Ice nucleation and phase behavior on oligo(ethylene glycol) and hydroxyl self-assembled monolayers: simulations and experiments

The nucleation and phase behavior of ultrathin D2O-ice overlayers have been studied on oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG)-terminated and hydroxyl self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) at low temperatures in ultrahigh vacuum. Infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) is used to characterize the ice overlayers, the SAMs, and the interactions occurring between the ice and the SAM surfaces. Spectral simulations, based on optical models in conjunction with Maxwell Garnett effective medium theory, point out the importance of including voids in the modeling of the ice structures, with void fractions reaching 60% in some overlayers. The kinetics of the phase transition from amorphous-like to crystalline-like ice upon isothermal annealing at 140 K is found to depend on the conformational state of the supporting OEG SAM surface. The rate is fast on the helical OEG SAMs and slow on the corresponding all-trans SAMs. This difference in kinetics is most likely due to a pronounced D2O interpenetration and binding to the all-trans segments of the ethylene glycol portion of the SAM. No such penetration and binding was observed on the helical OEG SAM.     

Speeding up MCMC by Delayed Acceptance and Data Subsampling

The complexity of the Metropolis–Hastings (MH) algorithm arises from the requirement of a likelihood evaluation for the full dataset in each iteration. One solution has been proposed to speed up the algorithm by a delayed acceptance approach where the acceptance decision proceeds in two stages. In the first stage, an estimate of the likelihood based on a random subsample determines if it is likely that the draw will be accepted and, if so, the second stage uses the full data likelihood to decide upon final acceptance. Evaluating the full data likelihood is thus avoided for draws that are unlikely to be accepted. We propose a more precise likelihood estimator that incorporates auxiliary information about the full data likelihood while only operating on a sparse set of the data. We prove that the resulting delayed acceptance MH is more efficient. The caveat of this approach is that the full dataset needs to be evaluated in the second stage. We therefore propose to substitute this evaluation by an estimate and construct a state-dependent approximation thereof to use in the first stage. This results in an algorithm that (i) can use a smaller subsample m by leveraging on recent advances in Pseudo-Marginal MH (PMMH) and (ii) is provably within O(m^{? 2}) of the true posterior.     

A Class of Perfect Ternary Constant-Weight Codes

We construct a class of perfect ternary constant-weight codes of length 2 ^r , weight 2 ^r -1 and minimum distance 3. The codes have codewords. The construction is based on combining cosets of binary Hamming codes. As a special case, for r=2 the construction gives the subcode of the tetracode consisting of its nonzero codewords. By shortening the perfect codes, we get further optimal codes.     

Probability Metrics and Uniqueness of the Solution to the Boltzmann Equation for a Maxwell Gas

We consider a metric for probability densities with finite variance on ^d , and compare it with other metrics. We use it for several applications both in probability and in kinetic theory. The main application in kinetic theory is a uniqueness result for the solution of the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation for a gas of true Maxwell molecules.     

Hypericin photosensitization of tumor and metastatic cell lines of human prostate

We have investigated the photoactivating effect of hypericin on two cancer cell lines: PC-3, a prostatic adenocarcinoma non-responsive to androgen therapy and LNCaP, a lymphonodal metastasis of prostate carcinoma responsive to androgen therapy. The two cell lines are incubated for 24 h with hypericin at concentrations ranging from 0.001 to 0.3 microg/ml in cell culture medium. The cells are irradiated at 599 nm (fluence = 11 J/cm2) using a dye laser pumped by an argon laser. Hypericin exerts phototoxic effects on both cell lines, while it does not produce toxic effects in the absence of irradiation. These results suggest that photodynamic therapy (PDT) with hypericin could be an alternative approach to the treatment of prostatic tumors, and could be beneficial in tumors that are non-responsive to androgen therapy.     

Enantioselective luminescence quenching of DNA light-switch [Ru(phen)2dppz]2+ by electron transfer to structural homologue [Ru(phendione)2dppz]2+

The quenching of the luminescence of [Ru(phen)(2)dppz](2+) by structural homologue [Ru(phendione)(2)dppz](2+), when both complexes are bound to DNA, has been studied for all four combinations of Delta and Lambda enantiomers. Flow linear dichroism spectroscopy (LD) indicates similar binding geometries for all the four compounds, with the dppz ligand fully intercalated between the DNA base pairs. A difference in the LD spectrum observed for the lowest-energy MLCT transition suggests that a transition, potentially related to the final localization of the excited electron to the dppz ligand in [Ru(phen)(2)dppz](2+), is overlaid by an orthogonally polarized transition in [Ru(phendione)(2)dppz](2+). This would be consistent with a low-lying LUMO of the phendione moiety of [Ru(phendione)(2)dppz](2+) that can accept the excited electron from [Ru(phen)(2)dppz](2+), thereby quenching the emission of the latter. The lifetime of excited Delta-[Ru(phen)(2)dppz](2+) is decreased moderately, from 664 to 427 ns, when bound simultaneously with the phendione complex to DNA. The 108 ns lifetime of opposite enantiomer, Lambda-[Ru(phen)(2)dppz](2+), is only shortened to 94 ns. These results are consistent with an average rate constant for electron transfer of approximately 1.10(6) s(-1) between the phenanthroline- and phendione-ruthenium complexes. At binding ratios close to saturation of DNA, the total emission of the two enantiomers is lowered equally much, but for the Lambda enantiomer, this is not paralleled by a decrease in luminescence lifetime. A binding isotherm simulation based on a generalized McGhee-von Hippel approach shows that the Delta enantiomer binds approximately 3 times stronger to DNA both for [Ru(phendione)(2)dppz](2+) and [Ru(phen)(2)dppz](2+). This explains the similar decrease in total emission, without the parallel decrease in lifetime for the Lambda enantiomer. The simulation also does not indicate any significant binding cooperativity, in contrast to the case when Delta-[Rh(phi)(2)bipy](3+) is used as quencher. The very slow electron transfer from [Ru(phen)(2)dppz](2+) to [Ru(phendione)(2)dppz](2+), compared to the case when [Rh(phi)(2)phen](3+) is the acceptor, can be explained by a much smaller driving free-energy difference.     

Enantioselective transesterification of a tertiary alcohol by lipase A from Candida antarctica

Chiral tertiary alcohols and their esters represent important flavor compounds and are useful building blocks. Unfortunately, they are accepted by only a few lipases/esterases as substrates and enantioselectivity is usually very low. We report here a highly enantioselective transesterification of the tertiary alcohol 2-phenylbut-3-yn-2-ol using lipase A from Candida antarctica (CAL-A). Under optimized conditions, the corresponding acetate was obtained with 94%ee at 35% conversion equivalent to an enantioselectivity factor of E=65. In contrast, enantioselective hydrolysis of the racemic acetate was not feasible as this is very prone to autohydrolysis.     

High performance liquid chromatography on the chiral stationary phase (R,R)-DACH-DNB using carbon dioxide-based eluents

Fast and efficient separations of chiral stereolabile compounds were obtained at very low temperature on a π-acid chiral stationary phase (R,R-DACH-DNB) using carbon dioxide-based mobile phases containing alcoholic polar modifiers. Furthermore, efficient separations of the newly discovered spherical carbon cluster buckminsterfullerene (C₆₀) and the related higher fullerenes (C₇₀, etc.) have been performed on the same stationary phase using eluents based on either n-hexane or carbon dioxide.     

Rates of reaction between the nitrate radical and some unsaturated alcohols

Rate coefficients for nitrate radical gas-phase reactions with prop-2-en-l-ol (allyl alcohol), but-1-en-3-ol, and 2-methylbut-3-en-2-ol have been determined. Both absolute (fast flow discharge with diode laser detection of NO₃) and relative (batch reactor and FTIR spectroscopy) rate techniques were used to measure the rate coefficients. The rate coefficients at 294 K are: (1.3 ± 0.2) × 10⁻¹⁴, (1.2 ± 0.3) × 10 ⁻¹⁴, and (2.1 ± 0.3) × 10⁻¹⁴ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ for prop-2-en-1-ol, but-1-en-3-ol, and 2-methylbut-3-en-2-ol, respectively. The activation energy for reaction of NO₃ with prop-2-en-1-ol was determined to 2.8 ± 2.5 kJ mol⁻¹ in the temperature range between 273 and 363 K. The atmospheric importance of unsaturated alcohols and structure-reactivity considerations are also discussed. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.