Measurement of the tau lepton mass and an upper limit on the mass difference between tau+ and tau-

The mass of the tau lepton has been measured in the decay mode tau-->3pinutau using a pseudomass technique. The result obtained from 414 fb-1 of data collected with the Belle detector is Mtau=[1776.61+/-0.13(stat)+/-0.35(sys)] MeV/c2. The upper limit on the relative mass difference between positive and negative tau leptons is |Mtau+-Mtau-|/Mtau<2.8 x 10-4 at 90% confidence level.     

On the Whitham system for the (2+1)-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation

Whitham modulation equations are derived for the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in the plane ((2+1)-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger [2d NLS]) with small dispersion. The modulation equations are obtained in terms of both physical and Riemann-type variables; the latter yields equations of hydrodynamic type. The complete 2d NLS Whitham system consists of six dynamical equations in evolutionary form and two constraints. As an application, we determine the linear stability of one-dimensional traveling waves. In both the elliptic and hyperbolic cases, the traveling waves are found to be unstable. This result is consistent with previous investigations of stability by other methods and is supported by direct numerical calculations.     

Spontaneous Reconstitution of Functional Transmembrane Proteins During Bioorthogonal Phospholipid Membrane Synthesis

Transmembrane proteins are critical for signaling, transport, and metabolism, yet their reconstitution in synthetic membranes is often challenging. Non‐enzymatic and chemoselective methods to generate phospholipid membranes in situ would be powerful tools for the incorporation of membrane proteins. Herein, the spontaneous reconstitution of functional integral membrane proteins during the de novo synthesis of biomimetic phospholipid bilayers is described. The approach takes advantage of bioorthogonal coupling reactions to generate proteoliposomes from micelle‐solubilized proteins. This method was successfully used to reconstitute three different transmembrane proteins into synthetic membranes. This is the first example of the use of non‐enzymatic chemical synthesis of phospholipids to prepare proteoliposomes.     

Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Some New Magnesium Formamidinates

[Mg(Form)₂(THF)] [Form = bis(2,6‐dimethylphenyl)formamidinate (XylForm) ( 1 ), bis(2,6‐diethylphenyl)formamidinate, (EtForm) ( 2 ), bis(2,6‐diisopropylphenyl)formamidinate (DippForm) ( 3 )] are conveniently synthesized by treating bis(2,6‐dimethylphenyl)formamidine, bis(2,6‐diethylphenyl)formamidine, or bis(2,6‐diisopropylphenyl)formamidine, respectively, with half an equivalent of dibutylmagnesium in THF. Compounds 1 – 3 are mononuclear species in the solid state with five coordinate central metal atoms. The ¹H NMR chemical shift of the formamidinate formyl proton exhibits a correlation with ligand sterics wherein increasing bulk leads to a shift to higher field.     

Biofunctionalization of Polyoxometalates with DNA Primers,Their Use in the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Electrochemical Detection of PCR Products

The bioconjugation of polyoxometalates (POMs), which are inorganic metal oxido clusters, to DNA strands to obtain functional labeled DNA primers and their potential use in electrochemical detection have been investigated. Activated monooxoacylated polyoxotungstates [SiW₁₁O₃₉{Sn(CH₂)₂CO}]^8? and [P₂W₁₇O₆₁{Sn(CH₂)₂CO}]^6? have been used to link to a 5′‐NH₂ terminated 21‐mer DNA forward primer through amide coupling. The functionalized primer was characterized by using a battery of techniques, including electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, as well as IR and Raman spectroscopy. The functionality of the POM‐labeled primers was demonstrated through hybridization with a surface‐immobilized probe. Finally, the labeled primers were successfully used in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the PCR products were characterized by using electrophoresis.     

Nanocontact electrification: patterned surface charges affecting adhesion, transfer, and printing

Contact electrification creates an invisible mark, overlooked and often undetected by conventional surface spectroscopic measurements. It impacts our daily lives macroscopically during electrostatic discharge and is equally relevant on the nanoscale in areas such as soft lithography, transfer, and printing. This report describes a new conceptual approach to studying and utilizing contact electrification beyond prior surface force apparatus and point-contact implementations. Instead of a single point contact, our process studies nanocontact electrification that occurs between multiple nanocontacts of different sizes and shapes that can be formed using flexible materials, in particular, surface-functionalized poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stamps and other common dielectrics (PMMA, SU-8, PS, PAA, and SiO(2)). Upon the formation of conformal contacts and forced delamination, contacted regions become charged, which is directly observed using Kelvin probe force microscopy revealing images of charge with sub-100-nm lateral resolution. The experiments reveal chemically driven interfacial proton exchange as the dominant charging mechanism for the materials that have been investigated so far. The recorded levels of uncompensated charges approach the theoretical limit that is set by the dielectric breakdown strength of the air gap that forms as the surfaces are delaminated. The macroscopic presence of the charges is recorded using force-distance curve measurements involving a balance and a micromanipulator to control the distance between the delaminated objects. Coulomb attraction between the delaminated surfaces reaches 150 N/m(2). At such a magnitude, the force finds many applications. We demonstrate the utility of printed charges in the fields of (i) nanoxerography and (ii) nanotransfer printing whereby the smallest objects are ～10 nm in diameter and the largest objects are in the millimeter to centimeter range. The printed charges are also shown to affect the electronic properties of contacted surfaces. For example, in the case of a silicon-on-insulator field effect transistors are in contact with PDMS and subsequent delamination leads to threshold voltage shifts that exceed 500 mV.     

Faster proton transfer dynamics of water on SnO2 compared to TiO2

Proton jump processes in the hydration layer on the iso-structural TiO(2) rutile (110) and SnO(2) cassiterite (110) surfaces were studied with density functional theory molecular dynamics. We find that the proton jump rate is more than three times faster on cassiterite compared with rutile. A local analysis based on the correlation between the stretching band of the O-H vibrations and the strength of H-bonds indicates that the faster proton jump activity on cassiterite is produced by a stronger H-bond formation between the surface and the hydration layer above the surface. The origin of the increased H-bond strength on cassiterite is a combined effect of stronger covalent bonding and stronger electrostatic interactions due to differences of its electronic structure. The bridging oxygens form the strongest H-bonds between the surface and the hydration layer. This higher proton jump rate is likely to affect reactivity and catalytic activity on the surface. A better understanding of its origins will enable methods to control these rates.     

Spectroscopic properties of lanthanoid benzene carboxylates in the solid state: Part 2. Polar substituted benzoates

Europium and terbium complexes of ortho, meta and para substituted benzoate ligands including nitrobenzoate (NBA), aminobenzoate (ABA), hydroxybenzoate (OHBA) and methoxybenzoate (MeOBA) have been synthesised by metathesis reactions, carried out in aqueous media. The complexes were characterised by elemental, compositional and structural investigations, including microanalysis, EDTA titrations, differential thermal analysis, infra red spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and single crystal structural analyses. Besides this, strong emphasis was on the determination of the optoelectronic properties of the compounds in the solid state. In this regard, reflectance, excitation and emission spectra were recorded. From these, the emission and excitation efficiencies were determined. The relative intensities as well as the splitting patterns of the ⁵D₀ → ⁷F_J transitions in the europium emission spectra are discussed.     

Synthesis and characterization of a 'fluorous' (fluorinated alkyl) affinity reagent that labels primary amine groups in proteins/peptides

Strong non-covalent interactions such as biotin-avidin affinity play critical roles in protein/peptide purification. A new type of 'fluorous' (fluorinated alkyl) affinity approach has gained popularity due especially to its low level of non-specific binding to proteins/peptides. We have developed a novel water-soluble fluorous labeling reagent that is reactive (via an active sulfo-N-hydroxylsuccinimidyl ester group) to primary amine groups in proteins/peptides. After fluorous affinity purification, the bulky fluorous tag moiety and the long oligoethylene glycol (OEG) spacer of this labeling reagent can be trimmed via the cleavage of an acid labile linker. Upon collision-induced dissociation, the labeled peptide ion yields a characteristic fragment that can be retrieved from the residual portion of the fluorous affinity tag, and this fragment ion can serve as a marker to indicate that the relevant peptide has been successfully labeled. As a proof of principle, the newly synthesized fluorous labeling reagent was evaluated for peptide/protein labeling ability in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Results show that both the aqueous environment protein/peptide labeling and the affinity enrichment/separation process were highly efficient.