SAXS investigations on chiral liquid crystalline polymers: antiferroelectric and ferrielectric structures?

The structure and phase behavior of liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) having a common chiral side chain mesogen but different main chain structures have been investigated using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). While the low molecular weight chiral side chain mesogen by itself exhibits ferroelectricity, the SAXS data of the side chain LCP with a flexible polyacrylate backbone contains a bilayered superstructure peak that is indicative of antiferroelectric order. The combined LCP with a nonpolar main chain mesogen also has a bilayered superstructure, but has a different structural organization in the proposed antiferroelectric phase compared to the side chain LCP. Further changes in the phase behavior and structural organization occur when a polar group is introduced into the main chain mesogen. A ferrielectric phase has been proposed to explain the observation of a trilayered superstructure in the corresponding SAXS data. The influence of the chemical structure and connectivity on the phase behavior and superstructure formation in the chiral LCPs is discussed.     

Evaluation of methods for measuring amino acid hydrophobicities and interactions

The concept of hydrophobicity has been addressed by researchers in all aspects of science, particularly in the fields of biology and chemistry. Over the past several decades, the study of the hydrophobicity of biomolecules, particularly amino acids has resulted in the development of a variety of hydrophobicity scales. In this review, we discuss the various methods of measuring amino acid hydrophobicity and provide explanations for the wide range of rankings that exist among these published scales. A discussion of the literature on amino acid interactions is also presented. Only a surprisingly small number of papers exist in this rather important area of research; measuring pairwise amino acid interactions will aid in understanding structural aspects of proteins.     

Thermal study of accumulation of conformational disorders in the self-assembled monolayers of C8 and C18 alkanethiols on the Au111 surface

The thermal stability of short alkanethiol CH(3)(CH(2))(7)SH (C(8)) and long C(18) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) is investigated using grazing angle reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and molecular dynamics simulation. We track the disordering of SAM by untilting and gauche defect accumulation with increasing temperature in the 300-440 K range, a range of interest to tribology. Molecular dynamics simulation with both fully covered and partially covered C(6), C(8), and C(18) monolayers brings out the morphological changes in the SAM, which may be associated with the observed thermal stability characteristics. The molecular dynamics simulations reveal that short-chain C(6) and C(8) alkanethiols are more defective at lower temperature than the long-chain C(18) alkanethiol. With increasing temperature disorder in the SAM, as reflected in both untilting and gauche defect accumulation, tends to saturate at temperatures below 360 K for short-chain SAMs such that any further increase in temperature, until desorption, does not lead to any significant change in conformational order. In contrast the disorder in the long-chain C(18) SAM increases monotonically with temperature beyond 360 K. Thus, in a practical range of temperature, the ability of a SAM to retain order with increasing thermal perturbations is governed by the state of disorder prior to heat treatment. This deduction derived from molecular dynamics simulation helps to rationalize the significant difference we have observed experimentally between the thermal response of short- and long-chain thiol molecules.     

Studies on binuclear hydroxo/carboxylato-bridged manganese(III) complexes and a mononuclear manganese(III) complex involving salen type ligands

Synthesis of six hydroxo-bridged binuclear manganese(III) complexes of formulae [MnL-X-MnL](ClO₄) [X = OH (1–6)] along with a mononuclear manganese(III) complex (7) [Mn(L)(L′)(MeOH)₂] [HL′ = 2-(2-hydroxy-phen-yl)benzimidazole] and two carboxylate-bridged binuclear manganese(III) complexes (8) and (9) are described. The complexes have been characterized by the combination of i.r., u.v.-vis spectroscopy, magnetic moments and by their redox properties. The electronic spectra of all the complexes exhibit almost identical features consisting of two d–d bands at ca. 550 and 600 nm, one MLCT band at ca.400 nm, together with two π–π^* intra-ligand transitions at ca. 250 nm and ca.300 nm. Room temperature magnetic data range from μ = 2.7–3.0 BM indicates some super-exchange between the binuclear metal centers via bridging hydroxo/carboxylato groups. The X-ray crystal structure of the binuclear complex (5) revealed that it has a symmetric Mn^IIIN₂O₂ core bridged by a hydroxyl group. The X-ray analysis of the mononuclear complex (7) showed that the manganese-center possesses a distorted octahedral geometry. Electrochemical properties of hydroxo-bridged manganese(III) complexes (1–6) show identical features consisting of an irreversible and a quasi-reversible reduction corresponding to the Mn₂^III → Mn^IIMn^III → Mn^IIMn^II couples in the voltammogram. It was found that electron withdrawing substituents on the ligand result in easier reduction. Complex (7) displays an irreversible reduction at 0.08 V and a reversible oxidation at 0.45V assignable to the Mn^III → Mn^II reduction and Mn^III → Mn^IV oxidation, respectively. The carboxylate-bridged compound (8) exhibits two irreversible oxidations at 0.4 and 0.6 V, probably due to Mn₂^III → Mn^IIIMn^IV → Mn^IVMn^IV oxidations and shows a quasi-reversible reductive wave at −0.85 V, tentatively assigned to Mn₂^III → Mn^IIMn^III reduction.     

Convergent synthesis of a 24-membered macrocyclic hexaoxazole derivative related to the novel telomerase inhibitor telomestatin

An efficient construction of a 24-membered macrocyclic hexaoxazole derivative pertinent to the synthesis of analogues of the important natural product telomestatin was developed, which featured a convergent union of two trisoxazole units.     

Photopolymerization of methyl methacrylate using a combination of rhodamine 6G and benzoyl peroxide as photoinitiator in nonaqueous media

Photopolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in visible light was studied at 40°C using Rhodamine 6G—Benzoyl peroxide combination as photoinitiator. The photopolymerization proceeds by a free radical mechanism and the radical generation process occurs by an initial complexation reaction between the initiator components. Kinetic data indicated a lower-order dependence of R_p on initiator concentrations (initiator exponent < 0.5). Initiator-dependent chain termination was significant along with the bimolecular mode of chain termination.     

Structural characterization of a lanthanum bistriflimide complex, La(N(SO2CF3)2)3(H2O)3, and an investigation of La, Sm, and Eu electrochemistry in a room-temperature ionic liquid, [Me3N(n)Bu][N(SO2CF3)2

The reduction of selected lanthanide cations to the zerovalent state in the room-temperature ionic liquid [Me3N(n)Bu][TFSI] is reported (where TFSI = bistriflimide, [N(SO2CF3)2]-). The lanthanide cations were introduced to the melt as the TFSI hydrate complexes [Ln(TFSI)3(H2O)3] (where Ln = La(III), Sm(III) or Eu(III)). The lanthanum compound [La(TFSI)3(H2O)3] has been crystallographically characterized, revealing the first structurally characterized f-element TFSI complex. The lanthanide in all three complexes was shown to be reducible to the metallic state in [Me3N(n)Bu][TFSI]. For both the Eu and Sm complexes, reduction to the metallic state was achieved via divalent species, and there was an additional observation of the electrodeposition of Eu metal.     

A class of exact solutions for doubly anharmonic oscillators

The solution of a difference equation in the form of an infinite continued fraction is used to obtain a class of exact solutions for the eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of doubly anharmonic oscillators described by potentials of the type (1/2)²x²+(1/4)x⁴+(1/6)x⁶, n>0, provided certain constraints on the couplings are satisfied. The class is denumerably infinite but not complete.     

Autofluorescence characterization of advanced glycation end products of hemoglobin

This article describes the analysis of autofluorescence of advanced glycation end products of hemoglobin (Hb-AGE). Formed as a result of slow, spontaneous and non-enzymatic glycation reactions, Hb-AGE possesses a characteristic autofluorescence at 308/345 nm (lambda(ex)/lambda(em)). Even in the presence of heme as a quenching molecule, the surface presence of the glycated adduct gave rise to autofluorescence with the quantum yield of 0.19. The specificity of monoclonal antibody developed against common AGE structure with Hb-AGE was demonstrated using reduction in fluorescence polarization value due to increased molecular volume while binding. The formation of fluorescent adduct in hemoglobin in the advanced stage of glycation and the non-fluorescent HbA(1c) will be of major use in distinguishing and to know the past status of diabetes mellitus. While autofluorescence correlated highly with HbA(1c) value under in vivo condition (r = 0.85), it was moderate in the clinical samples (r = 0.55). The results suggest a non-linear relation between glycemia and glycation, indicating the application of Hb-AGE as a measure of susceptibility to glycation rather than glycation itself.     

Comparative study of solid state reactivity between ferrous oxalate dihydrate and unsubstituted/substituted aniline hydrochlorides

The solid state reactions between ferrous oxalate dihydrate i.e. FeC₂O₄.2H₂O and unsubstituted/ substituted aniline hydrochlorides have been studied. The products [FeCl/oxH/. AN-Cl] have been characterized by elemental analysis, infrared and Mössbauer spectroscopic techniques. The kinetic studies for the reactions have been performed at various temperatures for fixed particle sizes at constant compaction. The following order of reactivity has been observed: unsubstituted > p-substituted > m-substituted o-substituted.