Understanding adaptation to extreme environments remains a challenge of high biotechnological potential for fundamental molecular biology. The cytosol of many microorganisms, isolated from saline environments, reversibly accumulates molar concentrations of the osmolyte ectoine to counterbalance fluctuating external salt concentrations. Although they have been studied extensively by thermodynamic and spectroscopic methods, direct experimental structural data have, so far, been lacking on ectoine-water-protein interactions. In this paper, in vivo deuterium labeling, small angle neutron scattering, neutron membrane diffraction and inelastic scattering are combined with neutron liquids diffraction to characterize the extreme ectoine-containing solvent and its effects on purple membrane of H. salinarum and E. coli maltose binding protein. The data reveal that ectoine is excluded from the hydration layer at the membrane surface and does not affect membrane molecular dynamics, and prove a previous hypothesis that ectoine is excluded from a monolayer of dense hydration water around the soluble protein. Neutron liquids diffraction to atomic resolution shows how ectoine enhances the remarkable properties of H-bonds in water—properties that are essential for the proper organization, stabilization and dynamics of biological structures.

Polyphenol-based supramolecular hydrogels have recently attracted much attention as smart materials for applications in several technologies. Although great advances have been made in this field, there is a challenging need...

The structure of Nafion 117 membranes was studied through SAXS experiments and 2D pattern simulations. Measurements were taken for different moisture conditions by synchrotron radiation, and for different temperatures through X-ray tube irradiation. The experimental profiles were fitted through simulations based on a new structural model including: the amorphous polymer matrix, polymer crystallites, and inverse core-shell type channels conformed by water cylinders and sulfonic chains. The geometrical parameters intervening in the simulation of the SAXS patterns were optimized for each experimental condition. This approach allowed the proper description of the experimental SAXS profiles for the various moisture conditions studied. In addition, a recent lamelar model was also included in the assessments, and the corresponding performances were discussed.

The magnetic response, coercive force and magnetic induction, in Fe-10at.% Si, Fe-6at.% Al-9at.% Si and Fe-4at.% Al-8at.% Ge alloys as a function of the annealing temperature was determined and correlated to the microstructural state. The microstructural characterization was made through differential thermal analysis, mechanical spectroscopy and neutron thermodiffraction studies. It has been determined that the increase in the order degree and the decrease in the mobility of structural defects lead to a deterioration of the magnetic quality of the alloys above detailed.