Diffusioosmosis of electrolyte solutions along a charged plane wall

The steady diffusioosmotic flow of an electrolyte solution along a dielectric plane wall caused by an imposed tangential concentration gradient is analytically examined. The plane wall may have either a constant surface potential or a constant surface charge density of an arbitrary quantity. The electric double layer adjacent to the charged wall may have an arbitrary thickness, and its electrostatic potential distribution is determined by the Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The macroscopic electric field along the tangential direction induced by the imposed electrolyte concentration gradient is obtained as a function of the lateral position. A closed-form formula for the fluid velocity profile is derived as the solution of a modified Navier-Stokes equation. The direction of the diffusioosmotic flow relative to the concentration gradient is determined by the combination of the zeta potential of the wall and the properties of the electrolyte solution. For a given concentration gradient of an electrolyte along a plane wall, the magnitude of fluid velocity at a position in general increases with an increase in its electrokinetic distance from the wall, but there are exceptions. The effect of the lateral distribution of the induced tangential electric field in the double layer on the diffusioosmotic flow is found to be very significant and cannot be ignored.     

Creeping motion of an assemblage of composite spheres relative to a fluid

The sedimentation of a homogeneous distribution of spherical composite particles and the fluid flow through a bed of these particles are investigated theoretically. Each composite particle is composed of a spherical solid core and a surrounding porous shell. In the fluid-permeable porous shell, idealized hydrodynamic frictional segments are assumed to distribute uniformly. The effect of interactions among the particles is taken into explicit account by employing a fundamental cell-model representation which is known to provide good predictions for the motion of a swarm of nonporous spheres within a fluid. In the limit of a small Reynolds number, the Stokes and Brinkman equations are solved for the flow field in a unit cell, and the drag force exerted by the fluid on the particle is obtained in a closed form. For a distribution of composite spheres, the normalized mobility of the particles decreases or the particle interactions increase monotonically with a decrease in the permeability of their porous shells. The effect of particle interactions on the creeping motion of composite spheres relative to a fluid can be quite significant in some situations. In the limiting cases, the analytical solutions describing the drag force or mobility for a suspension of composite spheres reduce to those for suspensions of solid spheres and of porous spheres. The hydrodynamic behavior for composite spheres may be approximated by that for permeable spheres when the porous layer is sufficiently thick, depending on the permeability.     

A novel hexairon cluster with one disulfide and two Ph2PCS3− ligands

The title compound, hexadecacarbonylbis{μ₃‐[(diphenylphosphanyl)methanediidyl]sulfanido}‐μ₄‐disulfido(2−)‐hexairon(4 Fe—Fe), [Fe₆(C₁₃H₁₀PS)₂(S₂)(CO)₁₆], contains two inversion‐related [Fe₃(Ph₂PCS)(CO)₈] subclusters linked by an equatorial disulfide bond [S—S = 2.1490 (9) Å]. Each Ph₂PCS³⁻ ligand is coordinated to a triiron core in a μ₃‐κP:κ²C:κ²S fashion.     

Synthesis and characterization of fluorine-containing cholesteric liquid crystalline polysiloxanes bearing trifluoromethyl-substituted mesogens

A series of side-chain liquid crystal (LC) polysiloxanes were synthesised with Poly(methylhydrogeno)siloxane, 4?-(undec-10-enoyloxy) biphenyl – 4 – yl 4- (trifluoromethyl) benzoate (M_th) and a chiral nematic (N*) LC monomer 1-allyl 10-(cholesteryl)-decanedioate (M_ch). The chemical structures and LC properties of the monomers and polymers were characterised by FTIR, ¹H-NMR, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, POM and X-ray diffractometer. M_ch is monotropic N* LC. The homopolymer derived from monomer M_ch is enantiotropic N* LC. Monomer M_th is a smectic A liquid crystal. The copolymers derived from M_ch and M_th are N* LCs. The temperatures at which 5% weight loss occurred are greater than 300°C for all the fluoro-containing polymers, and the residue weights of the samples at 600°C increased slightly as the content of trifluoromethyl mesogens increased in the polymers. The glass transition temperatures of the polymers increased as trifluoromethyl mesogens increased, too. The N*–I phase transition temperatures show a negative deviate from ideal or linear behaviour. The values of the enthalpy changes for the cholesteryl containing polymers are rather low and this is attributed to the biaxiality of cholesteryl moiety which tends to reduce the change in the orientational order at the N*–I transition. Compared to the monomers, the polymers show wider mesophase region.     

Validated UPLC‐MS/MS method for determination of moclobemide in human brain cell supernatant and its application to bidirectional transport study

A simple and sensitive analytical method based on ultraperformance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐MS/MS) has been developed for determination of moclobemide in human brain cell monolayer as an in vitro model of blood–brain barrier. Brucine was employed as the internal standard. Moclobemide and internal standard were extracted from cell supernatant by ethyl acetate after alkalinizing with sodium hydroxide. The UPLC separation was performed on an Acquity UPLC^TM BEH C₁₈ column (50 × 2.1 mm, 1.7 µm, Waters, USA) with a mobile phase consisting of methanol–water (29.5:70.5, v/v); the water in the mobile phase contained 0.05% ammonium acetate and 0.1% formic acid. Detection of the analytes was achieved using positive ion electrospray via multiple reaction monitoring mode. The mass transitions were m/z 269.16 → 182.01 for moclobemide and m/z 395.24 → 324.15 for brucine. The extraction recovery was 83.0–83.4% and the lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was 1.0 ng/mL for moclobemide. The method was validated from LLOQ to 1980 ng/mL with a coefficient of determination greater than 0.999. Intra‐ and inter‐day accuracies of the method at three concentrations ranged from 89.1 to 100.9% for moclobemide with precision of 1.1–9.6%. This validated method was successfully applied to bidirectional transport study of moclobemide blood–brain barrier permeability. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new method for the synthesis of 3-hydroxymethylbenzofuran

A new one-step synthesis of 3-hydroxymethylbenzofuran, based on intramolecular cyclization of 2- （methoxymethyl）-2-（2＇-methoxymethyl-4＇-methylphenyl）-butanone I under diluted hydrochloric acid in THF, was developed. The mechanism for this process was investigated via chemical equilibrium shift of tautomer in acidic conditions. The applicability of this new method was studied further in this paper.     

AGET ATRP of water‐soluble PEGMA: Fast living radical polymerization mediated by iron catalyst

In this work, living radical polymerizations of a water‐soluble monomer poly(ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether methacylate (PEGMA) in bulk with low‐toxic iron catalyst system, including iron chloride hexahydrate and triphenylphosphine, were carried out successfully. Effect of reaction temperature and catalyst concentration on the polymerization of PEGMA was investigated. The polymerization kinetics showed the features of “living”/controlled radical polymerization. For example, M_n,GPC values of the resultant polymers increased linearly with monomer conversion. A faster polymerization of PEGMA could be obtained in the presence of a reducing agent Fe(0) wire or ascorbic acid. In the case of Fe(0) wire as the reducing agent, a monomer conversion of 80% was obtained in 80 min of reaction time at 90 °C, yielding a water‐soluble poly(PEGMA) with M_n = 65,500 g mol^?1 and M_w/M_n = 1.39. The features of “living”/controlled radical polymerization of PEGMA were verified by analysis of chain‐end and chain‐extension experiments. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012