Light Scattering by Cylindrical Fibers with High Aspect Ratio Using the Null‐Field Method with Discrete Sources

The problem of computing light scattering by cylindrical fibers with high aspect ratio in the framework of the Null‐Field method with discrete sources is treated. Numerical experiments for investigating the scattering properties of two fiber geometries are performed using distributed spherical vector wave functions as discrete sources.     

Electrodeposition of mercury on gold from very dilute mercury(II) solution

Flameless atomic absorption spectrometry (flameless a.a.s.) was applied to study the state of mercury deposited on a gold plate electrode from very dilute mercury(II) solution by controlled-potential electrolysis. A stable monolayer is formed on the gold electrode by the electrolysis at a potential about 200 mV more positive than the reversible Nernst potential for the reduction of mercury(II) to mercury(0). After the monolayer formation, bulk mercury is deposited on the monolayer at the reversible potential and an adatom layer is also found. The difference of activation free energies between the evaporation of mercury from the monolayer and that from bulk mercury corresponds to the underpotential shift for the electrodeposition of mercury on the gold electrode.     

Reaction of acetylenes with transition metals: VIII. π-allylpalladium complexes from acetylenes and alkenes

Coupling of diarylacetylenes with alkenes in the presence of dichlorobis(benzonitrile)palladium gives chloro(syn-1-chloro-anti-1-aryl-syn-3-alkyl)-π-allylpalladium complexes.     

Structural constraints from proton-mediated rare-spin correlation spectroscopy in rotating solids

A novel solid-state NMR concept is introduced that allows for the detection of through-space proton-proton contacts in high spectral resolution. The proposed method not only can be utilized to infer sequential assignments and backbone or side chain conformation in solid-phase polypeptides, but it also provides information about the three-dimensional arrangement of the molecule of interest. As a result, the molecular structure can be studied without additional restrictions regarding sample labeling or magic angle spinning rates.     

End-labeled free-solution electrophoresis of DNA

DNA is a free-draining polymer. This subtle but "unfortunate" property of highly charged polyelectrolytes makes it impossible to separate nucleic acids by free-flow electrophoresis. This is why one must typically use a sieving matrix, such as a gel or an entangled polymer solution, in order to obtain some electrophoretic size separation. An alternative approach consists of breaking the charge to friction balance of free-draining DNA molecules. This can be achieved by labeling the DNA with a large, uncharged molecule (essentially a hydrodynamic parachute, which we also call a drag-tag) prior to electrophoresis; the resulting methodology is called end-labeled free-solution electrophoresis (ELFSE). In this article, we review the development of ELFSE over the last decade. In particular, we examine the theoretical concepts used to predict the ultimate performance of ELFSE for single-stranded (ssDNA) sequencing, the experimental results showing that ELFSE can indeed overcome the free-draining issue raised above, and the technological advances that are needed to speed the development of competitive ELFSE-based sequencing and separation technologies. Finally, we also review the reverse process, called free-solution conjugate electrophoresis (FSCE), wherein uncharged polymers of different sizes can be analyzed using a short DNA molecule as an electrophoretic engine.