Broad-band spectroscopy of a vanadyl porphyrin: a model electronuclear spin qudit

We explore how to encode more than a qubit in vanadyl porphyrin molecules hosting a S = 1/2 electronic spin coupled to a I = 7/2 nuclear spin. The spin Hamiltonian and its parameters, as well as the spin dynamics, have been determined via a combination of electron paramagnetic resonance, heat capacity, magnetization and on-chip magnetic spectroscopy experiments performed on single crystals. We find low temperature spin coherence times of micro-seconds and spin relaxation times longer than a second. For sufficiently strong magnetic fields (B > 0.1 T, corresponding to resonance frequencies of 9–10 GHz) these properties make vanadyl porphyrin molecules suitable qubit realizations. The presence of multiple equispaced nuclear spin levels then merely provides 8 alternatives to define the ‘1’ and ‘0’ basis states. For lower magnetic fields (B < 0.1 T), and lower frequencies (<2 GHz), we find spectroscopic signatures of a sizeable electronuclear entanglement. This effect generates a larger set of allowed transitions between different electronuclear spin states and removes their degeneracies. Under these conditions, we show that each molecule fulfills the conditions to act as a universal 4-qubit processor or, equivalently, as a d = 16 qudit. These findings widen the catalogue of chemically designed systems able to implement non-trivial quantum functionalities, such as quantum simulations and, especially, quantum error correction at the molecular level.

We show that a sizeable electronuclear entanglement of the S = 1/2 and I = 7/2 spins of a vanadyl porphyrin provides the conditions to act as a universal 4-qubit processor, and thus implement quantum error correction at the molecular level.     

Application of molecular absorption properties of horseradish peroxidase for self-indicating enzymatic interactions and analytical methods

In this paper an in depth study is presented of the use of the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme as a self-indicating biorecognition reagent in UV-vis molecular absorption spectrometry. The HRP/H2O2 reaction mechanism in the absence of an external substrate has been clarified, and the interaction between HRP and glucose oxidase (GOx) has been studied. It has been demonstrated that GOx can act as a substrate of HRP; in both cases the kinetic constants have been obtained and mathematical models have been developed. Second, the HRP/H2O2 reaction is used to follow a H2O2-producing enzymatic reaction, the glucose reaction with GOx being used as a model. As an application of this, two methodologies have been proposed for glucose determination: with or without previous incubation of glucose with GOx. In both cases mathematical models relating HRP absorbance changes to glucose concentration have been developed and tested; both methods have been optimized, analytically characterized, and tested for glucose determination in samples. The methodology described could be applied to other heme-proteins and to other H2O2-producing enzymatic reactions. The models permit the reaction constants to be calculated. From the analytical chemistry point of view the models allow the prediction of the method sensitivity for other analytes involved in this type of reaction if the kinetic constants are known and can be used in the design of optical sensors.     

A High Sensitivity Detection Method of Singlet Oxygen and Superoxide Anion

This paper, for the first time, reports a method that can be used as a highly sensitive probe for singlet oxygen (^1O2) and superoxide anion (O2^-) in vitro or in vivo. FCLA(3,7-dihydro-6-{4-[2-(N‘-(5-fluoresceinyl)thioureido)ethoxy]phenyl}-2-methylimidazo{1,2-a}pyrazin-3-one sodium salt), a chemiluminescence (CL) analysis reagent, has been reported to sensitively react with ^1O2 and O2^- to emit photons with a spectral peak of 525nm. In this work,when human serum albumin (HSA) was added into FCLA solution to enhance the CL intensity,approximately 20 times, compared to that without HSA. The enhanced CL had the same 525 nm spectral peak, identical to that without HSA. By gradually reducing the molecular oxygen content in the solution, we find that the auto-oxidation of oxygen molecules dissolved in the solution plays an important role in the CL process. Based on these experimental evidences, we propose a novel and highly sensitive detection method of ^1O2 and O2^- which may have a great potential in chemical and medical applications.     

C_(74)的结构、电子光谱及三阶线性光学性质的理论研究

用密度泛函（DFT）方法（BLYP/3－21G~*）研究了C_(74)的稳定几何构型。用 ZINDO及ab initio GIS两种方法对C_(74)的电子光谱进行了计算，预测C_(74)在红 外区域有光谱吸收。计算了C_(74)的三阶非线性光学系数<γ>为1.483 * 10~(-32) esu，它比C_(60)的<γ>（8.84 * 10~(-34) esu）要大得多。预测C_(74)亦将是 一种有很好应用前景的磁性材料。     

石墨烯的制备、功能化及在化学中的应用

石墨烯是最近发现的一种具有二维平面结构的碳纳米材料, 它的特殊单原子层结构使其具有许多独特的物理化学性质. 有关石墨烯的基础和应用研究已成为当前的前沿和热点课题之一. 本文仅就目前石墨烯的制备方法、功能化方法以及在化学领域中的应用作一综述, 重点阐述石墨烯应用于化学修饰电极、化学电源、催化剂和药物载体以及气体传感器等方面的研究进展, 并对石墨烯在相关领域的应用前景作了展望.     

二甲胺修饰戊二醛交联壳聚糖树脂的制备及性能

研究了在均匀水相介质条件下，采用戊二醛稀溶液制备交联壳聚糖树脂的方法，并以三聚氯氰为活化剂，合成了二甲胺修饰戊二醛交联壳聚糖树脂．研究了该树脂的红外光谱及吸附性能．该树脂对铜(Ⅱ)和牛血清白蛋白(BSA)的吸附容量分别为42mg／g(干)和940mg／g(干)，其吸附行为均符合Freundlich等温吸附模型．该树脂制备工艺简单，机械强度较好，可作为金属离子或蛋白质分离纯化的吸附剂和色谱填料．     

反相液相色谱中固定相和流动相对柱相比的贡献

依据柱相比的热力学定义和反相液相色谱中溶质的计量置换保留理论(the stoichiometric dispheement heory of solute for retention，SDT-R)，对反相液相色谱中固定相和流动相性质、温度对柱相比的影响进行了研究。结果表明：固定相的种类和配基的疏水性对柱相比影响较大，而流动相中有机溶剂的种类，特别是脂肪酸作为置换剂时，对柱相比的影响更大，而柱相比受温度的影响较小。此外，通过用27种小分子溶质对柱相比的测定，其logI和Z良好的线性关系，进一步证明柱相比是一个与溶质性质无关的常数。     

微波辅助快速制备2D/1D ZnIn2S4/TiO2 S型异质结及其光催化制氢性能

The threat and global concern of energy crises have significantly increased over the last two decades. Because solar light and water are abundant on earth, photocatalytic hydrogen evolution through water splitting has been considered as a promising route to produce green energy. Therefore, semiconductor photocatalysts play a key role in transforming sunlight and water to hydrogen energy. To date, various photocatalysts have been studied. Among them, TiO₂ has been extensively investigated because of its non-toxicity, high chemical stability, controllable morphology, and high photocatalytic activity. In particular, 1D TiO₂ nanofibers (NFs) have attracted increasing attention as effective photocatalysts because of their unique 1D electron transfer pathway, high adsorption capacity, and high photoinduced electron–hole pair transfer capability. However, TiO₂ NFs are considered as an inefficient photocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) because of their disadvantages such as a large band gap (~3.2 eV) and fast recombination of photoinduced electron–hole pairs. Therefore, the development of a high-performance TiO₂ NF photocatalyst is required for efficient solar light conversion. In recent years, several strategies have been explored to improve the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ NFs, including coupling with narrow-bandgap semiconductors (such as ZnIn₂S₄). Recently, microwave (MW)-assisted synthesis has been considered as an important strategy for the preparation of photocatalyst semiconductors because of its low cost, environment-friendliness, simplicity, and high reaction rate. Herein, to overcome the above-mentioned limiting properties of TiO₂ NFs, we report a 2D/1D ZnIn₂S₄/TiO₂ S-scheme heterojunction synthesized through a microwave (MW)-assisted process. Herein, the 2D/1D ZnIn₂S₄/TiO₂ S-scheme heterojunction was constructed rapidly by using in situ 2D ZnIn₂S₄nanosheets decorated on 1D TiO₂ NFs. The loading of ZnIn₂S₄ nanoplates on the TiO₂ NFs could be easily controlled by adjusting the molar ratios of ZnIn₂S₄ precursors to TiO₂ NFs. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared samples for water splitting under simulated solar light irradiation was assessed. The experimental results showed that the photocatalytic performance of the ZnIn₂S₄/TiO₂ composites was significantly improved, and the obtained ZnIn₂S₄/TiO₂ composites showed increased optical absorption. Under optimal conditions, the highest HER rate of the ZT-0.5 (molar ratio of ZnIn₂S₄/TiO₂= 0.5) sample was 8774 μmol·g^-1·h^-1, which is considerably higher than those of pure TiO₂ NFs (3312 μmol·g^-1·h^-1) and ZnIn₂S₄nanoplates (3114 μmol·g^-1·h^-1) by factors of 2.7 and 2.8, respectively. Based on the experimental data and Mott-Schottky analysis, a possible mechanism for the formation of the S-scheme heterojunction between ZnIn₂S₄ and TiO₂ was proposed to interpret the enhanced HER activity of the ZnIn₂S₄/TiO₂heterojunctionphotocatalysts.      

A molecular dynamics study of the pentacyclo-undecane cage amino acid tripeptide

In this paper, we report on the conformational profile of the pentacyclo-undecane (PCU) cage tripeptide carried out by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation using water as an explicit solvent. The MD solution phase studies carried on the model peptide analogues (A)=Ac–Ala–Ala–Ala–NHMe; (B)=Ac–Cage–Cage–Cage–NHMe; (C)=Ac–Ala–Cage–Ala–NHMe and (D)=Ac–Ala–Pro–Ala–NHMe, are used as a complimentary technique to the corresponding gas phase simulated annealing (SA) study previously carried out in our laboratory. No significant structural changes were observed over the MD trajectories. However, the results reported here provide further evidence that the (PCU) cage amino acid exhibits C_7eq, C_7aq, _R and _L conformations, and the theoretical results suggest that the PCU cage amino acid is a strong β-turn inducer. These results support the prediction that when the PCU cage residues are in the (i) and (i+2) positions, the β-turn can be extended in either direction to form anti-parallel β-pleated sheets, thereby forming the basis of the mechanism for the folding back of the chain in a cross-β-turn structure.     

Selective cleavage of acetals with ZnBr2 in dichloromethane

A selective cleavage of acetals of 1,2- and 1,3-diols has been achieved under mild conditions using ZnBr₂ in dichloromethane at room temperature. Acetal types cleavable by this procedure include benzylidene, isopropylidene and cyclohexylidene acetals. This method is compatible with several other types of hydroxyl protecting groups such as Bn, Bz, TBDPS, TIPS and TBDMS.