ACS Physical Chemistry AuPub Date : 2026-09-23Epub Date: 2026-07-15DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00089
Naimeh Naseri
{"title":"Printing Beyond Fabrication: A Physicochemical Vision for Emerging Device Technologies","authors":"Naimeh Naseri","doi":"10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00089","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The future of printing cannot be understood as the evolutionofanother manufacturing tool. Rather, it points to a science-drivenparadigm in which functional matter is designed, formed, and integratedthrough controlled physicochemical events. In this visionary article,we look back to show how advances in nonlinear photochemistry, nanoscaleheat transport, capillary flow, electrohydrodynamics, and liquid metalinterfacial science have matured into powerful printing platforms,exampling two-photon polymerization, meniscus-guided printing, andliquid metal electronics. These histories reveal that transformativeprinting emerges when physical chemistry turns instability, confinement,reaction thresholds, surface forces, and energy gradients into manufacturingprinciples. Looking forward, printing may democratize smart systemsby enabling localized, digital, adaptive, and on-demand fabricationof electronics, sensors, energy devices, and wearable technologies,while also supporting more resilient supply chains by reducing dependenceon centralized manufacturing and expanding access to functional technologiescloser to the point of need. Yet this future requires solving challengesin predictive ink design, solution-free material formation, durability,integration, circularity, standardization, and AI-guided control.Physical chemistry will be central to making printing reliable, sustainable,and widely accessible.</p>","PeriodicalId":29796,"journal":{"name":"ACS Physical Chemistry Au","volume":"6 5","pages":"943–953"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149022714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS Physical Chemistry AuPub Date : 2026-09-23Epub Date: 2026-07-24DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00098
Disnel Ferrera-Carracedo, Vojtech Jancik, Estrella Ramos, Diego Solis-Ibarra, Juan de Dios Guzmán-Hernández, J. C. Alonso-Huitron, Ioantani D. Álvarez, Jesús U. Balderas-Aguilar
{"title":"A Crown Ether-Ammonium Supramolecular Platform for Luminescent [Cu4I6]2– Cluster Phosphors","authors":"Disnel Ferrera-Carracedo, Vojtech Jancik, Estrella Ramos, Diego Solis-Ibarra, Juan de Dios Guzmán-Hernández, J. C. Alonso-Huitron, Ioantani D. Álvarez, Jesús U. Balderas-Aguilar","doi":"10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00098","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00098","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Control over thesupramolecular environment of emissive metal halideclusters offers an attractive route to tune the photophysical behaviorof hybrid phosphors. Among these systems, ionic [Cu<sub>4</sub>I<sub>6</sub>]<sup>2–</sup> cluster phosphors are promising blueexcitable emitters that exhibit broadband cluster-centered luminescence;however, rational strategies for modulating their local environmentremain limited. Here, a supramolecular host–guest approachwas employed to stabilize and tune [Cu<sub>4</sub>I<sub>6</sub>]<sup>2–</sup> clusters using 18-crown-6 (18C6) in combination withthree ammonium–derived cations of increasing steric and hydrophobiccharacter (NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>, CH<sub>3</sub>NH<sub>3</sub><sup>+</sup> (MA), and C<sub>8</sub>H<sub>12</sub>N<sup>+</sup> (PEA)).This design enabled systematic variation of the organic frameworkwhile preserving the same emissive cluster motif. Structural analysis,combined with Hirshfeld surface mapping, revealed that the cluster’sstructural distortion is governed by the topology and spatial distributionof intermolecular contacts arising from crystal packing. Dense andanisotropic I···H and Cu···H contactsin NH<sub>4</sub>(18C6) and PEA(18C6) imposed uneven constraints onthe [Cu<sub>4</sub>I<sub>6</sub>]<sup>2–</sup> units, increasingI–Cu–I bond angle distortion and strengthening exciton–phononcoupling, resulting in broader emission. In contrast, MA(18C6) exhibitedfewer host–cluster contacts but significant I···Iintercluster interactions, leading to reduced lattice relaxation andnarrower photoluminescence. Density functional theory calculationsconfirmed strong electronic confinement within the [Cu<sub>4</sub>I<sub>6</sub>]<sup>2–</sup> clusters and revealed that variationsin band dispersion arise from differences in the supramolecular environment.Among the series, PEA(18C6) combined high PLQY (∼80%), improvedenvironmental stability, and efficient blue–driven white lightemission. These results demonstrate that supramolecular host–guestdesign provides a modular platform for tuning structure property relationshipsin copper halide cluster phosphors and for developing stable, leadfree materials for solid–state lighting.</p>","PeriodicalId":29796,"journal":{"name":"ACS Physical Chemistry Au","volume":"6 5","pages":"1320–1330"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149022769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS Physical Chemistry AuPub Date : 2026-09-23Epub Date: 2026-06-23DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00043
Renato D. dos Santos, Guilherme Colherinhas, Wesley B. Cardoso
{"title":"Repurposing HIV Protease Inhibitors against West Nile Virus: Insights from Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics Simulations","authors":"Renato D. dos Santos, Guilherme Colherinhas, Wesley B. Cardoso","doi":"10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00043","url":null,"abstract":"<p>West Nile virus (WNV) is a neurotropic flavivirus lackingapprovedantiviral therapies. Here, we evaluated the repurposing potentialof ten HIV protease inhibitors as inhibitors of the WNV NS2B–NS3protease using molecular docking followed by molecular dynamics simulations.Structural, energetic, and interaction analyses revealed substantialdifferences in binding stability under dynamic conditions. Indinavirand Atazanavir consistently showed strong and stable interactions,low structural and positional fluctuations, persistent hydrogen bonding,and favorable binding free energies. In contrast, several inhibitorsdisplayed transient binding despite favorable docking scores. Thesefindings emphasize the importance of molecular dynamics in drug repurposingstudies and identify Indinavir and Atazanavir as promising candidatesfor further experimental evaluation against WNV.</p>","PeriodicalId":29796,"journal":{"name":"ACS Physical Chemistry Au","volume":"6 5","pages":"1094–1101"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149022798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mechanistic Insights into the Antibacterial Activity of Self-Assembled Nickel(II)–Triethanolamine–Cinnamate Complexes","authors":"Sunidhi, Chetan Chauhan, Rajesh Kumar, Thammarat Aree, Santosh Kumar","doi":"10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00030","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Herein, we reportthe room-temperature isolation of two new structurallysimilar mononuclear ionic nickel(II) complexes, [Ni(H<sub>3</sub><em>tea</em>)<sub>2</sub>](2,3-DMCN)<sub>2</sub> (<strong>1</strong>)and [Ni(H<sub>3</sub><em>tea</em>)<sub>2</sub>](2,4-DMCN)<sub>2</sub>(H<sub>2</sub>O) (<strong>2</strong>) (where H<sub>3</sub><em>tea</em> = 2,2′,2″-nitrilotri(ethan-1-ol), 2,3-DMCN= 2,3-dimethoxycinnamate, and 2,4-DMCN = 2,4-dimethoxycinnamate).Both the crystalline complexes were structurally characterized byspectroscopic (FT-IR, UV–vis, and XPS) and single-crystal X-raydiffraction (SCXRD) methods. SCXRD unambiguously delineated the Ni(II)center octahedrally coordinated by strong chelating ligand H<sub>3</sub><em>tea</em>, yielding complex cations with NiN<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> chromophore, which are counterbalanced by cinnamateanions in both cases. Crystal packing supported by Hirshfeld surface(HS) analysis revealed the role of various hydrogen-bonding interactionsin crystal lattice stabilization. The outcomes of theoretical studiesusing DFT demonstrated notable concordance with the experimentallyobserved data. <em>In vitro</em> antibacterial studies indicatedthat both complexes exhibited remarkable selectivity for Gram-negative strains, specifically <em>P. aeruginosa</em> and <em>K. pneumoniae</em>, corroborated with <em>in silico</em> molecular docking results. Mechanistically, the[Ni(H<sub>3</sub><em>tea</em>)<sub>2</sub>]<sup>2+</sup> coreacts as an electronic shield, which, alongside lipophilic dimethoxycinnamateanions, promotes membrane translocation and subsequent structuraldisruption. This physical intrusion is complemented by a redox-activemechanism, viz., a high-lying HOMO facilitates interference with thebacterial respiratory chain, triggering intracellular reactive oxygenspecies generation and lethal oxidative damage to DNA and proteins.Detailed structural analysis of this self-assembled molecular framework─utilizingboth experimental and theoretical tools─provides deeper mechanisticunderstanding of the antibacterial effect of Ni(II)-mixed-ligand complexes,advancing future metallodrug discovery.</p>","PeriodicalId":29796,"journal":{"name":"ACS Physical Chemistry Au","volume":"6 5","pages":"1031–1049"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149022816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Soft Computing Approaches toward Density-Based Analysis of Many-Electron Systems","authors":"Arpita Poddar, Bhrigu Chakraborty, Pratim Kumar Chattaraj","doi":"10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00002","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In electronic structure theory, the field is poised atan inflectionpoint; density-based formulations such as density functional theory(DFT), conceptual DFT, and their time-dependent extensions providecompact, physically grounded representations of many-electron systems,while soft computing methods (<em>viz</em>., machine learning,deep learning, and related data-driven approaches) offer transformativetools for pattern recognition, model development, and acceleratedexploration of chemical space. This perspective articulates a visionfor tightly coupling density-based theory with modern soft computing,arguing that densities and density-derived information-theoretic andreactivity descriptors are especially well suited as inputs, physicalconstraints, and interpretive anchors for data-driven models. We proposea practical, hierarchical roadmap that spans standardized data generation(including densities and time-resolved quantities), systematic developmentof density-based descriptors, model architectures that embed physicalconstraints, rigorous uncertainty quantification, and interpretabilitytechniques that map learned representations onto chemical intuition.We further outline key application domains and potential researchdirections that can guide future developments in this emerging area.By forging density-informed soft computing, integrated hierarchicallywith quantum-mechanical and density functional approaches, the communitycan accelerate a paradigm shift in which density-aware soft computingbecomes a routine and reliable instrument for chemical modeling andinnovation.</p>","PeriodicalId":29796,"journal":{"name":"ACS Physical Chemistry Au","volume":"6 5","pages":"929–942"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149027966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS Physical Chemistry AuPub Date : 2026-09-23Epub Date: 2026-07-16DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00054
Dimitrios Stefanakis, Albert J. Power, Georgios Kopidakis, Vagelis Harmandaris, Ioannis Remediakis
{"title":"Spontaneous Phase Separation in Polymer Solution by Janus Nanoparticle Compatibilizers: An Atomistic Molecular Dynamics Study","authors":"Dimitrios Stefanakis, Albert J. Power, Georgios Kopidakis, Vagelis Harmandaris, Ioannis Remediakis","doi":"10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00054","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We perform atomistic molecular dynamics simulations inorder toinvestigate the structural and dynamic properties of Janus gold nanoparticleswithin diverse solvent environments, specifically pure polyethylene,pure water, and mixed polyethylene/water matrices. The nanoparticles,approximately 7 nm in diameter and almost totally surrounded by (211)surfaces at the thermodynamic limit, are functionalized with hydrophobicpolyethylene chains on one hemisphere and hydrophilic poly(ethyleneoxide) chains on the other. In mixed systems, the Janus nanoparticleacts as an effective stabilizer, directing and stabilizing phase separationin the solvent, where water and polyethylene concentrate around theirrespective preferred functionalized hemispheres. The resulting interfacebetween the two matrix components was measured at approximately 0.82nm in thickness. The study characterizes these systems through densityprofiles, radii of gyration, and second-rank bond order parameters.Regarding the local dynamics of the polymer matrix, the simulationsreveal that while polyethylene chains maintain a random orientationin the bulk, they adopt a predominantly parallel orientation relativeto the nanoparticle surface when within a distance of 3.2–3.9nm. Additionally, while the radius of gyration of matrix chains remainsstable across systems, the relative shape anisotropy increases significantlyin the mixed environments. These molecular-level insights into structuraland dynamic organization underscore the potential of gold Janus nanoparticlesto control interfacial behavior and stabilize immiscible blends innanotechnology and biomedicine.</p>","PeriodicalId":29796,"journal":{"name":"ACS Physical Chemistry Au","volume":"6 5","pages":"1161–1178"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149027892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS Physical Chemistry AuPub Date : 2026-09-23Epub Date: 2026-06-26DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00065
Yukun Liu, Yanfei Liu, Ziang Du, Haochun Lan, Hao Zheng, Dongdong Yang, Yang Gao
{"title":"Rational High-Throughput Screening of Cocrystals: An Explainable Deep Learning Framework Based on Morgan Fingerprints and Cross-Attention","authors":"Yukun Liu, Yanfei Liu, Ziang Du, Haochun Lan, Hao Zheng, Dongdong Yang, Yang Gao","doi":"10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00065","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Aiming to address the problems of high blindness in traditionalscreening methods, insufficient granularity of feature representation,and poor interpretability of existing machine learning predictionmodels in the field of cocrystal research and development, we proposea cocrystal prediction method based on Morgan fingerprints and thecross-attention mechanism. First, a high-quality cocrystal data setis constructed, and Morgan fingerprints are employed to characterizemolecular structures. Subsequently, a fingerprint-driven cross-attentionmodel is developed to capture the feature interaction correlationsbetween molecules, thereby realizing end-to-end prediction of cocrystalformation propensity. Finally, the comprehensive performance of themodel and the rationality of its prediction logic are systematicallyvalidated through multidimensional performance evaluation, horizontalcomparison with mainstream models, hyperparameter sensitivity analysis,ablation experiments, and SHAP-based interpretability analysis. Experimentalresults show that the model achieves an AUC of 0.9878 on the independenttest set, and its BACC and specificity are significantly superiorto those of traditional machine learning and basic deep learning models.It effectively mitigates the issue of high false positive rate inducedby class-imbalanced data sets. The prediction outcomes of the modelcan be traced back to specific structural sites of molecules via theSHAP method, which provides clear chemical guidance. This work canprovide reliable technical support for the high-throughput rationalscreening of cocrystals in pharmaceuticals, functional materials,and related fields.</p>","PeriodicalId":29796,"journal":{"name":"ACS Physical Chemistry Au","volume":"6 5","pages":"1203–1219"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149027965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS Physical Chemistry AuPub Date : 2026-09-23Epub Date: 2026-08-01DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00060
Qingshu Zhao, Arjun Saha
{"title":"Learning Protein–Protein Binding Free Energies from Interface Graphs and Physicochemical Descriptors","authors":"Qingshu Zhao, Arjun Saha","doi":"10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00060","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Predicting protein–protein binding free energy(ΔG)from structure remains a central challenge in computational biophysics.Here, we present GULP (Graph-based Unified Learning for Protein binding),a graph neural network (GNN) that jointly learns from a residue-levelgraph representation of the binding interface and global physicochemicaldescriptors. We systematically investigate how training data distributionaffects model performance by comparing a full training set with abalanced subset enriched for extreme-affinity complexes. GULP is computationallyefficient and provides interpretable insights into residue-level andphysicochemical contributions to binding. On external validation,GULP achieves a mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.31 kcal/mol and showsmoderate agreement with experimental ΔG values (Pearson r =0.54, Spearman ρ = 0.58).</p>","PeriodicalId":29796,"journal":{"name":"ACS Physical Chemistry Au","volume":"6 5","pages":"1012–1017"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149022638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS Physical Chemistry AuPub Date : 2026-09-23Epub Date: 2026-08-08DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00075
R. Houston Givhan, Henry F. Schaefer, III, David Crich
{"title":"Energetics of Formation and Fragmentation of Carbon-Centered Radicals α- to Nitrogen and Oxygen in N,N,O-Trimethylhydroxylamine in Comparison to Trimethylamine and Dimethyl Ether: Implications for Medicinal and Synthetic Chemistry","authors":"R. Houston Givhan, Henry F. Schaefer, III, David Crich","doi":"10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphyschemau.6c00075","url":null,"abstract":"<p>α–C–Hbond dissociation energies(BDEs) havebeen computed for <em>N</em>,<em>N</em>,<em>O</em>-trimethylhydroxylamine, trimethylamine, and dimethyl ether, leadingto the conclusion that there is no advantage to hydrogen abstractionfrom trisubstituted hydroxylamines over the corresponding tertiaryamines and ethers. Additionally, the computed vertical ionizationpotential for s, trimethylamine, and dimethyl ether, leading to theconclusion that there is no advantage to hydrogen abstraction fromtrisubstituted hydroxylamines over the corresponding tertiary aminesand ethers. Additionally, the computed vertical ionization potentialfor <em>N</em>,<em>N</em>,<em>O</em>-trimethylhydroxylamineis greater than that for either trimethylamine or dimethyl ether.Together with the established N–O BDEs of ∼50 kcal.mol<sup>–1</sup>, these findings argue strongly against common notionsof trisubstituted hydroxylamines as inherently chemically or metabolicallyunstable and refute their designation as red flags or structural alertsin drug discovery campaigns. Subsequent to hydrogen abstraction α-to either nitrogen or oxygen, hydroxylamines undergo facile exothermicN–O bond cleavage to give either O- or <em>N</em>-centeredradicals. It is this radical-induced cleavage of hydroxylamines thatsynthetic chemists exploit for <em>N</em>- and O-centeredradical generation rather than any perceived weakness of the N–Obond in the unactivated hydroxylamines themselves.</p>","PeriodicalId":29796,"journal":{"name":"ACS Physical Chemistry Au","volume":"6 5","pages":"1244–1251"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149022645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}