Electrochemical detection of amino acids at carbon nanotube and nickel-carbon nanotube modified electrodes

The oxidation and enhanced detection of traditionally 'non-electroactive' amino acids at a single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) surface and at a nickel hydroxide film electrochemically deposited and generated upon the SWNT layer is reported. Different CNT are compared, with Nafion-dispersed SWNT offering the most favorable layer for constant-potential amperometric detection. Factors affecting the oxidation process, including the pH or applied potential, are assessed. The response of the SWNT-Nafion coated electrode compares favorably with that of copper and nickel disk electrodes under flow injection analysis (FIA) conditions. The electrodeposition of nickel onto the SWNT-Nafion layer (Ni-CNT) led to a dramatic enhancement of the analytical response (vs. that observed at the SWNT or nickel electrodes alone). The oxidative process at the Ni(OH)(2) layer has been studied and the increase in sensitivity rationalized. In the presence of amino acid the Ni-CNT layer undergoes an electrocatalytic process in which the amino acid reduces the newly formed NiO(OH) species. Furthermore, the attractive response of both the CNT and Ni-CNT layers has allowed these electrodes to be used for constant-potential FIA of various amino acids and indicates great promise for monitoring chromatographic effluents. Once again an improved signal was observed at the Ni-CNT electrode compared to nickel deposited upon a bare glassy carbon electrode (Ni-GC).     

The reaction intermediate spectrum. A new type of experiment in tandem mass spectrometry

A new scan is described which responds to ions that are intermediates in the dissociation of a mass-selected parent ion (m_p) to give a mass-selected daughter ion (m_d). The scan gives a simple mass v. abundance output for ions which satisfy this condition. It is implemented here on a BEQQ hybrid mass spectrometer using, in sequence, collision-induced dissociation occurring at high energy in the first reaction region, and low-energy collisional activation in the collision quadrupole. The experiment provides information on reaction sequences not available from single scans of other types. In the several cases examined, it is demonstrated that, among many conceivable fragmentation routes connecting a parent ion with a particular fragment ion, only a few are significant. Examination of reaction intermediate spectra also appears to be a fruitful new approach to mechanistic questions, as illustrated by consideration of the behavior of several isomeric octanones. These new spectra also have analytical value: they show good signal-to-noise ratios and allow ready distinction between isobaric and isomeric ions. A comparison of the reaction intermediate spectrum with a daughter spectrum obtained by the B/E linked-scanning technique reveals the contributions of artifact peaks which result from poor parent ion mass resolution in the latter. Reaction intermediate spectra combine information from the daughter spectra of m_p and the parent spectra of m_d and, as a specified portion of this data domain, have unique characteristics.     

Quinone copolymerization. I. Reactions of p-chloranil,p-benzoquinone,and 2,5-dimethyl-p-benzoquinone with vinyl monomers under free-radical initiation

The free-radical copolymerization reactions of p-chloranil, p-benzoquinone, and 2,5-di-methyl-p-benzoquinone with vinyl monomers were studied. Reactions of p-chloranil with styrene yielded copolymers of approximately 1:1 composition under a variety of reaction conditions. A copolymer containing a block of 1:1 of styrene:p-chloranil and a block of polystyrene was prepared. Several styrene-like monomers copolymerized with p-chloranil to yield copolymrs possessing considerable amounts of incorporated quinone. p-Benzoquinone copolymerized with 1,3-butadiene and 2-vinyl-pyridine to yield copolymers of significant molecular weights. Reactions of 2,5-dimethyl-p-benzoquinone with vinyl monomers did not yield any isolable polymeric products.     

Stereochemically stable double-helicate dinuclear complexes of bis(dipyrromethene)s: a chiroptical study

Helical zinc(II) complexes of bis(dipyrromethene)s bearing homochiral amide substituents were synthesized. Analysis of the products by chiral HPLC showed two diastereomeric major products and showed that dipyrromethene double-nuclear helicates are stereochemically stable and do not interconvert. Circular dichroism (CD) studies showed that the complexation reactions had proceeded with modest diastereomeric excesses. Analysis of an analogous symmetric zinc(II) bis(dipyrromethene) lacking homochiral substituents that could act as chromophores discounted induced CD by the chiral auxiliaries.     

Measurement of the dependence of interfacial charge-transfer rate constants on the reorganization energy of redox species at n-ZnO/H2O interfaces

The interfacial energetic and kinetics behavior of n-ZnO/H2O contacts have been determined for a series of compounds, cobalt trisbipyridine (Co(bpy)3(3+/2+)), ruthenium pentaamine pyridine (Ru(NH3)5 py(3+/2+)), cobalt bis-1,4,7-trithiacyclononane (Co(TTCN)2(3+/2+)), and osmium bis-dimethyl bipyridine bis-imidazole (Os(Me2bpy)2(Im)2(3+/2+)), which have similar formal reduction potentials yet which have reorganization energies that span approximately 1 eV. Differential capacitance vs potential and current density vs potential measurements were used to measure the interfacial electron-transfer rate constants for this series of one-electron outer-sphere redox couples. Each interface displayed a first-order dependence on the concentration of redox acceptor species and a first-order dependence on the concentration of electrons in the conduction band at the semiconductor surface, in accord with expectations for the ideal model of a semiconductor/liquid contact. Rate constants varied from 1 x 10(-19) to 6 x 10(-17) cm4 s(-1). The interfacial electron-transfer rate constant decreased as the reorganization energy, lambda, of the acceptor species increased, and a plot of the logarithm of the electron-transfer rate constant vs (lambda + deltaG(o)')(2)/4lambda k(B)T (where deltaG(o)' is the driving force for interfacial charge transfer) was linear with a slope of approximately -1. The rate constant at optimal exoergicity was found to be approximately 5 x 10(-17) cm4 s(-1) for this system. These results show that interfacial electron-transfer rate constants at semiconductor electrodes are in good agreement with the predictions of a Marcus-type model of interfacial electron-transfer reactions.     

Weyl's geometry and physics

It is proposed to remove the difficulty of nonitegrability of length in the Weyl geometry by modifying the law of parallel displacement and using standard vectors. The field equations are derived from a variational principle slightly different from that of Dirac and involving a parameter . For =0 one has the electromagnetic field. For <0 there is a vector meson field. This could be the electromagnetic field with finite-mass photons, or it could be a meson field providing the missing mass of the universe. In cosmological models the two natural gauges are the Einstein gauge and the cosmic gauge. With the latter the universe has a fixed size, but the sizes of small systems decrease with time and their masses and energies increase, thus producing the Hubble effect. The field of a particle in this gauge is investigated, and it leads to an interesting solution of the Einstein equations that raises a question about the Schwarzschild solution.     

Many-particle tracking with nanometer resolution in three dimensions by reflection interference contrast microscopy

We have developed and characterized a method, based on reflection interference contrast microscopy, to simultaneously determine the three-dimensional positions of multiple particles in a colloidal monolayer. To evaluate this method, the interaction of 6.8 microm (+/-5%) diameter lipid-derivatized silica microspheres with an underlying planar borosilicate substrate is studied. Measured colloidal height distributions are consistent with expectations for an electrostatically levitated colloidal monolayer. The precision of the method is analyzed using experimental techniques in addition to computational bootstrapping algorithms. In its present implementation, this technique achieves 16 nm lateral and 1 nm vertical precision.     

Dinuclear zinc(II) double-helicates of homochirally substituted bis(dipyrromethene)s

[structure: see text] A series of bis(dipyrromethene)s substituted with aromatic amide and aliphatic ester homochiral auxiliaries have been prepared and complexed with zinc(II) ions to form double-helical dinuclear complexes. CD analysis of the crude complexes revealed that the helicates formed in a diastereoselective manner. The helicates have been resolved into their constituent M and P helices by HPLC, indicating that the helical sense of the complexes is stable to racemization.     

P840-Reaction Centers from Chlorobium tepidum–Quinone Analysis and Functional Reconstitution into Lipid Vesicles

Membranes of Chlorobium tepidum contain about 35, 45 and2–10 molecules of menaquinone-7, chlorobium quinone (1′-oxo-menaquinone-7) and of the polar menaquinone (probably 1′-OH-menaquinone-7) per reaction center, respectively. None of these quinones was retained during the isolation of P840-reaction centers beyond the detection limit of about 0.2 quinones per reaction center, neither in the core complex nor in functionally intact reaction center preparations. The latter is shown to catalyze the formation of an electrochemical proton gradient in the presence of ascorbate and phenazinium methosulfate, when it is incorporated into lipid vesicles.     

Solution and solid-state structure of the anion [Ag(2)[closo-CB(11)H(12)](4)](2-)

Addition of the carbene 1,3-dimesitylimidazol-2-ylidene (IMes) to a toluene solution of Ag[closo-CB(11)H(12)] results in the formation of the complex [(IMes)(2)Ag](2)[Ag(2)[closo-CB(11)H(12)](4)], the anionic component of which contains two silver(I) centers bridged by two carboranes in addition to one terminally bound carborane on each metal, in the solid-state. Comparison of the observed (11)B[(1)H] NMR chemical shifts of [(IMes)(2)Ag](2)[Ag(2)[closo-CB(11)H(12)](4)] or Ag[closo-CB(11)H(12)] with [NBu(4)][closo-CB(11)H(12)] in CD(2)Cl(2) demonstrates that the silver ion interacts significantly with the cage in solution. Theoretical investigations using the ab initio/GIAO/NMR method of [closo-CB(11)H(12)](-) and Na[closo-CB(11)H(12)] as model geometries for the silver salts support experimental evidence for these Ag...[BH] interactions in solution.