Ab initio structure determination and morphology study of La1.26 Zr0.25 Na2.5 N0.24 O2.54 triclinic structure from powder x-ray diffraction data.

This paper deals with the ab initio structure determination of La1.26 N0.24 Na2.5 O2.54 Zr0.25 triclinic structure having triclinic crystal system via powder X-ray data using the Rietveld refinement method, and with physical properties characterization of a related solid solution at the room temperature structure of three compounds belonging to the Aurivillius family La1.26 N0.24 Na2.5 O2.54 Zr0.25 has been analyzed. La1.26 N0.24 Na2.5 O2.54 Zr0.25 crystallizes in a triclinic crystal system with P-1 space group. The starting material was Na2CO3,Zr(NO3)4 La2O3 for the Zr,La and Na analogues was derived from ab initio methods and refined using the Rietveld refinement method using JANA software package and visualization by Diamond computer program. The cations Na and La are disordered over the Zr sites while the La cation is found exclusively in the layers. The cell parameters are a=4.1040 Å b=9.9102 Å c=17.6117 Å α=98.4299° β=93.4378° γ=92.2041°.The morphology and electrical properties are carried out of cited oxide.

Identification of a novel fold type in CPA/AT transporters by ab-initio structure prediction

Members of the CPA/AT transporter superfamily show significant structural variability. All previously known members consist of an inverted duplicated repeat unit that folds into two separate domains, the core and the scaffold domain. Crucial for its transporting function, the central helix in the core domain is a noncanonical transmembrane helix, which can either be in the form of a broken helix or a reentrant helix. Here, we expand the structural knowledge of the CPA/AT family by using contact-prediction-based protein modelling. We show that the N-terminal domains of the Pfam families; PSE (Cons_hypoth698 PF03601), Lysine exporter (PF03956) and LrgB (PF04172) families have a previously unseen reentrant-helix-reentrant fold. The close homology between PSE and the Sodium-citrate symporter (2HCT) suggests that the new fold originates from the truncation of an ancestral reentrant protein, caused by the loss of the C-terminal reentrant helix. To compensate for the lost reentrant helix one external loop moves into the membrane to form the second reentrant helix, highlighting the adaptability of the CPA/AT transporters. This study also demonstrates that the most recent deep-learning-based modelling methods have become a useful tool to gain biologically relevant structural, evolutionary and functional insights about protein families.

Twinning in Zr-Based Metal-Organic Framework Crystals

Ab initio structure determination of new metal-organic framework (MOF) compounds is generally done by single crystal X-ray diffraction, but this technique can yield incorrect crystal structures if crystal twinning is overlooked. Herein, the crystal structures of three Zirconium-based MOFs, that are especially prone to twinning, have been determined from twinned crystals. These twin laws (and others) could potentially occur in many MOFs or related network structures, and the methods and tools described herein to detect and treat twinning could be useful to resolve the structures of affected crystals. Our results highlight the prevalence (and sometimes inevitability) of twinning in certain Zr-MOFs. Of special importance are the works of Howard Flack which, in addition to fundamental advances in crystallography, provide accessible tools for inexperienced crystallographers to take twinning into account in structure elucidation.

Towards ab initio structure and response calculations across the nuclear chart

Starting from the Argonne V18 nucleon-nucleon interaction and using the Unitary Correlation Operator Method, a correlated interaction vucOM has been constructed, which is suitable for calculations within restricted Hilbert spaces. In this work we employ the vucOM in Hartree-Fock, perturbation-theory and RPA calculations. First results are reported on the ground-state properties of various closed-shell nuclei, as well as some excited states. Our results provide valuable information on the properties of the VUCOM and guidance to further optimization. The above scheme offers the prospect of ab initio calculations in nuclei throughout the nuclear chart. It can be used in conjunction with other realistic NN interactions as well, both local and non-local. Various many-body methods can be employed, such as Second RPA, QRPA, Shell Model, etc.