Trimesityltriangulene: a persistent derivative of Clar's hydrocarbon

Triangulene, known as Clar’s hydrocarbon, is a prototypical non-Kekule ́ diradical comprised of six benzenoid rings fused in a trian-gular shape. We synthesized and characterized its trimesityl derivative, illustrating that three bulky substituents installed in the centers of the zigzag edges suffice to protect all reactive positions. This work brings prospects to use triangulene and its open-shell analogs in spintronic materials via solution-phase synthesis

Fucoidan Does Not Exert Anti-Tumorigenic Effects on Uveal Melanoma Cell Lines

Background. The polysaccharide fucoidan is widely investigated as an anti-cancer agent. Here, we tested the effect of fucoidan on uveal melanoma cell lines. Methods. The effect of 100 µM fucoidan was investigated on five cell lines (92.1, Mel270 OMM1, OMM2.3, OMM2.5) and of 1 µg/mL–1 mg/mL fucoidan in two cell lines (OMM1, OMM2.3). Cell proliferation and viability were investigated with a WST-1 assay, migration in a wound healing (scratch) assay. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) was measured in ELISA. Angiogenesis was evaluated in co-cultures with endothelial cells. Cell toxicity was induced by hydrogen-peroxide. Protein expression (Akt, ERK1/2, Bcl-2, Bax) was investigated in Western blot. Results. Fucoidan increased proliferation in two and reduced it in one cell line. Migration was reduced in three cell lines. The effect of fucoidan on VEGF was cell type and concentration dependent. In endothelial co-culture with 92.1, fucoidan significantly increased tubular structures. Moreover, fucoidan significantly protected all tested uveal melanoma cell lines from hydrogen-peroxide induced cell death. Under oxidative stress, fucoidan did not alter the expression of Bcl-2, Bax or ERK1/2, while inducing Akt expression in 92.1 cells but not in any other cell line. Conclusion. Fucoidan did not show anti-tumorigenic effects but displayed protective and pro-angiogenic properties, rendering fucoidan unsuitable as a potential new drug for the treatment of uveal melanoma

The impact of spin–orbit coupling on fine-structure and spin polarisation in photoexcited porphyrin triplet states

The photoexcited triplet states of porphyrins show great promise for applications in the fields of opto-electronics, photonics, molecular wires, and spintronics. The magnetic properties of porphyrin triplet states are most conveniently studied by time-resolved continuous wave and pulse electron spin resonance (ESR). This family of techniques is singularly able to probe small yet essential details of triplet states: zero-field splittings, g-anisotropy, spin polarisation, and hyperfine interactions. These characteristics are linked to spin–orbit coupling (SOC) which is known to have a strong influence on photophysical properties such as intersystem crossing rates. The present study explores SOC effects induced by the presence of Pd2+ in various porphyrin architectures. In particular, the impact of this relativistic interaction on triplet state fine-structure and spin polarisation is investigated. These properties are probed using time-resolved ESR complemented by electron-nuclear double resonance. The findings of this study could influence the future design of molecular spintronic devices. The Pd2+ ion may be incorporated into porphyrin molecular wires as a way of controlling spin polarisation

Enhanced Intersystem Crossing and Transient Electron Spin Polarization in a Photoexcited Pentacene-Trityl Radical

Identifying and characterizing systems that generate well-defined states with large electron spin polarization is of high interest for applications in molecular spintronics, high-energy physics and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The generation of electron spin polarization on free-radical substituents tethered to pentacene derivatives has recently gained a great deal of interest for its applications in molecular electronics. After photoexcitation of the chromophore, pentacene-radical derivatives can rapidly form spin-polarized triplet excited states through enhanced intersystem crossing. Under the right conditions, the triplet spin polarization, arising from mS-selective intersystem crossing rates, can be transferred to the tethered stable radical. The efficiency of this spin polarization transfer depends on many factors: local magnetic and electric fields, excited state energetics, molecular geometry, and spin-spin coupling. Here we present transient electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements on three pentacene derivatives tethered to Finland trityl, BDPA or TEMPO radicals to explore the influence of the nature of the radical on the spin polarization transfer. We observe efficient polarization transfer between the pentacene excited triplet and the trityl radical, but do not observe the same for the BDPA and TEMPO derivatives. The polarization transfer behavior in the pentacene-trityl system is also investigated in different glassy matrices and is found to depend markedly on the solvent used. The EPR results are rationalized with the help of femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption measurements, yielding complementary information on the excited-state dynamics of the three pentacene derivatives. Notably, we observe a two orders of magnitude difference in the timescale of triplet formation between the pentacene-trityl system and the pentacene systems tethered with the BDPA and TEMPO radicals

Die komplexe Virosphäre von Knoblauch (Allium sativum)

Der Virusstatus und die Ertragsstabilität der für den ökologischen Anbau interessanten Knoblauchsorten und Herkünfte wurde bestimmt sowie der Einfluss des Virusbefalls auf den Knollenertrag und -qualität ermittelt

Excited-State Dynamics of Organic Dyes at Liquid/Liquid Interfaces

Liquid/liquid interfaces play a crucial role in numerous areas of science. However, direct spectroscopic access to this thin (∼1 nm) region is not possible with conventional optical methods. After a brief review of the most used techniques to perform interfacial optical spectroscopy, we will focus on time-resolved surface second harmonic generation, which allows the measurement of the excited-state dynamics of probe molecules at interfaces. By comparing these dynamics with those measured in bulk solutions, precious information on the properties of the interfacial region can be obtained. To illustrate this, several studies performed in our group will be presented

Ultrafast Photoinduced Dynamics at Air/Liquid and Liquid/Liquid Interfaces

Although liquid/liquid and air/liquid interfaces are omnipresent, very little is known up to now about the dynamics of processes occurring at such interfaces. As a detailed understanding of these processes could be of invaluable technological, environmental, and medical importance, considerable effort has been invested over the last two decades in developing new interface-selective techniques that allow for gaining further insight into the dynamics of these processes. Whereas several major results have been achieved that helped to contribute to a deeper understanding, there are still many aspects concerning the properties of liquid interfaces that are not yet fully understood. In this Perspective, the work that has been carried out so far on photoinduced interfacial dynamics will be reviewed and the current challenges in this still emerging field of research discussed

Neue Perspektiven für die Erziehungswissenschaften – Das Potenzial von Mixed Reality für Lehr- und Lernprozesse

›Mixed Reality‹ describes the combination of virtual environments and natural user interfaces. Here, the user's field of vision is controlled by natural head movements via a head mounted display. Data gloves allow direct interaction with virtual objects and omnidirectional floors enable unrestricted navigation through virtual worlds with natural walking movements. A quasi-experimental study showed that ›mixed reality‹ had a positive effect, particularly on affective and motivational levels. The results are interpreted in the context of the new possibilities for pedagogy offered by such innovative technologies

Exploring template-bound dinuclear copper porphyrin nanorings by EPR spectroscopy

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy has been used to study the molecular geometry as well as metal-ligand interactions in ten-membered porphyrin nanorings (c-P10Cu2) containing two copper and eight zinc centers. The presence of copper in the structures allows intramolecular interactions, including dipolar interactions between electron spins and hyperfine interactions to be quantified. Results obtained for c-P10Cu2 samples bound to two molecular templates with four or five binding sites, respectively, are compared to those obtained for a sample of the porphyrin ring in the absence of any templates. It is shown that the observed lower binding affinity of the nitrogen ligand to copper as compared to zinc has a strong impact on the geometries of the respective template-bound c-P10Cu2 structures. The interaction between the central copper atom and nitrogen ligands is weak, but pulsed EPR hyperfine techniques such as ENDOR and HYSCORE are very sensitive to this interaction. Upon binding of a nitrogen ligand to copper, the hyperfine couplings of the in-plane nitrogen atoms of the porphyrin core are reduced by about 3 MHz. In addition, the copper hyperfine couplings as well as the g-factors are altered, as detected by continuous wave EPR. DFT calculations of the hyperfine coupling tensors support the assignment of the measured couplings to the nuclei within the structure and reproduce the experimentally observed trends. Finally, Double Electron Electron Resonance (DEER) is used to measure the distances between the copper centers in a range between 2.5 and 5 nm, revealing the preferred geometries of the template-bound nanorings