The imidazole unit is chemically stable and ubiquitous in biological systems; its proton donor and acceptor moieties easily bind molecules into a dipolar chain. Here we demonstrate that chains of these amphoteric molecules can often be bistable in electric polarity and electrically switchable, even in the crystalline state, through proton tautomerization. Polarization-electric field (P-E) hyste...

Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions play an essential role in a broad range of energy conversion processes, including photosynthesis and respiration. These reactions also form the basis of many types of solar fuel cells and electrochemical devices. Recent advances in the theory of PCET enable the prediction of the impact of system properties on the reaction rates. These prediction...

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were exposed to 3 MeV protons at fluences of 6 10, 4 10 and 1 10 protons/cm. The drain saturation currents decreased by 20% and the maximum transconductance decreased by 5% at the highest fluence. As the fluence increased, the threshold voltage shifted more positive values. After proton irradiation, the gate leakage current increased. The Sch...

An expanded series of π-bound molybdenum-quinonoid complexes supported by pendant phosphines has been synthesized. These compounds formally span three protonation-oxidation states of the quinonoid fragment (catechol, semiquinone, quinone) and two different oxidation states of the metal (Mo(0), Mo(II)), notably demonstrating a total of two protons and four electrons accessible in the system. Pre...

Electrical field changes across the function membrane of photosynthesis have been measured via special absorption changes. These occur by the action of the field on pigments which are located within the membrane. — Proton translocation has been measured by absorption changes of added pH indicators. Repetitive flash technique has been used for the sensitive detection of these absorp­ tion change...

Recent work on understanding why protons migrate with increasing temperature in short, strong hydrogen bonds is extended here to three more organic, crystalline systems. Inelastic neutron scattering and density functional theory based simulations are used to investigate structure, vibrations, and dynamics of these systems as functions of temperature. The mechanism determined in a previous work ...

Understanding the photoinduced dynamics of fluorescent proteins is essential for their applications in bioimaging. Despite numerous studies on the ultrafast dynamics, the delayed response of these proteins, which often results in population of kinetically trapped dark states of various origins, is largely unexplored. Here, by using transient absorption spectroscopy spanning the time scale from ...

The mechanisms of three protocellular functions have been studied using molecular modeling techniques. These functions are (1) the transport of ions across membranes, (2) the formation of photoactivated proton gradient that could drive chemical synthesis in the protocell, and (3) the organization of small peptides necessary for catalytic activity. In all these processes, membranes play an essen...

Photoisomerization of the retinal of bacteriorhodopsin initiates a cyclic reaction in which a proton is translocated across the membrane. Studies of this protein promise a better understanding of how ion pumps function. Together with a large amount of spectroscopic and mutational data, the atomic structure of bacteriorhodopsin, determined in the last decade at increasing resolutions, has sugges...