Influence of the work of adhesion on the dynamic wetting of chemically heterogeneous surfaces

The velocity dependence of the dynamic contact angle for a glycerol-water mixture wetting two different chemically heterogeneous surfaces (mixed thiols on gold and partially methylated titania, 16 samples in all) was studied. The molecular kinetic theory (MKT) of wetting was used to interpret the dynamic contact angle data. The equilibrium displacement frequency ( K 0) was predominantly determined by the viscous contribution from the bulk liquid, with a minor contribution from the surface. The mean distance between surface sites (lambda) decreased with increasing work of adhesion. The contact line friction coefficient zeta 0 was found to vary exponentially with the work of adhesion, enabling the unit flow volume of the liquid to be obtained.     

Neutron reflectivity study of the complexation of DNA with lipids and surfactants at the surface of water

Complexation of lipids and surfactants with short DNA fragments at the air-water interface has been studied by neutron reflectivity. Complexation with zwitterionic lipids occurs in the presence of divalent cations, and ion specificity has been demonstrated (binding is less effective with Ba2+ than with Mg2+ or Ca2+). One and two DNA layers have been observed for dilute and more compact lipid monolayers, respectively. Two DNA layers have also been found with the soluble cationic surfactant dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), except close to the precipitation boundary. This result is opposite to that found in ellipsometry where very thick layers are found in this region. It is possible that the ellipsometry signal is due to highly hydrated bulk complexes adsorbing at the surface, not seen by neutrons because of unfavorable contrast conditions. Long DNA was found to be less keen to form surface complexes than short DNA fragments.     

Microwave synthesis of electrically conductive gold nanowires on DNA scaffolds

Biological molecules, in particular DNA, have shown great potential to be used as interconnects of nanodevices and computational elements. In this research, we synthesized electrically conductive gold nanowires for the first time exploiting an electroless and microwave heating method for 120-180 s. Our results indicate that DNA serves as a reducing and nonspecific capping agent for the growth of nanowires. The current voltage ( I- V) characteristics of the Au nanowires are continuous, exhibiting Ohmic behavior having low contact resistance with the gold electrodes. The nanowires have a diameter of 10-15 nm in solution and of 20-30 nm in immobilized DNA with resistivity comparable to pure metals. The method is highly selective with deposition confined to the DNA itself. The nanowires we fabricated can be used as building blocks for functional nanodevices, sensors, and optoelectronics.     

Importance of solution equilibria in the directed assembly of metal chalcogenide mesostructures

We describe the new nanostructured Pt/Ge/Se materials prepared from the molecular units [Ge2Se6](4-) and [GeSe4](4-) and linking Pt(2+) ions in the presence of surfactant micelles. X-ray diffraction coupled with transmission electron microscopy images reveals hexagonal pore symmetry. The solvent dependence and solution speciation of these building blocks were investigated by means of multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and by fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectroscopy and it is shown that rapid exchange equilibrium is reached between species like [Ge4Se10](4-), [Ge2Se6](4-), and [GeSe4](4-) in both water and formamide. This results in multiple Ge/Se anions being incorporated in the mesostructured materials which is supported by Raman and IR spectroscopic data. It is likely that the presence of multiple building units both in water and formamide solutions favors the assembly of mesostructured metal chalcogenides with good pore order. Systematic variation of both surfactant headgroup and chain length modulates the optoelectronic properties of the mesostructures. The Pt/Ge/Se materials show sharp band gap transitions in the range of 1.24-1.97 eV. Finally, the materials exhibit reversible ion-exchange properties and a marked inorganic framework flexibility that enables a contraction-expansion process in response to the exchange. The Pt/Ge/Se framework possesses a very high surface area as estimated by small-angle X-ray scattering techniques.     

Catechol oxidase activity of a series of new dinuclear copper(II) complexes with 3,5-DTBC and TCC as substrates: syntheses, X-ray crystal structures, spectroscopic characterization of the adducts and kinetic studies

A series of dinuclear copper(II) complexes has been synthesized with the aim to investigate their applicability as potential structure and function models for the active site of catechol oxidase enzyme. They have been characterized by routine physicochemical techniques as well as by X-ray single-crystal structure analysis: [Cu 2(H 2L2 (2))(OH)(H 2O)(NO 3)](NO 3) 3.2H 2O ( 1), [Cu(HL1 (4))(H 2O)(NO 3)] 2(NO 3) 2.2H 2O ( 2), [Cu(L1 (1))(H 2O)(NO 3)] 2 ( 3), [Cu 2(L2 (3))(OH)(H 2O) 2](NO 3) 2, ( 4) and [Cu 2(L2 (1))(N 3) 3] ( 5) [L1 = 2-formyl-4-methyl-6R-iminomethyl-phenolato and L2 = 2,6-bis(R-iminomethyl)-4-methyl-phenolato; for L1 (1) and L2 (1), R = N-propylmorpholine; for L2 (2), R = N-ethylpiperazine; for L2 (3), R = N-ethylpyrrolidine, and for L1 (4), R = N-ethylmorpholine]. Dinuclear 1 and 4 possess two "end-off" compartmental ligands with exogenous mu-hydroxido and endogenous mu-phenoxido groups leading to intermetallic distances of 2.9794(15) and 2.9435(9) A, respectively; 2 and 3 are formed by two tridentate compartmental ligands where the copper centers are connected by endogenous phenoxido bridges with Cu-Cu separations of 3.0213(13) and 3.0152(15) A, respectively; 5 is built by an end-off compartmental ligand having exogenous mu-azido and endogenous mu-phenoxido groups with a Cu-Cu distance of 3.133(2) A (mean of two independent molecules). The catecholase activity of all of the complexes has been investigated in acetonitrile and methanol medium by UV-vis spectrophotometric study using 3,5-di- tert-butylcatechol (3,5-DTBC) and tetrachlorocatechol (TCC) as substrates. In acetonitrile medium, the conversion of 3,5-DTBC to 3,5-di- tert-butylbenzoquinone (3,5-DTBQ) catalyzed by 1- 5 is observed to proceed via the formation of two enzyme-substrate adducts, ES1 and ES2, detected spectroscopically for the first time. In methanol medium no such enzyme-substrate adduct has been detected, and the 3,5-DTBC to 3,5-DTBQ conversion is observed to be catalyzed by 1- 5 very efficiently. The substrate TCC forms an adduct with 2- 5 without performing further oxidation to TCQ due to the high reduction potential of TCC (in comparison with 3,5-DTBC). But most interestingly, 1 is observed to be effective even in TCC oxidation, a process never reported earlier. Kinetic experiments have been performed to determine initial rate of reactions (3,5-DTBC as substrate, in methanol medium) and the activity sequence is 1 > 5 > 2 = 4 > 3. A treatment on the basis of Michaelis-Menten model has been applied for kinetic study, suggesting that all five complexes exhibit very high turnover number, especially 1, which exhibits turnover number or K cat of 3.24 x 10 (4) (h (-1)), which is approximately 3.5 times higher than the most efficient catalyst reported to date for catecholase activity in methanol medium.     

Navigation of underwater robot based on dynamically adaptive harmony search algorithm

The current research work has employed an evolutionary based novel navigational strategy to trace the collision free near optimal path for underwater robot in a three-dimensional scenario. The population based harmony search algorithm has been dynamically adapted and used to search next global best pose for underwater robot while obstacle is identified near about robot’s current pose. Each pose is evaluated based on their respective value for objective function which incorporates features of path length minimization as well as obstacle avoidance. Dynamic adaptation of control parameters and new perturbation schemes for solution vectors of harmony search has been proposed to strengthen both exploitation and randomization ability of present search process in a balanced manner. Such adaptive tuning process has found to be more effective for avoiding early convergence during underwater motion in comparison with performances of other popular variants of Harmony Search. The proposed path planning method has also shown better navigational performance in comparison with improved version of ant colony optimization and heuristic potential field method for avoiding static obstacles of different shape and sizes during underwater motion. Simulation studies and corresponding experimental verification for three-dimensional navigation are performed to check the accuracy, robustness and efficiency of proposed dynamically adaptive harmony search algorithm.     

Optimized Extraction of Artemisinin from Artemisia annua L. and Corroborated Quantitative Analysis Using High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - An optimized method for the extraction and quantification of artemisinin using high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC)...     

G‐Tetraplex‐Induced FRET within Telomeric Repeat Sequences Using PyA‐PerA as Energy Donor–Acceptor Pair

G‐tetraplex induced fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) within telomeric repeat sequences has been studied using a nucleoside‐tethered FRET pair embedded in the human telomeric G‐quadruplex forming sequence (5′‐A GGG TT ^Py A GGG TT ^Per A GGG TTA GGG‐3′, Py=pyrene, Per=perylene). Conformational change from a single strand to an anti‐parallel G‐quadruplex leads to FRET from energy donor ( ^Py A ) to acceptor ( ^Per A ). The distance between the FRET donor/acceptor partners was controlled by changing the number of G‐quartet spacer units. The FRET efficiency decreases with increase in G‐quartet units. Overall findings indicate that this could be further used for the development of FRET‐based sensing and measurement techniques.     

Redox Non‐Innocence of Nitrosobenzene at Nickel

Nitrosobenzene (PhNO) serves as a stable analogue of nitroxyl (HNO), a biologically relevant, redox‐active nitric oxide derivative. Capture of nitrosobenzene at the electron‐deficient β‐diketiminato nickel(I) complex [ⁱPr₂NN_F6]Ni results in reduction of the PhNO ligand to a (PhNO)^./? species coordinated to a square planar Ni^II center in [ⁱPr₂NN_F6]Ni(η²‐ONPh). Ligand centered reduction leads to the (PhNO)^2? moiety bound to Ni^II supported by XAS studies. Systematic investigation of structure–reactivity patterns of (PhNO)^./? and (PhNO)^2? ligands reveals parallels with superoxo (O₂)^./? and peroxo (O₂)^2? ligands, respectively, and forecasts reactivity patterns of the more transient HNO ligand.     

Anomalous magnetic response of a quasi-periodic mesoscopic ring in presence of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions

We investigate the properties of persistent charge current driven by magnetic flux in aquasi-periodic mesoscopic Fibonacci ring with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbitinteractions. Within a tight-binding framework we work out individual state currentstogether with net current based on second-quantized approach. A significant enhancement ofcurrent is observed in presence of spin-orbit coupling and sometimes it becomes orders ofmagnitude higher compared to the spin-orbit interaction free Fibonacci ring. We alsoestablish a scaling relation of persistent current with ring size, associated with theFibonacci generation, from which one can directly estimate current for any arbitrary flux,even in presence of spin-orbit interaction, without doing numerical simulation. Thepresent analysis indeed gives a unique opportunity of determining persistent current andhas not been discussed so far.