Structural and spectroscopic insights on the coordination chemistry of the rigid heterotopic chelating ligand 1H-pyrazolo[4,3-h]quinoline (2020)
Journal Article
Goodwin, J. W., Kruger, P. E., & Hawes, C. S. (2020). Structural and spectroscopic insights on the coordination chemistry of the rigid heterotopic chelating ligand 1H-pyrazolo[4,3-h]quinoline. Journal of Coordination Chemistry, 74(1-3), 341-360. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958972.2020.1868041

In this work we report the coordination chemistry of a rigid heterotopic ligand 1H-pyrazolo[4,3-h]quinoline HL1 in copper(II) and zinc(II) complexes for the first time, and examine both the structural properties and solution-phase behaviour of these... Read More about Structural and spectroscopic insights on the coordination chemistry of the rigid heterotopic chelating ligand 1H-pyrazolo[4,3-h]quinoline.

Tourmaline reference materials for the in situ analysis of oxygen and lithium isotope ratio compositions (2020)
Journal Article
Wiedenbeck, M., Trumbull, R., Rosner, M., Boyce, A., Fournelle, J., Franchi, I., …Wilke, F. (2020). Tourmaline reference materials for the in situ analysis of oxygen and lithium isotope ratio compositions. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research, https://doi.org/10.1111/ggr.12362

Three tourmaline reference materials sourced from the Harvard Mineralogical and Geological Museum (schorl 112566, dravite 108796 and elbaite 98144), which are already widely used for the calibration of in situ boron isotope measurements, are characte... Read More about Tourmaline reference materials for the in situ analysis of oxygen and lithium isotope ratio compositions.

Identification of a Functional Small Noncoding RNA of African Swine Fever Virus (2020)
Journal Article
Dunn, L. E., Ivens, A., Netherton, C. L., Chapman, D. A., & Beard, P. M. (2020). Identification of a Functional Small Noncoding RNA of African Swine Fever Virus. Journal of Virology, 94(21), https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01515-20

<jats:p>African swine fever (ASF) poses a major threat to pig populations and food security worldwide. The disease is endemic to Africa and Eastern Europe and is rapidly emerging into Asia, where it has led to the deaths of millions of pigs in the la... Read More about Identification of a Functional Small Noncoding RNA of African Swine Fever Virus.

Subcellular localised small molecule fluorescent probes to image mobile Zn2+ (2020)
Journal Article
Fang, L., & Watkinson, M. (2020). Subcellular localised small molecule fluorescent probes to image mobile Zn2+. Chemical Science, 11(42), 11366 - 11379. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC04568C

Zn2+, as the second most abundant d-block metal in the human body, plays an important role in a wide range of biological processes, and the dysfunction of its homeostasis is related to many diseases, including Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and... Read More about Subcellular localised small molecule fluorescent probes to image mobile Zn2+.

One-Pot Synthesis of Chiral N-Arylamines by Combining Biocatalytic Aminations with Buchwald-Hartwig N-Arylation. (2020)
Journal Article
Cosgrove. (2020). One-Pot Synthesis of Chiral N-Arylamines by Combining Biocatalytic Aminations with Buchwald-Hartwig N-Arylation. Angewandte Chemie, 18156 - 18160. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202006246

The combination of biocatalysis and chemo-catalysis increasingly offers chemists access to more diverse chemical architectures. Here, we describe the combination of a toolbox of chiral-amine-producing biocatalysts with a Buchwald-Hartwig cross-coupli... Read More about One-Pot Synthesis of Chiral N-Arylamines by Combining Biocatalytic Aminations with Buchwald-Hartwig N-Arylation..

Metal-Dependent Cytotoxic and Kinesin Spindle Protein Inhibitory Activity of Ru, Os, Rh, and Ir Half-Sandwich Complexes of Ispinesib-Derived Ligands (2020)
Journal Article
Reynisson. (2020). Metal-Dependent Cytotoxic and Kinesin Spindle Protein Inhibitory Activity of Ru, Os, Rh, and Ir Half-Sandwich Complexes of Ispinesib-Derived Ligands. Inorganic Chemistry, 14879-14890. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c00957

Ispinesib is a potent inhibitor of kinesin spindle protein (KSP), which has been identified as a promising target for antimitotic anticancer drugs. Herein, we report the synthesis of half-sandwich complexes of Ru, Os, Rh, and Ir bearing the ispinesib... Read More about Metal-Dependent Cytotoxic and Kinesin Spindle Protein Inhibitory Activity of Ru, Os, Rh, and Ir Half-Sandwich Complexes of Ispinesib-Derived Ligands.

Thermal Neutron Relative Biological Effectiveness Factors for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy from In Vitro Irradiations. (2020)
Journal Article
(2020). Thermal Neutron Relative Biological Effectiveness Factors for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy from In Vitro Irradiations. Cells, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9102144

The experimental determination of the relative biological effectiveness of thermal neutron factors is fundamental in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy. The present values have been obtained while using mixed beams that consist of both neutrons and photon... Read More about Thermal Neutron Relative Biological Effectiveness Factors for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy from In Vitro Irradiations..

Illuminating glycoscience: synthetic strategies for FRET-enabled carbohydrate active enzyme probes (2020)
Journal Article
Singh, M., Watkinson, M., Scanlan, E. M., & Miller, G. (2020). Illuminating glycoscience: synthetic strategies for FRET-enabled carbohydrate active enzyme probes. RSC Chemical Biology, 5(1), 352 - 368

Carbohydrates are synthesised, refined and degraded by carbohydrate active enzymes. FRET is emerging as a powerful tool to monitor and quantify their activity as well as to test inhibitors as new drug candidates and monitor disease.

‘Scallywag Bunkers’: Geophysical Investigations of WW2 Auxiliary Unit Operational Bases (OBs) in the UK (2020)
Journal Article
Carr, S., Pringle, J. K., Doyle, P., Wisniewski, K. D., & Stimpson, I. G. (2020). ‘Scallywag Bunkers’: Geophysical Investigations of WW2 Auxiliary Unit Operational Bases (OBs) in the UK. Journal of Conflict Archaeology, 15(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2020.1822102

In 1940, with the fall of France imminent, Britain prepared for invasion. After Dunkirk, with most armour and transport lost, a defence ‘stop line’ (GHQ Line) was prepared. Local Defence Volunteers (later Home Guard) were raised to buy time for the H... Read More about ‘Scallywag Bunkers’: Geophysical Investigations of WW2 Auxiliary Unit Operational Bases (OBs) in the UK.

In situ spectroscopic identification of the six types of asbestos (2020)
Journal Article
(2020). In situ spectroscopic identification of the six types of asbestos. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 123951 - 123951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123951

Exposure to asbestos fibres is related to a number of severe lung diseases, and therefore, rapid, accurate and reliable in situ or on-site asbestos detection in real-life samples is of considerable importance. This work presents a comprehensive inves... Read More about In situ spectroscopic identification of the six types of asbestos.

Editorial: Recent Progress in Lithium Niobate (2020)
Journal Article
Jackson, R. (2020). Editorial: Recent Progress in Lithium Niobate. Crystals, https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst10090780

This special issue features eight papers which cover the recent developments in research on lithium niobate. Papers are divided into three groups based on their topic.

Establishing a minimum PMI for bone sun bleaching in a UK environment with a controlled desert-simulated comparison (2020)
Journal Article
Stokes, S., Greenwood, C., & Márquez-Grant, N. (2020). Establishing a minimum PMI for bone sun bleaching in a UK environment with a controlled desert-simulated comparison. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 134, 2297–2306. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-020-02385-y

Microenvironments play a significant part in understanding the post-mortem interval in forensic taphonomy. Recently, the value of weathering factors in relation to obtaining a PMI has been investigated further. In this study, observations were made t... Read More about Establishing a minimum PMI for bone sun bleaching in a UK environment with a controlled desert-simulated comparison.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: Galactic evolution of lithium at high metallicity (2020)
Journal Article
Jeffries, R., & Wright, N. J. (2020). The Gaia-ESO Survey: Galactic evolution of lithium at high metallicity. Astronomy and Astrophysics, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202038688

Context. Reconstructing the Galactic evolution of lithium (Li) is the main tool used to constrain the source(s) of Li enrichment in the Galaxy. Recent results have suggested a decline in Li at supersolar metallicities, which may indicate reduced prod... Read More about The Gaia-ESO Survey: Galactic evolution of lithium at high metallicity.

Ethylene functions as a suppressor of volatile production in rice (2020)
Journal Article
(2020). Ethylene functions as a suppressor of volatile production in rice. Journal of Experimental Botany, https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa341

We examined the role of ethylene in the production of rice (Oryza sativa) volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which act as indirect defense signals against herbivores in tritrophic interactions. Rice plants were exposed to exogenous ethylene (1 ppm) a... Read More about Ethylene functions as a suppressor of volatile production in rice.

Online Chemistry Crossword Puzzles prior to and during COVID-19: Light-Hearted Revision Aids That Work (2020)
Journal Article
Pearson. (2020). Online Chemistry Crossword Puzzles prior to and during COVID-19: Light-Hearted Revision Aids That Work. Journal of Chemical Education, 1394-3200. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00645

This work explores the performance of online postlecture chemistry crossword puzzles as revision aids for 132 first-year and 120 second-year undergraduate pharmacy students. The use of these puzzles as a form of remote active learning was fortuitousl... Read More about Online Chemistry Crossword Puzzles prior to and during COVID-19: Light-Hearted Revision Aids That Work.

The lncRNA Growth Arrest Specific 5 Regulates Cell Survival via Distinct Structural Modules with Independent Functions (2020)
Journal Article
Frank, F., Kavousi, N., Bountali, A., B. Dammer, E., Mourtada-Maarabouni, M., & A. Ortlund, E. (2020). The lncRNA Growth Arrest Specific 5 Regulates Cell Survival via Distinct Structural Modules with Independent Functions. Cell Reports, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107933

There is increasing evidence that the architecture of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) just like that of proteins-is hierarchically organized into independently folding sub-modules with distinct functions. Studies characterizing the cellular activities... Read More about The lncRNA Growth Arrest Specific 5 Regulates Cell Survival via Distinct Structural Modules with Independent Functions.

Self-assembled poly-catenanes from supramolecular toroidal building blocks (2020)
Journal Article
Datta, S., Kato, Y., Higashiharaguchi, S., Aratsu, K., Isobe, A., Saito, T., …Yagai, S. (2020). Self-assembled poly-catenanes from supramolecular toroidal building blocks. Nature, 583, 400 - 405. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2445-z

Mechanical interlocking of molecules (catenation) is a nontrivial challenge in modern synthetic chemistry and materials science1,2. One strategy to achieve catenation is the design of pre-annular molecules that are capable of both efficient cyclizati... Read More about Self-assembled poly-catenanes from supramolecular toroidal building blocks.

Chemical synthesis of a sulfated d-glucosamine library and evaluation of cell proliferation capabilities. (2020)
Journal Article
Ní Cheallaigh, A., Guimond, S., Oscarson, S., & Miller, G. (2020). Chemical synthesis of a sulfated d-glucosamine library and evaluation of cell proliferation capabilities. Carbohydrate Research, 495, Article 108085. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carres.2020.108085

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Chemoenzymatic synthesis of sugar-nucleotide analogues: tools to probe a strategic dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2020)
Thesis
Beswick, L. E. M. (2020). Chemoenzymatic synthesis of sugar-nucleotide analogues: tools to probe a strategic dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. (Thesis). Keele University

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is an opportunistic bacterium, responsible for causing life threatening infections amongst fibrosis (CF) patients. Mucoid phenotypes of P. aeruginosa are characterised by overproduction of alginate, an extra-cel... Read More about Chemoenzymatic synthesis of sugar-nucleotide analogues: tools to probe a strategic dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Chemical synthesis of modified D-mannuronate building blocks: prospects for modified alginates (2020)
Thesis
Dimitriou, E. (2020). Chemical synthesis of modified D-mannuronate building blocks: prospects for modified alginates. (Thesis). Keele University

Alginate is an anionic polysaccharide comprised of β˗1,4˗linked D˗mannuronic acid (M) and L˗guluronic acid (G). The polymer is naturally harvested from seaweed and is widely exploited in various biotechnological and biomedical applications, due to th... Read More about Chemical synthesis of modified D-mannuronate building blocks: prospects for modified alginates.