The results from experimental studies indicate that hyperthermia is both an effective complementary treatment to, and a strong sensitiser of, radiotherapy and many cytotoxic drugs. Since the first international hyperthermia conference in 1975, Washington DC, techniques to increase tumour temperature have been developed and tested clinically. Hyperthermia can be applied by several methods: local hyperthermia by external or internal energy sources, perfusion hyperthermia of organs, limbs, or body cavities, and whole body hyperthermia. The clinical value of hyperthermia in combination with other treatment modalities has been shown by randomised trials. Significant improvement in clinical outcome has been demonstrated for tumours of the head and neck, breast, brain, bladder, cervix, rectum, lung, oesophagus, for melanoma and sarcoma. The addition of hyperthermia resulted in remarkably higher (complete) response rates, accompanied by improved local tumour control rates, better palliative effects, and/or better overall survival rates. Toxicity from hyperthermia cannot always be avoided, but is usually of limited clinical relevance. In spite of these good clinical results, hyperthermia has received little attention. Problems with acceptance concern the limited availability of equipment, the lack of awareness concerning clinical results, and the lack of financial resources. In this paper the most relevant literature describing the clinical effects of hyperthermia is reviewed and discussed, and means to overcome the lack of awareness and use of this modality is described.

The catalytic activation of small neutral molecules followed by the formation of C-C bonds is a highly important method to increase the complexity and/or value of simple starting materials. Reported is an isolable digermyne, a compound with a Ge≡Ge bond, which acts as a precatalyst for the cyclotrimerization of terminal arylacetylenes to afford the corresponding 1,2,4-triarylbenzenes with absolute regioselectivity. The results demonstrate that bespoke main-group-element compounds can catalytically activate and transform small neutral organic molecules and induce the formation of C-C bonds.

A 1,3-digerma-2-silacyclopenta-1,2-diene, that is, a 1,3-digerma-2-silaallene incorporated into a five-membered ring system, was synthesized and obtained as a stable orange solid. Owing to incorporation into a cyclic framework, the 1,3-digerma-2-silaallene moiety is highly bent, exhibiting a Si character for the central silicon moiety.

A 1,2-digermabenzene bearing bulky substituents on its two germanium atoms was successfully synthesized and isolated as a stable, crystalline compound via the reaction of a digermyne precursor with 2 equiv of acetylene. Even though its molecular structure, which was revealed by X-ray crystallographic analysis, showed a trans-bent geometry for the Ge−Ge moiety, theoretical calculations suggested substantial levels of aromaticity.

Reactions between acetylenes and a stable digermyne bearing 4-t-Bu-2,6-[CH(SiMe 3 ) 2 ] 2 -C 6 H 2 (Tbb) groups afforded the corresponding stable 1,2-digermabenzenes together with the respective 1,4-digermabarrelenes. The properties of the obtained products and the reaction mechanism are discussed on the basis of experimental and theoretical results. Especially, the aromaticity of the newly obtained 1,2-digermabenzene has been discussed on the detailed calculations, revealing its aromatic character to some degree.