Enzyme-purification and catalytic transformations in a microstructured PASSflow reactor using a new tyrosine-based Ni-NTA linker system attached to a polyvinylpyrrolidinone-based matrix

The synthesis of a Ni-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) attached via a new tyrosine-based linker matrix on monolithic crosslinked poly(vinyl benzyl chloride)/poly(vinylpyrrolidinone) is described. This matrix is incorporated inside a microstructured PASSflow reactor which was used for automatic purification and immobilisation of His(6)-tagged proteins. These could be used as stable and highly active biocatalysts for the synthesis of (R)-benzoin (6), (R)-2-hydroxy-1-phenylpropan-1-one (7) and 6-O-acetyl-D-glucal (17) in a flow-through mode.     

Incoherent scattering of 59.54 keV gamma rays for some rare earth elements at low photon momentum transfers

Incoherent scattering functions S(x, Z) for six rare earth elements were evaluated from accurately measured whole atom differential incoherent scattering cross sections for 59.54 keV γ-rays scattered at 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° scattering angles corresponding to 1.24, 1.84, 2.40 and 3.39 Å⁻¹ photon momentum transfers. Our results for S(x, Z) are the first for these rare earth elements.     

Substituted 1,8-naphthyridin-2(1H)-ones are superior to thymine in the recognition of adenine in duplex as well as triplex structures

The synthesis and evaluation of a series of novel nucleobases based on substituted 1,8-naphthyridin-2(1H)-ones are reported. The nucleobases were designed to meet the requirements for incorporation into peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) and were evaluated as part of PNA duplex and triplex nucleic acid recognition systems. Of the various nucleobases tested, only the 7-chloro-1,8-naphthyridin-2(1H)-one (7-Cl-bT) nucleobase led to consistently increased affinity in all recognition systems, duplex (Watson-Crick) as well as triplex (Hoogsteen). For multiply modified systems, the increase in thermal stability per modification was dependent on the sequence context, ranging from 2.0 degrees C (in separate positions) to 3.5 degrees C (in adjacent positions) in PNA-DNA duplexes and from 1.2 degrees C (in separate positions) to 3.2 degrees C (in adjacent positions) in PNA-RNA duplexes. Singly mismatched oligonucleotide targets were employed to demonstrate uncompromised sequence discrimination. When part of multiply modified triplex (Hoogsteen) recognition systems, the 7-Cl-bT unit gave rise to increases in the thermal stability ranging from 2.7 to 3.5 degrees C when incorporated into separated and adjacent positions, respectively. Our results furthermore indicate that the duplex stabilization is predominantly enthalpic and therefore most likely not a consequence of single-strand preorganization. Finally, and most surprisingly, we find no direct correlation between the end-stacking efficiency of this type of nucleobase and its helix stabilization when involved in Watson-Crick base pairing within a helix.     

Numerical approaches to time evolution of complex quantum systems

We examine several numerical techniques for the calculation of the dynamics of quantum systems. In particular, we single out an iterative method which is based on expanding the time evolution operator into a finite series of Chebyshev polynomials. The Chebyshev approach benefits from two advantages over the standard time-integration Crank-Nicholson scheme: speedup and efficiency. Potential competitors are semiclassical methods such as the Wigner-Moyal or quantum tomographic approaches. We outline the basic concepts of these techniques and benchmark their performance against the Chebyshev approach by monitoring the time evolution of a Gaussian wave packet in restricted one-dimensional (1D) geometries. Thereby the focus is on tunnelling processes and the motion in anharmonic potentials. Finally we apply the prominent Chebyshev technique to two highly non-trivial problems of current interest: (i) the injection of a particle in a disordered 2D graphene nanoribbon and (ii) the spatiotemporal evolution of polaron states in finite quantum systems. Here, depending on the disorder/electron-phonon coupling strength and the device dimensions, we observe transmission or localisation of the matter wave.     

Relative Oscillation Theory,Weighted Zeros of the Wronskian,and the Spectral Shift Function

We develop an analog of classical oscillation theory for Sturm–Liouville operators which, rather than measuring the spectrum of one single operator, measures the difference between the spectra of two different operators. This is done by replacing zeros of solutions of one operator by weighted zeros of Wronskians of solutions of two different operators. In particular, we show that a Sturm-type comparison theorem still holds in this situation and demonstrate how this can be used to investigate the number of eigenvalues in essential spectral gaps. Furthermore, the connection with Krein’s spectral shift function is established. Research supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under Grant No. Y330.     

Duality and Self-Duality (Energy Reflection Symmetry) of Quasi-Exactly Solvable Periodic Potentials

A class of spectral problems with a hidden Lie-algebraic structure is considered. We define a duality transformation which maps the spectrum of one quasi-exactly solvable (QES) periodic potential to that of another QES periodic potential. The self-dual point of this transformation corresponds to the energy-reflection symmetry found previously for certain QES systems. The duality transformation interchanges bands at the bottom (top) of the spectrum of one potential with gaps at the top (bottom) of the spectrum of the other, dual, potential. Thus, the duality transformation provides an exact mapping between the weak coupling (perturbative) and semiclassical (nonperturbative) sectors.     

Functionalization of monofluoroallene and the synthesis of aryl-substituted conjugated fluorodienes

[reaction: see text] 4-Fluoroallenol 3a, prepared from 1, cyclized easily to 4 but preserved its fluoroallenyl integrity under oxidation and S(N)2 displacement to yield aldehyde, amine, mesylate, and halide 6. Allylic isomerization yielded 2-halo-1-fluoro-1,3-butadiene 7, which underwent a Suzuki coupling to give aryl-substituted conjugated diene 8.     

Regiospecific synthesis of bicyclo- and heterobicyclo-gem-difluorocyclobutenes using functionalized fluoroallenes and a novel Mo-catalyzed intramolecular [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction

The first synthesis of functionalized gem-difluoroallenes 4 served as platform for an unprecedented molybdenum-catalyzed intramolecular allene-alkyne [2 + 2]-cycloaddition that produced 6, a hitherto unknown class of bicyclo- and heterobicyclo-CF2-containing cyclobutenes.     

Method of phase extraction between coupled atom interferometers using ellipse-specific fitting

We present a method of analysis involving ellipse-specific fitting of sinusoidally coupled data from two gravimeters in a gradiometer configuration. This method permits rapid extraction of induced gradient phase shifts in the presence of common-mode vibrational phase noise. Gravity gradients can be accurately measured in the presence of large vibrational accelerations.