Near infrared (IR) applications have considerably profited from the use of flexible and robust fibre-optical probes. So far, a comparable technique for mid-IR was not available due to low stability and lack of robustness of the fibres. We report the use of a newly developed miniaturised diamond ATR-probe with high chemical resistance and pressure resistance based on robust fibre optics. The routine and convenient application in a glove box to highly air-and oxygen-sensitive reactions on a millilitre scale is reported, as well as the monitoring of a solventless reaction on a litre scale.

We describe for the first time an alternative and far more efficient method to synthesise functionalised ionic liquids in a simple, straightforward, two-step synthesis.

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In three words,h ow would you describe your research? Retrosynthetic biocatalysis (of) glycoconjugates. What aspects of this project do you find most exciting? The presented results were only possible by the joint expertise of two research groups and their dedicatedd octoral students within the DFG InternationalR esearch TrainingG roup "SeleCa-Selectivity in Chemo-and Biocatalysis" at RWTH Aachen University and Osaka University.T he Elling group is interested in the synthesis of glycan ligands and glycan inhibitors of galec-tins, al ectin class involved in tumor biology.W ew ere wondering about the possibility to synthesize oligomers with type 1 N-acetyllactosamine (LacNAc) repeats(yellow/blue sugar combination in the cover picture),w hich is known as an unusual glycan structure in somec ancer types. For this goal the expertise of the Pietruszkag roup in the use of glycosynthases was highly valuable. The combination of two glycosyltransferases (blue and red protein structures) and one galactosynthase (yellow protein structure) renders al ibrary of novel poly-LacNAc structures (the yellow/blue and red/blue sugars) in different combinations.T he most exciting aspect is that poly-LacNAc oligomers-not yet found in nature-presenting alternating type 2/type 1L acNAc structures can now be studied for galectin binding and inhibition. What was the inspiration for this cover design? Biocatalysis and especially multi-enzyme systems are av iable alternative fort he synthesis of complex glycan structures. The propera daptation of reaction conditions makes "juggling" with as et of enzymesp ossible. We present novel glycoconju-gates, not yet realized by chemical carbohydrate synthesis. Dedication and Acknowledgements Our paper is dedicated to our colleague Prof. Dr.W olf-Dieter Fessner on the occasion of his 60 th birthday.W ea cknowledge financial supporto fo ur work, as well as the realization of this cover picture, by the DFG within the IRTG 1628 "SeleCa". The front cover artwork for Issue 19/2015 is provided by the groups of Prof. Lothar Elling and Prof. Jçrg Pietruszka (RWTH Aachen University and Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf,r espectively). The image shows the combination ("juggling") of two glycosyltransferases(blue and red protein structures) and agalactosynthase (yellow proteinstructure) for the synthesis of ag lycan library. See the Full Paper itself at http://dx.