3D self-assembled polar . non-polar NiO nanoparticles nanoengineered from turbostratic Ni(OH)(NO) and ordered β-Ni(OH) intermediates.

A surfactant-free ammonia and carbamide precursor-modulated engineering of self-assembled flower-like 3D NiO nanostructures based on ordered β-Ni(OH) and turbostratic Ni(OH)(NO) nanoplate-structured intermediates is reported. By employing complementary structural and spectroscopic techniques, fundamental insights into structural and chemical transformations from intermediates to NiO nanoparticles (NPs) are provided. FTIR, Raman and DSC analyses show that the transformation of intermediates to NiO NPs involves subsequent loss of NO and OH species through a double-step phase transformation at 306 and 326 °C corresponding to the loss of free interlayer ions and HO species, respectively, followed by the loss of chemically bonded OH and NO ions.

Correlating fluorescence microscopy, optical and magnetic tweezers to study single chiral biopolymers such as DNA.

Biopolymer topology is critical for determining interactions inside cell environments, exemplified by DNA where its response to mechanical perturbation is as important as biochemical properties to its cellular roles. The dynamic structures of chiral biopolymers exhibit complex dependence with extension and torsion, however the physical mechanisms underpinning the emergence of structural motifs upon physiological twisting and stretching are poorly understood due to technological limitations in correlating force, torque and spatial localization information. We present COMBI-Tweez (Combined Optical and Magnetic BIomolecule TWEEZers), a transformative tool that overcomes these challenges by integrating optical trapping, time-resolved electromagnetic tweezers, and fluorescence microscopy, demonstrated on single DNA molecules, that can controllably form and visualise higher order structural motifs including plectonemes.

Hydrogel Cross-Linking via Thiol-Reactive Pyridazinediones.

Thiol-reactive Michael acceptors are commonly used for the formation of chemically cross-linked hydrogels. In this paper, we address the drawbacks of many Michael acceptors by introducing pyridazinediones as new cross-linking agents. Through the use of pyridazinediones and their mono- or dibrominated analogues, we show that the mechanical strength, swelling ratio, and rate of gelation can all be controlled in a pH-sensitive manner.

lattice adaptivity triggered by solid-gas reactions of cationic group 7 pincer complexes.

The group 7 complexes [M(κ-2,6-(RPO)CHN)(CO)L][BAr] [M = Mn, R = Pr, L = THF; M = Re, R = Bu, L = vacant site] undergo solid-gas reactivity with CO to form the products of THF substitution or CO addition respectively. There is a large, local, adaptive change of [BAr] anions for M = Mn, whereas for M = Re the changes are smaller and also remote to the site of reactivity.

Protein splicing of the three Pyrococcus abyssi ribonucleotide reductase inteins.

An intein is a polypeptide that interrupts the functional domains of a protein, called the exteins. The intein can facilitate its own excision from the exteins, concomitant with the ligation of the exteins, in a process called protein splicing. The alpha subunit of the ribonucleotide reductase of the extreme thermophile Pyrococcus abyssi is interrupted by three inteins in separate insertion sites.