Cross-correlations between low-γ nuclei in solids via a common dipolar bath

Correlation of chemical shifts of low-γ nuclei (such as 15N) is an important method for assignment of resonances in uniformly-labeled biological solids. Under static experimental conditions, an efficient mixing of low-γ nuclear spin magnetization can be achieved by a thermal contact to the common reservoir of dipole-dipole interactions in order to create 15N-15N, 13C-13C, or 15N-13C cross-peaks in a 2D correlation spectrum. A thermodynamic approach can be used to understand the mechanism of magnetization mixing in various 2D correlation pulse sequences. This mechanism is suppressed under magic-angle spinning, when mixing via direct cross-polarization with protons becomes more efficient. Experimental results are presented for single-crystalline and powder samples of 15N-labeled N-acetyl-L-15N-valyl-L-15N-leucine (NAVL). In addition to the thermodynamic analysis of mixing pulse sequences, two different new mixing sequences utilizing adiabatic pulses are also experimentally demonstrated.     

Effect of surface lay in the surface roughness evaluation using machine vision

This work explores the influence of orientation of surface lay pattern of the machined components, while quantifying the surface roughness using machine vision approach. The surface images are captured from milled low carbon steel specimens with different roughness values using a vision system with coaxial lighting arrangement at different angular orientations of the work pieces (0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 90°, 120°, 135°, 150°, and 180°). The captured images are subjected to preprocessing in order to retain the frequency components that attribute to roughness using a Gaussian filter by adapting the filtering procedures specified in ISO 4288. Numerous image based parameters such as gray level average (G_a), gray level co-occurrence matrix based image quantification parameters namely contrast, correlation, energy or uniformity, maximum probability and differential box courting based fractal dimension are computed from the surface images captured at different angular positions of the work piece. The computed vision based parameters are compared and correlated with the roughness average (R_a) obtained using a stylus instrument and the results are analyzed. The results clearly indicated that it is important to consider the orientation of the work piece when the machine vision approach is used to quantify the surface texture parameters.     

Freezing point depression of water in phospholipid membranes: a solid-state NMR study

Lipid-water interaction plays an important role in the properties of lipid bilayers, cryoprotectants, and membrane-associated peptides and proteins. The temperature at which water bound to lipid bilayers freezes is lower than that of free water. Here, we report a solid-state NMR investigation on the freezing point depression of water in phospholipid bilayers in the presence and absence of cholesterol. Deuterium NMR spectra at different temperatures ranging from -75 to + 10 degrees C were obtained from fully (2)H2O-hydrated POPC (1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine) multilamellar vesicles (MLVs), prepared with and without cholesterol, to determine the freezing temperature of water and the effect of cholesterol on the freezing temperature of water in POPC bilayers. Our 2H NMR experiments reveal the motional behavior of unfrozen water molecules in POPC bilayers even at temperatures significantly below 0 degrees C and show that the presence of cholesterol further lowered the freezing temperature of water in POPC bilayers. These results suggest that in the presence of cholesterol the fluidity and dynamics of lipid bilayers can be retained even at very low temperatures as exist in the liquid crystalline phase of the lipid. Therefore, bilayer samples prepared with a cryoprotectant like cholesterol should enable the performance of multidimensional solid-state NMR experiments to investigate the structure, dynamics, and topology of membrane proteins at a very low temperature with enhanced sample stability and possibly a better sensitivity. Phosphorus-31 NMR data suggest that lipid bilayers can be aligned at low temperatures, while 15N NMR experiments demonstrate that such aligned samples can be used to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of is 15N chemical shift spectra of a 37-residue human antimicrobial peptide, LL-37.     

In situ recrystallisation of a coordination polymer with hemilabile linkers

The variable coordination pattern of a hemilabile phosphazene ligand equipped with six pendent olefin groups facilitates the in situ recrystallisation of a silver(I) complex from an amorphous precipitate into a 1D coordination polymer and its subsequent isomerisation to a 3D coordination network.     

Recognition of sialylated poly-N-acetyllactosamine chains on N- and O-linked glycans by human and avian influenza A virus hemagglutinins

Human influenza viruses are proposed to recognize sialic acids (pink diamonds) on glycans extended with poly-LacNAc chains (LacNAc=(yellow circle+blue square)). N- and O-linked glycans were extended with different poly-LacNAc chains with α2-3- and α2-6-linked sialic acids recognized by human and avian influenza viruses, respectively. The specificity of recombinant hemagglutinins (receptors in green) was investigated by using glycan microarray technology.     

A 2-pyridyl (py) attached phosphine imine [P(Npy)(NHpy)3] and an imido phosphinate ion [P(Npy)2)(NHpy)2]- in its Ag(I) complex

A new phosphine imine 3, [P(Npy)(NHpy)(3)] (py = 2-pyridyl), was synthesized from the phosphonium salt 1, [P(NHpy)(4)]Cl. Subsequent reaction of 1 or 3 with AgClO(4) lead to an unprecedented penta-nuclear Ag(I) complex 4 stabilized by two [P(Npy)(2)(NHpy)(2)](-) anions [L](-). The packing diagram of 4 shows an interesting channel structure which contains solvated molecules of methanol and toluene. The diimine ligand [L](-), which represents the N-analogue of a phosphinate ion (H(2)PO(4)(-)), was obtained in situ under the mild reaction conditions in the absence of a base.     

Coherent averaging in the frequency domain

Quantum-mechanical evolution of systems with periodic time-modulated Hamiltonians is often described by effective interactions. Such average Hamiltonians, calculated as few terms of an expansion in powers of the interaction, are sometimes difficult to relate to experimental observations. We propose a frequency-domain approach to this problem, which offers certain advantages and produces an approximate solution for the density matrix, better linked to measurable quantities. The formalism is suitable for calculating the intensities of narrowed spectral peaks. Fast magic-angle-spinning NMR spectra of solids are used to experimentally illustrate the method.     

Heteronuclear isotropic mixing separated local field NMR spectroscopy

This paper presents a theoretical, numerical, and experimental study of a new class of separated local field (SLF) techniques. These techniques are based on the heteronuclear isotropic mixing leading to spin exchange via the local field (HIMSELF). It is shown that highly efficient and robust SLF experiments can be designed based on double channel windowless homonuclear decoupling sequences. Compared to rotating frame techniques based on Hartmann-Hahn cross polarization, the new approach is less susceptible to the frequency offset and chemical shift interaction and can be applied in the structural studies of macromolecules that are uniformly labeled with isotopes such as (13)C and (15)N. Furthermore, isotropic mixing sequences allow for transfer of any magnetization component of one nucleus to the corresponding component of its dipolar coupled partner. The performance of HIMSELF is studied by analysis of the average Hamiltonian and numerical simulation and is experimentally demonstrated on a single crystalline sample of a dipeptide and a liquid crystalline sample exhibiting motionally averaged dipolar couplings.     

Pressure Dependence of the Electromechanical and Vibrational Properties of Pentaerythritol

The elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric constants of pentaerythritol, C (CH₂OH)₄, (PET) have been computed as a function of pressure employing the structural data of KATRUSIAK and the lattice dynamical model of RAMAMOORTHY and KRISHNAMURTHY. Using these electromechanical constants, the Young's modulus, the linear compressibility, the bulk modulus and the acoustic wave velocities are computed for various high pressures. The pressure dependence of the vibration spectrum of PET using rigid and non‐rigid lattice models is also obtained. The anomalous variation of these electromechanical and other physical quantities predict the most probable pressure for phase transition in PET to be around 280 MPa. The mechanism of the transition and the variation in the physical behaviour accompanying the transition are discussed.