Order-Stability in Complex Biological,Social, and AI-Systems from Quantum Information Theory

This paper is our attempt, on the basis of physical theory, to bring more clarification on the question “What is life?” formulated in the well-known book of Schrödinger in 1944. According to Schrödinger, the main distinguishing feature of a biosystem’s functioning is the ability to preserve its order structure or, in mathematical terms, to prevent increasing of entropy. However, Schrödinger’s analysis shows that the classical theory is not able to adequately describe the order-stability in a biosystem. Schrödinger also appealed to the ambiguous notion of negative entropy. We apply quantum theory. As is well-known, behaviour of the quantum von Neumann entropy crucially differs from behaviour of classical entropy. We consider a complex biosystem S composed of many subsystems, say proteins, cells, or neural networks in the brain, that is, S=(Si). We study the following problem: whether the compound system S can maintain “global order” in the situation of an increase of local disorder and if S can preserve the low entropy while other Si increase their entropies (may be essentially). We show that the entropy of a system as a whole can be constant, while the entropies of its parts rising. For classical systems, this is impossible, because the entropy of S cannot be less than the entropy of its subsystem Si. And if a subsystems’s entropy increases, then a system’s entropy should also increase, by at least the same amount. However, within the quantum information theory, the answer is positive. The significant role is played by the entanglement of a subsystems’ states. In the absence of entanglement, the increasing of local disorder implies an increasing disorder in the compound system S (as in the classical regime). In this note, we proceed within a quantum-like approach to mathematical modeling of information processing by biosystems—respecting the quantum laws need not be based on genuine quantum physical processes in biosystems. Recently, such modeling found numerous applications in molecular biology, genetics, evolution theory, cognition, psychology and decision making. The quantum-like model of order stability can be applied not only in biology, but also in social science and artificial intelligence.     

Rapid Discrimination of Crystal Handedness by X-ray Natural Circular Dichroism (XNCD) Mapping

An original method for determining the handedness of individual non-centrosymmetric crystals in a mixture using a tightly-focused, circularly polarized X-ray beam is presented. The X-ray natural circular dichroism (XNCD) spectra recorded at the metal K-edge on selected crystals of [Δ-M(en)₃](NO₃)₂ and [Λ-M(en)₃](NO₃)₂ (M=Co^II, Ni^II) show extrema at the metal pre-edge (7712 eV for Co, 8335 eV for Ni). A mapping of a collection of some 220 crystals was performed at the respective energies by using left and right circular polarizations. The difference in absorption for the two polarizations, being either negative or positive, directly yielded the handedness of the crystal volume probed by the beam. By using this technique, it was found that the addition of l -ascorbic acid during the synthesis of [Co(en)₃](NO₃)₂ resulted in an enantiomeric enrichment of the Λ-isomer of 67±13 %, whereas the Ni analogue was similarly, but conversely, enriched in the Δ-isomer (65±22 %).     

Peroxide Coordination of Tellurium in Aqueous Solutions

Tellurium–peroxo complexes in aqueous solutions have never been reported. In this work, ammonium peroxotellurates (NH₄)₄Te₂(μ‐OO)₂(μ‐O)O₄(OH)₂ ( 1 ) and (NH₄)₅Te₂(μ‐OO)₂(μ‐O)O₅(OH)?1.28 H₂O?0.72 H₂O₂ ( 2 ) were isolated from 5 % hydrogen peroxide aqueous solutions of ammonium tellurate and characterized by single‐crystal and powder X‐ray diffraction analysis, by Raman spectroscopy and thermal analysis. The crystal structure of 1 comprises ammonium cations and a symmetric binuclear peroxotellurate anion [Te₂(μ‐OO)₂(μ‐O)O₄(OH)₂]^4?. The structure of 2 consists of an unsymmetrical [Te₂(μ‐OO)₂(μ‐O)O₅(OH)]^5? anion, ammonium cations, hydrogen peroxide, and water. Peroxotellurate anions in both 1 and 2 contain a binuclear Te₂(μ‐OO)₂(μ‐O) fragment with one μ‐oxo‐ and two μ‐peroxo bridging groups. ¹²⁵Te NMR spectroscopic analysis shows that the peroxo bridged bitellurate anions are the dominant species in solution, with 3–40 %wt H₂O₂ and for pH values above 9. DFT calculations of the peroxotellurate anion confirm its higher thermodynamic stability compared with those of the oxotellurate analogues. This is the first direct evidence for tellurium–peroxide coordination in any aqueous system and the first report of inorganic tellurium–peroxo complexes. General features common to all reported p‐block element peroxides could be discerned by the characterization of aqueous and crystalline peroxotellurates.     

Reversible Phosphorylation of Trimethylsilylisothiocyanate

Abstract

The reaction of trimethylsilylisothiocyanate with phosphorus acids chlorides was demonstrated to be reversible.     

Heterocyclization of electrophilic alkenes with tetranitromethane revisited: regiochemistry and the mechanism of nitroisoxazole formation

Revised regiochemistry for the heterocyclization of electrophilic alkenes with tetranitromethane (TNM) in the presence of triethylamine, providing rapid access to nitroisoxazoles, is reported. The formation of 5-nitroisoxazoles previously incorrectly assigned as 3-nitro regioisomers, has now been established unambiguously by X-ray crystallography. Empirical computations with ACD/CNMR Predictor, based both on hierarchical ordering of spherical environments (HOSE) and an algorithm of artificial neural networks (ANN), and also Density Functional Theory computations of the ¹³C NMR chemical shifts for the 3- versus 5-nitroisoxazoles are shown to consistently match the spectra of the experimentally observed 5-regioisomers.     

Simulation of a mixed-conducting membrane-based gas turbine power plant for CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> capture: system level analysis of operation stability and individual process unit degradation

A gas turbine power plant for CO₂ capture, based on oxygen-permeable membranes with mixed ionic-electronic conductivity, was analysed with respect to long-term stability by means of numerical simulation. Due to the attractive transport and physicochemical properties of mixed-conducting La₂NiO_4+δ, this nickelate was selected as a prototype membrane material for this application. Experiments showed very slow degradation of La₂NiO_4+δ membranes at oxygen chemical potentials close to atmospheric conditions, which are associated with kinetic demixing and other microstructure-related factors. Interaction with CO₂ in the intermediate temperature range also leads to lower oxygen permeation, whilst increasing oxygen pressure may cause partial phase decomposition and microstructural changes, thus again limiting the range of possible operation conditions. The relevant operational constraints were included in a detailed membrane-based gas turbine power plant model. The membrane performance degradation with time was approximated by a linear function with average rate of 3.3% per 1,000 operation hours. Furthermore, performance deterioration of the gas turbine compressor and turbine were also considered. Simulations revealed that the power plant is substantially affected by degradation of the ceramic membranes and turbomachinery components. The already rather small operating window was further narrowed when compared with a conventional gas turbine power plant. Two different designs of the membrane-based power plant were analysed: (1) with and (2) without additional combustors (afterburners) between the membrane reactor and the gas turbine. Afterburners increase thermal efficiency as well as power output, but also lead to non-negligible CO₂ emissions. In order to have a frame of comparison, results for a conventional gas turbine power plant with degradation of turbomachinery components are also presented. Simulations representing changes in ambient temperature and fuel composition as well as failure incidents were executed to analyse the susceptibility of the gas turbine power plant to external and internal changes.