Crystallization of Lennard-Jones nanodroplets: From near melting to deeply supercooled.

We carry out molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations to characterize nucleation in liquid clusters of 600 Lennard-Jones particles over a broad range of temperatures. We use the formalism of mean first-passage times to determine the rate and find that Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT) predicts the rate quite well, even when employing simple modelling of crystallite shape, chemical potential, surface tension, and particle attachment rate, down to the temperature where the droplet loses metastability and crystallization proceeds through growth-limited nucleation in an unequilibrated liquid. Below this crossover temperature, the nucleation rate is still predicted when MC simulations are used to directly calculate quantities required by CNT. Discrepancy in critical embryo sizes obtained from MD and MC arises when twinned structures with five-fold symmetry provide a competing free energy pathway out of the critical region. We find that crystallization begins with hcp-fcc stacked precritical nuclei and differentiation to various end structures occurs when these embryos become critical. We confirm that using the largest embryo in the system as a reaction coordinate is useful in determining the onset of growth-limited nucleation and show that it gives the same free energy barriers as the full cluster size distribution once the proper reference state is identified. We find that the bulk melting temperature controls the rate, even though the solid-liquid coexistence temperature for the droplet is significantly lower. The value of surface tension that renders close agreement between CNT and direct rate determination is significantly lower than what is expected for the bulk system.

In vivo kinetics of formate metabolism in folate-deficient and folate-replete rats.

It is now established that the mitochondrial production of formate is a major process in the endogenous generation of folate-linked one-carbon groups. We have developed an in vivo approach involving the constant infusion of [(13)C]formate until isotopic steady state is attained to measure the rate of endogenous formate production in rats fed on either a folate-replete or folate-deficient diet. Formate was produced at a rate of 76 µmol·h(-1)·100 g of body weight(-1) in the folate-replete rats, and this was decreased by 44% in folate-deficient rats. This decreased formate production was confirmed in isolated rat liver mitochondria where formate production from serine, the principal precursor of one-carbon groups, was decreased by 85%, although formate production from sarcosine and dimethylglycine (choline metabolites) was significantly increased. We attribute this unexpected result to the demonstrated production of formaldehyde by sarcosine dehydrogenase and dimethylglycine dehydrogenase from their respective substrates in the absence of tetrahydrofolate and subsequent formation of formate by formaldehyde dehydrogenase. Comparison of formate production with the ingestion of dietary formate precursors (serine, glycine, tryptophan, histidine, methionine, and choline) showed that ∼75% of these precursors were converted to formate, indicating that formate is a significant, although underappreciated end product of choline and amino acid oxidation. Ingestion of a high protein diet did not result in increased production of formate, suggesting a regulation of the conversion of these precursors at the mitochondrial level to formate.

An isotope-dilution, GC-MS assay for formate and its application to human and animal metabolism.

Formate, a crucial component of one-carbon metabolism, is increasingly recognized as an important intermediate in production and transport of one-carbon units. Unlike tetrahydrofolate-linked intermediates, it is not restricted to the intracellular milieu so that circulating levels of formate can provide insight into cellular events. We report a novel isotope-dilution, GC-MS assay employing derivatization by 2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl bromide for the determination of formate in biological samples. This assay is robust and sensitive; it may be applied to the measurement of formate in serum, plasma and urine. We demonstrate how this method may be applied by providing the first characterization of formate levels in a human population; formate levels were higher in males than in females. We also show how this procedure may be applied for the measurement of in vivo kinetics of endogenous formate production in experimental animals.