Laccase/TEMPO-mediated system for the thermodynamically disfavored oxidation of 2,2-dihalo-1-phenylethanol derivatives

Financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN-12-CTQ2011-24237), the Principado de Asturias (SV-PA-13-ECOEMP-42 and SV-PA-13-ECOEMP-43) and the Universidad de Oviedo (UNOV-13-EMERG-01 and UNOV-13-EMERG-07) is gratefully acknowledged. I. L. acknowledges MICINN for his research contract under the Ramón y Cajal Program. We thank Professor Dimas Suárez (University of Oviedo) for ab initio calculations and helpful discussions

Improving Site Shading Assessment from Digital Surface Models with Onsite LiDAR Measurements

Product integrated photovoltaic (PIPV) systems, can be severely impacted by shading in the surroundings as their collector area is typically small. To ensure the proper functioning of these devices, methodologies to estimate solar irradiance and near shading accurately and efficiently in built up locations are needed. Digital Surface Models (DSM) have proven to be a good alternative to estimate solar irradiance on building surfaces and urban areas. However, high-accuracy DSM are scarce, with limited availability and tend to show the maximum elevation of the obstructions elements disregarding their real shape. We propose a methodology with onsite LiDAR measurements to improve the accuracy to which the solar irradiance can be estimated in urban environments. This methodology produces horizon matrices which can reduce the estimated irradiance’s RMSE by 25-40% compared to fisheye sky imaging methodologies, and by 45-75% to the ones obtained with low-resolution DSMs. However, at locations with low shading profiles the differences are negligible

Practical two-step synthesis of an enantiopure aliphatic terminal (S)-epoxide based on reduction of haloalkanones with ``Designer Cells''

Berkessel A, Rollmann C, Chamouleau F, Labs S, May O, Gröger H. Practical two-step synthesis of an enantiopure aliphatic terminal (S)-epoxide based on reduction of haloalkanones with ``Designer Cells''. ADVANCED SYNTHESIS & CATALYSIS. 2007;349(17-18):2697-2704.A practical biocatalytic method for the synthesis of aliphatic P-halogenated (S)-alcohols as epoxide precursors by means of an enantioselective reduction of the corresponding ketones with recombinant whole cells, bearing an alcohol dehydrogenase and a glucose dehydrogenase, was developed. The biotransformations operate at high substrate concentrations of up to 208 g/L, and afford the (S)-beta-halohydrins with both high conversions of > 95 % and enantioselectivities of > 99 % ee. Base-induced cyclization of the P-halohydrin intermediates gave the desired (S)-epoxides in high yield and enantiomeric purity (> 99 % ee)