Lanthanide-lanthanide bonds are exceptionally rare, and dimetallofullerenes provide a unique possibility to stabilize and study these unusual bonding patterns. The presence of metal-metal bonds and consequences thereof for the electronic properties of M2@C82 (M = Sc, Er, Lu) are addressed by electrochemistry, electron paramagnetic resonance, SQUID magnetometry and other spectroscopic techniques...

Cation-π interactions were systematically investigated for the adsorption of H+ and alkali metal cations M+ to pyrene by means of Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) and density functional theory (DFT). The main aims were to determine the preferred adsorption sites and how the microhydration shell influences the adsorption process. The preferred adsorption sites were characterized in terms...

Brassica juncea is promising for metal phytoremediation, but little is known about the functional role of most metal transporters in this plant. The functional characterization of two B. juncea cation-efflux family proteins BjCET3 and BjCET4 is reported here. The two proteins are closely related to each other in amino acid sequence, and are members of Group III of the cation-efflux transporters...

Integrin α4β7 mediates rolling and firm adhesion of leucocytes, two of the critical steps in leukocyte migration and tissue specific homing. Affinity of α4β7 for ligand is dynamically regulated by three interlinked metal ion-binding sites in β7-subunit I domain. In this study, we found that Phe185 (F185), a highly conserved aromatic residue in β7-subunit, links the specificity-determining loop ...

Transition metal-ion complexation is essential to the function and structural stability of many proteins. We studied silver complexation with the octarepeat motif ProHisGlyGlyGlyTrpGlyGln of the prion protein, which shows competitive sites for metal chelation including amide, indole and imidazole groups. This octapeptide is known as a favourable transition metal binding site in prion protein. W...

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and solid-state 15N nuclear magnetic resonance (15N-NMR) spectroscopies were used to characterize the structure and relative strength of the interactions between metal sulfonate and amide groups in blends of lightly sulfonated polystyrene ionomers and an N-methylated polyamide, poly(N,N′-dimethylethylene sebacamide), and ...

Many commercially important catalysts consist of small metal particles dispersed on inorganic oxide surfaces. Although in most cases there is no significant interaction between the metal and the support, strong bonding can be demonstrated in a recently discovered class of supported-metal catalysts. These cases typically involve group VIII metals dispersed on transition metal oxides whose surfac...

Recently a group of two-dimensional materials called MXenes have been discovered and they have demonstrated their potential in Li rechargeable batteries. Herein, the Na storage and ion migration properties of M2C-type MXenes (M = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Nb, Mo) were investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and were compared to the Li case. Based on the average voltage...