Two coupled polymer gels, showing volume oscillation caused by the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction, were investigated to understand the system composed of mechanically coupled chemical oscillators. The two gels were connected with a movable plastic sheet in between and placed under constant compression. Synchronization between two identical gels occurred in a range of compression ratios. The phase difference between the two oscillating gels was not zero; instead, they showed alternate swelling-deswelling oscillations. Similar phenomena were also observed with gels of different sizes and natural oscillation periods. The experimental results suggest that a physical change in one gel can lead to a chemical change in the other and vice versa. These results were qualitatively reproduced by a mathematical model based on coupled chemical oscillators.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b00873 | DOI Listing |
Natl Sci Rev
January 2025
School of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China.
The incorporation of polymeric insulators has led to notable achievements in the field of organic semiconductors. By altering the blending concentration, polymeric insulators exhibit extensive capabilities in regulating molecular configuration, film crystallinity, and mitigation of defect states. However, current research suggests that the improvement in such physical properties is primarily attributed to the enhancement of thin film morphology, an outcome that seems to be an inevitable consequence of incorporating insulators.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurochemical signals like dopamine (DA) play a crucial role in a variety of brain functions through intricate interactions with other neuromodulators and intracellular signaling pathways. However, studying these complex networks has been hindered by the challenge of detecting multiple neurochemicals simultaneously. To overcome this limitation, we developed a single-protein chemigenetic DA sensor, HaloDA1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe human heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) A1 is a prototypical RNA-binding protein essential in regulating a wide range of post-transcriptional events in cells. As a multifunctional protein with a key role in RNA metabolism, deregulation of its functions has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases, tumour aggressiveness and chemoresistance, which has fuelled efforts to develop novel therapeutics that modulates its RNA binding activities. Here, using a combination of Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations and graph neural network pockets predictions, we showed that hnRNPA1 N-terminal RNA binding domain (UP1) contains several cryptic pockets capable of binding small molecules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Cytoplasmic proteins must recruit to membranes to function in processes such as endocytosis and cell division. Many of these proteins recognize not only the chemical structure of the membrane lipids, but the curvature of the surface, binding more strongly to more highly curved surfaces, or 'curvature sensing'. Curvature sensing by amphipathic helices is known to vary with membrane bending rigidity, but changes to lipid composition can simultaneously alter membrane thickness, spontaneous curvature, and leaflet symmetry, thus far preventing a systematic characterization of lipid composition on such curvature sensing through either experiment or simulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall
January 2025
School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530004, China.
The construction of coupled electrolysis systems utilizing renewable energy sources for electrocatalytic nitrate reduction and sulfion oxidation reactions (NORR and SOR), is considered a promising approach for environmental remediation, ammonia production, and sulfur recovery. Here, a simple chemical dealloying method is reported to fabricate a hierarchical porous multi-metallic spinel MFeO (M═Ni, Co, Fe, Mn) dual-functional electrocatalysts consisting of Mn-doped porous NiFeO/CoFeO heterostructure networks and Ni/Co/Mn co-doped FeO nanosheet networks. The excellent NORR with high NH Faradaic efficiency of 95.
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