Effects of nitridation durations on the synthesis of wurtzite GaN thin films by spin coating method

In this paper, the effects of nitridation durations on the structural, surface morphologies and lattice vibrational properties of gallium nitride (GaN) thin films grown via spin coating method were reported. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results revealed that all the deposited GaN thin films have wurtzite structure and with GaN(002) preferred orientation. In addition, the crystallinity of the GaN thin films increases with increasing of nitridation durations from 15 to 75 min while it degrades at 105 min. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy observations showed that GaN thin films with hexagon grains were formed at nitridation duration of 45 and 75 min, whereas rose-like microstructures were formed at nitridation duration of 105 min. P-polarized infrared reflectance measurements demonstrated that the reststrahlen feature of GaN thin films gradually increases from 15 to 75 min and diminished at 105 min, which is consistent with the XRD results. Finally, all the results revealed that the duration of 75 min was the most efficient time for the nitridation process.     

Tunable Photochromism in the Robust Dithienylethene‐Containing Phospholes: Design,Synthesis, Characterization,Electrochemistry, Photophysics,and Photochromic Studies

A series of dithienylethene‐containing phosphole derivatives has been designed, synthesized and characterized. One of the compounds has been characterized by X‐ray crystallography. Upon photoexcitation, the compounds exhibit drastic color changes, ascribed to the reversible photochromic behavior. Their photochromic, photophysical and electrochemical properties have been studied. They show photochromic reactivities with high photocyclization quantum yields. Their photophysical and photochromic properties are found to be facilely tuned in this system by substitution at the phosphole backbone, as well as variation on the extent of π‐conjugation of the phosphole backbone. Some selected compounds have been demonstrated to exhibit photochromic properties in polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) films.     

Schottky barrier properties of various metal (Zr, Ti, Cr, Pt) contact on p-GaN revealed from I-V-T measurement

Schottky barrier contact using three different metal (Zr, Ti, Cr and Pt) and Ohmic contact using Ni were made on same epitaxial growth layer of p-GaN. Measurements were carried out using current-voltage-temperature (I-V-T) in the range of 27-100°C. Under forward bias and room-temperature (RT), the ideality factors (η) were determined to be 2.38, 1.82, 1.51 and 2.63, respectively, for Zr, Ti, Cr and Pt. The Schottky barrier height (SBH) and effective Richardson coefficient A^** were measured through modified Norde plot as one of the analysis tools. Barrier heights of 0.84, 0.82, 0.77 and 0.41 eV for Zr, Ti, Cr and Pt, respectively, were obtained from the modified Norde plot. Schottky barrier heights of Zr, Ti, or Cr/p-GaN were also measured through activation energy plot, and determined to be in the same range (∼0.87 eV) and Pt at 0.49 eV. These results indicate that the Fermi level seems to be pinned due to the value of slope parameter (S) was very low (S = −0.25).     

Extending Shannon's Theorem to a General Juggling Pattern

This article incorporates timing considerations into the site-swap method and shows that the total dwell time, vacant time, and flight time over a period of a general juggling pattern satisfy the same equation as that in Shannon's original work for uniform juggle. Necessary and sufficient conditions on the dwell ratios to facilitate an executable juggling sequence are presented. The range of possible juggling periods incorporating maximum and minimum length of dwell times is also given.     

Platinum(ii) non-covalent crosslinkers for supramolecular DNA hydrogels

Manipulation of non-covalent metal–metal interactions allows the fabrication of functional metallosupramolecular structures with diverse supramolecular behaviors. The majority of reported studies are mostly designed and governed by thermodynamics, with very few examples of metallosupramolecular systems exhibiting intriguing kinetics. Here we report a serendipitous finding of platinum(ii) complexes serving as non-covalent crosslinkers for the fabrication of supramolecular DNA hydrogels. Upon mixing the alkynylplatinum(ii) terpyridine complex with double-stranded DNA in aqueous solution, the platinum(ii) complex molecules are found to first stack into columnar phases by metal–metal and π–π interactions, and then the columnar phases that carry multiple positive charges crosslink the negatively charged DNA strands to form supramolecular hydrogels with luminescence properties and excellent processability. Subsequent platinum(ii) intercalation into DNA competes with the metal–metal and π–π interactions at the crosslinking points, switching on the spontaneous gel-to-sol transition. In the case of a chloro (2,6-bis(benzimidazol-2′-yl)pyridine)platinum(ii) complex, with [Pt(bzimpy)Cl]⁺ serving as a non-covalent crosslinker where the metal–metal and π–π interactions outcompete platinum(ii) intercalation, the intercalation-driven gel-to-sol transition pathway is blocked since the gel state is energetically more favorable than the sol state. Interestingly, the ligand exchange reaction of the chloro ligand in [Pt(bzimpy)Cl]⁺ with glutathione (GSH) has endowed the complexes with enhanced hydrophilicity, decreasing the planarity of the complexes, and turning off the metal–metal and π–π interactions at the crosslinking points, leading to GSH-triggered hydrogel dissociation.

We report a serendipitous finding of platinum(ii) complexes serving as non-covalent crosslinkers for the fabrication of supramolecular DNA hydrogels.     

Luminescent homo- and heteropolynuclear platinum(II) chalcogenido aggregates based on [Pt2E2(P empty set N)4] units (E=S,Se)

A series of homodinuclear platinum(II) complexes containing bridging chalcogenido ligands, [Pt(2)(mu-E)(2)(P empty set N)(4)] (P empty set N=dppy, E=S (1), Se (2); P empty set N=tBu-dppy, E=S (3)) (dppy=2-(diphenylphosphino)pyridine, tBu-dppy=4-tert-butyl-2-(diphenylphosphino)pyridine) have been synthesized and characterized. The nucleophilicity of the [Pt(2)E(2)] unit towards a number of d(10) metal ions and complexes has been demonstrated through the successful isolation of a number of novel heteropolynuclear platinum(II)-copper(I), -silver(I), and -gold(I) complexes: [[Pt(2)(mu(3)-E)(2)(dppy)(4)](2)Ag(3)](PF(6))(3) (E=S (4); Se (5)) and [Pt(2)(dppy)(4)(mu(3)-E)(2)M(2)(dppm)]X(2) (E=S, M=Ag, X=BF(4) (6); E=S, M=Cu, X=PF(6) (7); E=S, M=Au, X=PF(6) (8); E=Se, M=Ag, X=PF(6) (9); E=Se, M=Au, X=PF(6) (10)). Some of them display short metal.metal contacts. These complexes have been found to possess interesting luminescence properties. Through systematic comparison studies, the emission origin has been probed.     

Syntheses, luminescence behavior, and assembly reaction of tetraalkynylplatinate(II) complexes: crystal structures of [Pt((t)Bu(3)trpy)(Ctbd1;CC(5)H(4)N)Pt((t)Bu(3)trpy)](PF(6))(3) and [Pt(2)Ag(4)(Ctbd1;CCtbd1;CC(6)H(4)CH(3)-4)(8)(THF)(4)

A series of tetraalkynylplatinate(II) complexes, (NBu(4))(2)[Pt(Ctbd1;CR)(4)] (R = C(6)H(4)N-4, C(6)H(4)N-3, and C(6)H(3)N(2)-5), and the diynyl analogues, (NBu(4))(2)[Pt(Ctbd1;CCtbd1;CR)(4)] (R = C(6)H(5) and C(6)H(4)CH(3)-4), have been synthesized. These complexes displayed intense photoluminescence, which was assigned as metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) transitions. Reaction of (Bu(4)N)(2)[Pt(Ctbd1;CC(5)H(4)N-4)(4)] with 4 equiv of [Pt((t)Bu(3)trpy)(MeCN)](OTf)(2) in methanol did not yield the expected pentanuclear platinum product, [Pt(Ctbd1;CC(5)H(4)N)(4)[Pt((t)Bu(3)trpy)](4)](OTf)(6), but instead afforded a strongly luminescent 4-ethynylpyridine-bridged dinuclear complex, [Pt((t)Bu(3)trpy)(Ctbd1;CC(5)H(4)N)Pt((t)Bu(3)trpy)](PF(6))(3,) which has been structurally characterized. The emission origin is assigned as derived from states of predominantly (3)MLCT [d(pi)(Pt) --> pi((t)Bu(3)trpy)] character, probably mixed with some intraligand (3)IL [pi --> pi(Ctbd1;C)], and ligand-to-ligand charge transfer (3)LLCT [pi(Ctbd1;C) --> pi((t)()Bu(3)trpy)] character. On the other hand, reaction of (Bu(4)N)(2)[Pt(Ctbd1;CCtbd1;CC(6)H(4)CH(3)-4)(4)] with [Ag(MeCN)(4)][BF(4)] gave a mixed-metal aggregate, [Pt(2)Ag(4)(Ctbd1;CCtbd1;CC(6)H(4)CH(3)-4)(8)(THF)(4)]. The crystal structure of [Pt(2)Ag(4)(Ctbd1;CCtbd1;CC(6)H(4)CH(3)-4)(8)(THF)(4)] has also been determined. A comparison study of the spectroscopic properties of the hexanuclear platinum-silver complex with its precursor complex has been made and their spectroscopic origins were suggested.     

Virtual two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of high-density lipoproteins

High-density lipoproteins (HDLs) isolated by immunoaffinity chromatography and separated by immobilized pH gradient-isoelectric focusing (IPG-IEF) were examined by mass spectrometry directly, applying a new proteomics technology, virtual two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis. A preliminary examination of HDL particles has revealed at least 42 unique masses for protein species with isoelectric points between pH 5.47-5.04, some of which have not been observed previously. By delivering masses of intact proteins from complex cellular mixtures in a format that correlates directly to classical 2-D gel analyses, virtual 2-D gel electrophoresis constitutes a general discovery tool to expose and monitor protein isoforms and post-translational modifications. Furthermore, its general ability to deliver ions from sub-picomole level proteins enmeshed in complex cellular mixtures potentially fulfills the need of top-down proteomics to obtain intact protein ions from microscale samples. Additional comparison of such data to 2-D gel analyses and their identified proteins may elucidate the functions of the individual apolipoprotein components and the cardioprotective effects of HDL.     

Luminescent platinum(II) terpyridyl complexes: effect of counter ions on solvent-induced aggregation and color changes

A series of platinum(II) terpyridyl complexes [Pt(tpy)(C triple bond C-C triple bond CH)]X, 1-X (X=OTf-; PF6-; ClO4-; BF4-; BPh4-); [Pt(tpy)(C triple bond CC6H5)]X, 2-X (X=OTf-; PF6-; ClO4-; BF4-); [Pt(tpy)(C triple bond CC6H4OCH3-4)]OTf, 3-OTf, and [Pt(4'-CH3O-tpy)(C triple bond CC6H5)]OTf, 4-OTf (tpy=2,2':6',2'-terpyridine, OTf=trifluoromethanesulfonate) were synthesized and their photophysical properties determined. Electronic absorption and emission studies showed the formation of a new band upon increasing the diethyl ether content in an acetonitrile/diethyl ether mixture. This was ascribed to the formation of complex aggregates, the solution color of which is dependent on the nature of the anions. This indicates that counter ions play an important role in governing the degree of aggregation and the extent of interactions within these aggregates. Addition of various anions to solutions of 1-OTf and 1-PF6 produced anion-induced color changes upon solvent-induced aggregation, indicating that these complexes may serve as potential colorimetric anion probes.