Energy transfer of highly vibrationally excited azulene. III. Collisions between azulene and argon

The energy transfer dynamics between highly vibrationally excited azulene molecules (37 582 cm(-1) internal energy) and Ar atoms in a series of collision energies (200, 492, 747, and 983 cm(-1)) was studied using a crossed-beam apparatus along with time-sliced velocity map ion imaging techniques. The angular resolved collisional energy-transfer probability distribution functions were measured directly from the scattering results of highly vibrationally excited azulene. Direct T-VR energy transfer was found to be quite efficient. In some instances, nearly all of the translational energy is transferred to vibrational/rotational energy. On the other hand, only a small fraction of vibrational energy is converted to translational energy (V-T). Significant amount of energy transfer from vibration to translation was observed at large collision energies in backward and sideway directions. The ratios of total cross sections between T-VR and V-T increases as collision energy increases. Formation of azulene-argon complexes during the collision was observed at low enough collision energies. The complexes make only minor contributions to the measured translational to vibrational/rotational (T-VR) energy transfer.     

Real-time analysis of enzymatic surface-initiated polymerization using surface plasmon resonance (SPR)

The kinetics of enzymatic surface-initiated polymerization of PHB on gold surface has been examined by SPR and the resultant polymer layers characterized by AFM and FT-IR spectrometry. The immobilized enzyme catalyzed surface-initiated polymerization of 3HB-CoA, resulting in the formation of a polymer brush on the surface. The rate of polymer growth from the surface was monitored by SPR in real-time. Polymer growth as measured by the increase in the resonance angle showed no apparent lag phase during the polymerization reaction. SPR analysis also revealed that the thickness of the polymer film could be controlled by varying the initial enzyme density on the surface. The average thicknesses of the PHB film after polymerization reaction were 95, 45 and 15 nm for the surfaces that were treated with 0.5, 0.3 and 0.1*10(-6) M of enzyme, respectively. The binding of PHA synthase at different concentration to the mixed SAMs and subsequent polymerization.     

Lithium ion induced stabilization of the liquid crystalline DNA

A comparative study of the effects of alkali metal ions Li(+), Na(+), K(+), Rb(+), and Cs(+) on the liquid crystalline organization of high-molecular-weight calf thymus DNA using polarized light microscopy was performed. Major differences in the behavior of Li(+) as compared to the other ions were found. Critical DNA concentration expected to exhibit anisotropic behavior was found to be the same for all the monovalent ions, except for Li(+). DNA initially showed cholesteric textures, which later changed to higher ordered columnar phase for all ions, with the cholesteric-columnar transition facilitated upon increasing the size of the counterion. For Li(+) ion, a nematic schlieren-like texture was formed initially, which after a few days changed to a highly stable (for more than 2 months) biphasic cholesteric-columnar arrangement. The observed differences between Li(+) and other alkali metal ions could be rationalized on the basis of the higher number of hydration water molecules of Li(+) and its complexation behavior. Highly stable DNA mesophases may find applications in the field of nanoelectronics, in designing biosensing units, and in DNA chips.     

Statistical medium formulation and process modeling by mixture design of experiment for peptide overexpression in recombinant Escherichia coli

The medium formulation and robust process modeling for anti-HIV peptide (T-20) production by recombinant Escherichia coli overexpression were studied by employing a crossed experimental design. The crossed design, a mixture design combined with process factor (induction duration), was used to find the optimal medium formulation and process time. The optimal settings for three major components (7.75 mL of NPK sources, 5.5 mL of glucose, and 11.75 mL of MgSO4) characterized by %T-20 (14.45%), the proportion of peptide to the total protein, were observed in a total of 100 mL of medium inducted at an optical density of 0.67 with 0.7 mM isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside) for a 3-h induction duration at shake-flask scale. These conditions were further investigated to find robust process conditions (8.2 mL of NPK sources, 5.6 mL of glucose, and 11.3 mL of MgSO4, and a 3.5-h induction duration time) for T-20 production (13.9%) by applying propagation of error.     

Novel carbazole/fluorene hybrids: host materials for blue phosphorescent OLEDs

[reaction: see text] A series of carbazole/fluorene (CBZm-Fn) hybrids were effectively synthesized through Friedel-Crafts-type substitution of the carbazole rings. These compounds were thermally and morphologically stable host materials for OLED applications. Efficient blue phosphorescent OLEDs were obtained when employing CBZ1-F2 as the host and FIrpic as the guest.     

Green synthesis of gold nanoparticles using glycerol-incorporated nanosized liposomes

There has been enormous interest in the last decade in development methods for the inorganic synthesis of metallic nanoparticles of desired sizes and shapes because of their unique properties and extensive applications in catalysis, electronics, plasmonics, and sensing. Here we report on an environmentally friendly, one-pot synthesis of metallic nanoparticles, which avoids the use of organic solvents and requires mild experimental conditions. The developed method uses liposomes as nanoreactors, where the liposomes were prepared by encapsulating chloroauric acid and exploited the use of glycerol, incorporated within the lipid bilayer as well as in its hydrophilic core, as a reducing agent for the controlled preparation of highly homogeneous populations of gold nanoparticles. The effects of temperature, the presence of a capping agent, and the concentration of glycerol on the size and homogeneity of the nanoparticles formed were investigated and compared with solution-based glycerol-mediated nanoparticle synthesis. Well-distributed gold nanoparticle populations in the range of 2-8 nm were prepared in the designed liposomal nanoreactor with a clear dependence of the size on the concentration of glycerol, the temperature, and the presence of a capping agent whereas large, heterogeneous populations of nanoparticles with amorphous shapes were obtained in the absence of liposomes. The particle morphology and sizes were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy imaging, and the liposome size was measured using photon correlation spectroscopy.     

Design, synthesis, characterization, luminescence and non-linear optical (NLO) properties of multinuclear platinum(II) alkynyl complexes

A series of luminescent multinuclear platinum(II) alkynyl complexes containing triethynylbenzene or 1,4-bis(3,5-diethynylphenyl)buta-1,3-diyne as cores has been successfully synthesized and characterized. The electronic absorption, emission, nanosecond transient absorption and electrochemical properties of these complexes have been reported. These complexes show long-lived emissions in degassed benzene solution and in alcoholic glass at 77 K. Moreover, they are found to exhibit two-photon absorption (2PA) and two-photon induced luminescence (TPIL) properties, and their two-photon absorption cross-sections have been determined to be 6-191 GM upon excitation at 720 nm. Through a systematic comparison, it has been found that tetra- and hexanuclear platinum(II) complexes show better 2PA and TPIL properties than their di- and trinuclear counterparts.     

Development and validation of a rapid HPLC method for the determination of five banned fat-soluble colorants in spices using a narrow-bore monolithic column

This work reports a fast and simple liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of five banned fat-soluble synthetic colorants, namely Sudan I-IV and Para-Red, in spice samples. The analytes were successfully separated isocratically in less than 5 min on the new narrow bore monolithic column, FastGradient^® Chromolith (50 mm × 2.0 mm i.d.) using a mobile phase of 0.1% (v/v) HCOOH/acetonitrile (35/65%, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.5 mL min⁻¹. All colorants were detected at 506 nm. The main parameters (mobile phase composition, flow rate, injection volume) affecting the separation were studied. The proposed method was thoroughly validated in terms of linearity, LODs, precision and accuracy. The method was applied to the determination of the studied azo-dyes in various spices (paprika, chilli and mixed spice powders) after ultrasound-assisted extraction. Satisfactory recoveries, ranging from 92% to 109% were obtained.     

Selective capturing and detection of Salmonella typhi on polycarbonate membrane using bioconjugated quantum dots

Present work demonstrates the utilization of surface modified polycarbonate (PC) membrane as solid phase and antibody conjugated CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) as fluorescent label for the sensitive and selective detection of Salmonella typhi (S. typhi) in water in a period of 2.5 h. PC membrane was surface modified with glycine and activated by EDC/NHS for immobilization of S. typhi specific IgG. Antibody immobilized porous PC membrane was incubated with bacteria contaminated water for immunocapturing of S. typhi. Antibody conjugated QDs were also prepared by using carbodiimide chemistry. Both modified PC membrane and quantum dots were characterized by using various modern analytical tools. It was estimated that 1.95 molecules of QDs were successfully bio-conjugated per unit of IgG. PC membrane with captured bacteria was incubated with prepared IgG conjugated QDs for the formation of sandwich complex. Analysis of the regions of interest (ROI) in fluorescent micrographs showed that newly developed method based on PC and fluorescent QDs has 100 times higher detection sensitivity (100 cells/mL) as compared with detection using conventional dye (FITC) based methods.     

Integrated microfluidic platform for the electrochemical detection of breast cancer markers in patient serum samples

A microsystem integrating electrochemical detection for the simultaneous detection of protein markers of breast cancer is reported. The microfluidic platform was realized by high precision milling of polycarbonate sheets and features two well distinguishable sections: a detection zone incorporating the electrode arrays and the fluid storage part. The detection area is divided into separate microfluidic chambers addressing selected electrodes for the measurement of samples and calibrators. The fluidic storage part of the platform consists of five reservoirs to store the reagents and sample, which are interfaced by septa. These reservoirs have the appropriate volume to run a single assay per cartridge and are manually filled. The liquids from the reservoirs are actuated by applying a positive air pressure (i.e.via a programmable syringe pump) through the septa and are driven to the detection zone via two turning valves. The application of the realised platform in the individual and simultaneous electrochemical detection of proteic cancer markers with very low detection limits are demonstrated. The microsystem has also been validated using real patient serum samples and excellent correlation with ELISA results obtained.