The Role of Radical Bridges in Polynuclear Single-Molecule Magnets

Employing radical bridges between anisotropic metal ions has been a viable route to achieve high-performance single-molecule magnets (SMMs). While the bridges have been mainly considered for their ability to promote exchange interactions, the crystal-field effect arising from them has not been taken into account explicitly. This lack of consideration may distort the understanding and limit the development of the entire family. To shed light on this aspect, herein we report a theoretical investigation of a series of N -radical-bridged diterbium complexes. It is found that while promoting strong exchange coupling between the terbium ions, the N -radical induces a crystal field that interferes destructively with that of the outer ligands, and thus reduces the overall SMM behavior. Based on the theoretical results, we conclude that the SMM behavior in this series could be further maximized if the crystal field of the outer ligands is designed to be collinear with that of the radical bridge. This conclusion can be generalized to all exchange-coupled SMMs.     

Flow-induced shear stress and deformation of a core–shell-structured microcapsule in a microchannel

A numerical model was developed and validated to investigate the fluid–structure interactions between fully developed pipe flow and core–shell-structured microcapsule in a microchannel. Different flow rates and microcapsule shell thicknesses were considered. A sixth-order rotational symmetric distribution of von Mises stress over the microcapsule shell can be observed on the microcapsule with a thinner shell configuration, especially at higher flow rate conditions. It is also observed that when being carried along in a fully developed pipe flow, the microcapsule with a thinner shell tends to accumulate stress at a higher rate compared to that with a thicker shell. In general, for the same microcapsule configuration, higher flow velocity would induce a higher stress level over the microcapsule shell. The deformation gradient was used to capture the microcapsule's deformation in the present study. The effect of Young's modulus on the microcapsule shell on the microcapsule deformation was investigated as well. Our findings will shed light on the understanding of the stability of core–shell-structured microcapsule when subjected to flow-induced shear stress in a microfluidic system, enabling a more exquisite control over the breakup dynamics of drug-loaded microcapsule for biomedical applications.     

Plasmon Coupling-Induced Hot Electrons for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

We present the fabrication of core-shell-satellite Au@SiO₂-Pt nanostructures and demonstrate that LSPR excitation of the core Au nanoparticle can induce plasmon coupling effect to initiate photocatalytic hydrogen generation from decomposition of formic acid. Further studies suggest that the plasmon coupling effect induces a strong local electric field between the Au core and Pt nanoparticles on the SiO₂ shell, which enables creation of hot electrons on the non-plasmonic-active Pt nanoparticles to participate hydrogen evolution reaction on the Pt surface. In addition, small SiO₂ shell thickness is required in order to obtain a strong plamon coupling effect and achieve efficient photocatalytic activities for hydrogen generation.     

Functional Binding Surface of a β‐Hairpin VEGF Receptor Targeting Peptide Determined by NMR Spectroscopy in Living Cells

In this study, the functional interaction of HPLW peptide with VEGFR2 (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 2) was determined by using fast ¹⁵N‐edited NMR spectroscopic experiments. To this aim, ¹⁵N uniformly labelled HPLW has been added to Porcine Aortic Endothelial Cells. The acquisition of isotope‐edited NMR spectroscopic experiments, including ¹⁵N relaxation measurements, allowed a precise characterization of the in‐cell HPLW epitope recognized by VEGFR2.     

Effect of high intensity ultrasound on gelation properties of silver carp surimi with different salt contents

Surimi from silver carp with different salt contents (0–5%) was obtained treated by high intensity ultrasound (HIU, 100 kHz 91 W·cm⁻²). The gelation properties of samples were evaluated by puncture properties, microstructures, water-holding capacity, dynamic rheological properties and intermolecular interactions. As the salt content increased from 0 to 5%, gel properties of surimi without HIU significantly improved. For samples with low-salt (0–2% NaCl) content, HIU induced obvious enhancement in breaking force and deformation. HIU promoted the protein aggregation linked by SS bonds, hydrophobic interactions and non-disulfide covalent bonds in surimi gels with low-salt content. Moreover, microstructures of HIU surimi gels with low-salt content were more compact than those of the corresponding control samples. HIU also improved the gelation properties of surimi with 3% NaCl to an extent. However, for high-salt (4–5% NaCl) samples, HIU decreased the breaking force and deformation of surimi gels due to the degradation of proteins suggested by increased TCA-soluble peptides. In conclusion, HIU effectively improved the gelation properties of surimi with low-salt content (0–2% NaCl), but was harmful for high-salt (4–5% NaCl) surimi. This might provide the theoretical basis for the production of low-salt surimi gels.     

The mechanism of ethylene polymerization by nickel salicylaldiminato catalysts - Agostic interactions and their kinetic isotope effects

The ethylene polymerization reaction of a neutral nickel catalyst was studied by DFT calculations at the Becke3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. As in related cases a β-agostic bond stabilizes the nickel alkyl ground states. Transition states for the insertion of the olefin show a distinct α-agostic interaction, which has not been observed for late metal polymerization catalysts before. An ethylene-alkyl complex was identified as the resting state of the reaction. The overall barrier height of the reaction amounts to 17.54 kcal/mol, which slightly increases to 17.60 kcal/mol for the polymerization of deuterated ethylene. Therefore, a small positive kinetic isotope effect (k_H/k_D = 1.09) can be calculated, which is caused by the α-agostic interaction in the transition state. A comparison to other late metal based polymerization systems reveals that the ethylene coordination step of highly active catalysts is significantly lower in energy compared to catalysts which are only moderately active.     

Scattering of Laser Light from Mixed Micelles

Dynamic and static scattering of light was employed to investigate mixed micelles of two homologous anionic surfactants-sodium octyl sulfate and sodium hexadecyl sulfate, above the phase boundary temperature and critical micelle concentrations (cmc). The results indicate that the mixed micelles change from prolate to sphcrical as the molar ratio SOS/SHS increases from 1 to 8. Below 1 or above 8, the formation of micelles is due to one surfactant dissolving the other.     

The one-dimensional Hubbard model for large or infiniteU

The magnetic properties of the one-dimensional Hubbard model with a hardcore interaction on a ring (periodic boundary conditions) are investigated. At finite temperatures it is shown to behave up to exponentially small corrections as a pure paramagnet. An explicit expression for the ground-state degeneracies is derived. The eigenstates of this model are used to perform a perlurbational treatment for large but finite interactions. In first order inU ¹ an effective Hamiltonian for the one-dimensional Hubbard model is derived. It is the Hamiltonian of the one-dimensional Hcisenberg model with antiferromagnetic couplings between nearest neighbor spins. An asymptotic expansion for the ground-state energy is given. The results are valid for arbitrary densities of electrons.