Hydrogenation of phenylpyruvic acid to phenylalanine catalyzed by Ni-B/SiO2

Phenylalanine （Phe） is a significant amino acid that cannot be synthesized by human themselves but must be taken from environment. It was initially found that the nanosized amorphous Ni-B/SiO2 alloy prepared by the chemical reduction method was an effective catalyst for the preparation of Phe from phenylpyruvic acid （PPA） by amination and hydrogenation. It has been found that the amorphous Ni-B/SiO2 alloy catalyst exhibits superior activity and selectivity to the traditional catalysts Raney Ni and Urushibara nickel. The effects of reaction time, amounts of catalysts and ammonia solution, reaction temperature, and H2 pressure on the reaction have been investigated systematically. The results indicated that the yield of Phe was 97.9%, and the selectivity for Phe reached 98.9% when the reaction was carried out for 3 h at 333 K and 2.0 MPa of H2 with m（Cat.） ： m（PPA） = 0.6 ： 1.0 and n（NH3） ： n（PPA） = 3 ： 1. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, AAS, XPS, BET, and TEM, and the relationship between the catalyst structure and the catalytic activity was discussed in detail. It was found that the reason why Ni-B/SiO2 amorphous alloy catalyst was much more active for the preparation of Phe could be accounted for by the presence of electron-rich Ni due to electron donation from alloying B; the smaller size of Ni-B particles, the larger specific surface area of Ni-B/SiO2.     

Diels-Alder Addition of Dicyclopentadiene with Cyclopentadiene in Polar Solvents

Diels-Alder addition of dicyclopentadiene and cyclopentadiene in polar solvents has been studied to produce tricyclopentadiene（TCPD） that is a potential high-density fuel precursor. GC and MS analysis shows that the adducts contain two isomers, namely exo- and endo-TCPD. Theoretical simulation shows that although the transition state of endo-TCPD has a lower activation energy, exo-TCPD is thermodynamically preferred. Polar solvents can accelerate the reaction rate and improve the exo/endo ratio of TCPD because the transition state of exo-TCPD has a higher polarity than that of endo-TCPD. The solvent effect follows the order of polarity： benzyl methanol〉cyclohexanone〉toluene. The conversion rises when the temperature ranges from 120 to 150 ℃, but the selectivity of TCPD slightly decreases. Increasing the pressure can improve the conversion but the exo/endo ratio of TCPD is unchanged. The apparent kinetics in different solvents was determined via nonlinear regression. The activation energies are 99.47, 101.15, and 107.32 kJ/mol for benzyl methanol, cyclohexanone, and toluene, respectively. The optimal reaction conditions are as follows： benzyl methanol as solvent, temperature 150 ℃, and pressure 900 kPa. After an 11-hour reaction, a conversion of 58.0%, a TCPD selectivity of 95.7%, and an exo/endo ratio of 1/5.3 has been obtained.     

Investigation on the gelation behavior of biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) during isothermal crystallization process

The early stage of polymer crystallization may be viewed as physical gelation process,i.e.,the phase transition of polymer from liquid to solid.Determination of the gel point is of significance in polymer processing.In this work,the gelation behavior of poly(butylene succinate)(PBS) at different temperatures has been investigated by rheological method.It was found that during the isothermal crystallization process of PBS,both the storage modulus(G′) and the loss modulus(G″) increase with time,and the rheological response of the system varies from viscous-dominated(G′G″),meaning the phase transition from liquid to solid.The physical gel point was determined by the intersection point of loss tangent curves measured under different frequencies.The gel time(t_c) for PBS was found to increase with increasing crystallization temperature.The relative crystallinity of PBS at the gel point is very low(2.5%-8.5%) and increases with increasing the crystallization temperature.The low crystallinity of PBS at the gel point suggests that only a few junctions are necessary to form a spanning network,indicating that the network is"loosely"connected,in another word,the critical gel is soft.Due to the elevated crystallinity at gel point under higher crystallization temperature,the gel strength S_g increases, while the relaxation exponent n decreases with increasing the crystallization temperature.These experimental results suggest that rheological method is an effective tool for verifying the gel point of biodegradable semi-crystalline polymers.     

Thermodynamic Investigation of the Azeotropic Mixture Composed of Water and Benzene

The molar heat capacity of the azeotropic mixture composed of water and benzene was measured by an adiabatic calorimeter in the temperature range from 80 to 320 K. The phase transitions took place in the temperature range from 265.409 to 275.165 K and 275.165 to 279.399 K. The phase transition temperatures were determined to be 272.945 and 278.339 K, which were corresponding to the solid-liquid phase transitions of water and benzene, respectively. The thermodynamic functions and the excess thermodynamic functions of the mixture relative to standard temperature 298.15 K were derived from the relationships of the thermodynamic functions and the function of the measured heat capacity with respect to temperature.     

VIBRATIONAL SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN Ge-132 AND DIPALMITOYLPHOSPHATIDYLCHOL INE

The vibrational spectra of both pure DPPC liposomes and DPPC multilayers reconstituted with Ge-132are reported as a function of temperature from 290 to 330K.The results show that the addition of Ge-132results in suppression of the pretransition behavior and reduction of temperature of the main transition forreconstituted system.The results also show that the degree of rigidity of the acyl chain in the presence ofGe-132 is lower than that in pure DPPC dispersion within the investigated temperature range.     

STUDIES ON THE NATURE OF THE MACROMOLECULAR CONDENSED STATE OF "NASCENT" ULTRA HIGH MOLAR MASS POLYETHYLENE*

 Ultra high molar mass polyethylene (UITPE) powder as polymerized in a slurry process has been studied, in its nascent state, after recrystallization on rapid cooling from the melt and after hot compression molding to a film, by DSC,effect ofannealing the recrystallized specimen at 120～I30℃, morphology by polarizing optical microscopy and small angle X-ray scattering. Based on the experimental results obtained the macromolecular condensed state of the nascent UHPE powder is a rare case of a multi-chain condensed state of non-interpenetrating chains, involving interlaced extended chain crystalline layers and relaxed parallel chain amorphous layers. On melting, a nematic rubbery state of nanometer size domain resulted. The nematic-isotropic transition temperature was judged from literature data to be at least 220℃, possibly higher than 300℃, the exact temperature is however not sure because of chain degradation at such high temperatures. The recrystallization process from the melt is a crystallization from a nematic rubbery state. The drop of remelting peak temperature by 10 K of the specimen recrystallized from its melt as compared to the nascent state has its origin in the decrease both of the crystalline chain stem length and of the degree of crystallinity. The remelting peak temperature could be returned close to that of the nascent state by annealing at 120～130℃.     

Reversible phase transition of the 1:1 complex between 18-crown-6 and n-propylammonium triiodide

Solid-state structure of the crystalline 1:1 complex [C 3 H 10 N(18-crown-6)] + [I 3 ](1) between 18-crown-6 and n-propylammonium triiodide has been determined at 293 and 93 K,respectively,showing a change from monoclinic P2 1 /m to monoclinic P2 1 /a.Crystal structural analysis shows that in addition to van der Waals’ forces,conventional N-H···O hydrogen bonds are the key interactions.Measurements of unit cell parameters versus temperature show that the values of one of the three axes and the crystal volume change abruptly and remarkably at 220 K,indicating a first-order phase transition.The lack of the mirror plane in the low temperature structure is the most important differences between the two structural forms.Differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) measurement confirms that 1 undergoes a reversible phase transition at about 220 K with a thermal hysteresis of 3.5 K.The relatively large latent heat makes 1 a good candidate for phase change materials.The phase transition is accompanied by an anomaly of dielectric constant during heating and cooling process near the phase transition temperature.     

纳米尺寸材料的结构和性质III：铁纳米粒子的结构和性质

Molecular dynamics computer simulation has been carded out to study the structure and physical properties of iron nanoparticles with 331 to 2133 Fe atoms or with diameter from 2.3 to 4.3 nm. The core of liquid nanodroplets has the similar structure of the bulk molten iron liquid that has an average coordination number around 10.5 and the packing density around 0.45, although the closest Fe-Fe distance is slightly longer in the bulk liquid. Most of the iron nanoparticles formed from the cooling of molten nanodroplets have the same body center cubic crystal structure as it was observed in the bulk under the normal temperature and pressure. Lattice contraction was observed for iron nanoparticles. An amorphous solid and an HCP like solid were obtained accidentally during the quenching runs on Fe331 nanoparticles. The physical properties of iron nanoparticles such as molar volume, density, thermal expansion coefficient, melting point, heat of fusion, heat capacity and diffusion coefficient were estimated based on the results obtained from this simulation. The dependence of physical properties on the nanoparticle sizes was addressed.     

乙醇和甲苯组成的最低共沸混合物热力学性质的研究

The molar heat capacity of the azeotropic mixture composed of ethanol and toluene was measured by a high precision adiabatic calorimeter from 80 to 320 K. The glass transition and phase transitions of the azeotropic mixture were determined based on the heat capacity measurements. A glass transition at 103.350 K was found. A solid-solid phase transition at 127.282 K, two solid-liquid phase transitions at 153.612 and 160.584 K were observed, which correspond to the transition of metastable crystal to stable crystal of ethanol and the melting of ethanol and toluene, respectively. The thermodynamic functions and the excess ones of the mixture relative to the standard temperature 298.15 K were derived based on the relationships of the thermodynamic functions and the function of the measured heat capacity with respect to temperature.     

纳米分子筛ZSM-5的热稳定性研究

Nanosized ZSM 5 zeolite was synthesized by hydrothermal method and characterized by XRD and TEM techniques. The specific heat of the nanosized ZSM 5 zeolite was measured in the temperature range from 79 to 370 K, and its enhancement in specific heat was observed as compared with the corresponding microsized zeolite, indicating that the nanosized ZSM 5 zeolite possesses higher surface activity. The thermostability of the samples was determined by differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and thermogravimetric (TG) techniques. The DSC results showed that, for the nanosized ZSM 5, a broad exothermic peak is observed from 1?300 K; for the microsized ZSM 5, the corresponding exothermic peak begins at 1?400 K, and a distinct phase transition can be observed at 1?620 K. The TG results showed that, for the nanozised ZSM 5, the maximum mass loss ratio is 6 9%, and two mass loss stages can be observed in the temperature ranges of 298～663 K and 923～ 1?273 K, respectively; for the microsized ZSM 5, the maximum mass loss ratio is 6 5% and it is more stable than the nanosized ZSM 5.     

Study on corrosion resistance of electroplating zinc–nickel alloy coatings

Electrodeposited zinc–nickel alloy coatings have been widely adopted for surface treatment of automobile body steel sheet for high corrosion resistance. The corrosion behavior of the coatings has been related with the components of nickel, and the zinc–nickel alloy passive coatings have much higher corrosion resistance than that of zinc–nickel alloy coatings. In the present paper, the corrosion resistance behavior of the zinc–nickel alloy coatings obtained by new process and formulation has been studied by means of the electrochemistry test and neutral salt spray test. And it is discovered that the properties of corrosion resistance of zinc–nickel alloy passive coatings were better than that of zinc passive coatings, Cadmium passive coatings and alloys of electrodeposited cadmium–titanium. The components of corrosion productions, in terms of X‐ray diffraction (XRD), are mainly ZnO, ZnCl₂ · 4Zn(OH)₂ and small quantity of 2ZnCO₃· 3Zn(OH)₂. The component of zinc–nickel alloy coatings has been investigated with Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry (GDA‐750). And it is found that as the thickness of zinc–nickel alloy coatings increases, the component of zinc increases from beginning to end, but the peak value of nickel appears and an enrichment of nickel in the coatings comes into being. Because the electrodeposited zinc–nickel alloy coatings exhibit different alloy phases as a function of their alloy composition, in this paper, the crystal structure changing with the different component of nickel has been studied in terms of XRD. The result shows that electrodeposited zinc–nickel alloy has different phases: α‐phase, a solid solution of zinc in nickel with an equilibrium solubility of about more than 79% nickel; γ‐phase, an intermediate phase with a composition Ni₅Zn₂₁; η‐phase, a solid solution of nickel in zinc with less than 5% nickel; and δ‐phase (Ni₃Zn₂₂) appeared from η‐phase to α‐phase with increasing content of nickel. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Al－Mn合金镀层的组成结构及其耐蚀性

研究了在低温熔盐中（低于２００℃）电沉积Ａｌ－Ｍｎ合金镀层成分的控制,镀层化学组成与结构之间的关系以及镀层的耐蚀性能．提出影响镀层锰含量的主要因素是熔盐中锰离子的浓度．镀层含锰量在２５～４０（ｗｔ）％之间可形成非晶态结构．实验表明,Ａｌ－Ｍｎ合金镀层在０．５ｍｏｌ／ＬＨ＿２ＳＯ＿４熔液及ＮａＣｌ溶液中具有优良的耐蚀性,非晶态结构的Ａｌ－Ｍｎ合金镀层的耐蚀性更为优异．     

One‐step electrochemical deposition to achieve superhydrophobic cobalt incorporated amorphous carbon‐based film with self‐cleaning and anti‐corrosion

Exploiting a superhydrophobic surface is very significant due to its excellent water repellency which has many practical applications in various fields. In this work, the cobalt incorporated amorphous carbon‐based (Co/a‐C:H) film was prepared successfully on Si substrate via a simple 1‐step electrochemical deposition where electrochemical deposition technology was using cobalt (II) acetylacetonate methanol solution as electrolyte under high voltage, atmospheric pressure, and low temperature. Surprisingly, the as‐prepared film showed a superior superhydrophobic surface with a water contact angle of 153 ± 1° and a sliding angle of 7.6° without any further modification of low surface energy materials. Especially, the tape adhesive, corrosion resistance, and self‐cleaning tests demonstrated that the as‐prepared carbon‐based film could possess fairly well adhesion, superior anti‐corrosion resistance, and self‐cleaning ability, respectively. It indicated that the superhydrophobic Co/a‐C:H film might have potential promising applications in the field of anti‐fouling, anti‐corrosion, and drag resistance, such as the above‐deck structures on icebreaker vessels, ship hulls, and offshore wind turbine blades.     

非晶态Ni-W-B合金的电沉积及其热处理前后的性能

To strengthen the properties of Ni-W alloy, dimethylamine borane （DMAB） was added to an alloy Ni-W electrolyte solution and a ternary Ni-W-B alloy was electrodeposited. The electrodeposition, crystallographic structure, surface morphology, heat treatment and corrosion resistance, of the alloy were studied by DSC, XRD, SEM and electrochemical techniques. The results showed that the structure of the alloy was greatly affected by the cooperation of boron compound. DSC experiment combined with X-ray diffractometry indicated that the obtained Ni-W-B alloy was still in amorphous structure although W content in the alloy was decreased by the addition of DMAB. After heat treatment at 400 ℃ for 1 h, the microhardness was increased from 612 to 947 kg.mm^-2 that was com- parative to Cr coating. The appearance of the as-plated coating was in f＇me and slice grains and kept almost no change after heat treatment. In w=0.03 NaC1 solution the as-plated coating presented very good corrosion resistance. After the coating was heat-treated its corrosion resistance was enhanced.     

锌合金阳极在不同pH值Ca(OH)_2溶液中的电化学行为

应用恒电位法测定锌合金阳极在不同pH值的Ca(OH)2溶液中的极化曲线,X-射线衍射分析了该锌合金阳极的腐蚀产物.实验表明:在不同pH值的碱性溶液中锌合金阳极表现出完全不同的电化学行为:在不稳定钝化区内出现了3个零电流电位;根据锌合金阳极在Ca(OH)2溶液中极化曲线测定了活化区内各不同pH值下的零电流电位、腐蚀电流密度,以及钝化区间内的维钝电流密度、钝化膜破裂电位等电化学参数;绘制电位-pH图,并与纯锌-水系的电位-pH图进行比较.     

Comparison of the glass transition temperature and fragility parameter of isomalto-olygomer predicted by molecular dynamics simulations with those measured by differential scanning calorimetry

The purpose of this study is to examine whether molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using a commercially available software for personal computers can estimate the glass transition temperature (Tg) of amorphous systems containing pharmaceutically-relevant excipients. MD simulations were carried out with an amorphous matrix model constructed from isomaltoheptaose, and the Tg estimated from the calculated density versus temperature profile was compared with the Tg measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for freeze-dried isomalto-oligomer having an average molecular weight close to that of isomaltoheptaose. The Tg values determined by DSC were lower by 10 to 20 K than those extrapolated from the Tg values estimated by MD simulation. Fragility parameter was estimated to be 56 and 51 from MD simulation and from DSC measurement, respectively. Thus, the results suggest that MD simulation can provide approximate estimates for the Tg and fragility parameter of amorphous formulations. However, a reduction of the cooling rate, achievable by sufficiently elongating the simulation duration, is necessary for more accurate estimation.     

Corrosion behaviour of mechanically polished AA7075‐T6 aluminium alloy

In the present study, the effects of mechanical polishing on the microstructure and corrosion behaviour of AA7075 aluminium alloy are investigated. It was found that a nano‐grained, near‐surface deformed layer, up to 400 nm thickness, is developed due to significant surface shear stress during mechanically polishing. Within the near‐surface deformed layer, the alloying elements have been redistributed and the microstructure of the alloy is modified; in particular, the normal MgZn₂ particles for T6 are absent. However, segregation bands, approximately 10‐nm thick, containing mainly zinc, are found at the grain boundaries within the near‐surface deformed layer. The presence of such segregation bands promoted localised corrosion along the grain boundaries within the near‐surface deformed layer due to microgalvanic action. During anodic polarisation of mechanically polished alloy in sodium chloride solution, two breakdown potentials were observed at ?750 mV and ?700 mV, respectively. The first breakdown potential is associated with an increased electrochemical activity of the near‐surface deformed layer, and the second breakdown potential is associated with typical pitting of the bulk alloy. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effectiveness of 2‐mercaptobenzothiazole, 8‐hydroxyquinoline and benzotriazole as corrosion inhibitors on AA 2024‐T3 assessed by electrochemical methods

In this study, the effectiveness of 2‐mercaptobenzothiazole (2‐MBT), 8‐hydroxyquinoline and benzotriazole as corrosion inhibitors for AA 2024‐T3 aluminium alloy was evaluated. The corrosion behaviour in the presence of each compound was investigated by image‐assisted electrochemical noise analysis, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, potentiodynamic polarization and the split cell technique. It was found that 2‐MBT has superior inhibition properties compared with the other inhibitors. In particular, the specimens immersed in 3.5% NaCl in the presence of 2‐MBT displayed high values of noise resistance that were maintained for over 400 h of testing, and high values of low‐frequency impedance, measured after immersion for 24 h. The split cell technique and potentiodynamic polarization tests indicated that only 2‐MBT decreases significantly both the anodic and the cathodic reaction rates. Scanning electron microscopy observations and energy dispersive X‐ray measurements complement the findings from electrochemical measurements indicating that only 2‐MBT protects the second phase particles, preventing dealloying, trenching and initiation of corrosion. © 2015 The Authors. Surface and Interface Analysis published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Polymers of Unsubstituted and Substituted Poly(p‐phenylene terephthalate)s in the Bulk State

A molecular dynamics simulation has been carried out on polymers of p‐phenylene terephthalate (PPT) and 1,4‐phenylene‐2‐octyloxy terephthalate (PTA8) at six different temperatures: 300 K, 375 K, 450 K, 575 K, 600 K, and 625 K. The periodic simulation boxes consisted of 18 (PPT) or 16 (PTA8) chains with 9 monomer units. The Compass force field was used in the simulations. The crystallographic data and density obtained from the NPT simulation at room temperature agreed well with the experimental data of PPT. Our simulations showed that, in the case of PTA8, the crystal → layered nematics phase transition temperature (T_m) is close to the experimental value for the polymer similar to PTA8. The average initial structure was obtained from X‐ray scattering data. The simulated X‐ray data indicated the existence of a biaxial nematic phase, in accordance with experimental findings.     

稀土(Y、Ce、Sm)对Ni-P非晶态合金热稳定性的影响

用差示扫描量热法(DSC)研究了非晶态合金Ni-RE-P(RE=Y, Ce, Sm,下同)的热稳定性; 用X-光衍射(XRD)和扫描电镜(SEM)检测了在不同温度范围处理的样品的结构变化. 结果表明, 向非晶态Ni-P合金中加入少量稀土元素(Y, Ce, Sm), 可显著提高非晶态Ni-RE-P合金的热稳定性.样品的晶化激活能数据表明, Ni-RE-P的各转变阶段的激活能都比Ni-P的大, 说明Ni-RE-P比Ni-P更难晶化, 即Ni-RE-P比Ni-P更稳定.