Spin-crossover in an iron(III) complex showing a broad thermal hysteresis.

A pentadentate Schiff-base ligand 3,5Cl-L2- and NCSe- form an iron(iii) mononuclear complex, namely [Fe(3,5Cl-L)(NCSe)], which shows a thermally induced spin crossover with a broad hysteresis width of 24 K between 123 K (warming) and 99 K (cooling). Analogous complexes of the [Fe(3,5X-L)(Y)] type, where X = Cl or Br and Y = Cl-, N3-, NCS-, and NCSe-, are high-spin over the whole temperature interval.

Absorption measurements of periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (PPKTP) at 775 nm and 1550 nm.

The efficient generation of second-harmonic light and squeezed light requires non-linear crystals that have low absorption at the fundamental and harmonic wavelengths. In this work the photo-thermal self-phase modulation technique is exploited to measure the absorption coefficient of periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (PPKTP) at 1,550 nm and 775 nm. The measurement results are (84±40) ppm/cm and (127±24) ppm/cm, respectively. We conclude that the performance of state-of-the-art frequency doubling and squeezed light generation in PPKTP is not limited by absorption.

A rectangular Ni-Fe cluster with unusual cyanide bridges.

An asymmetric polycyanide iron complex, K(2)[Fe(III)(L1)(CN)(4)](MeOH) (HL1 = 2,2'-(1H-pyrazole-3,5-diyl)bis-pyridine), was synthesized and its complexation compatibility with nickel ions was examined. Two kinds of enantiomeric nickel-iron squares were obtained in the presence of a chiral bidentate capping ligand. The compounds display unusual cyanide bridge geometry and have ferromagnetic interactions between nickel and iron ions.

Photothermal self-phase-modulation technique for absorption measurements on high-reflective coatings.

We propose and demonstrate a new measurement technique for the optical absorption of high-reflection coatings. Our technique is based on photothermal self-phase modulation and exploits the deformation of cavity Airy peaks that occurs due to coating absorption of intracavity light. The mirror whose coating is under investigation needs to be the input mirror of a high-finesse cavity. Our example measurements were performed on a high-reflection SiO2-Ta2O5 coating in a three-mirror ring-cavity setup at a wavelength of 1064 nm. The optical absorption of the coating was determined to be α=(23.9±2.0)·10(-6) per coating. Our result is in excellent agreement with an independently performed laser calorimetry measurement that gave a value of α=(24.4±3.2)·10(-6) per coating. Since the self-phase modulation in our coating-absorption measurement affects mainly the propagation through the cavity input mirror, our measurement result is practically uninfluenced by the optical absorption of the other cavity mirrors.

Electrofusion generates diverse DC-tumour cell hybrids for cancer immunotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Hybrid cells generated from dendritic cells (DC) and tumour cells provide tumour-associated antigens (TAA) in a polyvalent mode. The present study was designed to investigate the hybrid cell generation by dendritic cells and different tumour cell lines to establish an electrofusion protocol with an optimal fusion setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hybrid cells from mature DC and tumour cells were generated by electrofusion. Fusion efficiency was determined by flow cytometry, as well as by light and fluorescence microscopy analyses. RESULTS: The gradual electrofusion process constituted different human dendritic cell tumour cell hybrids of high diversity depending on electrical and non-electrical parameters. Factors influencing fusion frequency were determined by specific cell staining with mAbs, FACS analysis and trypan blue dye exclusion. CONCLUSION: Increased fusion efficiency was associated with reduced viability. The protocol presented in this work might be helpful for future fusion studies as a prerequisite for comparable in vitro and human vaccination trials.