Effects of vibrational motion on core-level spectra of prototype organic molecules

A computational approach is presented for prediction and interpretation of core-level spectra of complex molecules. Applications are presented for several isolated organic molecules, sampling a range of chemical bonding and structural motifs. Comparison with gas phase measurements indicate that spectral lineshapes are accurately reproduced both above and below the ionization potential, without resort to ad hoc broadening. Agreement with experiment is significantly improved upon inclusion of vibrations via molecular dynamics sampling. We isolate and characterize spectral features due to particular electronic transitions enabled by vibrations, noting that even zero-point motion is sufficient in some cases

Environmental Predictors of Seasonal Influenza Epidemics across Temperate and Tropical Climates

Human influenza infections exhibit a strong seasonal cycle in temperate regions. Recent laboratory and epidemiological evidence suggests that low specific humidity conditions facilitate the airborne survival and transmission of the influenza virus in temperate regions, resulting in annual winter epidemics. However, this relationship is unlikely to account for the epidemiology of influenza in tropical and subtropical regions where epidemics often occur during the rainy season or transmit year-round without a well-defined season. We assessed the role of specific humidity and other local climatic variables on influenza virus seasonality by modeling epidemiological and climatic information from 78 study sites sampled globally. We substantiated that there are two types of environmental conditions associated with seasonal influenza epidemics: “cold-dry” and “humid-rainy”. For sites where monthly average specific humidity or temperature decreases below thresholds of approximately 11–12 g/kg and 18–21°C during the year, influenza activity peaks during the cold-dry season (i.e., winter) when specific humidity and temperature are at minimal levels. For sites where specific humidity and temperature do not decrease below these thresholds, seasonal influenza activity is more likely to peak in months when average precipitation totals are maximal and greater than 150 mm per month. These findings provide a simple climate-based model rooted in empirical data that accounts for the diversity of seasonal influenza patterns observed across temperate, subtropical and tropical climates

On the importance of nuclear quantum motions in near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy of molecules

We report the effects of sampling nuclear quantum motion with path integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) on calculations of the nitrogen K-edge spectra of two isolated organic molecules. S-triazine, a prototypical aromatic molecule occupying primarily its vibrational ground state at room temperature, exhibits substantially improved spectral agreement when nuclear quantum effects are included via PIMD, as compared to the spectra obtained from either a single fixed-nuclei based calculation or from a series of configurations extracted from a classical molecular dynamics trajectory. Nuclear quantum dynamics can accurately explain the intrinsic broadening of certain features. Glycine, the simplest amino acid, is problematic due to large spectral variations associated with multiple energetically accessible conformations at the experimental temperature. This work highlights the sensitivity of NEXAFS to quantum nuclear motions in molecules, and the necessity of accurately sampling such quantum motion when simulating their NEXAFS spectra

Soft X-ray absorption spectra of aqueous salt solutions with highly charged cations in liquid microjets

X-ray absorption spectra of 1M aqueous solutions of indium (III) chloride, yttrium (III) bromide, lanthanum (III) chloride, tin (IV) chloride and chromium (III) chloride have been measured at the oxygen K-edge. Relatively minor changes are observed in the spectra compared to that of pure water. SnCl{sub 4} and CrCl{sub 3} exhibit a new onset feature which is attributed to formation of hydroxide or other complex molecules in the solution. At higher energy, only relatively minor, but salt-specific changes in the spectra occur. The small magnitude of the observed spectral changes is ascribed to offsetting perturbations by the cations and anions

Monopeptide versus Monopeptoid: Insights on Structure and Hydration of Aqueous Alanine and Sarcosine via X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy

Despite the obvious significance, the aqueous interactions of peptides remain incompletely understood. Their synthetic analogues called peptoids (poly-N-substituted glycines), have recently emerged as a promising biomimetic material, particularly due to their robust secondary structure and resistance to denaturation. We describe comparative near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy studies of aqueous sarcosine, the simplest peptoid, and alanine, its peptide isomer, interpreted by density functional theory calculations. The sarcosine nitrogen K-edge spectrum is blue-shifted with respect to that of alanine, in agreement with our calculations; we conclude that this shift results primarily from the methyl group substitution on the nitrogen of sarcosine. Our calculations indicate that the nitrogen K-edge spectrum of alanine differs significantly between dehydrated and hydrated scenarios, while that of the sarcosine zwitterion is less affected by hydration. In contrast, the computed sarcosine spectrum is greatly impacted by conformational variations, while the alanine spectrum is not. This relates to a predicted solvent dependence for alanine, as compared to sarcosine. Additionally, we show the theoretical nitrogen K-edge spectra to be sensitive to the degree of hydration, indicating that experimental X-ray spectroscopy may be able to distinguish between bulk and partial hydration, such as found in confined environments near proteins and in reverse micelles

Characterization of selective binding of alkali cations with carboxylate by x-ray absorption spectroscopy of liquid microjets

We describe an approach for characterizing selective binding between oppositely charged ionic functional groups under biologically relevant conditions. Relative shifts in K-shell x-ray absorption spectra of aqueous cations and carboxylate anions indicate the corresponding binding strengths via perturbations of carbonyl antibonding orbitals. XAS spectra measured for aqueous formate and acetate solutions containing lithium, sodium, and potassium cations reveal monotonically stronger binding of the lighter metals, supporting recent results from simulations and other experiments. The carbon K-edge spectra of the acetate carbonyl feature centered near 290 eV clearly indicate a preferential interaction of sodium versus potassium, which was less apparent with formate. These results are in accord with the Law of Matching Water Affinities, relating relative hydration strengths of ions to their respective tendencies to form contact ion pairs. Density functional theory calculations of K-shell spectra support the experimental findings