A Titration Microcalorimetric Study of the Effects of Halide Counterions on Vesicle-Forming Aggregation in Aqueous Solution of Branched-Chain Alkylpyridinium Surfactants

Titration microcalorimetry is used to study the influences of iodide, bromide, and chloride counterions on the aggregation of vesicle-forming 1-methyl-4-(2-pentylheptyl)pyridinium halide surfactants. Formation of vesicles by these surfactants was characterised using transmission electron microscopy. When the counterion is changed at 303 K through the series iodide, bromide, to chloride, the critical vesicular concentration (cvc) increases and the enthalpy of vesicle formation changes from exo- to endothermic. With increase in temperature to 333 K, vesicle formation becomes strongly exothermic. Increasing the temperature leads to a decrease in enthalpy and entropy of vesicle formation for all three surfactants. However the standard Gibbs energy for vesicle formation is, perhaps surprisingly, largely unaffected by an increase in temperature, as a consequence of a compensating change in both standard entropy and standard enthalpy of vesicle formation. Interestingly, standard isobaric heat capacities of vesicle formation are negative, large in magnitude but not strikingly dependent on the counterion. We conclude that the driving force for vesicle formation can be understood in terms of overlap of the thermally labile hydrophobic hydration shells of the alkyl chains. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

The solid solutions Na3(1−x)Alx2xPO4: room temperature powder neutron diffraction studies of the two compositions x=0.025 and x=0.2

The crystal structures of the high-temperature modifications of sodium and silver orthophosphates have been determined using powder neutron diffraction (PND) data. II-Na₃PO₄ adopts the space group Fm3m with at 400°C. The PO³⁻₄ group is centered around the origin, but it shows high orientational disorder. The sodium ions occupy the and sites. II-Ag₃PO₄, at 650°C, is similar with . The structure of I-Ag₃PO₄ at room temperature

Full-size image (<1K)

has been re-examined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The derived model, with R=0.019 for 116 independent reflections, is in agreement with the latest work reported in the literature. The structure of I-Ag₃PO₄ at 375°C, as determined by PND, has , and displays no gross modifications from that observed at 25°C, although the anisotropic nature of the silver sites is markedly more pronounced at this higher temperature. The cation mobility is discussed in relation to the high-temperatures structures.     

Effects of Adsorbed Polyaniline on Redox Process on MoO3 Surface

The effects exhibited by adsorbed conducting polyaniline on the redox process on a molybdenum oxide surface were studied. Thermogravimetric results indicate a 4% polyaniline deposition. Cyclic voltammograms of the adsorbed polymer on MoO3 show that polyaniline exerts remarkable effects on the molybdenum blue oxidation-reduction process, with oxidation and reduction potentials of 0.33 and 0.18 V, respectively. This effect strongly enhances the electrode response, and can be used as an important tool in qualitative and/or quantitative determinations of molybdenum in solution as well as in any substrate. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.