Molecular shape recognition capability of liquid-crystal bonded phases in reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography

Summary The chromatographic retention behaviour of two liquidcrystal bonded phases have been evaluated using polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as the probe samples in reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The results clearly indicate that these phases have better planarity and shape recognition capabilities than commercially-avaialble polymeric octadecylsilica (ODS) phases whose strong planarity and shape selectivities were found earlier. It can also be concluded from the chromatographic observations that the shape recognition capability of these phases is dependent on both mobile phase composition and column temperature, but that the effect of mobile phase and temperature on the shape selectivity work independently. The retention behaviour can be explained by changes in the phase structure with changes of eluent composition and temperature.     

Evaluation of the surface tension measurement of axisymmetric drop shape analysis (ADSA) using a shape parameter

A quantitative criterion called “shape parameter” to evaluate the quality of surface tension measurement of Axisymmetric Drop Shape Analysis (ADSA) is presented. ADSA is a powerful technique for the measurement of interfacial tensions and contact angles of pendant drops, sessile drops, and bubbles. Despite the general success of ADSA, deficient results may be obtained for drops close to spherical shape. Therefore, the “shape parameter” was used to determine the range of drop shapes in which ADSA succeeds or fails. The “shape parameter” is a dimensionless parameter that expresses quantitatively the difference in shape between a given experimental profile and an inscribed circle. The surface tension measurements of ADSA were evaluated for both pendant drop and constrained sessile drop configurations using the shape parameter. Different shapes of the pendant drop were studied using different sizes and materials of holders. For each drop configuration, a “critical shape parameter” was defined based on the minimum value of the shape parameter that guarantees an error of less than ±0.1 mJ/m². Furthermore, the effects of the type of liquid and constellation on the “critical shape parameter” were studied.     

Investigation of nu(N-H) and nu(C-N) stretching modes of propylamine (C3H7NH2) in a binary system C3H7NH2 + CH3OH via concentration dependent Raman study and ab initio calculations

Raman spectra of propylamine (C3H7NH2) and its binary mixtures, C3H7NH2 + CH3OH with varying mole fractions of the reference system, C3H7NH2, C were recorded in two widely apart wavenumber regions, 3100-3600 cm(-1) and 1225-1325 cm(-1). In the former region, the two Raman bands at approximately 3305 and approximately 3326 cm(-1), obtained after the line shape analysis, which were assigned to symmetric nu(N-H) and anti-symmetric nu(N-H) stretching modes, respectively, show a downshift upon dilution. However, whereas the nu(N-H) anti-symmetric mode shows a shift of 18.6 cm(-1), the nu(N-H) symmetric mode shows a much smaller shift (5.7 cm(-1)) between neat liquid and high dilution, C = 0.1. This aspect has been explained using the optimized geometries calculated employing ab initio theory (MP2 level) for the neat C3H7NH2 and its different hydrogen-bonded complexes. The linewidth versus concentration plot for the nu(N-H) anti-symmetric stretching mode, however exhibits a distinct maxima at C = 0.4, which has been explained as a slight departure from the concentration fluctuation model. In the latter region, a symmetric peak is observed, which corresponds to nu(C-N) stretching mode, which shows an upshift upon dilution and an almost linear concentration dependence. This has also been explained in terms of the parameters obtained from the optimized geometries of the different hydrogen-bonded complexes.     

Effect of concentration on surfactant micelle shapes —A molecular dynamics study

Many aspects of the behavior of surfactants have not been well understood due to the coupling of many different mechanisms. Computer simulation is, therefore, attractive in the sense that it can explore the effect of different mechanisms separately. In this paper, the shapes, structures and sizes of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) micelles under different concentrations in an oil/water mixture were studied via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using a simplified atomistic model which basically maintains the hydrophile and lipophile properties of the surfactant molecules. Above the critical micellar concentration (cmc), surfactant molecules aggregate spontaneously to form a wide variety of assemblies, from spherical to rodlike, wormlike and bilayer micelles. Changes in their ratios of the principle moments of inertia (g₁/g₃, g₂/g₃) indicated the transition of micelle shapes at different concentrations. The aggregation number of micelle is found to have a power-law dependence on surfactant concentration.     

Seed‐Mediated Synthesis of Gold Tetrahedra in High Purity and with Tunable,Well‐Controlled Sizes

We report a facile synthesis of Au tetrahedra in high purity and with tunable, well‐controlled sizes via seed‐mediated growth. The success of this synthesis relies on the use of single‐crystal, spherical Au nanocrystals as the seeds and manipulation of the reaction kinetics to induce an unsymmetrical growth pattern for the seeds. In particular, the dropwise addition of a precursor solution with a syringe pump, assisted by cetyltrimethylammonium chloride and bromide at appropriate concentrations, was found to be critical to the formation of Au tetrahedra in high purity. Their sizes could be readily tuned in the range of 30–60 nm by simply varying the amount of precursor added to the reaction solution. The current strategy not only enables the synthesis of Au tetrahedra with tunable and controlled sizes but also provides a facile and versatile approach to reducing the symmetry of nanocrystals made of a face‐centered cubic lattice.     

A novel design of membrane mirror with small deformation and imaging performance analysis in infrared system

A method of diminishing the shape error of membrane mirror is proposed in this paper. The inner inflating pressure is considerably decreased by adopting the pre-shaped membrane. Small deformation of the membrane mirror with greatly reduced shape error is sequentially achieved. Primarily a finite element model of the above pre-shaped membrane is built on the basis of its mechanical properties. Then accurate shape data under different pressures can be acquired by iteratively calculating the node displacements of the model. Shape data are applicable to build up deformed reflecting surfaces for the simulative analysis in ZEMAX. Finally, ground-based imaging experiments of 4-bar targets and nature scene are conducted. Experiment results indicate that the MTF of the infrared system can reach to 0.3 at a high spatial resolution of 10l p/mm, and texture details of the nature scene are well-presented. The method can provide theoretical basis and technical support for the applications in lightweight optical components with ultra-large apertures.     

A transmission problem on a polygonal partition: regularity and shape differentiability

We consider a transmission problem on a polygonal partition for the two-dimensional conductivity equation. For suitable classes of partitions we establish the exact behaviour of the gradient of solutions in a neighbourhood of the vertexes of the partition. This allows to prove shape differentiability of solutions and to establish an explicit formula for the shape derivative.     

Aqueous Gold Overgrowth of Silver Nanoparticles: Merging the Plasmonic Properties of Silver with the Functionality of Gold

To date, it has not been possible to combine the high optical quality of silver particles with the good chemical stability and synthetic convenience in a fully aqueous system, while simultaneously allowing chemical surface functionalization. We present a synthetic pathway for future developments in information, energy and medical technology where strong optical/electronic properties are crucial. Therefore, the advantages inherent to gold are fused with the plasmonic properties of silver in a fully aqueous Au/Ag/Au core–shell shell system. These nanoparticles inherit low dispersity from their masked gold cores, yet simultaneously exhibit the strong plasmonic properties of silver. Protecting the silver surface with a thin gold layer enables oxidant stability and functionality without altering the Ag‐controlled optical properties. This combines both worlds—optical quality and chemical stability—and is not limited to a specific particle shape.     

Single-Round DNA Aptamer Selection by Combined Use of Capillary Electrophoresis and Next Generation Sequencing: An Aptaomics Approach for Identifying Unique Functional Protein-Binding DNA Aptamers

In DNA aptamer selection, existing methods do not discriminate aptamer sequences based on their binding affinity and function and the reproducibility of the selection is often poor, even for the selection of well-known aptamers like those that bind the commonly used model protein thrombin. In the present study, a novel single-round selection method (SR-CE selection) was developed by combining capillary electrophoresis (CE) with next generation sequencing. Using SR-CE selection, a successful semi-quantitative and semi-comprehensive aptamer selection for thrombin was demonstrated with high reproducibility for the first time. Selection rules based on dissociation equilibria and kinetics were devised to obtain families of analogous sequences. Selected sequences of the same family were shown to bind thrombin with high affinity. Furthermore, data acquired from SR-CE selection was mined by creating sub-libraries that were categorized by the functionality of the aptamers (e. g., pre-organized aptamers versus structure-induced aptamers). Using this approach, a novel fluorescent molecular recognition sensor for thrombin with nanomolar detection limits was discovered. Thus, in this proof-of-concept report, we have demonstrated the potential of a “DNA Aptaomics” approach to systematically design functional aptamers as well as to obtain high affinity aptamers.