Editorial

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC -     

Growth of one-dimensional Pd nanowires on the terraces of a reduced SnO2(101) surface

Palladium, vapor-deposited at room temperature on a reduced SnO2(101) surface, forms one-dimensional islands, one atomic layer high, 5 A wide, and up to 350 A long. Scanning tunneling microscopy shows that neighboring islands do not merge. First-principles calculations reveal the atomistic processes that lead to this, for metal oxide substrates unusual, overlayer growth. Formation of 1D islands is mediated by a large anisotropy in surface diffusion, strong Pd-Sn interaction, and the lack of stable binding sites at the sides of the Pd islands. Nucleation is defect mediated, and the initial nucleation site determines the width of the resulting nanocluster.     

Particle-hole symmetry and the Pfaffian state

We show that the particle-hole conjugate of the Pfaffian state-or "anti-Pfaffian" state-is in a different universality class from the Pfaffian state, with different topological order. The two states can be distinguished easily by their edge physics: their edges differ in both their thermal Hall conductance and their tunneling exponents. At the same time, the two states are exactly degenerate in energy for a nu=5/2 quantum Hall system in the idealized limit of zero Landau level mixing. Thus, both are good candidates for the observed sigma_{xy}=5/2(e;{2}/h) quantum Hall plateau.     

Two-loop virtual top-quark effect on Higgs-boson decay to bottom quarks

In most of the mass range encompassed by the limits from the direct search and the electroweak precision tests, the Higgs boson of the standard model preferably decays to bottom quarks. We present, in analytic form, the dominant two-loop electroweak correction, of O(GF2mt4), to the partial width of this decay. It amplifies the familiar enhancement due to the O(GFmt2) one-loop correction by about +16% and thus more than compensates the screening by about -8% through strong-interaction effects of order O(alphasGFmt2).     

Automated and rapid online determination of 15N abundance and concentration of ammonium, nitrite, or nitrate in aqueous samples by the SPINMAS technique

On the basis of the principle of reaction continuous-flow quadrupole mass spectrometry, an automated sample preparation unit for inorganic nitrogen (SPIN) species was developed and coupled to a quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (MAS). The SPINMAS technique was designed for an automated, sensitive, and rapid determination of 15N abundance and concentration of a wide variety of N-species involved in nitrogen cycling (e.g. NH4+, NO3-, NH2OH etc.). In this paper, the SPINMAS technique is evaluated with regard to the determination of 15N abundance and concentration of the most fundamental inorganic nitrogen compounds in ecosystems such as NH4+, NO2-, and NO3-. The presented paper describes the newly developed system in detail and demonstrates the general applicability of the system. For a precise determination of 15N abundance and concentration, a minimum total N-amount of 10 microg NH4+ - N, 0.03 microg NO2- - N, or 0.3 microg NO3- - N has to be supplied. Currently, the SPINMAS technique represents the most rapid and only fully automated all-round method for a simultaneous determination of 15N abundance and total N-amount of NH4+, NO2-, or NO3- in aqueous samples.     

Development and Molecular Understanding of a Pd-Catalyzed Cyanation of Aryl Boronic Acids Enabled by High-Throughput Experimentation and Data Analysis

A synthetic method for the palladium-catalyzed cyanation of aryl boronic acids using bench stable and non-toxic N-cyanosuccinimide has been developed. High-throughput experimentation facilitated the screen of 90 different ligands and the resultant statistical data analysis identified that ligand σ-donation, π-acidity and sterics are key drivers that govern yield. Categorization into three ligand groups – monophosphines, bisphosphines and miscellaneous – was performed before the analysis. For the monophosphines, the yield of the reaction increases for strong σ-donating, weak π-accepting ligands, with flexible pendant substituents. For the bisphosphines, the yield predominantly correlates with ligand lability. The applicability of the designed reaction to a wider substrate scope was investigated, showing good functional group tolerance in particular with boronic acids bearing electron-withdrawing substituents. This work outlines the development of a novel reaction, coupled with a fast and efficient workflow to gain understanding of the optimal ligand properties for the design of improved palladium cross-coupling catalysts.     

Improved CE(SDS)-CZE-MS method utilizing an 8-port nanoliter valve

Capillary sieving electrophoresis utilizing SDS (CE(SDS)) is one of the most applied methods for the analysis of antibody (mAb) size heterogeneity in the biopharmaceutical industry. Inadequate peak identification of observed protein fragments is still a major issue. In a recent publication, we introduced an electrophoretic 2D system, enabling online mass spectrometric detection of generic CE(SDS) separated peaks and identification of several mAb fragments. However, an improvement regarding system stability and handling of the approach was desired. Here, we introduce a novel 8-port valve in conjunction with an optimized decomplexation strategy. The valve contains four sample loops with increased distances between the separation dimensions. Thus, successively coinjection of solvent and cationic surfactant without any additional detector in the second dimension is enabled, simplifying the decomplexation strategy. Removal efficiency was optimized by testing different volumes of solvents as presample and cationic surfactant as postsample zone. 2D measurements of the light and heavy chain of the reduced NIST mAb with the 8-port valve and the optimized decomplexation strategy demonstrates the increased robustness of the system. The presented novel set-up is a step toward routine application of CE(SDS)-CZE-MS for impurity characterization of proteins in the biopharmaceutical field.     

Cyanines comprising barbiturate group facilitate NIR-light assisted ATRP under anaerobic and aerobic conditions at two wavelengths using Fe(III) catalyst

Cyanines with heptamethine pattern namely 5-(6-(2-(3-ethyl-1,1-dimethyl-1H-benzo[e]indol-2(3H)-ylidene)ethylidene)-2-(2-(3-ethyl-1,1-dimethyl-1H-benzo[e]indol-3-ium-2yl) vinyl) cyclo-hex-1-en-1-yl)-1,3-dimethyl-2,6-dioxo-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyrimidin-4-olate comprising a barbiturate group facilitate controlled radical polymerization using FeBr₃ in the ppm range applying radiation at 790 nm. Tris(4-methoylphenyl)phosphine, Tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine or tetrabutylammonium bromide served as ligand. The latter showed the best performance resulting in a system needing no amino nitrogen for photo-ATRP. Ethyl α-bromophenylacetate worked as initiator. The cyanine interacts with FeBr₃ resulting in a new absorption band at 877 nm that also resulted in formation of polymer exhibiting similar molecular weight but higher dispersity compared to that obtained by 790 nm radiation by exposure with a light-emitting diode (LED) emitting at 870 nm. This explains the reactivity of the system while other cyanines such as 2-[2-[3-[2-(1,3-Dihydro-1,3,3-trimethyl-2H-indol-2-ylidene)-ethylidene]-2-(1-phenyl- 1H-tetrazol-5-ylsulfanyl)-1-cyclohexen-1-yl]-ethenyl]-1,3,3-trimethyl-3H-indolium chloride showed no activity by exposure at 790 nm in combination with FeBr₃/Br⁻. Controlled radical polymerization was confirmed by successful chain extension and block copolymerization experiments resulting in polymers, which exhibit a dispersity of about 1.3. Interestingly, the new system comprising the aforementioned barbiturate substituted cyanine, FeBr₃/Br⁻ and ethyl α-bromophenylacetate showed a certain oxygen tolerance. Polymers obtained exhibited similar dispersity as those made under inert conditions.     

Mediated Generation of Conjugate Acid by UV and Blue Sensitizers with Upconversion Nanoparticles at 980 nm

NIR and UV exposure of systems comprising upconversion nanoparticles ( UCNP ) based on NaYF₄:Tm/Yb@NaYF₄, a sensitizer absorbing either in the blue or UV region, and an onium salt with weak coordinating anion resulted in formation of conjugate acid (con-H⁺). That was namely Ivocerin (di(4-methoxybenzoyl)diethylgermane), ITX (2-iso-propyl thioxanthone), anthracene, pyrene, rubrene, camphore quinone, and a strong fluorescent coumarin (1,1,6,6,8-pentamethyl-2,3,5,6-tetrahyhdro-1H,4H-11-oxa-3a-aza-benzo[de]anthracene-10-one). Quantification occurred by treatment with Rhodamine B lactone whose color switched to intensive red after photolytic formation of con-H⁺. Exposure with a NIR laser at 980 nm resulted in less con-H⁺ compared to 395 nm where all sensitizers absorb radiation. UCNP did not mainly interfered formation of con-H⁺. The different rates obtained in both experiments responsibly explain the failure and success to initiate polymerization of epoxides applying ether 980 nm or 395 nm excitation, respectively.