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Front cover of Starch/Stärke 2009.
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Editorial for the 2009 Edition of Starch/Stärke:

The art of processing starch and other polysaccharides obtained from natural sources has been accumulated in numerous processes and applications, many of which have been well documented in the journal Starch/Stärke which you now hold in your hands. Undoubtedly, a large number of excellent papers have been published here in the 60 years since it was first launched in 1949. The importance of the starch-processing industry and academic institutions dealing with the properties of saccharides is also underlined by the fact that the "Fachgruppe Lebensmittelchemie" (Lebensmittelchemische Gesellschaft LChG), that is, the Food Chemistry Section, is the largest subsection of the German Chemical Society GDCh.

Now, after 2001, 2003, and 2005, for the fourth time I have the opportunity to display a small molecular model of the most important industrial carbohydrate raw material, starch, on the cover. Most notably, the very first scientific article published by Starch/Stärke exactly 60 years ago by Prof. Dr. E. Husemann ("Neue Untersuchungen über Stärkekonstitution und Stärkeeigenschaften", Starch/Stärke 1949, 1, 5-9) outlined the importance of knowledge about polymers based on six fundamental parameters: the chemical nature of the monomer units, type of connectivity, type of end groups, degree of polymerisation, molecular shape, and supramolecular structure. In the case of starch, immense progress has been achieved since then, but in many cases of industrial interest the molecular shape and in particular the molecular aggregation of the compounds under investigation remain mysteriously veiled. The cover graphics are intended as a reminder that, behind all our activities, chemical molecules are the main actors on stage, and that in many cases structural models are required to understand their behaviour. Though I am well aware that it still remains exceedingly difficult, even experimentally impossible, to obtain exact structures of polymeric materials, heuristic models may serve the same purpose. A simple model, however crude, even when obtained with limited knowledge and time, may help to solve problems and thus lead to new discoveries and scientific learning. In this context and in view of this journal's cover graphics, the title quote by I. S. Turgenev from my first paper published here ("Evolution of the Structural Representation of Sucrose", Starch/Stärke 1991, 43, 121-132) still holds, even 60 years after Starch/Stärke was founded: "a picture may instantly present what a book could set forth only in a hundred pages".

Stefan Immel

For further details see: Additional Graphics

Front cover of Journal of Bacteriology 2008, 190(9).

Cover photograph (Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.):
Solvent-accessible surfaces of sucrose 6-phosphate and its five phosphorylated isomers (front-opened). Conformational analysis of the phosphorylated compounds in the solution state was accomplished by molecular dynamics simulations. The glucose 6-phosphate moiety is shown in the left-hand orientation, and fructose projects to the right. The vertical orientation of the fructosyl moiety of sucrose 6-phosphate renders the molecule almost spherical, whereas the five isomeric 6′-phosphates assume an extended, more linear conformation. Row 1, trehalulose 6′-P and sucrose 6-P; row 2, turanose 6′-P and maltulose 6′-P; row 3, leucrose 6′-P and palatinose 6′-P.
Photo courtesy of Stefan Immel, Institut für Organische Chemie, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany.

For further details see: The sim Operon Facilitates the Transport and Metabolism of Sucrose Isomers in Lactobacillus casei ATCC 334. J. Thompson, N. Jakubovics, B. Abraham, S. Hess, and A. Pikis, Journal of Bacteriology 2008, 190(9), 3362-3373.

Inside cover of Angew. Chem. 2007, 119(35); Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2007,46(35).

The dimeric pyrrole-imidazole alkaloid massadine chloride was isolated from the Caribbean sponge Stylissa caribica. M. Köck, P. S. Baran, and co-workers describe in their Communication on page 6721 ff. how they were able to elucidate the structure of this natural product. The compound was unambiguously demonstrated to be the biosynthetic precursor of massadine. Results of experiments and calculations give evidence that the biosynthesis of other complex pyrrole-imidazole alkaloids run through a common intermediate.

Das dimere Pyrrol-Imidazol-Alkaloid Massadinchlorid wurde aus dem karibischen Schwamm Stylissa caribica isoliert. M. Köck, P. S. Baran und Mitarbeiter beschreiben in ihrer Zuschrift auf S. 6842 ff., wie es ihnen gelang, die Struktur des Naturstoffs aufzuklären. Die Verbindung wurde darüber hinaus als Vorstufe in der Biosynthese von Massadin identifiziert. Ergebnisse aus Experimenten und Rechnungen deuten darauf hin, dass die Biosynthese verschiedener komplexer Pyrrol-Imidazol-Alkaloide über eine gemeinsame Vorstufe verläuft.

For further details see: Massadine Chloride: A Biosynthetic Precursor of Massadine and Stylissadine. A. Grube, S. Immel, P. S. Baran, and M. Köck, Angew. Chem. 2007, 119, 6842-6845, 8253; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2007,46, 6721-6724, 8107.

Front cover of Starch/Stärke 2005.
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For further details see: Additional Graphics

Front cover of Starch/Stärke 2003.
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For further details see: Additional Graphics

Front cover of Starch/Stärke 2001.
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For further details see: The Hydrophobic Topographies of Amylose and its Blue Iodine Complex.
S. Immel and F. W. Lichtenthaler, Starch/Stärke 2000, 52, 1-8.
Abstract / Fulltext PDF / Additional Graphics

Front cover of the Proceedings of the 9^th Internat. Symp. on Cyclodextrins (Eds.: J. J. Torres-Labandeira and J. L. Vila Jato), Kluwer Acad. Publ., Dordrecht, NL, 1998.
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For further details see: α-Cycloaltrin: Conformation and Properties in the Solid-State and Aqueous Solution.
S. Immel, G. E. Schmitt, and F. W. Lichtenthaler, this volume pp. 41-48.
Abstract / Additional Graphics

Front cover of the Proceedings of the 8^th Internat. Symp. on Cyclodextrins (Eds.: J. Szejtli and L. Szente), Kluwer Acad. Publ., Dordrecht, NL, 1996.
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For further details see: The Lipophilicity Patterns of Cyclodextrins and of Non-glucose Cyclooligosaccharides.
F. W. Lichtenthaler and S. Immel, this volume pp. 3-16.
Abstract / Additional Graphics