Electrochemical behavior of polypyrrole-coated AZ31 alloy modified by fluoride anions

The electrochemical polymerization of polypyrrole (Ppy) films on AZ31Mg alloys was carried out using cyclic voltammetery in 0.5 M sodium salicylate solution containing 0.25 M pyrrole and different concentration of sodium fluoride (NaF). Corrosion performance of the Ppy film was assessed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization tests in 3.5 % NaCl solution. It was observed that Ppy coatings doped in the presence of 100 ppm NaF provide the best corrosion protection for magnesium and the corrosion potential shifted about 290 mV toward nobler potentials and decrease the corrosion current density about one order of magnitude. The surface analysis of the coatings showed that the addition of F^? dopant anions led to an improvement in the smoothness, thickness, and adhesion quality of the synthesized Ppy coating on the Mg surface. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies of the fluoride-doped Ppy films revealed that the synthesized coating has a closely packed globular structure which was composed of nanoparticles of Ppy.     

Existence and Global Asymptotic Behavior of Positive Solutions for Sublinear and Superlinear Fractional Boundary Value Problems

In this paper, the authors aim at proving two existence results of fractional differential boundary value problems of the form(P_(a,b)){D~αu(x) + f(x, u(x)) = 0, x ∈(0, 1),u(0) = u(1) = 0, D~(α-3)u(0) = a, u(1) =-b,where 3 α≤ 4, Dαis the standard Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative and a, b are nonnegative constants. First the authors suppose that f(x, t) =-p(x)t~σ, with σ∈(-1, 1)and p being a nonnegative continuous function that may be singular at x = 0 or x = 1and satisfies some conditions related to the Karamata regular variation theory. Combining sharp estimates on some potential functions and the Sch¨auder fixed point theorem, the authors prove the existence of a unique positive continuous solution to problem(P_(0,0)).Global estimates on such a solution are also obtained. To state the second existence result, the authors assume that a, b are nonnegative constants such that a + b 0 and f(x, t) = tφ(x, t), with φ(x, t) being a nonnegative continuous function in(0, 1)×[0, ∞) that is required to satisfy some suitable integrability condition. Using estimates on the Green's function and a perturbation argument, the authors prove the existence and uniqueness of a positive continuous solution u to problem(P_(a,b)), which behaves like the unique solution of the homogeneous problem corresponding to(P_(a,b)). Some examples are given to illustrate the existence results.     

Spectrophotometric determination of pipazethate hydrochloride in pure form and in pharmaceutical formulations

Three simple, sensitive, and reproducible spectrophotometric methods (A-C) for the determination of pipazethate hydrochloride (PiCl) in pure form and in pharmaceutical formulations are described. The first and second methods, A and B, are based on the oxidation of the drug by Fe3+ in the presence of o-phenanthroline (o-phen) or bipyridyl (bipy). The formation of tris-complex upon reactions with Fe3+-o-phen and/or Fe3+-bipy mixture in an acetate buffer solution of the optimum pH values was demonstrated at 510 and 522 nm, respectively, with o-phen and bipy. The third method, C, is based on the reduction of Fe(III) by PiCl in acid medium and subsequent interaction of Fe(II) with ferricyanide to form Prussian blue, which exhibits an absorption maximum at 750 nm. The concentration ranges are from 0.5 to 8, 2 to 16, and 3 to 15 microg/mL for Methods A-C, respectively. For more accurate analysis, Ringbom optimum concentration ranges were calculated. The molar absorptivity, Sandell sensitivity, and detection and quantitation limits were calculated. The developed methods were successfully applied to the determination of PiCl in bulk and pharmaceutical formulations without any interference from common excipients. The relative standard deviations were < or =0.83% with recoveries of 98.9-101.15%.     

Entropy-energy decomposition from nonequilibrium work trajectories

We derive expressions for the equilibrium entropy and energy changes in the context of the Jarzynski equality relating nonequilibrium work to equilibrium free energy. The derivation is based on a stochastic path integral technique that reweights paths at different temperatures. Stochastic dynamics generated by either a Langevin equation or a Metropolis Monte Carlo scheme are treated. The approach enables the entropy-energy decomposition from trajectories evolving at a single-temperature and does not require simulations or measurements at two or more temperatures. Both finite difference and analytical formulae are derived. Testing is performed on a prototypical model system and the method is compared with existing thermodynamic integration and thermodynamic perturbation approaches for entropy-energy decomposition. The new formulae are also put in the context of more general, dynamics-independent expressions that derive from either a fluctuation theorem or the Feynman-Kac theorem.     

Investigation of thermal,mechanical, and electrical properties of novel polyurethanes/high molecular weight polybenzoxazine blends

In order to prepare tough polyurethane (PU) electrical insulator with improved thermal stability and electrical insulating properties, high molecular weight polybenzoxazine precursor was mixed and co‐cured with crosslinkable urethane prepolymers. Polybenzoxazine precursor (Bmda) was synthesized from reaction of bisphenol‐A, methylenedianiline, and paraformaldehyde. Epoxy‐terminated polyurethanes (EPU1‐4) were prepared by the reaction of glycidol with NCO‐terminated urethane oligomers. The oligomers were prepared from different molecular weight versions of polycaprolactone polyol (CAPA) and hexamethylene diisocyanate. Blends were prepared through thermal treatment of equal weights of two precursors dissolved in chloroform. Optimum curing condition was determined by DSC and DMTA analysis and measurement of the gel content for cured samples. Viscoelastic, thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties of cured samples were investigated and structure–property relationship was established. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spectrophotometric determination of pipazethate HCl, dextromethorphan HBr and drotaverine HCl in their pharmaceutical preparations

A simple, accurate and highly sensitive spectrophotometric method is proposed for the rapid determination of pipazethate hydrochloride, dextromethorphan hydrobromide and drotaverine hydrochloride using chromotrope 2B (C2B) and chromotrope 2R (C2R). The method consists of extracting the formed ion-associates into chloroform in the case of pipazethate HCl and dextromethorphan HBr or into methylene chloride in the case of drotaverine HCl. The ion-associates exhibit absorption maxima at 528, 540 and 532 nm with C2B and at 526, 517 and 522 nm with C2R for pipazethate HCl, dextromethorphan HBr and drotaverine HCl, respectively. The calibration curves resulting from the measurements of absorbance-concentration relations (at the optimum reaction conditions) of the extracted ion-pairs are linear over the concentration range 4.36-52.32 microg mL(-1) for pipazethate, 3.7-48.15 microg mL(-1) for dextromethorphan and 4.34-60.76 microg mL(-1) for drotaverine, respectively. The effect of acidity, reagent concentration, time, solvent and stoichiometric ratio of the ion-associates were estimated. The molar absorptivity and Sandell sensitivity of the reaction products were calculated. Statistical treatment of the results reflects that the procedure is precise, accurate and easily applied for the determination of the drugs under investigation in pure form and in their pharmaceutical preparations.     

Electronic absorption spectra of cresyl violet acetate in anisotropic and isotropic solvents

The isotropic and anisotropic solvation characteristics of cresyl violet acetate (CVA) were investigated in isotropic liquid solutions and in polar nematic matrices as a function of the solvent type and concentration. The interaction of the ionic dye with the anisotropic surrounding and with that of the isotropic solvents was investigated and compared. The experimental result suggests that the nematic liquid crystalline solvents might create stronger solvation than the isotropic solvents. The spectral shifts were correlated by the solvent permittivity and Kamlet-Taft parameters. The polarized absorption spectra of cresyl violet acetate were measured between 400 and 800 nm and the dichroic ratio R and degree of anisotropy S of this dye in the liquid crystalline host determined.     

Optimal diabatic bases via thermodynamic bounds

Describing kinetic processes within a perturbation theory approach such as Fermi's golden rule requires an understanding of the initial and final states of the system. A number of different methods have been proposed for obtaining these diabatic-like states, but a robust criterion for evaluating their accuracy has not been established. Here, we approach the problem of determining the most appropriate set of diabatic states for use in incoherent rate expressions. We develop a method that rotates an initial set of diabats into an optimized set beginning with a zeroth-order diabatic Hamiltonian and choosing the rotation that minimizes the effect of non-diabatic terms on the thermodynamic free energy. The Gibbs-Bogoliubov (GB) bound on the Helmholtz free energy is thus used as the diabatic criterion. We first derive the GB free energy for a two site system and then find an expression general for any electronic system Hamiltonian. Efficient numerical methods are used to perform the minimization subject to orthogonality constraints, and we examine the resulting diabats for system Hamiltonians in various parameter regimes. The transition from localized to delocalized states is clearly seen in these calculations, and some interesting features are discussed.     

New stability criteria for stochastic perturbed singular systems in mean square

In this study, a generalized equal-peak principle is established to suppress the multimodal vibration of a multiple-degree-of-freedom (M-DOF) nonlinear system. Based on the proposed generalized principle, the design procedure of the multiple time-delayed vibration absorbers (TDVAs) is carried out. By four conditions in the proposed generalized principle, the objective of suppressing all the resonance peaks around multiple modes to the equal minimum values is realized. For the existence of nonlinearity, the necessary and sufficient conditions in the design procedure can guarantee that the two resonance peaks around each mode are simultaneously equal. Moreover, the two equal resonance peaks are suppressed to minimum values with the minimum peak condition. Two case studies verify the efficiency of the TDVAs designed by the generalized equal-peak principle for multimodal vibration suppression. Due to the multimodal vibration suppression capacity of the proposed TDVAs designed by the generalized equal-peak principle, significant broad frequency band vibration suppression effects are achieved. Thus, TDVAs and the proposed equal-peak principle have potential applications in the fields of high-DOF vibration systems, such as civil engineering, precision machining and aerospace.

     

Phenylpropanoid and phenylethanoid derivatives from Kigelia pinnata DC. fruits

Further phytochemical investigation of the fruits of Kigelia pinnata DC. has yielded a new phenylpropanoid derivative identified as 6-p-coumaroyl-sucrose (1) together with ten known phenylpropanoid and phenylethanoid derivatives (2-11) and a flavonoid glycoside (12). The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated using various techniques of NMR and MS spectral analysis.