How Much of One-Way Computation Is Just Thermodynamics?

In this paper we argue that one-way quantum computation can be seen as a form of phase transition with the available information about the solution of the computation being the order parameter. We draw a number of striking analogies between standard thermodynamical quantities such as energy, temperature, work, and corresponding computational quantities such as the amount of entanglement, time, potential capacity for computation, respectively. Aside from being intuitively pleasing, this picture allows us to make novel conjectures, such as an estimate of the necessary critical time to finish a computation and a proposal of suitable architectures for universal one-way computation in 1D.     

Mesitylene‐Cored Glucoside Amphiphiles (MGAs) for Membrane Protein Studies: Importance of Alkyl Chain Density in Detergent Efficacy

Detergents serve as useful tools for membrane protein structural and functional studies. Their amphipathic nature allows detergents to associate with the hydrophobic regions of membrane proteins whilst maintaining the proteins in aqueous solution. However, widely used conventional detergents are limited in their ability to maintain the structural integrity of membrane proteins and thus there are major efforts underway to develop novel agents with improved properties. We prepared mesitylene‐cored glucoside amphiphiles (MGAs) with three alkyl chains and compared these agents with previously developed xylene‐linked maltoside agents (XMAs) with two alkyl chains and a conventional detergent (DDM). When these agents were evaluated for four membrane proteins including a G protein‐coupled receptor (GPCR), some agents such as MGA‐C13 and MGA‐C14 resulted in markedly enhanced stability of membrane proteins compared to both DDM and the XMAs. This favourable behaviour is due likely to the increased hydrophobic density provided by the extra alkyl chain. Thus, this study not only describes new glucoside agents with potential for membrane protein research, but also introduces a new detergent design principle for future development.     

Study of alternating current conduction mechanism in polypyrrole-magnesium ferrite hybrid nanocomposite through correlated barrier hopping model

In the present work, both polypyrrole (PPy) and optimized polypyrrole–magnesium ferrite (PPy-MgFe₂O₄) hybrid nanocomposite were synthesized separately by simple oxidative chemical polymerization method and then structurally characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The FTIR spectrum of the composite showed the presence of characteristic absorption bands of both PPy and MgFe₂O₄ in the composite confirming interfacial interaction of PPy with MgFe₂O₄. That this interaction is not affected by crystalline behaviour of predominant MgFe₂O₄ particles but that MgFe₂O₄ has embedded in PPy matrix was confirmed by XRD studies. Agglomerated granular spherical morphology of the composite was confirmed by SEM studies. Decrease in AC conductivity of the composite as compared to PPy due to the formation of interfacial heterojunction barrier between p-type PPy and n-type MgFe₂O₄ was confirmed experimentally and well supported theoretically by calculating binding energy, hopping distance and density of states at Fermi level of PPy and the composite as per CBH model.     

Catalytic isomerization of 1,5-enynes to bicyclo[3.1.0]hexenes

The cycloisomerization of 1,5-enynes catalyzed by cationic triphenylphosphinegold(I) complexes produces bicyclo[3.1.0]hexenes. Substitution at all positions of the 1,5-enyne is tolerated, leading to a wide range of bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane structures, including those containing quaternary carbons. Substrates containing a 1,2-disubstituted olefin undergo stereospecific cycloisomerization (cis-olefin produces cis-cyclopropane, and trans-olefin gives trans-cyclopropane). Additionally, enantioenriched bicyclo[3.1.0]hexenes can be obtained from the gold(I)-catalyzed cycloisomerization of enantioenriched 1,5-enynes with excellent chirality transfer. The preparation of tricyclic systems is accomplished through a gold(I)-catalyzed tandem cycloisomerization-ring enlargement reaction.     

Gold(I)-catalyzed ring expansion of cyclopropanols and cyclobutanols

The rearrangement of 1-alkynyl cyclobutanols and cyclopropanols to alkylidene cycloalkanones catalyzed by cationic triarylphosphine gold(I) complexes is described. The reaction tolerates terminal alkynes as well as alkyl, aryl, and halo-substitution at the acetylenic position and stereoselectively provides a single olefin isomer. The gold(I)-catalyzed rearrangement is stereospecific with regard to substituents on the ring, thus providing a practical method for the stereoselective synthesis of highly substituted cyclopentanones from cyclopropanols. The reaction stereoselectively provides a single olefin isomer and is stereospecific with regard to substituents on the ring via sequential gold(I)-catalyzed ring expansion reactions.     

Surface species in the direct amination of methanol over Brønsted acidic mordenite catalysts

Quantitative in situ infrared spectroscopy in combination with kinetic analysis is utilized to derive mechanistic aspects for the reaction of methanol with ammonia on Brønsted acidic mordenite. Under non-reactive conditions, a coadsorption complex between methanol and ammonia is found, in which only ammonia is in direct interaction with the Brønsted acid sites of the zeolite. This complex is proposed to be the precursor for the formation of protonated methylamines in the zeolite pores which are formed in sequential order up to tetramethylammonium ions. These methylamines are unable to desorb under reaction conditions in the absence of ammonia. They leave the surface either by ammonia adsorption assisted desorption or by scavenging of methyl groups from protonated methylamines by ammonia. Both steps are concluded to be potentially rate determining.     

The interaction of water with sulfonium ions and the effects of hydration on the energetics of methyl group transfer: An ab initio molecular orbital study of the hydration of (CH3)3S+ and (CH3)2S+CH2CO2 −

The interactions of the sulfonium ions (CH₃)₃S⁺, (CH₃)₂S⁺CH₂CO₂ ^–, and (CH₃)₂S⁺-CH₂CH₂CO₂ ^– with up to four water molecules have been studied by ab initio molecular orbital methods. Complexes of (CH₃)₃S⁺ with one to three water molecules involve strong electrostatic sulfur-oxygen interactions; in contrast, the sulfide (CH₃)₂S interacts with water molecules via weak S-H hydrogen bonds, suggesting that methyl-group transfer from (CH₃)₃S⁺ in aqueous solution involves a significant alteration of the hydration pattern around the sulfur atom. Two conformers of (CH₃)₂S⁺CH₂CO₂ ^– were found that display sulfur-oxygen distances which are approximately 0.3 å less than the sum of the sulfur and oxygen van der Waals radii, indicating a strong intramolecular electrostatic interaction. For the complexes (CH₃)₂S⁺CH₂CO₂ ^–·nH₂O(n =1–4), water interacts primarily with the carboxylate group via hydrogen bonds, rather than electrostatically with the sulfur atom, although in complexes with the three- and four-water complexes, the proximity of the positively charged sulfur atom to the carboxylate group significantly alters the hydration pattern compared to that in the corresponding of complexes CH₃SCH₂CO₂ ^–· Thus, methyl transfer from (CH₃)₂S⁺CH₂CO₂ ^– to an acceptor in aqueous solution also involves substantial changes in the hydration pattern around the carboxylate group.     

Intermolecular enol ether-alkyne metathesis

[reaction: see text] A new intermolecular metathesis between a variety of alkynes and alkyl enol ethers is described. The best results were obtained with the second generation Grubbs' precatalysts. The reaction occurred with a high degree of regioselectivity and provided electron-rich dienes, which underwent a variety of [4 + 2] cycloadditions.     

A Stability Analysis of Convolution Quadraturea for Abel-Volterra Integral Equations

We investigate the stability properties of numerical methodsfor weakly singular Volterra integral equations of the secondkind. Our theory extends the stability theory of linear multistepmethods for ordinary differential equations. We introduce theconcepts of A-stability, A()-stability etc. for Abel-Volterraequations. The stability region is characterized in terms ofthe weights of the method. It is shown that the order of anA-stable convolution quadrature cannot exceed 2. Further westudy the stability properties of implicit Adam methods, withparticular emphasis on the question of A()-stability.