Related papers: Molecular mechanisms driving the microgels behavio…
In this work we monitor the catalytic mechanism of P-glycoprotein (Pgp) using single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Pgp, a member of the ATP binding cassette family of transport proteins, is found in the plasma…
We present molecular dynamics simulations of a simple model for polymer melts with intramolecular barriers. We investigate structural relaxation as a function of the barrier strength. Dynamic correlators can be consistently analyzed within…
Development of the new antimicrobial agents against antibiotic resistance pathogens is the nowadays challenge. Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) occur as important defence agents in many organisms and offer a viable alternative to conventional…
From the microscopic scale to the petroleum-reservoir scale, the interfacial phenomena of the crude oil-water-rock system crucially control an immiscible flow in a porous reservoir. One of the key mechanisms is crude oil droplet…
Biological systems achieve adaptive mechanical responses through reaction-diffusion processes that couple chemical wave propagation to structural transitions. Although synthetic hydrogels with enzymatic reactions offer a platform for…
Microgels are often discussed as well-suited model system for soft colloids. In contrast to rigid spheres, the microgel volume and, coupled to this, the volume fraction in dispersion can be manipulated by external stimuli. This behavior is…
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are typically low in nonpolar/hydrophobic but relatively high in polar, charged, and aromatic amino acid compositions. Some IDPs undergo liquid-liquid phase separation in the aqueous milieu of the…
Micron-sized hard core-soft shell hybrid microgels are promising model systems for studies of soft matter as they enable in-situ optical investigations and their structures/morphologies can be engineered with a great variety. Yet, protocols…
Unstructured proteins can modulate cellular responses to environmental conditions by undergoing coil-globule transitions and phase separation. However, the molecular mechanisms of these phenomena still need to be fully understood. Here, we…
The activity of metal catalysts depends sensitively on dynamic structural changes that occur during operating conditions. The mechanistic understanding underlying such transformations in small Pt nanoparticles (NPs) of $\sim1-5$ nm in…
Mechanically interlocked polymers (MIPs) are a novel class of polymer structures in which the components are connected by mechanical bonds instead of covalent bonds. We measure the single-molecule rheological properties of polyrotaxanes,…
The electrostatic complexation between DOTAP-DOPC unilamellar liposomes and an oppositely charged polyelectrolyte (NaPA) has been investigated in a wide range of the liposome surface charge density. We systematically characterized the…
Ultrafast non-equilibrium dynamics offer a route to study the microscopic interactions that govern macroscopic behavior. In particular, photo-induced phase transitions (PIPTs) in solids provide a test case for how forces, and the resulting…
Cells make use of semi-flexible biopolymers such as actin or intermediate filaments to control their local viscoelastic response by dynamically adjusting the concentration and type of cross-linker molecules. The microstructure of the…
The use of ultrafast pump-probe conductivity (PPC) for studies of photoelectron dynamics in nonpolar molecular liquids has been based upon the perturbation of geminate recombination dynamics of trapped electrons by their laser…
In modern applications of heterogeneous liquid-phase nanocatalysis, the catalysts (e.g., metal nanoparticles) need to be typically affixed to a colloidal carrier system for stability and easy handling. "Passive carriers" (e.g., simple…
Microgels are complex macromolecules. These colloid-sized polymer networks possess internal degrees of freedom and, depending on the polymer(s) they are made of, can acquire a responsiveness to variations of the environment (temperature,…
We investigated the surface structure of hydrogels of poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA) hydrogels synthesized and cross-linked simultaneously by redox free radical polymerization. We demonstrate the existence of a less cross-linked layer…
Nitrogen-bearing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (N-PAHs) are key precursors to complex organic molecules in both the interstellar medium and the nitrogen-rich planetary atmospheres. Despite the recent detections of nitrogen-functionalized…
The diffusion of molecules (penetrants) of variable size, shape, and chemistry through dense crosslinked polymer networks is a fundamental scientific problem that is broadly relevant in materials, polymer, physical and biological chemistry.…