Bai Chunli

Force spectroscopy between acetylcholinesterase molecule and its natural substrate to study the effects of inhibitors and reactivators on enzyme activity.

The force spectrum (FS) between acetylcholinesterase (AChE) molecule and its natural substrates acetylcholine (ACh) and the influences of AChE inhibitors and reactivators have been investigated with atomic force microscopy (AFM) at single molecule level in real-time. AChE and ACh were covalently immobilized onto the surfaces of gold-plated mica and Si3N4 tip of the atomic force microscope respectively. First, AChE was imaged in image mode of AFM and one of AChE molecules was selected as the center of the scanning. Then scanning mode was changed into force scanning mode and FS was recorded in a frequency of 5 x s(-1). Solutions of drugs or toxicants can be injected from the fluid-in tube of the fluid cell at any desired time. The FS between ideally immobilized normal AChE, Inhibited AChE or aged AChE and ACh each had their own shape features. The influences of drugs or toxicants on these features could be observed in real-time on the screen of the computer. These results demonstrated that AFM force spectroscopy could be used as a new method to study the effects of drugs and toxicants on the activity of the enzyme in pharmacology and toxicology.

Fractal structure and fractal dimension determination at nanometer scale

Three-dimensional fractures of different fractal dimensions have been constructed with successive random addition algorithm, the applicability of various dimension determination methods at nanometer scale has been studied. As to the metallic fractures, owing to the limited number of slit islands in a slit plane or limited datum number at nanometer scale, it is difficult to use the area-perimeter method or power spectrum method to determine the fractal dimension. Simulation indicates that box-counting method can be used to determine the fractal dimension at nanometer scale. The dimensions of fractures of valve steel 5Cr21Mn9Ni4N have been determined with STM. Results confirmed that fractal dimension varies with direction at nanometer scale. Our study revealed that, as to theoretical profiles, the dependence of frsctal dimension with direction is simply owing to the limited data set number, i.e. the effect of boundaries. However, the dependence of fractal dimension with direction at nanometer scale in real metallic fractures is correlated to the intrinsic characteristics of the materials in addition to the effect of boundaries. The relationship of fractal dimensions with the mechanical properties of materials at macrometer scale also exists at nanometer scale.

STM investigation of surfactant molecules

Adsorption and self-organization of sodium alkyl sulfonates (STS and SHS) have been studied on HOPG by using the in situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Both SHS and STS molecules adsorb on the HOPG surface and form long-range well-ordered monolayers. The neighboring molecules in different rows form a “head to head” configuration. In the high-resolution images of STS and SHS molecules, one end of the molecules shows bright spots which are attributed to the SO3−groups.

Progress on molecular self-assembly of alkanethiols

Molecular self-assembly became an interesting research project which was paid much attention by many scientists. This article briefly tells readers thc suggestion, principle and the newest progresses on self-assembly. It introduces the progresses on molecular self-assembly of alkanethiols in detail.Molecular self-assembly became an interesting research project which was paid much attention by many scientists. This article briefly tells readers thc suggestion, principle and the newest progresses on self-assembly. It introduces the progresses on molecular self-assembly of alkanethiols in detail.

Polarity modified triplex DNA by bromide

ConclusionA py-pu-py triplex DNA containing the polarity modification by replacing the atom H5 of cytosine with Br was examined, mainly for the stability of the formation of the triplex DNA. Our computational results show that the conformation of the strand that contained a replaced H5 by cytosine to Br was destabilized, but the Hoogsteen base pairs were stabilized. Although this approach of modifying the polarity of DNA base has not been tried before, it shows the possibility to improve the stability by the polarity modification.

Roles of Low Energy Electrons in the Fabrication Process Using Scanning Tunnelling Microscope

The effects of low energy electrons in scanning tunnelling microscope operations are explored, with the emphasis on its role in the fabrication processes. A simple model based on the continuum electron diffusion is proposed to account for the observed sub-surface characteristics of the nanoscale features. The results suggest that the local transport properties could affect the outcome of such operations.