Spatial bistability in a pH autocatalytic system: from long to short range activation

The acid-auto-activated chlorite-tetrathionate reaction is studied in a one-side-fed spatial reactor. It was previously shown that in these conditions the unstirred reaction-diffusion system can generate oscillatory and excitable states even though under well-stirred nonequilibrium conditions only steady-state bistability is observed. Numerical simulations suggest that these temporal reaction-diffusion instabilities result from long-range activation by rapidly diffusing protons. We study here experimentally and numerically the effect of introducing into this reaction-diffusion system macromolecular carboxylate species that reduce the effective diffusivity of protons. Consistent with the original assumption, the introduction of such slow mobility proton-binding species quenches both oscillatory and excitability dynamics. Within the bistability domain the direction of the propagation of an interface between the two steady states depends on control parameter value. We elaborate on the fact that beyond a low critical concentration of macromolecular carboxylate species, the stability limit of the "thermodynamic" branch of spatial steady state does not depend on this concentration. Despite the relative simplicity of the kinetic model used in the numerical simulations, the results are in quasi-quantitative agreement with the experimental observations.     

Nanoscale probing of the enamel nanorod surface using polyamidoamine dendrimers

Although it is known that noncollagenous proteins of dental origin bind to the hydroxyapatite crystal surfaces, no measure of their binding strength has been calculated. This experiment used -COOH-capped generation 7 PAMAM dendrimers as nanoprobes of the biological hydroxyapatite nanorod surfaces. Dendrimer distribution was characterized using AFM. The results showed dendrimers to be spaced at intervals along the c-axis of the crystals. From these observations and assuming a fully ionized -COOH dendrimer, a mathematical model of the binding capacity of the crystal surface with the dendrimer was developed. The Monte Carlo method was used to simulate the binding process between the dendrimer and crystal surface, and the binding strength of the -COOH groups to the surface was calculated to be 90 +/- 20 kJ/mol. These results support the CFM studies which have described alternating bands of charge domains on the crystal surface and that the binding strength will be dependent on both the intensity of the charge on the protein and the crystal surface.     

Effect of variation in the chain length and number in modulating the interaction of an immunogenic lipopeptide with biomembrane models

A differential scanning calorimetry study was carried out to investigate the effect exerted by immunogenic synthetic lipopeptides obtained by the conjugation of LCMV_33–41 peptide with lipoamino acids (Laas) bearing different alkyl chain lengths (C₁₂ and C₁₆) and number of chains (2 × C₁₂) on the thermotropic behaviour of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) liposomes. The aim of this work was to study the ability of these compounds to be carried by a liposomal system and released to a biomembrane model.

The examined compounds caused variations of the thermotropic parameters that characterise the liposomal system (transition temperature, T_m and enthalpy variation, ΔH), and interacted with the biomembrane models in different way. The interaction was found to be modulated by the length and number of chains present in the examined compounds. In fact, the compounds with higher number of lipid chain showed a stronger interaction with the biomembrane models with respect to the pure peptide and the compounds with a single lipid chain. These results suggest that the lipoamino acid moiety could favour the peptide to be carried by the liposomal system and released to biomembrane.     

Nucleophilic substitution reactions of pyranose polytosylates

The 2,3,4-tri-toluenesulfonate ester derivatives of the methyl pyranosides of l-arabinose, d-ribose, d-lyxose, and d-xylose have been prepared, and their substitution reactions with various nucleophiles have been examined. For arabinose, xylose, and ribose, highly regioselective monosubstitutions were observed with benzoate, nitrite, and azide anions. These reactions have led to short and simple routes from d-xylose to l-arabinose derivatives, from l-arabinose to d-xylose derivatives, and from d-ribose to l-lyxose derivatives. The tritosylate derived from methyl alpha-d-lyxopyranoside was unreactive toward nucleophilic substitution reactions, giving instead a dihydropyran product arising from an initial E2 elimination reaction of the 2-tosylate.     

Computational chemistry predictions of reaction processes in organometallic vapor phase epitaxy

Quantitative understanding of reaction mechanisms in organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) is critical for selection of precursors, design of equipment, and optimization of process conditions. Progress has been made in the simulation of fluid flow as well as heat and mass transfer, but predictions of growth rates, alloy composition, and dopant incorporation are limited by the availability of thermodynamic and kinetic data for OMVPE precursors. Chemical kinetic experiments are expensive and difficult to perform, and the organometallic compounds being toxic and/or pyrophoric further complicates the situation. It is therefore desirable to study OMVPE reactions from first principles, quantum chemistry computations. We describe current quantum chemistry methods, Hartree-Fock and post-Hartree-Fock ab initio molecular orbital techniques and density functional theory (DFT) methods, with emphasis on issues related to OMVPE applications. The primary examples in this review are drawn from OMVPE applications, but studies on silicon chemistry are also included to illustrate important elements in simulation of vapor phase growth processes. Molecular structure and energy are reported for trialkyl group III species and group V hydrides by ab initio molecular orbital and density functional theory. The results are evaluated against experimental data. Vibrational frequencies needed for calculation of thermochemical properties (e.g., ΔH and ΔS) at process temperatures are also computed and compared to experimental data. The bimolecular reaction of methyl with arsine exemplifies the combined use of quantum chemistry and transition state theory to predict a reaction rate. A reaction mechanism for thermal decomposition of phosphine further demonstrates the use of these techniques. Lewis-acid-base adduct reactions of group III and V precursors exemplifies the use of quantum chemistry to evaluate adduct bond strengths and potential alkane elimination reaction pathways. A study of thermochemical properties of bridging organometallic aluminum compounds serves to illustrate variations in accuracy among different first principle methods. Overall, the selected examples demonstrate that computational chemistry techniques can provide useful insight into OMVPE chemical processes, but also that additional investigations are needed to establish which methods would be best for particular subsets of OMVPE chemistry.     

Compaction of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) due to proton beam irradiation

This work is about the detailed investigation of the changes of the surface topography, the degree of compaction/shrinkage and its relation to the irradiation fluence and the structure spacing in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) patterned with 2 MeV proton microbeam. The irradiated periodic structures consisted of parallel lines with different widths and spacing. To achieve different degrees of compaction, each structure was irradiated with more different fluences. At the irradiated areas the surface topography, the adhesion, the wettability and the rigidity of the surface also changes due to the chemical/structural change of the basic poly(dimethylsiloxane) polymer. The surface topography, the phase modification of the surface, and the connection between them was revealed with using an atomic force microscope (AFM).     

Alkali Carbonate Effects on N‐(2‐Hydroxyethyl)urea Cyclization: Application to a 2‐Imidazolidinone Scale‐Up

An imidazolidinone intermediate ( 3 ) used in the synthesis of novel HIV‐entry inhibitors was prepared on multihundred gram scales in four steps and 40% overall yield. The penultimate step in the synthesis involved regioselective N‐cyclization of N‐(2‐hydroxylethyl)urea ( 11 ) by in situ activation of the terminal hydroxyl group with p‐TsCl in the presence of base. The ratio of N‐cyclized to O‐cyclized products followed a group IA periodic trend relative to the alkali carbonate base employed. The use of Cs₂CO₃ as base effected the desired N‐cyclization with a high degree of regiocontrol (>98%).