Publications by authors named "Matthias Scherr"

Novel fused phenazines were synthesized through a combination of gold-catalyzed hydroamination and cascade cyclization reactions towards azaacenes. In total, 30 new compounds were synthesized and investigated with respect to their structural and optoelectronic properties. In solution, these targets exhibit strong green to red emission, with quantum yields of up to 60 %.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The rapid development of new imaging approaches is generating larger and more complex datasets, revealing the time evolution of individual cells and biomolecules. Single-molecule techniques, in particular, provide access to rare intermediates in complex, multistage molecular pathways. However, few standards exist for processing these information-rich datasets, posing challenges for wider dissemination.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Eukaryotic genomes are compacted into loops and topologically associating domains (TADs), which contribute to transcription, recombination and genomic stability. Cohesin extrudes DNA into loops that are thought to lengthen until CTCF boundaries are encountered. Little is known about whether loop extrusion is impeded by DNA-bound machines.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Fundamental to our understanding of chromosome duplication is the idea that replication origins function both as sites where MCM helicases are loaded during the G1 phase and where synthesis begins in S phase. However, the temporal delay between phases exposes the replisome assembly pathway to potential disruption prior to replication. Using multicolor, single-molecule imaging, we systematically study the consequences of encounters between actively transcribing RNA polymerases (RNAPs) and replication initiation intermediates in the context of chromatin.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chromosome replication depends on efficient removal of nucleosomes by accessory factors to ensure rapid access to genomic information. Here, we show this process requires recruitment of the nucleosome reorganization activity of the histone chaperone FACT. Using single-molecule FRET, we demonstrate that reorganization of nucleosomal DNA by FACT requires coordinated engagement by the middle and C-terminal domains of Spt16 and Pob3 but does not require the N-terminus of Spt16.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inflammasomes function as intracellular sensors of pathogen infection or cellular perturbation and thereby play a central role in numerous diseases. Given the high abundance of NLRP1 in epithelial barrier tissues, we screened a diverse panel of viruses for inflammasome activation in keratinocytes. We identified Semliki Forest virus (SFV), a positive-strand RNA virus, as a potent activator of human but not murine NLRP1B.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The astonishing efficiency and accuracy of DNA replication has long suggested that refined rules enforce a single highly reproducible sequence of molecular events during the process. This view was solidified by early demonstrations that DNA unwinding and synthesis are coupled within a stable molecular factory, known as the replisome, which consists of conserved components that each play unique and complementary roles. However, recent single-molecule observations of replisome dynamics have begun to challenge this view, revealing that replication may not be defined by a uniform sequence of events.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Protein kinases are the most prominent group of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) clients and are recruited to the molecular chaperone by the kinase-specific cochaperone cell division cycle 37 (Cdc37). The interaction between Hsp90 and nematode Cdc37 is mediated by binding of the Hsp90 middle domain to an N-terminal region of Caenorhabditis elegans Cdc37 (CeCdc37). Here we map the binding site by NMR spectroscopy and define amino acids relevant for the interaction between CeCdc37 and the middle domain of Hsp90.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The synthesis and structural properties (from X-ray diffraction or B3LYP/6-31G(d) calculations) of three energetic compounds derived from tris(chloromethyl)amine and of tris(chloromethyl)amine itself were investigated and compared to those of compounds with similar structures. The compounds have almost planar NC(3) units at their amine center, and the substituents bound to the CH(2) groups tend to be reactive towards further substitution. Multiple hyperconjugation was used to explain these observations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The reaction of silver azide with triphenylsulfonium or tetraphenylphosphonium azide results in the formation of the binary silver-nitrogen compound, the novel diazido-argentate(I) anion [Ag(N(3))(2)](-). The crystal structures of both salts of this anion show different cation dependent azide coordination spheres around silver.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The crystal structure of solvate-free silver dinitramide (Ag[N(NO(2))(2)]) was determined by X-ray diffraction for the first time and displays secondary contacts between silver and oxygen as well as between silver and nitrogen, furnishing different coordination modes of the dinitramide moiety.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The preparation of Se(CN) 4 was attempted by the reaction of SeF 4 with Me 3SiCN at low temperatures. However, selenium tetracyanide could not be detected by NMR spectroscopy; instead, the decomposition product Se(CN) 2 was isolated and its crystal structure was redetermined. In the structure of Se(CN) 2, layers are present with secondary Se.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The reaction of organoselenides and -diselenides (R2Se and (RSe)2) with XeF2 furnished the corresponding organoselenium(IV) difluorides R2SeF2 (R=Me (1), Et (2), iPr (3), Ph (4), Mes (=2,4,6-(Me)3C6H2) (5), Tipp (=2,4,6-(iPr)3C6H2) (6), 2-Me 2NCH2C6H4 (7)), and trifluorides RSeF3 (R=Me (8), iPr (9), Ph (10), Mes (11), Tipp (12), Mes* (=2,4,6-(tBu) 3C6H2) (13), 2-Me2NCH2C6H4 (14)), respectively. In addition to characterization by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, the first molecular structure of an organoselenium(IV) difluoride as well as the molecular structures of subsequent decomposition products have been determined. The substitution of fluorine atoms with Me3SiN3 leads to the corresponding organoselenium(IV) diazides R2Se(N3)2 (R=Me (15), Et (16), iPr (17), Ph (18), Mes (19), 2-Me 2NCH2C6H4 (20)) and triazides RSe(N3)3 (R=Me (21), iPr (22), Ph (23), Mes (24), Tipp (25), Mes* (26), 2-Me2NCH2C6H4 (27)), respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The title compounds, diaquadinitramidatolithium(I), [Li(N3O4)(H2O)2], (I), and pyridinium dinitramidate, C5H6N+ x N3O4(-), (II), differ significantly in their cation-anion contacts. The Li+ atom of (I) is coordinated by two O atoms of the dinitramide anion in a chelate and by four additional water molecules, with the Li and central N atom of the anion on a twofold rotation axis. The pyridinium cation of (II) exhibits a contact with the dinitramide anion via an intermolecular N-H.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
2,6-Diazido-toluene.

Acta Crystallogr Sect E Struct Rep Online

January 2008

The structure of the title compound, C(7)H(6)N(6), consists of almost planar mol-ecules with C-N distances of 1.429 (2) and 1.428 (2) Å.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF