Synthesis of gemini surfactants with twelve symmetric fluorine atoms and one singlet F MR signal as novel F MRI agents

A family of fluorinated gemini surfactants derived from perfluoropinacol has been synthesized as novel ¹⁹F magnetic resonance imaging (¹⁹F MRI) agents. These fluorinated surfactants with 12 symmetric fluorine atoms and one singlet ¹⁹F MR peak can be conveniently prepared from perfluoropinacol and oligo(ethylene glycols) on multi-gram scales. Solubility, hydrophilicity (log P), and critical micelle concentration (CMC) measurements of these fluorinated surfactants indicated that high aqueous solubility can be achieved by introducing oligo(ethylene glycols) with appropriate length into perfluoropinacol, i.e., manipulating the fluorine content (F%). One of these fluorinated surfactants with high aqueous solubility and excellent ¹⁹F MR properties has been identified by ¹⁹F MRI phantom experiments as a promising ¹⁹F MRI agent.     

Understanding the electronic energy transfer pathways in the trimeric and hexameric aggregation state of cyanobacteria phycocyanin within the framework of Förster theory

In the present study, the electronic energy transfer pathways in trimeric and hexameric aggregation state of cyanobacteria C‐phycocyanin (C‐PC) were investigated in term of the Förster theory. The corresponding excited states and transition dipole moments of phycocyanobilins (PCBs) located into C‐PC were examined by model chemistry in gas phase at time‐dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), configuration interaction‐singles (CIS), and Zerner's intermediate neglect of differential overlap (ZINDO) levels, respectively. Then, the long‐range pigment‐protein interactions were approximately taken into account by using polarizable continuum model (PCM) at TDDFT level to estimate the influence of protein environment on the preceding calculated physical quantities. The influence of the short‐range interaction caused by aspartate residue nearby PCBs was examined as well. Only when the protonation of PCBs and its long‐ and short‐range interactions were properly taken into account, the calculated energy transfer rates (1/K) in the framework of Förster model at TDDFT/B3LYP/6‐31+G* level were in good agreement with the experimental results of C‐PC monomer and trimer. Furthermore, the present calculated results suggested that the energy transfer pathway in C‐PC monomer is predominant from β‐155 to β‐84 (1/K = 13.4 ps), however, from α‐84 of one monomer to β‐84 (1/K = 0.3–0.4 ps) in a neighbor monomer in C‐PC trimer. In C‐PC hexamer, an additional energy flow was predicted to be from β‐155 (or α‐84) in top trimer to adjacent β‐155 (or α‐84) (1/K = 0.5–2.7 ps) in bottom trimer. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Calculations of dynamic multipolar polarizabilities of the Cd clock transition levels

The pursuit of a systematic frequency uncertainty beyond 10^-18 clock has triggered a multitude of investigations on the multipolar and higher-order lattice light shifts. The Cd atom has been proposed as a new candidate for the development of a lattice clock because of its smaller blackbody radiation shift at room temperature. Here, we apply an improved combined method of the Dirac-Fock plus core polarization and relativistic configuration interaction methods to calculate the dynamic multipolar polarizabilities of the Cd clock states. The effects of the high-order core-polarization potentials on the energies, reduced matrix elements, and multipolar polarizabilities have been evaluated systematically. The detailed comparison with available literature demonstrates that taking into account of the high-order core-polarization potentials is a simple and effective approach to improve the results of atomic properties for heavy atoms.     

Reaction mechanism for CO oxidation on Cu(3 1 1): A density functional theory study

The microscopic reaction mechanism for CO oxidation on Cu(3 1 1) surface has been investigated by means of comprehensive density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The elementary steps studied include O₂ adsorption and dissociation, dissociated O atom adsorption and diffusion, as well as CO adsorption and oxidation on the metal. Our results reveal that O₂ is considerably reactive on the Cu(3 1 1) surface and will spontaneously dissociate at several adsorption states, which process are highly dependent on the orientation and site of the adsorbed oxygen molecule. The dissociated O atom may likely diffuse via inner terrace sites or from a terrace site to a step site due to the low barriers. Furthermore, we find that the energetically most favorable site for CO molecule on Cu(3 1 1) is the step edge site. According to our calculations, the reaction barrier of CO + O → CO₂ is about 0.3 eV lower in energy than that of CO + O₂ → CO₂ + O, suggesting the former mechanism play a main role in CO oxidation on the Cu(3 1 1) surface.     

单个量子态的操纵和测量:2012年诺贝尔物理学奖述评

塞尔日.阿罗什和大卫.维因兰德获得了2012年诺贝尔物理学奖.他们独立地发展了突破性的实验方法,成功地实现了对单个量子态的测量和控制,由此展示了量子世界的基本特性.同时促进了基于量子技术的量子信息和原子钟的发展.     

无富集进样原子荧光光谱法测定地表水中的痕量汞

通过增大样品进样量的方式,样品进样量是标准进样量的10-100倍,降低了汞的检出限,从而达到了无富集直接进样测定地表水中痕量汞.其检出限为0.008μg/L;浓度为0.05μg/L和0.10μg/L左右的有证标准物质测定均值分别为0.0483μg/L和0.1016μg/L,加标回收率为92.3％和95.2％.灵敏度高,精密度好,能达到准确定量Ⅰ类和Ⅱ类地表水汞(0.05μg/L以下)的要求.对汉江湖北段水样进行测定,在较洁净的地表水分析中,氧化还原处理后与酸化水样测定结果差异不大,处理后水样结果略微增大.建议对较洁净的地表水样品将氧化还原预处理步骤省略掉,直接进样.     

自主研制核磁共振波谱仪的性能评估

主要介绍自主研制500 MHz核磁共振谱仪的性能评估情况,旨在建立一台功能完整的核磁共振波谱仪. 首先利用系统调试使控制台各个硬件单元在用户软件控制下实现NMR实验中的基本功能,然后通过性能测试保障功率线性度、信号稳定性和场频联锁的可靠性,实验验证了谱仪溶剂峰压制的效果,并获得良好的探头线形指标（0.43/5.46/10.73 Hz）和¹H灵敏度指标（信噪比为728∶1）,表明自主研制500 MHz核磁共振波谱仪系统能够满足常规核磁共振实验需求.     

Irreversibility of a quantum walk induced by controllable decoherence employing random unitary operations

Quantum walk is different from random walk in reversibility and interference. Observation of the reduced re- versibility in a realistic quantum walk is of scientific interest in understanding the unique quantum behavior. We propose an idea to experimentally investigate the decoherence-induced irreversibility of quantum walks with trapped ions in phase space via the average fidelity decay. By introducing two controllable decoherence sources, i.e., the phase damping channel (i.e., dephasing) and the high temperature amplitude reservoir (i.e., dissipation), in the intervals between the steps of quantum walk, we find that the high temperature amplitude reservoir shows more detrimental effects than the phase damping channel on quantum walks. Our study also shows that the average fidelity decay works better than the position variance for characterizing the transition from quantum walks to random walk. Experimental feasibility to monitor the irreversibility is justified using currently available techniques.     

Doppler-free spectroscopy of rubidium atoms driven by a control laser

A scheme of Doppler-free spectroscopy is experimentally demonstrated with a co-propagating control laser locking to an atomic hyperfine transition, and the differential transmission of the probe and the reference laser is detected. Crossover resonances are eliminated by selecting the class of atoms with zero velocity in the direction of beam propagation. In addition, the sub-Doppler spectrum experiences optical gain compared to the conventional saturated-absorption spectrum as a result of optical pumping.