Atomic‐Scale Spectroscopic Imaging of the Extreme‐UV Optical Response of B‐ and N‐Doped Graphene

Substitutional doping of graphene by impurity atoms such as boron and nitrogen, followed by atom‐by‐atom manipulation via scanning transmission electron microscopy, can allow for accurate tailoring of its electronic structure, plasmonic response, and even the creation of single atom devices. Beyond the identification of individual dopant atoms by means of “Z contrast” imaging, spectroscopic characterization is needed to understand the modifications induced in the electronic structure and plasmonic response. Here, atomic scale spectroscopic imaging in the extreme UV‐frequency band is demonstrated. Characteristic and energy‐loss‐dependent contrast changes centered on individual dopant atoms are highlighted. These effects are attributed to local dopant‐induced modifications of the electronic structure and are shown to be in excellent agreement with calculations of the associated densities of states.     

Preservation of EDTA-expanded grid-mounted chromosomes and nuclei for electron microscopy using a specially designed freeze-dryer

We describe methods for freezing and drying EDTA-expanded, fixed metaphase chromosomes and nuclei, attached to grids as whole-mounts, for transmission electron microscopy. These methods use a special apparatus that is simple to construct. While separate freezers and dryers are commercially available, one for freezing blocks of tissue by slamming them against a cold metal surface, and the other for vacuum drying the frozen tissue, our apparatus is designed for gentler, cryogenic liquid plunge freezing and drying, sequentially, in the same apparatus, thus avoiding any compression or damage to the sepcimen. Use of a cryoprotectant is not essential; however, good results are obtained more often when 20% ethanol is used. Freezing is accomplished by rapid propulsion of the grid, with specimens attached, into slushy N₂ (-210°C) within the drying chamber; drying is automatic, by either sublimation under vacuum or by solvent substitution using absolute ethanol followed by acetone, which, in turn, is removed with a critical-point dryer. The apparatus offers a means of drying chromosomes and nuclei in an expanded state, and avoids the shrinkage of these structures that occurs during stepwise passage through increasing concentrations of ethanol or acetone.     

Behavioral discrimination between quinine and KCl is dependent on input from the seventh cranial nerve: implications for the functional roles of the gustatory nerves in rats

The rat glossopharyngeal nerve (GL), which innervates posterior tongue taste buds, contains several physiologically defined taste fiber types; at least one type is primarily responsive to certain alkaloids (such as quinine), and another is primarily responsive to acids and salts. In contrast, the chorda tympani (CT), which innervates anterior tongue taste buds, does not appear to contain fibers that differentially respond to quinine relative to salts and acids. It was therefore predicted that GL transection should disrupt behavioral discriminations between quinine and either acids or salts. Water-restricted rats were trained to press one of two levers if a sampled taste stimulus was quinine (0.1-1.0 mM) and the second lever if the sampled stimulus was KCl (0.1-1.0 M). Sham surgery, GL transection, and sublingual and submaxillary salivary gland extirpation were found to have no effect relative to presurgical performance. Both CT transection and combined GL and CT transection caused a substantial and approximately equal decrement in discrimination performance. Removal of the gustatory branches of the seventh cranial nerve [CT and greater superficial petrosal (GSP)] nearly eliminated the discrimination of the taste stimuli, and combined transection of the CT, GL, and GSP unequivocally reduced performance to chance levels. Although these findings were not presaged by the known electrophysiology, they nonetheless compare favorably with other studies reporting little effect of GL transection on behavioral responses to quinine. These results, in the context of other discrimination studies reported in the literature, suggest that, in rats, the neural coding of taste quality depends primarily on the input of the facial nerve.     

Ionic association of Ce(IV)-decatungstate in the context of heteroatom reduction

The kinetics of single electron heteroatom reduction in Ce(IV)-decatungstate anion is demonstrated to be strongly dependent on the nature of the supporting electrolyte cation. DC polarography reveals an increase of both reduction rate at a positively charged mercury electrode and a limiting diffusion current in the Li⁺…Cs⁺ sequence. Both effects look anomalous in the framework of traditional concepts of electrode kinetics. To clarify the nature of these observations, ionic association of Ce(IV)-decatungstate with various alkali metal cations was addressed experimentally by means of the potentiometric technique. Finally, our self-consistent interpretation of various cation nature effects rests on a difference in the number of bound cations and their location around the polyanion. The ionic association is modeled by using the results of DFT calculations of the CeW₁₀ anion, non-local electrostatics and an extended version of the Bjerrum model.