Non-protein amino acids in peptide design

An overview of the use of non-protein amino acids in the design of conformationally well-defined peptides, based on work from the author’s laboratory, is discussed. The crystal structures of several designed oligopeptides illustrate the useα-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) in the construction of helices, D-amino acids in the design of helix termination segments and^DPro-Xxx segments for nucleating ofβ-hairpin structures.β- andγ-amino acid residues have been used to expand the range of designed polypeptide structures. Dedicated to Professor C N R Rao on his 70th birthday     

A new insight into the understanding of the collapsed form of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) molecules

Possible collapsed forms of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) molecules are reviewed on the basis of first principle calculations. Various configurations and associated conformations are detailed. The calculated optimized structures exhibit different possibilities of creating networks of intra-molecular bonds of the hydrogen type. We show that the most remarkable one is able to form a local, self-saturated and well ordered helix. We also indicate in which direction the synthesis of the molecule should be oriented to improve its global behavior in term of hydrophobic/hydrophilic behavior.     

The Systematics of Muonium Hyperfine Constants

The hyperfine constants for muonium in elemental and binary inorganic solids suggest formation of three different families of defect centre, with distinct electronic structures. The overall range of values, spanning nearly five orders of magnitude, and their correlation with host properties such as band gap and electron affinity, reveal a deep-to-shallow instability which has profound implications for the electrical properties of hydrogen impurity in electronic materials, both semiconducting and dielectric.     

Diphenylmethane transformations over boron trifluoride modified alumina and silica-alumina

Transformations of diphenylmethane were investigated in a flow system in the presence of alumina and silica-alumina modified with boron trifluoride at atmospheric pressure and elevated temperatures. Hydrogen transfer reaction was observed on addition of tetralin to the substrate stream. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effect of genesis on the properties and hydrogen reducibility of NiO-ZnO mixed oxides

The physico-chemical properties and reactivity tested by hydrogen reduction have been studied for two series of NiO-ZnO mixed oxides of various composition. The solid nickel oxide or zinc oxide in interaction with the solution of nitrate of the second component were used as the precursors in each series. The differences in some physico-chemical parameters of the samples in both series were correlated with their reduction behaviour, followed both in iso- and non-isothermal regime. Moreower, the influence of various factors modifying the reactivity of mixed oxides was also investigated and the results were compared with those obtained from earlier studied analogous systems of quite different origin.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

金属氢研究新进展

简要介绍了金属氢的研究意义和应用前景 ,详细评述了有关的高压实验方法和最近的研究成果及进展 ,特别是固体氢的相图、结构和相变 .近十多年来 ,随着超高压技术的发展 ,已能在金刚石对顶砧 (DAC)上产生30 0GPa的静态压力 ,并可进行高压原位实验研究 .对固体氢进行了高压拉曼、同步辐射X射线、光反射和吸收、同步辐射红外光谱等一系列高压物性和相变研究 .从而确定了固体氢的三个相 ,并提出了可能的相结构 .     

Kinetic features of ethylene polymerization over supported catalysts [2,6‐bis(imino)pyridyl iron dichloride/magnesium dichloride] with AlR3 as an activator

The effects of polymerization temperature, polymerization time, ethylene and hydrogen concentration, and effect of comonomers (hexene‐1, propylene) on the activity of supported catalyst of composition LFeCl₂/MgCl₂‐Al(i‐Bu)₃ (L = 2,6‐bis[1‐(2,6‐dimethylphenylimino)ethyl] pyridyl) and polymer characteristics (molecular weight (MW), molecular‐weight distribution (MWD), molecular structure) have been studied. Effective activation energy of ethylene polymerization over LFeCl₂/MgCl₂‐Al(i‐Bu)₃ has a value typical of supported Ziegler–Natta catalysts (11.9 kcal/mol). The polymerization reaction is of the first order with respect to monomer at the ethylene concentration >0.2 mol/L. Addition of small amounts of hydrogen (9–17%) significantly increases the activity; however, further increase in hydrogen concentration decreases the activity. The IRS and DSC analysis of PE indicates that catalyst LFeCl₂/MgCl₂‐Al(i‐Bu)₃ has a very low copolymerizing ability toward propylene and hexene‐1. MW and MWD of PE produced over these catalysts depend on the polymerization time, ethylene and hexene‐1 concentration. The activation effect of hydrogen and other kinetic features of ethylene polymerization over supported catalysts based on the Fe (II) complexes are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 5057–5066, 2007     

催化裂解法制备螺旋状碳纳米管的实验研究

在硅片上用直流溅射镀铁的方法制备催化剂 ,通过乙炔在 70 0°C下催化裂解制备碳纳米管 .对热解产物进行了扫描电镜观察和 X射线衍射测试 .本文通过对有氢气预处理和没有氢气预处理两种情况下催化裂解法制备的碳纳米管的形貌、管径大小等性质的研究 ,来初步揭示螺旋状碳纳米管的生长机理 .     

A supramolecular hydrogen‐bonded complex between 1,3,5‐tris(diisobutylhydroxysilyl)benzene and trans‐bis(4‐pyridyl)ethylene

The trisilanol 1,3,5‐(HOi‐Bu₂Si)₃C₆H₃ ( 7 ), prepared in three steps from 1,3,5‐tribromobenzene via the intermediates 1,3,5‐(Hi‐Bu₂Si)₃C₆H₃ ( 8 ) and 1,3,5‐(Cli‐Bu₂Si)₃C₆H₃ ( 9 ) forms an equimolar complex with trans‐bis(4‐pyridyl)ethylene (bpe), 7 ·bpe, whose structure was investigated by X‐ray crystallography. The hydrogen‐bonded network features a number of SiO? H(H)Si and SiO? H hydrogen bridges. Evidence was found for cooperative strengthening within the sequential hydrogen bonds. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.