Study of the dehydration of Portland Cement by Mössbauer spectrometry

Egyptian Portland Cement in the form of one inch cube was hydrated at different times of hydration. Nine cubes of each period of hydration were heated for five minutes 200, 300, 400 up to 1000°C then were quenched in air. The compressive strength was measured for these samples and related to unheated ones. These cubes were ground and measured by Mössbauer spectrometry to correlate the effect of dehydration of cement pastes on the states of iron, with the decrease of compressive strength. It was observed that starting from 400°C the central doublet characteristic of the hydration process decreased as the dehydration temperature was increased. At 1000°C the dehydration process was complete, the central doublet disappeared and the compressive strength vanished. The hydration process was found to be reversible. The application of Mössbauer spectrometry to estimate the degree of fire in concrete building was demonstrated.     

Mössbauer study of iron reduction in hematite containing mineral originated from Aswan area in Egypt

Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to study iron reduction in mineral originated from Aswan area in Egypt. The Mössbauer spectra of samples heat treated at 1000 °C in hydrogen atmosphere show a gradually reduction process of hematite. The main phase of sample aged for 1 h is magnetite, while alpha-iron as well as some silicates and wustite type oxide can be detected in sample aged for 3 h. Further aging of sample results in dissolution of alloying elements /Si, Al/, being present in the samples. This process starts already in samples aged at 1000 °C for 4 h, but it is more expressive in minerals heat treated at 1200 °C or 1300 °C, when all paramagnetic phases disappeared.     

Thermal Study of the Cr-Mo-O System in Air

The phase diagram of the ternary system Cr-Mo-O in air was established from the results of thermal analysis of mixtures with different initial CrO3 to MoO3 ratios. It was found that MoO3 did not take any chromium oxide into solid solution. The presence of Cr2O3 destabilized MoO3 causing it to decompose to MoO2 in the temperature range 723-958 K depending on the initial Cr/Mo ratio. The decomposition of pure MoO3 MoO2 did not occur in air at any temperature. However, this decomposition took place through the formation of the compound Cr2O3·3MoO3(ss) and its decomposition to Cr2O3·3MoO2(ss). The latter compound has never been reported before and the X-ray data for this compound are given. The previously reported catalytic activity of Cr2O3·3MoO3(ss), at high temperatures, is presumably due to its reduction to Cr2O3·3MoO2(ss). This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Novel Cyanine Dyes: Synthesis,Characterization and Photosensitization‐Structure Correlation

Novel furo, thieno and pyrrolo[2,3‐b]pyrazole cyanine dyes were synthesized. The structure‐photosensitization properties correlation of the dyes were examined in 95% ethanol solution by absorption spectroscopy. The chemical structure of the starting biheterocyclic compounds and their derived cyanine dyes were confirmed by elemental analysis, IR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy.     

Voltammetric Label‐free Immunosensors for the Diagnosis of Cystic Echinococcosis

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) or hydatid disease is a parasitic infection caused by Echinococcus granulosus. Early serodiagnosis and continuous monitoring of the disease is very important for medical treatment. Here, we report the detecting of both echinococcus antigen and antibody for the diagnosis of hydatid disease using square wave voltammetry (SWV)‐based immunosensors. The gold electrodes were functionalized using cysteamine/phenylene diisothiocyanate linkers and used for the immunosensors fabrication. The hydatid antigen and antibody immunosensors were constructed by the immobilization of either purified rabbit polyclonal antibody or recombinant antigen B (AgB), respectively on the functionalized gold electrodes surfaces. The detection in both cases was achieved by following the change in the SWV reduction peak current of the ferro/ferricyanide redox couple upon antibody or antigen binding. These immunosensors enabled the detection of echinococcus antigen and antibody within a concentration range of 1 pg.mL^?1 to 1 μg.mL^?1 with detection limits of 0.4 pg.mL^?1 and 0.3 pg.mL^?1, respectively. A preliminary application of the developed immunosensor was performed in spiked serum sample showing good recovery percentages ranging from 102 to 110 % for both hydatid antibody and antigen detection. This easy‐to‐use, sensitive, and low cost quantitative method holds great promise for the early diagnosis of hydatid disease and thus, better managements and treatment outcomes.     

Molecularly Imprinted Impedimetric Sensor for Determination of Mycotoxin Zearalenone

The mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEA) prompts reproductive toxicity due to its strong estrogenic effects. In this work, an electrochemical sensor for determination of ZEA was developed by electropolymerization of a molecularly imprinted poly (o‐phenylenediamine) (PPD) film on screen‐printed gold electrode (SPGE) surface. The sensor was examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) using K₃[Fe(CN)₆]/K₄[Fe(CN)₆] as redox probe. The molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) sensor showed a wide determination range from 2.50 to 200.00 ngmL^?1 for ZEA. The Limit of detection (LOD) was calculated to be 0.20 ngmL^?1, based on the signal to noise (S/N) ratio equal to 3.0. The sensor displayed good repeatability, with RSD values≤4.6 %, and maintained 93.2 % of its initial response after storage for 10 days in air at room temperature. The developed method was successfully applied for the determination of ZEA in corn flakes with mean recoveries ranged from 96.2 % to 103.8 % and RSDs within the interval of 2.1 % to 3.8 %.     

Polymersome‐forming amphiphilic glycosylated polymers: Synthesis and characterization

Copper‐catalyzed azide‐alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) was used to prepare glycosylated polyethylene (PE)–poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) amphiphilic block copolymers. The synthetic approach involves preparation of alkyne‐terminated PE‐b‐PEG followed by CuAAC reaction with different azide functionalized sugars. The alkyne‐terminated PE‐b‐PEG was prepared by etherification reaction between hydroxyl‐terminated PE‐b‐PEG (M_n ～ 875 g mol^?1) and propargyl bromide and azidoethyl glycosides were prepared by glycosylation of 2‐azidoethanol. Atmospheric pressure solids analysis probe‐mass spectrometry was used as a novel solid state characterization tool to determine the outcome of the CuAAC click reaction and end‐capping of PE‐b‐PEG by the azidoethyl glycoside group. The aqueous solution self‐assembly behavior of these amphiphilic glycosylated polymers was explored by TEM and dye solubilization studies. Carbohydrate‐bearing spherical aggregates with the ability to solubilize a hydrophobic dye were observed. The potential of these amphiphilic glycosylated polymers to self‐assemble via electro‐formation into giant carbohydrate‐bearing polymersomes was also investigated using confocal fluorescence microscopy. An initial bioactivity study of the carbohydrate‐bearing aggregates is furthermore presented. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013 , 51, 5184–5193     

Synthesis of a new smart temperature responsive glycopolymer via click-polymerisation

A novel temperature responsive water-soluble glycopolymer was synthesised via copper wire-catalysed click-polymerisation. Di-hydroxyl terminated poly(ethylene glycol) was quantitatively alkyne end-capped to yield di-alkyne terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (DAT-PEG). 2,3,4,2′,3′,4′-hexa-O-acetyl-6,6′-diazido-6,6′-dideoxy-α,α-D-trehalose (HADADT) was prepared from the di hydrated α,α-D-Trehalose by tosylation/acetylation followed by azidation. Click-polymerisation reaction between DAT-PEG and HADADT was successfully carried out to produce an alternating glycopolymer with triazole rings as linkers in high yield. All the intermediates as well as the glycopolymer were fully characterised by NMR, MS, IR, SEC, TGA and DSC. The cloud point of the aqueous solution of glycopolymer was investigated by optical microscopy and UV–vis spectroscopy. The LCST was found to be within physiological range of about 39 °C, known as fever temperature.     

A redundant Klee–Minty construction with all the redundant constraints touching the feasible region

We have previously shown, by redundant Klee–Minty constructions, that the central path may arbitrarily closely visit every vertex of the Klee–Minty cube. In those constructions, the redundant constraints are far away from the feasible region. In this paper, we provide a construction in which all redundant constraints touch the feasible region.