Synthesis conditions of europium tetrakis dibenzoylmethide triethylammonium crystals

Europium tetrakis dibenzoylmethide triethylammonium crystals are highly triboluminescent, indicating possible use in structural health monitoring. This work investigates the effect of synthesis conditions on crystalline yield and morphology of this material. Less solvent yields more material, but may cause striations in crystal faces. No statistical effect on triboluminescent yield was recorded. Scanning electron microscopy shows crystal size varies from 30–400 μm based on synthesis conditions.     

Indolo‐Phakellins as β5‐Specific Noncovalent Proteasome Inhibitors

The proteasome represents an invaluable target for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disorders. The application of proteasome inhibitors, however, remains limited to blood cancers because their reactive headgroups and peptidic scaffolds convey unfavorable pharmacodynamic properties. Thus, the discovery of more drug‐like lead structures is indispensable. In this study, we present the first structure of the proteasome in complex with an indolo‐phakellin that exhibits a unique noncovalent binding mode unparalleled by all hitherto reported inhibitors. The natural product inspired pentacyclic alkaloid binds solely and specificially into the spacious S3 subpocket of the proteasomal β5 substrate binding channel, gaining major stabilization through halogen bonding with the protein backbone. The presented compound provides an ideal scaffold for the structure‐based design of subunit‐specific nonpeptidic proteasome‐blockers.     

Natrophosphate and kogarkoite precipitated from alkaline nuclear waste at Hanford

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The Hanford Site, near Richland, Washington in the U.S.A., is implementing a treatment process for liquid radioactive waste. This study determined...     

Continuous‐wave vertically emitting photonic crystal terahertz laser

Compact semiconductor light sources with high performance continuous‐wave (CW) and single mode operation are highly demanded for many applications in the terahertz (THz) frequency range. Distributed feedback (DFB) and photonic crystal (PhC) quantum cascade (QC) lasers are amongst the leading candidates in this field. Absorbing boundary condition is a commonly used method to control the optical performance of a laser in double‐metal confinement. However, this approach increases the total loss in the device and results in a large threshold current density, limiting the CW maximum output power and operating temperature. In this letter, a robust surface emitting continuous‐wave terahertz QC laser is realized in a two‐dimensional PhC structure by a second order Bragg grating extractor that simultaneously provides the boundary condition necessary for mode selection. This results in a 3.12 THz single mode CW operation with a 3 mW output power and a maximum operation temperature (T_max) of 100 K. Also, a highly collimated far‐field pattern is demonstrated, which is an important step towards real world applications.     

A two-color optical method for determining layer thickness in two interacting buoyant plumes

We describe a technique for measuring the layer thickness of two interacting buoyant rotating gravity currents. The technique can be used generally to differentiate between water masses in experiments with multiple sources and is used here to simulate the dynamics of two adjacent coastal river plumes. The plumes are generated using two identical fresh water inlets, with blue and red dye indicating upstream and downstream river flows, respectively. Two parameters, normalized intensity and color ratio, are measured with a 3-CCD color video camera and used to develop a two-dimensional (intensity–color ratio) calibration map for layer thickness. The calibration is used successfully to determine the depth field for the combined two-plume system and to differentiate between the two plumes. This technique is applied to compute the volumetric growth of a large eddy near the freshwater source and the transport rate of buoyant fluid away from the source in the coastal current. The validation tests show good agreement between the calculated plume volume and the input fresh water volume.     

Algebra of Efficient Sets for Multiobjective Complex Systems

Complex systems are modeled as collections of multiobjective programs representing interacting subsystems of the overall system. Since the calculation of efficient sets of these complex systems is challenging, it is desirable to decompose the overall system into component multiobjective programs, that are more easily solved and then construct the efficient set of the overall system. For some classes of complex systems, algebraic properties of set operations and relations are developed between the efficient set of the overall system and the efficient sets of subproblems. The properties indicate that multiple decomposition and coordination schemes, with varying assumptions regarding the system, may be applied to the same initial system.     

Synthesis of an NDPK phosphocarrier domain peptide containing a novel triazolylalanine analogue of phosphohistidine using click chemistry

Click phosphorylation of a propargylated unprotected peptide and phosphoryl azide using chaotrope-assisted Cu(I)-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition enabled a high-yielding and rapid synthesis of a nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDPK) phosphocarrier domain. The synthesis showcases a valuable synthetic platform for the synthesis of biologically relevant phosphopeptide analogues.     

Responsive two-photon induced europium emission as fluorescent indicator for paralytic shellfish saxitoxin

A water-soluble europium(III) complex (1) has been synthesized and demonstrated to be a specific fluorescence probe for the paralytic shellfish toxin saxitoxin, a neurotoxin that blocks the voltage-gated sodium channels on cell membranes. Saxitoxin binds to the europium complex (K(B) = 6.1 × 10(4) M(-1)) and triggers a two-photon induced f-f emission enhancement by over 100% and increases the two-photon absorption cross-section from 9 to 36 GM.     

An o-minimal structure without mild parameterization

We prove, by explicit construction, that not all sets definable in polynomially bounded o-minimal structures have mild parameterization. Our methods do not depend on the bounds particular to the definition of mildness and therefore our construction is also valid for a generalized form of parameterization, which we call G-mild. Moreover, we present a cell decomposition result for certain o-minimal structures which may be of independent interest. This allows us to show how our construction can produce polynomially bounded, model complete expansions of the real ordered field which, in addition to lacking G-mild parameterization, nonetheless still have analytic cell decomposition.     

CO2 isotope sensor using a broadband infrared source, a spectrally narrow 4.4 μm quantum cascade detector, and a Fourier spectrometer

We report a prototype CO₂ gas sensor based on a simple blackbody infrared source and a spectrally narrow quantum cascade detector (QCD). The detector absorption spectrum is centered at 2260 cm⁻¹ (4.4 μm) and has a full width at half maximum of 200 cm⁻¹ (25 meV). It covers strong absorption bands of two spectrally overlapping CO₂ isotopomers, namely the P-branch of ¹²CO₂ and the R-branch of ¹³CO₂. Acquisition of the spectral information and data treatment were performed in a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer. By flushing its sample compartment either with nitrogen, dry fresh air, ambient air, or human breath, we were able to determine CO₂ concentrations corresponding to the different gas mixtures. A detection limit of 500 ppb was obtained in these experiments.