Protein‐like structure and activity in synthetic polymers

The structure and activity of proteins is the gold standard for functional polymeric materials. This highlight seeks to calibrate the reader with respect to recent attempts to mimic the various structural and functional traits of proteins using the techniques of modern polymer chemistry. From advances in sequence‐controlled polymers (primary structure), to peptidomimetics, foldamers, single‐chain nanoparticles (secondary and tertiary structure), accessing the various structural aspects of protein chemistry is a vibrant research area. Likewise, the properties and utility of proteins in applications such as catalysis and molecular recognition are being emulated in the laboratory to great effect. Rather than provide an exhaustive review on any one of these topics, this article seeks to highlight the common thread among them, encouraging discussion and collaboration that will result in the next generation of smart materials with advanced structure and function. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 191–206     

Flux line lattice symmetries in the borocarbide superconductor LuNi2B2C

We compare the results of small angle neutron scattering on the flux line lattice (FLL) obtained in the borocarbide superconductor LuNi₂B₂C with the applied field along the c- and a-axes. For H‖c the temperature dependence of the FLL structural phase transition from square to hexagonal symmetry was investigated. Above 10 K the transition onset field. H ₂(T), rises sharply, bending away from H _c2(T) in contradiction to theoretical predictions of the two merging. For H‖a a first order FLL reorientation transition is observed at H _tr=3–3.5 kOe. Below H _tr the FLL nearest neighbor direction is parallel to the b-axis, and above H _tr to the c-axis. This transition cannot be explained using nonlocal corrections to the London model.     

Current and target jets produced in high energy neutrino-deuterium interactions

In an analysis of ≈ 7000 charged current events produced in high energy neutrino-deuterium interactions, we observe that the struck quark jet has a wider spread in P_t than that from the recoiling diquark jet for events with hadronic energy W > 9 GeV. This suggests that the effect signals the onset of gluon emission from the single quark.     

The enumeration of bipartite graphs

The standard construction of graphs with n connected components is modified here for bicolored graphs by letting S_n × H act on the function space $\text{Y}{}^1\text{where}\text{X={1,2,…,n}, Y}$ is the set of connected bicolored graphs, and H is the group that interchanges the vertex colors. Then DeBruijn's Generalization of Polya's Theorem is applied to arrive at a direct algebraic relationship between the generating functions for bicolored and connected bicolored graphs. As the former generating function is easily computable, this relationship gives us the latter generating function which is precisely the generating function for connected bipartite graphs.     

Study of π−π− correlations in the reaction pp → π−π−+ anything at 28.5 GeV/c

Correlations between π^?π^? pairs are studied in the reaction pp → π^?π^?+ anything at 28.5 GeV/c. We find that if we examine the data for each multiplicity separately, the major portion of the data (90%) shows no significant two-particle correlations.     

The chromatic polynomial of an unlabeled graph

We investigate the chromatic polynomial χ(G, λ) of an unlabeled graph G. It is shown that $\text{χ(G, λ) = (}\text{1}\text{|A(g)|}\text{) Σ}{}_{\mathrm{\pi \; \in \; A(g)}}\text{χ(g, π, λ)}$, where g is any labeled version of G, A(g) is the automorphism group of g and χ(g, π, λ) is the chromatic polynomial for colorings of g fixed by π. The above expression shows that χ(G, λ) is a rational polynomial of degree n = |V(G)| with leading coefficient $\text{1}\text{|A(g)|}$. Though χ(G, λ) does not satisfy chromatic reduction, each polynomial χ(g, π, λ) does, thus yielding a simple method for computing χ(G, λ). We also show that the number N(G) of acyclic orientations of G is related to the argument λ = ?1 by the formula $\text{N(G) = (}\text{1}\text{|A(g)|}\text{) Σ}{}_{\mathrm{\pi \; \in \; A(g)}}\text{(?1)}{}^{\mathrm{s(\pi )}}\text{χ(g, π, ?1)}$, where s(π) is the number of cycles of π. This information is used to derive Robinson's (“Combinatorial Mathematics V” (Proc. 5th Austral. Conf. 1976), Lecture Notes in Math. Vol. 622, pp. 28–43, Springer-Verlag, New York/Berlin, 1977) cycle index sum equations for counting unlabeled acyclic digraphs.     

Human Enzymes for Organic Synthesis

Human enzymes have been widely studied in various disciplines. The number of reactions taking place in the human body is vast, and so is the number of potential catalysts for synthesis. Herein, we focus on the application of human enzymes that catalyze chemical reactions in course of the metabolism of drugs and xenobiotics. Some of these reactions have been explored on the preparative scale. The major field of application of human enzymes is currently drug development, where they are applied for the synthesis of drug metabolites.