/HAc buffer (pH 5.9) and 0.1 mol/l NaCl using the microcapillary technique. This technique allows a lateral resolution of electrochemical measurements. However, microscopic investigations and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X‐ray SEM/EDX measurements show that the reaction zone (RZ) and the heat affected zone (HAZ) of the welds are smaller than the microcapillary diameter. This paper discusses the advantages and limitations of the microcapillary technique in view of friction welds. Nevertheless, the electrochemical experiments allow a clear detection of the changing active surface area and the correlation to the microstructure (intermetallics). The application of microcapillary measurements on samples which were exposed in marine climate for 2 years shows a good correlation between the local potential measurements and the local corrosion phenomena. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Important aspects in the formulation of solid–fluid debris-flow models. Part II. Constitutive modelling

This article points at some critical issues which are connected with the theoretical formulation of the thermodynamics of solid–fluid mixtures of frictional materials. It is our view that a complete thermodynamic exploitation of the second law of thermodynamics is necessary to obtain the proper parameterizations of the constitutive quantities in such theories. These issues are explained in detail in a recently published book by Schneider and Hutter (Solid–Fluid Mixtures of Frictional Materials in Geophysical and Geotechnical Context, 2009), which we wish to advertize with these notes. The model is a saturated mixture of an arbitrary number of solid and fluid constituents which may be compressible or density preserving, which exhibit visco-frictional (visco-hypoplastic) behavior, but are all subject to the same temperature. Mass exchange between the constituents may account for particle size separation and phase changes due to fragmentation and abrasion. Destabilization of a saturated soil mass from the pre- and the post-critical phases of a catastrophic motion from initiation to deposition is modeled by symmetric tensorial variables which are related to the rate independent parts of the constituent stress tensors.     

Numerical simulations of falling leaves using a pseudo-spectral method with volume penalization

The dynamics of falling leaves is studied by means of numerical simulations. The two-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, coupled with the equations governing solid body dynamics, are solved using a Fourier pseudo-spectral method with volume penalization to impose no-slip boundary conditions. Comparison with other numerical methods is made. Simulations performed for different values of the Reynolds number show that its decrease stabilizes the free fall motion.     

Rational hydrothermal synthesis of graphene quantum dots with optimized luminescent properties for sensing applications

Hydrothermal synthesis using graphene oxide (GO) as a precursor has been used to produce luminescent graphene quantum dots (GQDs). However, such a method usually requires many reagents and multistep pretreatments, while can give rise to GQDs with low quantum yield (QY). Here, we investigated the concentration, the temperature of synthesis, and the pH of the GO solution used in the hydrothermal method through factorial design experiments aiming to optimize the QY of GQDs to reach a better control of their luminescent properties. The best synthesis condition (2 mg/mL, 175 °C, and pH = 8.0) yielded GQDs with a relatively high QY (8.9%) without the need of using laborious steps or dopants. GQDs synthesized under different conditions were characterized to understand the role of each synthesis parameter in the materials' structure and luminescence properties. It was found that the control of the synthesis parameters enables the tailoring of the amount of specific oxygen functionalities onto the surface of the GQDs. By changing the synthesis' conditions, it was possible to prioritize the production of GQDs with more hydroxyl or carboxyl groups, which influence their luminescent properties. The as-developed GQDs with tailored composition were used as luminescent probes to detect Fe³⁺. The lowest limit of detection (0.136 μM) was achieved using GQDs with higher amounts of carboxylic groups, while wider linear range was obtained by GQDs with superior QY. Thus, our findings contribute to rationally produce GQDs with tailored properties for varied applications by simply adjusting the synthesis conditions and suggest a pathway to understand the mechanism of detection of GQDs-based optical sensors.     

Clickable report tags for identification of modified peptides by mass spectrometry

The identification and quantification of modified peptides are critical for the functional characterization of post-translational protein modifications (PTMs) to elucidate their biological function. Nowadays, quantitative mass spectrometry coupled with various bioinformatic pipelines has been successfully used for the determination of a wide range of PTMs. However, direct characterization of low abundant protein PTMs in bottom-up proteomic workflow remains challenging. Here, we present the synthesis and evaluation of tandem mass spectrometry tags (TMT) which are introduced via click-chemistry into peptides bearing alkyne handles. The fragmentation properties of the two mass tags were validated and used for screening in a model system and analysis of AMPylated proteins. The presented tags provide a valuable tool for diagnostic peak generation to increase confidence in the identification of modified peptides and potentially for direct peptide-PTM quantification from various experimental conditions.