Hydrophobicity-induced drying transition in alkanethiol self-assembled monolayer—water interface

During the course of our investigation of the electron transfer properties of some redox species through highly hydrophobic long chain alkanethiol molecules on gold in aqueous and non-aqueous solvents, we obtained some intriguing results such as unusually low interfacial capacitance, very high values of impedance and film resistance, all of which pointed to the possible existence of a nanometer size interfacial gap between the hydrophobic monolayer and aqueous electrolyte. We explain this phenomenon by a model for the alkanethiol monolayer—aqueous electrolyte interface, in which the extremely hydrophobic alkanethiol film repels water molecules adjacent to it and in the process creates a shield between the monolayer film and water. This effectively increases the overall thickness of the dielectric layer that is manifested as an abnormally low value of interfacial capacitance. This behaviour is very much akin to the ‘drying transition’ proposed by Lum, Chandler and Weeks in their theory of length scale dependent hydrophobicity. For small hydrophobic units consisting of apolar solutes, the water molecules can reorganize around them without sacrificing their hydrogen bonds. Since for an extended hydrophobic unit, the existence of hydrogen bonded water structure close to it is geometrically unfavourable, there is a net depletion of water molecules in the vicinity leading to the possible creation of a hydrophobic interfacial gap.     

On nonlinear programming with support functions

Optimality conditions are derived for a nonliear program in which a support function appears in the objective as well as in each constraint function. Wolfe and Mond-Weir type duals to this program are presented and various dualityresults are established under suitable convexity and generalized convexity assumptions. Special cases that often occur in the literature are those in which a support function is the square root of a positive semidefinite quadratic form or anLp norm. It is pointed out that these special cases can easily be generated from our results.     

Maskierung mit Kaliumjodid bei direkten Titrationen von Kupfer(II) mit Äthylendiamintetraessigsäure

Zusammenfassung Die Jodidoxydation durch Cu(II) wird in Anwesenheit von Ammoniak, Natriumtartrat, citrat oder -oxalat infolge Komplexbildung verhindert. Daher kann man z. B. Quecksüber(II) in Anwesenheit der genannten Komplexbildner mit Kaliumjodid maskieren und Kupfer(II) durch direkte Titration mit ÄDTA gegen Murexid, Brenzcatechinviolett, Chromazurol S, PAN oder PAR als Indikator bestimmen.

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Masking with potassium iodide in direct titrations of copper(II) with ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid

Summary The formation of a complex prevents the iodide oxidation by Cu(II) in the presence of ammonia, sodium tartrate, citrate, or oxalate. Hence mercury(II) for instance, can be masked against potassium iodide in the presence of these complex formers, and Cu(II) can be determined by direct titration with EDTA in the presence of murexide, pyrocatechol violet, chromazurol, PAN or PAR as indicator.

     

Improved sample preparation method for environmental plutonium analysis by ICP-SFMS and alpha-spectrometry

A rapid and simple sample preparation method for plutonium determination in environmental samples by inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS) and alpha-spectrometry is described. The developed procedure involves a selective CaF₂ co-precipitation for preconcentration followed by extraction chromatographic separation. The proposed method effectively eliminates the possible interferences in mass spectrometric analysis and also removes interfering radionuclides that may disturb alpha-spectrometric measurement. For ²³⁹Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu and ²⁴¹Pu limits of detection of 9.0 fg·g⁻¹ (0.021 mBq), 1.7 fg·g⁻¹ (0.014 mBq) and 3.1 fg·g⁻¹ (11.9 mBq) were achieved by ICP-SFMS, respectively, and 0.02 mBq by alpha-spectrometry. Results of certified reference materials agreed well with the recommended values.     

Existence of a hydrophobic gap at the alkanethiol SAM-water interface: an interfacial capacitance study

The highly hydrophobic neat alkanethiol-coated SAM on evaporated gold shows an unusually low interfacial capacitance in aqueous media. This result cannot be explained by a simple parallel plate model of the double layer with the alkanethiol monolayer as a sole dielectric separator. Interestingly, a hydrophilic SAM prepared from a neat hydroxy thiol does not show any such capacitance lowering in aqueous media. Our results suggest the existence of a "hydrophobic gap" between the alkanethiol SAM-water interface. Such a model is also very much consistent with the predictions of Lum, Chandler, and Weeks theory of length scale dependent hydrophobicity.     

Clusters,metastability, and nucleation: Kinetics of first-order phase transitions

We describe and interpret computer simulations of the time evolution of a binary alloy on a cubic lattice, with nearest neighbor interactions favoring like pairs of atoms. Initially the atoms are arranged at random; the time evolution proceeds by random interchanges of nearest neighbor pairs, using probabilities compatible with the equilibrium Gibbs distribution at temperatureT. For temperatures 0.59T_c, 0.81 T_c, and 0.89T _c, with density of A atoms equal to that in the B-rich phase at coexistence, the density C₁ of clusters ofl A atoms approximately satisfies the following empirical formulas: C₁ w(1 –)³ andC ₁, (1 –)⁴Q₁w¹ (2 l 10). Herew is a parameter and we defineQ _l = _K e ^–E(K) , where the sum goes over all translationally nonequivalentl-particle clusters andE(K) is the energy of formation of the clusterK. Forl > 10,Q ₁ is not known exactly; so we use an extrapolation formulaQ _l Aw _s ^–l l ^– exp(–bl ), wherew _s is the value ofw at coexistence. The same formula (withw > w _s) also fits the observed values of C, (for small values ofl) at densities greater than the coexistence density (forT=0.59T_c): When the supersaturation is small, the simulations show apparently metastable states, a theoretical estimate of whose lifetime is compatible with the observations. For higher supersaturation the system is observed to undergo a slow process of segregation into two coexisting phases (andw therefore changes slowly with time). These results may be interpreted as a more quantitative formulation (and confirmation) of ideas used in standard nucleation theory. No evidence for a spinodal transition is found.Supported by AFOSR Grant No. 73-2430D and by ERDA Contract No. EY-76-C-02-3077*000.     

Growth of clusters in a first-order phase transition

The results of computer simulations of phase separation kinetics in a binary alloy quenched from a high temperature are analyzed in detail, using the ideas of Lifshitz and Slyozov. The alloy was modeled by a three-dimensional Ising model with Kawasaki dynamics. The temperature after quenching was 0.59T _c, whereT _c is the critical temperature, and the concentration of minority atoms was=0.075, which is about five times their largest possible single-phase equilibrium concentration at that temperature. The time interval covered by our analysis goes from about 1000 to 6000 attempted interchanges per site. The size distribution of small clusters of minority atoms is fitted approximately byc ₁(1-)³ w(t),c ₁ (1–)⁴ Q _l w(t)^l(2l10); wherec _l is the concentration of clusters of sizel;Q ₂,...,Q ₁₀ are known constants, the cluster partition functions;t is the time; andw(t)=0.015(1+7.17t ^–1/3). The distribution of large clusters (l20) is fitted approximately by the type of distribution proposed by Lifshitz and Slyozov,c _l ,(t)=–(d/dl) [lnt+p (l/t)], where is a function given by those authors and is defined by(x)=C _o e–x-C ₁ e ^–4x/3-C ₂ e ^–5x/3;C ₀,C ₁,C ₂ are constants determined by considering how the total number of particles in large clusters changes with time.Supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research under Grant No. 78-3522 and by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. EY-76-C-02-3077*000.