A new templating motif for the formation of [2]pseudorotaxanes is described in which rigid, Y-shaped axles with an imidazolium core and aromatic substituents at the 2-, 4- and 5-positions interact with [24]crown-8 ether wheels ([24]crown-8 and dibenzo[24]crown-8). The Y-shape of the axle significantly enhances the association between axle and wheel when compared to simple imidazolium cations.

A theoretical study of the beryllium bonds in BeR2:C6X6 (R = H, F, Cl and X = H and F) has been carried out by means of MP2/aug'-cc-pVDZ computational methods. In addition, the ternary complexes BeR2:C6X6:Y- (Y = Cl and Br) have been analyzed. Geometric, energetic and electronic aspects of the complexes have been taken into account. All the parameters analyzed provide a clear indication of favo...

Though often considered as one of the main driving process of the complexation of species of opposite charges, the release of counterions has never been experimentally directly measured. We present here the first structural determination of such a release by Small Angle Neutron Scattering in complexes made of lysozyme, a positively charged protein and of PSS, a negatively charged polyelectrolyt...

By molecular dynamics simulations, we investigated the transport of charged polymers in applied electric fields in confining environments, which were straight cylinders of uniform or non-uniform diameter. In the simulations, the solvent was modeled explicitly and, also, the counterions and coions of added salt. The electrophoretic velocities of charged chains in relation to electrolyte friction...

Concentrations of organic acids in prebiotic soils were presumably low, given limitations in abiotic synthesis and the limited lifetimes of organic molecules before the ultraviolet shield developed on early Earth. Prokaryotes, the first landcolonizing organisms, commonly secrete aliphatic carboxylic acids, and, less extensively, secrete aromatic compounds as siderophores and antibiotics. In con...

A simple model is presented for the appearance of attraction between two like-charged polyions inside a polyelectrolyte solution. The polyions are modeled as rigid cylinders in a continuum dielectric solvent. The strong electrostatic interaction between the polyions and the counterions results in counterion condensation. If the two polyions are sufficiently close to each other their layers of c...

The parameters derived from previously published (M. Luksicet al., Macromolecules, 2009, 42, 4337-4342) dielectric spectra of aqueous solutions of aliphatic 3,3-, 4,5-, 6,6-, and 6,9-ionene bromides and fluorides were analyzed within the existing models for the fast counterion-relaxation process. By fitting the Poisson-Boltzmann results to the experimental data for the osmotic coefficients of t...

When immersed into water, most solids develop a surface charge, which is neutralized by an accumulation of dissolved counterions at the interface. Although the density distribution of counterions perpendicular to the interface obeys well-established theories, little is known about counterions' lateral organization at the surface of the solid. Here we show, by using atomic force microscopy and c...

Conformational properties of a single flexible polyelectrolyte chain in a poor solvent are studied using constant temperature molecular dynamics simulation. The effects of counterions are explicitly taken in to account. Structural properties of various phases and the transition between these phases are studied by tracking the values of asphericity, radius of gyration, fraction of condensed coun...

We have explored morphology of DNA molecules bound with Cu complexes of piroxicam (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) molecules under one-dimensional confinement of thin films and have studied the effect of counterions present in a buffer. X-ray reflectivity at and away from the Cu K absorption edge and atomic force microscopy studies reveal that confinement segregates the drug molecules p...