Photobodies: Light‐Activatable Single‐Domain Antibody Fragments

Photocaged antibody fragments, termed photobodies, have been developed that are impaired in their antigen‐binding capacity and can be activated by irradiation with UV light (365 nm). This rational design concept builds on the selective photocaging of a single tyrosine in a nanobody (a single‐domain antibody fragment). Tyrosine is a frequently occurring residue in central positions of the paratope region. o‐Nitrobenzyl‐protected tyrosine variants were incorporated into four nanobodies, including examples directed against EGFR and HER2, and photodeprotection restores the native sequence. An anti‐GFP photobody exhibited an at least 10 000‐fold impaired binding affinity before photodeprotection compared with the parent nanobody. A bispecific nanobody–photobody fusion protein was generated to trigger protein heterodimerization by light. Photoactivatable antibodies are expected to become versatile protein reagents and to enable novel approaches in diagnostic and therapeutic applications.     

Progress and challenge in polymer crazing and fatigue

In this review on polymer crazing and fatigue three aspects have been treated more explicitely: the molecular rearrangements preceding and provoking craze initiation, the competition between disentanglement and chain scission during lateral craze growth, and the distinct fatigue failure mechanism occurring in cyclically loaded PET and PA fibers. An overview on other aspects is given including references to work in progress.     

(E,E,E)‐1,3,5‐Tris[4‐(acetyl­sulfan­yl)­styr­yl]­benzene toluene hemisolvate

The first crystal structure of a three‐terminal sulfur end‐capped oligo­phenyl­ene­vinyl­ene, C₃₆H₃₀O₃S₃·0.5C₇H₈, has been determined at 122 (1) K. The mol­ecular threefold symmetry is not utilized in the crystal structure. It is confirmed that the double bonds have been fully transformed into a trans configuration by iodine treatment.     

A Class of Polynomials over Finite Fields

Generalizing the norm and trace mappings for _q^r/ _q, we introduce an interesting class of polynomials over finite fields and study their properties. These polynomials are then used to construct curves over finite fields with many rational points.     

Die Elektronenstruktur des Dicyclohepta[c d,g h]pentalens

Dicyclohepta[cd, gh]pentalene is shown by ESR.- and NMR.-spectroscopic evidence to be best represented as a perturbed [14] annulene. The orbital interaction between the π-perimeter and the ethylene-“bridge” is discussed.