Periodicity of Two-Dimensional Bonding of Main Group Elements

In the periodic table the position of each atom follows the ‘aufbau’ principle of the individual electron shells. The resulting intrinsic periodicity of atomic properties determines the overall behavior of atoms in two-dimensional (2D) bonding and structure formation. Insight into the type and strength of bonding is the key in the discovery of innovative 2D materials. The primary features of 2D bonding and the ensuing monolayer structures of the main-group II–VI elements result from the number of valence electrons and the change of atom size, which determine the type of hybridization. The results reveal the tight connection between strength of bonding and bond length in 2D networks. The predictive power of the periodic table reveals general rules of bonding, the bonding-structure relationship, and allows an assessment of published data of 2D materials.     

Homological Algebra for Persistence Modules

Foundations of Computational Mathematics - We develop some aspects of the homological algebra of persistence modules, in both the one-parameter and multi-parameter settings, considered as either...     

Baer sums for a natural class of monoid extensions

Semigroup Forum - It is well known that the set of isomorphism classes of extensions of groups with abelian kernel is characterized by the second cohomology group. In this paper we generalise this...     

Versatile Near-Infrared Super-Resolution Imaging of Amyloid Fibrils with the Fluorogenic Probe CRANAD-2

CRANAD-2 is a fluorogenic curcumin derivative used for near-infrared detection and imaging in vivo of amyloid aggregates, which are involved in neurodegenerative diseases. We explore the performance of CRANAD-2 in two super-resolution imaging techniques, namely stimulated emission depletion (STED) and single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), with markedly different fluorophore requirements. By conveniently adapting the concentration of CRANAD-2, which transiently binds to amyloid fibrils, we show that it performs well in both techniques, achieving a resolution in the range of 45–55 nm. Correlation of SMLM with atomic force microscopy (AFM) validates the resolution of fine features in the reconstructed super-resolved image. The good performance and versatility of CRANAD-2 provides a powerful tool for near-infrared nanoscopic imaging of amyloids in vitro and in vivo.     

Silver(I) Complexes of Two Flexible Bis-phospholane Ligands: Metallamacrocycles,Polymeric Chains,and Metallacryptands

In a 2:2 reaction with silver(I) chloride or bromide, 1,5-bis(1-phospholano)pentane ( 1a ) afforded frame-like macrocyclic structures, with intra- ( 2 , Cl) or intermolecular ( 3 , Br) halido bridges. In contrast, 1,7-bis(1-phospholano)heptane ( 1b ) formed coordination polymers 4a (Cl) and 4b (Br) with bridging bis-phospholane and halido ligands. A unique paddle wheel-type metallacryptand structure 5 was obtained from 1a and silver(I) bromide in a 2:3 reaction (M:L). All complexes were fully characterized by NMR, IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and X-ray crystallography.     

Dynamics of Bacteriorhodopsin in the Dark-Adapted State from Solution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

To achieve efficient proton pumping in the light-driven proton pump bacteriorhodopsin (bR), the protein must be tightly coupled to the retinal to rapidly convert retinal isomerization into protein structural rearrangements. Methyl group dynamics of bR embedded in lipid nanodiscs were determined in the dark-adapted state, and were found to be mostly well ordered at the cytosolic side. Methyl groups in the M145A mutant of bR, which displays only 10 % residual proton pumping activity, are less well ordered, suggesting a link between side-chain dynamics on the cytosolic side of the bR cavity and proton pumping activity. In addition, slow conformational exchange, attributed to low frequency motions of aromatic rings, was indirectly observed for residues on the extracellular side of the bR cavity. This may be related to reorganization of the water network. These observations provide a detailed picture of previously undescribed equilibrium dynamics on different time scales for ground-state bR.