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Infrared imaging systems can characterise the spatial distribution of molecular features in cells, for example to aid in the study of malaria. Here three such techniques are systematically compared in their ability to characterise malaria-infected red blood cells.
The L-lactate-specific transporter SfMCT is a model SLC16 family homologue for the determination of inhibitors and potential drugs. Here, starting from a weakly-binding non-transported ligand, nanomolar affinity inhibitors of SfMCT are developed and crystal structures of the transporter-ligand complexes are presented unveiling interactions at the atomic level.
Solution NMR provides an information-rich technique to monitor the unfolding process and probe the heterogeneity of protein unfolding. Differences in unfolding dynamics of core and peripheral residues during the cold denaturation of Yfh1 are followed in the present study by 1H-15N HSQC spectroscopy.
Antimonite (Sb2S3) has potential applications for solar energy, but how its layered structure changes under pressure is incompletely understood. Here diamond anvil cell experiments supported by first principles calculations offer a structural explanation for experimentally observed phase transitions.
By combining spatially-offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) with chemometrics, the authors demonstrate rapid, through-container analysis of commercial hand sanitizers. Both ethanol/isopropanol and contaminant alcohols are quantified regardless of container material or opacity.
Pump-probe experiments in the gas phase usually target neutral molecules. Here the authors couple an electron spray source with ultrafast pump-probe UV-Vis spectroscopy, to follow the ππ*-πσ* coupling in tryptophan-based ions.
Catalysts based on s-block elements offer exciting prospects for new reactivity, but their chemistry remain poorly understood. Here, both the catalytic activity of the dimeric magnesium tert-butylperoxide with β-diketiminate ligand as well as its transformation to a tetranuclear magnesium alkylperoxide are shown.
Porous organic crystals can be challenging to prepare, because in the absence of guests, they often collapse into denser, non-porous polymorphs. Here the formation of porous and non-porous polymorphs in different solvents is shown to depend on a solvophobic effect driven by dispersion interactions.
Ammonia-fed protonic ceramic fuel cells could be a more sustainable alternative than their hydrogen-fed counterparts. In this work, the authors couple an reversible ammonia catalyst with a protonic ceramic electrochemical cell, enabling cracking of ammonia into H2 and N2 for fuel-cell mode operation, as well as synthesis of ammonia from H2O and N2 in electrolysis mode operation.
Carbonate species may play a role in uranium transport in natural systems and nuclear waste repositories at high temperatures. Here uranyl carbonate species are shown to decrease in stability under hydrothermal conditions, suggesting that these species may not mediate transport after all.
Concentration of air pollutants has generally been considered uniform in indoor environments. Here, the authors show that chlorinated cleaning products generate concentration gradients of pollutants due to photochemical reactions in sunlit areas, requiring a finer assessment of human exposure to these contaminants.
Ultrashort circularly polarised light pulses from free-electron lasers offer a route for exploring chiral molecules and their dynamics, but remain challenging to harness. Here, X-ray pump-probe experiments enable a site-specific photoelectron circular dichroism measurement on a dissociating chiral molecule.
Chlorophyll derivatives can be applied in bio-solar cells, but their excited-state dynamics are not fully understood in this context. Here pump–probe time-resolved absorption spectroscopy measurements of chlorophyll derivatives reveal enhanced lifetimes of radical species in the presence of hydroquinone.
The effect of the electric double layer with solid electrolytes remains hard to characterize. In this study, the authors show how to evaluate the electric double layer effect with various lithium solid electrolytes using a hydrogenated diamond-based transistor.
Lanthanide-based supramolecular complexes have labile and hard-topredict chemical structures. Here the authors show controlled formation of either helicates or tetrahedron shaped cages based on the interplay between the metal ionic radius and the ligand composition.
Diels-Alderases remain rare in nature, particularly those catalysing intermolecular reactions. Here two natural Diels-Alderases are shown to catalyse exo-selective intermolecular Diels-Alder reactions on non-natural substrates.
An automated closed-loop system optimizes a stereoselective Suzuki-Miyaura reaction using a machine learning algorithm that incorporates unbiased and categorical process parameters.
Glycine-alanine dipeptide repeats produced by the C9orf72 gene are proposed to cause neurotoxicity in related diseases, but is challenging to study experimentally. Here a photolabile cell-penetrating peptide allows superresolution imaging of the distribution and aggregation of a simple dipeptide which recapitulates neurotoxicity associated with endogenous analogues.
Threonine is a biosynthetic precursor to dimethylpyrazine derivatives, but the pathway by which this occurs is not fully established. Here l-throenine-3-dehydrogenase and 2-amino-3-ketobutyrate CoA ligase together are shown to convert l-threonine to dimethylpyrazine derivatives as a byproduct of glycine metabolism.
The morphology of zeolites influences their catalytic activity, but defining descriptors to link morphology and activity is challenging. Here, time-resolved in situ FT-IR spectroscopy and MD simulations reveal that the difference in the catalytic performance of a series of H-ZSM-5 zeolites with similar sheet-like morphology can be attributed to intracrystalline diffusive propensities in different channels.