Photolysis of indoline

Conclusions The quantum yields of photodissociation and fluorescence of a solution of indoline in heptane were determined for various wavelengths. The quantum yield of photodissociation increases with increasing excitation energy.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 3, pp. 542–543, March, 1986.     

Architecture and high-resolution structure of Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus cereus spore coat surfaces

We have utilized atomic force microscopy (AFM) to visualize the native surface topography and ultrastructure of Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus cereus spores in water and in air. AFM was able to resolve the nanostructure of the exosporium and three distinctive classes of appendages. Removal of the exosporium exposed either a hexagonal honeycomb layer (B. thuringiensis) or a rodlet outer spore coat layer (B. cereus). Removal of the rodlet structure from B. cereus spores revealed an underlying honeycomb layer similar to that observed with B. thuringiensis spores. The periodicity of the rodlet structure on the outer spore coat of B. cereus was approximately 8 nm, and the length of the rodlets was limited to the cross-patched domain structure of this layer to approximately 200 nm. The lattice constant of the honeycomb structures was approximately 9 nm for both B. cereus and B. thuringiensis spores. Both honeycomb structures were composed of multiple, disoriented domains with distinct boundaries. Our results demonstrate that variations in storage and preparation procedures result in architectural changes in individual spore surfaces, which establish AFM as a useful tool for evaluation of preparation and processing "fingerprints" of bacterial spores. These results establish that high-resolution AFM has the capacity to reveal species-specific assembly and nanometer scale structure of spore surfaces. These species-specific spore surface structural variations are correlated with sequence divergences in a spore core structural protein SspE.     

CHLOROPHYLL b: AN INTEGRAL COMPONENT OF PHOTOSYSTEM I OF HIGHER PLANT CHLOROPLASTS

Abstract— An undissociated photosystem I complex may be isolated from spinach thylakoids by mild gel electrophoresis (CP1a) or Triton X-100. CP1a has a Chl a / b ratio of 11 and a Chl/P700 ratio of 120. while the Triton X-100 PS I complex (Chl a / b ratio of 5.9) has a larger antenna unit size (Chl/P700 ratio of 180). None of the Chl a / b -proteins of the main light-harvesting complex (apoproteins of 30–27 kD) are present in CP1a, and they account for less than 10% of the total chlorophyll in the Triton X-100 PS I complex. Instead, these PS I complexes have specific, but as yet little characterized, Chi a / b -proteins (apoproteins in the 26–21 kD range). With both PS I complexes, Chi b transfers light excitation to the 735 nm low temperature fluorescence band characteristic of photosystem I. We suggest that Chi b is an integral but minor component of photosystem I.     

Quantum chemical investigation of hyperfine coupling constants on first coordination sphere water molecule of gadolinium(III) aqua complexes

Hyperfine interactions (HFI) on the nuclei of the first coordination sphere water molecules in a model [Gd(H(2)O)(8)](3+) aqua complex and in the magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent [Gd(DOTA)(H(2)O)](-) were studied theoretically. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been used in order to take into account dynamic effects in aqueous solution. DFT relativistic calculations show a strong spin-polarization of the first coordination sphere water molecules. This spin-polarization leads to a positive (17)O isotropic hyperfine coupling constant (A(iso)((17)O) = 0.58 +/- 0.11 MHz) and to a significant increase of the effective distance (r(eff)(Gd-O) = 2.72 +/- 0.06 A) of dipolar interaction compared to the mean internuclear distance (r(Gd-O) = 2.56 +/- 0.06 A) obtained from the MD trajectory of [Gd(DOTA)(H(2)O)](-) in aqueous solution. The point-dipole model for anisotropic hyperfine interaction overestimates therefore the longitudinal relaxation rate of the (17)O nucleus by approximately 45%. The (1)H isotropic hyperfine coupling constant of the bound water molecule is predicted to be very small (A(iso)((1)H) = 0.03 +/- 0.02 MHz), and the point-dipole approximation for first coordination sphere water protons holds. The calculated hyperfine parameters are in good agreement with available experimental data.     

Statistical kinetics of quasi-brittle fracture

The statistical laws of fracture under conditions of static fatigue and loading at a constant rate are discussed. Phenomenological crack-growth models are used to theoretically analyze the statistics of quasi-brittle fracture of solids that undergo static fatigue and whose experimentally measured strength is controlled by kinetic factors. The strength and longevity distributions that correctly reflect the main empirical dependences are constructed. It is shown that the often detected specific features of the statistics of quasi-brittle fracture are likely to be caused by the qualitative similarity between the asymptotic behaviors of the statistics of thermal fluctuations and “dangerous” structural defects, namely, by the exponential distribution of the strong-thermal-fluctuation expectation time, a large number of statistically equivalent dangerous defects in a sample, and a sharp decrease in the probability of defects whose sizes are larger than a certain limiting size. The results obtained suggest that the generally accepted theoretical interpretation of the Weibull distribution is likely to require revision, since the assumption regarding the power asymptotics of the size distribution of cracklike defects during quasi-brittle fracture is in conflict with the empirical data on static fatigue.