Prof. Dr. Helmut Grubmüller, MPI für Multidisziplinäre Naturwissenschaften, Göttingen Microtubules' bends, cryo-cool ribosimes, and wet proteins The extraordinary diversity and complexity that evolution has produced over the course of around one to two billion years is simply amazing. We are fascinated by the very complex and highly specialized organs that are familiar to us -- such as the eye, muscles, and brain. Nevertheless, evolution has achieved its masterpieces much earlier on the molecular level: Without similarly complex biological macromolecules such as proteins, life would be impossible. Combining atomistic computer simulations and statistical mechanics approaches, we are beginning to gain a better understanding of how these highly specialized 'molecular machines' perform their very diverse functions.
Vorträge-Koll
Nanoscale Gold Rush: new opportunities in Nanogold In the quest to develop highly stable nanoparticles, N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) have emerged as an alternative to thiol-based ligands for stabilizing metal nanoparticles (NPs), as the metal-NHC bond is usually much stronger than the corresponding metal-thiol bond. This should result in more stable NPs which are less susceptible to ligand exchange reactions. Over the last decade an increasing number of NHC-stabilized NPs have been reported and significant effort was made in utilizing these compounds, such as for bioimaging, sensing and heterogeneous catalysis. This talk will account our efforts to develop carbene-stabilized gold nanoparticles.
Dr. Markus Bursch, FACCTs (Title to be announced) .................................... ....................................
Professor Dr. Karl Gademann, Universität Zürich Microbiome Metabolites: Syntheses and Surprises The microbiome is composed of different microorganisms such as bacteria that live on or in a complex host, such as e.g. humans or plants. Estimates suggest that bacterial cells outnumber their human host cells by as much as 10:1, leading directly to the question: Who is in control? Interactions, and ultimately control of the microbiome with their host might involve the trading and trafficking of chemicals. We will present recent studies from our group investigating small molecule chemicals that serve as signals for bacterial communication, cyclitols for chemical offense, and a recent total synthesis of peyssonnoside A which might be produced by the microbiome of red algae, complemented with other terpene syntheses.
GDCh-Kolloquium: Junge Forscherinnen und Forscher der Bonner Chemie stellen sich vor ..............................
Prof. Dr. Erwin Reisner, University of Cambridge, UK: Sunlight-Powered Circular Chemistry Solar panels are well established to produce electricity as photovoltaic cells and are already in advanced development to photo-catalyse overall water splitting to produce green hydrogen as artificial leaves or photocatalyst sheets. This presentation will introduce solar chemistry panels as an emerging technology to enable sunlight-powered circular carbon chemistry. Our progress in designing and constructing prototype solar devices for the direct conversion of carbon dioxide as well as the coupling to the valorisation of biomass and plastic waste streams into renewable fuels and higher-value chemicals will be presented.
Dr. Simon Rickert, ETH Zürich (Title to be announced) ...............................................