A weight-function approach for determining watershed initial conditions for combustion waves

In many generic combustion models, one finds that a combustionwave will develop with a specific wave speed. However, thereare possible initial temperature profiles which do not evolveinto such waves, but rather die out to the ambient temperature.There can exist, in some models, a clear distinction betweenthose initial conditions that do evolve into combustion wavesand those that do not; this is sometimes referred to as thewatershed initial condition. When fuel consumption is consideredto be negligible, analytical methods can be used to obtain theexact watershed. In this paper, we consider the problem of determiningpseudo-watersheds and ascertaining the relationship betweenthese pseudo-watersheds and the exact watersheds. In the processa novel weight-function approach for infinite spatial domainsis developed.     

"Click-to-chelate": design and incorporation of triazole-containing metal-chelating systems into biomolecules of diagnostic and therapeutic interest

The site-specific conjugation of metal chelating systems to biologically relevant molecules is an important contemporary topic in bioinorganic and bioorganometallic chemistry. In this work, we have used the CuI-catalyzed cycloaddition of azides and terminal alkynes to synthesise novel ligand systems, in which the 1,2,3-triazole is an integral part of the metal chelating system. A diverse set of bidentate alkyne building blocks with different aliphatic and aromatic backbones and various donor groups were prepared. The bidentate alkynes were reacted with benzyl azide in the presence of a catalytic amount of CuI to form tridentate model ligands. The chelators were reacted with [ReBr3(CO)3]2- to form well-defined and stable complexes with different overall charges, structures and hydrophilicities. In all cases tridentate coordination of the ligands, including through N3 of the 1,2,3-triazole ring, was observed. The ligand systems could also be quantitatively radiolabelled with the precursor [99 mTc (H2O)3(CO)3]+ at low ligand concentrations. Similarly the alkynes were reacted with an azido thymidine derivative to form a series of compounds, which could be radiolabelled in situ to form single products. Subsequent incubation of the neutral and cationic organometallic 99 mTc thymidine derivatives with human cytosolic thymidine kinase, a key enzyme in tumour proliferation, revealed that only the neutral compounds maintained substrate activity towards the enzyme. Bioconjugation, radiolabelling and enzymatic reactions were successfully performed in a matter of hours. Thus, click chemistry provides an elegant method for rapidly functionalising a biologically relevant molecule with a variety of efficient metal chelators suitable for (radio)labelling with the M(CO)3 core (M=99 mTc, Re), to offer new potential for technetium-99 m in clinical and preclinical tracer development.     

New bimetallic compounds based on the bis(thiosemicarbazonato) motif

Zinc and copper bis(thiosemicarbazonato) complexes containing more than one metal centre have been prepared with a view to examining their application for molecular imaging. The zinc complexes are fluorescent with excitation and emission at relatively long wavelengths. The dinuclear copper complex undergoes two sequential, quasi-reversible reductions.     

Meson production in p + d reactions

Total and differential cross sections for the reactions p + d → ³He + m ⁰ with m=π, η and p + d → ³H+π⁺ were measured with the GEM detector at COSY for beam momenta between threshold and the maximum of the corresponding baryon resonance. For both reactions a strong forward-backward asymmetry was found. The data were compared with model calculations. The aspect of isospin symmetry breaking is studied. Representing the GEM Collaboration