Synthesis and liquid crystalline properties of substituted 2,5‐diaryl 1,3,4‐oxadiazole derivatives without flexible chains

A series of new compounds based on aromatically 2,5‐disubstituted 1,3,4‐oxadiazoles without flexible chains, formulated as p‐R–C₆H₄–(OC₂N₂)–(p‐C₆H₄)₂–R′ with (i) R = CH₃O, R′ = CH₃O, CH₃S, F, H (Ia–Id), (ii) R = CH₃S, R′ = CH₃O, CH₃S, F, H (IIa–IId) and (iii) R = F, R′ = CH₃O, CH₃S, F, H (IIIa–IIId) (p‐C₆H₄ and OC₂N₂ represent a p‐phenylene spacer and a 1,3,4‐oxadiazole ring, respectively), were synthesised and characterised by ¹H and ¹³C NMR, MS and HRMS techniques. Mesomorphic properties were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry and polarizing optical microscopy. All of the target compounds (except Id, IId, IIIc and IIId) exhibited an enantiotropic nematic mesophase with high melting temperatures. The liquid crystalline properties of these compounds were influenced greatly by polarity, steric factors and positions of the terminal groups. The effect of the terminal groups on the liquid crystal properties is discussed.     

Synthesis and characterization of side chain cholesteric liquid crystalline elastomers derived from chiral bisolefinic crosslinking units

In this work we prepared a nematic monomer (4′‐allyloxybiphenyl 4′‐ethoxybenzoate, M₁ ), a chiral crosslinking agent (isosorbide 4‐allyloxybenzoyl bisate, M₂ ) and a series of new side chain cholesteric liquid crystalline elastomers derived from M₁ and M₂ . The chemical structures of the monomers and polymers were confirmed by FTIR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The mesomorphic properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, polarizing optical microscopy and X‐ray diffraction. The effect of the content of the crosslinking unit on phase behaviour of the elastomers is discussed. Polymer P₁ showed a nematic phase, P₂ –P₇ showed a cholesteric phase; P₆ formed a blue Grandjean texture over a broad temperature range 145–209.6°C, with no changed on the cooling. Polymers P₄ –P₇ , with more than 6?mol?% of chiral crosslinking agent, gave rise to selective reflection. Elastomers containing less than 15?mol?% of the crosslinking units displayed elasticity, reversible phase transition with wide mesophase temperature ranges, and high thermal stability. Experimental results demonstrated that, with increasing content of crosslinking agent, the glass transition temperatures first fell and then increased; the isotropization temperatures and mesophase temperature ranges decreased.     

Effect of Inorganic Ions on the Oxidation of Methyl Violet with Gliding Arc Plasma Discharge

Gliding arc discharge process was used for the treatment of methyl violet wastewater. First, the intermediate products were studied by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, and ultraviolet–visible spectrometer. Second, the effects of inorganic anions including chloride (Cl^?), carbonate (CO₃ ^2?), sulfate (SO₄ ^2?), phosphate (PO₄ ^3?), nitrate (NO₃ ^?) on the degradation efficiency of methyl violet were examined. The research results indicated that hydroxyl radicals attacked carbon atom that situated in the center of dye molecule, and the conjugating structure of methyl violet was destroyed, and dye was degraded and decolored, so a possible degradation pathway was proposed by the analysis of intermediate products detected. The methyl violet degradation rate decreased with increasing anions concentrations, and their order of sequence according to the inhibition reaction was CO₃ ^2? > Cl^? > SO₄ ^2? > NO₃ ^?.     

Recombinant Expression and Characterization of an Organic-Solvent-Tolerant α-Amylase from Exiguobacterium sp. DAU5

The enzyme from halophilic microorganisms often has unique properties such as organic-solvent-tolerance. In this study, a novel organic-solvent-tolerant α-amylase gene was cloned from the mild halophile Exiguobacterium sp. DAU5. The open reading frame (ORF) of the enzyme consisted of 1,545 bp and encoded 514 amino acids, the primary sequence revealed that it belongs to the glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 13. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) showed an AmyH monomer of 57 kDa. The enzyme exhibited maximal activity at 40 °C in pH?8.5 glycine–NaOH buffer, and the activity was strongly inhibited by Zn²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Fe²⁺. The α-amylase AmyH exhibited high hydrolysis activity toward soluble starch, and the major hydrolysis products were maltose, maltotriose, and maltopentaose; the AmyH could not efficiently hydrolyze oligosaccharides smaller than maltoheptaose, nor could it act on the β-1,4 or α-1,6 glucosidic bonds in xylan or pullulan, respectively. In addition, the α-amylase exhibited better tolerance to organic solvents, as it was stable in the presence of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), methanol, ethanol, and acetone. Base on all of these results, the enzyme could be useful for practical application in the bakery industry and in biotechnological processes that occur in the presence of organic solvents.     

Isolation and Characterization of Urethanase from Penicillium variabile and Its Application to Reduce Ethyl Carbamate Contamination in Chinese Rice Wine

A strain with urethanase activity was isolated from mouse gastrointestine. By combination of morphological characterization of the colony, hyphae, and spore and the sequence analysis of its rDNA ITS, the strain was determined as Penicillium variabile and named as P. variabile JN-A525. The enzymatic properties of urethanase from P. variabile JN-A525 were further studied. The optimum temperature and pH value of urethanase are of 50 °C and 6.0, respectively. The enzyme maintains stability when the temperature is below 50 °C and the pH is in the range of 7.0–10.0. The enzyme also exhibits ethanol tolerance. It can remove ethyl carbamate from Chinese rice wine without the change of flavor substances in the wine.     

Facile synthesis of gemini surface-active ATRP initiator and its use in soap-free AGET ATRP mini-emulsion polymerisation

A novel cationic gemini surfactant has been readily synthesised in 70 % total yield. The functional gemini surfactant can act both as an emulsifier and an atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP) initiator in mini-emulsion polymerisation of methyl methacrylate (MMA), in which no other emulsifier was required. 1-(Dimethylamino)dodecane (N,N-dimethyldodecylamine, DMDA) was found to be a good ligand in the activator generated by electron transfer (AGET) ATRP reaction. Kinetic studies indicated that the polymerisation featured controlled/living radical polymerisation.     

热力学变化过程方向的完整判据

目前物理化学教科书中的自发过程方向与限度判据,只能对常见自发过程作判断,不能对含有非体积功的各类过程做出判断。笔者从热力学第二定律的理论基础克劳修斯不等式入手,通过自发变化熵判据的演绎过程,找到了3个判据不完整性的原因所在,给出了完整方向性判据的解决方案。应用表明,完整的方向与限度判据可适用于各类热力学变化过程。     

辉光放电电解等离子体引发合成高吸水性树脂

以淀粉、丙烯酸和腐殖酸钠为原料,以N,N-亚甲基双丙烯酰胺为交联剂,采用辉光放电电解等离子体在水溶液中引发聚合制备淀粉-聚丙烯酸/腐殖酸钠复合高吸水树脂。考察了放电电压、放电时间,单体与淀粉质量比、腐殖酸钠含量、交联剂、温度及中和度对树脂吸水率的影响。用红外光谱和热重分析分别对树脂进行了结构表征和稳定性测试,结果表明,在优化合成条件下,所得的复合树脂具有较高的吸水性和耐盐性,常温下对蒸馏水吸收量为862g/g,对0.9%NaCl溶液的吸收量为69g/g。     

Determination of Cr(VI) by portable tungsten coil electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometer after surfactant-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction

As a new developed instrument, a portable tungsten coil electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometer (W-coil ET-AAS) was first coupled with surfactant assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (SA-DLLME) to improve its analytical performance and expand its applications in this work. SA-DLLME was very simple, rapid and the extraction efficiency was considerably improved by the effect of surfactant, which was suitable to be coupled with the portable instrument in field analysis. After SA-DLLME, concentrated chromium in organic phase was directly determined on W-coil atomiser. The influence factors relevant to SA-DLLME and instrumental conditions were studied systematically. Under the optimal conditions, the limit of detection (LOD) for Cr(VI) was 0.016 µg L^?1, with sensitivity enhancement factor (EF) of 107. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for seven replicate measurements of 0.5 µg L^?1 of Cr(VI) was 4.6%. The recoveries for the spiked samples were in the acceptable range of 96.8–104%. The rapid, simple and high effective method greatly improved the sensitivity of this portable spectrometer for the determination of Cr(VI) and was applied to the analysis of ultra-trace Cr(VI) in real and certified water samples with satisfactory results.