The Journal of Physical Chemistry B

Capillary action in microchannels, a well-established phenomenon, plays a significant role in various applications, such as the extraction of reagents and heat dissipation. However, multilevel microstructures on the inner wall are often required to achieve flexible capillary effect in thin tubes, and their performance is frequently hindered by the presence of bubbles. Modulating capillary behavio…

Adsorption kinetics plays a key role in numerous industrial applications, including gas separation by molecular sieving, water purification, gas storage, and TSA processes. It is accompanied by adsorption-induced deformation, in which molecules adsorbed onto the pore surfaces generate stress, resulting in dimensional changes in the material. Among other things, they control the permeability of co…

Water-in-salt electrolytes (WiSEs) hold broad prospects in the field of electrochemical energy storage due to their advantages such as high safety and wide electrochemical windows. Recently, it was reported that the addition of ionic liquids (ILs) into WiSE can effectively improve the solubility of lithium salts and electrochemical stability. However, the related mechanism and microstructure rema…

Structure and dynamics of proteins are key to understanding their roles in biological systems and provide a framework for rational development of novel therapeutics. Here, we combine NMR chemical shifts (CSs), X-ray crystal structures, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to characterize the extracellular domain of human tissue factor, i.e., soluble tissue factor (sTF), a protein that is invol…

When colloidal particles are added to a two-phase system such that the minority phase forms capillary bridges between the particles, then─above the percolation threshold─a strong gel is formed. We focus on an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) composed of dextran-water-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) with dispersed silica particles that are preferentially wetted by the minority PEG-rich phase. This ATPS…

The continuous miniaturization and high integration of integrated circuits (ICs) make low-dielectric constant (low-<i>k</i>) materials a critical bottleneck for further performance enhancement. This study explores magnolol, a biobased compound extracted from the natural plant Magnolia officinalis, as a novel dielectric material. Compared to traditional fossil-based dielectric materials, this new …

Environmentally ubiquitous microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) can be breathed in and travel through the branching air passages to reach the alveoli, where they initially come in contact with the pulmonary/lung surfactant monolayer, the most crucial structure for maintaining optimum respiratory mechanics. Examining the minimum concentration of NPs necessary to impact the physiochemistry of…

This study demonstrates the interaction of a green pigment, Chlorophyll <i>a</i> (Chl <i>a</i>), in the microenvironments of two different pluronic triblock copolymers (TBPs), P123 and F127, upon encapsulation into polymeric micelle. TBP micelles are nontoxic and quite efficient for the stabilization of this particular plant pigment, which is poorly soluble in water. In present investigation, exp…

Directing photodynamic action toward the Type-I pathway requires suppressing singlet oxygen formation. A key strategy employs strongly coupled multichromophoric systems, but this is counteracted by accelerated nonradiative decay that hinders intersystem crossing (ISC). Herein, we address this issue through the rational design of asymmetric boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dimers. Through a combinati…

Histone-DNA interactions define the fundamental building blocks of chromatin, yet their physicochemical organization is most often interpreted through structural and electrostatic descriptors. Here, we apply the Protocol for Assigning a Residue's Character on a Hydropathy (PARCH) scale to multiple aspects of the nucleosome that are critical for DNA packaging, providing a residue-resolved, environ…

[4Fe-4S] clusters in proteins typically occur in three distinct redox states: the oxidized state ([4Fe-4S]³⁺), the semireduced state ([4Fe-4S]²⁺), and the reduced state ([4Fe-4S]¹⁺). Consequently, proteins containing these clusters could exhibit two distinct redox transitions: the low-potential transition (LPT: [4Fe-4S]¹⁺/[4Fe-4S]²⁺) and the …

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been widely explored for applications ranging from drug delivery to energy conversion. To evaluate their potential as drug-delivery agents, it is essential to understand the molecular mechanisms governing their interactions with, and possible transport across, cell membranes. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations provide a powerful framework for probing these processes …

To characterize the transformation process of ACP to HAP (ACP-HAP) regulated by poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), an in situ fluorescence dualprobe method was established using Eu³⁺ and tetracarboxylic acid tetraphenylethylene (TCPE). Based on the principles of the Eu³⁺ hypersensitive transition matching the asymmetry of the crystal field environment and the aggregation-induced emis…

The escalating crisis of multidrug-resistant bacteria demands a new generation of antibiotics. Glycocin F (GccF), a potent bacteriocin, is a promising candidate, but its function hinges on unique post-translational glycosylation. Intriguingly, a seemingly minor chemical tweak of α-methylation at Ser18 of GccF destroys its activity, reducing its potency by 1000-fold. To quantify how this subtle ch…

To probe the detailed structural evolution of molecules in lipid membranes provides critical information for understanding the biophysics in cells. This study employed second harmonic generation (SHG) plus two-photon fluorescence (TPF) and SHG plus bright field imaging techniques to monitor the structural evolution of a giant unilamellar vesicle (GUV) composed of cardiolipin under hyperosmotic st…

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are present in human blood at concentrations that lead to health risks. Despite the urgency to understand the molecular mechanism underlying PFAS toxicity, studies on the interaction of proteins with PFAS are scarce. Here, we combine circular dichroism with linear and 2D infrared spectroscopy to investigate the effect of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) on …