Thermal, pressure and light switchable spin-crossover materials

This article reviews the most relevant chemical and structural aspects that influence the spin-crossover phenomenon (SCO). Special attention is focussed on the recent development of SCO coordination polymers. The different approaches currently being explored in order to achieve multifunctionality in SCO materials are discussed.     

Modeling tubulin at interfaces. Immobilization of microtubules on self-assembled monolayers

A theoretical study of protein docking to self-assembled monolayers using a new approach is presented. Docking experiments based on space complementarity implemented in FTDock software were performed for three different proteins: tubulin dimer, cytochrome c, and lysozyme. The proteins were adsorbed on alkanethiol surfaces with different terminating groups and 50,000 best orientations of each protein were analyzed. For all systems three filters based on different chemical and biological approaches were applied. Correctly docked proteins for the cytochrome c and lysozyme systems were found in a list of the first 12 results after applying the geometrical and grouping filter and in a list of the first 3 results after applying the biological filter. We have found that alkanethiol monolayers with odd and even numbers of -CH2- groups have similar properties in terms of interactions with the two proteins. Docking of the tubulin dimer revealed that the orientation favored from the applicational point of view can be found in a list of the first 14 results for monolayers with different terminating groups and that there may be a noticeable difference in tubulin dimer interactions with alkanethiol chains of various length. The results for tubulin dimer docking combined with microtubules ability of reversible assembly suggest that these biological structures may become good candidates to serve as templates for fabrication of nanowires and other nanoscale electronic devices. The new method of theoretical docking presented may be used as a fast and reliable tool complementing other theoretical and experimental techniques of exploring other protein-surface interfaces.     

Nuclear stopping from 0.09A to 1.93A GeV and its correlation to flow

We present a complete systematics (excitation functions and system-size dependences) of global stopping and side flow for heavy ion reactions in the energy range between 0.09A and 1.93A GeV. For the heaviest system, Au+Au, we observe a plateau of maximal stopping extending from about 0.2A to 0.8A GeV with a fast drop on both sides. The degree of stopping, which is shown to remain significantly below the expectations of a full stopping scenario, is found to be highly correlated to the amount of side flow.     

Electron-electron interaction in strong electromagnetic fields: the two-electron contribution to the ground-state energy in He-like uranium

Radiative recombination transitions into the ground state of cooled bare and hydrogenlike uranium ions were measured at the storage ring ESR. By comparing the corresponding x-ray centroid energies, this technique allows for a direct measurement of the electron-electron contribution to the ionization potential in the heaviest He-like ions. For the two-electron contribution to the ionization potential of He-like uranium we obtain a value of 2248+/-9 eV. This represents the most accurate determination of two-electron effects in the domain of high-Z He-like ions, and the accuracy reaches already the size of the specific two-electron radiative QED corrections.     

Possibilities of Production of New Reference Material – Preparation of Gaseous Standard Mixtures Using Thermal Decomposition of Immobilized Compounds – the Effect of Selected Parameters on the Amount of Released Analyte

The paper presents the results of research on a novel type of matrix-free reference materials for volatile organic compounds based upon thermal decomposition of appropriate immobilized compounds. The effect of parameters such as the kind of support (silica gel, porous glass, glass fiber) and the method of chemical modification of the support surface on the amount of chloromethane released as the analyte has been investigated. It was demonstrated that the amount of chloromethane released during thermal decomposition of immobilized compounds formed on the surface of silica gel and porous glass was larger when trimethylamine rather than N-morpholine was used for the preparation of immobilized compound. Reproducibility of the chemical modification procedure using silica gel and the stability of support with the immobilized compound were also examined. The full uncertainty budget of determination of liberated amount of chloromethane has been calculated.     

Chiral polymers containing a carbohydrate moiety: synthesis

This paper reports the preparation of poly(acetal-ethers) by two alternative synthetic pathways (alkaline and acid-catalyzed conditions). Polycondensations of methyl 2,3:4,6-di-O-salicylidene-alpha-D-mannopyranoside (3) (mixtures of endo-H and exo-H dioxolan-2-yl-diastereomers) with 1,4-dibromobutane (4) (method I a and I b) were performed in solvents (DMF, butyl acetate/DMF, DMSO) and were catalyzed by K2CO3/KI or KOH. A similar polymer (6) was formed by the reaction of methyl alpha-D-mannopyranoside (1) and 1,4-bis(2-formylphenoxy)butane (7), catalyzed by p-toluenesulfonic acid (method II). Regardless of conversion or initial comonomer feed ratios, the composition of the polycondensates depended on the reaction conditions, leading to the formation of macrocyclic [1 + 1] (5) and [2 + 2] compounds, which were macromolecules with diverse molecular weights and optical properties. The regioselective polycondensation was examined by 1H NMR spectroscopy of selected polymers. In the case of 5-membered cyclic acetal units, mixtures of the endo-H and exo-H dioxolan-2-yl system, diastereomers were formed in the polymer chain. The macrocycles and linear oligomers were identified by NMR and electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Thermodynamically controlled reactions for making macrocycles as well as oligomers in the absence of templates are also discussed.     

Universal pion freeze-out in heavy-ion collisions

Based on an evaluation of data on pion interferometry and on particle yields at midrapidity, we propose a universal condition for thermal freeze-out of pions in heavy-ion collisions. We show that freeze-out occurs when the mean free path of pions lambda(f) reaches a value of about 1 fm, which is much smaller than the spatial extent of the system at freeze-out. This critical mean free path is independent of the centrality of the collision and beam energy from the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron to the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.     

Model-Independent Normalization Condition for Gamow Vectors

Two comments on the theory of Gamow states are presented. First, it is shown that Gamow states may be viewed as two resonating states which correspond to two different eigenproblems for the same real value of energy. Second, a universal normalization condition for all Gamow states is derived.