A Series of Iron(II)-NHC Sensitizers with Remarkable Power Conversion Efficiency in Photoelectrochemical Cells**

A series of six new Fe(II)NHC-carboxylic sensitizers with their ancillary ligand decorated with functions of varied electronic properties have been designed with the aim to increase the metal-to- surface charge separation and light harvesting in iron-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). ARM130 scored the highest efficiency ever reported for an iron-sensitized solar cell (1.83 %) using Mg²⁺ and NBu₄I-based electrolyte and a thick 20 μm TiO₂ anode. Computational modelling, transient absorption spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) revealed that the electronic properties induced by the dimethoxyphenyl-substituted NHC ligand of ARM130 led to the best combination of electron injection yield and spectral sensitivity breadth.     

Recent biotechnological developments of electropulsation. A prospective review.

During the last 25 years, basic research has improved our knowledge on the molecular mechanisms triggered at the membrane level by electric pulses. Applied aspects may now be used under safe conditions. Electropulsation is known as a very efficient tool for obtaining gene transfer in many species to produce genetically modified organisms (GMO). This is routinely used for industrial purposes to transfer exogenous activities in bacteria, yeasts and plants. The method is simple and of a low cost. But electropulsation is not limited to this application for biotechnological purposes. It is known that the field-associated membrane alterations can be irreversible. The pulsed species cannot recover after the treatment. Their viability is strongly affected. This appears as a very promising technology for the eradication of pathogenic microorganisms. Recent developments are proposed for sterilization purposes. New flow technologies of field generation allow the treatment of large volumes of solution. When high flow rates are used, microorganisms are submitted both to a hydromechanical and to an electrical stress. The synergy of the two effects may be present when suitable pulsing conditions are chosen. Several examples for the treatment of domestic water and in the food industry are described. Walled microorganisms are affected not only at the membrane level. We observed that alterations are present on the cell wall. A very promising technology is the associated controlled leakage of the cytoplasmic soluble proteins. Large dimeric proteins such as beta-galactosidases can be extracted at a high yield. High volumes can be treated by using a flow process. Extraction of proteins is obtained with many systems including mammalian cells.     

Equivariance and extendibility in finite reductive groups with connected center

We show that several character correspondences for finite reductive groups $G$ are equivariant with respect to group automorphisms under the additional assumption that the linear algebraic group associated to $G$ has connected center. The correspondences we consider are the so-called Jordan decomposition of characters introduced by Lusztig and the generalized Harish-Chandra theory of unipotent characters due to Broué–Malle–Michel. In addition we consider a correspondence giving character extensions, due to the second author, in order to verify the inductive McKay condition from Isaacs–Malle–Navarro for the non-abelian finite simple groups of Lie types $^3\mathsf{D }_4,\mathsf{E }_8,\mathsf{F }_4,^2\mathsf{F }_4$ , and $\mathsf{G }_2$ .     

On Ternary Quotients of Cubic Hecke Algebras

We prove that the quotient of the group algebra of the braid group introduced by Funar (Commun Math Phys 173:513–558, 1995) collapses in characteristic distinct from 2. In characteristic 2 we define several quotients of it, which are connected to the classical Hecke and Birman-Wenzl-Murakami quotients, but which admit in addition a symmetry of order 3. We also establish conditions on the possible Markov traces factorizing through it.     

Odd character degrees for Sp(2n,2)

We check the McKay conjecture on character degrees for the case of symplectic groups over the field with two elements ${\mathrm{Sp}}_{2n}(2)$ and the prime 2. Then we check the inductive McKay condition (Isaacs–Malle–Navarro) for ${\mathrm{Sp}}_4(2^m)$ and all primes.     

On unipotent blocks and their ordinary characters

Oblatum 25-IV-1993 & 6-IX-1993     

Optimization of residual water signal removal by HLSVD on simulated short echo time proton MR spectra of the human brain

Suppression of the residual water signal from proton magnetic resonance (MR) spectra recorded in human brain is a prerequisite to an accurate quantification of cerebral metabolites. Several postacquisition methods of residual water signal suppression have been reported but none of them provide a complete elimination of the residual water signal, thereby preventing reliable quantification of brain metabolites. In the present study, the elimination of the residual water signal by the Hankel Lanczos singular value decomposition method has been evaluated and optimized to provide fast automated processing of spectra. Model free induction decays, reproducing the proton signal acquired in human brain localized MR spectroscopy at short echo times (e.g., 20 ms), have been generated. The optimal parameters in terms of number of components and dimension of the Hankel data matrix allowing complete elimination of the residual water signal are reported.