Unveiling MOF-808 photocycle and its interaction with luminescent guests.

The world of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has become a hot topic in recent years due to the extreme variety and tunability of their structures. There is evidence of MOFs that exhibit intrinsic luminescence properties that arise directly from their organic components or from the interaction between them and metallic counterparts. A new perspective is to exploit the porous nature of MOFs by encapsulating luminescent guests, such as organic dyes, in order to explore possible changes in the luminescence activity of the combined systems.

Thermal site energy fluctuations in photosystem I: new insights from MD/QM/MM calculations.

Cyanobacterial photosystem I (PSI) is one of the most efficient photosynthetic machineries found in nature. Due to the large scale and complexity of the system, the energy transfer mechanism from the antenna complex to the reaction center is still not fully understood. A central element is the accurate evaluation of the individual chlorophyll excitation energies (site energies).

Non-invasive Raman spectroscopy for time-resolved in-line lipidomics.

Oil-producing yeast cells are a valuable alternative source for palm oil production and, hence, may be one important piece of the puzzle for a more sustainable future. To achieve a high-quality product, the lipid composition inside oil-producing yeast cells is a crucial parameter for effective process control. Typically, the lipid composition is determined by off-line gas chromatography.

Aquaporin-driven hydrogen peroxide transport: a case of molecular mimicry?

Aquaporins (AQPs) are membrane proteins that have evolved to control cellular water uptake and efflux, and as such are amongst the most ancient biological "devices" in cellular organisms. Recently, using metadynamics, we have shown that water nanoconfinement within aquaporin channels results into bidirectional water movement along single file chains, extending previous investigations. Here, the elusive mechanisms of HO facilitated transport by the human 'peroxiporin' AQP3 has been unravelled a combination of atomistic simulations, showing that while hydrogen peroxide is able to mimic water during AQP3 permeation, this comes at a certain energy expense due to the required conformational changes within the channel.

The central role of the metal ion for photoactivity: Zn- Ni-Mabiq.

Photoredox catalysts are integral components of artificial photosystems, and have recently emerged as powerful tools for catalysing numerous organic reactions. However, the development of inexpensive and efficient earth-abundant photoredox catalysts remains a challenge. We here present the photochemical and photophysical properties of a Ni-Mabiq catalyst ([Ni(Mabiq)]OTf (); Mabiq = 2-4:6-8-bis(3,3,4,4-tetramethyldihydropyrrolo)-10-15-(2,2-biquinazolino)-[15]-1,3,5,8,10,14-hexaene1,3,7,9,11,14-N)-and of a Zn-containing analogue ([Zn(Mabiq)OTf] ())-using steady state and time resolved optical spectroscopy, time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations, and reactivity studies.

Vapor growth of binary and ternary phosphorus-based semiconductors into TiO nanotube arrays and application in visible light driven water splitting.

We report successful synthesis of low band gap inorganic polyphosphide and TiO heterostructures with the aid of short-way transport reactions. Binary and ternary polyphosphides (NaP, SnIP, and (CuI)P) were successfully reacted and deposited into electrochemically fabricated TiO nanotubes. Employing vapor phase reaction deposition, the cavities of 100 μm long TiO nanotubes were infiltrated; approximately 50% of the nanotube arrays were estimated to be infiltrated in the case of NaP.