The Assembly‐Disassembly‐Organization‐Reassembly Mechanism for 3D‐2D‐3D Transformation of Germanosilicate IWW Zeolite

Hydrolysis of germanosilicate zeolites with the IWW structure shows two different outcomes depending on the composition of the starting materials. Ge‐rich IWW (Si/Ge=3.1) is disassembled into a layered material (IPC‐5P), which can be reassembled into an almost pure silica IWW on treatment with diethoxydimethylsilane. Ge‐poor IWW (Si/Ge=6.4) is not completely disassembled on hydrolysis, but retains some 3D connectivity. This structure can be reassembled into IWW by incorporation of Al to fill the defects left when the Ge is removed.     

Photoinduced dynamics of a cyanine dye: parallel pathways of non-radiative deactivation involving multiple excited-state twisted transients

Cyanine dyes are broadly used for fluorescence imaging and other photonic applications. 3,3′-Diethylthiacyanine (THIA) is a cyanine dye composed of two identical aromatic heterocyclic moieties linked with a single methine, –CH. The torsional degrees of freedom around the methine bonds provide routes for non-radiative decay, responsible for the inherently low fluorescence quantum yields. Using transient absorption spectroscopy, we determined that upon photoexcitation, the excited state relaxes along two parallel pathways producing three excited-state transients that undergo internal conversion to the ground state. The media viscosity impedes the molecular modes of ring rotation and preferentially affects one of the pathways of non-radiative decay, exerting a dominant effect on the emission properties of THIA. Concurrently, the polarity affects the energy of the transients involved in the decay pathways and further modulates the kinetics of non-radiative deactivation.     

The Effect of Metal‐Ligand Affinity on Fe3O4_Supported Co–Rh Catalysts for Dicyclopentadiene Hydroformylation

The catalytic performances of Co‐Rh/Fe₃O₄ catalysts modified with phosphine ligands (PPh₃) and its analogues on dicyclopentadiene hydroformylation were evaluated. Among these catalysts, Co‐Rh/Fe₃O₄ modified with tris(p‐trifluoromethylphenyl)phosphine was determined to be effective for monoformyltricyclodecanes production, whereas Co‐Rh/Fe₃O₄ modified with PPh₃ or tri‐p‐tolylphosphine was effective for the diformyltricyclodecanes production. To investigate the ligand effects, the complex catalyst system (Co‐Rh/Fe₃O₄ and phosphine ligand) was subjected to pretreatment with syngas and then characterized by thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG‐DTA). It was determined that the threshold decomposition temperature reflected the corresponding Rh‐phosphine interaction strength, affecting the catalytic selectivity toward different products. A weak Rh‐phosphine interaction was desirable to produce monoformyltricyclodecanes with fast reaction kinetics, whereas a strong Rh‐phosphine complex was required for the synthesis of diformyltricyclodecanes. In addition to the selectivity rule shown in the PPh₃ series, experiments with other ligands also demonstrated similar selectivity trends.     

Influence of Solution Volume on the Dissolution Rate of Silicon Dioxide in Hydrofluoric Acid

Experimental data and modeling of the dissolution of various Si/SiO₂ thermal coatings in different volumes of hydrofluoric acid (HF) are reported. The rates of SiO₂‐film dissolution, measured by means of various electrochemical techniques, and alteration in HF activity depend on the thickness of the film coating. Despite the small volumes (0.6–1.2 mL) of the HF solution, an effect of SiO₂‐coating thickness on the dissolution rate was detected. To explain alterations detected in HF activity after SiO₂ dissolution, spectroscopic analyses (NMR and FTIR) of the chemical composition of the solutions were conducted. This is associated with a modification in the chemical composition of the HF solution, which results in either the formation of an oxidized species in solution or the precipitation of dissolution products. HF₂^? accumulation in the HF solution, owing to SiO₂ dissolution was identified as the source of the chemical alteration.     

无溶剂及微乳液体系中脂肪酶催化红花油水解的动力学

 在无溶剂及二(2-乙基己基)丁二酸酯磺酸钠(AOT)/异辛烷/磷酸盐缓冲液微乳液体系中,研究了黑曲霉脂肪酶催化红花油水解反应的动力学. 结果表明,无溶剂及微乳液体系中反应的活化能分别为32.205和7.391 kJ/mol. 酶在无溶剂体系中的热稳定性高于微乳液中. 无溶剂及微乳液体系中的表观米氏常数分别为0.135和0.101 mol/L. 在两种体系中,乙醇对水解反应的抑制作用均为竞争性可逆抑制,且均在底物浓度大于0.819 mol/L时出现底物抑制现象. 结合胶团催化理论和酯键水解机理对两种体系中酶水解性能的差异进行了解释.     

Folding control and unfolding free energy of yeast iso-1-cytochrome c bound to layered zirconium phosphate materials monitored by surface plasmon resonance

The free energy change (Delta G degrees ) for the unfolding of immobilized yeast iso-1-cytochrome c (Cyt c) at nanoassemblies was measured by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy. Data show that SPR is sensitive to protein conformational changes, and protein solid interface exerts a major influence on bound protein stability. First, Cyt c was self-assembled on the Au film via the single thiol of Cys-102. Then, crystalline sheets of layered alpha-Zr(O(3)POH)(2).H(2)O (alpha-ZrP) or Zr(O(3)PCH(2)CH(2)COOH)(2).xH(2)O (alpha-ZrCEP) were adsorbed to construct alpha-ZrP/Cyt c/Au or alpha-ZrCEP/Cyt c/Au nanoassemblies. The construction of each layer was monitored by SPR, in real time, and the assemblies were further characterized by atomic force microscopy and electrochemical studies. Thermodynamic stability of the protein nanoassembly was assessed by urea-induced unfolding. Surprisingly, unfolding is reversible in all cases studied here. Stability of Cyt c in alpha-ZrP/Cyt c/Au increased by approximately 4.3 kJ/mol when compared to the unfolding free energy of Cyt c/Au assembly. In contrast, the protein stability decreased by approximately 1.5 kJ/mol for alpha-ZrCEP/Cyt c/Au layer. Thus, OH-decorated surfaces stabilized the protein whereas COOH-decorated surfaces destabilized it. These data quantitate the role of specific functional groups of the inorganic layers in controlling bound protein stability.     

Effect of ionized protein residues on the nucleation pathway of protein folding

Using a ternary nucleation formalism, we have recently [Y. S. Djikaev and E. Ruckenstein, J. Chem. Phys. 126, 175103 (2007)] proposed a kinetic model for the nucleation mechanism of protein folding. A protein was considered as a heteropolymer consisting of hydrophobic, hydrophilic, and neutral beads with all the bonds having the same constant length and all the bond angles equal and fixed. In this paper, we further develop that model by taking into account of the ionizability of some of the protein residues. As previously, an overall potential around the cluster wherein a protein residue performs a chaotic motion is considered to be a combination of the average dihedral and average pairwise potentials (the latter now including an electrostatic contribution for ionized residues) assigned to the residue and the confining potential due to the polymer connectivity constraint. The overall potential as a function of the distance from the cluster has a double well shape (even for ionized beads) which allows one to determine the rates of emission and absorption of residues by the cluster by using a first passage time analysis. Assuming the equality of the ratios of the numbers of negatively and positively ionized residues in the cluster and in the entire protein, one can keep the modified model within the framework of the ternary nucleation formalism and evaluate the size and composition of the nucleus and the protein folding time as in the previous model. As an illustration, the model is again applied to the folding of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease consisting of 124 amino acids, whereof 40 are hydrophobic, 81 hydrophilic (of which 10 are negatively and 18 positively ionizable), and 3 neutral. Numerical calculations at pH=6.3, pH=7.3, and pH=8.3 show that for this protein the time of folding via nucleation is significantly affected by electrostatic interactions only for the unusually low pH of 6.3 and that among all pH's considered pH=7.3 provides the lowest folding time.     

The effect of the bridge group on the thermal stability of nitro-substituted aromatic polyamides

The effect of introducing a bridge group into the diamine moiety on the thermal stability of aromatic polyamides substituted with nitro group in the diamine ring at the ortho position to the amide group was studied. Our present work showed that the bridge group, whether it was electron withdrawing or releasing, did not have a significant effect on the activity of the nitro group for the intramolecular cyclization reaction to poly(benzoxazole)s.