Advanced tools for molecular characterization of bio-based and biodegradable polymers.

Bio-based and biodegradable materials play a vital role in a sustainable and green economy. These materials must exhibit properties that are similar to or better than the properties of oil- or coal-based materials and require sophisticated synthesis technologies and detailed knowledge of structure-property correlations. For comprehensive molecular structure elucidation, advanced analytical methods, including coupled and hyphenated techniques that combine advanced fractionation and information-rich spectroscopic detectors, are an indispensable tool.

Stereochemical Heterogeneity Analysis of Polylactides by Multidimensional Liquid Chromatography.

A new and robust high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method that separates poly(lactic acid) (PLA) according to its stereochemical composition is presented. Using this method, poly(l-lactide) incorporating trace amounts of -lactide resulting from the racemization is separated from the pristine polymer. To prove this aspect in more detail, a representative poly(l-lactic acid) standard, assumed to be highly homogeneous, was separated using this method.

Structural analysis of the NK-lysin-derived peptide NK-2 upon interaction with bacterial membrane mimetics consisting of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol.

NK-2 is an antimicrobial peptide derived from helices 3 and 4 of the pore-forming protein of natural killer cells, NK-lysin. It has potent activities against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, fungi and protozoan parasites without being toxic to healthy human cells. In biophysical assays its membrane activities were found to require phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), lipids which dominate the composition of bacterial membranes.

Framing future trajectories of human activities in the German North Sea to inform cumulative effects assessments and marine spatial planning.

The global industrialization of seascapes and climate change leads to an increased risk of severe impacts on marine ecosystem functioning. While broad scale spatio-temporal assessments of human pressures on marine ecosystems become more available, future trajectories of human activities at regional and local scales remain often speculative. Here we introduce a stepwise process to integrate bottom-up and expert-driven approaches for scenario development to inform cumulative effects assessments and related marine spatial planning (MSP).

Eco-engineering approaches for ocean negative carbon emission.

The goal of achieving carbon neutrality in the next 30-40 years is approaching worldwide consensus and requires coordinated efforts to combat the increasing threat of climate change. Two main sets of actions have been proposed to address this grand goal. One is to reduce anthropogenic CO emissions to the atmosphere, and the other is to increase carbon sinks or negative emissions, i.