Effect of B2O3 on the structural and in vitro biological assessment of mesoporous bioactive glass nanospheres

In this paper, the boron-containing mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG) nanospheres have been successfully synthesized by modified sol-gel method assisted by surfactant, and the effect of boron substitution on structure and bioactivity was evaluated by combining experiments and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations. All of the samples exhibit regularly uniform mesoporous spherical microstructure with an average size of about 60 nm, and the boron-containing MBGs show higher specific surface area with the value up to 416.20 m²/g. The simulated body fluid (SBF) immersion test confirms that the deposited hydroxyapatite (HA) evidently increases with the increasing of boron content, indicating that the biological behavior has been significantly improved resulting from incorporation of boron. Additionally, our results also reveal that B₂O₃ substitution has positive impact on cell proliferation of human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs) at lower extracted concentration. Furthermore, AIMD simulation is employed to understand the relationship between structural changes and in vitro bioactivity in terms of structural information, especially the boron coordination number. The results illustrate that the boron-containing MBG nanospheres with excellent bioactivity are great potential for biomedical applications.     

Nitroarenes as Antitubercular Agents: Stereoelectronic Modulation to Mitigate Mutagenicity

Nitroarenes are less preferred in drug discovery due to their potential to be mutagenic. However, several nitroarenes were shown to be promising antitubercular agents with specific modes of action, namely, nitroimidazoles and benzothiazinones. The nitro group in these compounds is activated through different mechanisms, both enzymatic and non‐enzymatic, in mycobacteria prior to binding to the target of interest. From a whole‐cell screening program, we identified a novel lead nitrobenzothiazole (BT) series that acts by inhibition of decaprenylphosphoryl‐β‐d ‐ribose 2′‐epimerase (DprE1) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The lead was found to be mutagenic to start with. Our efforts to mitigate mutagenicity resulted in the identification of 6‐methyl‐7‐nitro‐5‐(trifluoromethyl)‐1,3‐benzothiazoles (cBTs), a novel class of antitubercular agents that are non‐mutagenic and exhibit an improved safety profile. The methyl group ortho to the nitro group decreases the electron affinity of the series, and is hence responsible for the non‐mutagenic nature of these compounds. Additionally, the co‐crystal structure of cBT in complex with Mtb DprE1 established the mode of binding. This investigation led to a new non‐mutagenic antitubercular agent and demonstrates that the mutagenic nature of nitroarenes can be solved by modulation of stereoelectronic properties.     

Insights from ab initio molecular dynamics simulations for a multicomponent oxide glass

It remains a challenge to establish structural models of multicomponent oxide glass systems. In this study, we have investigated 68.3SiO₂–16.1B₂O₃–4.2Al₂O₃–11.4Na₂O glass and melt structures by ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations. The atomic configurations obtained from AIMD simulations were validated against ¹⁷O solid‐state NMR spectrum under 24.0 T and neutron diffraction data, and excellent agreement was achieved. The bond lengths, angles, and coordination geometries were statistically analyzed for each atomic species. Here we particularly address the role of minor atomic species such as five‐coordinate Si (Si^V) and Al (Al^V). The Si^V–O bond lengths and O–Si^V–O angle distribution in the glass indicated 1.718 Å and three peaks at 90°, 120°, and 175°, which are assigned to a coordination geometry of the trigonal bipyramidal structure. Ring statistic analysis revealed that Si^V and Al^V were found to preferentially contribute to the formation of small ring sizes.     

Ab initio computations of one and two hydrogen or deuterium atoms in the palladium tetrahedral site

We report ab initio cluster computations of deuterium atoms in a tetrahedral palladium site, performed at the UHF level with extended basis sets. An interstitial deuteron is found to be energetically favored over an interstitial deuterium atom. Computations with one interstitial deuterium atom or with one deuteron reveal an increase in electron density near the deuteron. Not only valence electrons but also inner core electrons of the palladium atoms are present in the vicinity of the deuteron. A potential energy curve is calculated with two deuterium atoms approaching each other, with one deuterium fixed at the center of a tetrahedral site. With regard to the environment provided by molecular deuterium, our results show that the tetrahedral site does not favor a closer deuteron encounter. No metastable dimer geometry is found. The two deuterons repel each other despite the screening. These computations represent more than 250 CPU h of a new-generation biprocessor vector computer.     

Structural properties of amorphous hydrogenated silicon usingab initio molecular dynamics simulations

We have studied structural properties of amorphous hydrogenated silicon usingab initio molecular dynamics simulations. A sample was generated by simulated annealing using periodic boundary conditions with a supercell containing 64 silicon and 8 hydrogen atoms. The radial pair distribution functions for Si-Si, Si-H and H-H have been studied at 300 K and are found to be in good agreement with experimental data. Our results show that hydrogen saturates the dangling bonds and reduces bond strain. We also report existence of Si-H-Si bridge sites which are likely to play an important role in understanding the light induced metastability in this material.     

Ab initio density functional simulation of structural and electronic properties of MgO ultra-thin adlayers on the (001) Ag surface

To simulate the properties of ultrathin layers of magnesium oxide epitaxially grown on silver (001), we have adopted a periodic slab model, consisting of six layers of Ag covered on both sides with an MgO monolayer. All calculations have been performed with the 98 program. Several DFT functionals were tried and a rich basis set was adopted. The electronic and structural properties of the two bulk materials (Ag and MgO) were quite accurately reproduced. The presence of the metallic substrate was found to have an appreciable influence on the structural and electronic features of the oxide surface. In the most stable configuration (O ions directly above Ag atoms, Mg ions in the hollow sites), the surface is corrugated, and there is a net transfer of electrons from the overlayer to the metal, leading to a substantial reduction of the work function of the metal and to a decrease of the electrostatic field at the surface. The reactivity properties of the supported oxide surface have been investigated by studying the interaction of the composite material with water molecules.     

空位对五唑阴离子盐Mn（N5）2冲击反应和损伤演化的影响

为探究微缺陷对五唑阴离子盐冲击响应、化学分解及损伤演化的影响,采用从头算分子动力学模拟方法研究了完美型Mn（N₅）₂晶体及含有3%空位浓度的Mn（N₅）₂晶体在不同速度（8,9,10,11,12 km·s^-1）c轴冲击波作用下的动力学演化和初始分解反应机理。冲击雨贡纽线的计算结果表明,含空位的Mn（N₅）₂体系比完美型体系在高压条件下表现出更大的体积压缩比。分子动力学模拟结果显示,当冲击波速v_shock<10 km·s^-1时,完美型及含有空位的体系在5000 fs内均未出现分解反应,而仅出现了不足10%的体积压缩;当v_shock=10 km·s^-1时,完美型体系于512.8 fs时刻开始在晶体内均匀地出现N—N键断裂的现象,而含空位体系的初始反应时间则提前至281.6 fs,并且N—N键的断裂集中发生在空位附近;当v_shock继续增加至11 km·s^-1和12 km·s^-1时,两种体系的初始反应时间不断提前,反应进程不断加快,但空位对体系冲击波感度的提升作用和对分解反应进程的加速作用随着冲击波速的提升而不断减弱。研究结果表明空位是热点的早期成核结构之一,空位的存在促进周围的五唑分子发生级联分解,使损伤不断演化成长和传播,进而引起含能材料的点火。     

State feedback control of continuous-time T-S fuzzy systems via switched fuzzy controllers

This paper studies the problem of state feedback control of continuous-time T-S fuzzy systems. Switched fuzzy controllers are exploited in the control design, which are switched based on the values of membership functions, and the control scheme is an extension of the parallel distributed compensation (PDC) scheme. Sufficient conditions for designing switched state feedback controllers are obtained with meeting an H_∞ norm bound requirement and quadratic D stability constraints. It is shown that the new control design method provides less conservative results than the corresponding ones via the parallel distributed compensation (PDC) scheme. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.