Analytical Electron Microscopy in a Discontinuous Precipitated Cu–In Alloy

The morphology and kinetics of the discontinuous precipitation reaction in a Cu-4.5 at.% In alloy were studied by means of analytical electron microscopy. Upon discontinuous precipitation an /(Cu₇In₃) lamellar two-phase microstructure was observed, where is the In-depleted solid solution and the precipitate phase. Indium concentration profiles were determined parallel to the moving reaction front for individual lamellae. A local analysis was applied to characterize the kinetics of the discontinuous precipitation reaction and allowed the determination of the local grain-boundary diffusivity.     

Impact of Electron–Electron Collisions on the Spatial Electron Relaxation in Non-Isothermal Plasmas

The impact of electron–electron collisions on the spatial relaxation of electrons in the column-anode plasma of a glow discharge, acted upon by a space-independent electric field and initiated by a constant influx at the cathode side of the plasma, is investigated in inert gas plasmas. The investigations are based on a new method for numerically solving the one-dimensional inhomogeneous Boltzmann equation of the electrons including electron–electron interaction in weakly ionized, collision-dominated plasmas. A detailed analysis of the spatial behaviour of the velocity distribution function and relevant macroscopic properties of the electrons is given for various degrees of ionization and electric field strengths. A significant impact of the electron–electron collisions on the relaxation structure and the resultant relaxation length already at relatively low ionization degrees has been found for low to medium electric fields.     

What Makes a Strong Organic Electron Donor (or Acceptor)?

Organic electron donors are of importance for a number of applications. However, the factors that are essential for a directed design of compounds with desired reduction power are not clear. Here, we analyze these factors in detail. The intrinsic reduction power, which neglects the environment, has to be separated from extrinsic (e.g., solvent) effects. This power could be quantified by the gas‐phase ionization energy. The experimentally obtained redox potentials in solution and the calculated ionization energies in a solvent (modeled with the conductor‐like screening model (COSMO)) include both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. An increase in the conjugated π‐system of organic electron donors leads to an increase in the intrinsic reduction power, but also decreases the solvent stabilization. Hence, intrinsic and extrinsic effects compete against each other; generally the extrinsic effects dominate. We suggest a simple relationship between the redox potential in solution and the gas‐phase ionization energy and the volume of an organic electron donor. We finally arrive at formulas that allow for an estimate of the (gas‐phase) ionization energy of an electron donor or the (gas‐phase) electron affinity of an electron acceptor from the measured redox potentials in solution. The formulas could be used for neutral organic molecules with no or only small static dipole moment and relatively uniform charge distribution after oxidation/reduction.     

Prediction of the Atomic Electron Affinities Using a Wavelet Neural Network

Atomicelectronaffinity(EA)isimportantnotonlyinpurechemistrybutalsoinastro-physicalproblems,low-temperatureplasmas,tandemaccelerators,andelectron-capturedetectors.l'2Uptonow,itstillremainsdifficulttomeasuretheaccuratevaluesofEAexperimentally.I'2Theoreticalmethods,includingabinilioquantummechanicalcalcula-tions3-9andvarioussemi-empiricalextrapolationtechniques,,',,'havebeenextensivelystudied.However,thecalculationofEAofevensmallatomsisnotoriouslytime-consuminganditisstilldifficulttocalculateE…     

Tuning Molecular Electron Affinities against Atomic Electronegativities by Spatial Expansion of a π-System

2,1,3-Benzochalcogenadiazoles C₆R₄N₂E ( E / R ; E=S, Se, Te; R=H, F, Cl, Br, I) and C₆H₂R₂N₂E ( E / R’ ; E=S, Se, Te; R=Br, I) are 10π-electron hetarenes. By CV/EPR measurements, DFT calculations, and QTAIM and ELI-D analyses, it is shown that their molecular electron affinities (EAs) increase with decreasing Allen electronegativities and electron affinities of the E and non-hydrogen R (except Cl) atoms. DFT calculations for E / R +e⋅⁻→[E/R]⋅⁻ electron capture reveal negative ΔG values numerically increasing with increasing atomic numbers of the E and R atoms; positive ΔS has a minor influence. It is suggested that the EA increase is caused by more effective charge/spin delocalization in the radical anions of heavier derivatives due to contributions from diffuse (a real-space expanded) p-AOs of the heavier E and R atoms; and that this counterintuitive effect might be of the general character.     

Direct Electron－transfer Reaction of Cytochrome C at a Bare Spectrographic Graphite Electrode

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Nucleophilic Substitution Reaction of p-Dinitrobenzene by a Carbanion: Evidence for Electron Transfer Mechanism

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Electron transport in CaMnO3 − δ at elevated temperatures: a mobility analysis

The drift mobility of electron charge carriers in oxygen non-stoichiometric manganite CaMnO_3???δ was calculated by combining the total electrical conductivity and oxygen non-stoichiometry data at 700–950 °С and oxygen partial pressure varying between 10^?6 and 1 atm. The carrier concentration changes with pressure and temperature were obtained with the help of the earlier-developed defect model involving reactions of oxygen exchange and thermal excitation of manganese sites. The activation energy for mobility is found to increase with oxygen non-stoichiometry. High-temperature electron transport properties of the manganite CaMnO_3???δ can be explained in terms of activated jumps of n-type small polarons in adiabatic regime. The relatively small mobility of charge carriers is explained by strong localization of polarons on manganese sites.     

How Many Molecules are Required to Obtain a Steady Faradaic Current from Mediated Electron Transfer at a Single Nanoparticle on a Supporting Surface?

We investigate the chronoamperometric noise characteristics of electron‐transfer reactions occurring on single nanoparticles (NPs) and assemblies of well‐separated NPs on a supporting surface. To this end, we combine a formerly described expression for the steady‐state current of a single particle with the shot‐noise model and derive an expression for the signal‐to‐noise ratio as a function of bulk concentration and particle radius. Our findings are supported by random‐walk simulations, which closely match the analytical results.     

Electron–ion recombination in radiation tracks in liquid argon: a computer simulation study

A simulation method is proposed to model electron–ion recombination in radiation tracks in liquid argon at 87 K. The method is applied to calculate the electron escape probability in clusters of up to 20 pairs of electrons and cations that represent a fragment of the track. The results reproduce the basic features of the track recombination in liquid argon observed in experiment.     

Study of Electron Transfer Reactions Between a Water／1,2-Dichloro-ethane Interface by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy

Electron transfer (ET) from ascorbic acid (AA) in aqueous to ferrocene (Fc) in 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) was probed by the scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). Therate constants were extracted from the dependence of the steady-state current at ultramicro- electrode (UME, tip) on the distance between the tip and the phase boundary by comparison to theoretical working cures.     

Electron transfer through α-peptides attached to vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays: a mechanistic transition

The mechanism of electron transfer in α-aminoisobutyric (Aib) homoligomers is defined by the extent of secondary structure, rather than just chain length. Helical structures (Aib units ≥3) undergo an electron hopping mechanism, while shorter disordered sequences (Aib units <3) undergo an electron superexchange mechanism.     

Mapping a Noncovalent Protein–Peptide Interface by Top-Down FTICR Mass Spectrometry Using Electron Capture Dissociation

Noncovalent protein–ligand and protein–protein complexes are readily detected using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI MS). Furthermore, recent reports have demonstrated that careful use of electron capture dissociation (ECD) fragmentation allows covalent backbone bonds of protein complexes to be dissociated without disruption of noncovalent protein–ligand interactions. In this way the site of protein–ligand interfaces can be identified. To date, protein–ligand complexes, which have proven tractable to this technique, have been mediated by ionic electrostatic interactions, i.e., ion pair interactions or salt bridging. Here we extend this methodology by applying ECD to study a protein–peptide complex that contains no electrostatics interactions. We analyzed the complex between the 21 kDa p53-inhibitor protein anterior gradient-2 and its hexapeptide binding ligand (PTTIYY). ECD fragmentation of the 1:1 complex occurs with retention of protein–peptide binding and analysis of the resulting fragments allows the binding interface to be localized to a C-terminal region between residues 109 and 175. These finding are supported by a solution-phase competition assay, which implicates the region between residues 108 and 122 within AGR2 as the PTTIYY binding interface. Our study expands previous findings by demonstrating that top-down ECD mass spectrometry can be used to determine directly the sites of peptide–protein interfaces. This highlights the growing potential of using ECD and related top-down fragmentation techniques for interrogation of protein–protein interfaces.     

Synthesis of a New Family of Green Light Emitting Material Containing Both Hole and Electron Transporting Units

Since Tang and Van Slyke reported the first double-layer organic electroluminescent (EL) device using Alq3 (q = 8-hydroxyquinolinyl) in 19871, organic EL devices have received a great deal of attention in view of their application as full-color flat-panel displays as well as academic interest2,3,4. There have been extensive studies of organic EL devices directed toward achieving high brightness and multi- or full-color emission, and in particular, improving the durability and thermal stabi…     

One-Pot,Three-Component Cycloaddition of Nonstabilized Azomethine Ylides to β-Nitrostyrene,a Highly Electron Deficient Dipolarophile

A facile route to tetra-substituted pyrrolidines has been accomplished by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction. Several pyrrolidine compounds have significant biological activity. A highly electron-deficient dipolarophile, β-nitrostyrene, was reacted with nonstabilized azomethine ylides derived from aryl aldehyde and L-phenylglycine in dry dimethyl formanide. The structures and stereochemistry of the cycloadducts were established by infrared, NMR spectroscopy, and single-crystal x-ray crystallographic analyses.     

Where Does the Electron Go? Stable and Metastable Peptide Cation Radicals Formed by Electron Transfer

Electron transfer to doubly and triply charged heptapeptide ions containing polar residues Arg, Lys, and Asp in combination with nonpolar Gly, Ala, and Pro or Leu generates stable and metastable charge-reduced ions, (M + 2H)^+●, in addition to standard electron-transfer dissociation (ETD) fragment ions. The metastable (M + 2H)^+● ions spontaneously dissociate upon resonant ejection from the linear ion trap, giving irregularly shaped peaks with offset m/z values. The fractions of stable and metastable (M + 2H)^+● ions and their mass shifts depend on the presence of Pro-4 and Leu-4 residues in the peptides, with the Pro-4 sequences giving larger fractions of the stable ions while showing smaller mass shifts for the metastables. Conversion of the Asp and C-terminal carboxyl groups to methyl esters further lowers the charge-reduced ion stability. Collisional activation and photodissociation at 355 nm of mass-selected (M + 2H)^+● results in different dissociations that give sequence specific MS³ spectra. With a single exception of charge-reduced (LKGLADR + 2H)^+●, the MS³ spectra do not produce ETD sequence fragments of the c and z type. Hence, these (M + 2H)^+● ions are covalent radicals, not ion–molecule complexes, undergoing dramatically different dissociations in the ground and excited electronic states. The increased stability of the Pro-4 containing (M + 2H)^+● ions is attributed to radicals formed by opening of the Pro ring and undergoing further stabilization by hydrogen atom migrations. UV–VIS photodissociation action spectroscopy and time-dependent density functional theory calculations are used in a case in point study of the stable (LKGPADR + 2H)^+● ion produced by ETD. In contrast to singly-reduced peptide ions, doubly reduced (M + 3H)⁺ ions are stable only when formed from the Pro-4 precursors and show all characteristics of even electron ions regarding no photon absorption at 355 nm or ion-molecule reactions, and exhibiting proton driven collision induced dissociations.

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Infrared Spectroscopy of Neutral Clusters Based on a Vacuum Ultraviolet Free Electron Laser?

Spectroscopic characterization of clusters is crucial to understanding the structures and reaction mechanisms at the microscopic level, but it has been proven to be a grand challenge for neutral clusters because the absence of a charge makes it difficult for the size selection and detection. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy based on threshold photoionization using a tunable vacuum ultraviolet free electron laser (VUV-FEL) has recently been developed in the lab. The IR-VUV depletion and IR+VUV enhancement spectroscopic techniques open new avenues for size-selected IR spectroscopies of a large variety of neutral clusters without confinement (i.e., an ultraviolet chromophore, a messenger tag, or a host matrix). The spectroscopic principles have been demonstrated by investigations of some neutral water clusters and some metal carbonyls. Here, the spectroscopic principles and their applications for neutral clusters are reviewed.      

The Application of Engineered Glucose Dehydrogenase to a Direct Electron–Transfer‐Type Continuous Glucose Monitoring System and a Compartmentless Biofuel Cell

Abstract

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is expected to become an ideal way to monitor glycemic levels in diabetic patients. On the other hand, biofuel cells can be used as an alternative energy source in future implantable devices, such as implantable glucose sensors in the artificial pancreas. Glucose dehydrogenase from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, which harbors pyrroloquinoline quinone as the prosthetic group (PQQGDH), is one of the enzymes most attractive as a glucose sensor constituent and as the anode enzyme in biofuel cells, due to its high catalytic activity and insensitivity to oxygen. However, the application of PQQGDH for these purposes is inherently limited because an electron mediator is required for the electron transfer to the electrode.

We have recently reported on the development of an engineered enzyme, quinohemoprotein glucose dehydrogenase (QH‐GDH), in which the cytochrome c domain of the quinohemoprotein ethanol dehydrogenase (QH‐EDH) was fused with PQQGDH, to enable electron transfer to the electrode in the absence of an artificial mediator. In this study, we constructed a direct electron‐transfer‐type CGM system employing QH‐GDH. This CGM system showed sufficient current response and high operational stability. Furthermore, we successfully constructed a compartmentless biofuel cell employing QH‐GDH.     

The Effective Hamiltonian and Electron Correlation Energy

An effective,hermitian hamiltonian is derived in amodel space. Its perturbation expressions to third order approximation are given.The correlation energy is also given to the third order approximation.The effective hamiltonian deviates form the actual one by the presence of acorrelation operator.The cprrelation operatop is given in an explicit form.