The Au(n) cluster probe in secondary ion mass spectrometry: influence of the projectile size and energy on the desorption/ionization rate from biomolecular solids

A Au-Si liquid metal ion source which produces Au(n) clusters over a large range of sizes was used to study the dependence of both the molecular ion desorption yield and the damage cross-section on the size (n = 1 to 400) and on the kinetic energy (E = 10 to 500 keV) of the clusters used to bombard bioorganic surfaces. Three pure peptides with molecular masses between 750 and 1200 Da were used without matrix. [M+H](+) and [M+cation](+) ion emission yields were enhanced by as much as three orders of magnitude when bombarding with Au(400) (4+) instead of monatomic Au(+), yet very little damage was induced in the samples. A 100-fold increase in the molecular ion yield was observed when the incident energy of Au(9) (+) was varied from 10 to 180 keV. Values of emission yields and damage cross-sections are presented as a function of cluster size and energy. The possibility to adjust both cluster size and energy, depending on the application, makes the analysis of biomolecules by secondary ion mass spectrometry an extremely powerful and flexible technique, particularly when combined with orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometry that then allows fast measurements using small primary ion beam currents.     

Étude de quelques dérivés de la pyrazoline-2: Spectres infrarouge et methode CNDO/2

The infrared spectra of some derivatives of 2-pyrazoline have been studied in the region of the CN and N-H stretching bands.The N-H stretching frequency seems to be related to Taft's σ^* constants of the substituents bound to the intracyclic carbon atoms. The “acidity” of this group seems to be considerably less than in pyrrole or in carboxylic amides.Absorption spectra of the pure compounds or of moderately concentrated solutions suggest the existence of intermolecular hydrogen bonding.The hybridization state of nitrogen atom (1) seems to be approximatively sp³, without any noticeable conjugation with the CN(2) double bond. In those cases where two conformers could be assumed to exist only one has been observed.These results are in accordance with those of a molecular orbital calculation by the CNDO/2 method. This calculation suggests that in 5-methyl-2-pyrazoline, the hydrogen atom bound to N(1) is trans with respect to the methyl group.     

Nova methodus adhibendi approximationem molecularium orbitalium ad plures iuxtapositas unitates

Résumé L'étude de la structure électronique d'une chaîne constituée par la répétition d'un motif polyatomique et l'interprétation des propriétés du polymère ainsi formé sont grandement facilités, s'il est possible de ramener les termes d'interaction entre unités voisines à un paramètre d'interaction unique. Ce problème a été traité en méthode des orbitales moléculaires par un procédé qui permet de tenir compte des modifications du monomère à l'intérieur du polymère et ne néglige que de faibles contributions.L'interaction entre deux monomèresi etj est représentée par la sous-matriceB _ij de dimensionn ×n formée par les termes non-diagonaux correspondants de la matrice-énergie. Par des transformations unitaires appropriées, il est possible de mettre sous forme diagonale les sousmatricesB _ij entre monomères voisins. En général, la diagonale de la matrice transformée contient un terme prépondérant qu'on peut considérer comme mesurant l'interaction (i, j). Une application numérique a été effectuée dans le cas d'un polymère fictif formé par des molécules H₂ et dans le cas d'un polymère peptidique formé par des groupements HNCO en interaction par l'intermédiaire de liaisons hydrogène. La validité des approximations introduites selon l'importance de l'interaction peut être vérifiée sur l'exemple d'un dimère dont les deux unités sont placées à des distances variables. Dans le cas d'un polymère les transformations effectuées conduisent à remplacer les orbitales atomiques du monomère par des orbitales s'étendant sur deux unités voisines; en prenant comme motif structural de la chaîne le monomère double formé par deux unités successives, on peut représenter l'interaction entre deux motifs adjacents par un seul terme.La réduction de la matriceB _ij à un seul terme fournit des bandes d'énergie dont la position est en très bon accord avec celles obtenues directement par les techniques classiques de calcul de l'état solide [7].

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The study of the electronic structure of a chain formed by repetition of polyatomic monomers and the interpretation of the resulting polymer are made much easier if the interaction terms relating to neighbouring units can be reduced to a single parameter. This problem has been treated in the MO scheme by a procedure which makes it possible to take into account the modifications of the monomer within the polymer and only neglects minor contributions.The interaction between two monomersi andj is represented by then ×n submatrixB _ij formed by the corresponding non diagonal terms of the energy matrix. By appropriate unitary transformations it is possible to bring the submatricesB _ij of neighbouring monomers to a diagonal form. In general, one of the diagonal elements thus obtained is much higher than the others, and can be taken as a measure of thei-j interaction. A numerical application has been made in the case of a fictitious polymer formed by H₂ molecules, and in the case of a polypeptide formed by HNCO groups interacting through hydrogen bonds. The validity of the approximations introduced for different values of interaction can be tested on a dimer whose units are placed at different distances. In the case of a polymer the transformations mentioned above require that the atomic orbitals of a monomer be replaced by orbitals extending over two neighbouring units. Taking as a new unit the corresponding pair of monomers, the interaction between the units can be represented by a single term. The reduction of theB _ij matrices to a single term each gives energy bands whose positions are in perfect agreement with those obtained directly by the classical techniques of solid-state physics [7].

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Zusammenfassung Das Studium der elektronischen Struktur von linearen Polymeren vereinfacht sich sehr, wenn die Wechselwirkung zwischen benachbarten Monomeren durcheinen Parameter beschrieben werden kann. Entsprechend wird im MO-Schema ein Verfahren entwickelt, das auf der Veränderung der Monomeren im Polymeren fußt.Die Wechselwirkung zwischen zwei Monomereni, j des Polymer wird durch eine aus Nichtdiagonalelementen der Hamiltonmatrix bestehende UntermatrixB _ij beschrieben. Für alle benachbarten Monomerenpaare lassen sich diese durch unitäre Transformationen diagonalisieren. I. a. ist eines der so erhaltenen Diagonalelemente vonB merklich größer und dient als Maß für die Wechselwirkung der beiden Monomeren. Angewendet wird die Methode auf ein fiktives Polymer aus H₂-Molekülen und auf ein Polymer aus durch H-Brücken verbundenen Peptidgruppen. Der Einfluß der Näherungen wird zunächst an einem Dinieren für verschiedene Abstände getestet.Im Falle eines Polymeren sind als Monomere Einheiten von zwei benachbarten Molekülen mit entsprechend ausgedehnten Orbitalen zu betrachten. Die Rechnung führt hier auf Energiebänder, deren Lage voll mit der nach klassischen Methoden der Festkörperphysik [7] erhaltenen übereinstimmt.

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Gratias agimus Cl. Vir.Raphaeli Del Re, qui nos, quod ad usum linguae latinae attinet, consilio benigne adiuvit.     

Electron transfer in self-assembled orthogonal structures

Two new molecular dyads, comprising pyrromethene (bodipy) and 2,2':6',2"-terpyridine (terpy) subunits, have been synthesized and fully characterized. Absorption and fluorescence spectral profiles are dominated by contributions from the bodipy unit. Zinc(II) cations bind to the vacant terpy ligand to form both 1:1 and 1:2 (cation:ligand) complexes, as evidenced by X-ray structural data, NMR and spectrophotometric titrations. Attachment of the cations is accompanied by a substantial decrease in fluorescence from the bodipy chromophore due to intramolecular electron transfer across the orthogonal structure. At low temperature, nuclear tunneling occurs and the rate of electron transfer is essentially activationless. However, activated electron transfer is seen at higher temperatures and allows calculation of the corresponding reorganization energy and electronic coupling matrix element. In both cases, charge recombination is faster than charge separation.     

Spectroscopic and structural impact of a stem base-pair change in DNA hairpins: GTTC-ACA-GAAC versus GTAC-ACA-GTAC

Successive investigations over the last decade have revealed and confirmed a stable loop closure in a family of d-[GTAC-5Pur6N7N-GTAC] hairpins, where 5Pur6N7N is a AAA, GAG and AXC loop (X being any nucleotide). The trinucleotide loop is characterized by a well defined 5Pur-7N mispairing mode, and by upfield chemical shifts for three sugar protons of the apical nucleotide 6N. The GTTC-ACA-GAAC DNA hairpin, of interest for its likely involvement in Vibrio cholerae genome mutations, has now been investigated. The GTAC-ACA-GTAC DNA hairpin has also been studied because it is intermediate between the other structures, as it contains the loop of the hairpin under consideration and the stem of the above family. The two hairpins with the ACA loop are stable. They show the same mispairing mode and similar upfield shifts as the previous family, but GTTC-ACA-GAAC seems to be slightly less compact than any other. GTTC-ACA-GAAC is remarkable in that it exhibits a B(II) character for the phosphate-ester conformation at 8Gp9A, together with a swing of the upper hairpin into the major groove that, in particular, brings 6CH1' roughly as close to 7AH2 as to 6CH6. These unexpected structural features are qualitatively deduced from (1)H and (31)P NMR spectra, and confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. This comparative study shows that not only the loop sequence but also the stem sequence may control hairpin structures.     

Strengthening the security of authenticated key exchange against bad randomness

Recent history has revealed that many random number generators (RNGs) used in cryptographic algorithms and protocols were not providing appropriate randomness, either by accident or on purpose. Subsequently, researchers have proposed new algorithms and protocols that are less dependent on the RNG. One exception is that all prominent authenticated key exchange (AKE) protocols are insecure given bad randomness, even when using good long-term keying material. We analyse the security of AKE protocols in the presence of adversaries that can perform attacks based on chosen randomness, i.e., attacks in which the adversary controls the randomness used in protocol sessions. We propose novel stateful protocols, which modify memory shared among a user’s sessions, and show in what sense they are secure against this worst case randomness failure. We develop a stronger security notion for AKE protocols that captures the security that we can achieve under such failures, and prove that our main protocol is correct in this model. Our protocols make substantially weaker assumptions on the RNG than existing protocols.     

Conceptualizing inquiry-based education in mathematics

The terms inquiry-based learning and inquiry-based education have appeared with increasing frequency in educational policy and curriculum documents related to mathematics and science education over the past decade, indicating a major educational trend. We go back to the origin of inquiry as a pedagogical concept in the work of Dewey (e.g. 1916, 1938) to analyse and discuss its migration to science and mathematics education. For conceptualizing inquiry-based mathematics education (IBME) it is important to analyse how this concept resonates with already well-established theoretical frameworks in mathematics education. Six such frameworks are analysed from the perspective of inquiry: the problem-solving tradition, the theory of didactical situations, the realistic mathematics education programme, the mathematical modelling perspective, the anthropological theory of didactics, and the dialogical and critical approach to mathematics education. In an appendix these frameworks are illustrated with paradigmatic examples of teaching activities with inquiry elements. The paper is rounded off with a list of ten concerns for the development and implementation of IBME.     

1,3-Dipolar cycloadditions with azomethine ylide species generated from aminocyclopropanes

Two types of bicyclic N-cyclopropyl glycine ester derivatives have been prepared and put under scrutiny as possible precursors of azomethine ylides. The results demonstrate that they can indeed participate in 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions with dipolarophiles, as illustrated in the cases of phenyl vinyl sulfone, N-phenylmaleimide, diethyl fumarate and diethyl maleate. The relative configurations of the major diastereoisomers produced are consistent with the predicted generation of azomethine ylide species, reacting in concerted cycloaddition processes. This unprecedented way of generating such 1,3-dipoles provides access to functionalised pyrrolizidine and pyrrolidine derivatives, that would be difficult to make directly by more classic methods. It was also found that using phenyl vinyl sulfone or N-phenylmaleimide as the dipolarophile reactant, a domino nucleophilic conjugate addition/1,3-dipolar cycloaddition process may operate competitively.     

Some Infinite-Dimensional Algebras Arising in Spin Systems and in Particle Physics and their Grand Algebra

We indicate similarities in the structure of two types of infinite-dimensional algebras, one introduced 28 years ago in connection with the mass problem of elementary particles and the other seven years ago in connection with spin systems (XY models). We show that these algebras can be considered as representations of a single Grand Algebra, the enveloping algebra of an affine Kac–Moody algebra built on the Poincaré Lie algebra. As an associative and coassociative bialgebra of operators, the latter representation of the grand algebra is a preferred nontrivial deformation of the Ising case bialgebra.     

Dicobalt hexacarbonyl complexes of alkynyl imines in a sequential Staudinger/Pauson-Khand process. A route to new fused tricyclic beta-lactams

Dicobalt hexacarbonyl complexes of alkynyl imines were allowed to react with ketenes via Staudinger reaction. Sequential [2 + 2] cycloaddition/Pauson-Khand reaction led to structurally new fused-tricyclic beta-lactams and fused-azabicyclic cyclopentenones. Chemoselectivity, scope, and limitation of the process were investigated.