The successful sustenance of life demands an ambient abiotic process for N2 activation and dissociation. The Bosch-Haber process remains the only abiotic and synthetic means for N2 activation and its fixation. Metal nanoclusters have been recently reported for activating molecular nitrogen. Interestingly, the metal clusters explored so far for N2 activation are free clusters and, hence, are pra...

Abundance ratios relative to iron for carbon, nitrogen, strontium and barium are presented for a metal-rich main sequence star ([Fe/H]=–0.74) in the globular cluster ω Centauri. This star, designated 2015448, shows depleted carbon and solar nitrogen, but more interestingly, shows an enhanced abundance ratio of strontium [Sr/Fe]≈1.6 dex, while the barium abundance ratio is [Ba/Fe]≤0.6 dex. At th...

Soil microbial communities are structured by biogeochemical processes that occur at many different spatial scales, which makes soil sampling difficult. Because soil microbial communities are important in nutrient cycling and soil fertility, it is important to understand how microbial communities function within the heterogeneous soil landscape. In this study, a self-organizing map was used to d...

We characterized operons encoding enzymes involved in denitrification, a nitrogen-cycling process involved in nitrogen losses and greenhouse gas emission, using a metagenomic approach which combines molecular screening and pyrosequencing. Screening of 77,000 clones from a soil metagenomic library led to the identification and the subsequent characterization of nine denitrification gene clusters.

The absorption and scattering of IR radiation by aqueous ultradisperse systems that absorb nitrogen, oxygen, or argon are studied with the molecular dynamics method on the basis of a flexible molecule model. After nitrogen or argon is captured by an aqueous disperse system, the absorption of the IR radiation by this system increases owing to the enhancement of intramolecular vibrations. It is d...

The C1-compound monomethylamine can serve as a nitrogen, carbon, and energy source for heterotrophic bacteria. The marine alphaproteobacterium Donghicola sp. strain KarMa can use monomethylamine as a source only for nitrogen and not for carbon. Its draft genome sequence is presented here and reveals putative gene clusters for the methylamine dehydrogenase and the N-methylglutamate pathways for ...

The Haber-Bosch process has been the workhorse of ammonia synthesis for more than a century, but its environmental cost instigated search greener methods nitrogen activation. Photocatalysis using doped titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) stands out as promising method. In this work, we explore electronic properties pristine and Ru-loaded TiO clusters activation nitrogen, hydrogen on these clusters. We st...

A method is described which allows the synthesis of nitrogen-substituted hydridododecaborate clusters through Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling.

Physiological adaptation and genome-wide expression profiles of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 in response to gradual transitions between nitrogen-limited and light-limited growth conditions were measured in continuous cultures. Transitions induced changes in pigment composition, light absorption coefficient, photosynthetic electron transport, and specific growth rate. Phy...