In situ single‐crystal to single‐crystal (SCSC) transformation of the one‐dimensional polymer catena‐poly[[diaqua(sulfato)copper(II)]‐μ2‐glycine] into the two‐dimensional polymer poly[μ2‐glycine‐μ4‐sulfato‐copper(II)]

The one‐dimensional coordination polymer catena‐poly[diaqua(sulfato‐κO)copper(II)]‐μ₂‐glycine‐κ²O:O′], [Cu(SO₄)(C₂H₅NO₂)(H₂O)₂]_n, (I), was synthesized by slow evaporation under vacuum of a saturated aqueous equimolar mixture of copper(II) sulfate and glycine. On heating the same blue crystal of this complex to 435 K in an oven, its aspect changed to a very pale blue and crystal structure analysis indicated that it had transformed into the two‐dimensional coordination polymer poly[(μ₂‐glycine‐κ²O:O′)(μ₄‐sulfato‐κ⁴O:O′:O′′:O′′)copper(II)], [Cu(SO₄)(C₂H₅NO₂)]_n, (II). In (I), the Cu^II cation has a pentacoordinate square‐pyramidal coordination environment. It is coordinated by two water molecules and two O atoms of bridging glycine carboxylate groups in the basal plane, and by a sulfate O atom in the apical position. In complex (II), the Cu^II cation has an octahedral coordination environment. It is coordinated by four sulfate O atoms, one of which bridges two Cu^II cations, and two O atoms of bridging glycine carboxylate groups. In the crystal structure of (I), the one‐dimensional polymers, extending along [001], are linked via N—H...O, O—H...O and bifurcated N—H...O,O hydrogen bonds, forming a three‐dimensional framework. In the crystal structure of (II), the two‐dimensional networks are linked via bifurcated N—H...O,O hydrogen bonds involving the sulfate O atoms, forming a three‐dimensional framework. In the crystal structures of both compounds, there are C—H...O hydrogen bonds present, which reinforce the three‐dimensional frameworks.     

A New Approach for Voltammetric Determination of Nefopam and its Metabolite

In present paper we described a new simple voltammetric method of determination of nefopam alkaloid and its metabolite – N‐oxide. N‐oxide of nefopam is reduced at the dropping mercury electrode (DME) and silver solid amalgam electrodes (AgSAE), which can effectively replace mercury and chemically modified electrodes. The reduction consists of two one‐electron stages each accompanied with one proton transfer. N‐oxide of nefopam can be obtained from nefopam substance by oxidation with potassium peroxymonosulfate. It was studied the effect of various factors on N‐oxide quantitative yield (pH, oxidation duration, reagents concentration) as well as on the reduction of N‐oxide at DME and p‐AgSAE (pH, the nature of background electrolyte, potential and time of accumulation). It was showed that the reduction current linearly increased with increasing of concentration of analgesic. Limit of quantiation is 10^?6 mol L^?1 at DME and 10^?7 mol L^?1 at p‐AgSAE. The developed method was applied for the analysis of commercial drug solution for injection “Nefopam” with recovery of 96.7 %, as well as for the spiked human urine samples. Excellent repeatability with a relative standard deviation below 5 % was achieved.     

Supramolecular networks supported by the anion…π linkage of Keggin‐type heteropolyoxotungstates

Anion…π interactions are newly recognized weak supramolecular forces which are relevant to many types of electron‐deficient aromatic substrates. Being less competitive with respect to conventional hydrogen bonding, anion…π interactions are only rarely considered as a crystal‐structure‐defining factor. Their significance dramatically increases for polyoxometalate (POM) species, which offer extended oxide surfaces for maintaining dense aromatic/inorganic stacks. The structures of tetrakis(caffeinium) μ₁₂‐silicato‐tetracosa‐μ₂‐oxido‐dodecaoxidododecatungsten trihydrate, (C₈H₁₁N₄O₂)₄[SiW₁₂O₄₀]·3H₂O, (1), and tris(theobrominium) μ₁₂‐phosphato‐tetracosa‐μ₂‐oxido‐dodecaoxidododecatungsten ethanol sesquisolvate, (C₇H₉N₄O₂)₃[PW₁₂O₄₀]·1.5C₂H₅OH, (2), support the utility of anion…π interactions as a special kind of supramolecular synthon controlling the structures of ionic lattices. Both caffeinium [(HCaf)⁺ in (1)] and theobrominium cations [(HTbr)⁺ in (2)] reveal double stacking patterns at both axial sides of the aromatic frameworks, leading to the generation of anion…π…anion bridges. The latter provide the rare face‐to‐face linkage of the anions. In (1), every square face of the metal–oxide cuboctahedra accepts the interaction and the above bridges yield flat square nets, i.e. {(HCaf⁺)₂[SiW₁₂O₄₀]^4?}_n. Two additional cations afford single stacks only and they terminate the connectivity. Salt (2) retains a two‐dimensional (2D) motif of square nets, with anion…π…anion bridges involving two of the three (HTbr)⁺ cations. The remaining cations complete a fivefold anion…π environment of [PW₁₂O₄₀]^3?, acting as terminal groups. This single anion…π interaction is influenced by the specific pairing of (HTbr)⁺ cations by double amide‐to‐amide hydrogen bonding. Nevertheless, invariable 2D patterns in (1) and (2) suggest the dominant role of anion…π interactions as the structure‐governing factor, which is applicable to the construction of noncovalent linkages involving Keggin‐type oxometalates.     

High diffusion barrier and piezoelectric nanocomposites based on polyvinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene copolymer and hydrophobized clay

Nanocomposites based on polyvinylidene fluoride–trifluoroethylene copolymer and up to 4 vol % of hydrophobized clay nanoparticles are investigated. The structure, piezoelectric properties, and oxygen permeability of solvent cast films are analyzed before and after annealing above the Curie temperature of the polymer. Exfoliation of the clay takes place at concentrations up to 1 vol %, beyond which it rapidly drops and is absent at a concentration of 4 vol %. The presence of clay does not change the crystallinity of the polymer, but leads to a threefold decrease of the oxygen permeability at a concentration of 0.5 vol %. Annealing at 130 °C increases the crystallinity, the proportion of β phase up to 94%, and the piezoelectric coefficient by 20–40% at clay fractions below 1 vol %. Annealing also leads to a remarkable 3‐ to 10‐fold decrease of O₂ permeability and to intriguing changes of the activation energy for O₂ transport, which decreases from 56 kJ/mol for the as‐cast polymer to below 10 kJ/mol for the polymer and exfoliated composite. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 1828–1836     

Synthesis of Carbon/Sulfur Nanolaminates by Electrochemical Extraction of Titanium from Ti2SC

Herein we electrochemically and selectively extract Ti from the MAX phase Ti₂SC to form carbon/sulfur (C/S) nanolaminates at room temperature. The products are composed of multi‐layers of C/S flakes, with predominantly amorphous and some graphene‐like structures. Covalent bonding between C and S is observed in the nanolaminates, which render the latter promising candidates as electrode materials for Li‐S batteries. We also show that it is possible to extract Ti from other MAX phases, such as Ti₃AlC₂ , Ti₃SnC₂ , and Ti₂GeC, suggesting that electrochemical etching can be a powerful method to selectively extract the “M” elements from the MAX phases, to produce “AX” layered structures, that cannot be made otherwise. The latter hold promise for a variety of applications, such as energy storage, catalysis, etc.     

Estimation and inference for dependence in multivariate data

In this paper, a new measure of dependence is proposed. Our approach is based on transforming univariate data to the space where the marginal distributions are normally distributed and then, using the inverse transformation to obtain the distribution function in the original space. The pseudo-maximum likelihood method and the two-stage maximum likelihood approach are used to estimate the unknown parameters. It is shown that the estimated parameters are asymptotical normally distributed in both cases. Inference procedures for testing the independence are also studied.     

Huygens’ principle and iterative methods in inverse obstacle scattering

The inverse problem we consider in this paper is to determine the shape of an obstacle from the knowledge of the far field pattern for scattering of time-harmonic plane waves. In the case of scattering from a sound-soft obstacle, we will interpret Huygens’ principle as a system of two integral equations, named data and field equation, for the unknown boundary of the scatterer and the induced surface flux, i.e., the unknown normal derivative of the total field on the boundary. Reflecting the ill-posedness of the inverse obstacle scattering problem these integral equations are ill-posed. They are linear with respect to the unknown flux and nonlinear with respect to the unknown boundary and offer, in principle, three immediate possibilities for their iterative solution via linearization and regularization. In addition to presenting new results on injectivity and dense range for the linearized operators, the main purpose of this paper is to establish and illuminate relations between these three solution methods based on Huygens’ principle in inverse obstacle scattering. Furthermore, we will exhibit connections and differences to the traditional regularized Newton type iterations as applied to the boundary to far field map, including alternatives for the implementation of these Newton iterations.     

Bioactive constituents of Iris hybrida (Iridaceae): Processing effect

Iris genus plants are a valuable source of bioactive compounds, which are an important component for pharmaceutical development. The present article shows the potential for mineral nutrition with application of magnesium sulfate, iron chelates and potassium oxide affecting the phenolic compound contents in Iris hybrida ‘Tsikavynka’, I. hybrida ‘Tambo’ and I. hybridа ‘Widecombe Fire’. The effect of mineral processing was specific to plant organs and varied in the component composition. The Iris rhizomes had an increased total phenolic compound content after treatment (up to 10% of the total isoflavonoid content, up to 8% of phenolic acids, up to 5% of γ-pyrones and up to 13% of flavonoids), determined using UV–vis spectroscopy. A positive effect of nutrition on the biosynthesis and content of individual isoflavonoids (tectoridin, nigricin d -glucoside, genistin, iristectorigenin B, nigricin, irigenin and irisolidone) and xanthone mangiferin in Iris rhizomes by HPLC was established. In addition, an increase in the chlorogenic acid amount in Iris leaves was noted. The results demonstrate the sensitivity of Iris phenylpropanoid metabolism to mineral nutrition and can be used to predict medical plant cultivation with increased content of bioactive constituents.     

Reagentless amperometric formaldehyde-selective biosensors based on the recombinant yeast formaldehyde dehydrogenase

Novel formaldehyde-selective amperometric biosensors were developed based on NAD(+)- and glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase isolated from a gene-engineered strain of the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha. Electron transfer between the immobilized enzyme and a platinized graphite electrode was established using a number of different low-molecular free-diffusing redox mediators or positively charged cathodic electrodeposition paints modified with Os-bis-N,N-(2,2'-bipyridil)-chloride ([Os(bpy)(2)Cl]) complexes. Among five tested Os-containing redox polymers of different chemical structure and properties, complexes of osmium-modified poly(4-vinylpyridine) with molecular mass of about 60 kDa containing diaminopropyl groups were selected. The positively charged cathodic paint exhibited the best electron-transfer characteristics. Moreover, the polymer layers simultaneously served as a matrix for keeping the negatively charged low-molecular cofactors, glutathione and NAD(+), in the bioactive layer. Additionally, covering the enzyme/polymer layer with a negatively charged Nafion membrane significantly decreased cofactors leakage and simultaneously enhanced the sensor' stability. The developed sensors revealed a high selectivity to formaldehyde (FA) and a low cross-sensitivity to other substances (such as, e.g. butyraldehyde, propionaldehyde, acetaldehyde, methylglyoxal). The maximum current value was 34.2+/-0.72 microA/mm(2) (3.05 mm diameter electrode) and the apparent Michaelis-Menten constant (K(M)(app)) derived from the FA calibration curves was 120+/-5mM with a linear detection range for FA up to 20mM. The best observed sensitivity for reagentless sensor was 1.8 nA microM(-1) (358 Am(-2)M(-1)). The developed sensors had a good operational and storage stability. The laboratory prototype of the sensor was applied for FA testing in some real samples of pharmaceutical (formidron), disinfectant (descoton forte) and industrial product (formalin). A good correlation was revealed between the concentration values measured using the developed FdDH-based sensor, an enzymatic method and standard chemical methods of FA determination.