Charge transport in DNA via thermally induced hopping.

In this contribution we advance and explore the thermally induced hopping (TIH) mechanism for long-range charge transport (CT) in DNA and in large-scale chemical systems. TIH occurs in donor-bridge-acceptor systems, which are characterized by off-resonance donor-bridge interactions (energy gap DeltaE > 0), involving thermally activated donor-bridge charge injection followed by intrabridge charge hopping. We observe a "transition" from superexchange to TIH with increasing the bridge length (i.e., the number N of the bridge constituents), which is manifested by crossing from the exponential N-dependent donor-acceptor CT rate at low N (< N(X)) to a weakly (algebraic) N-dependent CT rate at high N (>N(X)). The "critical" bridge size N(X) is determined by the energy gap, the nearest-neighbor electronic couplings, and the temperature. Experimental evidence for the TIH mechanism was inferred from our analysis of the chemical yields for the distal/proximal guanine (G) triplets in the (GGG)(+)TTXTT(GGG) duplex (X = G, azadine (zA), and adenine (A)) studied by Nakatani, Dohno and Saito [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 5893]. The TIH sequential model, which involves hole hopping between (GGG) and X, is analyzed in terms of a sequential process in conjunction with parallel reactions of (GGG)(+) with water, and provides a scale of (free) energy gaps (relative to (GGG)(+)) of Delta = 0.21-0.24 eV for X = A, Delta = 0.10-0.14 eV for X = zA, and Delta = 0.05-0.10 eV for X = G. We further investigated the chemical yields for long-range TIH in (G)l(+)Xn(G)l (l = 1-3) duplexes, establishing the energetic constraints (i.e., the donor - bridge base (X) energy gap Delta), the bridge structural constraints (i.e., the intrabridge X-X hopping rates k(m)), and the kinetic constraints (i.e., the rate k(d) for the reaction of with water). Effective TIH is expected to prevail for Delta less than or approximately equal to 0.20 eV with a "fast" water reaction (k(d)/k(m) approximately 10(-3)) and for Delta < 0.30 eV with a "slow" water reaction (k(d)/k(m) approximately 10(-5)). We conclude that (T)n bridges (for which Delta approximately equals 0.6 eV) cannot act in TIH of holes. From an analysis based on the energetics of the electronic coupling matrix elements in G(+)(T-A)n(GGG) duplexes we conclude that the superexchange mechanism is expected to dominate for n = 1-4. For long (A)n bridges (n > or approximately equal to 4) the TIH prevails, provided that the water side reaction is slow, raising the issue of chemical control of TIH through long (A)n bridges in DNA attained by changing the solution composition.     

On the oxidation of malonic acid by ceric ions

The oxidation of malonic acid by ceric ions has been investigated in sulfuric acid solution under a variety of conditions. The initial rate at low ceric ion concentrations is first order in each of the two reactants and has an activation energy of 11.6 kcal/mol; the instantaneous rate constant increases somewhat with time during a single run. At higher concentrations of ceric ion, semilogarithmic plots are sigmoid with a reduced rate constant at long times. The rate decreases slightly with increasing sulfuric acid concentration. Rates of carbon dioxide evolution may be much less than rates of ceric ion reduction because of supersaturation effects. The observations can be explained if dissolved oxygen reacts with organic radicals to catalyze the rate of initial attack on malonic acid, but oxygen must also be consumed irreversibly during these reactions. Computations with plausible rate constants have simulated the experimental observations. These oxygen effects can rationalize peculiar almost discontinuous changes in rate when bromomalonic acid is oxidized by ceric ion. These effects may also explain the previously puzzling observation that some Belousov–Zhabotinsky solutions are oscillatory in bulk but become quiescent but excitable when spread in a thin film in contact with air.     

Die Strukturen der mittleren Ringverbidungen. XIII. Zwei neue Konformationen des Cyclodecanringes

The results of the X-ray analysis of 1,1,5,5-tetramethylcyclodecane-8-carboxylic acid do not correspond to a reasonable molecular structure. When used as a startingpoint for a strain-energy minimization calculation based on semi-empirical potential functions, they lead to two new conformations for the cyclodecane ring. It is shown that the X-ray results can be explained by assuming that the crystal consists of a random mixture of these two conformations.     

Mossbauer studies of Np hydrides

The Mossbauer spectra of ²³⁷Np in NpH_2+x(x = 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5) consist of several absorption lines which are attributed to Np inequivalent sites corresponding to different numbers of octahedral hydrogen neighbours. The relative intensities of the various lines do not correspond to a random distribution of the hydrogen ions. A model which takes into account first nearest neighbour interactions among octahedral hydrogen ions can reproduce the experimental spectra.     

The oxidation of cerous ions by bromate ions comparison of experimental data with computer calculations

The oxidation of cerous ions by bromate ions in sulfuric acid medium was followed spectrophotometrically under various experimental conditions. The results were compared to the calculated predictions on the basis of a mechanism suggested by R. M. Noyes and collaborators. The computations were done by solving the complete set of the kinetic differential equations. The results of the computations show that the proposed mechanism explains adequately most of our and previous experimental data. In particular, the mechanism predicts the main features of the reaction, namely, the induction and the fast and slow reaction periods which occur during the oxidation.     

Effects of Configurational Fluctuation on Electronic Coupling for Charge Transfer Dynamics

We advance a theory for the effects of bridge configurational fluctuations on the electronic coupling for electron transfer reactions in donor-bridge-acceptor systems. The theory of radiationless transitions was applied for activationless electron transfer, where the nuclear Franck–Condon constraints are minimized, with the initial vibronic state interacting directly with the final vibronic manifold, without the need for thermal activation. Invoking the assumption of energy-independent coupling, the time-dependent initial state population probability was analyzed in terms of a cumulant expansion. Two limiting situations were distinguished, i.e. the fast configurational fluctuation limit, where the electron transfer rate is given in terms of the configurational average of me squared electronic coupling, and the slow configurational fluctuation limit, where the dynamics is determined by a configurational averaging over a static distribution of electron transfer probability densities. The correlation times for configurational fluctuations of the electronic coupling will be obtained from the analysis of molecular dynamics, in conjunction with quantum mechanical calculations of the electronic coupling, to establish the appropriate limit for electron transfer dynamics.     

Brownian motion of a nonlinear oscillator

Starting with the Langevin equation for a nonlinear oscillator (the Duffing oscillator) undergoing ordinary Brownian motion, we derive linear transport laws for the motion of the average position and velocity of the oscillator. The resulting linear equations are valid for only small deviations of average values from thermal equilibrium. They contain a renormalized oscillator frequency and a renormalized and non-Markovian friction coefficient, both depending on the nonlinear part of the original equation of motion. Numerical computations of the position correlation function and its spectral density are presented. The spectral density compares favorably with experimental results obtained by Morton using an analog computer method.Technical Note BN-674. Research supported in part by NSF grant GP-12591, and in part by PHS Research Grant No. MG16426-02 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.     

Electron transfer dynamics

This paper surveys the current ‘state-of-art’ of the theoretical understanding of electron transfer dynamics in donor-acceptor systems, which provide the conceptual and technical basis for solar energy conversion via optical and optoelectronic molecular devices and for the primary charge separation in photo-synthesis.