Mechanistic studies on covalent assemblies of metal-mediated hemi-aminal ethers

The use of reversible covalent bonding in a four-component assembly incorporating chiral alcohols was recently reported to give a method for determining the enantiomeric excess of the alcohols via CD spectroscopy. Experiments that probe the mechanism of this assembly, which consists of 2-formylpyridine (2-PA), dipicolylamine (DPA), Zn(ii) and alcohols to yield zinc complexes of tren-like ligands, are presented. The studies focus upon the mechanism of conversion of a hemi-aminal (1) to a hemi-aminal ether (3), thereby incorporating the fourth component. It was found that molecular sieves along with 3 to 4 equivalents of alcohol are required to drive the conversion of 1 to 3. Attempts to isolate an intermediate in this reaction via addition of strong Lewis acids led to the discovery of a five-membered ring pyridinium salt (5), but upon exposure to Zn(ii) and alcohols gave different products to the assembly. This was interpreted to support the intermediacy of an iminium species. Kinetic studies reveal that the conversion of 1 to 3 is zero-order in alcohol in large excesses of alcohol, supporting rate-determining formation of an intermediate prior to reaction with alcohol. Further, the magnitudes of the rate constants for interconversion of 1 and 3 are similar, supporting the notion that there are similar rate-determining steps (rds) for the forward and reverse reactions. Hammett plots show that the rds involves creation of a negative charge (interpreted as the loss of positive charge), supporting the notion that the decomplexation of Zn(ii) from the assemblies to generate apo-forms of 1 and 3 is rate-determining. The individual mechanistic conclusions are combined to create a qualitative reaction coordinate diagram for the interconversion of 1 and 3.     

Photofunctional Platinum Complexes Featuring N‐heterocyclic Carbene‐Based Pincer Ligands

Photoactive platinum complexes of stoichiometry [Pt(^RCCC^R)L]^0/+ (R=Me, nBu and L=? CN, ? C≡CPh, ? N≡CCH₃, ? Py, ? CO) featuring pincer‐type bis N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands (^RCCC^R) were synthesized. Organometallic syntheses of these complexes are facile and achievable through standard laboratory procedures. Control of intermolecular Pt???Pt interaction, π–π stacking, and emission tuning is achieved through suitable choice of the NHC‐wingtip substituent (R) and the auxiliary ligand (L). Exposure to specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or mechanical grinding triggers changes in emission colors, which render these complexes photofunctional. Solid‐state structures and photoluminescence results are described herein.     

A Molecular Dynamics Study on Controlling the Self‐Assembly of β‐Sheet Peptides with Designer Nanorings

Recently, a rational approach for constructing β‐barrel protein mimics by the self‐assembly of peptide‐based building blocks has been demonstrated. We performed molecular dynamics simulations of nanoring formation by means of the self‐assembly of designed β‐sheet‐forming peptides. Several factors contributing to the stability of the nanoring structures with respect to size were investigated. Our simulations predicted that an optimal nanoring size may be achieved by minimizing repulsions due to steric hindrance between bulky groups while maintaining favorable hydrogen‐bond interactions between neighboring β‐sheet chains. It was shown that mutations in a test peptide, in which all or half of the tryptophan residues were replaced by phenylalanine, could enable the assembly of stable nanoring structures with smaller pore sizes. Insights into the fundamental factors driving the formation of peptide‐based nanostructures are expected to facilitate the design of novel functional bionanostructures.     

A structural remedy toward bright dipolar fluorophores in aqueous media

The donor–acceptor (D–A) type dipolar fluorophores, an important class of luminescent dyes with two-photon absorption behaviour, generally emit strongly in organic solvents but poorly in aqueous media. To understand and enhance the poor emission behaviour of dipolar dyes in aqueous media, we undertake a rational approach that includes a systematic structure variation of the donor, amino substituent of acedan, an important two-photon dye. We identify several factors that influence the emission behaviour of the dipolar dyes in aqueous media through computational and photophysical studies on new acedan derivatives. As a result, we can make acedan dyes emit bright fluorescence under one- and two-photon excitation in aqueous media by suppressing the liable factors for poor emission: 1,3-allylic strain, rotational freedom, and hydrogen bonding with water. We also validate that these findings can be generally extended to other dipolar fluorophores, as demonstrated for naphthalimide, coumarin and (4-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazol-7-yl)amine (NBD) dyes. The new acedan and naphthalimide dyes thus allow us to obtain much brighter two-photon fluorescent images in cells and tissues than in their conventional forms. As an application of these findings, a thiol probe is synthesized based on a new naphthalimide dye, which shows greatly enhanced fluorescence from the widely used N,N-dimethyl analogue. The results disclosed here provide essential guidelines for the development of efficient dipolar dyes and fluorescence probes for studying biological systems, particularly by two-photon microscopy.     

The impact of mismeasurement in performance benchmarking: A Monte Carlo comparison of SFA and DEA with different multi-period budgeting strategies

Performance-based budgeting has received increasing attention from public and for-profit organizations in an effort to achieve a fair and balanced allocation of funds among their individual producers or operating units for overall system optimization. Although existing frontier estimation models can be used to measure and rank the performance of each producer, few studies have addressed how the mismeasurement by frontier estimation models affects the budget allocation and system performance. There is therefore a need for analysis of the accuracy of performance assessments in performance-based budgeting. This paper reports the results of a Monte Carlo analysis in which measurement errors are introduced and the system throughput in various experimental scenarios is compared. Each scenario assumes a different multi-period budgeting strategy and production frontier estimation model; the frontier estimation models considered are stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). The main results are as follows: (1) the selection of a proper budgeting strategy and benchmark model can lead to substantial improvement in the system throughput; (2) a “peanut butter” strategy outperforms a discriminative strategy in the presence of relatively high measurement errors, but a discriminative strategy is preferred for small measurement errors; (3) frontier estimation models outperform models with randomly-generated ranks even in cases with relatively high measurement errors; (4) SFA outperforms DEA for small measurement errors, but DEA becomes increasingly favorable relative to SFA as the measurement errors increase.     

Extended Veytsman statistics for the solid–fluid transition in the framework of lattice fluid

Lattice fluid can describe a vapor–liquid transition but not a solid–fluid transition. In this work, we propose a simple and analytic term which yields a solid–fluid transition when coupled with a lattice based equation of state (EOS). The proposed term is derived based on the two assumptions that (1) solid can be considered as highly associated phase affected by strong attractive force and (2) this force is distinct from the conventional attractive forces yielding a vapor–liquid transition. To formulate these assumptions, we extend Veytsman statistics by modifying its density dependency. The derived term was combined with a quasi-chemical nonrandom lattice fluid theory (QLF) developed by the authors. The combined model was found to require only two parameters besides 3 QLF parameters for physical properties calculation of three phases. When tested against equilibrium properties of 8 components, the combined model was found to closely reproduce melting pressure, sublimation pressure, and vapor pressure, but underestimate solid density as well as heat of melting at the triple point temperature. It was found that the present approach can yield a solid–liquid transition at all temperatures.     

pH effect on surface potential of polyelectrolytes-capped gold nanoparticles probed by surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Nanoparticles are commonly stabilized through the adsorption of acidic/basic polyelectrolytes around the surface of the particle. One example of these nanoparticles is poly(ethylenimine) (PEI)-capped Au nanoparticles. In this work, we have examined by means of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of 2,6-dimethylphenylisocyanide (2,6-DMPI) how much the surface potential of Au nanoparticles is affected by the solution pH through the mediation of the protonation and deprotonation of PEI in contact with Au nanoparticles. In fact, the surface-potential-dependent isocyanide (NC) stretching peak of 2,6-DMPI has shifted sharply around pH 8.5, close to the pK(a) value of the primary amine of PEI. When a negatively charged poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) was deposited onto the PEI, the peak shift of the NC stretching band took place around pH 6.5, close to the average pK(a) value of PEI and PAA. When additional PEI was deposited on PAA, the peak shift of the NC stretching band occurred once again around pH 8.5, indicative of the stronger interaction of upper two polyelectrolyte layers. These data clearly illustrate the usefulness of SERS in the elucidation of a delicate interaction of cationic and anionic polyelectrolytes, especially in layer-by-layer deposition.     

Simple and Simultaneous Determination of Free Chlorine, Free Bromine and Ozone in Water by LC

A simple liquid chromatographic method has been established for the simultaneous determination of free chlorine, free bromine, and ozone generated in electrical discharges. The method is based on the formation of organic derivatives, 4-halo-2,6-dimethylphenols with 2,6-dimethylphenol (2,6-DMP). The direct substitution reaction between halogens and 2,6-DMP was used for the determination of free chlorine, free bromine and ozone in water. For the determination of ozone, iodide was added 5 min after the addition of 2,6-DMP. The detection limits were about 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 μg L^?1 for hypochlorite, hypobromite and ozone, respectively. The method was very simple and reproducible enough to permit the simultaneous analysis of each disinfectant in surface water or sea water in the presence of the mixture of disinfectants.     

Polymer escape from a metastable Kramers potential: path integral hyperdynamics study

We study the dynamics of flexible, semiflexible, and self-avoiding polymer chains moving under a Kramers metastable potential. Due to thermal noise, the polymers, initially placed in the metastable well, can cross the potential barrier, but these events are extremely rare if the barrier is much larger than thermal energy. To speed up the slow rate processes in computer simulations, we extend the recently proposed path integral hyperdynamics method to the cases of polymers. We consider the cases where the polymers' radii of gyration are comparable to the distance between the well bottom and the barrier top. We find that, for a flexible polymers, the crossing rate (R) monotonically decreases with chain contour length (L), but with the magnitude much larger than the Kramers rate in the globular limit. For a semiflexible polymer, the crossing rate decreases with L but becomes nearly constant for large L. For a fixed L, the crossing rate becomes maximum at an intermediate bending stiffness. For the self-avoiding chain, the rate is a nonmonotonic function of L, first decreasing with L, and then, above a certain length, increasing with L. These findings can be instrumental for efficient separation of biopolymers.