TY - JOUR A1 - Kastl, Johanna A1 - Braun, Joachim A1 - Prestel, Andreas A1 - Möller, Heiko Michael A1 - Huhn, Thomas A1 - Mayer, Thomas U. T1 - Mad2 Inhibitor-1 (M2I-1): A Small Molecule Protein-Protein Interaction Inhibitor Targeting the Mitotic Spindle Assembly Checkpoint JF - ACS chemical biology N2 - The genetic integrity of each organism depends on the faithful segregation of its genome during mitosis. To meet this challenge, a cellular surveillance mechanism, termed the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), evolved that monitors the correct attachment of chromosomes and blocks progression through mitosis if corrections are needed. While the central role of the SAC for genome integrity is well established, its functional dissection has been hampered by the limited availability of appropriate small molecule inhibitors. Using a fluorescence polarization-based screen, we identify Mad2 inhibitor-1 (M2I-1), the first small molecule inhibitor targeting the binding of Mad2 to Cdc20, an essential protein-protein interaction (PPI) within the SAC. Based on computational and biochemical analyses, we propose that M2I-1 disturbs conformational dynamics of Mad2 critical for complex formation with Cdc20. Cellular studies revealed that M2I-1 weakens the SAC response, indicating that the compound might be active in cells. Thus, our study identifies the SAC specific complex formation between Mad2 and Cdc20 as a protein-protein interaction that can be targeted by small molecules. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.5b00121 SN - 1554-8929 SN - 1554-8937 VL - 10 IS - 7 SP - 1661 EP - 1666 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Prestel, Andreas A1 - Möller, Heiko Michael T1 - Spatio-temporal control of cellular uptake achieved by photoswitchable cell-penetrating peptides JF - Chemical communications : ChemComm N2 - The selective uptake of compounds into specific cells of interest is a major objective in cell biology and drug delivery. By incorporation of a novel, thermostable azobenzene moiety we generated peptides that can be switched optically between an inactive state and an active, cell-penetrating state with excellent spatio-temporal control. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C5CC06848G SN - 1364-548X IS - 52 SP - 701 EP - 704 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Guha, S. A1 - Warsinke, A. A1 - Tientcheu, Ch. M. A1 - Schmalz, K. A1 - Meliani, C. A1 - Wenger, Ch. T1 - Label free sensing of creatinine using a 6 GHz CMOS near-field dielectric immunosensor JF - The analyst : the analytical journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry N2 - In this work we present a CMOS high frequency direct immunosensor operating at 6 GHz (C-band) for label free determination of creatinine. The sensor is fabricated in standard 0.13 μm SiGe:C BiCMOS process. The report also demonstrates the ability to immobilize creatinine molecules on a Si3N4 passivation layer of the standard BiCMOS/CMOS process, therefore, evading any further need of cumbersome post processing of the fabricated sensor chip. The sensor is based on capacitive detection of the amount of non-creatinine bound antibodies binding to an immobilized creatinine layer on the passivated sensor. The chip bound antibody amount in turn corresponds indirectly to the creatinine concentration used in the incubation phase. The determination of creatinine in the concentration range of 0.88–880 μM is successfully demonstrated in this work. A sensitivity of 35 MHz/10 fold increase in creatinine concentration (during incubation) at the centre frequency of 6 GHz is gained by the immunosensor. The results are compared with a standard optical measurement technique and the dynamic range and sensitivity is of the order of the established optical indication technique. The C-band immunosensor chip comprising an area of 0.3 mm2 reduces the sensing area considerably, therefore, requiring a sample volume as low as 2 μl. The small analyte sample volume and label free approach also reduce the experimental costs in addition to the low fabrication costs offered by the batch fabrication technique of CMOS/BiCMOS process. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4an02194k SN - 0003-2654 SN - 1364-5528 VL - 9 IS - 140 SP - 3019 EP - 3027 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bartoloni, Marco A1 - Jin, Xian A1 - Marcaida, Maria José A1 - Banha, Joao A1 - Dibonaventura, Ivan A1 - Bongoni, Swathi A1 - Bartho, Kathrin A1 - Gräbner, Olivia A1 - Sefkow, Michael A1 - Darbre, Tamis A1 - Reymond, Jean-Louis T1 - Bridged bicyclic peptides as potential drug scaffolds BT - synthesis, structure, protein binding and stability JF - Chemical Science N2 - Double cyclization of short linear peptides obtained by solid phase peptide synthesis was used to prepare bridged bicyclic peptides (BBPs) corresponding to the topology of bridged bicyclic alkanes such as norbornane. Diastereomeric norbornapeptides were investigated by 1H-NMR, X-ray crystallography and CD spectroscopy and found to represent rigid globular scaffolds stabilized by intramolecular backbone hydrogen bonds with scaffold geometries determined by the chirality of amino acid residues and sharing structural features of β-turns and α-helices. Proteome profiling by capture compound mass spectrometry (CCMS) led to the discovery of the norbornapeptide 27c binding selectively to calmodulin as an example of a BBP protein binder. This and other BBPs showed high stability towards proteolytic degradation in serum. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C5SC01699A SN - 2041-6520 SN - 2041-6539 VL - 10 IS - 6 SP - 5473 EP - 5490 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meyer, S. A1 - Raber, G. A1 - Ebert, Franziska A1 - Leffers, L. A1 - Müller, Sandra Marie A1 - Taleshi, M. S. A1 - Francesconi, Kevin A. A1 - Schwerdtle, Tanja T1 - In vitro toxicological characterisation of arsenic-containing fatty acids and three of their metabolites JF - Toxicology research N2 - Arsenic-containing fatty acids are a group of fat-soluble arsenic species (arsenolipids) which are present in marine fish and other seafood. Recently, it has been shown that arsenic-containing hydrocarbons, another group of arsenolipids, exert toxicity in similar concentrations comparable to arsenite although the toxic modes of action differ. Hence, a risk assessment of arsenolipids is urgently needed. In this study the cellular toxicity of a saturated (AsFA 362) and an unsaturated (AsFA 388) arsenic-containing fatty acid and three of their proposed metabolites (DMAV, DMAPr and thio-DMAPr) were investigated in human liver cells (HepG2). Even though both arsenic-containing fatty acids were less toxic as compared to arsenic-containing hydrocarbons and arsenite, significant effects were observable at μM concentrations. DMAV causes effects in a similar concentration range and it could be seen that it is metabolised to its highly toxic thio analogue thio-DMAV in HepG2 cells. Nevertheless, DMAPr and thio-DMAPr did not exert any cytotoxicity. In summary, our data indicate that risks to human health related to the presence of arsenic-containing fatty acids in marine food cannot be excluded. This stresses the need for a full in vitro and in vivo toxicological characterisation of these arsenolipids. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5tx00122f SN - 2045-4538 VL - 5 IS - 4 SP - 1289 EP - 1296 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Roder, Phillip A1 - Hille, Carsten T1 - A Multifunctional Frontloading Approach for Repeated Recycling of a Pressure-Controlled AFM Micropipette JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Fluid force microscopy combines the positional accuracy and force sensitivity of an atomic force microscope (AFM) with nanofluidics via a microchanneled cantilever. However, adequate loading and cleaning procedures for such AFM micropipettes are required for various application situations. Here, a new frontloading procedure is described for an AFM micropipette functioning as a force- and pressure-controlled microscale liquid dispenser. This frontloading procedure seems especially attractive when using target substances featuring high costs or low available amounts. Here, the AFM micropipette could be filled from the tip side with liquid from a previously applied droplet with a volume of only a few μL using a short low-pressure pulse. The liquid-loaded AFM micropipettes could be then applied for experiments in air or liquid environments. AFM micropipette frontloading was evaluated with the well-known organic fluorescent dye rhodamine 6G and the AlexaFluor647-labeled antibody goat anti-rat IgG as an example of a larger biological compound. After micropipette usage, specific cleaning procedures were tested. Furthermore, a storage method is described, at which the AFM micropipettes could be stored for a few hours up to several days without drying out or clogging of the microchannel. In summary, the rapid, versatile and cost-efficient frontloading and cleaning procedure for the repeated usage of a single AFM micropipette is beneficial for various application situations from specific surface modifications through to local manipulation of living cells, and provides a simplified and faster handling for already known experiments with fluid force microscopy. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144157 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 10 IS - 12 PB - Public Library of Science CY - Lawrence, Kan. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - Röhr, Merle I. S. A1 - Schmidt am Busch, Marcel A1 - Renger, Thomas A1 - Mitrić, Roland A1 - Kirstein, Stefan A1 - Rabe, Jürgen P. A1 - May, Volkhard T1 - Site-dependence of van der Waals interaction explains exciton spectra of double-walled tubular J-aggregates JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : PCCP ; a journal of European chemical societies N2 - The simulation of the optical properties of supramolecular aggregates requires the development of methods, which are able to treat a large number of coupled chromophores interacting with the environment. Since it is currently not possible to treat large systems by quantum chemistry, the Frenkel exciton model is a valuable alternative. In this work we show how the Frenkel exciton model can be extended in order to explain the excitonic spectra of a specific double-walled tubular dye aggregate explicitly taking into account dispersive energy shifts of ground and excited states due to van der Waals interaction with all surrounding molecules. The experimentally observed splitting is well explained by the site-dependent energy shift of molecules placed at the inner or outer side of the double-walled tube, respectively. Therefore we can conclude that inclusion of the site-dependent dispersive effect in the theoretical description of optical properties of nanoscaled dye aggregates is mandatory. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cp05945j SN - 1463-9084 SN - 1463-9076 VL - 17 IS - 10 SP - 6741 EP - 6747 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Irungu, Beatrice N. A1 - Adipo, Nicholas A1 - Orwa, Jennifer A. A1 - Kimani, Francis A1 - Heydenreich, Matthias A1 - Midiwo, Jacob O. A1 - Bjoremark, Per Martin A1 - Hakansson, Mikael A1 - Yenesew, Abiy A1 - Erdelyi, Mate T1 - Antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities of the constituents of Turraea robusta and Turraea nilotica JF - Journal of ethnopharmacology : an interdisciplinary journal devoted to bioscientific research on indigenous drugs N2 - Ethnopharmacological relevance: Turraea robusta and Turraea nilotica are African medicinal plants used for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases, including malaria. The genus Turraea is rich in limonoids and other triterpenoids known to possess various biological activities. Materials and methods: From the stem bark of T. robusta six compounds, and from various parts of T nilotica eleven compounds were isolated by the use of a combination of chromatographic techniques. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated using NMR and MS, whilst the relative configuration of one of the isolated compounds, toonapubesin F, was established by X-ray crystallography. The antiplasmodial activities of the crude extracts and the isolated constituents against the D6 and W2 strains of Plasmodium falciparum were determined using the semiautomated micro dilution technique that measures the ability of the extracts to inhibit the incorporation of (G-H-3, where G is guanine) hypoxanthine into the malaria parasite. The cytotoxicity of the crude extracts and their isolated constituents was evaluated against the mammalian cell lines African monkey kidney (vero), mouse breast cancer (4T1) and human larynx carcinoma (HEp2). Results: The extracts showed good to moderate antiplasmodial activities, where the extract of the stem bark of T. robusta was also cytotoxic against the 4T1 and the HEp2 cells (IC50 < 10 mu g/ml). The compounds isolated from these extracts were characterized as limonoids, protolimonoids and phytosterol glucosides. These compounds showed good to moderate activities with the most active one being azadironolide, IC50 2.4 +/- 0.03 mu M and 1.1 +/- 0.01 mu M against the D6 and W2 strains of Plasmodium falciparum, respectively; all other compounds possessed IC50 14.4-40.5 mu M. None of the compounds showed significant cytotoxicity against vero cells, yet four of them were toxic against the 4T1 and HEp2 cancer cell lines with piscidinol A having IC50 8.0 +/- 0.03 and 8.4 +/- 0.01 mu M against the 4T1 and HEp2 cells, respectively. Diacetylation of piscidinol A resulted in reduced cytotoxicity. Conclusion: From the medicinal plants T. robusta and T. nilotica, twelve compounds were isolated and characterized; two of the isolated compounds, namely 11-epi-toonacilin and azadironolide showed good antiplasmodial activity with the highest selectivity indices. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. KW - Turraea robusta KW - Turraea nilotica KW - Antiplasmodial activity KW - Cytotoxicity KW - Limonoid KW - Toonapubesins F KW - Toonacilin KW - Azadironolide Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2015.08.039 SN - 0378-8741 VL - 174 SP - 419 EP - 425 PB - Elsevier CY - Clare ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Primus, Philipp-Alexander A1 - Menski, Antonia A1 - Yeste, Maria Pilar A1 - Cauqui, Miguel Angel A1 - Kumke, Michael Uwe T1 - Fluorescence Line-Narrowing Spectroscopy as a Tool to Monitor Phase Transitions and Phase Separation in Efficient Nanocrystalline CexZr1-xO2:Eu3+ Catalyst Materials JF - The journal of physical chemistry : C, Nanomaterials and interfaces N2 - Despite the wide range of industrial applications for ceria-zirconia mixed oxides (CexZr1-xO2), the complex correlation between their atomic structure and catalytic performance is still under debate. Catalytically interesting CexZr1-xO2 nanomaterials can form homogeneous solid solutions and, depending on the composition, show phase separation under the formation of small domains. The characterization of homogeneity and atomic structure of these materials remains a major challenge. High-resolution emission spectroscopy recorded under cryogenic conditions using Eu3+ as a structural probe in doped CeZrO2 nanoparticles offers an effective way to identify the different atomic environments of the Eu3+ dopants and, subsequently, to monitor structural parameters of the ceria-zirconia mixed oxides. It is found that, in stoichiometric CeZrO2:Eu3+, phase separation occurs at elevated temperatures beginning with the gradual formation of (pseudo)cubic crystallites in the amorphous materials at 500 degrees C and a sudden phase separation into tetragonal, zirconia-rich and cubic, ceria-rich domains over 900 degrees C. The presented technique allows us to easily monitor subtle changes even in amorphous, high surface area samples, yielding structural information not accessible by conventional techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman. Moreover, in reference experiments investigating the reducibility of largely unordered Ce0.2Zr0.8O2:Eu3+, the main reduction peak in temperature-programmed reduction measurements appeared at exceptionally low temperatures below 200 degrees C, thus suggesting the outstanding potential of this oxide to activate catalytic oxidation reactions. This effect was found to be dependent on the amount of Eu3+ dopant introduced into the CeZrO2 matrix as well as to be connected to the atomic structure of the catalyst material. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b01271 SN - 1932-7447 VL - 119 IS - 19 SP - 10682 EP - 10692 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Perez-Anes, Alexandra A1 - Rodrigues, Fernanda A1 - Caminade, Anne-Marie A1 - Stefaniu, Cristina A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Turrin, Cedric-Olivier A1 - Blanzat, Muriel T1 - Influence of structural parameters on the self-association properties of anti-HIV catanionic dendrimers JF - ChemPhysChem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry N2 - The self-association properties of anti-HIV catanionic dendrimers as multivalent galactosylceramide (GalCer)-derived inhibitors are presented. The study was designed to elucidate the origin of the relatively high cytotoxicity values of these antiHIV catanionic dendrimers, which have previously been found to exhibit in vitro anti-HIV activity in the submicromolar range. The physicochemical properties of these catanionic dendrimers were studied to tentatively correlate the structural parameters with self-association and biological properties. We can conclude from this study that the absence of correlation between the hydrophobicity and the cytotoxicity of the catanionic systems could be explained by the partial segregation of the different partners of the catanionic entities. KW - anti-HIV KW - catanionic surfactants KW - dendrimers KW - galactosylceramide KW - glycolipids Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.201500484 SN - 1439-4235 SN - 1439-7641 VL - 16 IS - 16 SP - 3433 EP - 3437 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rading, M. Michael A1 - Sandmann, Michael A1 - Steup, Martin A1 - Chiarugi, Davide A1 - Valleriani, Angelo T1 - Weak correlation of starch and volume in synchronized photosynthetic cells JF - Physical review : E, Statistical, nonlinear and soft matter physics N2 - In cultures of unicellular algae, features of single cells, such as cellular volume and starch content, are thought to be the result of carefully balanced growth and division processes. Single-cell analyses of synchronized photoautotrophic cultures of the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii reveal, however, that the cellular volume and starch content are only weakly correlated. Likewise, other cell parameters, e.g., the chlorophyll content per cell, are only weakly correlated with cell size. We derive the cell size distributions at the beginning of each synchronization cycle considering growth, timing of cell division and daughter cell release, and the uneven division of cell volume. Furthermore, we investigate the link between cell volume growth and starch accumulation. This work presents evidence that, under the experimental conditions of light-dark synchronized cultures, the weak correlation between both cell features is a result of a cumulative process rather than due to asymmetric partition of biomolecules during cell division. This cumulative process necessarily limits cellular similarities within a synchronized cell population. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.91.012711 SN - 1539-3755 SN - 1550-2376 VL - 91 IS - 1 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - Körzdörfer, Thomas A1 - Renger, Thomas A1 - Sparenberg, Mino A1 - Blumstengel, Sylke A1 - Henneberger, Fritz A1 - May, Volkhard T1 - Calculating Optical Absorption Spectra of Thin Polycrystalline Organic Films: Structural Disorder and Site-Dependent van der Waals Interaction JF - The journal of physical chemistry : C, Nanomaterials and interfaces N2 - We propose a new approach for calculating the change of the absorption spectrum of a molecule when moved from the gas phase to a crystalline morphology. The so-called gas-to-crystal shift Delta epsilon(m) is mainly caused by dispersion effects and depends sensitively on the molecules specific position in the nanoscopic setting. Using an extended dipole approximation, we are able to divide Delta epsilon(m)= -QW(m) in two factors, where Q depends only on the molecular species and accounts for all nonresonant electronic transitions contributing to the dispersion while W-m is a geometry factor expressing the site dependence of the shift in a given molecular structure. The ability of our approach to predict absorption spectra is demonstrated using the example of polycrystalline films of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI). Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b01587 SN - 1932-7447 VL - 119 IS - 10 SP - 5747 EP - 5751 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wessig, Pablo A1 - Budach, Dennis B. A1 - Thünemann, Andreas F. T1 - Dendrimers with Oligospiroketal (OSK) Building Blocks: Synthesis and Properties JF - Chemistry - a European journal N2 - The development of novel dendrimers containing oligospiroketal (OSK) rods as building blocks is described. The linkage between the core unit (CU), branching units (BU), and OSK rods relies on the CuAAC reaction between terminal alkynes and azides. Two different strategies of dendrimer synthesis were investigated and it was found that the convergent approach is clearly superior to the divergent one. SAXS measurements and MD simulations indicate that the obtained dendrimer features a globular structure with very low density. Obviously, the OSK rods stabilize a rather loose mass-fractal structure. KW - click chemistry KW - dendrimers KW - molecular rods KW - oxygen heterocycles KW - SAXS Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201501386 SN - 0947-6539 SN - 1521-3765 VL - 21 IS - 29 SP - 10466 EP - 10471 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Olejko, Lydia A1 - Cywinski, Piotr J. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - Ion-Selective formation of a guanine quadruplex on DNA origami structures JF - Angewandte Chemie : a journal of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker ; International edition N2 - DNA origami nanostructures are a versatile tool that can be used to arrange functionalities with high local control to study molecular processes at a single-molecule level. Here, we demonstrate that DNA origami substrates can be used to suppress the formation of specific guanine (G) quadruplex structures from telomeric DNA. The folding of telomeres into G-quadruplex structures in the presence of monovalent cations (e.g. Na+ and K+) is currently used for the detection of K+ ions, however, with insufficient selectivity towards Na+. By means of FRET between two suitable dyes attached to the 3- and 5-ends of telomeric DNA we demonstrate that the formation of G-quadruplexes on DNA origami templates in the presence of sodium ions is suppressed due to steric hindrance. Hence, telomeric DNA attached to DNA origami structures represents a highly sensitive and selective detection tool for potassium ions even in the presence of high concentrations of sodium ions. KW - DNA nanotechnology KW - FRET KW - G-quadruplexes KW - nanostructures KW - self-assembly Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201409278 SN - 1433-7851 SN - 1521-3773 VL - 54 IS - 2 SP - 673 EP - 677 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Guiet, Amandine A1 - Goebel, Caren A1 - Klingan, Katharina A1 - Lublow, Michael A1 - Reier, Tobias A1 - Vainio, Ulla A1 - Kraehnert, Ralph A1 - Schlaad, Helmut A1 - Strasser, Peter A1 - Zaharieva, Ivelina A1 - Dau, Holger A1 - Driess, Matthias A1 - Polte, Joerg A1 - Fischer, Anna T1 - Hydrophobic Nanoreactor Soft-Templating: A Supramolecular Approach to Yolk@Shell Materials JF - Advanced functional materials N2 - Due to their unique morphology-related properties, yolk@shell materials are promising materials for catalysis, drug delivery, energy conversion, and storage. Despite their proven potential, large-scale applications are however limited due to demanding synthesis protocols. Overcoming these limitations, a simple soft-templated approach for the one-pot synthesis of yolk@shell nanocomposites and in particular of multicore metal nanoparticle@metal oxide nanostructures (M-NP@MOx) is introduced. The approach here, as demonstrated for Au-NP@ITOTR (ITOTR standing for tin-rich ITO), relies on polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) inverse micelles as two compartment nanoreactor templates. While the hydrophilic P4VP core incorporates the hydrophilic metal precursor, the hydrophobic PS corona takes up the hydrophobic metal oxide precursor. As a result, interfacial reactions between the precursors can take place, leading to the formation of yolk@shell structures in solution. Once calcined these micelles yield Au-NP@ITOTR nanostructures, composed of multiple 6 nm sized Au NPs strongly anchored onto the inner surface of porous 35 nm sized ITOTR hollow spheres. Although of multicore nature, only limited sintering of the metal nanoparticles is observed at high temperatures (700 degrees C). In addition, the as-synthesized yolk@shell structures exhibit high and stable activity toward CO electrooxidation, thus demonstrating the applicability of our approach for the design of functional yolk@shell nanocatalysts. KW - inverse micelles KW - nanoreactor KW - polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) KW - soft-templating KW - tin-rich ITO KW - yolk@shell materials Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201502388 SN - 1616-301X SN - 1616-3028 VL - 25 IS - 39 SP - 6228 EP - 6240 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vogel, Stefanie A1 - Rackwitz, Jenny A1 - Schuerman, Robin A1 - Prinz, Julia A1 - Milosavljevic, Aleksandar R. A1 - Refregiers, Matthieu A1 - Giuliani, Alexandre A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - Using DNA origami nanostructures to determine absolute cross sections for UV photon-induced DNA strand breakage JF - The journal of physical chemistry letters N2 - We have characterized ultraviolet (UV) photon-induced DNA strand break processes by determination of absolute cross sections for photoabsorption and for sequence-specific DNA single strand breakage induced by photons in an energy range from 6.50 to 8.94 eV. These represent the lowest-energy photons able to induce DNA strand breaks. Oligonudeotide targets are immobilized on a UV transparent substrate in controlled quantities through attachment to DNA origami templates. Photon-induced dissociation of single DNA strands is visualized and quantified using atomic force microscopy. The obtained quantum yields for strand breakage vary between 0.06 and 0.5, indicating highly efficient DNA strand breakage by UV photons, which is clearly dependent on the photon energy. Above the ionization threshold strand breakage becomes clearly the dominant form of DNA radiation damage, which is then also dependent on the nucleotide sequence. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.5b02238 SN - 1948-7185 VL - 6 IS - 22 SP - 4589 EP - 4593 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Secker, Christian A1 - Brosnan, Sarah M. A1 - Limberg, Felix Rolf Paul A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Trunk, Matthias A1 - Strauch, Peter A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Thermally Induced Crosslinking of Poly(N-Propargyl Glycine) JF - Macromolecular chemistry and physics N2 - As polypeptoids become increasingly popular, they present a more soluble and processable alternative to natural and synthetic polypeptides; the breadth of their potential functionality slowly comes into focus. This report analyzes the ability of an alkyne-functionalized polypeptoid, poly(N-propargyl glycine), to crosslink upon heating. The crosslinking process is analyzed by thermal analysis (differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis), Fourier-transform infrared, electron paramagnetic resonance, and solid-state NMR spectroscopy. While a precise mechanism cannot be confidently assigned, it is clear that the reaction proceeds by a radical mechanism that exclusively involves the alkyne functionality, which, upon crosslinking, yields alkene and aromatic products. KW - Fourier-transform infrared KW - metal-free crosslinking KW - polypeptoid KW - propargyl KW - solid-state NMR Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.201500223 SN - 1022-1352 SN - 1521-3935 VL - 216 IS - 21 SP - 2080 EP - 2085 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Madaan, Nitesh A1 - Romriell, Naomi A1 - Tuscano, Joshua A1 - Schlaad, Helmut A1 - Linford, Matthew R. T1 - Introduction of thiol moieties, including their thiol-ene reactions and air oxidation, onto polyelectrolyte multilayer substrates JF - Journal of colloid and interface science KW - Thiol-ene KW - Layer-by-layer KW - XPS KW - ToF-SIMS KW - Hydrophobic KW - AFM KW - Ellipsometry Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2015.08.017 SN - 0021-9797 SN - 1095-7103 VL - 459 SP - 199 EP - 205 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koshkina, Olga A1 - Lang, Thomas A1 - Thiermann, Raphael A1 - Docter, Dominic A1 - Stauber, Roland H. A1 - Secker, Christian A1 - Schlaad, Helmut A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Mohr, Benjamin A1 - Maskos, Michael A1 - Bertin, Annabelle T1 - Temperature-Triggered Protein Adsorption on Polymer-Coated Nanoparticles in Serum JF - Langmuir N2 - The protein corona, which forms on the nanoparticle's surface in most biological media, determines the nanoparticle's physicochemical characteristics. The formation of the protein corona has a significant impact on the biodistribution and clearance of nanoparticles in vivo. Therefore, the ability to influence the formation of the protein corona is essential to most biomedical applications, including drug delivery and imaging. In this study, we investigate the protein adsorption on nanoparticles with a hydrodynamic radius of 30 nm and a coating of thermoresponsive poly(2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline) in serum. Using multiangle dynamic light scattering (DLS) we demonstrate that heating of the nanoparticles above their phase separation temperature induces the formation of agglomerates, with a hydrodynamic radius of 1 mu m. In serum, noticeably stronger agglomeration occurs at lower temperatures compared to serum-free conditions. Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) revealed a high packing density of agglomerates when serum was not present. In contrast, in the presence of serum, agglomerated nanoparticles were loosely packed, indicating that proteins are intercalated between them. Moreover, an increase in protein content is observed upon heating, confirming that protein adsorption is induced by the alteration of the surface during phase separation. After cooling and switching the surface back, most of the agglomerates were dissolved and the main fraction returned to the original size of approximately 30 nm as shown by asymmetrical flow-field flow fractionation (AF-FFF) and DLS. Furthermore, the amounts of adsorbed proteins are similar before and after heating the nanoparticles to above their phase-separation temperature. Overall, our results demonstrate that the thermoresponsivity of the polymer coating enables turning the corona formation on nanoparticles on and off in situ. As the local heating of body areas can be easily done in vivo, the thermoresponsive coating could potentially be used to induce the agglomeration of nanopartides and proteins and the accumulation of nanoparticles in a targeted body region. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.5b00537 SN - 0743-7463 VL - 31 IS - 32 SP - 8873 EP - 8881 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Secker, Christian A1 - Brosnan, Sarah M. A1 - Luxenhofer, Robert A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Poly(alpha-Peptoid)s Revisited: Synthesis, Properties, and Use as Biomaterial JF - Macromolecular bioscience N2 - Polypeptoids have been of great interest in the polymer science community since the early half of the last century; however, they had been basically forgotten materials until the last decades in which they have enjoyed an exciting revival. In this mini-review, we focus on the recent developments in polypeptoid chemistry, with particular focus on polymers synthesized by the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs). Specifically, we will review traditional monomer synthesis (such as Leuchs, Katchalski, and Kricheldorf) and recent advances in polymerization methods to yield both linear, cyclic, and functional polymers, solution and bulk thermal properties, and preliminary results on the use of polypeptoids as biomaterials (i.e immunogenicity, biodistribution, degradability, and drug delivery). KW - amino acid N-carboxyanhydride (NCA) KW - biomaterials KW - peptides KW - properties KW - ring-opening polymerization Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/mabi.201500023 SN - 1616-5187 SN - 1616-5195 VL - 15 IS - 7 SP - 881 EP - 891 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brosnan, Sarah M. A1 - Schlaad, Helmut A1 - Antonietti, Markus T1 - Aqueous Self-Assembly of Purely Hydrophilic Block Copolymers into Giant Vesicles JF - Angewandte Chemie : a journal of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker ; International edition N2 - Self-assembly of macromolecules is fundamental to life itself, and historically, these systems have been primitively mimicked by the development of amphiphilic systems, driven by the hydrophobic effect. Herein, we demonstrate that self-assembly of purely hydrophilic systems can be readily achieved with similar ease and success. We have synthesized double hydrophilic block copolymers from polysaccharides and poly(ethylene oxide) or poly(sarcosine) to yield high molar mass diblock copolymers through oxime chemistry. These hydrophilic materials can easily assemble into nanosized (<500nm) and microsized (>5m) polymeric vesicles depending on concentration and diblock composition. Because of the solely hydrophilic nature of these materials, we expect them to be extraordinarily water permeable systems that would be well suited for use as cellular mimics. KW - block copolymers KW - polymersomes KW - polysaccharides KW - self-assembly KW - vesicles Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201502100 SN - 1433-7851 SN - 1521-3773 VL - 54 IS - 33 SP - 9715 EP - 9718 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zou, Hua A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Thermoresponsive PNIPAM/Silica Nanoparticles by Direct Photopolymerization in Aqueous Media JF - Journal of polymer science : A, Polymer chemistry N2 - This article presents a simple and facile method to fabricate thermoresponsive polymer-grafted silica particles by direct surface-initiated photopolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM). This method is based on silica particles bearing thiol functionalities, which are transformed into thiyl radicals by irradiation with UV light to initiate the polymerization of NIPAM in aqueous media at room temperature. The photopolymerization of NIPAM could be applied to smaller thiol-functionalized particles (approximate to 48 nm) as well as to larger particles (approximate to 692 nm). Hollow poly(NIPAM) capsules could be formed after etching away the silica cores from the composite particles. It is possible to produce tailor-made composite particles or capsules for particular applications by extending this approach to other vinyl monomers. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 2015, 53, 1260-1267 KW - nanocomposites KW - nanoparticles KW - photopolymerization KW - silica nanoparticles KW - surface-initiated photopolymerization KW - thermoresponsive KW - thiol Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/pola.27593 SN - 0887-624X SN - 1099-0518 VL - 53 IS - 10 SP - 1260 EP - 1267 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kedracki, Dawid A1 - Filippov, Sergey K. A1 - Gour, Nidhi A1 - Schlaad, Helmut A1 - Nardin, Corinne T1 - Formation of DNA-Copolymer Fibrils Through an Amyloid-Like Nucleation Polymerization Mechanism JF - Macromolecular rapid communications N2 - Conjugation of a hydrophobic poly(2-oxazoline) bearing tertiary amide groups along its backbone with a short single stranded nucleotide sequence results in an amphiphilic comb/graft copolymer, which organizes in fibrils upon direct dissolution in water. Supported by circular dichroism, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scattering data, fibrils are formed through inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonding between hydrogen accepting amide groups along the polymer backbone and hydrogen donating nucleic acid grafts leading to the formation of hollow tubes. KW - DNA copolymers KW - fibers KW - hydrogen bonding KW - nucleation polymerization KW - self-assembly Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201400728 SN - 1022-1336 SN - 1521-3927 VL - 36 IS - 8 SP - 768 EP - 773 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vacogne, Charlotte D. A1 - Brosnan, Sarah M. A1 - Masic, Admir A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Fibrillar gels via the self-assembly of poly(L-glutamate)-based statistical copolymers JF - Polymer Chemistry N2 - Polypeptides having secondary structures often undergo self-assembly which can extend over multiple length scales. Poly(gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate) (PBLG), for example, folds into a-helices and forms physical organogels, whereas poly(L-glutamic acid) (PLGA at acidic pH) or poly(L-glutamate) (PLG at neutral/basic pH) do not form hydrogels. We explored the gelation of modified PBLG and investigated the deprotection of the carboxylic acid moieties in such gels to yield unique hydrogels. This was accomplished through photo-crosslinking gelation of poly(gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate-co-allylglycine) statistical copolymers in toluene, tetrahydrofuran, and 1,4-dioxane. Unlike most polymer-based chemical gels, our gels were prepared from dilute solutions (<20 g L-1, i.e., <2% w/v) of low molar mass polymers. Despite such low concentrations and molar masses, our dioxane gels showed high mechanical stability and little shrinkage; remarkably, they also exhibited a porous fibrillar network. Deprotection of the carboxylic acid moieties in dioxane gels yielded pH responsive and highly absorbent PLGA/PLG-based hydrogels (swelling ratio of up to 87), while preserving the network structure, which is an unprecedented feature in the context of crosslinked PLGA gels. These outstanding properties are highly attractive for biomedical materials. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5py00491h SN - 1759-9954 SN - 1759-9962 VL - 6 IS - 28 SP - 5040 EP - 5052 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tritschler, U. A1 - Beck, F. A1 - Schlaad, Helmut A1 - Cölfen, Helmut T1 - Electrochromic properties of self-organized multifunctional V2O5-polymer hybrid films JF - Journal of materials chemistry : C, Materials for optical and electronic devices N2 - Bio-inspired V2O5-polymer hybrid films were prepared following a one-step self-organization procedure based on liquid crystal formation of organic and inorganic components. These materials were previously reported to exhibit advantageous mechanical properties, comparable to biomaterials, such as human bone and dentin. Here, we show that these hybrid films prepared via a fast and simple synthesis procedure have an additional function as an electrochromic material, exhibiting a long-term cycle stability under alternating potentials. The structures were found to remain intact without visible changes after more than hundred switching cycles and storing the devices for several weeks. Consequently, this multifunctional V2O5-polymer hybrid system shows great promise for various technical applications. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4tc02138j SN - 2050-7526 SN - 2050-7534 VL - 3 IS - 5 SP - 950 EP - 954 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Secker, Christian A1 - Robinson, Joshua W. A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Alkyne-X modification of polypeptoids JF - European polymer journal N2 - Poly(N-propargyl glycine) (PNPG) can be readily prepared by ring-opening polymerization of N-propargyl glycine N-carboxyanhydride (NCA) and modified using various addition reactions such as copper catalyzed [3+2] cycloaddition of azide, radical (photo-)addition of thiol, nucleophilic addition of ethylene oxide, and thermal induced cross-linking. It is demonstrated that PNPG can serve as a modular platform to produce a bibliography of novel functional polypeptoid or pseudopeptide materials, including polypeptoid ionic liquids and graft copolymers. KW - Polypeptoid KW - NCA KW - Post-polymerization modification KW - Click chemistry Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2014.08.028 SN - 0014-3057 SN - 1873-1945 VL - 62 SP - 394 EP - 399 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vacogne, Charlotte D. A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Primary ammonium/tertiary amine-mediated controlled ring opening polymerisation of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides JF - Chemical communications N2 - Stable commercial primary ammonium chlorides were combined with tertiary amines to initiate the controlled ring opening polymerisation of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides to yield polypeptides with defined end group structure, predetermined molar mass and narrow molar mass distribution. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5cc06905j SN - 1359-7345 SN - 1364-548X VL - 51 IS - 86 SP - 15645 EP - 15648 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nöchel, Ulrich A1 - Reddy, Chaganti Srinivasa A1 - Wang, Ke A1 - Cui, Jing A1 - Zizak, Ivo A1 - Behl, Marc A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Nanostructural changes in crystallizable controlling units determine the temperature-memory of polymers JF - Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Materials for energy and sustainability N2 - Temperature-memory polymers remember the temperature, where they were deformed recently, enabled by broad thermal transitions. In this study, we explored a series of crosslinked poly[ethylene-co-(vinyl acetate)] networks (cPEVAs) comprising crystallizable polyethylene (PE) controlling units exhibiting a pronounced temperature-memory effect (TME) between 16 and 99 °C related to a broad melting transition (∼100 °C). The nanostructural changes in such cPEVAs during programming and activation of the TME were analyzed via in situ X-ray scattering and specific annealing experiments. Different contributions to the mechanism of memorizing high or low deformation temperatures (Tdeform) were observed in cPEVA, which can be associated to the average PE crystal sizes. At high deformation temperatures (>50 °C), newly formed PE crystals, which are established during cooling when fixing the temporary shape, dominated the TME mechanism. In contrast, at low Tdeform (<50 °C), corresponding to a cold drawing scenario, the deformation led preferably to a disruption of existing large crystals into smaller ones, which then fix the temporary shape upon cooling. The observed mechanism of memorizing a deformation temperature might enable the prediction of the TME behavior and the knowledge based design of other TMPs with crystallizable controlling units. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ta06586g SN - 2050-7488 SN - 2050-7496 VL - 16 IS - 3 SP - 8284 EP - 8293 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Weiwei A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Behl, Marc A1 - Yan, Wan A1 - Liu, Yue A1 - Xu, Xun A1 - Baudis, Stefan A1 - Li, Zhengdong A1 - Kurtz, Andreas A1 - Lendlein, Andreas A1 - Ma, Nan T1 - The interaction of adipose-derived human mesenchymal stem cells and polyether ether ketone JF - Clinical hemorheology and microcirculation : blood flow and vessels N2 - Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) as a high-performance, thermoplastic implant material entered the field of medical applications due to its structural function and commercial availability. In bone tissue engineering, the combination of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with PEEK implants may accelerate the bone formation and promote the osseointegration between the implant and the adjacent bone tissue. In this concept the question how PEEK influences the behaviour and functions of MSCs is of great interest. Here the cellular response of human adipose-derived MSCs to PEEK was evaluated and compared to tissue culture plate (TCP) as the reference material. Viability and morphology of cells were not altered when cultured on the PEEK film. The cells on PEEK presented a high proliferation activity in spite of a relatively lower initial cell adhesion rate. There was no significant difference on cell apoptosis and senescence between the cells on PEEK and TCP. The inflammatory cytokines and VEGF secreted by the cells on these two surfaces were at similar levels. The cells on PEEK showed up-regulated BMP2 and down-regulated BMP4 and BMP6 gene expression, whereas no conspicuous differences were observed in the committed osteoblast markers (BGLAP, COL1A1 and Runx2). With osteoinduction the cells on PEEK and TCP exhibited a similar osteogenic differentiation potential. Our results demonstrate the biofunctionality of PEEK for human MSC cultivation and differentiation. Its clinical benefits in bone tissue engineering may be achieved by combining MSCs with PEEK implants. These data may also provide useful information for further modification of PEEK with chemical or physical methods to regulate the cellular processes of MSCs and to consequently improve the efficacy of MSC-PEEK based therapies. KW - Polyether ether ketone KW - mesenchymal stem cells KW - biocompatibility KW - cell-material interaction KW - osteogenic differentiation Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3233/CH-152001 SN - 1386-0291 SN - 1875-8622 VL - 61 IS - 2 SP - 301 EP - 321 PB - IOS Press CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nöchel, Ulrich A1 - Reddy, Chaganti Srinivasa A1 - Wang, Ke A1 - Cui, Jing A1 - Zizak, Ivo A1 - Behl, Marc A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Nanostructural changes in crystallizable controlling units determine the temperature-memory of polymers JF - Journal of materials chemistry : A, Materials for energy and sustainability N2 - Temperature-memory polymers remember the temperature, where they were deformed recently, enabled by broad thermal transitions. In this study, we explored a series of crosslinked poly[ethylene-co-(vinyl acetate)] networks (cPEVAs) comprising crystallizable polyethylene (PE) controlling units exhibiting a pronounced temperature-memory effect (TME) between 16 and 99 degrees C related to a broad melting transition (similar to 100 degrees C). The nanostructural changes in such cPEVAs during programming and activation of the TME were analyzed via in situ X-ray scattering and specific annealing experiments. Different contributions to the mechanism of memorizing high or low deformation temperatures (T-deform) were observed in cPEVA, which can be associated to the average PE crystal sizes. At high deformation temperatures (>50 degrees C), newly formed PE crystals, which are established during cooling when fixing the temporary shape, dominated the TME mechanism. In contrast, at low T-deform (<50 degrees C), corresponding to a cold drawing scenario, the deformation led preferably to a disruption of existing large crystals into smaller ones, which then fix the temporary shape upon cooling. The observed mechanism of memorizing a deformation temperature might enable the prediction of the TME behavior and the knowledge based design of other TMPs with crystallizable controlling units. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ta06586g SN - 2050-7488 SN - 2050-7496 VL - 3 IS - 16 SP - 8284 EP - 8293 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, Quanchao A1 - Sauter, Tilman A1 - Fang, Liang A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Shape-Memory Capability of Copolyetheresterurethane Microparticles Prepared via Electrospraying JF - Macromolecular materials and engineering N2 - Multifunctional thermo-responsive and degradable microparticles exhibiting a shapememory effect (SME) have attracted widespread interest in biomedicine as switchable delivery vehicles or microactuators. In this work almost spherical solid microparticles with an average diameter of 3.9 +/- 0.9 mm are prepared via electrospraying of a copolyetheresterurethane named PDC, which is composed of crystallizable oligo(p-dioxanone) (OPDO) hard and oligo(e-caprolactone) (OCL) switching segments. The PDC microparticles are programmed via compression at different pressures and their shapememory capability is explored by off-line and online heating experiments. When a low programming pressure of 0.2 MPa is applied a pronounced thermally-induced shape-memory effect is achieved with a shape recovery ratio about 80%, while a high programming pressure of 100 MPa resulted in a weak shape-memory performance. Finally, it is demonstrated that an array of PDC microparticles deposited on a polypropylene (PP) substrate can be successfully programmed into a smart temporary film, which disintegrates upon heating to 60 degrees C. KW - biomaterials KW - microparticles KW - processing KW - stimuli-sensitive polymers KW - shape-memory effect Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.201400267 SN - 1438-7492 SN - 1439-2054 VL - 300 IS - 5 SP - 522 EP - 530 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Saatchi, Mersa A1 - Behl, Marc A1 - Nöchel, Ulrich A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Copolymer Networks From Oligo(epsilon-caprolactone) and n-Butyl Acrylate Enable a Reversible Bidirectional Shape-Memory Effect at Human Body Temperature JF - Macromolecular rapid communications N2 - Exploiting the tremendous potential of the recently discovered reversible bidirectional shape-memory effect (rbSME) for biomedical applications requires switching temperatures in the physiological range. The recent strategy is based on the reduction of the melting temperature range (T-m) of the actuating oligo(epsilon-caprolactone) (OCL) domains in copolymer networks from OCL and n-butyl acrylate (BA), where the reversible effect can be adjusted to the human body temperature. In addition, it is investigated whether an rbSME in the temperature range close or even above T-m,T-offset (end of the melting transition) can be obtained. Two series of networks having mixtures of OCLs reveal broad T(m)s from 2 degrees C to 50 degrees C and from -10 degrees C to 37 degrees C, respectively. In cyclic, thermomechanical experiments the rbSME can be tailored to display pronounced actuation in a temperature interval between 20 degrees C and 37 degrees C. In this way, the application spectrum of the rbSME can be extended to biomedical applications. KW - body temperature KW - broad melting temperature range KW - orientational memory KW - reversible bidirectional shape-memory polymer KW - copolymer networks Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201400729 SN - 1022-1336 SN - 1521-3927 VL - 36 IS - 10 SP - 880 EP - 884 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hahn, Simone A1 - Träger, Juliane A1 - Holdt, Hans-Jürgen T1 - Solid-Phase extraction of Pt(IV) with Dialkyl-(hexane-1,6-diyl) phosphate modified merrifield resins from aqueous chloride media in column operations JF - Separation and purification technology N2 - A series of three dialkyl phosphate resins with a Merrifield resin support was used to extract platinum from acidic media. In column operations total capacities of 85-130 mg/g were gained. The presence of palladium and rhodium results in the order: Pt(IV) > Pd(II) >> Rh(III). From a leach liquor gained from spent automotive catalysts metals forming anionic chloro complexes are co-extracted only to a small extent. However, in order to separate and enrich platinum a selective back-extraction can be done with a sodium thiocyanate solution. A second elution step with acidic thiourea leads to a mixed solution of palladium and rhodium. KW - platinum KW - column operation mode KW - phosphate KW - solid-phase extraction Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/01496395.2014.968264 SN - 0149-6395 SN - 1520-5754 VL - 50 IS - 2 SP - 191 EP - 206 PB - Taylor & Francis Group CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baier, Heiko A1 - Kelling, Alexandra A1 - Holdt, Hans-Jürgen T1 - PEPPSI-Effect on Suzuki-Miyaura Reactions Using 4,5-Dicyano-1,3-dimesitylimidazol-2-ylidene-Palladium Complexes: A Comparison between trans-Ligands JF - European journal of inorganic chemistry : a journal of ChemPubSoc Europe N2 - The PEPPSI (Pyridine Enhanced Precatalyst Preparation, Stabilization and Initiation) complexes 12-15 with the structure [PdCl2{(CN)(2)IMes}(3-R-py)] (12: R = H; 13: R = Cl; 14: R = Br; 15: R = CN) bearing the maleonitrile-based N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) (CN)(2)IMes ({(CN)(2)IMes}: 4,5-dicyano-1,3-dimesitylimidazol-2-ylidene) were prepared. Solid state structures of 14 and 15 were obtained. Complexes 14 and 15 adopt a slightly distorted square-planar coordination geometry in the solid state with the substituted pyridine ligand trans to the NHC. Catalytic activities of precatalysts 12-15 were studied and subsequently compared to complexes [PdCl2{(CN)(2)IMes}(PPh3)] (4) and [PdCl(dmba){(CN)(2)IMes}] (5) recently reported by our group in the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction of various aryl halides and phenylboronic acid. Reactions using previously reported [PdCl2(IMes)(py)] (IMes: 1,3-dimesitylimidazol-2-ylidene) (1) were also carried out and their results contrasted to those involving 12-15, 4 and 5. Differences in initiation rates and the catalytically active species related to the seven complexes in regards to the throw away ligand were investigated. Poisoning experiments with mercury show that palladium nanoparticles are responsible for the catalytic activity. KW - Carbene ligands KW - Palladium KW - Cross-coupling KW - Arenes Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ejic.201500010 SN - 1434-1948 SN - 1099-0682 IS - 11 SP - 1950 EP - 1957 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Attenberger, Bianca A1 - Moussa, Mehdi El Sayed A1 - Brietzke, Thomas Martin A1 - Vreshch, Volodimir A1 - Holdt, Hans-Jürgen A1 - Lescop, Christophe A1 - Scheer, Manfred T1 - Discrete Polymetallic Arrangements of Ag-I and Cu-I Ions Based on Multiple Bridging Phosphane Ligands and pi-pi Interactions JF - European journal of inorganic chemistry : a journal of ChemPubSoc Europe N2 - A simple and straightforward approach to new polymetallic Ag-I and Cu-I supramolecules is presented. The reaction of N,P,N,P,N ligand 2 with Ag-I ions affords a trimetallic complex bearing a triangular Ag-3 core; metallophilic interactions are stabilized by ligands that display a multiple bridging coordination mode as 10-electron donors. Heteroleptic polymetallic Ag-I and Cu-I complexes based on ligand 2 and the 1,12-diazaperylene (dape) ligand are obtained by an alternative molecular organization of the polymetallic arrays compared to that in homoleptic complexes of ligand 2. KW - Heterocycles KW - N KW - P ligands KW - Pi interactions KW - Polyaromatic fragments KW - Supramolecular chemistry Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ejic.201500445 SN - 1434-1948 SN - 1099-0682 IS - 18 SP - 2934 EP - 2938 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Trautmann, Michael A1 - Holdt, Hans-Jürgen T1 - Separation of platinum and ruthenium by a sulphoxide modified polystyrene resin in laboratory column systems JF - Separation and purification technology N2 - The present study deals with the adsorption performance of fixed bed columns using powdered sulphoxide modified poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) (d(10) < 13 mu m, d(50) < 30 mu m, d(90) < 50 mu m) for the separation of platinum and ruthenium from hydrochloric acidic solutions containing both metals (c(Pt) = 20 mg/L, c(Ru) = 10 mg/L). The influence of hydrochloric acid concentration, temperature, flow rate, flow direction, redox potential and bed height on the breakthrough characteristics was examined. Platinum was separately adsorbed mainly induced by hydrochloric acid concentration and redox potential keeping platinum as Pt-IV and ruthenium as Ru-III. Ruthenium was separately adsorbed to 90% essentially induced by hydrochloric acid concentration, temperature and redox potential keeping platinum as Pt-IV and ruthenium predominantly as Ru-IV. Experimental data at optimised separation conditions were fitted to different kinetic models (Thomas, Yoon-Nelson, Bohart-Adams, Wolborska) to characterise the fixed bed column behaviour. Adsorption of both metals was well described by Thomas and Yoon-Nelson model with correlation coefficients R-2 >= 0.95 whereas Bohart-Adams and Wolborska model were less suitable. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Solid-phase extraction KW - Platinum group metals KW - Sulphoxide KW - Breakthrough curve KW - Kinetic model Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2015.05.013 SN - 1383-5866 SN - 1873-3794 VL - 149 SP - 279 EP - 287 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Senge, Mathias O. A1 - Dahms, Katja A1 - Holdt, Hans-Jürgen A1 - Kelling, Alexandra T1 - Porphyrin substituent regiochemistry, conformation and packing - the case of 5,10-diphenylporphyrin JF - Zeitschrift für Naturforschung : B, Chemical sciences N2 - 5,10-Disubstituted porphyrins are more recent additions to the family of meso-substituted porphyrins. A crystallographic comparison of 5,10-diphenylporphyrin with the regioisomeric 5,15-disubstituted system reveals striking differences in their conformation. In the free base porphyrins the former uses mainly out-of-plane distortion to alleviate steric strain while in-plane core elongation predominates in the latter. In contrast, the structure of the Cu(II) complex is planar and forms strong p-p aggregates with very small lateral shifts. Macroscopically, the packing is similar to that of porphyrin sponges of the 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin type. KW - conformational analysis KW - crystal structure KW - porphyrins KW - tetrapyrroles Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/znb-2014-0217 SN - 0932-0776 SN - 1865-7117 VL - 70 IS - 2 SP - 119 EP - 123 PB - De Gruyter CY - Tübingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schwarze, Thomas A1 - Riemer, Janine A1 - Eidner, Sascha A1 - Holdt, Hans-Jürgen T1 - A Highly K+-Selective Two-Photon Fluorescent Probe JF - Chemistry - a European journal N2 - A highly K+-selective two-photon fluorescent probe for the in vitro monitoring of physiological K+ levels in the range of 1-100 mM is reported. The two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) probe shows a fluorescence enhancement (FE) by a factor of about three in the presence of 160 mM K+, independently of one-photon (OP, 430 nm) or two-photon (TP, 860 nm) excitation and comparable K+-induced FEs in the presence of competitive Na+ ions. The estimated dissociation constant (K-d) values in Na+-free solutions (K-d(OP)=(28 +/- 5) mM and K-d(TP)=(36 +/- 6) mM) and in combined K+/Na+ solutions (K-d(OP)=(38 +/- 8) mM and K-d(TP)=(46 +/- 25) mM) reflecting the high K+/Na+ selectivity of the fluorescent probe. The TP absorption cross-section (sigma(2PA)) of the TPEF probe+160 mMK(+) is 26 GM at 860 nm. Therefore, the TPEF probe is a suitable tool for the in vitro determination of K+. KW - click chemistry KW - fluorescence KW - fluorescent probes KW - potassium KW - two-photon Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201501473 SN - 0947-6539 SN - 1521-3765 VL - 21 IS - 32 SP - 11306 EP - 11310 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Bernd A1 - Elizarov, Nelli A1 - Schilde, Uwe A1 - Kelling, Alexandra T1 - Dual Role of Acetanilides: Traceless Removal of a Directing Group through Deacetylation/Diazotation and Palladium-Catalyzed C-C-Coupling Reactions JF - The journal of organic chemistry N2 - The acetamide group enables regioselective oxidative ortho-C-H activation reactions, such as Pd-catalyzed acylation. The synthetic utility of these transformations can be significantly enhanced by using the acetamide as a quasi-leaving group in a subsequent conventional Pd-catalyzed coupling or cross-coupling reaction. The concept is illustrated herein for the synthesis of o-alkenyl- and o-arylphenones, which have potential for the synthesis of arylated aromatic heterocycles. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.5b00272 SN - 0022-3263 VL - 80 IS - 9 SP - 4223 EP - 4234 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boese, Adrian Daniel T1 - Density Functional Theory and Hydrogen Bonds: Are We There Yet? JF - ChemPhysChem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry N2 - Density functional theory (DFT) has become more successful at introducing dispersion interactions, and can be thus applied to a wide range of systems. Amongst these are systems that contain hydrogen bonds, which are extremely important for the biological regime. Here, the description of hydrogen-bonded interactions by DFT with and without dispersion corrections is investigated. For small complexes, for which electrostatics are the determining factor in the intermolecular interactions, the inclusion of dispersion with most functionals yields large errors. Only for larger systems, in which van der Waals interactions are more important, do dispersion corrections improve the performance of DFT for hydrogen-bonded systems. None of the studied functionals, including double hybrid functionals (with the exception of DSD-PBEP86 without dispersion corrections), are more accurate than MP2 for the investigated species. KW - ab initio calculations KW - basis sets KW - density functional calculations KW - hydrogen bonds KW - intermolecular interactions Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.201402786 SN - 1439-4235 SN - 1439-7641 VL - 16 IS - 5 SP - 978 EP - 985 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klauß, André A1 - Koenig, Marcelle A1 - Hille, Carsten T1 - Upgrade of a Scanning Confocal Microscope to a Single-Beam Path STED Microscope JF - PLoS one N2 - By overcoming the diffraction limit in light microscopy, super-resolution techniques, such as stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, are experiencing an increasing impact on life sciences. High costs and technically demanding setups, however, may still hinder a wider distribution of this innovation in biomedical research laboratories. As far-field microscopy is the most widely employed microscopy modality in the life sciences, upgrading already existing systems seems to be an attractive option for achieving diffraction-unlimited fluorescence microscopy in a cost-effective manner. Here, we demonstrate the successful upgrade of a commercial time-resolved confocal fluorescence microscope to an easy-to-align STED microscope in the single-beam path layout, previously proposed as "easy-STED", achieving lateral resolution 600 degrees C) dicalcium and tricalcium phosphate crystallites are formed. From high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) it is obvious to conclude, that individual crystal platelets are dicalcium phosphates, which build up ball-like supramolecular structures. The results reveal that the GC guided crystal growth leads to nano-porous supramolecular structures, potentially attractive candidates for bone repair. (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Calcium phosphates KW - Bone repair material KW - Biomineralization KW - Supramolecular ball structure Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2015.05.021 SN - 0927-7765 SN - 1873-4367 VL - 132 SP - 246 EP - 252 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cywinski, Piotr J. A1 - Olejko, Lydia A1 - Löhmannsröben, Hans-Gerd T1 - A time-resolved luminescent competitive assay to detect L-selectin using aptamers as recognition elements JF - Analytica chimica acta : an international journal devoted to all branches of analytical chemistry N2 - L-selectin is a protein with potential importance for numerous diseases and clinical disorders. In this paper, we present a new aptamer-based luminescent assay developed to detect L-selectin. The sensing system working principle is based on Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) from a donor terbium complex (TbC) to an acceptor cyanine dye (Cy5). In the present approach, the biotinylated aptamer is combined with Cy5-labelled streptavidin (Cy5-Strep) to yield an aptamer-based acceptor construct (Apta-Cy5-Strep), while L-selectin is conjugated using luminescent TbC. Upon aptamer binding to the TbC-labelled L-selectin (L-selectin-TbC), permanent donor-acceptor proximity is established which allows for radiationless energy transfer to occur. However, when unlabelled L-selectin is added, it competes with the L-selectin-TbC and the FRET signal decreases as the L-selectin concentration increases. FRET from the TbC to Cy5 was observed with time-gated time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy. A significant change in the corrected luminescence signal was observed in the dynamic range of 10 -500 ng/mL L-selectin, the concentration range relevant for accelerated cognitive decline of Alzheimer's disease, with a limit of detection (LOD) equal to 10 ng/mL. The aptasensor-based assay is homogeneous and can be realized within one hour. Therefore, this method has the potential to become an alternative to tedious heterogeneous analytical methods, e.g. based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Aptamer KW - FRET KW - L-selectin KW - Luminescence spectroscopy KW - Fluoroassay KW - Lanthanide Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2015.06.045 SN - 0003-2670 SN - 1873-4324 VL - 887 SP - 209 EP - 215 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klaper, Matthias A1 - Linker, Torsten T1 - Intramolecular Transfer of Singlet Oxygen JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society N2 - The intramolecular transfer of energy (FRET) and electrons (Dexter) are of great interest for the scientific community and are well-understood. In contrast, the intramolecular transfer of singlet oxygen (O-1(2)), a reactive and short-lived oxygen species, has until now been unknown. This process would be very interesting because O-1(2) plays an important role in photodynamic therapy (PDT). Herein, we present the first successful intramolecular transfer of O-1(2) from a donor to acceptor. Also, we found a dependence of conformation and temperature comparable with those of FRET. We provide several pieces of evidence for the intramolecular character of this transfer, including competition experiments. Our studies should be interesting not only from the theoretical and mechanistic point of view but also for the design of new O-1(2) donors and applications in PDT. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b07848 SN - 0002-7863 VL - 137 IS - 43 SP - 13744 EP - 13747 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gallandi, Lukas A1 - Körzdörfer, Thomas T1 - Long-Range Corrected DFT Meets GW: Vibrationally Resolved Photoelectron Spectra from First Principles JF - Journal of chemical theory and computation N2 - We propose an entirely nonempirical and computationally efficient scheme to calculate highly reliable vibrationally resolved photoelectron spectra for molecules from first principles. To this end, we combine nonempirically tuned long-range corrected hybrid functionals with non-self-consistent many-body perturbation theory in the G(0)W(0) approximation and a Franck-Condon multimode analysis based on DFT-calculated frequencies. The vibrational analysis allows for a direct comparison of the GW-calculated spectra to gas-phase ultraviolet photoelectron measurements of neutral and anionic molecules, respectively. Direct comparison of the calculated peak maxima with experiment yields mean absolute errors below 0.1 eV for ionization potentials, electron affinities, and fundamental gaps, clearly outperforming commonly used G(0)W(0) approaches at similar numerical costs. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.5b00820 SN - 1549-9618 SN - 1549-9626 VL - 11 IS - 11 SP - 5391 EP - 5400 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schöne, Anne-Christin A1 - Richau, Klaus A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Schulz, Burkhard A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Influence of Diurethane Linkers on the Langmuir Layer Behavior of Oligo[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide]-based Polyesterurethanes JF - Macromolecular rapid communications N2 - Three oligo[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide] based polyesterurethanes (OLGA-PUs) containing different diurethane linkers are investigated by the Langmuir monolayer technique and compared to poly[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide] (PLGA) to elucidate the influence of the diurethane junction units on hydrophilicity and packing motifs of these polymers at the air-water interface. The presence of diurethane linkers does not manifest itself in the Langmuir layer behavior both in compression and expansion experiments when monomolecular films of OLGA-PUs are spread on the water surface. However, the linker retard the evolution of morphological structures at intermediate compression level under isobaric conditions (with a surface pressure greater than 11 mN m(-1)) compared to the PLGA, independent on the chemical structure of the diurethane moiety. The layer thicknesses of both OLGA-PU and PLGA films decrease in the high compression state with decreasing surface pressure, as deduced from ellipsometric data. All films must be described with the effective medium approximation as water swollen layers. KW - Brewster angle microscopy KW - Langmuir monolayer KW - poly[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide] KW - polyesterurethanes KW - spectroscopic ellipsometry Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201500316 SN - 1022-1336 SN - 1521-3927 VL - 36 IS - 21 SP - 1910 EP - 1915 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schildknecht, Stefan A1 - Pape, Regina A1 - Meiser, Johannes A1 - Karreman, Christiaan A1 - Strittmatter, Tobias A1 - Odermatt, Meike A1 - Cirri, Erica A1 - Friemel, Anke A1 - Ringwald, Markus A1 - Pasquarelli, Noemi A1 - Ferger, Boris A1 - Brunner, Thomas A1 - Marx, Andreas A1 - Moeller, Heiko M. A1 - Hiller, Karsten A1 - Leist, Marcel T1 - Preferential Extracellular Generation of the Active Parkinsonian Toxin MPP+ by Transporter-Independent Export of the Intermediate MPDP+ JF - Antioxidants & redox signaling N2 - Aims: 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is among the most widely used neurotoxins for inducing experimental parkinsonism. MPTP causes parkinsonian symptoms in mice, primates, and humans by killing a subpopulation of dopaminergic neurons. Extrapolations of data obtained using MPTP-based parkinsonism models to human disease are common; however, the precise mechanism by which MPTP is converted into its active neurotoxic metabolite, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-pyridinium (MPP+), has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we aimed to address two unanswered questions related to MPTP toxicology: (1) Why are MPTP-converting astrocytes largely spared from toxicity? (2) How does MPP+ reach the extracellular space? Results: In MPTP-treated astrocytes, we discovered that the membrane-impermeable MPP+, which is generally assumed to be formed inside astrocytes, is almost exclusively detected outside of these cells. Instead of a transporter-mediated export, we found that the intermediate, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-2,3-dihydropyridinium (MPDP+), and/or its uncharged conjugate base passively diffused across cell membranes and that MPP+ was formed predominately by the extracellular oxidation of MPDP+ into MPP+. This nonenzymatic extracellular conversion of MPDP+ was promoted by O-2, a more alkaline pH, and dopamine autoxidation products. Innovation and Conclusion: Our data indicate that MPTP metabolism is compartmentalized between intracellular and extracellular environments, explain the absence of toxicity in MPTP-converting astrocytes, and provide a rationale for the preferential formation of MPP+ in the extracellular space. The mechanism of transporter-independent extracellular MPP+ formation described here indicates that extracellular genesis of MPP+ from MPDP is a necessary prerequisite for the selective uptake of this toxin by catecholaminergic neurons. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1089/ars.2015.6297 SN - 1523-0864 SN - 1557-7716 VL - 23 IS - 13 SP - 1001 EP - 1016 PB - Liebert CY - New Rochelle ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Li A1 - Baudis, Stefan A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Characterization of bi-layered magnetic nanoparticles synthesized via two-step surface-initiated ring-opening polymerization JF - Pure and applied chemistry : official journal of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry N2 - A versatile strategy to integrate multiple functions in a polymer based material is the formation of polymer networks with defined nanostructures. Here, we present synthesis and comprehensive characterization of covalently surface functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) comprising a bi-layer oligomeric shell, using Sn(Oct)(2) as catalyst for a two-step functionalization. These hydroxy-terminated precursors for degradable magneto-and thermo-sensitive polymer networks were prepared via two subsequent surfaceinitiated ring-opening polymerizations (ROPs) with omega-pentadecalactone and e-caprolactone. A two-step mass loss obtained in thermogravimetric analysis and two distinct melting transitions around 50 and 85 degrees C observed in differential scanning calorimetry experiments, which are attributed to the melting of OPDL and OCL crystallites, confirmed a successful preparation of the modified MNPs. The oligomeric coating of the nanoparticles could be visualized by transmission electron microscopy. The investigation of degrafted oligomeric coatings by gel permeation chromatography and H-1-NMR spectroscopy showed an increase in number average molecular weight as well as the presence of signals related to both of oligo(omega-pentadecalactone) (OPDL) and oligo(e-caprolactone) (OCL) after the second ROP. A more detailed analysis of the NMR results revealed that only a few.-pentadecalactone repeating units are present in the degrafted oligomeric bi-layers, whereby a considerable degree of transesterification could be observed when OPDL was polymerized in the 2nd ROP step. These findings are supported by a low degree of crystallinity for OPDL in the degrafted oligomeric bi-layers obtained in wide angle X-ray scattering experiments. Based on these findings it can be concluded that Sn(Oct)(2) was suitable as catalyst for the preparation of nanosized bi-layered coated MNP precursors by a two-step ROP. KW - degradable polyester KW - magnetic nanoparticles KW - nanoparticle characterization KW - NICE-2014 KW - ring opening polymerization KW - surface functionalization Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0607 SN - 0033-4545 SN - 1365-3075 VL - 87 IS - 11-12 SP - 1085 EP - 1097 PB - De Gruyter CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Roder, Phillip A1 - Hille, Carsten T1 - A Multifunctional Frontloading Approach for Repeated Recycling of a Pressure-Controlled AFM Micropipette JF - PLoS one N2 - Fluid force microscopy combines the positional accuracy and force sensitivity of an atomic force microscope (AFM) with nanofluidics via a microchanneled cantilever. However, adequate loading and cleaning procedures for such AFM micropipettes are required for various application situations. Here, a new frontloading procedure is described for an AFM micropipette functioning as a force-and pressure-controlled microscale liquid dispenser. This frontloading procedure seems especially attractive when using target substances featuring high costs or low available amounts. Here, the AFM micropipette could be filled from the tip side with liquid from a previously applied droplet with a volume of only a few mu L using a short low-pressure pulse. The liquid-loaded AFM micropipettes could be then applied for experiments in air or liquid environments. AFM micropipette frontloading was evaluated with the well-known organic fluorescent dye rhodamine 6G and the AlexaFluor647-labeled antibody goat anti-rat IgG as an example of a larger biological compound. After micropipette usage, specific cleaning procedures were tested. Furthermore, a storage method is described, at which the AFM micropipettes could be stored for a few hours up to several days without drying out or clogging of the microchannel. In summary, the rapid, versatile and cost-efficient frontloading and cleaning procedure for the repeated usage of a single AFM micropipette is beneficial for various application situations from specific surface modifications through to local manipulation of living cells, and provides a simplified and faster handling for already known experiments with fluid force microscopy. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144157 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 10 IS - 12 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Bernd A1 - Riemer, Martin A1 - Schilde, Uwe T1 - Tandem Claisen Rearrangement/6-endo Cyclization Approach to Allylated and Prenylated Chromones JF - European journal of organic chemistry N2 - Allyl, dimethylallyl and prenyl ethers derived from o-acyl-phenols reacted upon microwave irradiation to form C-allylated or -prenylated chromone derivatives, depending on the substitution pattern of the arene and the allyl substituent. The reaction proceeds through a tandem Claisen rearrangement and 6-endo-trig or 6-endo-dig cyclization sequence. For prenyl ethers, the tandem sequence can be extended by a Cope rearrangement to furnish 6-prenylchromones. The method is potentially useful for the synthesis of natural products and drugs. KW - Allylic compounds KW - Arenes KW - Oxygen heterocycles KW - Microwave chemistry KW - Rearrangement KW - Michael addition Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.201501151 SN - 1434-193X SN - 1099-0690 IS - 34 SP - 7602 EP - 7611 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - Röhr, Merle I. S. A1 - Busch, Marcel A1 - Renger, Thomas A1 - Mitric, Roland A1 - Kirstein, Stefan A1 - Rabe, Jürgen P. A1 - May, Volkhard T1 - Site-dependence of van der Waals interaction explains exciton spectra of double-walled tubular J-aggregates JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - The simulation of the optical properties of supramolecular aggregates requires the development of methods, which are able to treat a large number of coupled chromophores interacting with the environment. Since it is currently not possible to treat large systems by quantum chemistry, the Frenkel exciton model is a valuable alternative. In this work we show how the Frenkel exciton model can be extended in order to explain the excitonic spectra of a specific double-walled tubular dye aggregate explicitly taking into account dispersive energy shifts of ground and excited states due to van der Waals interaction with all surrounding molecules. The experimentally observed splitting is well explained by the site-dependent energy shift of molecules placed at the inner or outer side of the double-walled tube, respectively. Therefore we can conclude that inclusion of the site-dependent dispersive effect in the theoretical description of optical properties of nanoscaled dye aggregates is mandatory. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cp05945j SN - 1463-9076 SN - 1463-9084 VL - 17 IS - 10 SP - 6741 EP - 6747 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boese, Adrian Daniel A1 - Boese, Roland T1 - Tetrahydrothiophene and Tetrahydrofuran, Computational and X-ray Studies in the Crystalline Phase JF - Crystal growth & design : integrating the fields of crystal engineering and crystal growth for the synthesis and applications of new materials N2 - Calculations at various levels of theory with different methods and respective evaluations confirm that the twist conformation (C-2) is preferred for tetrahydrothiophene (THT) in the gas phase. In the crystalline phase, achieved by a laser assisted crystallization device, THT has C-1 symmetry (slightly distorted C-2 symmetry) in the chiral space group P2(1)2(1)2(1). This is obviously a packing effect caused by the nonsymmetrical arrangement of neighboring molecules. The distortion from C-2 symmetry costs very little energy as confirmed by computational methods in the gas phase. Only one enantiomer of the chiral THT is found in the cell which requires spontaneous crystallization, which results in a racemic mixture of crystals, or a racemization occurs prior to/during nucleation or in the embryonic state. The racemization happens by a mechanism that can be described as a partial pseudo rotation within a five-membered mono-heterocycle with a C-2-C-S-C-2' transition (C-2 and C-2' are enantiomers) maintaining the heteroatom residing within the symmetry elements. While THT has the molecular symmetry of the gas phase almost also in the crystalline phase, THF has an envelope conformation (CS). This was also established by calculations at various levels of theory which agrees well with the previously experimentally found conformation by electron diffraction. However, in the X-ray crystal structure, previously determined by Luger & Buschmann, THF has C-2 symmetry in the centrosymmetric space group C2/c with the oxygen atom situated on the crystallographic C-2 polar axis, requesting a racemic crystal for the twisted conformers of the enantiomers. No solid-state phase transitions were detected within the experimental ranges for THT and THF. Following the stabilization by molecular clustering, and ending at the crystal lattice, we stepwise increased the number of molecules by calculation of the respective monomers, dimers, trimers, and tetramers for THF and THT. The starting point was taken from the arrangements as found in the respective crystal structures. Both conformational enantiomers are equal in energy. In such cases, a crystal may contain either a racemate of conformers or one of the conformational enantiomers only. The first case is observed in THF, the latter one in THT. It is quite likely that the selection of one enantiomeric conformer of THT from an equilibrium of conformers at the early stage of nucleation (embryonic stage) is responsible for the spontaneous crystallization. In order to check if THF could form a polymorph with the molecular packing of THT and vice versa, we first calculated THF and THT in their respective crystal lattices as determined by X-ray diffraction. Exchanging the compounds in the THT and THF crystal lattices (i.e., replacing O against S and vice versa) results in significantly worse lattice energies indicating that such a polymorph is not a probable option. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/cg501228w SN - 1528-7483 SN - 1528-7505 VL - 15 IS - 3 SP - 1073 EP - 1081 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - de Carvalho, Sidney J. A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. T1 - Inverted critical adsorption of polyelectrolytes in confinement JF - Soft matter N2 - What are the fundamental laws for the adsorption of charged polymers onto oppositely charged surfaces, for convex, planar, and concave geometries? This question is at the heart of surface coating applications, various complex formation phenomena, as well as in the context of cellular and viral biophysics. It has been a long-standing challenge in theoretical polymer physics; for realistic systems the quantitative understanding is however often achievable only by computer simulations. In this study, we present the findings of such extensive Monte-Carlo in silico experiments for polymer–surface adsorption in confined domains. We study the inverted critical adsorption of finite-length polyelectrolytes in three fundamental geometries: planar slit, cylindrical pore, and spherical cavity. The scaling relations extracted from simulations for the critical surface charge density sc—defining the adsorption–desorption transition—are in excellent agreement with our analytical calculations based on the ground-state analysis of the Edwards equation. In particular, we confirm the magnitude and scaling of sc for the concave interfaces versus the Debye screening length 1/k and the extent of confinement a for these three interfaces for small ka values. For large ka the critical adsorption condition approaches the known planar limit. The transition between the two regimes takes place when the radius of surface curvature or half of the slit thickness a is of the order of 1/k. We also rationalize how sc(k) dependence gets modified for semi-flexible versus flexible chains under external confinement. We examine the implications of the chain length for critical adsorption—the effect often hard to tackle theoretically—putting an emphasis on polymers inside attractive spherical cavities. The applications of our findings to some biological systems are discussed, for instance the adsorption of nucleic acids onto the inner surfaces of cylindrical and spherical viral capsids. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C5SM00635J SN - 1744-6848 SN - 1744-683X IS - 11 SP - 4430 EP - 4443 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klier, Dennis Tobias A1 - Kumke, Michael Uwe T1 - Upconversion NaYF4:Yb:Er nanoparticles co-doped with Gd3+ and Nd3+ for thermometry on the nanoscale JF - RSC Advances : an international journal to further the chemical sciences N2 - In the present work, the upconversion luminescence properties of oleic acid capped NaYF4:Gd3+:Yb3+:Er3+ upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP) with pure β crystal phase and Nd3+ ions as an additional sensitizer were studied in the temperature range of 288 K < T < 328 K. The results of this study showed that the complex interplay of different mechanisms and effects, causing the special temperature behavior of the UCNP can be developed into thermometry on the nanoscale, e.g. to be applied in biological systems on a cellular level. The performance was improved by the use of Nd3+ as an additional dopant utilizing the cascade sensitization mechanism in tri-doped UCNP. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C5RA11502G SN - 2046-2069 IS - 5 SP - 67149 EP - 67156 PB - RSC Publishing CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klier, Dennis Tobias A1 - Kumke, Michael Uwe T1 - Analysing the effect of the crystal structure on upconversion luminescence in Yb3+,Er3+-co-doped NaYF4 nanomaterials JF - Journal of materials chemistry C ; Materials for optical and electronic devices N2 - NaYF4:Yb:Er nanoparticles (UCNP) were synthesized under mild experimental conditions to obtain a pure cubic lattice. Upon annealing at different temperatures up to Tan = 700 °C phase transitions to the hexagonal phase and back to the cubic phase were induced. The UCNP materials obtained for different Tan were characterized with respect to the lattice phase using standard XRD and Raman spectroscopy as well as steady state and time resolved upconversion luminescence. The standard techniques showed that for the annealing temperature range 300 °C < Tan < 600 °C the hexagonal lattice phase was dominant. For Tan < 300 °C hardly any change in the lattice phase could be deduced, whereas for Tan > 600 °C a back transfer to the α-phase was observed. Complementarily, the luminescence upconversion properties of the annealed UCNP materials were characterized in steady state and time resolved luminescence measurements. Distinct differences in the upconversion luminescence intensity, the spectral intensity distribution and the luminescence decay kinetics were found for the cubic and hexagonal lattice phases, respectively, corroborating the results of the standard analytical techniques used. In laser power dependent measurements of the upconversion luminescence intensity it was found that the green (G1, G2) and red (R) emission of Er3+ showed different effects of Tan on the number of required photons reflecting the differences in the population routes of different energy levels involved. Furthermore, the intensity ratio of Gfull/R is highly effected by the laser power only when the β-phase is present, whereas the G1/G2 intensity ratio is only slightly effected regardless of the crystal phase. Moreover, based on different upconversion luminescence kinetics characteristics of the cubic and hexagonal phase time-resolved area normalized emission spectra (TRANES) proved to be a very sensitive tool to monitor the phase transition between cubic and hexagonal phases. Based on the TRANES analysis it was possible to resolve the lattice phase transition in more detail for 200 °C < Tan < 300 °C, which was not possible with the standard techniques. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C5TC02218E SN - 2050-7526 SN - 2050-7534 IS - 3 SP - 11228 EP - 11238 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klaper, M. A1 - Wessig, Pablo A1 - Linker, Torsten T1 - Base catalysed decomposition of anthracene endoperoxide JF - Chemical communications : ChemComm N2 - Catalytic amounts of a weak base are sufficient to induce the decomposition of anthracene endoperoxides to anthraquinone. The mechanism has been elucidated by isolation of intermediates in combination with DFT calculations. The whole process is suitable for the convenient generation of hydrogen peroxide under very mild conditions. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C5CC08606J SN - 1364-548X IS - 52 SP - 1210 EP - 1213 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mardoukhi, Yousof A1 - Jeon, Jae-Hyung A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Geometry controlled anomalous diffusion in random fractal geometries BT - looking beyond the infinite cluster JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : PCCP ; a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - We investigate the ergodic properties of a random walker performing (anomalous) diffusion on a random fractal geometry. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations of the motion of tracer particles on an ensemble of realisations of percolation clusters are performed for a wide range of percolation densities. Single trajectories of the tracer motion are analysed to quantify the time averaged mean squared displacement (MSD) and to compare this with the ensemble averaged MSD of the particle motion. Other complementary physical observables associated with ergodicity are studied, as well. It turns out that the time averaged MSD of individual realisations exhibits non-vanishing fluctuations even in the limit of very long observation times as the percolation density approaches the critical value. This apparent non-ergodic behaviour concurs with the ergodic behaviour on the ensemble averaged level. We demonstrate how the non-vanishing fluctuations in single particle trajectories are analytically expressed in terms of the fractal dimension and the cluster size distribution of the random geometry, thus being of purely geometrical origin. Moreover, we reveal that the convergence scaling law to ergodicity, which is known to be inversely proportional to the observation time T for ergodic diffusion processes, follows a power-law BT� h with h o 1 due to the fractal structure of the accessible space. These results provide useful measures for differentiating the subdiffusion on random fractals from an otherwise closely related process, namely, fractional Brownian motion. Implications of our results on the analysis of single particle tracking experiments are provided. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5cp03548a SN - 1439-7641 IS - 17 SP - 30134 EP - 30147 PB - Wiley-VCH Verl. CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bodrova, Anna A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei V. A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Quantifying non-ergodic dynamics of force-free granular gases JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : PCCP ; a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - Brownianmotion is ergodic in the Boltzmann–Khinchin sense that long time averages of physical observables such as the mean squared displacement provide the same information as the corresponding ensemble average, even at out-of-equilibrium conditions. This property is the fundamental prerequisite for single particle tracking and its analysis in simple liquids. We study analytically and by event-driven molecular dynamics simulations the dynamics of force-free cooling granular gases and reveal a violation of ergodicity in this Boltzmann– Khinchin sense as well as distinct ageing of the system. Such granular gases comprise materials such as dilute gases of stones, sand, various types of powders, or large molecules, and their mixtures are ubiquitous in Nature and technology, in particular in Space. We treat—depending on the physical-chemical properties of the inter-particle interaction upon their pair collisions—both a constant and a velocity-dependent (viscoelastic) restitution coefficient e. Moreover we compare the granular gas dynamics with an effective single particle stochastic model based on an underdamped Langevin equation with time dependent diffusivity. We find that both models share the same behaviour of the ensemble mean squared displacement (MSD) and the velocity correlations in the limit of weak dissipation. Qualitatively, the reported non-ergodic behaviour is generic for granular gases with any realistic dependence of e on the impact velocity of particles. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C5CP02824H SN - 1463-9084 IS - 17 SP - 21791 EP - 21798 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kröner, Dominik T1 - Laser-driven electron dynamics for circular dichroism in mass spectrometry BT - from one-photon excitations to multiphoton ionization JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : PCCP ; a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - The distinction of enantiomers is a key aspect of chemical analysis. In mass spectrometry the distinction of enantiomers has been achieved by ionizing the sample with circularly polarized laser pulses and comparing the ion yields for light of opposite handedness. While resonant excitation conditions are expected to be most efficient, they are not required for the detection of a circular dichroism (CD) in the ion yield. However, the prediction of the size and sign of the circular dichroism becomes challenging if non-resonant multiphoton excitations are used to ionize the sample. Employing femtosecond laser pulses to drive electron wavepacket dynamics based on ab initio calculations, we attempt to reveal underlying mechanisms that determine the CD under non-resonant excitation conditions. Simulations were done for (R)-1,2-propylene oxide, using time-dependent configuration interaction singles with perturbative doubles (TD-CIS(D)) and the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set. Interactions between the electric field and the electric dipole and quadrupole as well as between the magnetic field and the magnetic dipole were explicitly accounted for. The ion yield was determined by treating states above the ionization potential as either stationary or non-stationary with energy-dependent lifetimes based on an approved heuristic approach. The observed population dynamics do not allow for a simple interpretation, because of highly non-linear interactions. Still, the various transition pathways are governed by resonant enantiospecific n-photon excitation, with preferably high transition dipole moments, which eventually dominate the CD in the ionized population. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C5CP02193F SN - 1463-9076 SN - 1463-9084 VL - 29 IS - 17 SP - 19643 EP - 19655 PB - The Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jahn, Karolina A1 - Buschmann, Volker A1 - Hille, Carsten T1 - Simultaneous Fluorescence and Phosphorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy in Living Cells JF - Scientific Reports N2 - In living cells, there are always a plethora of processes taking place at the same time. Their precise regulation is the basis of cellular functions, since small failures can lead to severe dysfunctions. For a comprehensive understanding of intracellular homeostasis, simultaneous multiparameter detection is a versatile tool for revealing the spatial and temporal interactions of intracellular parameters. Here, a recently developed time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) board was evaluated for simultaneous fluorescence and phosphorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM/PLIM). Therefore, the metabolic activity in insect salivary glands was investigated by recording ns-decaying intrinsic cellular fluorescence, mainly related to oxidized flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) and the μs-decaying phosphorescence of the oxygen-sensitive ruthenium-complex Kr341. Due to dopamine stimulation, the metabolic activity of salivary glands increased, causing a higher pericellular oxygen consumption and a resulting increase in Kr341 phosphorescence decay time. Furthermore, FAD fluorescence decay time decreased, presumably due to protein binding, thus inducing a quenching of FAD fluorescence decay time. Through application of the metabolic drugs antimycin and FCCP, the recorded signals could be assigned to a mitochondrial origin. The dopamine-induced changes could be observed in sequential FLIM and PLIM recordings, as well as in simultaneous FLIM/PLIM recordings using an intermediate TCSPC timing resolution. KW - Confocal microscopy KW - Fluorescence imaging KW - Fluorescence spectroscopy KW - Fluorescent probes Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14334 SN - 2045-2322 IS - 5 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wessig, Pablo A1 - Merkel, Roswitha A1 - Mueller, Peter T1 - Articulated rods - a novel class of molecular rods based on oligospiroketals (OSK) JF - Beilstein journal of organic chemistry N2 - We developed a new type of molecular rods consisting of two (or more) rigid units linked by a flexible joint. Consequently we called these constructs articulated rods (ARs). The syntheses of ARs were carried out by a flexible and modular approach providing access to a number of compounds with various functionalizations in terminal positions. First applications were presented with pyrene, cinnamoyl and anthracenyl labelled ARs. KW - articulated rods KW - click chemistry KW - molecular rods KW - oligospiroketals KW - pyrene excimer Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.11.11 SN - 1860-5397 VL - 11 SP - 74 EP - 84 PB - Beilstein-Institut zur Förderung der Chemischen Wissenschaften CY - Frankfurt, Main ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zühlke, Martin A1 - Riebe, Daniel A1 - Beitz, Toralf A1 - Löhmannsröben, Hans-Gerd A1 - Zenichowski, Karl A1 - Diener, Marc A1 - Linscheid, Michael W. T1 - An electrospray ionization-ion mobility spectrometer as detector for high-performance liquid chromatography JF - European journal of mass spectrometry N2 - The application of electrospray ionization (ESI) ion mobility (IM) spectrometry on the detection end of a high-performance liquid chromatograph has been a subject of study for some time. So far, this method has been limited to low flow rates or has required splitting of the liquid flow. This work presents a novel concept of an ESI source facilitating the stable operation of the spectrometer at flow rates between 10 mu L min(-1) and 1500 mu L min(-1) without flow splitting, advancing the T-cylinder design developed by Kurnin and co-workers. Flow rates eight times faster than previously reported were achieved because of a more efficient dispersion of the liquid at increased electrospray voltages combined with nebulization by a sheath gas. Imaging revealed the spray operation to be in a rotationally symmetric multijet-mode. The novel ESI-IM spectrometer tolerates high water contents (<= 90%) and electrolyte concentrations up to 10 mM, meeting another condition required of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) detectors. Limits of detection of 50 nM for promazine in the positive mode and 1 mu M for 1,3-dinitrobenzene in the negative mode were established. Three mixtures of reduced complexity (five surfactants, four neuroleptics, and two isomers) were separated in the millisecond regime in stand-alone operation of the spectrometer. Separations of two more complex mixtures (five neuroleptics and 13 pesticides) demonstrate the application of the spectrometer as an HPLC detector. The examples illustrate the advantages of the spectrometer over the established diode array detector, in terms of additional IM separation of substances not fully separated in the retention time domain as well as identification of substances based on their characteristic IMs. KW - ESI KW - IMS KW - HPLC KW - spray imaging KW - neuroleptics KW - pesticides KW - surfactants Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1255/ejms.1367 SN - 1469-0667 SN - 1751-6838 VL - 21 IS - 3 SP - 391 EP - 402 PB - WeltTrends CY - Sussex ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beisebekov, Madiar Maratovich A1 - Serikpayeva, Saniya B. A1 - Zhumagalieva, Shynar Nurlanovna A1 - Beisebekov, Marat Kianovich A1 - Abilov, Zharylkasyn Abduachitovich A1 - Kosmella, Sabine A1 - Koetz, Joachim T1 - Interactions of bentonite clay in composite gels of non-ionic polymers with cationic surfactants and heavy metal ions JF - Colloid and polymer science : official journal of the Kolloid-Gesellschaft N2 - Chemically cross-linked composite gels based on bentonite clay from Manyrak deposit (Kazakhstan Republic) and nonionic polymers, i.e., poly(hydroxyethylacrylate) and poly(acrylamide), were polymerized in situ after preliminary intercalation of monomers in an aqueous suspension of bentonite clay. By means of cryo-scanning electron microscopy, it was shown that bentonite clay is well incorporated into the gel network structure with pore sizes up to 1.5 mu m. The intercalated bentonite clay can adsorb cationic surfactants as well as heavy metal ions due to electrostatic interactions. Conductometric and surface tension measurements indicate not only the adsorption of surfactants and heavy metals inside the hydrogel, but also the displacement of the critical micellization concentration (CMC) of the surfactants. KW - Bentonite clay KW - Cationic surfactants KW - Heavy metal ions KW - Composite hydrogels Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-014-3463-x SN - 0303-402X SN - 1435-1536 VL - 293 IS - 2 SP - 633 EP - 639 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pape, Simon A1 - Wessig, Pablo A1 - Brunner, Heiko T1 - A new and environmentally benign synthesis of aroylguanidines using iron trichloride JF - RSC Advances N2 - A new synthetic approach for the guanylation of aroylthioureas using iron trichloride is presented. Our synthetic method distinguishes itself by benign reaction conditions, low costs and a broad product spectrum. The scope of the reaction and calorimetric studies are described. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ra20869f SN - 2046-2069 VL - 5 IS - 123 SP - 101408 EP - 101411 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Roch, Toralf A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Ma, Nan A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Polymeric inserts differing in their chemical composition as substrates for dendritic cell cultivation JF - Clinical hemorheology and microcirculation : blood flow and vessels N2 - Dendritic cells (DC) contribute to immunity by presenting antigens to T cells and shape the immune response by the secretion of cytokines. Due to their immune stimulatory potential DC-based therapies are promising approaches to overcome tolerance e.g. against tumors. In order to enforce the immunogenicity of DCs, they have to be matured and activated in vitro, which requires an appropriate cell culture substrate, supporting their survival expansion and activation. Since most cell culture devices are not optimized for DC growth, it is hypothesized that polymers with certain physicochemical properties can positively influence the DC cultures. With the aim to evaluate the effects that polymers with different chemical compositions have on the survival, the activation status, and the cytokine/chemokine secretion profile of DC, their interaction with polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), poly(ether imide) (PEI), and poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (PSAN)-based cell culture inserts was investigated. By using this insert system, which fits exactly into 24 well cell culture plates, effects induced from the culture dish material can be excluded. The viability of untreated DC after incubation with the different inserts was not influenced by the different inserts, whereas LPS-activatedDCshowed an increased survival after cultivation on PC, PS, and PSAN compared to tissue culture polystyrene (TCP). The activation status of DC estimated by the expression of CD40, CD80, CD83, CD86 and HLA-DR expression was not altered by the different inserts in untreated DC but slightly reduced when LPS-activated DC were cultivated on PC, PS, PSAN, and PEI compared to TCP. For each polymeric cell culture insert a distinct cytokine profile could be observed. Since inserts with different chemical compositions of the inserts did not substantially alter the behavior of DC all insert systems could be considered as alternative substrate. The observed increased survival on some polymers, which showed in contrast to TCP a hydrophobic surface, could be beneficial for certain applications such as T cell expansion and activation. KW - Biomaterials KW - dendritic cells KW - cell culture device KW - amorphous polymers Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3233/CH-152004 SN - 1386-0291 SN - 1875-8622 VL - 61 IS - 2 SP - 347 EP - 357 PB - IOS Press CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klier, Dennis Tobias A1 - Kumke, Michael Uwe T1 - Analysing the effect of the crystal structure on upconversion luminescence in Yb3+, Er3+-co-doped NaYF4 nanomaterials JF - Journal of materials chemistry : C, Materials for optical and electronic devices N2 - NaYF4:Yb:Er nanoparticles (UCNP) were synthesized under mild experimental conditions to obtain a pure cubic lattice. Upon annealing at different temperatures up to T-an = 700 degrees C phase transitions to the hexagonal phase and back to the cubic phase were induced. The UCNP materials obtained for different T-an were characterized with respect to the lattice phase using standard XRD and Raman spectroscopy as well as steady state and time resolved upconversion luminescence. The standard techniques showed that for the annealing temperature range 300 degrees C < T-an < 600 degrees C the hexagonal lattice phase was dominant. For T-an < 300 degrees C hardly any change in the lattice phase could be deduced, whereas for T-an > 600 degrees C a back transfer to the alpha-phase was observed. Complementarily, the luminescence upconversion properties of the annealed UCNP materials were characterized in steady state and time resolved luminescence measurements. Distinct differences in the upconversion luminescence intensity, the spectral intensity distribution and the luminescence decay kinetics were found for the cubic and hexagonal lattice phases, respectively, corroborating the results of the standard analytical techniques used. In laser power dependent measurements of the upconversion luminescence intensity it was found that the green (G1, G2) and red (R) emission of Er3+ showed different effects of T-an on the number of required photons reflecting the differences in the population routes of different energy levels involved. Furthermore, the intensity ratio of G(full)/R is highly effected by the laser power only when the beta-phase is present, whereas the G1/G2 intensity ratio is only slightly effected regardless of the crystal phase. Moreover, based on different upconversion luminescence kinetics characteristics of the cubic and hexagonal phase time-resolved area normalized emission spectra (TRANES) proved to be a very sensitive tool to monitor the phase transition between cubic and hexagonal phases. Based on the TRANES analysis it was possible to resolve the lattice phase transition in more detail for 200 degrees C < T-an < 300 degrees C, which was not possible with the standard techniques. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5tc02218e SN - 2050-7526 SN - 2050-7534 VL - 3 IS - 42 SP - 11228 EP - 11238 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sachse, Dirk A1 - Dawson, Todd E. A1 - Kahmen, Ansgar T1 - Seasonal variation of leaf wax n-alkane production and delta H-2 values from the evergreen oak tree, Quercus agrifolia JF - Isotopes in environmental and health studies N2 - In order to understand the timing of leaf wax synthesis in higher plants, we analysed the variability in leaf wax n-alkane concentration, composition (expressed as average chain length (ACL)), and delta H-2(wax) values as well as plant source water delta H-2 values (xylem and leaf water) in the evergreen tree Quercus agrifolia over a period of 9 months, beginning with leaf flush. We identified three distinct periods of leaf development with the first month following leaf flush being characterized by de novo synthesis and possibly removal of n-alkanes. During the following 3 months, n-alkane concentrations increased sevenfold and delta H-2(wax) and ACL values increased, suggesting this period was the major leaf wax n-alkane formation period. During the remaining 4 months of the experiment, stable values suggest cessation of leaf wax n-alkane formation. We find that n-alkane synthesis in Q. agrifolia takes place over 4 months, substantially longer than that observed for deciduous trees. KW - leaf wax KW - oak tree KW - hydrogen-2 KW - isotope ecology KW - n-alkanes Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/10256016.2015.1011636 SN - 1025-6016 SN - 1477-2639 VL - 51 IS - 1 SP - 124 EP - 142 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Haralampiev, Ivan A1 - Mertens, Monique A1 - Schwarzer, Roland A1 - Herrmann, Andreas A1 - Volkmer, Rudolf A1 - Wessig, Pablo A1 - Mueller, Peter T1 - Recruitment of SH-Containing peptides to lipid and biological membranes through the use of a palmitic acid functionalized with a Maleimide Group JF - Angewandte Chemie : a journal of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker ; International edition N2 - This study presents a novel and easily applicable approach to recruit sulfhydryl-containing biomolecules to membranes by using a palmitic acid which is functionalized with a maleimide group. Notably, this strategy can also be employed with preformed (biological) membranes. The applicability of the assay is demonstrated by characterizing the binding of a Rhodamine-labeled peptide to lipid and cellular membranes using methods of fluorescence spectroscopy, lifetime measurement, and microscopy. Our approach offers new possibilities for preparing biologically active liposomes and manipulating living cells. KW - liposomes KW - maleimide KW - membranes KW - palmitic acid KW - palmitoylation KW - peptides Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201408089 SN - 1433-7851 SN - 1521-3773 VL - 54 IS - 1 SP - 323 EP - 326 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gambinossi, Filippo A1 - Sefcik, Lauren S. A1 - Wischerhoff, Erik A1 - Laschewsky, André A1 - Ferri, James K. T1 - Engineering Adhesion to Thermoresponsive Substrates: Effect of Polymer Composition on Liquid-Liquid-Solid Wetting JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces N2 - Adhesion control in liquidliquidsolid systems represents a challenge for applications ranging from self-cleaning to biocompatibility of engineered materials. By using responsive polymer chemistry and molecular self-assembly, adhesion at solid/liquid interfaces can be achieved and modulated by external stimuli. Here, we utilize thermosensitive polymeric materials based on random copolymers of di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (x = MEO(2)MA) and oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (y = OEGMA), that is, P(MEO(2)MA(x)-co-OEGMA(y)), to investigate the role of hydrophobicity on the phenomenon of adhesion. The copolymer ratio (x/y) dictates macromolecular changes enabling control of the hydrophilic-to-lipophilic balance (HBL) of the polymer brushes through external triggers such as ionic strength and temperature. We discuss the HBL of the thermobrushes in terms of the surface energy of the substrate by measuring the contact angle at waterdecaneP(MEO(2)MA(x)-co-OEGMA(y)) brush contact line as a function of polymer composition and temperature. Solid supported polyelectrolyte layers grafted with P(MEO(2)MA(x)-co-OEGMA(y)) display a transition in the wettability that is related to the lower critical solution temperature of the polymer brushes. Using experimental observation of the hydrophilic to hydrophobic transition by the contact angle, we extract the underlying energetics associated with liquidliquidsolid adhesion as a function of the copolymer ratio. The change in cellular attachment on P(MEO(2)MA(x)-co-OEGMA(y)) substrates of variable (x/y) composition demonstrates the subtle role of compositional tuning on the ability to control liquidliquidsolid adhesion in biological applications. KW - water/decane contact angle KW - thermoresponsive substrates KW - di(ethylene glycol) methy ether methacrylate KW - oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate KW - hydrophilic-to-lipophilic balance KW - programmable adhesion Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/am507418m SN - 1944-8244 VL - 7 IS - 4 SP - 2518 EP - 2528 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cramer, Ashley D. A1 - Gambinossi, Filippo A1 - Wischerhoff, Erik A1 - Laschewsky, André A1 - Miller, Reinhard A1 - Ferri, James K. T1 - Flexible thermoresponsive nanomembranes at the aqueous-air interface JF - Chemical communications N2 - A synthetic pathway is described to construct thermoresponsive freestanding nanomembranes at the aqueous-air interface of a pendant drop. Dynamic control of the reaction kinetics allows formation of viscoelastic interfaces supporting anisotropic stresses and mechanical stability, which can be tuned by external stimuli. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cc07359b SN - 1359-7345 SN - 1364-548X VL - 51 IS - 5 SP - 877 EP - 880 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Morgner, Frank A1 - Lecointre, Alexandre A1 - Charbonniere, Loic J. A1 - Löhmannsröben, Hans-Gerd T1 - Detecting free hemoglobin in blood plasma and serum with luminescent terbium complexes JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - Hemolysis, the rupturing of red blood cells, can result from numerous medical conditions (in vivo) or occur after collecting blood specimen or extracting plasma and serum out of whole blood (in vitro). In clinical laboratory practice, hemolysis can be a serious problem due to its potential to bias detection of various analytes or biomarkers. Here we present the first "mix-and-measure' method to assess the degree of hemolysis in biosamples using luminescence spectroscopy. Luminescent terbium complexes (LTC) were studied in the presence of free hemoglobin (Hb) as indicators for hemolysis in TRIS-buffer, and in fresh human plasma with absorption, excitation and emission measurements. Our findings indicate dynamic as well as resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the LTC and the porphyrin ligand of hemoglobin. This transfer leads to a decrease in luminescence intensity and decay time even at nanomolar hemoglobin concentrations either in buffer or plasma. Luminescent terbium complexes are very sensitive to free hemoglobin in buffer and blood plasma. Due to the instant change in luminescence properties of the LTC in presence of Hb it is possible to access the concentration of hemoglobin via spectroscopic methods without incubation time or further treatment of the sample thus enabling a rapid and sensitive detection of hemolysis in clinical diagnostics. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cp04206a SN - 1463-9076 SN - 1463-9084 VL - 17 IS - 3 SP - 1740 EP - 1745 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klier, Dennis Tobias A1 - Kumke, Michael Uwe T1 - Upconversion Luminescence Properties of NaYF4:Yb:Er Nanoparticles Codoped with Gd3+ JF - The journal of physical chemistry : C, Nanomaterials and interfaces N2 - The temperature-dependent upconversion luminescence of NaYF4:Yb:Er nanoparticles (UCNP) containing different contents of Gd3+ as additional dopant was characterized. The UCNP were synthesized in a hydrothermal synthesis and stabilized with citrate in order to transfer them to the water phase. Basic characterization was carried out using TEM and DLS to determine the average size of the UCNP. The XRD technique was used to investigate the crystal lattice of the UCNP. It was found that due to the presence of Gd3+, an alteration of the lattice phase from a to beta was induced which was also reflected in the observed upconversion luminescence properties of the UCNP. A detailed analysis of the upconversion luminescence spectraespecially at ultralow temperaturesrevealed the different effects of phonon coupling between the host lattice and the sensitizer (Yb3+) as well as the activator (Er3+). Furthermore, the upconversion luminescence intensity reached a maximum between 15 and 250 K depending on Gd3+ content. In comparison to the very complex temperature behavior of the upconversion luminescence in the temperature range <273 K, the luminescence intensity ratio of H-2(11/2)-> I-4(15/2) to S-4(3/2)-> I-4(15/2) (R = G1/G2) in a higher temperature range can be described by an Arrhenius-type equation. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp5103548 SN - 1932-7447 VL - 119 IS - 6 SP - 3363 EP - 3373 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mirskova, Anna N. A1 - Adamovich, Sergey N. A1 - Mirskov, Rudolf G. A1 - Kolesnikova, Olga P. A1 - Schilde, Uwe T1 - Immunoactive ionic liquids based on 2-hydroxyethylamines and 1-R-indol-3-ylsulfanylacetic acids. Crystal and molecular structure of immunodepressant tris-(2-hydroxyethyl)ammonium indol-3-ylsulfanylacetate JF - Open chemistry : formerly Central European journal of chemistry N2 - Immunoactive ionic liquids (2-hydroxyethyl) ammonium 1-R-indol-3-ylsulfanyl-acetates HN+R1R2(CH2CH2OH)center dot O-(O)CCH2S-Ind-R-3-1(1-5), were synthesized by the reaction of (2-hydroxyethyl)amines with indol-3-ylsulfanylacetic- or 1-benzylindol-3-ylsulfanylacetic acid. 1: R-1 = R-2 = CH2CH2OH, R-3 = H; 2: R-1 =CH3, R-2=CH2CH2OH, R3 = H; 3: R-1 = R-2 = CH3, R-3 = H; 4: R-1 = R-2 = CH2CH2OH, R-3 = CH2C6H5; 5: R-1 = CH3; R-2 = CH2CH2OH; R-3 = CH2C6H5. The structure of each compound was elucidated by IR, NMR H-1, C-13, and N-15 techniques and their composition was confirmed by elemental analysis. The crystal structure of tris-(2-hydroxyethyl) ammonium indol-3-ylsulfanylacetate was investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis. Immunoactive properties of the title compounds were screened. KW - Protic 2-hydroxyethylammonium ionic liquids KW - 2-Hydroxyethylammonium 1-R-indol-3-ylsulfanylacetates KW - Crystal and molecular structure KW - Immunoactive properties Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/chem-2015-0018 SN - 2391-5420 VL - 13 IS - 1 SP - 149 EP - 155 PB - De Gruyter Open CY - Warsaw ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klier, Dennis Tobias A1 - Kumke, Michael Uwe T1 - Upconversion NaYF4:Yb:Er nanoparticles co-doped with Gd3+ and Nd3+ for thermometry on the nanoscale JF - RSC Advances N2 - In the present work, the upconversion luminescence properties of oleic acid capped NaYF4:Gd3+:Yb3+:Er3+ upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP) with pure beta crystal phase and Nd3+ ions as an additional sensitizer were studied in the temperature range of 288 K < T < 328 K. The results of this study showed that the complex interplay of different mechanisms and effects, causing the special temperature behavior of the UCNP can be developed into thermometry on the nanoscale, e.g. to be applied in biological systems on a cellular level. The performance was improved by the use of Nd3+ as an additional dopant utilizing the cascade sensitization mechanism in tri-doped UCNP. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ra11502g SN - 2046-2069 VL - 5 IS - 82 SP - 67149 EP - 67156 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER -