Polymer-tethered ligand–receptor interactions between surfaces

We study the interaction between two parallel surfaces having a polymer-tethered ligand on one and a random distribution of receptors on the other. We examine the interplay between the specific ligand–receptor binding and the conformation degrees of freedom of the polymer tether, and address the difference between the cases of mobile (annealed) and immobile (quenched) receptors. The annealed case is solved exactly and the quenched case is treated by both Monte Carlo direct sampling and an analytical density expansion. The combination of the entropic repulsion due to chain confinement at small surface separations, and the attraction due to ligand–receptor binding which can take place at significant chain stretching, results in a minimum in the interaction free energy. For the same set of parameters, stronger binding is obtained for the annealed case than for the quenched case, reflecting the ability of the mobile receptors to migrate into the region of the ligand. In the quenched case, binding is limited by the availability of receptors within the reach of the ligand; for a given receptor density and binding energy, there exists an optimal chain length that yields the lowest minimum in the interaction free energy for the quenched case. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2621–2637, 2006     

Transcendental lattices of some K 3‐surfaces

In a previous paper, [12], we described six families of K 3‐surfaces (over ?) with Picard‐number 19, and we identified surfaces with Picard‐number 20. In these notes we classify some of the surfaces by computing their transcendental lattices. Moreover, we show that the surfaces with Picard‐number 19 are birational to a Kummer surface which is the quotient of a non‐product type abelian surface by an involution. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

智能聚合物在医药与生物工程中的应用

智能聚合物是一类对于外界环境微小的物理和化学刺激，其自身性质会发生明显改变的聚合物，这类聚合物能以各种形式存在，如固体、溶液或吸附于载体表面，水溶性智能聚合物系统与生物分子相结合能够产生一类对物理、化学和生物刺激有响应的新的聚合物，本文综述了这类聚合物系统的研究进展。     

An action variable of the sine–Gordon model

It was conjectured that the classical bosonic string in AdS times a sphere has a special action variable which corresponds to the length of the operator on the field theory side. We discuss the analogous action variable in the sine–Gordon model. We explain the relation between this action variable and the Bäcklund transformations and show that the corresponding hidden symmetry acts on breathers by shifting their phase. It can be considered a nonlinear analogue of splitting the solution of the free field equations into positive- and negative-frequency parts.     

A RAIRS study of methoxy and ethoxy on oxidised Cu(100)

The adsorption and reaction of methanol and ethanol on a preoxidised Cu(100) surface was studied with Reflection-Absorption Infra-Red Spectroscopy (RAIRS). Both alcohols reacted with the modified surface well below room temperature, undergoing OH bond scission to form alkoxide species. The alkoxides were stable up to 340–360 K at which stage they desorbed as aldehydes. Vibrational assignments of the observed modes were made with reference to the RAIRS spectra of the alcohols and their deuterium substituted analogues on Cu(100) together with literature values for the gaseous, liquid and solid alcohols. Application of the metal surface selection rule to the alkoxide spectra indicate that in both cases the C---O bond lies perpendicular to the surface. The methoxy species is therefore assigned to an upright C_3v configuration. Oxygen precoverage is found to govern the amount of alkoxide formation which passes through a maximum at a precoverage of about 150 L.     

Statistical measurements of irradiance fluctuations produced by a reflective membrane optical scintillator

Atmospheric scintillation of a He:Ne laser beam was physically simulated in the laboratory using a Reflective Membrane Optical Scintillator (RMOS). The RMOS was characterized and tested under varying operating conditions and the statistical validity of the simulated intensity fluctuations was tested by fitting the probability density functions (PDFs) obtained to the lognormal, gamma, Rice-Nakagami, K and I-K distributions. It was confirmed that scintillation could be simulated over a range of turbulence levels using the RMS driving amplitude as a simple control variable. The RMOS was found to be a useful approach to the laboratory simulation of atmospheric scintillation.     

Vicinal and on-axis surfaces of 6H-SiC(0001) thin films observed by scanning tunneling microscopy

Surfaces of 6H-SiC(0001) homoepitaxial layers deposited on vicinal (3.5° off (0001) towards [11 0]) and on-axis 6H---SiC wafers by chemical vapour deposition have been investigated using ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy. Undulating step configurations were observed on both the on-axis and the vicinal surfaces. The former surface possessed wider terraces than the latter. Step heights on both surfaces were 0.25 nm corresponding to single bilayers containing one Si and one C layer. After annealing at T>1100°C for 3–5 min in UHV, selected terraces contained honeycomb-like regions caused by the transformation to a graphitic surface as a result of Si sublimation. A model of the observed step configuration has been proposed based on the observation of the [ 110] or [1 10] orientations of the steps and energetic considerations. Additional deposition of very thin (2 nm) SiC films on the above samples by gas source molecular beam epitaxy was performed to observe the evolution of the surface structure. Step bunching and growth of 6H---SiC layers and formation of 3C---SiC islands were observed on the vicinal and the on-axis surfaces, respectively, and controlled by the diffusion lengths of the adatoms.     

Versatile ω‐end group functionalization of RAFT polymers using functional methane thiosulfonates

Five different polymers, poly[methyl methacrylate] (PMMA), poly[lauryl methacrylate] (PLMA), poly[diethylene glycol methacrylate] (PDEGMA), poly[N‐isopropylacrylamide] (PNIPA), and poly[styrene] (PS) prepared by the RAFT process and thus terminated with dithioesters were aminolyzed in the presence of S‐3‐butynyl methane thiosulfonate (MTS), which was synthesized in two steps. Analysis of the polymers by 2D NMR, UV–vis absorbance, and gel permeation chromatography revealed them to quantitatively carry acetylene end groups connected with disulfide bridges, indicating that functional MTS reagents can be employed for end group functionalization of RAFT polymers. This versatile method is of advantage compared with conjugations with functional maleimides, where isolation of terminal thiols is often required but inexpedient for poly[(meth)acrylates] because their terminal thiols may undergo backbiting and thus avoid conjugation. The acetylene‐terminated polymers were bound to an azide functionalized glass surface in a Cu(I) catalyzed cycloaddition. The modified surfaces exhibited water contact angles corresponding to the polarity of the attached polymers. In the case of the stimulus responsive polymers PNIPA and PDEGMA, the surfaces showed temperature‐dependent contact angles. The disulfide bond connecting the polymers to the surface could be selectively cleaved and resulted in all surfaces having the same contact angle, independent of the nature of the polymer prior attached to the surface. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 3118–3130, 2009     

Influence of nitroxide structure on polystyrene brushes “grafted‐from” silicon wafers

Alkoxyamine derivatives based on 2,2,6,6‐tetramethyl‐1‐piperidinyloxy (TEMPO), N‐tert‐butyl‐N‐(1‐diethylphosphono‐(2,2‐dimethylpropyl)) nitroxide (SG1) and N‐tert‐butyl‐N‐(2‐methyl‐1‐phenylpropyl) nitroxide (TIPNO) containing a C₁₁ hydrophobic spacer and a reactive triethoxysilyl polar head, were synthesized and anchored to silicon wafers by the Langmuir–Blodgett reactive deposition technique at surface pressures ranging from 15 to 32 mN/m. Polystyrene brushes (M_n ～ 8500–66,400 g/mol) were grown from the alkoxyamine functionalized silicon wafers by nitroxide mediated radical polymerization and characterized by ellipsometry and water contact angle measurements. The main parameters influencing the grafting density and the degree of stretching of the brushes are the nitroxide polarity and, therefore, the behavior of the corresponding alkoxyamines at the air/water interface of the Langmuir–Blodgett trough. Depending on the alkoxyamine chemical structure and the surface pressure during Langmuir–Blodgett deposition, polystyrene brushes with grafting densities of 0.3–1.0 chains/nm² and stretching values of 40–70% were obtained. Regarding alkoxyamines deposited at high surface pressures, size exclusion chromatography experiments performed on both cleaved polystyrene brushes and chains simultaneously grown in the bulk revealed that the polymerization degree of the bulk and surface chains are significantly different, suggesting that steric constrains affect the polymerization kinetics occurring at the silicon surface. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 3367–3374, 2008     

Carbidic carbon on Ni(110): an STM study

The interaction of carbon with the Ni(110) surface has been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Dissociation of ethylene at elevated temperatures resulted in the formation of two carbidic carbon structures, (4 × 3) and (4 × 5), both of which are formed by a significant reconstruction of the surface involving a long-range mass transport of 0.5 ML Ni. The density of C in the reconstructed phases was estimated based on Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). Atomic models, which are consistent with all existing experimental observations for carbidic carbon on Ni(110), are proposed for the (4 × 3) and (4 × 5) phases.