Determination of gadolinium-based MRI contrast agents in biological and environmental samples: A review

The development of analytical methods and strategies to determine gadolinium and its complexes in biological and environmental matrices is evaluated in this review.     

On square roots of the Haar state on compact quantum groups

The paper is concerned with the extension of the classical study of probability measures on a compact group which are square roots of the Haar measure, due to Diaconis and Shahshahani, to the context of compact quantum groups. We provide a simple characterisation for compact quantum groups which admit no non-trivial square roots of the Haar state in terms of their corepresentation theory. In particular it is shown that such compact quantum groups are necessarily of Kac type and their subalgebras generated by the coefficients of a fixed two-dimensional irreducible corepresentation are isomorphic (as finite quantum groups) to the algebra of functions on the group of unit quaternions. An example of a quantum group whose Haar state admits no nontrivial square root and which is neither commutative nor cocommutative is given.     

Thiadiazolo-Azaacenes

This work reports the synthesis and characterization of bis- and tetrakis(thiadiazolo)-appended di- and tetraazaacenes, displaying up to seven catenated benzene/pyrazine rings. The targets are obtained by condensation of benzo-bis(thiadiazole)-4,5-dione with aromatic di- and tetraamines. The condensation products—up to a heptacene-like species—are stable but can be insoluble. Soluble derivatives are readily processible, but do not show enhanced electron affinities, as the two or four attached benzothiadiazole units are effectively resonance-separated from the acene body, maximizing the number of Clar-sextets.     

A tin-containing liquid crystalline polymer with two glass temperatures

A tin-containing liquid crystalline side group polymer was synthesized and characterized. Two glass transitions were detected by calorimetric investigations. The X-ray pattern corresponds to a smectic C order of the side groups and a disordered isotropic main chain. Dielectric measurements show two relaxation ranges which are influenced by the glass transitions and a fast local process. The low frequency mechanism can be related to the reorientation of the side groups and the higher glass transition temperature. The second is connected with the α-relaxation of the main chain and freezes in at lower temperatures.     

The steroid monooxygenase from Rhodococcus rhodochrous; a versatile biocatalyst

The substrate scope of a steroid monooxygenase (STMO) from Rhodococcus rhodochrous DSM 43269 was investigated for a large range of different ketone substrates. These studies revealed that this enzyme not only oxygenates steroids, but also ketone moieties of a series of other open-chain ketones, such as cyclohexyl methyl ketone, cyclopentyl methyl ketone, and 3-acetylindole. Furthermore, the STMO catalyzed the oxygenation of cyclobutanone derivatives. Comparative biotransformations with recombinant Escherichia coli resting cells harboring the STMO, the cycloalkanone monooxygenase (CAMO) from Cylindrocarpon radicicola or the cyclohexanone monooxygenase (CHMO) from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus revealed that the STMO is enantiodivergent compared to the CHMO-type. Moreover, the STMO resulted in a higher enantiomeric excess of the product lactones compared to the known BVMOs of the same enantiopreference, such as cyclopentanone monooxygenases.