Inhomogeneous states of a thin-film incommensurate ferroelectric

Nonuniform distributions of the order parameter in a film of an incommensurate ferroelectric whose free energy expansion does not contain Lifshitz invariants are considered. An equation describing the order parameter distribution over the film thickness is derived in the approximation of slowly varying amplitudes. The effect of film thickness and surface properties on the temperature of transition to the incommensurate phase is analyzed.     

Medicinal Organometallic Chemistry: Designing Metal Arene Complexes as Anticancer Agents

The field of medicinal inorganic chemistry is rapidly advancing. In particular organometallic complexes have much potential as therapeutic and diagnostic agents. The carbon‐bound and other ligands allow the thermodynamic and kinetic reactivity of the metal ion to be controlled and also provide a scaffold for functionalization. The establishment of structure–activity relationships and elucidation of the speciation of complexes under conditions relevant to drug testing and formulation are crucial for the further development of promising medicinal applications of organometallic complexes. Specific examples involving the design of ruthenium and osmium arene complexes as anticancer agents are discussed.     

Features of light attenuation in crystals under violation of the Bouguer law

A computer simulation and measurements of the light transmittance of germanium and paratellurite crystals of different thickness were used to show that, at scattering probabilities of photons comparable to their absorption probabilities, the standard methods for calculating light extinction coefficients on the basis of the Bouguer law lead to rough errors in estimation of the optical quality of a material.     

Fundamentals of physics of fluid flow reconsidered

Recently, two significant defects of the state-of-the-art of theoretical fluid mechanics have been evidenced, namely the ambiguity of the Navier Stokes equations with respect to the viscous stress tensor, and the inconsistency of the Reynolds stress approach with the symmetry of the inertial tensor. Therefore, by means of two classical topics of fluid mechanics, namely the universal velocity profile and the laminar boundary layer, the physics of fluid flow are scrutinized. The validity of the so obtained results is tested at the example of an exact solution of the Navier Stokes equations, namely the diffusion of the circulation of an eddy.     

Reactions of 2,2-disubstituted 1,1-dicyanoethenes with β-dimethylaminoacrolein aminal and 3-dimethylamino-1,1,3-trimethoxypropane

A reaction of 2,2-disubstituted 1,1-dicyanoethenes with β-dimethylaminoacrolein aminal and 3-dimethylamino-1,1,3-trimethoxypropane leads to substituted 6,6-dicyano-1-dimethyl-aminohexatrienes and an organic salt containing 1,1,9,9-tetracyano-2,8-diphenylnona-2,4,6,8-tetraenide as the anion and (dimethylaminopropenylidene)dimethylammonium as the cation, on the basis of which new cation-anionic polymethine dyes were obtained. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1639–1643, August, 2008.     

Metal complexes of 2-hetarylindandiones-1,3

The chelate and molecular complexes of 2-(2-benzazolyl, perimidyl)-indandiones-1,3 were synthesized for the first time. The structures of the ligands (tautomeric forms) and complex compounds were determined from the X-ray diffraction, ¹H, ¹³C NMR, and IR data and the quantum-chemical calculations (RHF SCF in 6-31 G** basis).     

Genetically Encoded Bioluminescent Indicator for ERK2 Dimer in Living Cells

In this study, a genetically encoded bioluminescent indicator for ERK2 dimer was developed with the split Renilla luciferase complementation method, in which the formation of ERK2 dimer induces a spontaneous emission of bioluminescence in living cells. In response to extracellular stimuli, such as epidermal growth factor (EGF) or 17β‐estradiol (E2), extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) is phosphorylated by its upstream kinase MEK, and also phosphorylates its substrates in various regions of the cell, including the nucleus. Phosphorylated ERK2 is led to form its dimer, thereby transporting itself into the nucleus. We demonstrated with the indicator that stimulation with EGF or E2 induces the formation of ERK2 dimer in living MCF‐7 cells. The dynamics of this dimer formation was examined and discussed.     

Weak Attractive Ligand–Polymer and Related Interactions in Catalysis and Reactivity: Impact,Applications, and Modeling

The notion of weak attractive ligand–polymer interactions is introduced, and its potential application, importance, and conceptual links with “cooperative” ligand–substrate interactions are discussed. Synthetic models of weak attractive ligand–polymer interactions are described, in which intramolecular weak C? H???F? C interactions (the existence of which remains contentious) have been detected by NMR spectroscopy and neutron and X‐ray diffraction experiments. These C? H???F? C interactions carry important implications for the design of catalysts for olefin polymerization, because they provide support for the practical feasibility of ortho‐F???H_β ligand–polymer contacts proposed for living Group 4 fluorinated phenoxyimine catalysts. The notion of weak attractive noncovalent interactions between an “active” ligand and the growing polymer chain is a novel concept in polyolefin catalysis.