We report the 98% assignment of the apo-form of an orange protein, containing a novel Mo-Cu cluster isolated from Desulfovibrio gigas. This protein presents a region where backbone amide protons exchange fast with bulk solvent becoming undetectable. These residues were assigned using 13C-detection experiments.

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The two new pincer azomethine-thiophene ligands (N,NE',N,NE')-N,N'-(thiophene-2,5-diylbis(methan-1-yl-1-ylidene))bis(naphathalen-2-ylmethanamine) (L1) and (E)-(4,6-dihydropyren-1-yl)-N-((5-((E)-(pyren-1-ylmethylimino)ethyl)thiophen-2-yl)methylene)methanamine (L2), their absorption, fluorescence and MALDI-TOF-MS spectroscopic studies are described. The two systems synthesised combine the emissive probes pyrene and naphthyl with the good chelating properties of a tridentate SN2 donor-set from a thiophene Schiff-base ligand. Both ligands gave analytically pure solid complexes with Ni(II) and Pd(II) salts. The bichromophoric pyrene derivative L2 presents two emission bands in solution, one corresponding to the monomer species and a red-shifted band attributable to the intramolecular excimer. Ni(II) and Pd(II) complexation affects the conformation in solution, increasing the monomer emission at the expense of the excimer band; this effect could be explored in metal ion sensing. System L1 behaves as a non emissive probe. In situ complexation reactions followed by MALDI-TOF-MS spectrometry without matrix support have also been performed; these experiments show that L1 could be a potential chemosensor for Ni(II) and Pd(11). (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We present a study of the growth of silver clusters on a TiO2(110) substrate in ultra- high vacuum. The growth is monitored in situ by Low Energy Ion Scattering (LEIS) using He+ scattering and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and ex situ by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Experimental results show that the deposition rate, the substrate temperature and the annealing temperature are key parameters for controlling the size and morphology of the Ag clusters. By changing the deposition rate, the mean cluster diameter can vary from 5 to 20 nm. The growth of Ag at low substrate temperature shows a transition from quasi 2D flat islands to a 3D growth mode at submonolayer coverage. The substrate was annealed at different temperatures and the clusters shape controlled from a quasi 2D flat island to 3D sharp islands with a maximum substrate exposure, prior to cluster desorption.

The unique superelastic behaviour exhibited by shape memory alloys (SMAs) allows the material to recover after withstanding large deformations. This recovery takes place without any residual strains, while dissipating a considerable amount of energy. This property makes the SMAs particularly suitable for applications in vibration control devices. Numerical models, calibrated with experimental laboratory tests, are used to investigate the dynamic response of vibration control devices. These devices are built up of austenitic superelastic wires. The energy dissipation and re-centring capabilities, important features of these devices, are clearly illustrated by the numerical tests. One of these devices is tested as a seismic passive vibration control system in a simplified numerical model of a railway viaduct.