Hydrogen bond dynamics probed with ultrafast infrared heterodyne-detected multidimensional vibrational stimulated echoes

Hydrogen bond dynamics are explicated with exceptional detail using multidimensional infrared vibrational echo correlation spectroscopy with full phase information. Probing the hydroxyl stretch of methanol-OD oligomers in CCl4, the dynamics of the evolving hydrogen bonded network are measured with ultrashort (<50 fs) pulses. The data along with detailed model calculations demonstrate that vibrational relaxation leads to selective hydrogen bond breaking on the red side of the spectrum (strongest hydrogen bonds) and the production of singly hydrogen bonded photoproducts.     

New pyrazolium-carboxylates as structural analogues of the pseudo-cross-conjugated betainic alkaloid nigellicine

Pyrazolium-3-carboxylates were examined as relatives of the betainic alkaloid Nigellicine and as new examples of the sparsely populated class 16 of heterocyclic pseudo-cross-conjugated mesomeric betaines (PCCMB). The title compounds were prepared in a 4-step procedure starting from beta-diketo compounds 8 which were cyclized with substituted hydrazines. The resulting isomeric pyrazole esters 9 and 10 were separated and subsequently quaternized with dimethyl sulfate in the presence of nitrobenzene to pyrazolium esters 11 and 12. Saponification was best accomplished in diluted sulfuric acid, which resulted in the formation of the pseudo-cross-conjugated mesomeric betaines 13 and 14 in one step. Protonation to the corresponding carboxylic acids required the treatment of the betaines with tetrafluoroboric acid in dichloromethane. The effect of negative solvatochromism proves the charge separation in the ground state of the molecules. X-ray crystallographic analyses, semiempirical calculations, and ESI mass spectrometric measurements were performed to gain knowledge about the phenomenon of pseudo-cross-conjugation.     

Experimental and ab Initio Equilibrium Structure and Harmonic Force Field of 1,2,5-Oxadiazole

The equilibrium structure of 1,2,5-oxadiazole has been calculated ab initio at the CCSD(T) level using a polarized valence quadruple zeta basis set. The harmonic force field has also been calculated at the MP2/cc-pVTZ, B3LYP/6-311++G(3df, 2pd), and B3LYP/cc-pVQZ levels. These force fields have been subsequently scaled and further refined by fitting them to the experimental values of the vibrational fundamentals of three isotopomers and the centrifugal distortion constants of the parent molecule. The specific refinement of those scaled force constants particularly sensitive to the experimental data set was decisive for obtaining a more reliable harmonic potential. The resulting force fields are presented and used, together with the ground state rotational constants, to calculate an r(z) structure. The experimental r(0), r(s), and r(m) structures have also been determined. The different results have been compared and it is concluded that the ab initio structure is a good approximation of the equilibrium structure. It is also shown that the magnetic correction is not negligible, particularly for the inertial defect. Another interesting conclusion is that the anharmonicity of the C-H stretching might be unusually small. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Elastic stability of DNA configurations. II. Supercoiled plasmids with self-contact

Configurations of protein-free DNA miniplasmids are calculated with the effects of impenetrability and self-contact forces taken into account by using exact solutions of Kirchhoff's equations of equilibrium for elastic rods of circular cross section. Bifurcation diagrams are presented as graphs of excess link, DeltaL, versus writhe, W, and the stability criteria derived in paper I of this series are employed in a search for regions of such diagrams that correspond to configurations that are stable, in the sense that they give local minima to elastic energy. Primary bifurcation branches that originate at circular configurations are composed of configurations with D(m) symmetry (m=2,3,...). Among the results obtained are the following. (i) There are configurations with C2 symmetry forming secondary bifurcation branches which emerge from the primary branch with m=3, and bifurcation of such secondary branches gives rise to tertiary branches of configurations without symmetry. (ii) Whether or not self-contact occurs, a noncircular configuration in the primary branch with m=2, called branch alpha, is stable when for it the derivative dDeltaL/dW, computed along that branch, is strictly positive. (iii) For configurations not in alpha, the condition dDeltaL/dW>0 is not sufficient for stability; in fact, each nonplanar contact-free configuration that is in a branch other than alpha is unstable. A rule relating the number of points of self-contact and the occurrence of intervals of such contact to the magnitude of DeltaL, which in paper I was found to hold for segments of DNA subject to strong anchoring end conditions, is here observed to hold for computed configurations of protein-free miniplasmids.     

Elastic stability of DNA configurations. I. General theory

Results are presented in the theory of the elastic rod model for DNA, among which are criteria enabling one to determine whether a calculated equilibrium configuration of a DNA segment is stable in the sense that it gives a local minimum to the sum of the segment's elastic energy and the potential of forces acting on it. The derived stability criteria are applicable to plasmids and to linear segments subject to strong anchoring end conditions. Their utility is illustrated with an example from the theory of configurations of the extranucleosomal loop of a DNA miniplasmid in a mononucleosome, with emphasis placed on the influence that nicking and ligation on one hand, and changes in the ratio of elastic coefficients on the other, have on the stability of equilibrium configurations. In that example, the configurations studied are calculated using an extension of the method of explicit solutions to cases in which the elastic rod modeling a DNA segment is considered impenetrable, and hence excluded volume effects and forces arising from self-contact are taken into account.     

Experimental details of the Stopped Beam RISING campaign

The RISING (Rare ISotope INvestigations at GSI) project constitutes a major pan-european initiative to study nuclear structure in exotic nuclei. A brief outline of the technical details specific to studies of isomeric decays following relativistic projectile fragmentation reactions is presented.     

Novel polyesteramide-based di- and triblock copolymers: From thermo-mechanical properties to hydrolytic degradation

Two types of biodegradable poly(ε-caprolactone (CLo))-co-poly(ε-caprolactam (CLa)) copolymers were prepared by catalyzed hydrolytic ring-opening polymerization. For the first type of materials, the respective cyclic comonomers were added simultaneously in the reaction medium leading to the formation of copolymers having a random distribution of co-units within the polyesteramide sequence, as evidenced by ¹H and ¹³C NMR. For the second type of copolymers, the cyclic comonomers were added sequentially in the reaction medium yielding diblock polyesteramides, again evidenced by NMR. The thermal and thermo-mechanical properties of the copolymers were investigated by DSC and DMA and correlated with the copolymer topology and composition. The copolymers were characterized by a storage modulus and α transition temperature intermediate to the modulus and T_g of the corresponding homopolymers. The chemical composition and molecular weight of the copolymers proved to have only a limited effect on the thermo-mechanical properties of the materials. The hydrolytic degradation of random copolymers was studied in a phosphate buffer at 60 °C and discussed in terms of chemical composition and molecular weight of the copolymers.     

Poly(lactic acid) composites with poly(lactic acid)‐modified carbon nanotubes

This work reports the study of the effect of chemical functionalization of carbon nanotubes on their dispersion in poly(lactic acid). The nanotubes were functionalized by the 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition reaction, generating pyrrolidine groups at the nanotube surface. Further reaction of the pyrrolidine groups with poly(lactic acid) was studied in solution and in the polymer melt. The former involved refluxing the nanotubes in a dimethylformamide/polymer solution; the latter was carried out by direct melt mixing in a microcompounder. The carbon nanotubes collected after each process were characterized by thermogravimetry and by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, showing evidence of polymer bonded to the nanotube surface only when the reaction was carried out in the polymer melt. The composites with polymer modified nanotubes present smaller average agglomerate area and a narrower agglomerate area distribution. In addition, they show improved tensile properties at low CNT concentration and present lower electrical resistivity. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 3740–3750