Challenges in quantum dot-neuron active interfacing

Semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots (qdots) are now being explored in applications requiring active cellular interfaces, such as biosensing and therapeutics in which information is passed from the qdot to the biological system, or vice versa, to perform a function. These applications may require surface coating chemistry that is different from what is commonly employed for passive interface applications like labeling (i.e., thick polymer coatings such as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)), in which the only concern is nonspecific sticking to cells and biocompatibility. The thick insulating coatings that are generally needed for labeling are generally not suitable for active qdot-cell interface applications. There is currently little data regarding the interactions between viable cells and qdots under physiological conditions. Our initial investigations using mercaptoacetic acid-coated CdS and CdTe qdots as a simple model to interface with neuron cell surface receptors under physiological conditions uncovered two significant technological hurdles: nonspecific binding and endocytosis. Nonspecific binding can be extensive and in general there appears to be greater nonspecific binding for larger particle sizes, but this also depends sensitively on the particle surface characteristics and the type of neuron, possibly indicating a detailed relationship between particle-cell affinity and cell membrane chemistry. More importantly, qdot endocytosis occurs rapidly at physiological temperature for the different nerve cell types studied, within the first five minutes of exposure to both CdS and CdTe qdots, regardless of whether the molecular coatings specifically recognize cell surface receptors or not. As a consequence, new strategies for tagging cell surface recognition groups for long-term active interfacing with cells under physiological conditions are needed, which requires more sophisticated ligands than MAA but also the absence of thick insulating coatings.     

Non-empirical calculations of NMR indirect carbon-carbon coupling constants. Part 12--aliphatic and alicyclic oximes

One-bond carbon-carbon coupling constants were calculated in a series of nine aliphatic and alicyclic oximes at the SOPPA (second-order polarization propagator approach) level in good agreement with the available experimental data, and several unknown couplings were predicted with high reliability. The experimental difference between J(C,C) of the corresponding carbon-carbon bonds in cis and trans orientations to the nitrogen lone pair is very well reproduced at the SOPPA level, and this provides an additional tool in the configurational assignment at the C=N bond in oximes and related systems.     

Euler Tours of Maximum Girth in K2 n +1 and K2 n ,2 n

Given an eulerian graph G and an Euler tour T of G, the girth of T, denoted by g(T), is the minimum integer k such that some segment of k+1 consecutive vertices of T is a cycle of length k in G. Let g^E(G)= maxg(T) where the maximum is taken over all Euler tours of G.We prove that g^E(K_2n,2n)=4n–4 and 2n–3g^E(K_2n+1)2n–1 for any n2. We also show that g^E(K₇)=4. We use these results to prove the following:1)The graph K_2n,2n can be decomposed into edge disjoint paths of length k if and only if k4n–1 and the number of edges in K_2n,2n is divisible by k.2)The graph K_2n+1 can be decomposed into edge disjoint paths of length k if and only if k2n and the number edges in K_2n+1 is divisible by k.     

Morphological control and molecular recognition by bis-urea hydrogen bonding in micelles of amphiphilic tri-block copolymers

Hydrogen bonding between urea groups of amphiphilic tri-block copolymers considerably affects their self-assembly in water, which results in a strong modification of morphology and viscosity of aqueous solutions; the hydrogen bonding motif in these amphiphilic copolymers allows molecular recognition of small molecules with complementary hydrogen bonding units.     

Solitary wave complexes in two-component condensates

Axisymmetric three-dimensional solitary waves in uniform two-component mixture Bose-Einstein condensates are obtained as solutions of the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations with equal intracomponent but varying intercomponent interaction strengths. Several families of solitary wave complexes are found: (1) vortex rings of various radii in each of the components; (2) a vortex ring in one component coupled to a rarefaction solitary wave of the other component; (3) two coupled rarefaction waves; (4) either a vortex ring or a rarefaction pulse coupled to a localized disturbance of a very low momentum. The continuous families of such waves are shown in the momentum-energy plane for various values of the interaction strengths and the relative differences between the chemical potentials of two components. Solitary wave formation, their stability, and solitary wave complexes in two dimensions are discussed.     

One-step synthesis of bisarenechromium complexes from ethyl esters of phenylacetic and phenylpropionic acids

Conclusions The low-temperature cocondensation of chromium vapors with the vapors of the ethyl esters of phenyl-acetic and-phenylpropionic acid gave the corresponding bisarenechromium complexes.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 7, pp. 1638–1639, July, 1976.     

Protonated member of poly(diallylammonium) family: Hydrodynamic and conformational properties

Secondary polyamine in protonated salt form – poly(diallylammonium trifluoro-acetate) is characterized as representative of polymer series based on N,N-diallyl-ammonium. Its hydrodynamic behavior in 1 M NaCl has been compared with the other series members – quaternary poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and tertiary poly(diallylmethylammonium trifluoroacetate). It was shown that these polymers belong to semirigid class whose Kuhn segment length ～4?nm just slightly depends on chemical structure at high ionic strength. As specific for secondary polyamine, the sensitivity to proton equilibrium in solution and counter ion type was detected resulting in great difference of its Mark–Kuhn–Houwink equations from the quaternary analogue at the same conditions.