加深对现代分析仪器的认识提高使用与维修水平

熟悉了解仪器的总体结构性能,剖析零部件的功能,注重基础研究,弄清仪器的安全联锁保护是提高仪器使用与维修水平的关键;重视仪器的故障分析与判断、准确及地维修、合理地使用保养是保持仪器良好运行状态的唯一手段;建立仪器档案,定期进行性能测试是了解仪器,把握仪器运行脉搏、充分利用仪器的前提。     

Static fatigue fracture of polyethylene: A morphological analysis

The fracture properties of a number of high-density polyethylenes were evaluated and related to their morphology. The resistance to initiation of fracture is related to the resistance to voiding of the materials and the rate of coalescence of voids. The propensity of the materials to void has been shown to be related to the size of the amorphous region. The resistance to propagation of the fracture is also related to the above factors as well as the ease of stretching and rupture of fibrils. The ease of fibril formation has been shown to be related to the degree of perfection of the crystallites.     

Precision of Flash Pyrolysis-GC-MS Analysis: Experimental Evaluation of the Sources of Variability

The present study was carried out to evaluate the precision and to identify significant sources of variability in flash pyrolysis-GC-MS experiments. The analysis of variance has been applied to the example of polyethylene pyrolysis to estimate the impact of several controlled factors: sample handling, flash pyrolysis filament ageing and calibration. It was demonstrated that to get the best precision in experimental results, it is recommended to set the operator to reduce the impact of sample handling procedure and the filament to avoid variability due to changes in filament characteristics. In comparison, filament ageing and filament calibration are shown to influence in a limited extent the experimental results.     

Binding affinity of a small molecule to an amorphous polymer in a solvent. Part 2: preferential binding to local sites on a surface

Crystallization, a separation and purification process, is commonly used to produce a wide range of materials in various industries, and it usually begins with heterogeneous nucleation on a foreign surface in industrial practice and most other circumstances. Recent studies show that amorphous polymeric substrates are useful in controlling crystallization and selectively producing pharmaceutical polymorphs. In our previous publication, we investigated the possible correlation of the binding affinity of one molecule to key binding sites (local binding), and the possibility of using this binding affinity to guide the selection of polymers promoting heterogeneous nucleation. The studied systems were aspirin binding to four nonporous cross-linked polymers in ethanol-water 38 v% mixture. Cross-linked with divinylbenzene (DVB), these polymers were poly(4-acryloylmorpholine) (PAM), poly(2-carboxyethyl acrylate) (PCEA), poly(4-hydroxylbutyl acrylate) (PHBA), and polystyrene (PS). We discovered that the trend of the magnitudes of the average free energies of binding to the best sites is very similar to that of heterogeneous nucleation activities. This Article aims to investigate whether or not local binding to key sites is the important variable to describe heterogeneous nucleation as opposed to the overall/average binding affinity of molecules to a surface, and to investigate the possibility of using the overall binding affinity to guide the selection of polymers. We used the polymer surfaces generated from our previous study to calculate the overall binding affinity of aspirin molecules to the surface as measured by the preferential interaction coefficients of aspirin (1 m) to these polymers. We discovered that the trend of the average preferential interaction coefficients does not correlate as well to that of heterogeneous nucleation activities as the free energies of binding to the best sites. We also computed the average numbers of aspirin molecules associated with the areas of the surfaces' best binding sites and found that they correlate better to heterogeneous nucleation activities than the average preferential interaction coefficients. These results further support that local binding is indicative of heterogeneous nucleation. Moreover, we found a weak trend of the distance order parameters of the aspirin molecules to be similar that of heterogeneous nucleation activities. Our results from the two-part study suggest the importance of local binding to heterogeneous nucleation as well as the possibility of using the binding affinity to the local area (the free energy of binding to the best site and the number of nucleating molecules associated with the area of the best binding site) and the distance order parameters to guide the selection of polymers.     

高校无机化学实验室资源合理配置的探索与实践

高校实验室是“立德树人”的重要阵地,实验技术队伍是实现“三全育人”的重要保障。高校快速发展过程中,对实验技术队伍赋予了建设和管理的多重任务,而自身缺乏明确的发展方向和目标,实验技术队伍职业化研究成为高校发展的现实需求。构建适应高等学校发展的实验技术队伍专业化管理体系,明确实验队伍职业化发展路径选择的具体措施,促进实验技术队伍稳定性,强化实验技术队伍在高等学校治理结构和提升内涵建设的有效作用,为提升高校实验室育人功能奠定基础,为高等学校快速发展提供有力支撑。     

和医学相关有机化合物绿色鉴别实验的设计*

为了将医用化学实验中“有机化合物的鉴别”实验更加密切地与医学相关专业结合,并提高实验操作的安全性,降低化学试剂的毒性与刺激性,甄选出一系列与医学密切相关的有机化合物作为待鉴别试剂,同时设计绿色环保、安全低毒、现象明显、操作简便、成本低廉的鉴别方法,为学生实验方案的设计提供指导。以期提高医学生学习的积极性与主动性,促进学生灵活运用知识分析问题、解决问题,为相关教学工作的改进提供借鉴意义。     

Molecular Modeling of Steroid–Nucleoside Conjugates: A Preliminary Structural Study

In recent years, molecular modeling has been used to predict structure and chemical behavior of molecules in order to design drugs and enhance the performance of pharmaceuticals. The size and complexity of molecules studied computationally has grown as the computational power available has increased, along with the creation and formulation of new theories and methods. We will apply these methods to a unique set of steroid-nucleoside conjugates in order to interpret their differences in activity. In the set of four studied in this work (three acids bonded to AZT through an ester bond and an additional isomer of the second in the series), only the cholenic acid-conjugated species (Conjugate 1) has exhibited antitumor behavior, while the other two, P-16-acid and P-21-oic acid (prednisolone with an ester linkage to zidovudine, AZT), do not. In this study, we use molecular mechanics and semiempirical techniques to compare structures and to examine rotational barriers and solvation effects on many of the low-lying conformations of these four conjugates, as well as to use electrostatic potential isosurfaces in order to gain insight into the contributions to the activity or inactivity of these potential antitumor drugs.     

The electrochemistry of electrode edges and its relevance to partially blocked voltammetric electrodes

Analytical mathematics and digital simulation are used to predict the response, to a potential jump, of the junction between insulating and conducting regions of an electrode. The simulation is carried out differentially and employs other novel features. Concentrations in the vicinity of edges of positive and negative curvatures, as well as straight edges, are analyzed by the model and thereby the faradaic current densities and currents are predicted. It is shown that, in addition to the well-understood cottrellian current arising from the surface of the conducting electrode, currents are generated that are proportional to the length of the edge and to its curvature. These results are then applied to inlaid disks and to partially blocked electrodes. The possibility is explored of using the response to a potential step to gain information on the geometry of a partially blocked electrode.     

Thermal degradation of vinylidene chloride/4-vinylpyridine copolymers

Vinylidene chloride polymers are prominent in the barrier plastics packaging industry. They display good barrier to the transport of oxygen (to prevent spoilage of food items) and flavor and aroma constituents (to prevent 'scalping' on the supermarket shelf). However, these polymers undergo thermal dehydrochlorination during processing. This can lead to a variety of problems including the evolution of hydrogen chloride which must be scavenged to prevent its interaction with the metallic walls of process equipment. Such interaction leads to the formation of metal halides which act as Lewis acids to facilitate the degradation. A potentially effective means to capture hydrogen chloride generated might be to incorporate into the polymer a mild organic base. Accordingly, copolymers of vinylidene chloride and 4-vinylpyridine have been prepared and subjected to thermal aging. Results suggest that the pyridine moiety is sufficiently basic to actively promote dehydrochlorination in the vinylidene chloride segments of the polymer.     

Advancing the Drug Discovery and Development Process

The current state of affairs in the drug discovery and development process is briefly summarized and then ways to take advantage of the ever‐increasing fundamental knowledge and technical knowhow in chemistry and biology and related disciplines are discussed. The primary motivation of this Essay is to celebrate the great achievements of chemistry, biology, and medicine and to inform and inspire students and academics to enter the field of drug discovery and development while, at the same time, continue to advance the fundamentals of their disciplines. It is also meant to encourage and catalyze multidisciplinary partnerships between academia and industry as scientists attempt to merge their often complementary interests and expertise to achieve new improvements and breakthroughs in their respective fields, and the common goal of applying them to the discovery and invention of new and better medicines, especially in areas of unmet needs.     

Spectroscopy of Fluid Phases—The Study of Chemical Reactions and Equilibria up to High Pressures

The properties of fluid phases can be altered considerably by the external conditions. Phase equilibria and chemical equilibria can be greatly affected, and it is possible to carry out chemical reactions by exploiting the special properties of compressed fluid phases. The use of high pressure in chemical reactions is of considerable diagnostic and preparative value. Applied research is directed towards elucidating the details of existing technical high pressure processes and to the development of novel fluid phase reactions where the application of high pressure is able to induce selectivity. In order to pursue these lines of research, and to study structure and dynamics throughout the entire range from gaseous to liquidlike states, it is important to have spectroscopic methods for characterizing systems at high pressures and temperatures. This article is concerned with quantitative absorption spectroscopy in the infrared to the ultraviolet spectral region at pressures up to about 7 kbar and temperatures up to 900 K.     

Editorial 2006

Dear Authors and Readers, The year 2005 was a specially remarkable year filled with much excitement, success, joy and sadness. The new format of the Journal proved to meet everybody's satisfaction. It is much easier to read, and the figures and tables are better positioned as there is more space to accommodate them. Not only did we change the appearance, but we have restructured the leading body of the Journal reorganizing the former Editorial Board and assigning Associate Editors according to main subject areas. With this solution proved to be a much more operational and practical one, and contributed to the increase of the scientific level of the Journal. It is a commonplace, that we live in a more and more specialised world. This trend is palpable in thermal analysis and we can experience it as we receive submissions dealing with very specialised topics. In order to strengthen our peer-review system, we hoped that the decision to divide the Associate Editors into main subject areas, will assist them in their work to establish and build a network of support reviewers from that particular field. After a year we can already see the result of this effort and we are very happy to look at the longer-than-ever list of reviewers we acknowledge for their scientific support (find the list of names on the next pages). Here I need to complement you all, as I am convinced that your enthusiastic and conscientious work is the foundation of our success, as it is reflected in the Impact Factor 2004 reaching the unprecedented height of 1.478 compared to 1.094 for 2003. Last but not least the novelty of 2005 was the introduction of the 'Online First' section on the electronic site of JTAC. We have fought for the opportunity to provide better service to our authors in terms of through-over-time for long and this solution finally offered the possibility to achieve it. It was a jubilation when we could publish the first papers in the 'Online First' section at the first time, and we felt that the most appropriate way to share our happiness is to publish the papers of the already finalized 'Celebration Issue' that was a surprise gift to us celebrating the 36th anniversary of the Journal with not less than 36 outstanding communications from the most prestigious scientists. I owe a special thanks to my long time friend and colleague Prof. Shmuel Yariv organising this Issue - this very moving gift - and for the excellence how he executed the collection and preparation of the papers. Last, but not least I need to express my sincere gratitude to all of those contributed with their high standard work to this December issue. We would like to acknowledge all those who had been working with us in the past years, and now giving space to new members in the line of Regional and Associate Editors. Special thanks to Prof. Gavrichev, Prof. Ray and Prof. Walter, Regional Editors, furthermore to Dr. Emmerich, Prof. Jones and Prof. Beezer, Associate Editors for their valuable work, and support. At the same time we have the pleasure to welcome the new Regional Editors: Prof. T. Usacheva for Russia, Prof. P. Thomas and Prof. D. Bessiéres for English and French speaking teritorries respectively. Our new Associate Editors are: Prof. G. Pokol, Prof. S. C. Mojumdar, Prof. E. Boldyreva and Prof. P. Budrugeac. I would like to provide a forum for new ideas and here I would like to call on to all Editors to contribute to this initiation. I am planning to write a mid-year editorial where we would share these new ideas, i.e. the issue of 'Short Communications' and similar topics of wide interest. This year was just as tragic as it was sucessful in losing many of our colleagues.We could hardly recover from the news of the sudden death of Prof. M. Richardson, Prof. Maria Kurzawa and our close friend and Associate Editor Prof. Lisardo Nuñez Reguiera when we had to say our final good bye to our beloved teacher, a world wide acknowledged scientist and inventor Prof. F. Paulik. Finally, I would like to wish a prosperous new year, health and success in every aspect of your life to all of you.     

The surface oxidation potential of melanosomes measured by free electron laser-photoelectron emission microscopy

A technique for measuring the photoionization spectrum and the photoelectron emission threshold of a microscopic structured material is presented. The theoretical underpinning of the experiment and the accuracy of the measurements are discussed. The technique is applied to titanium silicide nanostructures and melanosomes isolated from human hair, human and bovine retinal pigment epithelium cells, and the ink sac of Sepia officinalis. A common photothreshold of 4.5 +/- 0.2 eV is found for this set of melanosomes and is attributed to the photoionization of the eumelanin pigment. The relationship between the photoionization threshold and the electrochemical potential referenced to the normal hydrogen electrode is used to quantify the surface oxidation potential of the melanosome. The developed technique is used to examine the effect of iron chelation on the surface oxidation potential of Sepia melanosomes. The surface oxidation potential is insensitive to bound Fe(III) up to saturation, suggesting that the metal is bound to the interior of the granule. This result is discussed in relation to the age-dependent accumulation of iron in human melanosomes in both the eye and brain.     

Effect of catalysis on the stability of metallic nanoparticles: Suzuki reaction catalyzed by PVP-palladium nanoparticles

The small size of nanoparticles makes them attractive in catalysis due to their large surface-to-volume ratio. However, being small raises questions about their stability in the harsh chemical environment in which these nanoparticles find themselves during their catalytic function. In the present work, we studied the Suzuki reaction between phenylboronic acid and iodobenzene catalyzed by PVP-Pd nanoparticles to investigate the effect of catalysis, recycling, and the different individual chemicals on the stability and catalytic activity of the nanoparticles during this harsh reaction. The stability of the nanoparticles to the different perturbations is assessed using TEM, and the changes in the catalytic activity are assessed using HPLC analysis of the product yield. It was found that the process of refluxing the nanoparticles for 12 h during the Suzuki catalytic reaction increases the average size and the width of the distribution of the nanoparticles. This was attributed to Ostwald ripening in which the small nanoparticles dissolve to form larger nanoparticles. The kinetics of the change in the nanoparticle size during the 12 h period show that the nanoparticles increase in size during the beginning of the reaction and level off toward the end of the first cycle. When the nanoparticles are recycled for the second cycle, the average size decreases. This could be due to the larger nanoparticles aggregating and precipitating out of solution. This process could also explain the observed loss of the catalytic efficiency of the nanoparticles during the second cycle. It is also found that the addition of biphenyl to the reaction mixture results in it poisoning the active sites and giving rise to a low product yield. The addition of excess PVP stabilizer to the reaction mixture seems to lead to the stability of the nanoparticle surface and size, perhaps due to the inhibition of the Ostwald ripening process. This also decreases the catalytic efficiency of the nanoparticles due to capping of the nanoparticle surface. The addition of phenylboronic acid is found to lead to the stability of the size distribution as it binds to the particle surface through the O(-) of the OH group and acts as a stabilizer. Iodobenzene is found to have no effect and thus probably does not bind strongly to the surface during the catalytic process. These two results might have an implication on the catalytic mechanism of this reaction.     

The role of errors related to DFT methods in calculations involving ion pairs of ionic liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) play a key role in many chemical applications. As regards the theoretical approach, ILs show added difficulties in calculations due to the composition of the ion pair and to the fact that they are liquids. Although density functional theory (DFT) can treat this kind of systems to predict physico–chemical properties, common versions of these methods fail to perform accurate predictions of geometries, interaction energies, dipole moments, and other properties related to the molecular structure. In these cases, dispersion and self‐interaction error (SIE) corrections need to be introduced to improve DFT calculations involving ILs. We show that the inclusion of dispersion is needed to obtain good geometries and accurate interaction energies. SIE needs to be corrected to describe the charges and dipoles in the ion pair correctly. The use of range–separated functionals allows us to obtain interaction energies close to the CCSD(T) level. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Dynamics of solvent and rotational relaxation of coumarin 153 in room-temperature ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate confined in Brij-35 micelles: a picosecond time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic study

The dynamics of solvent and rotational relaxation of Coumarin 153 (C-153) in ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]) and in the ionic liquid confined in Brij-35 micellar aggregates have been investigated using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. We observed slower dynamics in the presence of micellar aggregates as compared to the pure IL. However, the slowing down in the solvation time on going from neat IL to IL-confined micelles is much smaller compared to that on going from water to water-confined micellar aggregates. The increase in solvation and rotational time in micelles is attributed to the increase in viscosity of the medium. The slow component is assumed to be dependent on the viscosity of the solution and involves large-scale rearrangement of the anions and cations while fast component is assumed to originate from the initial response of the anions during excitation. The slow component increases due to the increase in the viscosity of the medium and increase in fast component is probably due to the hydrogen bonding between the anions and polar headgroup of the surfactant. The dynamics of solvent relaxation was affected to a small extent due to the micelle formation.     

Interfacial rheology of food emulsifiers and proteins

The scientific literature from 1997 (inclusive) to the present on the interfacial rheology of emulsifiers and proteins of relevance to food has been reviewed. Both shear and dilatational rheology of oil–water and air–water interfaces have been covered and the main factors affecting interfacial rheology have been tabulated. Special attention is paid to: the sensitivity of interfacial rheology to film composition and structure; the growing viewpoint of treating proteins films as a two-dimensional gel state; recent theoretical modelling of interfacial rheological effects; those few publications that attempt to relate interfacial rheology to bulk stability. It is concluded that there have been few major advances in the last 4 or 5 years, but the heterogeneity of such adsorbed films seems to be better recognised, both spatially and rheologically, with the challenge remaining to connect this picture to the stability of the corresponding bulk systems.     

Luminescence-based whole-cell-sensing systems for cadmium and lead using genetically engineered bacteria

Whole-cell-based sensing systems that respond to cadmium and lead ions have been designed and developed using genetically engineered bacteria. These systems take advantage of the ability of certain bacteria to survive in environments polluted with cadmium and lead ions. The bacteria used in this investigation have been genetically engineered to produce reporter proteins in response to the toxic ions. This was achieved by modifying a strain of Escherichia colito harbor plasmids pYSC1 and pYS2/pYSG1. In these dual-plasmid-based sensing systems, the expression of the reporters beta-galactosidase and red-shifted green fluorescent protein (rs-GFP) was controlled by CadC, the regulatory protein of the cad operon. Regulation of the expression of the reporter proteins is related to the amount of cadmium and lead ions employed to induce the bacteria. The bacterial sensing systems were found to respond to cadmium, lead, and zinc ions, and had no significant response to nickel, copper, manganese, and cobalt.     

A second-order perturbation theory route to vibrational averages and transition properties of molecules: general formulation and application to infrared and vibrational circular dichroism spectroscopies

A general formulation to compute anharmonic vibrational averages and transition properties at the second-order of perturbation theory is derived from the Rayleigh-Schro?dinger development. This approach is intended to be applicable to any property expanded as a Taylor series up to the third order with respect to normal coordinates or their associated momenta. The equations are straightforward to implement and can be easily adapted to various properties, as illustrated for the case of electric and magnetic dipole moments. From those, infrared and vibrational circular dichroism spectra can be readily obtained. This fully automatic procedure has been applied to several chiral molecules of small-to-medium sizes and compared to the standard double harmonic approximation and to experimental data.