Konstantin Ermolaev

Bio: Konstantin Ermolaev is an academic researcher from University of Oklahoma. The author has contributed to research in topics: Liquid crystal & Lyotropic liquid crystal. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 3 publications receiving 1612 citations.

The Alignment of Lyotropic Liquid Crystals Formed by Hexadecyltrimethylammonium Bromide in D2O in a Magnetic Field

Abstract: The alignment of lyotropic liquid crystals formed by hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB, where C stands for cetyl) with D2O was studied by the use of 2H NMR. At CTAB/D2O concentrations between 1.01 and 1.29 mol/kg, liquid crystal domains aligned in the magnetic field within a few hours. The dependence of the characteristic alignment time on concentration and temperature has been determined. At higher concentrations, no alignment took place due to the high viscosity of the system. At lower concentrations, the alignment could not be observed by 2H NMR. The addition of sodium salicylate (NaSal), at equal molar concentrations of CTAB and NaSal, changed the orientation of the micelles from parallel to the magnetic field to perpendicular to the field. Line-shape simulations were carried out to give estimates on the rate of exchange between free D2O molecules and those bounded to the micelles, as well as on the deuterium quadrupole splittings for D2O molecules bound to micelles. The dependence of the chara...

Fibril structure of amyloid-β(1-42) by cryo-electron microscopy.

Abstract: Amyloids are implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. Fibrillar aggregates of the amyloid-β protein (Aβ) are the main component of the senile plaques found in brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. We present the structure of an Aβ(1–42) fibril composed of two intertwined protofilaments determined by cryo–electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to 4.0-angstrom resolution, complemented by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. The backbone of all 42 residues and nearly all side chains are well resolved in the EM density map, including the entire N terminus, which is part of the cross-β structure resulting in an overall “LS”-shaped topology of individual subunits. The dimer interface protects the hydrophobic C termini from the solvent. The characteristic staggering of the nonplanar subunits results in markedly different fibril ends, termed “groove” and “ridge,” leading to different binding pathways on both fibril ends, which has implications for fibril growth.

Nanoarchitectonics for mesoporous materials

Abstract: Although mesoporous materials have well-defined pore structures, these fine materials can surprisingly be produced by employing a set of conventional and simple procedures such as mixing, heating, filtration, and washing, using low-cost materials. They can be regarded as easy-to-make bulk nanostructured materials. Mesoporous materials have great potential for use in both macroscopic applications and nanotechnology. In this account, we introduce examples of recent developments in mesoporous materials involving innovations in their components and structural designs and concentrating on our own recent progress. These examples include syntheses of mesoporous silica, metal oxides, semiconductive materials, metals, alloys, organic composites, biomaterial composites, carbon, carbon nitride, and boron nitride, as innovative components. As structural innovations for mesoporous materials, various film preparations, pore alignments, and hierarchic structures are described together with their related functions including sensing and controlled release of target molecules.

Molecular-level secondary structure, polymorphism, and dynamics of full-length α-synuclein fibrils studied by solid-state NMR

Abstract: The 140-residue protein α-synuclein (AS) is able to form amyloid fibrils and as such is the main component of protein inclusions involved in Parkinson's disease. We have investigated the structure and dynamics of full-length AS fibrils by high-resolution solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Homonuclear and heteronuclear 2D and 3D spectra of fibrils grown from uniformly 13C/15N-labeled AS and AS reverse-labeled for two of the most abundant amino acids, K and V, were analyzed. 13C and 15N signals exhibited linewidths of <0.7 ppm. Sequential assignments were obtained for 48 residues in the hydrophobic core region. We identified two different types of fibrils displaying chemical-shift differences of up to 13 ppm in the 15N dimension and up to 5 ppm for backbone and side-chain 13C chemical shifts. EM studies suggested that molecular structure is correlated with fibril morphology. Investigation of the secondary structure revealed that most amino acids of the core region belong to β-strands with similar torsion angles in both conformations. Selection of regions with different mobility indicated the existence of monomers in the sample and allowed the identification of mobile segments of the protein within the fibril in the presence of monomeric protein. At least 35 C-terminal residues were mobile and lacked a defined secondary structure, whereas the N terminus was rigid starting from residue 22. Our findings agree well with the overall picture obtained with other methods and provide insight into the amyloid fibril structure and dynamics with residue-specific resolution. EM protein structure amyloid Parkinson's disease protein aggregation

Rational design of carbon nitride photocatalysts by identification of cyanamide defects as catalytically relevant sites

Abstract: The heptazine-based polymer melon (also known as graphitic carbon nitride, g-C3N4) is a promising photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. Nonetheless, attempts to improve its inherently low activity are rarely based on rational approaches because of a lack of fundamental understanding of its mechanistic operation. Here we employ molecular heptazine-based model catalysts to identify the cyanamide moiety as a photocatalytically relevant 'defect'. We exploit this knowledge for the rational design of a carbon nitride polymer populated with cyanamide groups, yielding a material with 12 and 16 times the hydrogen evolution rate and apparent quantum efficiency (400 nm), respectively, compared with the unmodified melon. Computational modelling and material characterization suggest that this moiety improves coordination (and, in turn, charge transfer kinetics) to the platinum co-catalyst and enhances the separation of the photogenerated charge carriers. The demonstrated knowledge transfer for rational catalyst design presented here provides the conceptual framework for engineering high-performance heptazine-based photocatalysts.

Surface Enhanced NMR Spectroscopy by Dynamic Nuclear Polarization

Abstract: It is shown that surface NMR spectra can be greatly enhanced using dynamic nuclear polarization. Polarization is transferred from the protons of the solvent to the rare nuclei (here carbon-13 at natural isotopic abundance) at the surface, yielding at least a 50-fold signal enhancement for surface species covalently incorporated into a silica framework.