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Chandigarh Administration eases lockdown norms, prohibits liquor, tobacco consumption at public spaces




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Punjabi pop singer Moosewala booked for lockdown violation




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Case filed against Punjabi pop singer Sidhu Moose Wala, five cops




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Migrants block road in Punjab's Ludhiana over unavailability of ration




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Punjab Police arrest most wanted gangster Billa




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Punjab police arrests biggest drug smuggler from Sirsa




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Hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr admitted to hospital in critical condition




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Bihar, Delhi govts. spar over migrants’ train fare

Both claim they are footing the bill




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Coronavirus | ICMR, Bharat Biotech tie up for Indian COVID-19 vaccine

Virus strain from NIV Pune transferred.




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Hyderabad: Birthday party trigger for 45 coronavirus cases in LB Nagar




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Madhya Pradesh: Woman gives birth on roadside, and marches on for 160km




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Bengaluru: Two Covid-19 positive women give birth to 3 babies

Two women, who tested positive for Covid-19 and residents of the containment zone in Padarayanapura, Bengaluru, gave birth to three babies on Saturday morning. A 20-year-old woman delivered twin babies at the Trauma Care Centre. On Friday, a 34-year-old woman gave birth to a girl. Both women underwent C-sections.




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Exclusive App for Webinars - UI UX Case Study

This case study is part of a design challenge in which I was asked to explore live streaming as a media format.





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Covid-19: Pandemic may force automobile companies to adopt more automation on shop-floor

A digital shop-floor with specific interventions on planning and execution will become the new normal, says EY India Partner and Automotive Sector Leader Vinay Raghunath




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Super Moms! After Sushmita Sen's Miss India episode, Debina Bonnerjee's mom turns TV actor to Kajol from 'Baazigar'

Sushmita Sen won Miss India with a dress selected by a mother, and similarly, Debina played an important role resembling Kajol from Baazigar thanks to her mom




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'Co-morbidity, late hospitalization ailing Guj'

Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi (AIIMS-D), Dr Randeep Guleria on Saturday said that late hospitalization of Covid-19 patients due to fear of stigma and higher prevalence of co-morbid conditions like diabetes, hypertension, heart and kidney disease were key reasons behind the high number of Civid-19 deaths in Gujarat.




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Golden Globes makes temporary changes to foreign language film eligibility rules




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Netflix’s Mother’s Day watchlist: Lady Bird, Roma and others




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Punjab: Balbir Singh Senior admitted to a private hospital due to pneumonia




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‘I owe dinners to Brendon McCullum, KKR staff for that auction bid’: Pat Cummins




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Device for source position stabilization and beam parameter monitoring at inverse Compton X-ray sources

Compact X-ray sources based on inverse Compton scattering provide brilliant and partially coherent X-rays in a laboratory environment. The cross section for inverse Compton scattering is very small, requiring high-power laser systems as well as small laser and electron beam sizes at the interaction point to generate sufficient flux. Therefore, these systems are very sensitive to distortions which change the overlap between the two beams. In order to monitor X-ray source position, size and flux in parallel to experiments, the beam-position monitor proposed here comprises a small knife edge whose image is acquired with an X-ray camera specifically designed to intercept only a very small fraction of the X-ray beam. Based on the source position drift recorded with the monitor, a closed-loop feedback stabilizes the X-ray source position by adjusting the laser beam trajectory. A decrease of long-term source position drifts by more than one order of magnitude is demonstrated with this device. Consequently, such a closed-loop feedback system which enables stabilization of source position drifts and flux of inverse Compton sources in parallel to experiments has a significant impact on the performance of these sources.




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Scientific instrument Femtosecond X-ray Experiments (FXE): instrumentation and baseline experimental capabilities

The European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (EuXFEL) delivers extremely intense (>1012 photons pulse−1 and up to 27000 pulses s−1), ultrashort (<100 fs) and transversely coherent X-ray radiation, at a repetition rate of up to 4.5 MHz. Its unique X-ray beam parameters enable novel and groundbreaking experiments in ultrafast photochemistry and material sciences at the Femtosecond X-ray Experiments (FXE) scientific instrument. This paper provides an overview of the currently implemented experimental baseline instrumentation and its performance during the commissioning phase, and a preview of planned improvements. FXE's versatile instrumentation combines the simultaneous application of forward X-ray scattering and X-ray spectroscopy techniques with femtosecond time resolution. These methods will eventually permit exploitation of wide-angle X-ray scattering studies and X-ray emission spectroscopy, along with X-ray absorption spectroscopy, including resonant inelastic X-ray scattering and X-ray Raman scattering. A suite of ultrafast optical lasers throughout the UV–visible and near-IR ranges (extending up to mid-IR in the near future) with pulse length down to 15 fs, synchronized to the X-ray source, serve to initiate dynamic changes in the sample. Time-delayed hard X-ray pulses in the 5–20 keV range are used to probe the ensuing dynamic processes using the suite of X-ray probe tools. FXE is equipped with a primary monochromator, a primary and secondary single-shot spectrometer, and a timing tool to correct the residual timing jitter between laser and X-ray pulses.




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BioStruct-Africa: empowering Africa-based scientists through structural biology knowledge transfer and mentoring – recent advances and future perspectives

Being able to visualize biology at the molecular level is essential for our understanding of the world. A structural biology approach reveals the molecular basis of disease processes and can guide the design of new drugs as well as aid in the optimization of existing medicines. However, due to the lack of a synchrotron light source, adequate infrastructure, skilled persons and incentives for scientists in addition to limited financial support, the majority of countries across the African continent do not conduct structural biology research. Nevertheless, with technological advances such as robotic protein crystallization and remote data collection capabilities offered by many synchrotron light sources, X-ray crystallography is now potentially accessible to Africa-based scientists. This leap in technology led to the establishment in 2017 of BioStruct-Africa, a non-profit organization (Swedish corporate ID: 802509-6689) whose core aim is capacity building for African students and researchers in the field of structural biology with a focus on prevalent diseases in the African continent. The team is mainly composed of, but not limited to, a group of structural biologists from the African diaspora. The members of BioStruct-Africa have taken up the mantle to serve as a catalyst in order to facilitate the information and technology transfer to those with the greatest desire and need within Africa. BioStruct-Africa achieves this by organizing workshops onsite at our partner universities and institutions based in Africa, followed by post-hoc online mentoring of participants to ensure sustainable capacity building. The workshops provide a theoretical background on protein crystallography, hands-on practical experience in protein crystallization, crystal harvesting and cryo-cooling, live remote data collection on a synchrotron beamline, but most importantly the links to drive further collaboration through research. Capacity building for Africa-based researchers in structural biology is crucial to win the fight against the neglected tropical diseases, e.g. ascariasis, hookworm, trichuriasis, lymphatic filariasis, active trachoma, loiasis, yellow fever, leprosy, rabies, sleeping sickness, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, etc., that constitute significant health, social and economic burdens to the continent. BioStruct-Africa aims to build local and national expertise that will have direct benefits for healthcare within the continent.




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X-ray radiation damage to biological samples: recent progress

With the continuing development of beamlines for macromolecular crystallography (MX) over the last few years providing ever higher X-ray flux densities, it has become even more important to be aware of the effects of radiation damage on the resulting structures. Nine papers in this issue cover a range of aspects related to the physics and chemistry of the manifestations of this damage, as observed in both MX and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) on crystals, solutions and tissue samples. The reports include measurements of the heating caused by X-ray irradiation in ruby microcrystals, low-dose experiments examining damage rates as a function of incident X-ray energy up to 30 keV on a metallo-enzyme using a CdTe detector of high quantum efficiency as well as a theoretical analysis of the gains predicted in diffraction efficiency using these detectors, a SAXS examination of low-dose radiation exposure effects on the dissociation of a protein complex related to human health, theoretical calculations describing radiation chemistry pathways which aim to explain the specific structural damage widely observed in proteins, investigation of radiation-induced damage effects in a DNA crystal, a case study on a metallo-enzyme where structural movements thought to be mechanism related might actually be radiation-damage-induced changes, and finally a review describing what X-ray radiation-induced cysteine modifications can teach us about protein dynamics and catalysis. These papers, along with some other relevant literature published since the last Journal of Synchrotron Radiation Radiation Damage special issue in 2017, are briefly summarized below.




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Progress in HAXPES performance combining full-field k-imaging with time-of-flight recording

An alternative approach to hard-X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) has been established. The instrumental key feature is an increase of the dimensionality of the recording scheme from 2D to 3D. A high-energy momentum microscope detects electrons with initial kinetic energies up to 8 keV with a k-resolution of 0.025 Å−1, equivalent to an angular resolution of 0.034°. A special objective lens with k-space acceptance up to 25 Å−1 allows for simultaneous full-field imaging of many Brillouin zones. Combined with time-of-flight (ToF) parallel energy recording this yields maximum parallelization. Thanks to the high brilliance (1013 hν s−1 in a spot of <20 µm diameter) of beamline P22 at PETRA III (Hamburg, Germany), the microscope set a benchmark in HAXPES recording speed, i.e. several million counts per second for core-level signals and one million for d-bands of transition metals. The concept of tomographic k-space mapping established using soft X-rays works equally well in the hard X-ray range. Sharp valence band k-patterns of Re, collected at an excitation energy of 6 keV, correspond to direct transitions to the 28th repeated Brillouin zone. Measured total energy resolutions (photon bandwidth plus ToF-resolution) are 62 meV and 180 meV FWHM at 5.977 keV for monochromator crystals Si(333) and Si(311) and 450 meV at 4.0 keV for Si(111). Hard X-ray photoelectron diffraction (hXPD) patterns with rich fine structure are recorded within minutes. The short photoelectron wavelength (10% of the interatomic distance) `amplifies' phase differences, making full-field hXPD a sensitive structural tool.




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X-ray fluorescence analysis of metal distributions in cryogenic biological samples using large-acceptance-angle SDD detection and continuous scanning at the Hard X-ray Micro/Nano-Probe beamline P06 at PETRA III

A new Rococo 2 X-ray fluorescence detector was implemented into the cryogenic sample environment at the Hard X-ray Micro/Nano-Probe beamline P06 at PETRA III, DESY, Hamburg, Germany. A four sensor-field cloverleaf design is optimized for the investigation of planar samples and operates in a backscattering geometry resulting in a large solid angle of up to 1.1 steradian. The detector, coupled with the Xspress 3 pulse processor, enables measurements at high count rates of up to 106 counts per second per sensor. The measured energy resolution of ∼129 eV (Mn Kα at 10000 counts s−1) is only minimally impaired at the highest count rates. The resulting high detection sensitivity allows for an accurate determination of trace element distributions such as in thin frozen hydrated biological specimens. First proof-of-principle measurements using continuous-movement 2D scans of frozen hydrated HeLa cells as a model system are reported to demonstrate the potential of the new detection system.




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Time dependence of X-ray polarizability of a crystal induced by an intense femtosecond X-ray pulse

The time evolution of the electron density and the resulting time dependence of the X-ray polarizability of a crystal irradiated by highly intense XFEL femtosecond pulses is investigated theoretically. Rate equations for bound electrons and the Boltzmann equation for the unbound electron gas are used in calculations.




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Pressure effects on lipids and bio-membrane assemblies

Pressure can play a key role in probing the structure and dynamics of membrane assemblies, and is also critical to the biology and adaptation of deep-sea organisms. This article presents an overview of the effect of pressure on the structure of membranes and recent developments in high-pressure instrumentation.




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The indexing ambiguity in serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) resolved using an expectation maximization algorithm

An expectation maximization algorithm is implemented to resolve the indexing ambiguity which arises when merging data from many crystals in protein crystallography, especially in cases where partial reflections are recorded in serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) at XFELs.




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Binding site asymmetry in human transthyretin: insights from a joint neutron and X-ray crystallographic analysis using perdeuterated protein

A neutron crystallographic study of perdeuterated transthyretin reveals important aspects of the structure relating to its stability and its propensity to form fibrils, as well as evidence of a single water molecule that affects the symmetry of the two binding pockets.




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Capability of X-ray diffraction for the study of microstructure of metastable thin films

PLEASE REDUCE TO 1-2 SENTENCES. The capability of X-ray diffraction for the microstructure investigations of metastable systems is illustrated on the example of thin films of titanium aluminium nitrides with high aluminium content, which are supersaturated and partially decomposed. In addition to the chemical composition, the surface mobility of the deposited species was employed as a factor influencing the microstructure of the thin films. It is shown how the micromechanical properties of the partially decomposed (Ti,Al)N thin films, which were deduced from the synchrotron diffraction experiments, are related to the thin film microstructure and to the decomposition mechanism. The prominent role of the crystallographic anisotropy of the macroscopic and microscopic lattice deformations in the understanding of the micromechanical properties is addressed.







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Structure-based screening of binding affinities via small-angle X-ray scattering

Protein–protein and protein–ligand interactions often involve conformational changes or structural rearrangements that can be quantified by solution small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). These scattering intensity measurements reveal structural details of the bound complex, the number of species involved and, additionally, the strength of interactions if carried out as a titration. Although a core part of structural biology workflows, SAXS-based titrations are not commonly used in drug discovery contexts. This is because prior knowledge of expected sample requirements, throughput and prediction accuracy is needed to develop reliable ligand screens. This study presents the use of the histidine-binding protein (26 kDa) and other periplasmic binding proteins to benchmark ligand screen performance. Sample concentrations and exposure times were varied across multiple screening trials at four beamlines to investigate the accuracy and precision of affinity prediction. The volatility ratio between titrated scattering curves and a common apo reference is found to most reliably capture the extent of structural and population changes. This obviates the need to explicitly model scattering intensities of bound complexes, which can be strongly ligand-dependent. Where the dissociation constant is within 102 of the protein concentration and the total exposure times exceed 20 s, the titration protocol presented at 0.5 mg ml−1 yields affinities comparable to isothermal titration calorimetry measurements. Estimated throughput ranges between 20 and 100 ligand titrations per day at current synchrotron beamlines, with the limiting step imposed by sample handling and cleaning procedures.




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Chirality in Biological Nanospaces: Reactions in Active Sites. By Nilashis Nandi. Pp. 209. CRC Press, 2011. Price £79.99. ISBN 9781439840023.




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Solution structure and assembly of β-amylase 2 from Arabidopsis thaliana

Solution structure of β-amylase 2 from Arabidopsis thaliana shows the role of the conserved N-terminus in enzyme tetramer formation.




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The crystal structure of the heme d1 biosynthesis-associated small c-type cytochrome NirC reveals mixed oligomeric states in crystallo

The crystal structure of the c-type cytochrome NirC from Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been determined and reveals the simultaneous presence of monomers and 3D domain-swapped dimers in the same asymmetric unit.




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Structure of ClpC1-NTD in complex with the anti-TB natural product ecumicin reveals unique binding interactions

Comparison of the structures of ClpC1-Ecumicin and ClpC1-Rufomycin reveals unique interaction relevant to the mode of action.




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Structural basis of carbohydrate binding in domain C of a type I pullulanase from Paenibacillus barengoltzii




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2,3-Di­chloro-3',4'-di­hydroxy­biphen­yl

The title compound [systematic name: 4-(2,3-Dichlorophenyl)benzene-1,2-diol], C12H8Cl2O2, is a putative di­hydroxy­lated metabolite of 2,3-di­chloro­biphenyl (PCB 5). The title structure displays intra­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonding, and the π–π stacking distance between inversion-related chlorinated benzene rings of the title compound is 3.371 (3) Å. The dihedral angle between two benzene rings is 59.39 (8)°.




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Polymeric poly[[decaaquabis(μ6-1,8-disulfonato-9H-carbazole-3,6-dicarboxylato)di-μ3-hydroxy-pentazinc] decahydrate]

The asymmetric unit of the title MOF, [Zn5(C14H5NO10S2)2(OH)2(H2O)10]n comprises three ZnII atoms, one of which is located on a centre of inversion, a tetra-negative carboxyl­ate ligand, one μ3-hydroxide and five water mol­ecules, each of which is coordinated. The ZnII atom, lying on a centre of inversion, is coordinated by trans sulfoxide-O atoms and four water mol­ecules in an octa­hedral geometry. Another ZnII atom is coordinated by two carboxyl­ate-O atoms, one hy­droxy-O, one sulfoxide-O and a water-O atom to define a distorted trigonal–bipyramidal geometry; a close Zn⋯O(carboxyl­ate) inter­action derived from an asymmetrically coordinating ligand (Zn—O = 1.95 and 3.07 Å) suggests a 5 + 1 coordination geometry. The third ZnII atom is coordinated in an octa­hedral fashion by two hy­droxy-O atoms, one carboxyl­ate-O, one sulfoxide-O and two water-O atoms, the latter being mutually cis. In all, the carboxyl­ate ligand binds six ZnII ions leading to a three-dimensional architecture. In the crystal, all acidic donors form hydrogen bonds to oxygen acceptors to contribute to the stability of the three-dimensional architecture.




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1,3-Bis{[(2,6-di­methyl­phen­yl)sulfan­yl]meth­yl}benzene

The structure of the title compound, C24H26S2, an example of a pincer ligand with an SCS-chelation motif, illustrates the steric effects of the methyl groups in the thio­phenyl rings at the 2- and 6-positions, forcing a dissimilar spatial orientation of the thio­phenyl rings relative to the central aryl group [dihedral angles = 33.58 (7) and 40.49 (7)°]. In the crystal, weak S⋯S contacts [3.4009 (7) Å] link the mol­ecules into inversion dimers.




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Crystal structure of bis­(1-ethyl-1H-imidazole-κN3)(meso-tetra­mesitylporphyrinato-κ4N,N',N'',N''')iron(III) perchlorate chloro­benzene sesquisolvate

In the complex cation of title compound, [Fe(C56H52N4)(C5H8N2)2]ClO4·1.5C6H5Cl, the ironIII atom is coordinated in a distorted octa­hedral manner by four pyrrole N atoms of the porphyrin ring system in the equatorial plane, and by two N atoms of the 1-ethyl­imidazole ligands in the axial sites. A disordered perchlorate anion and one and a half chloro­benzene solvent mol­ecules are also present. The cationic complex exhibits a highly ruffled porphyrin core. The average Fe—Np (Np is a porphyrin N atom) bond length is 1.988 (5), and the axial Fe—NIm (NIm is an imidazole N atom) bond lengths are 1.962 (3) and 1.976 (3) Å. The two 1-ethyl­imidazole ligands are inclined to each other by a dihedral angle of 68.62 (16)°. The dihedral angles between the 1-ethyl­imidazole planes and the planes of the closest Fe—Np vector are 28.52 (18) and 43.57 (13)°. Inter­molecular C—H⋯Cl inter­actions are observed.




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Crystal structure of bis­(benzoato-κO)[5,15-diphenyl-10,20-bis­(pyridin-4-yl)porphyrinato-κ4N,N',N'',N''']tin(IV)

In the crystal structure of the title compound, [Sn(C42H26N6)(C7H5O2)2], the SnIV ion is located on a crystallographic inversion centre and is octa­hedrally coordinated with an N4O2 set. Four N atoms of the porphyrin ring form the equatorial plane while the axial positions are occupied by two O atoms from benzoate anions. The molecular packing of the title complex involves non-classical hydrogen bonds of the types C—H⋯O and C—H⋯N, leading to a three-dimensional network structure.




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Bis[benzyl 2-(heptan-4-yl­idene)hydrazine-1-carboxyl­ate]bis­(thio­cyanato)­cobalt(II)

The title compound, [Co(NCS)2(C15H22N2O2)2] or C32H44CoN6O4S2, was prepared from cobalt(II) nitrate, benzyl carbazate and ammonium thio­cyanate in the presence of 4-hepta­none. The compound crystallizes with two centrosymmetric complexes in which the cobalt(II) atoms have a trans-CoO2N4 octa­hedral coordination geometry. In the crystal, N—H⋯S, C—H⋯S and C—H⋯.π contacts stack the complex mol­ecules along the b-axis direction.




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Bis(15-crown-5-κ5O)barium tetra­kis­(iso­thio­cynato-κN)zinc(II)

In the title compound, [Ba(C10H20O5)2][Zn(NCS)4], the 15-crown-5 mol­ecules are disordered over two positions with site occupancies of 0.706 (4) and 0.294 (4). The Ba2+ ions are sandwiched between the 15-crown-5 rings and Zn2+ ions are surrounded by four N atoms from the thio­cyanate ligands in a distorted tetra­hedral geometry. The crystal studied was refined as an inversion twin.




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7-(Biphenyl-4-yl)-6-hy­droxy­indan-1-one

The title compound, C21H16O2, was isolated from the reaction of 1-(2-meth­oxy­eth­oxy)-1-vinyl­cyclo­propane, 4-ethynylbiphenyl, and CO in a [5 + 1 + 2 + 1] cyclo­addition reaction catalysed by [Rh(CO)2Cl]2. The crystals precipitated directly from the crude reaction mixture. A hydrogen-bonding framework between the hy­droxy and carbonyl groups of a symmetry-related neighbour connects the mol­ecules into chains running parallel to the crystallographic c axis. A minor non-merohedral twin component was included in the refinement.




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Bis(2-methyl­lactato)borate tetra­hydrate

The asymmetric unit of the title compound (systematic name: 3,3,8,8-tetra­methyl-1,4,6,9-tetra­oxa-λ4-bora­spiro­[4.4]nonane-2,7-dione tetra­hydrate), C8H12BO6·4H2O, consists of half a bis­(2-methyl­lactato)borate mol­ecule and two water mol­ecules of solvation. In the crystal, O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the components into a three-dimensional network.