A bit of historyThe key role of surfaces for many material properties as well as for many biological processes has been recognized now. Therefore, new strategies aim at the tailoring of the material's surface only -or of a thin surface layer, respectively -, while preserving the bulk properties of the underlying support. Particular emphasis has been given to the surface modification by polymers, in an attempt to extend the known versatility of polymer bulk materials to ultrathin films and coatings, and to prepare bulk-surface composite materials. The self-organization of polymers has been increasingly explored for the preparation of well-defined surfaces and interfaces in recent years, extending the use of the established methods of low molar mass compounds (for comparative reviews, see ref. 1-3)). With such techniques, polymer films are formed spontaneously on substrates, due to balanced interactions between substrate, polymer (or its precursor) and medium. Typically, very thin, often monomolecular layers are produced. Repetitive deposition steps provide a precise control over the total thickness of the coatings, in the range from a few angstroms up to the micrometer range. Moreover, the step-by-step procedures allow for a fine structuring in the third dimension. In addition to the preparation of uniform and homogeneous coatings, gratings, gradients or steps of defined height in molecular dimensions can be easily constructed.The most recent of the self-organization techniques is the alternating physisorption of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, the so-called "layer-by-layer" method or "electrostatic self-assembly" (ESA) [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] . Although some early, singular studies of self-assembly by alternating adsorption of oppositely charged polyions are reported [11][12][13] , a practical method for ESA was developed Feature Article: The article presents the state-of-the-art of alternating physisorption of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, the so-called "layer-by-layer" method or "electrostatic self-assembly" (ESA), for the preparation of thin polymer coatings. In comparison to other, more established self-organization techniques, this recent method is distinguished by its simplicity, versatility, and speed. In particular, the tendency for self-healing is unique. Emphasis is given to the role of the molecular structure of the polyelectrolytes, and to the nature of the support. Also, various parameters for the preparation of multilayer films are highlighted, which are very important due to the kinetic control of the build-up process. The structure of the resulting coatings, their quality and stability, chemical reactions in the films, and potential applications are discussed.Macromol. Rapid Commun. 21, No. 7

International audienceThis review regards the use of dynamic electrochemistry to study the mechanism of redox enzymes, with exclusive emphasis on the configuration where the protein is adsorbed onto an electrode and electron tranfer is direct

Three catalysts for the electroreduction of oxygen have been prepared by pyrolyzing between 400 and 1000 °C two iron precursors (Fe acetate or Fe porphyrin) adsorbed on a synthetic carbon made from the pyrolysis of PTCDA (perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride) in a H 2 /NH 3 /Ar atmosphere. One Fe loading (0.2 wt %) has been used for the catalyst made from the salt precursor. Two Fe loadings (0.2 and 2.0 wt %) have been used for the catalyst made from the porphyrin precursor. These three catalysts have been analyzed by ToF SIMS and RDE (or GDE) in order to find correlations between ions detected by ToF SIMS and the catalytic activity. These correlations provide information about the number and the structure of the catalytic sites, which are active in these materials. By following the variation of FeN x C y + ions, it is found that (i) two different catalytic sites exist simultaneously in all catalysts made with the Fe salt or the Fe porphyrin; (ii) one site, named FeN 4 /C, is at the origin of three families of FeN x C y + ions: FeN 4 C y + , FeN 3 C y + , and FeN 1 C y + . The most representative ion of that site is FeN 4 C 8 + . The other site, labeled FeN 2 /C, is at the origin of the family of FeN 2 C y + ions. The most representative ion of that site is FeN 2 C 4 + ; (iii) the abundance of FeN 2 /C goes through a maximum for catalysts pyrolyzed between 700 and 900 °C. When Fe acetate is the Fe precursor, FeN 2 /C may represent up to 80% of the catalytic sites, while this falls to a maximum of about 50% when Fe porphyrin is the precursor; (iv) FeN 2 /C is more electrocatalytically active than FeN 4 /C; (v) at high porphyrin loading (2.0 wt % Fe), the catalytic sites bound to the carbon support are covered with a porous layer of pyrolyzed Fe porphyrin.

In hydrogenases and many other redox enzymes, the buried active site is connected to the solvent by a molecular channel whose structure may determine the enzyme's selectivity with respect to substrate and inhibitors. The role of these channels has been addressed using crystallography and molecular dynamics, but kinetic data are scarce. Using protein film voltammetry, we determined and then compared the rates of inhibition by CO and O2 in ten NiFe hydrogenase mutants and two FeFe hydrogenases. We found that the rate of inhibition by CO is a good proxy of the rate of diffusion of O2 toward the active site. Modifying amino acids whose side chains point inside the tunnel can slow this rate by orders of magnitude. We quantitatively define the relations between diffusion, the Michaelis constant for H2 and rates of inhibition, and we demonstrate that certain enzymes are slowly inactivated by O2 because access to the active site is slow.