Possible mechanisms of the influence of hexylresorcinol on the structure-dynamic and functional properties of lysozyme protein

The influence of hexylresorcinol on the structure, equilibrium fluctuations, and functional activity of water-soluble enzyme lysozyme was studied over a wide range of hexylresorcinol concentrations. Hexylresorcinol was found to be not only a stabilizer of lysozyme. At low hexylresorcinol concentrations (2 to 10 molecules per lysozyme globule), the activity of lysozyme sharply increased; activity began to decrease as the concentration grew. The influence of hexylresorcinol on the structural, dynamic, and functional lysozyme characteristics is well described by models of preferential hydration and preferential protein interaction with hexylresorcinol. The hexylresorcinol molecule consists of hydrophobic (alkyl radical) and hydrophilic (aromatic nucleus) moieties, which has additional regulatory action on the functional activity of lysozyme. As the concentration of hexylresorcinol increases, the effect of regions with preferential hydration begins to noticeably predominate over the effect of preferential interaction with hexylresorcinol. At hexylresorcinol concentrations higher than 100 molecules per lysozyme globule, the activity of lysozyme is fully inhibited. This is caused by the preferential hydration of the protein with the displacement of hexylresorcinol from direct contacts with it. The displacement of hexylresorcinol causes the formation of high-density hexylresorcinol micelles. Dense micelles interfere with the approach of substrates to the protein and fully inhibit its functional activity. The complete inhibition of lysozyme activity occurs at hexylresorcinol concentrations lower by an order of magnitude than glycerol inhibiting concentrations.     

Sol–gel synthesis of 8 nm magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles and their magnetic properties

Magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a sol–gel method. The obtained nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive analysis by X-ray (EDAX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and Mössbauer spectrometry. XRD and Mössbauer measurements indicate that the obtained nanoparticles are single phase. TEM analysis shows the presence of spherical nanoparticles with homogeneous size distribution of about 8 nm. Room temperature ferromagnetics behavior was confirmed by SQUID measurements. The mechanism of nanoparticles formation and the comparison with recent results are discussed. Finally, the synthesized nanoparticles present a potential candidate for hyperthermia application given their saturation magnetization.     

dc and ac characterizations of electrical conducting nanoporous carbon structures based on resorcinol-formaldehyde

Structural, electrical and morphological properties of electrical conducting nanoporous carbon structures, prepared at different pyrolysis temperatures by sol–gel method, were investigated. The effect of the measurement temperature on the electrical properties of the obtained sample pyrolysed at 675 °C was studied. The imaginary and real parts of the sample impedance versus frequency, in the range of 40 Hz–100 MHz, are investigated. The Nyquist diagrams were used to identify an equivalent circuit and the fundamental parameters of the circuit are determined at different temperatures with the aim to study the contributions of the grains and boundary grains to the conductivity.     

Effect of shape and interstice on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of molecules adsorbed on gold nanoparticles in the near‐dipole and quadrupole regions

Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of adsorbed molecule on colloidal gold nanoparticles of different shapes, namely nanospheres (NSs), nanorods (NRs), and nanoprisms (NPs) as well as the three NPs arrays of different interstice prepared by NS lithography, are studied with incident wavenumbers in the near‐dipole and near‐quadrpole regions of the nanoparticles. In the colloidal gold nanoparticles, the SERS enhancement is the largest for the sharp tip followed by the truncated tip NPs, then the NRs and least enhancement for the NSs. This decreasing order of enhancement occurs although the incident wavenumber was near the dipole resonance of NSs and the quadrupole resonance for the NPs. These varied enhancements are explained in part as due to the binding energies of the nanocrystal facets, but the larger contribution results from the plasmon electromagnetic fields. A parallel finite difference time domain (FDTD) calculations were carried out, which corporate the experimental results and show agreement with ratios of the SERS enhancement for the different shapes. The normalized SERS intensity for NPs of different interstice distances show a sharp rise with the decrease of the interstice distances because of interparticle dipolar and quadrupolar coupling as evidenced also by FDTD calculations. Furthermore, these calculations show that the enhancement is polarization independent for an incident wavelength near quadrupole resonance but polarization dependent for an incident wavelength near the plasmon dipole transition. In the last case, the enhancement is larger by an order of magnitude for a polarization parallel to the NPs bisector than for polarization normal to the bisector with no hot spots for the relatively large interstice dimensions used. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photo-physical and structural interactions between viologen phosphorus-based dendrimers and human serum albumin

This work deals with photo-physical and structural interactions between viologen phosphorus dendrimers and human serum albumin (HSA). Viologens are derivatives of 4,4′-bipyridinium salts. Aiming to rationalize the parameters governing such interactions eight types of these polycationic dendrimers in which the generation, the number of charges, the nature of the core and of the terminal groups vary from one to another, were designed and used. The influence of viologen-based dendrimers' on human serum albumin has been investigated. The photo-physical interactions of the two systems have been monitored by fluorescence quenching of free l-tryptophan and of HSA tryptophan residue. Additionally, using circular dichroism (CD) the effect of dendrimers on the secondary structure of albumin was measured. The obtained results show that viologen dendrimers interact with human serum albumin quenching its fluorescence either by collisional (dynamic) way or by forming complexes in a ground state (static quenching). In some cases the quenching is accompanied by changes of the secondary structure of HSA.     

Breakdown of the giant spin model in the magnetic relaxation of the Mn6 nanomagnets

We study the spin dynamics in two variants of the high-anisotropy Mn6 nanomagnet by inelastic neutron scattering, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and magnetometry. We show that a giant-spin picture is completely inadequate for these systems and that excited S multiplets play a key role in determining the effective energy barrier for the magnetization reversal. Moreover, we demonstrate the occurrence of tunneling processes involving pair of states having different total spin.     

Emergence of the sub‐THz central peak at phase transitions in artificial BaTiO3/(Ba,Sr)TiO3 superlattices

A prominent central peak in the sub‐THz frequency range was observed in the Raman spectra of BaTiO₃/(Ba,Sr)TiO₃ (BT/BST) superlattice grown on (001)MgO substrate. Both soft and central mode show an anomaly around 200 K and 280 K, which can be correlated with orthorhombic to monoclinic phase transition of BST and BT, respectively. The observed temperature dependence of the central mode enabled us to explain rather broad temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity previously observed in BT/BST superlattices. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Particle size distribution, magnetic permeability and dc conductivity of nano-structured and bulk LiNiZn-ferrite samples

Nanoparticles of Li_0.1(Ni_1−xZn_x)_0.8Fe_2.1O₄ (x=0-1.0) were prepared by a chemical co-precipitation method. A part of the precipitated powders was sintered at 1473 K for 2 h to obtain bulk samples via increasing the particle sizes. The particle size distribution, dc conductivity and magnetic permeability were investigated for the nano-structured samples and their bulk counterparts. The permeability as a function of temperature revealed the size effect of nano-structure in agreement with the literature. In some of the samples the permeability was almost constant over a considerable range of temperature, which may be useful in practical applications that require stability. Moreover, the nano-size structure caused a significant decrease in dc conductivity values.     

Onset of quark-hadron duality in pion electroproduction

A large data set of charged-pion (pi+/-) electroproduction from both hydrogen and deuterium targets has been obtained spanning the low-energy residual-mass region. These data conclusively show the onset of the quark-hadron duality phenomenon, as predicted for high-energy hadron electroproduction. We construct several ratios from these data to exhibit the relation of this phenomenon to the high-energy factorization ansatz of electron-quark scattering and subsequent quark-->pion production mechanisms.