Among the experimental techniques employed in contacting individual molecules Mechanically Controllable Break Junctions are being frequently used. Some of the advantages are (1) straight-forward preparation of clean surfaces for anchoring the molecule; (2) the possibility to produce many different single-molecule junctions in one experiment, allowing obtaining statistical averages; (3) adapting...

The study of fish concentrations and sediment inventories in 19 European high mountain lakes (40-67 degrees N) shows that a fraction of organochlorine compounds (OCs), the less volatile compounds (LVC; subcooled liquid vapor pressure < or = 10(-2.5) Pa), are trapped in the higher locations. This general trend is not significantly influenced by possible local sources. Compound distribution is re...

Due to the ultraslow ligand exchange rate on Pt, non-thiolated DNA is adsorbed on platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) more stably than thiolated and even dithiolated DNA on AuNPs. Adsorption kinetics, capacity and stability are systematically compared as a function of DNA sequence. The Pt conjugates can tolerate extreme pH, salt, and thiol molecules. Taking advantage of the optical properties of AuN...

Interest and concern about polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs), such as perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and an increasing number of other related compounds is growing as more is learned about these ubiquitous anthropogenic substances. Many of these compounds can be toxic, and they are regularly found in the blood of animals and humans worldwide. A great deal of res...

The Cu-Sn metallurgical soldering reaction in two-segmented Cu-Sn nanowires is studied by in situ transmission electron microscopy. By varying the relative lengths of Cu and Sn segments, we show that the metallurgical reaction results in a Cu-Sn solid solution for small Sn/Cu length ratio while Cu-Sn intermetallic compounds (IMCs) for larger Sn/Cu length ratios. Upon heating the nanowires to ∼5...

Responses to Crystallography and chemistry should always go together: a cautionary tale of protein complexes with cisplatin and carboplatin In this issue of Acta Cryst. D, Shabalin et al. (2015) critique and re-evaluate dozens of crystal structures in the PDB in which proteins are bound to the platinum compounds cisplatin or carboplatin. Investigators whose structures were critiqued were contac...

A series of π-extended phosphorescent palladium(II) and platinum(II) porphyrin complexes were synthesized, in which additional benzene rings are fused radially onto at least one of the four peripheral benzo groups. The photophysical properties of the metalloporphyrins palladium(II)-meso-tetra-(4-fluorophenyl)mononaphthotribenzoporphyrin (Pd1NF), cis-palladium(II)-meso-tetra-(4-fluorophenyl)dibe...

Despite the available prevention and early detection strategies, squamous-cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix is still diagnosed as locally advanced disease in a considerable proportion of patients. As a potent sensitizer of cancer cells, cisplatin has been the "traditional partner" of external beam irradiation in this setting for more than two decades. Induction chemotherapy strategies follow...

Organometallic compounds have emerged as attractive scaffolds for drug development due to the reactivity that is intrinsic to metal centers and ligand variability leads to several geometries. 2 Cisplatin, PtCl2(NH3)2, and related platinum based drugs have been extensively used as anti-cancer treatments and are highly effective, but suffer from several problems: some cancer lines are resistant t...