What is the role of the interfacial interaction in the slow relaxation of nanometer-thick polymer melts on a solid surface?

At the nanoscale and interfaces, the relaxation behavior of polymer melts, which affects the polymer's long-term performance in many important applications, is very different from that in the bulk. The role of polymer-substrate interfacial interaction, which does not have a bulk counterpart, has not been fully understood to date. In this study, the relaxation of nanometer-thick perfluoropolyether melts on a silicon wafer has been investigated by water contact angle measurement. The polymer-substrate interactions have been systematically changed by tailoring the polymer structure to clarify the effect of the interfacial interaction. The experimental results show that (1) when there is attractive interaction at the interface, some polymers are anchored to the substrate and others are free, (2) the attractive interfacial interaction drives the free polymers to relax at the interface, and (3) the relaxation is much slower than in the bulk, which has been attributed to the low mobility of the anchored polymer chains and the motional cooperativity between anchored and free polymer chains in the nanometer-thick films.     

What is the unperturbed state in polymer solutions?

We report theoretical results about amphiphilic random copolymers in a quasi‐ideal conformation with an overall size very close to that of the analogue homopolymers. We found that a few states may coexist with about the same free energy and a similar radius of gyration, but with different intramolecular conformations. We also argue that, in most cases, amphiphilic copolymers may never achieve the unperturbed Θ state, defined thermodynamically by a vanishing second virial coefficient. Thus, we suggest that such copolymers usually show neither an unperturbed conformation nor an unperturbed state from the thermodynamic viewpoint. We also briefly discuss star homopolymers, which show a depression of the Θ temperature with respect to linear chains and a significant, though finite, Θ swelling, as well as linear chains in the Θ state and in the melt. The main general conclusion is that interactions between chain segments do not cancel each other and are non‐negligible. Accordingly, we suggest that the word "unperturbed" be used only with reference to solution thermodynamics and not for the chain size or conformation.     

What is the structure of the RecA-DNA filament?

The bacterial RecA protein has been a model system for understanding how a protein can catalyze homologous genetic recombination. RecA-like proteins have now been characterized from many organisms, from bacteriophage to humans. Some of the RecA-like proteins, including human RAD51, appear to function as helical filaments formed on DNA. However, we currently have high resolution structures of inactive forms of the protein, and low resolution structures of the active complexes formed by RecA-like proteins on DNA in the presence of ATP or ATP analogs. Within a crystal of the E. coli RecA protein, a helical polymer exists, and it has been widely assumed that this polymer is quite similar to the active helical filament formed on DNA. Recent developments have suggested that this may not be the case.     

What is the enthalpy of formation of acrylonitrile?

Acrylonitrile is a key industrial compound with numerous uses. Despite its importance, its enthalpy of formation is still contentious. There is a 12 kJ mol⁻¹ range of values reported for the gas phase quantity: 173–185 kJ mol⁻¹. Quantum chemical calculations, using current methodologies and defining reactions, suggest values between 185 and 191 kJ mol⁻¹: the recommended value, an average, is 188 ± 7 kJ mol⁻¹.     

What is the mechanism of oriented crystal growth on rubbed polymer substrates? Topography vs epitaxy

From the oriented growth of p-nitroaniline crystals on various rubbed polymer substrates, the orientation mechanism was found to basically rely upon the formation of intermolecular interactions at the crystal/polymer interface. The observations also show that the surface topography only plays a minor role in the oriented nucleation.     

What is the mole?

The mole is a difficult concept. Surveys have shown that even many teachers do not have a proper understanding of it. To help to meet this problem, the SI/IUPAC formulation of the mole is carefully presented and explained. New SI proposals are also briefly discussed.     

What is the acidity of a plutonium solution?

The determination of the pH of a plutonium solution has traditionally depended on an electrode or a titration in the presence of a complexing agent. A new approach uses the equilibrium distribution of the Pu oxidation states to estimate the hydrogen ion concentration. The method is used to estimate the equilibrium constant of the first hydrolysis reaction of tetravalent plutonium.     

What is the mechanism of soap film entrainment?

Classical Frankel's law describes the formation of soap films and their evolution upon pulling, a model situation of film dynamics in foams (formation, rheology, and destabilization). With the purpose of relating film pulling to foam dynamics, we have built a new setup able to give an instantaneous measurement of film thickness, thus allowing us to determine film thickness profile during pulling. We found that only the lower part of the film is of uniform thickness and follows Frankel's law, provided the entrainment velocity is small. We show that this is due to confinement effects: there is not enough surfactant in the bulk to fully cover the newly created surfaces which results in immobile film surfaces. At large velocities, surfaces become mobile and then Frankel's law breaks down, leading to a faster drainage and thus to a nonstationary thickness at the bottom of the film. These findings should help in understanding the large dispersion of previous experimental data reported during the last 40 years and clarifying the pulling phenomenon of thin liquid films.     

What is the effective charge of TGA-stabilized CdTe nanocolloids?

The surface charge of semiconductor nanoparticles, Q, is an important parameter which determines their electrokinetic behavior, stability in water and polar solvents, functions of optical and electronic devices, self-assembly properties, and interactions with cell membranes. We have developed a simple method for quantitative determination of Q in their native aqueous environment. The method does not require the knowledge of exact atomic structure or make assumptions about effects of drying on charge distribution. The method is based on titration of nanoparticle dispersion with a solution of oppositely charged polyelectrolyte. The point of complete neutralization is recognized as an inflection point on the dependence of fluorescence intensity on the amount of polyelectrolyte added. Thioglycolic acid-stabilized CdTe nanoparticles 2 nm in diameter were found to carry an average Q from -2.6 to -5.5 for pH 7.5 to 10, respectively. This charge is found to be smaller than that calculated theoretically for an analogous structure (i.e., Q = -8), presumably due to adsorption of Cd(2+) ions on the stabilizer shell and on Te atoms with unsaturated valence located on the side planes of CdTe tetrahedrons.     

What is the first hydrolysis constant of tetravalent Plutonium?

A new method for estimating the numerical value of the first hydrolysis constant of tetravalent plutonium is illustrated by examples. It uses the pH and the equilibrium fractions of two of the Pu oxidation states. They are substituted into one or more of a choice of formulas that render explicit estimates of the hydrolysis constant.     

What is the initiation step of the Grubbs-Hoveyda olefin metathesis catalyst?

Density function theory calculations reveal that the Grubbs-Hoveyda olefin metathesis pre-catalyst is activated by the formation of a complex in which the incoming alkene substrate and outgoing alkoxy ligand are both clearly associated with the ruthenium centre. The computed energies for reaction are in good agreement with the experimental values, reported here.     

Why does the rouse model fairly describe the dynamic characteristics of polymer melts at molecular masses below critical mass?

Generalization of the Rouse model without any use of the postulates concerning the Gaussian distribution of the vector connecting the ends of segments is advanced. In the initial (in general, nonlinear) Langevin equations, self-averaging over continuous fragments of a macromolecule naturally defines a linear term for the tagged chain, and this term differs from the entropy term of the classical Rouse model only by the numerical coefficient. According to the inertia-free approximation, the initial decay rates of correlation functions for the normal modes are described by the Rouse model independently of the character of fluctuations of the vector connecting the ends of the Kuhn segment. This statement is valid for any moment if the initial Langevin equations are treated in terms of the approximation of dynamic self-consistency. Simulation of the Fraenkel chains by the method of Brownian dynamics shows that decay of autocorrelation functions of shortwave normal modes is fairly described by the linearized equations for a given model of a chain and that the Rouse equation can be used for the long-wave modes. The results of this study make it possible to explain a marked difference between the lengths of the Kuhn and Rouse segments that is estimated from static and dynamic experiments.     

What is the future of electrophoresis in large-scale genomic sequencing?

Although a finished human genome reference sequence is now available, the ability to sequence large, complex genomes remains critically important for researchers in the biological sciences, and in particular, continued human genomic sequence determination will ultimately help to realize the promise of medical care tailored to an individual's unique genetic identity. Many new technologies are being developed to decrease the costs and to dramatically increase the data acquisition rate of such sequencing projects. These new sequencing approaches include Sanger reaction-based technologies that have electrophoresis as the final separation step as well as those that use completely novel, nonelectrophoretic methods to generate sequence data. In this review, we discuss the various advances in sequencing technologies and evaluate the current limitations of novel methods that currently preclude their complete acceptance in large-scale sequencing projects. Our primary goal is to analyze and predict the continuing role of electrophoresis in large-scale DNA sequencing, both in the near and longer term.     

The response of entangled polymer solutions to step changes of shear rate: Signatures of segmental stretch?

Experiments measuring the orientation angle and birefringence in startup and double-step strain rate flows were conducted on a 3.0 wt % 8.42 × 10⁶ molecular weight polystyrene solution in a Couette flow cell. A phase-modulated flow birefringence apparatus was used to noninvasively probe the sample. Upon startup from rest, the orientation angle undershoots its final steady-state value, as seen by earlier investigators. When the shear rate undergoes a step increase from one nonzero value to another, the amplitude of this undershoot is decreased. However, a more significant effect is a shorter time scale overshoot in the orientation angle that is highly counterintuitive in the sense that an increase of shear rate initially produces a rotation of chain segments away from the flow direction. Similarly, a step decrease in shear rate yields an initial transient rotation toward the flow direction. In both cases, the height of the peaks depends upon the magnitude of the shear rate jump, and the width of the peaks is a function of the final shear rate. The longer time transients in the startup and step increase experiments reflect an apparent change in the relaxation time for segment orientation, which we tentatively attribute to a combination of tube dilation and convective constraint release. The shorter time scale over- and undershoots in the orientation angle appear to be qualitatively explained by considering the differences in extension or contraction of segments along the polymer chain. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36 : 265–280, 1998     

What is an element? What is the periodic table? And what does quantum mechanics contribute to the question?

This article considers two important traditions concerning the chemical elements. The first is the meaning of the term “element” including the distinctions between element as basic substance, as simple substance and as combined simple substance. In addition to briefly tracing the historical development of these distinctions, I make comments on the recent attempts to clarify the fundamental notion of element as basic substance for which I believe the term “element” is best reserved. This discussion has focused on the writings of Fritz Paneth which are here analyzed from a new perspective. The other tradition concerns the reduction of chemistry to quantum mechanics and an understanding of chemical elements through their microscopic components such as protons, neutrons and electrons. I claim that the use of electronic configurations has still not yet settled the question of the placement of several elements and discuss an alternative criterion based on maximizing triads of elements. I also point out another possible limitation to the reductive approach, namely the failure, up to now, to obtain a derivation of the Madelung rule. Mention is made of some recent similarity studies which could be used to clarify the nature of ‘elements’. Although it has been suggested that the notion of element as basic substance should be considered in terms of fundamental particles like protons and electrons, I resist this move and conclude that the quantum mechanical tradition has not had much impact on the question of what is an element which remains an essentially philosophical issue.     

Metal-mediated dihydrogen activation. What determines the transition-state geometry?

Density functional theory and absolutely localized molecular orbital energy decomposition analysis calculations were used to calculate and analyze dihydrogen activation transition states and reaction pathways. Analysis of a variety of transition-metal complexes with d(0), d(6), d(8), and d(10) orbital occupation with a diverse range of metal ligands reveals that for transition states, akin to dihydrogen σ complexes, there is a continuum of activated H-H bond lengths that can be classified as "dihydrogen" (0.8-1.0 ?), "stretched or elongated" (1.0-1.2 ?), and "compressed dihydride" (1.2-1.6 ?). These calculations also quantitatively for the first time reveal that the extent to which H(2) is activated in the transition-structure geometry depends on back-bonding orbital interactions and not forward-bonding orbital interactions. This is true regardless of the mechanism or whether the metal ligand complex acts as an electrophile, ambiphile, or nucleophile toward dihydrogen.     

What is the best definition of a liquid cluster at the molecular scale?

We investigate the ability of different cluster definitions to serve as a good reaction coordinate in molecular simulations of nucleation. In particular, the most commonly used Stillinger criterion [J. Chem. Phys. 38, 1486 (1963)] is compared with the cluster definition introduced by ten Wolde and Frenkel [J. Chem. Phys. 109, 9901 (1998)]. The accuracy of these two different cluster definitions is tested by using molecular dynamics to study the vapor-liquid nucleation of Lennard-Jones argon as a model system. We are able to compare the size of the critical cluster identified by each cluster definition with a completely model-independent value provided by the nucleation theorem, aided by a recently introduced method that accurately extracts the location of the transition state directly from the kinetics. It is found that the Stillinger definition strongly overestimates the size of small molecular clusters by up to a factor of 2. A simple change of the Stillinger radius is unable to rectify this deficiency. On the contrary, the ten Wolde-Frenkel definition, while being only slightly more elaborate than a simple Stillinger criterion, is remarkably successful in identifying the correct molecular excess of the small clusters if the parameters are chosen adequately. The method described here can also be generalized to identify a proper reaction coordinate in other activated processes.