Designing liquid-crystalline dendronised hexa-adducts of [60]fullerene via click chemistry

ABSTRACT

Liquid-crystalline [60]fullerodendrimers were constructed via click chemistry based on the reaction between hexa-adducts of [60]fullerene (C₆₀) bearing 12 azide groups and alkyne-terminated cyanobiphenyl dendrons of first- and second-generation. The structure of all the new compounds was confirmed by IR, UV, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopies and mass spectrometry. The mesomorphic properties were studied by polarised optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and small-angle X-ray scattering. The hexa-adduct of C₆₀ functionalised with the first-generation dendrons gave rise to the formation of a smectic A phase and a rectangular columnar phase (c2mm symmetry) while the hexa-adduct of C₆₀ decorated with the second-generation dendrons displayed only a rectangular columnar phase (c2mm symmetry). Our results show that the hexa-adduct of C₆₀ is a unique synthetic platform for the design of fullerodendrimers and dendronised materials.     

Structural and functional stabilities of artificially designed DNA ultra-thin films grown by silica Assistance

We report the structural and functional stabilities of artificially synthesized DNA ultra-thin films. Fully covered DNA ultra-thin films on a silica substrate were fabricated by the silica-assisted growth method and those samples were then incubated in various chemicals and physical conditions. The DNA ultra-thin films showed high maintainability under those harsh conditions and these results would aid to facilitate the use of artificial DNA ultra-thin films in advanced research areas such as biophotonics and bioelectronics.     

A splitting algorithm for equilibrium problem given by the difference of two bifunctions

In this paper, we introduce a splitting algorithm for solving equilibrium problems given by the difference of two bifunctions in a real Hilbert space. Under suitable assumptions on component bifunctions, we prove strong convergence of the proposed algorithm. In contrast to most existing projection-type methods for equilibrium problems, our algorithm does not require any convexity or monotonicity conditions on the resulting bifunction. Some numerical experiments and comparisons are given to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

Contact mechanics modeling of piezo-actuated stick-slip microdrives

This paper draws a line from early attempts of modeling stick-slip microdrives to open questions from today’s research. As a basis, it contains a collection of substantial investigations on piezo-actuated stick-slip microdrives for nanomanipulation purposes. Friction models showing special characteristics and their mathematical representations are reviewed. It is found that the working properties of stick-slip drives strongly depend on friction characteristics of the contact points between the guiding elements, which is known for years. However, numerous publications in the field of friction and remaining problems — which cannot be explained by known friction models — indicate that there is a demand for even more friction-related research.Former attempts to model stick-slip drives are based on the so-called LuGre friction model, which is shortly presented. An empirical model called CEIM is also analyzed. It is an adaption of the elastoplastic model. The latter can cover not only the phenomenon “0-amplitude’ (described by the authors in recent publications), but also stick-slip based force generation scenarios. Nevertheless, interesting friction characteristics such as the generation of μN forces with stick-slip drives, which are already proven, cannot be covered by known friction models. It is pointed out which characteristics have to be considered.     

Refolding of Laccase in Dilution Additive Mode with Copper-Based Ionic Liquid

Ionic liquids (ILs) are molten salts which do not crystallize at room temperature. Tunable physicochemical properties of ILs including hydrophobicity and polarity facilitate their applications in many biological processes. In this study, a copper-based IL was employed in order to enhance the refolding efficiency of laccase from Trametes versicolor which requires copper as a cofactor. When 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trichlorocuprate ([EMIM][CuCl₃]) was added to refolding buffer instead of urea, the laccase refolding yield was improved more than 2.7 times compared to the conventional refolding buffer which contains urea. When the refolding of laccase was carried out at different temperatures (4, 25, and 37 °C), the highest refolding yield was obtained at 25 °C. At low temperature, two conflicting effects, i.e., suppression of the aggregate formation and decrease of folding rate, influence the protein refolding. In contrast, a copper-based IL did not enhance the refolding of lysozyme, a non-copper-containing protein. From these results, we can conclude that this copper-based IL, [EMIM][CuCl₃], was exclusively effective on the refolding process of a copper-containing protein.     

Self-adaptive gradient projection algorithms for variational inequalities involving non-Lipschitz continuous operators

Numerical Algorithms - In this paper, we introduce a self-adaptive inertial gradient projection algorithm for solving monotone or strongly pseudomonotone variational inequalities in real Hilbert...