Self-emulsification in chemical and pharmaceutical technologies

The interest in the low energy self-emulsification techniques has exploded in the recent years, driven by three main trends: by the transition to “greener” technologies in both its aspects—less energy consumption and replacement of the petrochemicals by natural ingredients; by the costly and maintenance demanding equipment for nanoemulsification; and by the quest for efficient and robust self-emulsifying formulations for oral drug delivery. Here, we first present a brief overview of the main known low-energy methods for nanoemulsion formation, focusing on their mechanistic understanding and discussing some recent advances in their development and applications. Next, we review three conceptually new approaches for self-emulsification in chemical technologies, discovered in the last several years. The colloidal features and the specific requirements of the self-emulsifying drug-delivery systems (SEDDS) are also discussed briefly. Finally, we summarize the current trends and the main challenges in this vivid research area.     

Pressure controllable phase transition in MoTe2 by the interlayer band occupancy

High pressure can effectively control the phase transition of MoTe₂ in experiment, but the mechanism is still unclear. In this work, we show by first-principles calculations that the phase transition is suppressed and $1T^{\prime }$ phase becomes more stable under high pressure, which originates from the pressure-induced change of the interlayer band occupancies near the Fermi energy. Specifically, the interlayer states of $1T^{\prime }$ phase tend to be fully occupied under high pressure, while they keep partially occupied for the $T_d$ phase. The increase of the band occupancies makes the $1T^{\prime }$ phase more favorable in energy and prevents the structure changing from $1T^{\prime }$ to $T_d$ phase. Moreover, we also analyze the superconductivity under high pressure based on BCS theory by calculating the density of states and phonon spectra. Our results may shed some light on understanding the relationship between the interlayer band occupancy and crystal stability of MoTe₂ under high pressures.     

On the dynamics of the Szekeres system

The gravitational Szekeres differential system is completely integrable with two rational first integrals and an additional analytical first integral. We describe the dynamics of the Szekeres system when one of these two rational first integrals is negative, showing that all the orbits come from the infinity of ${\mathbb{R}}^4$ and go to infinity.     

掺锗提高VO2薄膜的相变温度机理研究

二氧化钒(VO₂)作为一种长久以来备受关注的新型可逆相变材料,发展潜力巨大,其相变温度(T_MIT)的调控一直是研究热点。本文主要利用锗离子作为掺杂离子探索其对VO₂薄膜T_MIT的影响,并尝试解释其内部作用机理。在约1 cm²大小抛光的氧化铝薄片上沉积了一系列含不同比例锗离子VO₂薄膜。研究发现锗离子作为掺杂离子确实有利于T_MIT的提高(本课题T_MIT最大可达84.7 ℃)。T_MIT提高的主要原因是锗离子的引入能够强化单斜态V-V二聚体的稳定性,进而增强单斜态的稳定性,使得低温单斜态向四方金红石态转变更加困难。     

镁对方解石相变压力和拉曼光谱影响的实验研究

为研究镁对方解石在高压条件下的相变行为和拉曼振动光谱的影响，探索碳酸盐在地球深部的存在形式和物理化学性质，结合金刚石压腔和激光拉曼光谱，对具有不同镁含量的方解石开展高压实验研究。实验选取天然无色透明冰洲石、淡黄色半透明方解石脉和白色大理石作为研究对象，利用ICP-AES测定冰洲石和方解石脉的成分为CaCO₃；大理石中Mg/(Mg+Ca)摩尔比为0.03，其成分可简化为(Mg_0.03Ca_0.97)CO₃。每种方解石样品挑选两粒大小约为50~100×50×20 μm的颗粒放入金刚石压腔，并在不同压力下进行相变过程观察和激光拉曼光谱测量。实验结果显示，常压下冰洲石和方解石脉样品的T₁，T₂，ν₄和ν₁拉曼振动频率分别为156.82，283.55，713.86和1 088.19 cm-1，大理石样品的拉曼振动频率为158.15，284.76，715.07和1 089.20 cm-1，表明方解石中含有3 mol%的MgCO₃时会造成方解石的拉曼振动频率整体升高1 cm-1以上。但是该变化幅度在不同压力下没有显著差别，表明镁对方解石的拉曼振动频率随压力的变化速率(∂ν/∂p)没有明显影响。冰洲石和方解石脉样品在1.5 GPa压力附近转变为方解石-Ⅱ，并在2.0 GPa进一步变为方解石-Ⅲ或Ⅲb；相比之下含有3 mol%的MgCO₃的大理石则是在2.4和3.7 GPa时才转变为方解石-Ⅱ和方解石-Ⅲ。假设镁对方解石相变压力的影响是线性的，即方解石向方解石-Ⅱ和方解石-Ⅲ/Ⅲb的相变压力随MgCO₃含量的增加以0.30和0.57 GPa·mol%-1的速率升高，当MgCO₃含量达到50 mol%时，方解石向方解石-Ⅱ和方解石-Ⅲ/Ⅲb的相变压力将分别为16.5和30.5 GPa，这与白云石向白云石-Ⅱ和白云石-Ⅲ的相变压力吻合。结合前人关于方解石中MnCO₃含量对矿物相变压力和拉曼光谱影响的研究结果，发现当方解石中部分Ca2+被具有不同半径和质量的离子(如Mg2+，Mn2+等)替代以后，阳离子与CO2-₃之间以及CO2-₃内部C-O化学键长度和强度都会发生改变，从而引起矿物结构稳定性以及拉曼振动频率的明显变化；并且两种阳离子之间半径差别越大，该影响效果越明显。因此，在研究高温高压条件下方解石的相变行为和拉曼光谱时，矿物中Mg和Mn等杂质元素对矿物结构稳定性和拉曼振动频率的影响是必须考虑的关键因素之一。     

天然同位素丰度野生型酵母细胞色素c构象变化的核磁共振检测

细胞色素c是一个重要的多功能蛋白，它在呼吸链及细胞凋亡中均发挥着重要作用.细胞色素c的构象变化与其功能密切相关，表征细胞色素c的构象变化对于明确其相关功能的分子机制至关重要.核磁共振（NMR）是近原位环境下表征蛋白构象的重要工具，但通常需要使用¹³C、¹⁵N等同位素.由于野生型细胞色素c存在翻译后修饰，故其同位素标记十分困难.本文尝试使用¹H-¹³C HSQC技术来表征提纯后的天然同位素丰度的野生型细胞色素c的构象变化.结果显示该方法能在2 h内检测到大多数甲基的信号，且化学位移变化明显的甲基与其构象变化一致.这表明该方法有助于研究天然丰度或翻译后修饰蛋白的构象变化.     

Biomolecular Release Stimulated by Electrochemical Signals at a Very Small Potential Applied

DNA release electrochemically stimulated by applying ?10 mV on the modified electrode was studied. The release process was based on the local (interfacial) pH change produced upon H₂O₂ reduction electrocatalyzed by the immobilized microperoxidase‐11. SiO₂ nanoparticles attached to the electrode surface and functionalized with trigonelline and boronic acid species changed their electrical charge from positive to negative upon the interfacial pH change, thus allowing electrostatic adsorption of negatively charged DNA on the positive interface and then its repulsion/release from the negative interface. The loaded/released DNA molecules were labeled with a fluorescent dye to allow easy detection of the released DNA molecules. The important feature of the developed system is the controlled DNA release upon applying very small electrical potential on the modified electrode.     

溶剂去除速度对于溶剂退火薄膜相形貌的影响

以聚苯乙烯-聚4-乙烯基吡啶(PS-b-P4VP)嵌段共聚物作为研究对象,采用DMF作为退火溶剂,以原子力显微镜(AFM)和透射电子显微镜(TEM)为表征手段,研究了溶剂退火后期溶胀薄膜中溶剂的去除速度对于薄膜相形貌的影响,发现通过改变溶剂去除速度可以有效的调控薄膜中的形貌.当薄膜厚度为35 nm时,DMF的快速挥发会导致薄膜中形成以PS为分散相的反转柱状相结构,当降低溶剂的挥发速度时,薄膜中形成了以PS为分散相的环状形貌,当进一步减缓挥发速度时,薄膜中将形成台阶状的片层结构;然而当薄膜厚度为55 nm时,溶剂退火后期薄膜中形成的是以P4VP为分散相的正常柱状相结构,在相同溶剂去除速度条件下薄膜相形貌变化较小.