Adsorption at liquid interfaces: A comparison of multiple experimental techniques

It has proven to be a challenging task to quantitatively resolve the interfacial profile at diffuse interfaces, such as, the adsorption profile near a bulk binary liquid mixture critical point. In this contribution we examine the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of experimental techniques for studying adsorption, including neutron reflectometry, X-ray reflectometry and ellipsometry. Short length scale interfacial features are best resolved using neutron/X-ray reflectometry, whereas, large length scale interfacial features are best resolved using ellipsometry, or in special circumstances, neutron reflectometry. The use of multiple techniques severely limits the shape of the adsorption profile that can describe all experimental data sets. Complex interfaces possessing surface features on many different length scales are therefore best studied using a combination of neutron/X-ray reflectometry and ellipsometry.     

Interactions of endoglucanases with amorphous cellulose films resolved by neutron reflectometry and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring

A study of the interaction of four endoglucanases with amorphous cellulose films by neutron reflectometry (NR) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) is reported. The endoglucanases include a mesophilic fungal endoglucanase (Cel45A from H. insolens), a processive endoglucanase from a marine bacterium (Cel5H from S. degradans ), and two from thermophilic bacteria (Cel9A from A. acidocaldarius and Cel5A from T. maritima ). The use of amorphous cellulose is motivated by the promise of ionic liquid pretreatment as a second generation technology that disrupts the native crystalline structure of cellulose. The endoglucanases displayed highly diverse behavior. Cel45A and Cel5H, which possess carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs), penetrated and digested within the bulk of the films to a far greater extent than Cel9A and Cel5A, which lack CBMs. While both Cel45A and Cel5H were active within the bulk of the films, striking differences were observed. With Cel45A, substantial film expansion and interfacial broadening were observed, whereas for Cel5H the film thickness decreased with little interfacial broadening. These results are consistent with Cel45A digesting within the interior of cellulose chains as a classic endoglucanase, and Cel5H digesting predominantly at chain ends consistent with its designation as a processive endoglucanase.     

Simultaneous measurement of ionization and scintillation from nuclear recoils in liquid xenon for a dark matter experiment

We report the first measurements of the absolute ionization yield of nuclear recoils in liquid xenon, as a function of energy and electric field. Independent experiments were carried out with two dual-phase time-projection chamber prototypes, developed for the XENON dark matter project. We find that the charge yield increases with decreasing recoil energy, and exhibits only a weak field dependence. These results are the first unambiguous demonstration of the capability of dual-phase xenon detectors to discriminate between electron and nuclear recoils down to 20 keV, a key requirement for a sensitive dark matter search.     

Rearrangement of lipid ordered phases upon protein adsorption due to multiple site binding

This study involves the interactions of proteins with Langmuir monolayers of a metal-chelating lipid, where adsorption is driven by a strong specific interaction between histidines on the proteins and divalent metal ions loaded into the lipid headgroups. A comparison of the structural rearrangement of the lipid film upon adsorption of myoglobin and a synthetic peptide, each of which have multiple histidines, with that upon the adsorption of lysozyme, which has only one histidine, suggests that the lipid rearrangement in the former case is due to the multiplicity of binding sites. The kinetics and manner of rearrangement change with the binding energy and film pressure.     

Carbon nanotube supported single phospholipid bilayer

Single bilayer membranes of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) were formed on micron thin-films of hydrophilized carbon nanotubes (CNT) by fusion of small unilamellar vesicles. The structure of the membrane was investigated using neutron reflectivity (NR). The underlying thin film of CNT was formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in the presence of Fe catalyst, followed by reaction with 5 M nitric acid to render the film hydrophilic. We demonstrate that this platform lends support to homogeneous and continuous bilayer membranes that have promising applications in the fields of biomaterials, biosensors, and biophysics.     

Neutral strange particle production in high transverse momentum π− nucleus interactions at ∼40 GeV/c

Measurements ofK _s ⁰ , Λ and \(\bar \Lambda \) production in π^? nucleus (C, Cu, Pb) interactions are presented. The experiment was carried out with the streamer chamber spectrometer RISK using a π^? beam of ～40 GeV/c and a trigger requiring a secondary charged particle with transverse momentum above 1.1 GeV/c. Production cross sections, relative production rates and distributions of Feynmanx and transverse momentum squared as well as correlations between theV ⁰ and the trigger particle are presented. The results are compared and found to be in agreement withK _s ⁰ , Λ and \(\bar \Lambda \) data from untriggered π^? p and π^? C interactions, except for the relative production rate of antilambdas which is about to times larger in high-p _t collisions. Our results can be well interpreted within the dual topological unitarization model.     

Octulene: A Hyperbolic Molecular Belt that Binds Chloride Anions

Octulene, the higher homologue of kekulene and septulene, was synthesized using the fold‐in method. This new hydrocarbon macrocycle contains a large 24‐membered inner circuit, which is peripherally fused to 24 benzene rings. Such an arrangement produces considerable hyperbolic distortion of the π‐conjugated surface. The consequences of distortion in octulene were explored using photophysical methods, which revealed a reduced electronic band gap and greater flexibility of the π system. Octulene contains a functional cavity with a diameter larger than 5.5 Å that is capable of efficiently binding the chloride anion in a nonpolar solvent (K_a= 2.2(4)×10⁴ m ^?1, 1 % dichloromethane (DCM) in benzene). The octulene–chloride interaction is stabilized by eight weak C(sp²)H???Cl bonds, providing the first example of a hydrocarbon‐based anion receptor.     

Sample path moderate deviations for the cumulative fluid produced by an increasing number of exponential on-off sources

We consider the superposition of the cumulative fluid generated by an increasing number of stationary iid on-off sources with exponential iid on- and off-time distributions. We establish a family of sample path large deviation principles when the fluid is centered and then scaled with a factor between the inverse of the number of sources and its square root. The common rate function in this family also appears in a large deviation principle for the tail probabilities of an integrated Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. When the produced fluid is centered and scaled with the square root of the inverse of the number of sources it converges to this integrated Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process in distribution. We discuss several representations of the rate function. We apply the results to queueing systems loaded with on-off traffic and approaching critical loading.      

On nonlinear Koopman''s construction

We show that there exists a possibility for a nonlinear variant of Koopman's construction. This gives a natural way for introducing nonlinear quantum maps. Applications to quantum chaos are indicated.