Dynamics of self-assembled chaining in magnetorheological fluids

The aggregation dynamics of paramagnetic spherical particles embedded in a viscous fluid is investigated via numerical simulations using a fully coupled three-dimensional model. Particles experience simultaneously Brownian motion, dipolar magnetic attraction, and multibody hydrodynamic interactions. When the dipole strength characterizing the ratio of magnetic attraction to random diffusion exceeds a critical value, particles join together forming supraparticle structures. As time evolves, particle/chain and chain/ chain interactions lead to a continuous increase of the cluster size. The mean length of particle chains has a power-law dependence with respect to time, as predicted by the theory of diffusion-limited aggregation. Both the exponent and the characteristic time scale agree very well with the experimental results of Promislow et al.     

Chemical modification of a viral cage for multivalent presentation

Here we present generalized methods for chemically modifying the surface of a viral protein cage; this exploits the chemistry of native and engineered surface exposed functional groups for multivalent presentation of ligands.     

Chromatographic study of anionic complexes

Summary In this paper we have reported our results on the attempted separation of copper(II), nickel(II), cobalt(II) and iron(III) in mixtures by filter paper strip chromatography, using aqueous ethanol as solvent. The effect of the presence of varying concentrations of citrate ion as a complexing agent in the mixtures has been studied. The complexing agent has been added in the metal solution, and not in the solvent as usually done by previous workers.     

Charged polypeptide vesicles with controllable diameter

We report the preparation and characterization of charged, amphiphilic block copolypeptides that form stable vesicles and micelles in aqueous solution. Specifically, we prepared and studied the aqueous self-assembly of a series of poly(L-lysine)-b-poly(L-leucine) block copolypeptides, KxLy, where x ranged from 20 to 80 and y ranged from 10 to 30 residues, as well as the poly(L-glutamatic acid)-b-poly(L-leucine) block copolypeptide, E60L20. Furthermore, the vesicular assemblies show dynamic properties, indicating a high degree of membrane fluidity. This characteristic provides stimuli-responsive properties to the vesicles and allows fine adjustment of vesicle size using liposome-based extrusion techniques. Vesicle extrusion also provides a straightforward means to trap solutes, making the vesicles promising biomimetic encapsulants.     

Surface phase separation in complex mixed adsorbing systems: an interface-bulk coupling effect

The interfacial thermodynamics and structure of ternary mixtures of the type A+B+solvent are investigated. According to the Gibbs phase rule, the coupling between the bulk phase and the interfacial region-which is related to the reversibility of the adsorption of the corresponding species-is a determinant as to whether phase separation can be observed at the interface. For an n-component adsorbing solution, at least one of the species has to adsorb irreversibly over the experimental time scales in order not to fix more intensive variables than those required to observe surface phase separation. We present results for a lattice model planar interface consisting of the ternary mixture A+B+solvent. The solvent molecules and the type A molecules have fixed chemical potentials at the interface since they are equilibrated with a bulk solution. In contrast, the type B molecules are irreversibly adsorbed at the interface and do not equilibrate with the bulk. Mean-field theory is compared with Monte Carlo simulation. Interestingly, the spinodal line in the interaction-composition plane shows a reentrant on the B-rich phase side. We discuss the implications of these results for surface phase separation of adsorbing mixtures of proteins and low-molecular-weight surfactants.     

X-ray structure of fac-[RuH(1,5-cod)(NH2NMe2)3][PF6]: Stabilization of coordinated substituted hydrazines by hydrogen bonding

The structure of [RuH(cod)(NH₂NMe₂)₃][PF₆] has been solved by X-ray diffraction methods and shows the cation to contain a facial arrangement of N,N-dimethylhydrazine ligands, coordinated via the NH₂ nitrogen atoms, and held together by hydrogen bonds.     

Solid products from thermal decomposition of polyethylene terephthalate: Investigation by CP/MAS 13C-NMR and fourier transform-IR spectroscopy

The solid reaction products from pyrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate in the presence and absence of red phosphorus were characterized by CP/MAS ¹³C-NMR, FR-IR, and MAS ³¹P-NMR spectroscopy. Over the temperature range of 300–400°C, polyethylene terephthalate was converted in a sealed vial to a highly crosslinked polymer of terephthalic acid. Pyrolysis in the presence of red phosphorus, which functions as a flame retardant by increasing the amount of char, yielded an intractible polyaromatic phosphate ester. After thermal cleavage of polyethylene terephthalate with formation of free carboxyl and vinyl ester groups, there are two competing reaction pathways. The smaller molecular weight fragments may enter the vapor phase where they undergo further degradation primarily to CO₂, CO, and acetaldehyde, as described by others. However, if volatilization of the oligomeric fragments is inhibited, an alternate reaction pathway gives rise to the formation of highly crosslinked char. Red phosphorus decreases the volatility of the oligomeric fragments by converting them to phosphates and thereby enhances char formation.     

Assignments of carbon NMR resonances for microcrystalline ubiquitin

Solid-state NMR 2D spectroscopy was used to correlate carbon backbone and side-chain chemical shifts for uniformly (13)C,(15)N-enriched microcrystalline ubiquitin. High applied field strengths, 800 MHz for protons, moderate proton decoupling fields, 80-100 kHz, and high magic angle sample spinning frequencies, 20 kHz, were used to narrow the most of the carbon line widths to 0.5-0.8 ppm. Homonuclear magnetization transfer was effected by matching the proton RF field to the spinning frequency, the so-called dipolar-assisted rotational resonance (DARR) (Takegoshi, K.; Nakamura, S.; Terao, T. Chem. Phys. Lett. 2001, 344, 631-637), and a mixing time of 20 ms was used to maximize the intensity of one-bond transfers between carbon atoms. This polarization transfer sequence resulted in roughly 14% transfer efficiencies for directly bonded carbon pairs and 4% transfer efficiencies for carbons separated by a third carbon. With this simple procedure, the majority of the one-bond correlations was observed with moderate transfer efficiencies, and many two-bond correlations were also observed with weaker intensities. Spin systems could be identified for more than half of the amino acid side chains, and site-specific assignments were readily possible via comparison with 400 MHz (15)N-(13)C-(13)C correlation spectroscopy (described separately).     

Reaction of η5-cyclopentadienylbis(triphenylphosphine)cobalt(I) with alkadiynes. Preparation and reactions of bicyclic cobalt metallocycles and a stable trimethylsilyl-substituted mono-complexed alkadiyne. Comments on the mechanism of cobalt-catalyzed alkyne cooligomerization

Reactions of η⁵-cyclopentadienylbis(triphenylphosphine)cobalt(I) (5) with several 2,n-alkadiynes (2) were investigated. Each of these reactions leads initially to a material in which one of the acetylene functional groups is π-coordinated to cobalt; this complex then undergoes conversion to a metallocycle. In cases where the two acetylene functions are connected by three- and four-carbon bridges (2b, 2c), metallocycles formed by intramolecular reaction of two acetylene functions in the same molecule may be isolated. In cases where the acetylene functions are joined by larger or smaller bridges, the reactions are more complex, and both inter- and intramolecular metallocycles are formed. Reactions of 5 with 1,8-bis(trimethylsilyl)-1,7-octadiyne (16) gives an isolable crystalline mono-acetylene complex (17), this material is stable in the solid state but undergoes conversion to metallocycle (18) in benzene solution. The relationship of these results to the mechanism of the CpCo(CO)₂-catalyzed benzocycloalkene synthesis is discussed; it is suggested that intramolecular metallocycles are intermediates in reactions leading to benzocyclopentanes and -cyclohexenes, but intermolecular metallocycles are probably involved in reactions leading to benzocyclobutenes.     

Synthesis of 2,6-trans-disubstituted 5,6-dihydropyrans from (Z)-1,5-syn-endiols

Certain (Z)-1,5-syn-diols 2 may be converted into 2,6-trans-5,6-dihydropyrans by using phosphonium salt 4 or phosphorane 5 as dehydrating agents. A more general four step procedure converts the (Z)-1,5-syn-endiols into enantiomeric dihydropyrans ent-3 via regioselective silylation of the allylic alcohol unit followed by mesylate formation and base-promoted nucleophilic displacement.