Fuel‐Selective Transient Activation of Nanosystems for Signal Generation

The transient activation of function using chemical fuels is common in nature, but much less in synthetic systems. Progress towards the development of systems with a complexity similar to that of natural ones requires chemical fuel selectivity. Here, we show that a self‐assembled nanosystem, composed of monolayer‐protected gold nanoparticles and a fluorogenic peptide, is activated for transient signal generation only in case the chemical fuel matches the recognition site present at the nanoparticle surface. A modification of the recognition site in the nanosystem completely changes the chemical fuel selectivity. When two nanosystems are simultaneously present, the selectivity expressed by the system depends on the concentration of nucleotide added.     

Redox‐Active Peptide‐Functionalized Quinquethiophene‐Based Electrochromic π‐Gel

An electrochromic system based on a self‐assembled dipeptide‐appended redox‐active quinquethiophene π‐gel is reported. The designed peptide‐quinquethiophene consists of a symmetric bolaamphiphile that has two segments: a redox‐active π‐conjugated quinquethiophene core for electrochromism, and peptide motif for the involvement of molecular self‐assembly. Investigations reveal that self‐assembly and electrochromic properties of the π‐gel are strongly dependent on the relative orientation of peptidic and quinquethiophene scaffolds in the self‐assembly system. The colors of the π‐gel film are very stable with fast and controlled switching speed at room temperature.     

Detection and incorporation of amino endgroups in free-radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate

Amino endgroups have been incorporated in poly(methyl methacrylate) by two methods: (a) initiation with systems producing amine radicals and (b) chain transfer with amines. A new dye-partition technique with the use of disulfine blue was developed for qualitative and in some cases quantitative estimation of amino endgroups in the polymer.     

Hydrogen catalysis and scavenging action of Pd-POSS nanoparticles

Prompted by the need for a self-supported, chemically stable, and functionally flexible catalytic nanoparticle system, we explore a system involving Pd clusters coated with a monolayer of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) cages. With an initial theoretical focus on hydrogen catalysis and sequestration in the Pd-POSS system, we report density functional theory (DFT) results on POSS binding energies to the Pd(1 1 0) surface, hydrogen storing ability of POSS, and possible pathways of hydrogen radicals from the catalyst surface to unsaturated bonds away from the surface.     

Complex formation between cationically modified gold nanoparticles and DNA: an atomic force microscopic study

Atomic force microscopy has been used for direct visualization of the wrapping of DNA around 30-nm-sized functionalized gold nanoparticles for the first time. The morphology of the complexes seems to be dictated by the relative concentration of the nanoparticles and DNA. A higher concentration of the former leads to the formation of a network of nanoparticles assembled on DNA. This assembly pattern seems to be significantly different from the manner in which cationically modified gold nanoparticles of smaller size (< 5 nm) arrange linearly on DNA, as shown in the literature. A DNA-gold nanoparticle can be developed as a model system for in vitro studies on the mechanism of DNA condensation and also for developing novel methods of nanoparticle self-assembly on the DNA template.     

Time-resolved fluorescence of tryptophans in yeast hexokinase-PI: effect of subunit dimerization and ligand binding

Time-resolved and steady-state fluorescence measurements have been performed on monomeric and dimeric forms of yeast hexokinase-PI. Observation of similar emission spectra and fluorescence decay parameters for both the forms of the enzyme suggests that tryptophan residue(s) are not likely to be present at the subunit-subunit interface and the process of dimerization does not perturb the local environment of tryptophan(s). The fluorescence decay of tryptophans in enzyme could be fitted to a bi-exponential function with two lifetime components, tau1 approximately 2.2 ns and tau2 approximately 3.9 ns. Binding of glucose, which is known to convert the 'open' conformation of the enzyme to a 'closed' active conformation, results in approximately 30% reduction in emission intensity and a selective decrease in tau1 from approximately 2.2 to approximately 1.1 ns. These effects can be reversed by the addition of trehalose 6-phosphate (an inhibitor of yeast hexokinase), suggesting that the trehalose 6-phosphate inhibits the enzyme by binding to its 'open' inactive conformation rather than competing with glucose to bind to the 'closed' active conformation. Binding of nucleotide ligands (ATP, ADP and adenyl-(beta,gamma-methylene)-diphosphate (AMPPCP)) to the monomeric or dimeric form of enzyme quenched the steady-state fluorescence by approximately 4-8%, but had no measurable effect on the distribution of lifetimes or on their magnitudes. Addition of nucleotides to the enzyme-glucose complex also did not produce any further change in fluorescence decay parameters. These results indicate that it is highly unlikely that the formation of a ternary enzyme-glucose-nucleotide complex from the binary enzyme-glucose complex is accompanied by a large conformational change in the enzyme, as has been surmised in some earlier studies.     

Facile catalyzed acylation of heteroatoms using BiCl3 generated in situ from the procatalyst BiOCl and acetyl chloride

Acylation of a variety of alcohols, phenols, aliphatic and aromatic amines, a thiol and a thiophenol proceeds efficiently using BiCl₃ generated in situ from the procatalyst BiOCl and acetyl chloride in a solvent or under solventless conditions, furnishing the corresponding acylated derivatives in very good to excellent yields.     

Phosphorus based epoxy terminated structural adhesive 2. Curing, adhesive strength and thermal stability

The curing behavior of phosphorus based epoxy terminated polymers was studied using diaminodiphenyl ether, diaminodiphenyl sulfone, benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride and the commercial hardener of Ciba-Geigy's two-pack araldite, as curing agent. The adhesive strength of these adhesives was measured by various ASTM methods like lap-shear, peel, and cohesive tests on metal-metal, wood-wood and wood-metal interfaces. All these results were compared with the synthesized epoxy resins prepared from bisphenol-A and epichlorohydrin having the epoxy equivalent value of 0.519. The thermal stability of both the virgin resin and its cured form was also studied by thermogravimetric analysis.     

High performance polymer films 4. Mechanical behavior

Tensile properties of the polyimide and copolyimide films based on two dianhydrides, pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and 3,3^′,4,4^′-benzophenonetetracarboxylic dianhydride (BTDA) and two diamines, 4,4^′-oxydianiline (ODA), and a proprietary aromatic diamine (PD) have been described. The tensile strength of the films containing higher proportions of BTDA or PMDA and PD is much higher (except the fully rigid film based on PMDA-PD which is brittle in nature) than the films containing higher proportion of ODA moiety. The films containing PD as the diamine moiety exhibit high initial moduli than the films containing exclusively or mainly ODA as the diamine moiety. The films having higher concentration of the -O- linkage originated from diamine ODA are found to exhibit higher elongation values. There is found to be no direct correlation between η_inh of the precursor casting solutions and mechanical properties of structurally different polyimide/copolyimide films. For a particular polyimide or copolyimide film, the tensile strength value is found to be less sensitive than the elongation to the variation of η_inh value of the precursor poly(amic acid) or copoly(amic acid). Tensile strength and elongation of the film, basically rigid in nature, may be improved by post-curing at 360°C/370°C. While Kapton H film retains 78% and 63.5% of its tensile strength and % elongation at break (% E_b) respectively after hot-wet mechanical test, the film based on BTDA 80, PMDA 20 and PD shows an increase of about 27% and 22% in its tensile strength and % E_b respectively.     

New block copolymers V. Synthesis,characterization and morphological studies of poly(pentamethylene terephthalate)-b-(acrylonitrile butadiene rubber)

A block copolymer was prepared by low temperature polycondensation between (acid chloride)-terminated poly(pentamethylene terephthalate) as the hard block, and amine-terminated acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber, as the soft block. The polymer was characterized by nitrogen analysis, IR and NMR spectroscopy. The polymer showed two glass transition temperatures (T _g ) and exhibited two-phase morphology.