Decomposition of Methylene Blue in Water by Corona Discharges

The decomposition of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution was investigated using a pulsed corona discharge. The discharge was ignited in the gas bubbled in the solution through several needle electrodes. The influence of treatment time, volume of the treated solution and initial concentration of the dye in solution on MB degradation was studied. The effect of the nature of the gas introduced was also investigated. For the same energy input, MB conversion increased in the order air < argon < oxygen. When using oxygen, the decomposition of MB exceeded 95% after ~20 min plasma treatment. Higher efficiency was obtained for higher treated volume and higher initial concentration. At 90% conversion the yield obtained with oxygen was ~5 g/kWh for an initial concentration of 150 mg/l and a treated volume of solution of 100 ml.     

Solution properties of ultrahigh molecular weight polymers. VII. Conformational characteristics of poly(butyl methacrylate)

The paper is concerned with light scattering studies on solutions of ultrahigh molecular weight poly(butyl methacrylate). The dependence of the radius of gyration and of the second virial coefficient on the weight-average molecular weight of the polymers was established in methyl ethyl ketone, dimethylformamide, and CCl₄. Short-range and long-range interactions were discussed in terms of the steric factor σ, of the interaction parameter B, and of the interpenetration function ψ(z).     

Temperature induced rotation in a [4.4]cyclophane

The synthesis, the X-ray, NMR and molecular modeling structure determination of a new orthopara[4.4]cyclophane are reported. The similarity of the π(CO)-π(Ar) driven conformational equilibrium of this compound to the work of an amusement ride machinery is also revealed.     

Disperse red 1 end capped oligoesters. Synthesis by noncatalyzed ring opening oligomerization and structural characterization

The synthesis of novel azofunctional oligoesters through bulk ring opening of ε‐caprolactone and D ,L ‐lactide (LA) at 100 and 130 °C, respectively, mediated by N‐ethyl‐N‐(2‐hydroxyethyl)‐4‐(4‐nitrophenylazo)aniline (Disperse Red 1) (DR1) is described. The synthetic procedure allows “clean” products because no catalysts were used in the reaction. Moreover, DR1 moiety is showed for the first time to promote the ring opening of cyclic esters. The molecular structure of the obtained oligoesters was established by NMR spectroscopy, MALDI ToF MS and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI MS). ESI‐MS/MS fragmentation experiments were used to demonstrate the nature of the chain end groups (hydroxyl and DR1). Intermolecular transesterification reactions were proved by mass spectrometry studies at least in the case of LA oligomerization. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 534–547, 2009     

Direct modeling of flow of FENE fluids

Direct simulations of macromolecular fluids are carried out for flows between parallel plates and in expanding and contracting channels. The macromolecules are modeled as FENE dumbbells with soft disks or Lennard-Jones dumbbell-dumbbell interactions. The results are presented in terms of profiles and contour plots of velocity, pressure, temperature, density, and flow fields. In addition the data for potential energy, shear stress, and the normal components of the stress tensor are collected. In general, an excellent agreement is found between the simulated profiles and the well-known flow structures, such as flow separation and formation of viscous eddies, indicating that micro-hydrodynamics is a viable tool in linking macroscopic phenomena with the underlying physical mechanisms. The simulations are performed in the Newtonian regime, for medium-size systems comprising up to 3888 dumbbells. This number is sufficiently large to control boundary and particle number effects. The flow is induced by gravity. The traditional stochastic (thermal) and periodic boundary conditions are employed. Also, diffusive boundary conditions, which could include a stagnant fluid layer and repulsive potential walls, are developed. The scaling problems, which are related to the application of a large external force in a microscopic system (of the size of the order 100 Å), result in extreme pressure and temperature gradients. In addition, the viscosity and thermal conductivity coefficients obtained from velocity and temperature profiles of the channel flow are presented. These results are confirmed independently from modeling of Couette flow by the SLLOD equations of motion and from the Evans algorithm for thermal conductivity.     

Optimization of acetylcholinesterase immobilization on microelectrodes based on nitrophenyl diazonium for sensitive organophosphate insecticides detection

The immobilization of acetylcholinesterase on platinum microelectrodes modified with p-nitrobenzenediazonium is optimized. In the first step, a layer of p-nitrophenyl groups was deposited on the surface and then reduced to p-aminophenyl groups. Finally, the enzyme was linked to the amino groups on the surface using glutaraldehyde. Each step of the electrode modification was characterized by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) at acidic and neutral pH to modify the electric charges of different bound moieties. The deposition of diazonium groups was attempted by potentiometry, amperometry or CV, but only potentiometry proceeded without passivation of the surface. The use of microelectrodes improved the limit of detection of ethylparaoxon measurements to 20 nM (compared to 100 nM in case of screen-printed electrodes based on the same method of immobilization). The method allowed the production of stable and reproducible amperometric microbiosensors and may be adapted to other enzymes and electrode materials.     

Hydrophilization of Magnetic Nanoparticles with Modified Alternating Copolymers. Part 1: The Influence of the Grafting

Iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) with a diameter 21.6 nm were coated with poly(maleic acid-alt-1-octadecene) (PMAcOD) modified with grafted 5,000 Da poly(ethyelene glycol) (PEG) or short ethylene glycol (EG) tails. The coating procedure utilizes hydrophobic interactions of octadecene and oleic acid tails, while the hydrolysis of maleic anhydride moieties as well as the presence of hydrophilic PEG (EG) tails allows the NP hydrophilicity. The success of the NP coating was found to be independent of the degree of grafting which was varied between 20 and 80% of the -MacOD-units, but depended on the length of the grafted tail. The NP coating and hydrophilization did not occur when the modified copolymer contained 750 Da PEG tails independently of the grafting degree. To explain this phenomenon the micellization of the modified PMAcOD copolymers in water was analyzed by small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). The PMAcOD molecules with the grafted 750 Da PEG tails form compact non-interacting disk-like micelles, whose stability apparently allows for no interactions with the NP hydrophobic shells. The PMAcOD containing the 5,000 Da PEG and EG tails form much larger aggregates capable of an efficient coating of the NPs. The coated NPs were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, ζ-potential measurements, and thermal gravimetry analysis. The latter method demonstrated that the presence of long PEG tails in modified PMAcOD allows the attachment of fewer macromolecules (by a factor of ~20) compared to the case of non-modified or EG modified PMAcOD, emphasizing the importance of PEG tails in NP hydrophilization. The NPs coated with PMAcOD modified with 60% (towards all -MAcOD- units) of the 5,000 PEG tails bear a significant negative charge and display good stability in buffers. Such NPs can be useful as magnetic cores for virus-like particle formation.     

Efficient access to new chemical space through flow--construction of druglike macrocycles through copper-surface-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reactions

A series of 12‐ to 22‐membered macrocycles, with druglike functionality and properties, have been generated by using a simple and efficient copper‐catalyzed azide–acetylene cycloaddition reaction, conducted in flow in high‐temperature copper tubing, under environmentally friendly conditions. The triazole‐containing macrocycles have been generated in up to 90 % yield in a 5 min reaction, without resorting to the high‐dilution conditions typical of macrocyclization reactions. This approach represents a very efficient method for constructing this important class of molecules, in terms of yield, concentration, and environmental considerations.     

Protein–Inorganic Array Construction: Design and Synthesis of the Building Blocks

Herein we describe the design and synthesis of the first series of di‐functional ligands for the directed construction of inorganic‐protein frameworks. The synthesized ligands are composed of a metal‐ion binding moiety (terpyridine‐based) conjugated to an epoxysuccinyl peptide, known to covalently bind active cysteine proteases through the active‐site cysteine. We explore and optimize two different conjugation chemistries between the di‐functionalized metal‐ion ligand and the epoxysuccinyl‐containing peptide moiety: peptide‐bond formation (with limited success) and Cu^I‐catalysed click chemistry (with good results). Further, the complexation of the synthesized ligands with Fe^II and Ni^II ions is investigated: the di‐functional ligands are confirmed to behave similarly to the parent terpyridine. As designed, the peptidic moiety does not interfere with the complexation reaction, in spite of the presence of two triazole rings that result from the click reaction. ES‐MS together with NMR and UV/Vis studies establish the structure, the stoichiometry of the complexation reactions, as well as the conditions under which chemically sensitive peptide‐containing polypyridine ligands can undergo the self‐assembly process. These results establish the versatility of our approach and open the way to the synthesis of di‐functional ligands containing more elaborated polypyridine ligands as well as affinity labels for different enzyme families. As such, this paper is the first step towards the construction of robust supramolecular species that cover a size‐regime and organization level previously unexplored.     

Quantum fidelity in the thermodynamic limit

We study quantum fidelity, the overlap between two ground states of a many-body system, focusing on the thermodynamic regime. We show how a drop in fidelity near a critical point encodes universal information about a quantum phase transition. Our general scaling results are illustrated in the quantum Ising chain for which a remarkably simple expression for fidelity is found.