Fundamental Linkage Between Structure, Electrochemical Properties, and Chemical Compositions of LiNi1-x-yMnxCoyO2 Cathode Materials
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
SEARCH · Search NASA
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Abstract A series of isomeric bis(alkylthiocarbamate) copper complexes have been synthesized, characterized, and evaluated for antiproliferation activity. The complexes were derived from ligand isomers with 3‐methylpentyl (H 2 L 2 ) and cyclohexyl (H 2 L 3 ) backbone substituents, which each yield a pair of linkage isomers. The thermodynamic products CuL 2a/3a have two imino N and two S donors resulting in three five‐member chelate rings (555 isomers). The kinetic isomers CuL 2b/3b have one imino and one hydrazino N donor and two S donors resulting in four‐, six‐, and five‐member rings (465 isomers). The 555 isomers have more accessible Cu II/I potentials (E 1/2 =−811/−768 mV vs. ferrocenium/ferrocene) and lower energy charge transfer bands than their 465 counterparts (E 1/2 =−923/‐854 mV). Antiproliferation activities were evaluated against the lung adenocarcinoma cell line (A549) and nonmalignant lung fibroblast cell line (IMR‐90) using the MTT assay. CuL 2a was potent ( A549 EC 50 =0.080 μM) and selective ( IMR‐90 EC 50 / A549 EC 50 =25) for A549. Its linkage isomer CuL 2b had equivalent A549 activity, but lower selectivity ( IMR‐90 EC 50 / A549 EC 50 =12.5). The isomers CuL 3a and CuL 3b were less potent with A549 EC 50 values of 1.9 and 0.19 M and less selective with IMR‐90 EC 50 / A549 EC 50 ratios of 2.3 and 2.65, respectively. There was no correlation between reduction potential and A549 antiproliferation activity/selectivity.
This paper introduces Pandora, a parallel algorithm for computing dendrograms, the hierarchical cluster trees for single linkage clustering (SLC). Current parallel approaches construct dendrograms by partitioning a minimum spanning tree and removing edges. However, they struggle with skewed, hard-to-parallelize real-world dendrograms. Consequently, computing dendrograms is the sequential bottleneck in HDBSCAN*[21], a popular SLC variant. Pandora uses recursive tree contraction to address this limitation. Pandora contracts nodes to construct progressively smaller trees. It computes the smallest contracted dendrogram and expands it by inserting contracted edges. This recursive strategy is highly parallel, skew-independent, work-optimal, and well-suited for GPUs and multicores. We develop a performance portable implementation of Pandora in Kokkos[31] and evaluate its performance on multicore CPUs and multi-vendor GPUs (e.g., Nvidia, AMD) for dendrogram construction in HDBSCAN*. Multithreaded Pandora is 2.2x faster than the current best-multithreaded implementation. Our GPU version achieves 6-20x speedup on AMD GPUs and 10-37x on NVIDIA GPUs over multithreaded Pandora. Pandora removes HDBSCAN*’s sequential bottleneck, greatly boosting efficiency, particularly with GPUs.
Abstract Genetic linkage maps based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) represent an essential tool for a variety of genomic analyses. Today, next-generation sequencing (NGS) enables rapid genotyping of different mapping populations based on thousands of SNPs and the construction of highly saturated linkage maps. Nevertheless, missing data in the genotyping of the parental lines creates a bottleneck that determines the number of SNPs that can be used for the linkage map. As a proof of concept, a highly saturated genetic linkage map was constructed using the imputed genotypic data of a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and the limited genotypic information of its parental lines. Two ABH genotype files were created from a pseudo-parental genotypic data set that includes all the SNPs present in the RIL population. In the first ABH file pseudo-parental 1 was considered parental A, while in the second pseudo-parental 1 was considered parental B. These two duplicate ABH genotype files were merged by chromosome and subjected to linkage map analysis. Since the ABH data were duplicated, two mirrored linkage groups were generated per chromosome. The correct linkage map was identified and selected based on the partial genotypic data of the parental lines. This strategy was effective for constructing a highly saturated linkage map of 33,421 SNPs based on the genotyping of 205 RILs and a limited number of 100 SNPs present in the parental lines. This strategy enables the use of all the NGS SNP data obtained from a low-coverage sequencing experiment in the mapping population.
Mixed-linkage glucan, which is widely distributed in grasses, is a polysaccharide highly abundant in cell walls of grass endosperm and young vegetative tissues. Lichenases are enzymes that hydrolyze mixed-linkage glucan first identified in mixed-linkage glucan-rich lichens. In this study, we identify a gene encoding a lichenase we name Brachypodium distachyon LICHENASE 1 (BdLCH1), which is highly expressed in the endosperm of germinating seeds and coleoptiles and at lower amounts in mature shoots. RNA in situ hybridization showed that BdLCH1 is primarily expressed in chlorenchyma cells of mature leaves and internodes. Disruption of BdLCH1 resulted in an eight-fold increase in mixed-linkage glucan content in senesced leaves. Consistent with the in situ hybridization data, immunolocalization results showed that mixed-linkage glucan was not removed in chlorenchyma cells of lch1 mutants as it was in wild type and implicate the BdLCH1 enzyme in removing mixed-linkage glucan in chlorenchyma cells in mature vegetative tissues. We also show that mixed-linkage glucan accumulation in lch1 mutants was resistant to dark-induced degradation, and 8-week-old lch1 plants showed a faster rate of starch breakdown than wild type in darkness. Here our results suggest a role for BdLCH1 in modifying the cell wall to support highly metabolically active cells.
Abstract MA'ATanalysis has been applied to two biologically‐importantO‐glycosidic linkages in two disaccharides, α‐D‐Galp‐(1→3)‐β‐D‐GalpOMe (3) and β‐D‐Galp‐(1→3)‐β‐D‐GalpOMe (4). Using density functional theory (DFT) to obtain parameterized equations relating a group of trans‐O‐glycosidic NMR spin‐couplings to eitherphi(ϕ') orpsi(ψ'), and experimental 3 J COCH , 2 J COC , and 3 J COCC spin‐couplings measured in aqueous solution in 13 C‐labeled isotopomers, probability distributions ofϕ'andψ'in each linkage were determined and compared to those determined by aqueous 1‐μs molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Good agreement was found between theMA'ATand single‐state MD conformational models of these linkages for the most part, with modest (approximately <15°) differences in the mean values ofϕ'andψ', although the envelope of allowed angles (encoded in circular standard deviations or CSDs) is consistently larger forϕ'determined fromMA'ATanalysis than from MD for both linkages. TheMA'ATmodel of the α‐Galp‐(1→3)‐β‐Galplinkage agrees well with those determined previously using conventional NMR methods ( 3 J COCH values and/or 1 H‐ 1 H NOEs), but some discrepancy was observed for the β‐Galp‐(1→3)‐β‐Galplinkage, which may arise from errors in the conventions used to describe the linkage torsion angles. Statistical analyses of X‐ray crystal structures show ranges ofϕ'andψ'for both linkages that include the mean angles determined fromMA'ATanalyses, although both angles adopt a wide range of values in the crystalline state, withϕ'in β‐Galp‐(1→3)‐β‐Galplinkages showing greater‐than‐expected conformational variability.
This paper presents a comparison between the forward and inverse cam generation methods applied to the design of a multi-lobed cam-rocker slider mechanism for function generation. In the forward method, the cam profile is specified directly and then the linkage output is determined using kinematics. In the inverse method, the trajectory of the output link is specified first and then the cam profile is determined using inverse linkage kinematics. First, the cam-linkage mechanism is introduced, and relevant kinematic equations are presented. Then, the cam generation methods are thoroughly explained. Here, the two cam generation methods are applied to a case study of a hydraulic motor using a multi-lobed cam and multiple linkage mechanisms. While the forward method has direct control of the cam shape, the inverse method has direct control of the linkage output and offers an advantage in calculation speed. For the mechanism selected, the cam designed with the inverse method achieved a reduction of at least 50.97% in the torque ripple when compared to the cam designed with the forward method.
Mixed β(1,3;1,4)-linkage glucan (MLG) is commonly found in the monocot lineage, at particularly high levels in the Poaceae family, but also in the evolutionally distant genus, Equisetum. MLG has several properties that make it unique from other plant cell wall polysaccharides. It consists of β1,4-linked polymers of glucose interspersed with β1,3-linkages, but the presence of β1,3-linkages provides quite different physical properties compared to its closest form of the cell wall component, cellulose. The mechanisms of MLG biosynthesis have been investigated to understand whether single or multiple enzymes are required to build mixed linkages in the glucan chain. Currently, MLG synthesis by a single enzyme is supported by mutagenesis analyses of cellulose synthase-like F6, the major MLG synthase, but further investigation is needed to gather mechanistic insights. Because of transient accumulation of MLG in elongating cells and vegetative tissues, several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the role of MLG in the plant cell wall. Studies have been carried out to identify gene expression regulators during development and light cycles as well as enzymes involved in MLG organization in the cell wall. A role of MLG as a storage molecule in grains is evident, but the role of MLG in vegetative tissues is still not well understood. Characterization of a cell wall component is difficult due to the complex heterogeneity of the plant cell wall. Furthermore, as detailed in this review, recent exciting research has made significant impacts in the understanding of MLG biology in plants.
The ability to predict the handling sensitivity of new organic energetic materials has been a longstanding goal. We report the synthesis and characterization of six new nitropicramide energetic materials with mixed functional groups that mimic known explosives such as nitroglycerin, erythritol tetranitrate (ETN), and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). The molecules have been studied theoretically using quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) simulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to identify the weakest bond in the reactants - the trigger-linkages - which control handling sensitivity, and to quantify their specific enthalpies of explosion. In good accord with the drop weight impact sensitivity data, our calculations predict that the sensitivities of the molecules are very similar owing to the small variations of the energy output and rates of trigger linkage rupture. In addition, both the QMD and DFT calculations point to the nitropicramide N–NO 2 bonds as the trigger linkages rather than the more typical O–NO 2 bonds. We propose that the switch of the trigger linkage from the nitrate esters to the nitramine groups arises from the strongly electron withdrawing character of the adjacent trinitrobenzene groups.
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) show great potential for many advanced applications on account of their structural uniqueness. To address the synthetic challenges, facile chemical routes to engineer the porosity, crystallinity, and functionality of COFs are highly sought after. Herein, we report a synthetic approach that employs the Cadogan reaction to introduce nitrogen-containing heterocycles as the linkages in the framework. Irreversible indazole and benzimidazolylidene (BIY) linkages are introduced into COFs for the first time via phosphine-induced reductive cyclization of the common imine linkages following either stepwise or one-pot reaction protocols. Further, the successful linkage transformation introduces new functionalities, as demonstrated in the case of BIY-COF, which displays excellent intrinsic proton conductivity without the need of impregnation with external proton transfer reagents. Such a general strategy will open the window to a broader class of functional porous crystalline materials.
Mixed-linkage (1,3;1,4)-β-glucans, which are widely distributed in cell walls of the grasses, are linear glucose polymers containing predominantly (1,4)-β-linked glucosyl units interspersed with single (1,3)-β-linked glucosyl units. Their distribution in cereal grains and unique structures are important determinants of dietary fibers that are beneficial to human health. We demonstrate that the barley cellulose synthase-like CslF6 enzyme is sufficient to synthesize a high–molecular weight (1,3;1,4)-β-glucan in vitro. Biochemical and cryo–electron microscopy analyses suggest that CslF6 functions as a monomer. A conserved “switch motif” at the entrance of the enzyme’s transmembrane channel is critical to generate (1,3)-linkages. There, a single-point mutation markedly reduces (1,3)-linkage formation, resulting in the synthesis of cellulosic polysaccharides. Our results suggest that CslF6 monitors the orientation of the nascent polysaccharide’s second or third glucosyl unit. Register-dependent interactions with these glucosyl residues reposition the polymer’s terminal glucosyl unit to form either a (1,3)- or (1,4)-β-linkage.
Determining process–structure–property linkages is one of the key objectives in material science, and uncertainty quantification plays a critical role in understanding both process–structure and structure–property linkages. In this work, we seek to learn a distribution of microstructure parameters that are consistent in the sense that the forward propagation of this distribution through a crystal plasticity finite element model matches a target distribution on materials properties. This stochastic inversion formulation infers a distribution of acceptable/consistent microstructures, as opposed to a deterministic solution, which expands the range of feasible designs in a probabilistic manner. Furthermore, to solve this stochastic inverse problem, we employ a recently developed uncertainty quantification framework based on push-forward probability measures, which combines techniques from measure theory and Bayes’ rule to define a unique and numerically stable solution. This approach requires making an initial prediction using an initial guess for the distribution on model inputs and solving a stochastic forward problem. To reduce the computational burden in solving both stochastic forward and stochastic inverse problems, we combine this approach with a machine learning Bayesian regression model based on Gaussian processes and demonstrate the proposed methodology on two representative case studies in structure–property linkages.
Linkages between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have sparked research interest because a better understanding of SDG co-benefits may enable faster progress on multiple sustainability fronts. However, SDG linkages are typically analyzed without considering the technologies used to implement a primary SDG, which may have secondary effects on other SDGs. Here, we outline an approach to study this problem by connecting the industries and services required to produce a technology to the United Nations SDG indicator framework, using SDG7 and four energy technologies as an illustrative case. We find that all technologies in our set involve potential co-benefits with SDGs 1, 8–10, 12–13, and 17, and trade-offs with SDGs 6, 8–9, 11–12, and 14–15. Deployment services primarily induce co-benefits; manufacturing has mixed impacts. Our work sheds light on the technology characteristics (e.g., scale, high- or low-tech) that influence linkages while also pointing to SDG-relevant characteristics not captured by UN indicators.
Despite their many advantages, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) built from three-dimensional monomers are synthetically difficult to functionalize. Herein, we provide a new synthetic approach to the functionalization of a three-dimensional covalent organic framework (COF-300) by using a series of solid-state linkage transformations. By reducing the imine linkages of the framework to amine linkages, we produced a more hydrolytically stable material and liberated a nucleophilic amino group, poised for further functionalization. We then treated the amine-linked COF with diverse electrophiles to generate a library of functionalized materials, which we tested for their ability to adsorb perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water. The framework functionalized with dimethylammonium groups, COF-300-dimethyl, adsorbed more than 250 mg of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) per 1 g of COF, which represents an approximately 14,500-fold improvement over that of COF-300 and underscores the importance of electrostatic interactions to PFAS adsorption performance. In conclusion, this work provides a conceptually new approach to the design and synthesis of functional three-dimensional COFs.
The cell wall of the human bacterial pathogen Group A Streptococcus (GAS) consists of peptidoglycan decorated with the Lancefield group A carbohydrate (GAC). GAC is a promising target for the development of GAS vaccines. In this study, employing chemical, compositional, and NMR methods, we show that GAC is attached to peptidoglycan via glucosamine 1-phosphate. This structural feature makes the GAC-peptidoglycan linkage highly sensitive to cleavage by nitrous acid and resistant to mild acid conditions. Using this characteristic of the GAS cell wall, we identify PplD as a protein required for deacetylation of linkage N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc). X-ray structural analysis indicates that PplD performs catalysis via a modified acid/base mechanism. Genetic surveys in silico together with functional analysis indicate that PplD homologs deacetylate the polysaccharide linkage in many streptococcal species. We further demonstrate that introduction of positive charges to the cell wall by GlcNAc deacetylation protects GAS against host cationic antimicrobial proteins.
Increasing wildfire regimes in the rapidly changing Arctic tundra are altering the soil carbon budget through increased permafrost degradation, shrubs expansion, and shifts in microbial activities. Whether future arctic wildfires will result in net C losses or gains in the future will depend on complex biotic and abiotic interactions that regulate belowground C biogeochemical processes, including linkages among biotic communities. One important linkage is plant-microbe interactions. While these interactions are likely shaped or altered by wildfires, they remain little explored in the context of successional trajectories. Yet, incorporating plant-microbe interactions in frameworks for defining and understanding post-fire soil C trajectories is critical to predict belowground C responses to future tundra wildfires. Here, we provide examples of and discuss how fire-mediated changes in plant-soil-microbe (PSM) interactions can impact soil C dynamics in the Arctic tundra. We consider different impacts of wildfires on PSM interactions and their implications to soil C dynamics, as well as the nuances associated with particular wildfire regimes (severity and intensity) and successional timescales. We suggest that accounting for plant-microbial linkages in future wildfire-succession interactions frameworks can inform future experimental designs and reduce uncertainties in our ability to predict the net effect of Arctic wildfires on ecosystem C.
The goal of this work is to assess the mechanistic bases of natural genetic variations in plant responses of photosynthesis to stress. To achieve this goal, we devised the Linkage Integration Hypothesis Testing (LIgHT) approach, comparing chromosomal locations of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for multiple phenotypes to distinguish between hypothetical mechanisms. As a use case, we explored genetic variations in photosynthesis-related processes under chilling stress in recombinant inbred lines of cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.). We focused on photosynthesis-related parameters measurable in high throughput and indicative of proposed chilling responses, including the states of PSI and PSII, photoprotective non-photochemical quenching, PSII photodamage, and nyctinastic leaf movements (NLMs). The patterns of QTL linkages indicated that chilling stress tolerance is genetically controlled by avoiding PSII photodamage rather than PSI damage or NLMs. This model was validated in a separate experiment measuring the rates of PSII photodamage and repair. Additional linkages suggest that chilling-induced damage to PSII is controlled by the thylakoid proton motive force and redox state of PSII. This regulation appears to be modulated by thylakoid fatty acid composition, previously associated with the same genetic loci and now supported by broader mechanistic evidence. We propose that the LIgHT approach can be broadly applied to test mechanisms underlying genetic variations.
Lignin may serve as a renewable feedstock for the production of chemicals and fuels if mild, scalable processes for its depolymerization can be devised. The use of small organic thiols represents a bioinspired strategy to cleave the β–O–4 bond, the most common linkage in lignin. In the present study, synthetic β–O–4 linked polymers were treated with organic thiols, yielding up to 90 % cleaved monomer products. Lignin extracted from poplar was also treated with organic thiols resulting in molecular weight reductions as high as 65 % (Mn) in oxidized lignin. Thiol–based cleavage of other lignin linkages was also explored in small–molecule model systems to uncover additional potential pathways by which thiols might depolymerize lignin. The success of thiol–mediated cleavage on model dimers, polymers, and biomass–derived lignin illustrates the potential utility of small redox–active molecules to penetrate complex polymer matrices for depolymerization and subsequent valorization of lignin into fuels and chemicals.