Doing synthetic biology with photosynthetic microorganisms

The use of photosynthetic microbes as synthetic biology hosts for the sustainable production of commodity chemicals and even fuels has received increasing attention over the last decade. The number of studies published, tools implemented, and resources made available for microalgae have increased beyond expectations during the last few years. However, the tools available for genetic engineering in these organisms still lag those available for the more commonly used heterotrophic host organisms. In this mini-review, we provide an overview of the photosynthetic microbes most commonly used in synthetic biology studies, namely cyanobacteria, chlorophytes, eustigmatophytes and diatoms. We provide basic information on the techniques and tools available for each model group of organisms, we outline the state-of-the-art, and we list the synthetic biology tools that have been successfully used. We specifically focus on the latest CRISPR developments, as we believe that precision editing and advanced genetic engineering tools will be pivotal to the advancement of the field. Finally, we discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of each group of organisms and examine the challenges that need to be overcome to achieve their synthetic biology potential.Peer reviewe

A theoretical and experimental NMR study of the tautomerism of two phenylene-bis-C-substituted pyrazoles

Two bis-pyrazolylbenzenes, one meta- and the other para-substituted, have been studied by multinuclear magnetic resonance both in solution and in the solid state, including 13C CP-MAS NMR variable temperature experiments. The tautomerism in DMSO-d6 solution has been studied and the most stable tautomers (the 3,3 and the 3,5) identified. In the solid state the meta derivative exists as the 3,3-tautomer while the tautomer of the para derivative is the 3,5 one. This latter tautomer exists in a dynamic equilibrium with the 5,3 one, representing a new and original example of proton transfer in the solid state (SSPT). © The Royal Society of Chemistry and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 2008.Peer Reviewe

Kreuz und quer durchs Periodensystem (Konferenzbericht zur 18th International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry, München, 1998)

Thiel WR, Rabe GW, Mitzel NW. Kreuz und quer durchs Periodensystem (Konferenzbericht zur 18th International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry, München, 1998). J. Nachr. Chem. Tech. Lab. 1998:1066-1070

The guideline VDI 3798 examination and treatment of materials damaged by immissions, particularly those in cultural objects

The effect of air pollution is not merely an important factor as far as national economics are concerned, there is also the threat of loosing cultural objects for ever. The interactions of air pollution on culturally valuable objects made of metal and non-metal, inorganical as well as organical materials, have become a subject of worldwide interest. Efforts to understand and analyse the web of effects between the natural environment. cultural objects, and air pollution are increasing everywhere. The Committee "Effects of Air Pollution on Materials" had, therefore, decided to submit a guideline to the people responsible for the conservation of cultural and economic goods, providing stipulations for protective measures against air pollution. The Guideline combines the knowledge of the three working groups "Effects on metal, non-metal, inorganical and organical materials" and was elaborated with assistance of curators of monuments, the Federal Environmental Agency, and the German National Committee for the Protection of Cultural Monuments (DNK). Special attention was paid to a detailed portrayal of the complex web of effects as well as taking the utmost care with examination and treatment of the cultural goods in question. The Guideline consists of the chapters 1. Scope of Validity 2. Object Description and Diagnosis 3. Therapeutical Steps 4. Documentation and Rechecks 5. Glossary. In December 1989 the Guideline was published in three official languages of the European Community, in Germann. English, and French, by the VDI-Commission on Air Pollution Prevention

Roll-over cyclometalation: A versatile tool to enhance the catalytic activity of transition metal complexes

Roll-over cyclometalation is a special case of cyclometalation. While in classical cyclometalation, C,H-activation (deprotonation or oxidative addition) has to occur at the ligand to result in a metallacycle, in roll-over cyclometalation the ligand in principle has the chance to undergo chelating coordination without cleavage of a C-H bond (e.g. ?2-N,N?- vs. ?2-C,N-coordination at 2,2?-bipyridines). Nature thus can decide for which route shall be followed. In this review, the basic parameters for bringing a system into roll-over cyclometalation are discussed, followed by an overview on compounds that have been published in this field during the last years. The major emphasis of this review however is on applications of roll-over cyclometalation in catalysis, a rather new field in coordination and organometallic chemistry. 2018 Elsevier B.V.Our studies on roll-over cyclometalation are supported by the German research foundation DFG within the transregional collaborative research center SFB/TRR 88 Cooperative effects in homo and heterometallic complexes (3MET) and by the state research center OPTIMAS. We furthermore gratefully acknowledge the research college MAGNENZ and the state research unit NanoKat for financial support. M. L. thanks the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and A.F. thanks the Cusanuswerk for a PhD grant. Dr. Kifah S. M. Salih studied chemistry at the Al-Mustansiriyah University (Baghdad, Iraq, B.Sc. 1998) and at the University of Jordan (Amman, Jordan, M.Sc. 2004), where he finished with a master thesis on Synthesis of Some New Coumarin Derivatives. After two years working as a researcher in the group of Prof. Dr. Mohammad S. Mubarak (Univ. of Jordan), he in 2006 joined the group of Prof. Dr. Lukas J. Goo?en at the Technische Universit?t Kaiserslautern for a PhD thesis supported by a DAAD scholarship. Kifah S. M. Salih finished his PhD in 2010 with a thesis on Environmentally Benign Synthesis of Enamides via Waste-Free Catalytic Addition of Amides to Terminal Alkynes. During this time, he received the award of the Karl-Ziegler-Stiftung. He then took the opportunity to work for three years as a postdoc in the group of Prof. Dr. Werner R. Thiel (TU Kaiserslautern), where he mainly focused on the synthesis of mangetic nanoparticles an their application in catalysis. From 2014 Kifah S. M. Salih was visiting lecturer at the Sultan Qaboos University (Muscat, Oman) and in 2015 he became lecturer at the Department of Chemistry and Earth Sciences of Qatar University (Doha, Qatar). Prof. Dr. Werner R. Thiel studied chemistry at the Technische Universitt Mnchen (Germany), where he received his diploma in 1987 with a thesis on Synthesis and Characterization of High Valent (? 5 -Pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)chromium Complexes carried out in the group of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang A. Herrmann. In 1990, he received his PhD with a thesis on Synthesis, Derivatization and Characterization of Chelate Complexes of 2,2?-Bipyridine: Reactivity and Structural Aspects (TU M nchen, W. A. Herrmann). Supported by a Feodor Lynen-Grant of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung , Werner R. Thiel worked for one year in the group of Prof. Dr. Didier Astruc at the Universit de Bordeaux I (Bordeaux, France). After coming back to TU Mnchen in 1991 he started with own projects which were summarized in a habilitation in 1997. In 2000 he became associate professor for inorganic chemistry at the Technische Universit?t Chemnitz (Germany) and in 2004 full professor at the Technische Universit?t Kaiserslautern (Germany). Werner R. Thiel is author of about 180 publications with a focus on transition metal catalyzed reactions and their mechanisms and on the use of porous inorganic supports in catalysis

Evaluation systems: what are they and why study them?

Increasingly, in the world of evaluation, `systems of evaluation' have been developed.this article outlines four criteria that help characterize such systems. One criterion is the existence of a distinctive epistemological perspective; another is that, in order to be labelled a system, evaluation activities are carried out by evaluators within organizational structures and institutions and not only (or largely) by `lonely' or sole-trader evaluators. Permanence is the third criterion and the fourth is that there is a focus on the intended use of results of evaluations. Examples of systems are the performance-monitoring system, the `experimentalist' system and the evaluation-accreditation system. Several problematic aspects of these systems are described, making it relevant to study them. One of these is the danger that evaluation systems breed (new) evaluation systems.another problem is that these systems may produce largely routinized information relevant for day-to-day practices and single-loop learning processes, but which is of little relevance for fundamental reassessments of policies and programmes

Angle- and spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy in rotationally resolved photoionization of HI

Mank A, Drescher M, Brockhinke A, Böwering N, Heinzmann U. Angle- and spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy in rotationally resolved photoionization of HI. Zeitschrift für Physik D: Atoms, Molecules and Clusters. 1994;29(4):275-289