Assignment of FIR Laser Lines of Hydrazine

With 228 known FIR laser emissions, hydrazine is the most prolific laser active molecules after methanol. But, due to the complexity of its rovibrational spectrum, only a few assignments of hydrizine FIR laser transitions are found in literature. Here we analyze 44 FIR laser lines of hydrazine excited by 20 different CO₂ pumps. The pump transitions are compared to available assignments of IR amino-wagging transitions. We propose values for the J and K quantum numbers involved in 41 FIR laser transitions, for 22 of them we give also the symmetry species.     

VIP-2 —High-Sensitivity Tests on the Pauli Exclusion Principle for Electrons

The VIP collaboration is performing high sensitivity tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons in the extremely low cosmic background environment of the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory INFN (Italy). In particular, the VIP-2 Open Systems experiment was conceived to put strong constraints on those Pauli Exclusion Principle violation models which respect the so-called Messiah–Greenberg superselection rule. The experimental technique consists of introducing a direct current in a copper conductor, and searching for the X-rays emission coming from a forbidden atomic transition from the L shell to the K shell of copper when the K shell is already occupied by two electrons. The analysis of the first three months of collected data (in 2018) is presented. The obtained result represents the best bound on the Pauli Exclusion Principle violation probability which fulfills the Messiah–Greenberg rule.     

Theoretical and photophysical study of photoisomerism of cyanine dyes: bisphenylaminopentamethine cyanine (BPPC)

The trans-cis photoisomerism of BPPC was investigated as part of a comprehensive, both theoretical and experimental, study on the photophysical and photochemical properties of cyanines having pentamethine cyanine as a common chromophore. In this work the determination of the trans → cis photoisomerization and thermal back isomerizatkm kinetics in alcohols was combined with CS INDO CI calculations of S₀ and S₁ potential energy curves for the paths leading to mono-cis isomers, where the dielectric solvent effects were taken into account by the simple virtual charge model. In agreement with the indications of a previous steady-state spectroscopy study, it was concluded that irradiation of BPPC into the visible absorption region gives rise to formation of the C(3)–C(4) cis planar isomer, already observed with the parent chromophore (BMPC), and an additional isomer, N(1)-C(2) cis, peculiar to BPPC. The role of the solute-solvent interactions is discussed with reference to the purely intramolecular model previously proposed for the cyanine photoisomerization.     

Aqueous Stable Gold Nanostar/ZIF‐8 Nanocomposites for Light‐Triggered Release of Active Cargo Inside Living Cells

A plasmonic core–shell gold nanostar/zeolitic‐imidazolate‐framework‐8 (ZIF‐8) nanocomposite was developed for the thermoplasmonic‐driven release of encapsulated active molecules inside living cells. The nanocomposites were loaded, as a proof of concept, with bisbenzimide molecules as functional cargo and wrapped with an amphiphilic polymer that prevents ZIF‐8 degradation and bisbenzimide leaking in aqueous media or inside living cells. The demonstrated molecule‐release mechanism relies on the use of near‐IR light coupled to the plasmonic absorption of the core gold nanostars, which creates local temperature gradients and thus, bisbenzimide thermodiffusion. Confocal microscopy and surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) were used to demonstrate bisbenzimide loading/leaking and near‐IR‐triggered cargo release inside cells, thereby leading to DNA staining.     

Rapid Formation of Non-canonical Phospholipid Membranes by Chemoselective Amide-Forming Ligations with Hydroxylamines**

There has been increasing interest in methods to generate synthetic lipid membranes as key constituents of artificial cells or to develop new tools for remodeling membranes in living cells. However, the biosynthesis of phospholipids involves elaborate enzymatic pathways that are challenging to reconstitute in vitro. An alternative approach is to use chemical reactions to non-enzymatically generate natural or non-canonical phospholipids de novo. Previous reports have shown that synthetic lipid membranes can be formed in situ using various ligation chemistries, but these methods lack biocompatibility and/or suffer from slow kinetics at physiological pH. Thus, it would be valuable to develop chemoselective strategies for synthesizing phospholipids from water-soluble precursors that are compatible with synthetic or living cells Here, we demonstrate that amide-forming ligations between lipid precursors bearing hydroxylamines and α-ketoacids (KAs) or potassium acyltrifluoroborates (KATs) can be used to prepare non-canonical phospholipids at physiological pH conditions. The generated amide-linked phospholipids spontaneously self-assemble into cell-like micron-sized vesicles similar to natural phospholipid membranes. We show that lipid synthesis using KAT ligation proceeds extremely rapidly, and the high selectivity and biocompatibility of the approach facilitates the in situ synthesis of phospholipids and associated membranes in living cells.     

Kinetic model of reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization of styrene in seeded emulsion

A detailed model describing the kinetics of living polymerization mediated by reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) in seeded emulsion polymerization is developed. The model consists of a set of population balance equations of the different radical species in the aqueous phase and in the particle phase (accounting for radical segregation) as well as for the dormant species in the particle phase. The entire population of radicals was divided into several distinguished species, based on their length and their chain end group. The model results are helpful in understanding inhibition and retardation phenomena that are typical for RAFT emulsion polymerizations. While inhibition is due to the radical loss in form of the RAFT leaving group, retardation is mostly caused by a small amount of short dormant chains in the particle phase, leading to a slight increase of radical loss via RAFT exchange with radicals entering a particle. The model results are compared to a series of experiments, using cumyl dithiobenzoate as a RAFT agent in polymerizations of styrene. The agreement between experimental and model results is good and, notably, the only parameters considered adjustable were the RAFT exchange rate coefficients. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 6114–6135, 2006     

Strip-Loaded Sol-Gel Waveguides: Design and Fabrication

Sol-gel is one of the most attractive techniques for production of silica-on-silicon integrated optical devices. In fact, it combines low cost with flexibility and ease of doping; thus, nonlinear and active compounds can be effectively included in the silica matrix. Here, the feasibility of applying the sol-gel technique to the realization of an erbium-doped optical amplifier is reported on, operating in the third telecommunication window. In particular, the development of an optimum strategy for the design and fabrication of a guiding structure in the strip-loaded configuration is described. Design optimization results, as well as fabrication results and measured characteristics, are described and discussed.     

Graded Betti numbers of some embedded rationaln-folds

Supported, in part, by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada