Accurate Measurement of H–H Residual Dipolar Couplings in Proteins

A method for accurately measuring H^N–H^α residual dipolar couplings is described. Using this technique, both the sign and magnitude of the coupling can be determined easily. Residual dipolar coupling between H^N(i)–H^α(i) and H^N(i)–H^α(i-1) were measured for the FK506 binding protein complexed to FK506. The experimental values were in excellent agreement with predictions based on an X-ray crystal structure of the protein/ligand complex, suggesting that these residual dipolar couplings will provide accurate structural constraints for the refinement of protein structures determined by NMR.     

CH3O (X2 E)中电子-振动-自旋耦合能级的理论计算

基于透热模型,采用量子化学从头计算法研究了CH₃O(X²E)自由基中电子-振动-自旋轨道相互作用.透热势能面通过CASPT2/cc-pVTZ方法计算获得.通过对比实验数据,计算得到的电子-振动-自旋能级较以往的报道获得了更精确的计算结果. 关键词： 透热模型 姜-泰勒效应 电子-振动-自旋耦合     

Measurement of one and two bond N–C couplings in large proteins by TROSY-based J-modulation experiments

Residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) between NC′ and NC^α atoms in polypeptide backbones of proteins contain information on the orientation of bond vectors that is complementary to that contained in NH RDCs. The ¹J_NC^α and ²J_NC^α scalar couplings between these atoms also display a Karplus relation with the backbone torsion angles and report on secondary structure. However, these N–C couplings tend to be small and they are frequently unresolvable in frequency domain spectra having the broad lines characteristic of large proteins. Here a TROSY-based J-modulated approach for the measurement of small ¹⁵N–¹³C couplings in large proteins is described. The cross-correlation interference effects inherent in TROSY methods improve resolution and signal to noise ratios for large proteins, and the use of J-modulation to encode couplings eliminates the need to remove frequency distortions from overlapping peaks during data analysis. The utility of the method is demonstrated by measurement of ¹J_NC′, ¹J_NC^α, and ²J_NC^α scalar couplings and ¹D_NC′ and ¹D_NC^α residual dipolar couplings for the myristoylated yeast ARF1·GTPγs protein bound to small lipid bicelles, a system with an effective molecule weight of 70 kDa.     

Density, viscosity, and excess properties of the binary mixture of diethylene glycol monomethyl ether + water at T = (293.15, 303.15, 313.15, 323.15, 333.15) K under atmospheric pressure

Densities and viscosities have been measured as a function of composition for the binary liquid mixture of diethylene glycol monomethyl ether CH₃O(CH₂)₂O(CH₂)₂OH + water at T = (293.15, 303.15, 313.15, 323.15, 333.15) K under atmospheric pressure. Densities were determined using a capillary pycnometer. Viscosities were measured with Ubbelohde capillary viscometer. From the experimental data, the excess molar volumes V^E, and viscosity deviations δη, and the excess energies of activation for viscous flow ΔG^*E were calculated. These data have been correlated by the Redlich–Kister type equations to obtain their coefficients and standard deviations. The results suggest that molecular interaction between diethylene glycol monomethyl ether and water is strong.     

The application of a new approach based on organic homo‐rank compounds and homologous compounds to the structure–property relationship study of mono‐substituted alkanes

The two conceptual systems of organic homologous compounds and homo‐rank compounds give insight into the influence of structures on the properties of mono‐substituted alkanes X_i–(CH₂)_j–H from the transverse (change of repeating unit number j of CH₂) and longitudinal (change of functional group X_i) perspectives, respectively. This paper aims to combine the organic homo‐rank compounds approach together with the homologous compounds approach to explore the property change rules of mono‐substituted alkanes involving various substituents. Firstly, based on the concept of organic homologous compounds, the properties of mono‐substituted straight‐chain alkane homologues were linearly correlated to the two‐thirds power of the number of carbon atoms (N^2/3) in alkyl, and regression equations such as Q = A + BN^2/3 were obtained. The regression coefficients A and B vary with different substituents X_i, so coefficients A and B were employed to characterize the structural information of substituent X_i. The structural features of alkyls (–(CH₂)_j–H, that is, –C_jH_2j+1) were described by the polarizability effect index (PEI_(R)) and vertex degree–distance index (VDI). Then based on four parameters A, B, PEI_(R), and VDI, quantitative structure–property relationship models were built for the boiling points (Bp) and refractive indexes (n_D) of each mono‐substituted alkane homo‐rank series, where j = 3–10 and the substituents X_i involve F, Cl, Br, I, NO₂, CN, NH₂, COOH, CHO, OH, SH, and NC. Good results indicate that the combination of an organic homo‐rank compounds method and a homologous compounds method has exhibited obvious advantages over traditional methods in the quantitative structure–property relationship study of mono‐substituted alkanes concerning various substituents. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prediction of ortho substituent effect in alkaline hydrolysis of substituted phenyl benzoates in aqueous acetonitrile

The second‐order rate constants k (dm³mol^?1s^?1) for alkaline hydrolysis of meta‐, para‐ and ortho‐substituted phenyl esters of benzoic acid, C₆H₅CO₂C₆H₄‐X, in aqueous 50.9% (v/v) acetonitrile have been measured spectrophotometrically at 25 °C. In substituted phenyl benzoates, C₆H₅CO₂C₆H₄‐X, the substituent effects log k_X ? log k_H in aqueous 50.9% acetonitrile at 25 °C for para, meta and ortho derivatives showed good correlations with the Taft and Charton equations, respectively. Using the log k values for various media at 25 °C, the variation of the ortho substituent effect with solvent was found to be precisely described with the following equation: Δlog k_ortho = log k_ortho ? log k_H = 1.57σ_I + 0.93σ°_R + 1.08E_s^B ? 0.030ΔEσ_I ? 0.069ΔEσ°_R, where ΔE is the solvent electrophilicity, ΔE = E_S ? E_H20, characterizing the hydrogen‐bond donating power of the solvent. We found that the experimental log k values for ortho‐, para‐ and meta‐substituted phenyl benzoates in aqueous 50.9% acetonitrile at 25 °C, determined in the present work, precisely coincided with the log k values predicted with the equation (log k^X)_calc = (log k^H_AN)_exp + (Δlog k^X)_calc where the substituent effect (Δlog k^X)_calc was calculated from equation describing the variation of the substituent effect with the solvent electrophilicity parameter, using for aqueous 50.9% CH₃CN the solvent electrophilicity parameter, ΔE = ?5.84. In going from water to aqueous 50.9% CH₃CN, the ortho inductive term grows twice less as compared with the para polar effect. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The reaction of CH3 + O2: experimental determination of the rate coefficients for the product channels at high temperatures

The reaction of methyl radicals (CH₃) with molecular oxygen (O₂) has been investigated in high-temperature shock tube experiments. The overall rate coefficient, k₁ = k_1a + k_1b, and individual rate coefficients for the two high-temperature product channels, (1a) producing CH₃O + O and (1b) producing CH₂O + OH, were determined using ultra-lean mixtures of CH₃I and O₂ in Ar/He. Narrow-linewidth UV laser absorption at 306.7 nm was used to measure OH concentrations, for which the normalized rise time is sensitive to the overall rate coefficient k₁ but relatively insensitive to the branching ratio of the individual channels and to secondary reactions. Atomic resonance absorption spectroscopy measurements of O-atoms were used for a direct measurement of channel (1a). Through the combination of measurements using the two different diagnostics, rate coefficient expressions for both channels were determined. Over the temperature range 1590–2430 K, k_1a = 6.08 × 10⁷T^1.54 exp (−14005/T) cm³ mol⁻¹ s⁻¹ and k_1b = 68.6 T^2.86 exp (−4916/T) cm³ mol⁻¹ s⁻¹. The overall rate coefficient is in close agreement with a recent ab initio calculation and one other shock tube study, while comparison of k_1a and k_1b to these and other experimental studies yields mixed results. In contrast to one recent experimental study, reaction (1b) is found to be the dominant channel over the entire experimental temperature range.     

Chiral approach to nuclear matter: role of two-pion exchange with virtual delta-isobar excitation

We extend a recent three-loop calculation of nuclear matter by including the effects from two-pion exchange with single and double virtual Δ(1232)-isobar excitation. Regularization dependent short-range contributions from pion-loops are encoded in a few NN-contact coupling constants. The empirical saturation point of isospin-symmetric nuclear matter, , ρ₀=0.16 fm⁻³, can be well reproduced by adjusting the strength of a two-body term linear in density (and tuning an emerging three-body term quadratic in density). The nuclear matter compressibility comes out as K=304 MeV. The real single-particle potential U(p,k_f0) is substantially improved by the inclusion of the chiral πNΔ-dynamics: it grows now monotonically with the nucleon momentum p. The effective nucleon mass at the Fermi surface takes on a realistic value of M^*(k_f0)=0.88M. As a consequence of these features, the critical temperature of the liquid-gas phase transition gets lowered to the value T_c15 MeV. In this work we continue the complex-valued single-particle potential U(p,k_f)+iW(p,k_f) into the region above the Fermi surface p>k_f. The effects of 2π-exchange with virtual Δ-excitation on the nuclear energy density functional are also investigated. The effective nucleon mass associated with the kinetic energy density is . Furthermore, we find that the isospin properties of nuclear matter get significantly improved by including the chiral πNΔ-dynamics. Instead of bending downward above ρ₀ as in previous calculations, the energy per particle of pure neutron matter and the asymmetry energy A(k_f) now grow monotonically with density. In the density regime ρ=2ρ_n<0.2 fm⁻³ relevant for conventional nuclear physics our results agree well with sophisticated many-body calculations and (semi)-empirical values.     

Fourier transform emission spectroscopy of the TiF radical in the 407 nm region

Ultraviolet emission spectra of the TiF radical in the 407 nm region have been observed at a resolution of 0.04 cm⁻¹ using a Fourier transform spectrometer. A new electronic assignment of ⁴Γ–X⁴Φ has been proposed. Rotational analysis has been obtained for the 0–0 and 1–1 vibrational bands of the ⁴Γ_5/2–X⁴Φ_3/2, ⁴Γ_9/2–X⁴Φ_7/2, and ⁴Γ_11/2–X⁴Φ_9/2 subbands and the 0–0 band of ⁴Γ_7/2–X⁴Φ_5/2. The lower state rotational and centrifugal distortion constants are consistent with the previous results [J. Mol. Spectrosc. 184 (1997) 186; J. Chem. Phys. 119 (2003) 9496], to the conformation that the lower state of the 407 nm band is the ⁴Φ ground electronic state. Rough estimates of the vibrational interval ΔG(1/2) and the spin–orbit coupling constant A in the ⁴Γ state were also obtained.     

Densities, excess molar volumes, and viscosities of the binary and ternary mixtures of {diethylcarbonate (1) + p-chloroacetophenone (2) + 1-hexanol (3)} at 303.15 K for the liquid region and at ambient pressure

Densities ρ, dynamic viscosities η, of the ternary mixture (diethylcarbonate + p-chloroacetophenone + 1-hexanol) and the involved binary mixtures (diethylcarbonate + p-chloroacetophenone), (diethylcarbonate + 1-hexanol), and (p-chloroacetophenone + 1-hexanol) have been measured over the whole composition range at 303.15 K for the liquid region and at ambient pressure. The data obtained are used to calculate excess molar volumes V_m^E, excess partial molar volumes V¯_m,i^E, limiting excess partial molar volumes V¯_m,i^E,∞, and viscosity deviations Δη, of the binary and ternary mixtures. The data of excess molar volumes of the binary systems were fitted to the Redlich–Kister equation while for the ternary system the Cibulka equation was used. The McAllister's four body, and Kalidas and Laddha interaction models are used to correlate the kinematic viscosities of binary and ternary mixtures, respectively, to determine the fitting parameters and the standard deviations. The experimental data of the constitute binaries and ternary are analyzed to discuss the nature and strength of intermolecular interactions in these mixtures.