Synthesis and characterization of polymeric Pd(II), Pt(IV), and Au(III) complexes of 2,2′-(1,4-phenylenedivinylene)-bis-8-hydroxyquinoline

The complexes of 2,2′-(1,4-Phenylenedivinylene)-bis-8-hydroxyquinoline (LH₂) with K₂PdCl₄, H₂PtCl₆ and HAuCl₄ were synthesized and characterized with ¹H-and ¹³C-NMR, elemental analysis, FT-IR, and molar conductivity. Au(III) and Pt(IV) complexes have characteristic conductance, while the Pd(II) complex has a non-ionic structure according to the molar conductivity and elemental analysis. This text was submitted by authors in English.     

Strategies for fine-tuning the catalytic activity of pincer-complexes

Various methoxy substituted pincer-complexes were prepared in order to study the substituent effects on the catalytic activity in palladium catalyzed opening of vinyl epoxides and boronation of cinnamyl alcohol. The results clearly show that methoxy substitution at the para-position of the pincer-complex leads to up to fourfold acceleration of the catalytic reactions, while substitution of the side-arms does not change the activity of the complex or leads to a slight deceleration of the catalytic processes.     

Biomimetic Approaches for Membrane Technologies

Membrane technology is the dominant process in water treatment. However, the operation cost of membranes cannot be decreased unless the amount of fouling, the “Achilles heel” of membranes, and energy consumed are cut. The high energy requirements in commercial nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and forward osmosis technologies lead researchers to develop new membrane designs having high flux values with high salt rejection values. The purpose of this review is to present the inadequacies of the membrane processes by considering studies related to fouling and energy minimization. In this respect, lipid bilayers, block copolymers, aquaporin Z proteins and aligned carbon nanotubes can be the base to build biomimetic membranes. Such studies are summarized due to their remarkable properties in fouling control. Furthermore, the review describes the membrane design strategies and points the limitations hindering commercialization. Additionally, it is hoped that this review will trigger further needed studies.     

A study on 3-D stress distributions in the bi-adhesively bonded T-joints

In this study, the normal (σ_x, σ_y, σ_z) and shear stress (τ_xy, τ_yz, τ_zx) distributions occurring in a bi-adhesively bonded T-joint with was investigated via a non-linear three dimensional finite element analysis. For this purpose, first of all, using 2024-T3 aluminum alloy as the adherend and the support, a two-part paste (DP 460) and a film type (SBT 9244) as adhesive, two different types of T-joint samples (single-adhesively bonded T-joint and bi-adhesively bonded T-joint) were produced for experimental studies. After experimental studies on the three different T-joint types were conducted, stress analyses in the T-joints were performed with a three-dimensional finite element analysis by considering the geometrical non-linearity and the material non-linearities of the adhesive (DP460 and SBT9244) and adherend (AA2024-T3). Finally, for a given adherend, the lower the stiffness of the adhesive used in the overlap, the lower the stress concentration, leading to potentially higher joint strength. The use of relatively low stiffness adhesives at the ends of the overlap in a bi-adhesive can decrease the stress concentration and, therefore, potentially lead to higher joint strength.     

Rate of convergence by Chlodowsky-Taylor polynomials

Approximation on an unbounded interval is studied in this work by means of a newly-defined two-parameter polynomial operator based on Chlodowsky polynomials. The operator’s properties including convergence rate are investigated using the weighted modulus of continuity. An example is given to illustrate the effect of the parameters. Some basic results are presented.     

Various polycarbonate graft copolymers via diels–alder click reaction

In this work, we used Diels–Alder click reaction for the preparation of various types of aliphatic polycarbonates (PCs). We first prepared a novel anthracene‐functionalized cyclic carbonate monomer, anthracen‐9‐ylmethyl 5‐methyl‐2‐oxo‐1,3‐dioxane‐5‐carboxylate (2), followed by ring‐opening polymerization of this monomer to prepare PC with pendant anthracene groups (PC‐anthracene) using 1,8‐diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec‐7‐ene (DBU)/1‐(3,5‐bis(trifloromethyl)phenyl)‐3‐cyclohexylthiourea (TU) as the catalyst and benzyl alcohol as the initiator in CH₂Cl₂ at room temperature. Subsequently, the resulting PC‐anthracene (M_n,TDGPC = 6000 g/mol, M_w/M_n = 1.22) was grafted with a linear α‐furan protected‐maleimide terminated‐poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA‐MI) (M_n,GPC = 3100 g/mol, M_w/M_n = 1.31), or poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG‐MI) (M_n,GPC = 550 g/mol, M_w/M_n = 1.09), or a mixture of PMMA‐MI and PEG‐MI to yield well‐defined PC graft or hetero graft copolymers, PC‐g‐PMMA (M_n,TDGPC = 59000 g/mol, M_w/M_n = 1.22) or PC‐g‐PEG, or PC‐g‐(PMMA)‐co‐PC‐g‐(PEG) (M_n,TDGPC = 39900 g/mol, M_w/M_n = 1.16), respectively, using Diels–Alder click reaction in toluene at 110°C. The Diels–Alder grafting efficiencies were found to be over 97% using UV spectroscopy. Moreover, the structural analyses and the molecular weights of resulting graft copolymers were determined via ¹H NMR and triple detection GPC (TD‐GPC), respectively. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Development of reactive methacrylates based on glycidyl methacrylate

Six methacrylate monomers have been synthesized for use as reactive diluents in dental composites and evaluated to investigate the relationship between molecular structure and monomer reactivity. Four were synthesized by reactions of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) with various acids, 2‐(2‐methoxyethoxy)acetic acid ( 1 ), 2‐(2‐(2‐methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)acetic acid ( 2 ), cyanoacetic acid ( 3 ), and benzoic acid ( 4 ); others were synthesized by reactions of GMA with diethyl hydrogen phosphate ( 5 ) or methanol ( 6 ). Monomers 1 and 2 are novel, 3 seems to be novel, 4 and 6 were synthesized via a novel method, and the synthesis of 5 was described in the literature. The monomers showed high crosslinking tendencies during thermal bulk polymerizations. The photo‐, homo‐, and copolymerization behavior of the monomers with 2,2‐bis[4‐(2‐hydroxy‐3‐methacryloyloxy)phenyl]propane (Bis‐GMA) were investigated. The maximum rate of polymerizations of monomers 2 – 6 was found to be greater than triethyleneglycol dimethacrylate, Bis‐GMA, 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and glycerol dimethacrylate. For the more reactive monomers ( 2 , 3 , and 4 ), the oxygen sensitivity of polymerization was found to be low due to a hydrogen abstraction/chain transfer reaction. The computationally calculated dipole moment and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies indicated that there seems to be a correlation between these quantities and reactivity for ester linked monomers ( 1 – 5 ), which was also supported by ¹³C NMR data. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 3787–3796, 2010     

Plane-Couette flow between smooth and rough walls

A novel approach is utilized to acquire new experimental information on plane-Couette flow. To this end a rigid plate, functioning as the moving wall, is propelled through air by the carriage of a towing channel, and the fixed wall is a stationary bench. It is shown that, irrespective of the state of the walls, the critical Reynolds number, expressed in terms of relative wall velocity and wall spacing, is about 1,200. Findings support the notion of universality of turbulent flow structure in the wall region, but shed doubt on the conjecture of homogeneous shear-flow turbulence in the core.     

Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in waters by ultrasound-assisted emulsification-microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

An ultrasound-assisted emulsification-microextraction (USAEME) procedure was developed for the extraction of US EPA 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in 10 mL of water samples, with subsequent determination by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). After determination of the most suitable solvent and solvent volume, several other parameters (i.e., extraction time, centrifugation time and ionic strength of the sample) were optimized using a 2³ factorial experimental design. Limits of detection ranged from 0.001 to 0.036 μg L⁻¹. The developed procedure was applied to fortified distilled water with different fortification levels (0.5, 2 and 5 μg L⁻¹). Recoveries were over 92% and relative standard deviations of the recoveries were below 8%. The efficiency of the USAEME was compared with traditional liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and solid-phase extraction on real water samples (i.e., tap water, well water and surface (lake) water as well as domestic and industrial wastewaters). The USAEME showed comparable efficiencies especially with LLE. The developed USAEME was demonstrated to be robust, viable, simple, rapid and easy to use for the determination of PAHs in water samples by GC-MS.     

New universal primers facilitate Pyrosequencing

A cost-driving factor in Pyrosequencing is the need for single-stranded PCR products that are usually obtained by biotin-labeling of one primer. We designed new universal primers that allow the introduction of biotin during the specific PCR at either the forward or the reverse primer in a single reaction. When converting five human single nucleotide polymorphism assays from the standard format into the universal format, we obtained pyrograms of similar good quality. Although the universal nonhuman sequences are unlikely to form loop structures, we mostly failed to establish assays without using the proprietary software from Biotage AB. Nevertheless, our universal primer pair adds flexibility to the process of assay design due to optional strand selection and contributes to the reduction of genotyping costs.