innovations
Organometallic Antibiotics
In a collaborative effort, we developed potent organometallic antibacterials that have the highest antibacterial activities know to date! Their activity is on parr with that of vancomycin, and even surpasses that when considering the number of amino acids that are needed. It executes its activity by binding with the bacterial membrane, which leads to delocalisation of cyt C and Mur G. These proteins are crucial for its respiration and cell wall construction, respectively. We also found that the activities are related to the peculiar properties of the ruthenocene sandwich complex that is attached.
PNAS 2014, 111, E1409 • Chem. Sci.
2014, 5, 4435 • ACS Comb. Sci. 2013, 15, 585 • ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2012, 3, 980.
SAM linkers
My group has developed the first members of the SAM linker. These linkers allow acylation chemistry on a resin-bound alkyne-silyl compound. After cleavage with fluoride, a terminal alkyne is released that can be subjected to (one-pot) click or Sonogashira chemistry. The SAM-linker is compatible with both Fmoc- and Boc- chemistry. It is named after its inventors
Strack-Albada-Metzler-Nolte (but also stand for Silyl-based Alkyne Modifying linker).
J.Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 9954 • Org. Lett.
2013, 15, 3126 • Synthesis, 2014, 46, 2213 • Org. Chem. Front.
2015, 2, 531.
Making the Virtual Reality
We have developed a Virtual Reality application in which we allow students to build and run their own vacuum distillation setup. Running the simulation takes about 20–30 minutes. The simulation offers various pieces of glassware that can be used, also pieces that are not needed, such as an erlenmeyer. As such, we simulated a realistic environment in which the student can make choices without running the risk of being hurt. At the end, the simulation is started, the cooler fills up, and three colored fractions are collected. Also, a scoring sheet is displayed that not only mentions the score for the setup, but also lists the number of mistakes that have been made (if any). Also, a final comment is shown that states that the student has to write down the pressure and temperature at which each collected fraction boiled.
Together with Green Dino we want to convert this VR app for the Oculus Go into a web-based version, so that students can practice this at home.
The YouTube video on the right shows the first version of our Oculus Quest-based VR simulation with which we are going to simulate Grignard reactions. This work is performed by the universities in Wageningen and Groningen.
