Alkali Metal Triphenyl- and Trihydridosilanides Stabilized by a Macrocyclic Polyamine Ligand

Potassium silanide [KSiH₃]_∞ contains 4.2 wt % of hydrogen and has been intensely studied as hydrogen storage material. The macrocyclic ligand Me₄TACD (1,4,7,10-tetramethyl-1,4,7,10-tetraaminocyclododecane, L ) stabilizes the full range of triphenylsilyl complexes [( L )MSiPh₃]_n (M=Li–Cs), which react with H₂ or PhSiH₃ to form molecular [( L )MSiH₃]_n that can be isolated in soluble form and fully characterized.     

Membrane Proteins Have Distinct Fast Internal Motion and Residual Conformational Entropy

The internal motions of integral membrane proteins have largely eluded comprehensive experimental characterization. Here the fast side‐chain dynamics of the α‐helical sensory rhodopsin II and the β‐barrel outer membrane protein W have been investigated in lipid bilayers and detergent micelles by solution NMR relaxation techniques. Despite their differing topologies, both proteins have a similar distribution of methyl‐bearing side‐chain motion that is largely independent of membrane mimetic. The methyl‐bearing side chains of both proteins are, on average, more dynamic in the ps–ns timescale than any soluble protein characterized to date. Accordingly, both proteins retain an extraordinary residual conformational entropy in the folded state, which provides a counterbalance to the absence of the hydrophobic effect. Furthermore, the high conformational entropy could greatly influence the thermodynamics underlying membrane‐protein functions, including ligand binding, allostery, and signaling.     

Australian Honeypot Ant (Camponotus inflatus) Honey—A Comprehensive Analysis of the Physiochemical Characteristics,Bioactivity, and HPTLC Profile of a Traditional Indigenous Australian Food

Despite its cultural and nutritional importance for local Aboriginal people, the unusual insect honey produced by Western Australian honeypot ant (Camponotus inflatus) has to date been rarely investigated. This study reports on the honey’s physicochemical properties, its total phenolic, major sugars and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural contents, and its antioxidant activities. The honey’s color value is 467.63 mAU/63.39 mm Pfund, it has a pH of 3.85, and its electric conductivity is 449.71 µSiemens/cm. Its Brix value is 67.00, corresponding to a 33% moisture content. The total phenolics content is 19.62 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g honey. Its antioxidant activity measured using the DPPH* (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and FRAP (ferric reducing–antioxidant power) assays is 1367.67 µmol Trolox/kg and 3.52 mmol Fe⁺²/kg honey, respectively. Major sugars in the honey are glucose and fructose, with a fructose-to-glucose ratio of 0.85. Additionally, unidentified sugar was found in minor quantities.     

A novel 3D mammalian cell perfusion-culture system in microfluidic channels

Mammalian cells cultured on 2D surfaces in microfluidic channels are increasingly used in drug development and biological research applications. These systems would have more biological or clinical relevance if the cells exhibit 3D phenotypes similar to the cells in vivo. We have developed a microfluidic channel based system that allows cells to be perfusion-cultured in 3D by supporting them with adequate 3D cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. The maximal cell-cell interaction was achieved by perfusion-seeding cells through an array of micropillars; and 3D cell-matrix interactions were achieved by a polyelectrolyte complex coacervation process to form a thin layer of matrix conforming to the 3D cell shapes. Carcinoma cell lines (HepG2, MCF7), primary differentiated (hepatocytes) and primary progenitor cells (bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells) were perfusion-cultured for 72 hours to 1 week in the microfluidic channel, which preserved their 3D cyto-architecture and cell-specific functions or differentiation competence. This transparent 3D microfluidic channel-based cell culture system also allows direct optical monitoring of cellular events for a wide range of applications.     

A Flexible Photoactive Titanium Metal–Organic Framework Based on a [TiIV3(μ3‐O)(O)2(COO)6] Cluster

The synthesis of titanium–carboxylate metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) is hampered by the high reactivity of the commonly employed alkoxide precursors. Herein, we present an innovative approach to titanium‐based MOFs by the use of titanocene dichloride to synthesize COK‐69, the first breathing Ti MOF, which is built up from trans‐1,4‐cyclohexanedicarboxylate linkers and an unprecedented [Ti^IV₃(μ₃‐O)(O)₂(COO)₆] cluster. The photoactive properties of COK‐69 were investigated in depth by proton‐coupled electron‐transfer experiments, which revealed that up to one Ti^IV center per cluster can be photoreduced to Ti^III while preserving the structural integrity of the framework. The electronic structure of COK‐69 was determined by molecular modeling, and a band gap of 3.77 eV was found.     

The puzzle of contrast inversion in DNA STM imaging

DNA has been at the center of an imaging effort since the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). In some of the STM imaging reports the molecules appeared with negative contrast, i.e., "submerged" under the metal background and darker. We demonstrate the phenomenon of contrast inversion in DNA STM imaging by controlled and spontaneous contrast inversions and by the dependence of the DNA apparent height with respect to the surface on the imaging bias voltage. Using these characterizations, we formulate a model explaining the above phenomenon by resonant tunneling through virtual states in the vacuum between the STM tip and the DNA molecule.     

Bundle Gerbes for Chern-Simons and Wess-Zumino-Witten Theories

We develop the theory of Chern-Simons bundle 2-gerbes and multiplicative bundle gerbes associated to any principal G-bundle with connection and a class in H⁴(BG, ℤ) for a compact semi-simple Lie group G. The Chern-Simons bundle 2-gerbe realises differential geometrically the Cheeger-Simons invariant. We apply these notions to refine the Dijkgraaf-Witten correspondence between three dimensional Chern-Simons functionals and Wess-Zumino-Witten models associated to the group G. We do this by introducing a lifting to the level of bundle gerbes of the natural map from H⁴(BG, ℤ) to H³(G, ℤ). The notion of a multiplicative bundle gerbe accounts geometrically for the subtleties in this correspondence for non-simply connected Lie groups. The implications for Wess-Zumino-Witten models are also discussed.The authors acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council. ALC thanks MPI für Mathematik in Bonn and ESI in Vienna and BLW thanks CMA of Australian National University for their hospitality during part of the writing of this paper.     

Cross section for the H+H2O abstraction reaction: experiment and theory

The absolute value of the cross section for the abstraction reaction between fast H atoms and H2O has been determined experimentally at a mean collision energy of 2.46 eV. The OH population distribution at the same mean energy has also been determined. The new measurements are compared with state-of-the-art quantum mechanical and quasiclassical scattering calculations on the most recently developed potential energy surface.     

Chern Character in Twisted K-Theory: Equivariant and Holomorphic Cases

 It was argued in [25, 5] that in the presence of a nontrivial B-field, D-brane charges in type IIB string theories are classified by twisted K-theory. In [4], it was proved that twisted K-theory is canonically isomorphic to bundle gerbe K-theory, whose elements are ordinary Hilbert bundles on a principal projective unitary bundle, with an action of the bundle gerbe determined by the principal projective unitary bundle. The principal projective unitary bundle is in turn determined by the twist. This paper studies in detail the Chern-Weil representative of the Chern character of bundle gerbe K-theory that was introduced in [4], extending the construction to the equivariant and the holomorphic cases. Included is a discussion of interesting examples. Received: 10 January 2002 / Accepted: 9 December 2002 Published online: 25 February 2003 RID="⋆" ID="⋆" The authors acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council Communicated by R.H. Dijkgraaf     

Efficient Regular Polygon Dissections

We study the minimum number g(m,n) (respectively, p(m,n)) of pieces needed to dissect a regular m-gon into a regular n-gon of the same area using glass-cuts (respectively, polygonal cuts). First we study regular polygon-square dissections and show that n/2 -2 g(4,n) (n/2) + o(n) and n/4 g(n,4) (n/2) + o(n) hold for sufficiently large n. We also consider polygonal cuts, i.e., the minimum number p(4,n) of pieces needed to dissect a square into a regular n-gon of the same area using polygonal cuts and show that n/4 p(4,n) (n/2) + o(n) holds for sufficiently large n. We also consider regular polygon-polygon dissections and obtain similar bounds for g(m,n) and p(m,n).