Highly Proton-Conductive Zinc Metal-Organic Framework Based On Nickel(II) Porphyrinylphosphonate

The design of new solid-state proton-conducting materials is a great challenge for chemistry and materials science. Herein, a new anionic porphyrinylphosphonate-based MOF ( IPCE-1Ni ), which involves dimethylammonium (DMA) cations for charge compensation, is reported. As a result of its unique structure, IPCE-1Ni exhibits one of the highest value of the proton conductivity among reported proton-conducting MOF materials based on porphyrins (1.55×10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ at 75 °C and 80 % relative humidity).     

Reactions of Aryl Benzoates with Potassium Aryloxides: Solvent Effects on Reaction Pathway and Kinetics

Temperature dependences of the relative reactivity of potassium aryloxides XC₆H₄O^?K⁺ toward 2,4‐dinitrophenyl benzoate in 50 mol% dimethylformamide (DMF)–50 mol% H₂O mixture have been studied using the competitive reactions technique. Correlation analyses of the relative rate constants k_X/k_H and differences in the activation parameters (ΔΔН^≠ and ΔΔS^≠) of the competitive reactions have revealed the existence of two isokinetic series of the reactions of 2,4‐dinitrophenyl benzoate with potassium aryloxides with electron‐donating substituent (EDS) and electron‐withdrawing substituent (EWS), respectively. We have investigated the effect of the substituent X on the activation parameters for each isokinetic series and concluded that the mechanism of the reactions of 2,4‐dinitrophenyl benzoate with potassium aryloxides XC₆H₄O^?K⁺ in 50 mol% DMF–50 mol% H₂O mixture is the same as in DMF. Analysis of the obtained data with using the method of two‐dimensional reaction coordinate diagram leads to the conclusion that the variation of the solvent from DMF to 50 mol% DMF–50 mol% H₂O mixture affects the reaction pathway. The rate constant k_X for the reaction of 3‐nitrophenyl benzoate with potassium 4‐methoxyphenoxide and the relative rate constants k_X/k_H for the reaction of 3‐nitrophenyl benzoate with potassium aryloxides XC₆H₄O^?K⁺ with EDS were measured in 50 mol% DMF–50 mol% H₂O mixtures at 25°C, and it has been shown that the addition of water to DMF does not change the mechanism but slows down these reactions.     

Nonlinear frequency response analysis: a recent review and perspectives

The nonlinear frequency response analysis (NFRA) can be seen as an extension of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. NFRA gives a full and detailed representation of the system response and can establish a connection between model parameters and the experimentally observed phenomena. In this article, different theoretical NFRA approaches and the most recent application examples are discussed. A simple electrochemical example is used to showcase the benefits and disadvantages of analyzing the system response by using different approaches. In addition, it was shown how to extract experimental harmonic values and analyze them.     

Influence of the Degree of Deacetylation of Chitosan and BMP-2 Concentration on Biocompatibility and Osteogenic Properties of BMP-2/PLA Granule-Loaded Chitosan/β-Glycerophosphate Hydrogels

Compositions based on chitosan/β-glycerophosphate hydrogels with highly porous polylactide granules can be used to obtain moldable bone graft materials that have osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties. To eliminate the influence of such characteristics as chain length, degree of purification, and molecular weight on a designed material, the one-stock chitosan sample was reacetylated to degrees of deacetylation (DD%) of 19.5, 39, 49, 55, and 56. A study of the chitosan/β-glycerophosphate hydrogel with chitosan of a reduced DD% showed that a low degree of deacetylation increased the MSCs (multipotent stromal cells) viability rate in vitro and reduced the leukocyte infiltration in subcutaneous implantation to Wistar rats in vivo. The addition of 12 wt% polylactide granules resulted in optimal composite mechanical and moldable properties, and increased the modulus of elasticity of the hydrogel-based material by approximately 100 times. Excessive filling of the material with PLA (polylactide) granules (more than 20%) led to material destruction at a ~10% strain. Osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties of the chitosan hydrogel-based material with reacetylated chitosan (39 DD%) and highly porous polylactide granules impregnated with BMP-2 (bone morphogenetic protein-2) have been demonstrated in models of orthotopic and ectopic bone formation. When implanted into a critical-size calvarial defect in rats, the optimal concentration of BMP-2 was 10 μg/mL: bone tissue areas filled the entire material’s thickness. Implantation of the material with 50 μg/mL BMP-2 was accompanied with excessive growth of bone tissue and material displacement beyond the defect. Significant osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties of the material with 10 μg/mL of BMP-2 were also shown in subcutaneous implantation.     

Multicriteria decision making under uncertainty

Formalization for problems of multicriteria decision making under uncertainty is constructed in terms of guaranteed and weak estimates. A relevant definition of the vector maximinimax value is given. Parameterization and approximation of maximum, minimax, and maximinimax values based on the inverse logical convolution are suggested. An application for multicommodity networks is considered. Received: December 13, 2000 / Accepted: August 21, 2001?Published online May 8, 2002