DETERM INATION OF THE STABILITY CONSTANTS OF COMPLEXES OF HISTIDINE,SOME DIPEPTIDES AND TRIGLYCINE WITH Zn(Ⅱ)AND Cd(Ⅱ)USING SMALL-SCALE PH-METRIC TITRATIONS

A potentiometric study on the complexes of His,Gly-His,ALa-His,Gly-Gly andGly—Gly—Gly with Zn(Ⅱ)and Cd(Ⅱ)has been reported.Small-scale potentiometric titrations were car-ried out to determine stabil ity constants of complexes at 25℃ with I=0.10 mol dm~(-3)(KNO_3).The com-puter programs SUPERQUAD were applied for data treatment with satisfactory results.     

Solving two-point boundary value problems with spline functions

We consider a collocation method for the approximation of thesolution of the nonlinear two-point boundary value problem y'(x)=f(x,y(x)), y(a)=A, y(b)=B, using splines of degree m3. The methodwhich we shall use leads to a system of recurrence relationswhich can be solved by Newton's method. By obtaining asymptotic error bounds we verify a conjectureof Khalifa & Eilbeck, i.e. splines of even degree can giveeven better solutions than splines of odd degree in certaincases.     

Feedback-controlled electro-kinetic traps for single-molecule spectroscopy

A principal limitation of single-molecule spectroscopy in solution is the diffusion-limited residence time of a given molecule within the detection volume. A common solution to this problem is to immobilize molecules of interest on a passivated glass surface for extending the observation time to obtain reliable data statistics. However, surface tethering of molecules often introduces artifacts, particularly when studying the structural dynamics of biomolecules. To circumvent this limitation, we investigated alternative ways to extend single-molecule observation times in solution without surface immobilization. Among various possibilities, the so-called anti-Brownian electro-kinetic trap (or ABEL trap) seems best suited to achieve this goal. The essential part of that trap is a feedback-controlled electro-kinetic steering of a molecule’s position in reaction to its diffusive Brownian motion which is monitored by fluorescence, thus keeping the molecule within a sub-micron sized detection volume. Fluorescence trace recordings of over thousands of milliseconds duration on individual dye molecules within an ABEL trap have been reported. In this short review, we shall briefly discuss the principle and some results of ABEL trapping of individual molecules with possible extensions to future works.