Schools out : Adam Smith and pre-disciplinary international political economy

In this article, I argue that invocations of Adam Smith in international political economy (IPE) often reveal the influence therein of a disciplinary ontological disaggregation of economic and non-economic rationality, which I claim is obscured by the tendency to map its complex intellectual contours in terms of competing schools. I trace the origins of the disciplinary characterisation of Smith as the founder of IPE's liberal tradition to invocations of his thought by centrally important figures in the perceived Austrian, Chicago and German historical schools of economics, and reflect upon the significance to IPE of the reiteration of this portrayal by apparent members of its so-called American and British schools. I additionally contrast these interpretations to those put forward by scholars who seek to interpret IPE and Smith's contribution to it in pre-disciplinary terms, which I claim reflects a distinct ontology to that attributed to the British school of IPE with which their work is often associated. I therefore contend that reflection upon invocations of Smith's thought in IPE problematises the longstanding tendency to map its intellectual terrain in terms of competing schools, reveals that the disciplinary ontological consensus that informs this tendency impacts upon articulations of its core concerns and suggests that a pre-disciplinary approach offers an alternative lens through which such concerns might be more effectively framed

Reactions of Brominated Naphthalene Diimide with Bis(tributylstannyl)acetylene: A Simple Approach for Conjugated Polymers and Versatile Coupling Intermediates

A new synthetic approach to 1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide (NDI) containing materials and conjugates is described. A simple one-step Stille coupling procedure is used to create either novel alkyne-linked NDI polymers or a new stannylated diyne synthetic building block that provides a flexible approach to new NDI conjugates and polymers

Conjugated NDI-Donor Polymers: Exploration of Donor Size and Electrostatic Complementarity

Conjugated donor-acceptor copolymers comprised of electron-deficient 1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide (NDI) linked to a series of relatively electron-rich aromatics via ethynyl spacers were synthesized and characterized. While LUMO levels remained constant at -3.75 eV, HOMO levels were sensitive to the relatively electron-rich aromatic donors and systematically tuned from -5.68 to -5.17 eV. Regardless of the electron-rich comonomer, fluorescence and X-ray diffraction data were consistent with the polymer chains being assembled through the stacking of NDI moieties in an offset face-to-face fashion rather than alternating donor-acceptor stacks

Time-Dependent Solid-State Polymorphism of a Series of Donor–Acceptor Dyads

In order to exploit the use of favorable electrostatic interactions between aromatic units in directing the assembly of donor–acceptor (D–A) dyads, the present work examines the ability of conjugated aromatic D–A dyads with symmetric side chains to exhibit solid-state polymorphism as a function of time during the solid formation process. Four such dyads were synthesized, and their packing in the solid state from either slower (10–20 days) or faster (1–2 days) evaporation from solvent was investigated using single crystal X-ray analysis and powder X-ray diffraction. Two of the dyads exhibited tail-to-tail (A–A) packing upon slower evaporation from solvent and head-to-tail (D–A) packing upon faster evaporation from solvent. A combination of single-crystal analysis and XRD patterns were used to create models, wherein a packing model for the other two dyads is proposed. Our findings suggest that while side chain interactions in asymmetric aromatic dyads can play an important role in enforcing segregated D–A dyad assembly, slowly evaporating symmetrically substituted aromatic dyads allows for favorable electrostatic interactions between the aromatic moieties to facilitate the organization of the dyads in the solid state

Time-Dependent Solid-State Polymorphism of a Series of Donor–Acceptor Dyads

In order to exploit the use of favorable electrostatic interactions between aromatic units in directing the assembly of donor–acceptor (D–A) dyads, the present work examines the ability of conjugated aromatic D–A dyads with symmetric side chains to exhibit solid-state polymorphism as a function of time during the solid formation process. Four such dyads were synthesized, and their packing in the solid state from either slower (10–20 days) or faster (1–2 days) evaporation from solvent was investigated using single crystal X-ray analysis and powder X-ray diffraction. Two of the dyads exhibited tail-to-tail (A–A) packing upon slower evaporation from solvent and head-to-tail (D–A) packing upon faster evaporation from solvent. A combination of single-crystal analysis and XRD patterns were used to create models, wherein a packing model for the other two dyads is proposed. Our findings suggest that while side chain interactions in asymmetric aromatic dyads can play an important role in enforcing segregated D–A dyad assembly, slowly evaporating symmetrically substituted aromatic dyads allows for favorable electrostatic interactions between the aromatic moieties to facilitate the organization of the dyads in the solid state

Structural and Biochemical Characterization of the Bilin Lyase CpcS from Thermosynechococcus elongatus

Cyanobacterial phycobiliproteins have evolved to capture light energy over most of the visible spectrum due to their bilin chromophores, which are linear tetrapyrroles that have been covalently attached by enzymes called bilin lyases. We report here the crystal structure of a bilin lyase of the CpcS family from Thermosynechococcus elongatus (<i>Te</i>CpcS-III). <i>Te</i>CpcS-III is a 10-stranded β barrel with two alpha helices and belongs to the lipocalin structural family. <i>Te</i>CpcS-III catalyzes both cognate as well as noncognate bilin attachment to a variety of phycobiliprotein subunits. <i>Te</i>CpcS-III ligates phycocyanobilin, phycoerythrobilin, and phytochromobilin to the alpha and beta subunits of allophycocyanin and to the beta subunit of phycocyanin at the Cys82-equivalent position in all cases. The active form of <i>Te</i>CpcS-III is a dimer, which is consistent with the structure observed in the crystal. With the use of the UnaG protein and its association with bilirubin as a guide, a model for the association between the native substrate, phycocyanobilin, and <i>Te</i>CpcS was produced