Determination of column selectivity toward polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

An empirical test is described for the evaluation of column selectivity in reversed-phase liquid chromatography. Using a test mixture of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), overall column selectivity toward PAH was assessed for over 20 different commercial C₁₈ columns. Retention behavior was correlated to phase type (i.e., monomeric and polymeric surface modification chemistry) for custom synthesized phases. A classification scheme is proposed in which commercial C₁₈ columns are grouped into three classes based on retention behavior: monomeric-like, polymeric-like, and intermediate phase selectivity toward PAH. Correlation of retention behavior of the test mixture with the separation of PAH mixtures and with more general column properties (e.g., phase thickness) is discussed.     

Mapping the phase diagram of an aromatic polyamide blend using infrared spectroscopy

The results of an infrared study of poly (meta-phenylene adipamide)-poly (ethylene oxide) blends are reported. This is the first time, to the authors' knowledge, that infrared spectroscopy has been used to experimentally map the phase diagram of a polymer blend. The results are compared with theoretical phase diagrams calculated from a recently described association model.     

Phase composition and phase transformation in Bi(Sb,Nb,Ta)O4 system

In this work Bi(Sb_xNb_yTa_z)O₄ (x + y + z = 1) samples are prepared using mixed-oxide method. A pseudo-ternary phase diagram of Bi(Sb,Nb,Ta)O₄ system is given below the melting point. It is composed of a monoclinic phase region, an orthorhombic phase region and a monoclinic–orthorhombic co-existing phase region. In the orthorhombic phase region, the transformation from orthorhombic to triclinic phase is found to be sensitive to the composition and sintering temperature. Both the transformation from monoclinic to orthorhombic structure and the transformation from orthorhombic to triclinic structure have been studied by the cell parameters.     

Dilatometric studies of isotactic polypropylene with different morphology before and after thermal degradation in air

Summary Glass transition phenomenon in isotactic polypropylene has been studied in this paper basicly on dilatometric studies. New suggestions are made for explaining the occurrence of twoT _g values with their characteristic dependence on the degree of crystallinity of the samples having a different morphological structure. The effects produced by thermooxidation are discussed. T _g calledT _g1 is considered as the true glass transition temperature in the amorphous phase of IPP whereasTg2 is melting of a smectic phase in IPP,T _g2 >T _g1.Author thanks Prof. M. Kryszewski for useful discussion.     

HPLC determination of valproic acid in human plasma by derivatization with O-p-nitrobenzyl-N,N′-diisopropylisourea

A sensitive and specific method for the determination of valproic acid in plasma has been developed. After the proteins in the plasma have been precipitated with a saturated solution of ammonium sulfate in 1N HCl, the valproic acid, together with the internal standard, is extracted from the plasma with dichloromethane. An aliquot of the organic solution is taken for derivatization of the valproic acid and the internal standard with O-p-nitrobenzyl-N,N′-diisopropylisourea. Separation is carried out by HPLC using two chromatographic systems: an adsorption system with a μ Porasil column, hexane-chloroform (94:6) as mobile phase, and caproic acid as internal standard and a partition reverse phase system comprising a μ Bondapak T_M/C₁₈ column, acetonitrile/methanol/0.0035 M phosphate buffer (60:10:30), and caprylic acid as internal standard. UV detection is at 254 nm. This method, developed in both systems, permits the determination of plasma levels of valproic acid in the reported range of 50-100 μg/mL. With adequate sensitivity, specificity, precision, and accuracy. The plasma levels of valproic acid may be determined by this method without interference from the commonest antiepileptic drugs. Good correlation is obtained with the enzymatic immune analytic method: EMIT.     

Synthesis on the basis of electrogenerated carbenes

A series ofS _N2 reactions with halomethanes as substrates and the corresponding anions as nucleophiles were studied by the semiempirical MNDO and AM1 methods, taking into account solvent effects. Analysis of the kinetics, structures of reagents, intermediates and products, and charge distribution in them allows one to draw the conclusion that the retardation ofS _N2 reactions is stronger in solvents than in the gas phase, and the rates of reactions involving anions with a lower number of halogen atoms are higher.For Part 8 see Ref. 1.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 11, pp. 2148–2154, November, 1995.This work was partially financially supported by the International Science Foundation (Grant No. MHYOO).     

Phase Diagrams of Perhydrotriphenylene and Aromatic Compounds II. Terthiophene and related thiophene oligomers

Terthiophene included in a perhydrotriphenylene (PHTP) adduct exhibits an UV spectrum different from that observed in the bulk or in solution. The X-ray diffraction pattern also differs significantly from that of pure PHTP. The UV spectrum is interpreted as due to an isolated molecule in a vacuum-like space, in agreement with a model developed from X-ray diffraction data. Knowledge of the phase diagram was essential for an interpretation of the optical properties and of some kinetic aspects of the formation of the inclusion compound phase. In this work, the phase diagrams of terthiophene (T3) are presented, and DSC evidence of the inclusion of quater- (T4), penta- (T5)and α,ω-dihexylquaterthiophene (DH4T) is discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Survey and Trends in the Preparation of Chemically Bonded Silica Phases for Liquid Chromatographic Analysis

In order to increase chromatographic selectivity and to extend the analytical capability of reversed phase liquid chromatography (RP HPLC) many investigators have concentrated on the preparation of silica based column packings with chemically bonded phases (CBP). These phases have also been successfully used in sample preparation techniques, mainly in solid phase extraction (SPE). Although alkyl bonded phases (e.g., C₂, C₈, and C₁₈) are the most widely used packings in RP HPLC and SPE, various specific applications require CBPs with polar functional groups (e.g., -NH₂, -NO₂, -CN, and/or -OH). The solution of problems with separation of complicated chiral compounds was attempted by applying stationary phases with chiral selectors (e.g., cyclodextrins, Pirkle phases, crown ethers, etc.). On the other hand, packings with pseudo-membrane or liquid crystal properties have been utilized for the separation of various substances of natural origin. Porous silica is commonly used as a support in the preparation of CBPs. Its physico-chemical characteristics, such as: type and structure of siliceous matrix, porosity, type and concentration of silanol groups, as well as surface purity, strongly influence the density and structure of chemically bonded phases. Recognition of these properties is helpful in optimizing separation processes based on RP HPLC elution and/or extraction of substances with polar character.     

Clathrate formation in water-cyclic ether systems at high pressures

Experimental data on the investigation of the water-trimethyleneoxide system,P, t, x phase diagram (up to 6 kbar) are presented. The results are compared with those on water systems with ethyleneoxide, 1,3- and 1,4-dioxane, 1,3-dioxolane and tetrahydrofuran, on the basis of which a summarizedP, t, x diagram is plotted for water-cyclic ether systems. It is shown that in all the systems in which a cubic structure II hydrate forms at 1 bar, it eventually turns to cubic structure I under pressure. The nature of high pressure hydrates is discussed.Dedicated to the memory of D. W. Davidson.     

Ionic liquids as stationary phases in gas chromatography: Determination of chlorobenzenes in soils

The present research focuses on the evaluation of different ionic liquid (IL) stationary phases in gas chromatography. The different IL columns were evaluated in terms of peak resolution (R_s) and peak symmetry for the separation of the chlorobenzenes. The determination of chlorobenzenes in soil samples by means of the optimal IL stationary phase (SLB‐IL82) is proposed as an application. Soil pretreatment was based on a simplified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe extraction procedure and a large injection volume via a programed temperature vaporizer working in solvent vent mode. The retention time of the chlorobenzenes increased as the polarity of the IL column decreased. SLB‐IL82 is the stationary phase that provides the best values as regards R_s and asymmetry factor. Soil sample blanks were spiked with the analytes before subjecting the sample to the extraction process. The existence of a matrix effect was checked and the analytical characteristics of the method were determined in a fortified garden soil sample. The method provided good linearity, good repeatability and reproducibility values, and the LODs were in the 0.1–4.7 μg/kg range. Two fortified soil samples were applied to validate the proposed methodology.     

The extraction of actinides by diphenyl(dibutylcarbamoylmethyl)phosphine oxide in the absence of a solvent

The possibility of changing the aggregate state of several solid mono- and bidentate neutral organophosphorus compounds in contact with various mineral acids was demonstrated. The formation of the liquid phase immiscible with water was observed. The, phase exhibits a high extraction capability with respect to actinides in various oxidation states. The diphenyl(dibutylcarbamoylmethyl)phosphine oxide-NHO₃ extraction system was studied in detail. The composition of the liquid phase was shown to the Ph₂P(O)CH₂C(O)NBu₂·HNO₃·nH₂O (n=2 or 3). The kinetics of formation of this phase and extraction of Amⁱⁱⁱ from solutions of nitric acid and its salts was studied. The organic phase exhibits redox properties, due to which some actinides change the oxidation state during extraction. The “aryl strengthening effect” was suggested to exist for extraction of Am^III in the absence of a solvent. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 9, pp. 1739–1745, September, 1998.     

Erosion of efficiency in non-uniform linear chromatography

In linear chromatography (i.e. chromatography performed in the absence of sample overloading), when the plate height of a column is roughly uniform along its length, variations in the velocities of solutes are the only possible causes of erosion of efficiency. The sources of these variations (variations in capacity ratio and in the density of the mobile phase, etc.) play no direct role in the erosion of efficiency except through their effect on solute velocities. In other words, what eventually causes the erosion of efficiency is merely variation in the time required for solutes to traverse equally small segments of a column. Significant erosion can only arise from abrupt and deep deceleration of solutes in one or several relatively small segments of a column. If erosion of efficiency caused by pressure gradients in linear SFC is to be large, the depth and the sharpness of the deceleration of a solute must go beyond that hitherto confirmed experimentally. Many relevant examples are analyzed graphically.     

Synthesis,Structure and Cytotoxicity of N,N and N,O-Coordinated RuII Complexes of 3-Aminobenzoate Schiff Bases against Triple-negative Breast Cancer

Half-sandwich Ru^II complexes, [(YZ)Ru^II(η⁶-arene)(X)]+, (YZ=chelating bidentate ligand, X=halide), with N,N and N,O coordination ( 1 – 9 ) show significant antiproliferative activity against the metastatic triple-negative breast carcinoma (MDA-MB-231). 3-aminobenzoic acid or its methyl ester is used in all the ligands while varying the aldehyde for N,N and N,O coordination. In the N,N coordinated complex the coordinated halide(X) is varied for enhancing stability in solution (X=Cl, I). Rapid aquation and halide exchange of the pyridine analogues, 2 and 3 , in solution are a major bane towards their antiproliferative activity. Presence of free −COOH group ( 1 and 4) make complexes hydrophilic and reduces toxicity. The imidazolyl 3-aminobenzoate based N,N coordinated 5 and 6 display better solution stability and efficient antiproliferative activity (IC₅₀ ca. 2.3–2.5 μM) compared to the pyridine based 2 and 3 (IC₅₀>100 μM) or the N,O coordinated complexes ( 7 – 9 ) (IC₅₀ ca. 7–10 μM). The iodido coordinated, 6 , is resistant towards aquation and halide exchange. The N,O coordinated 7 – 9 underwent instantaneous aquation at pH 7.4 generating monoaquated complexes stable for at least 6 h. Complexes 5 and 6 , bind to 9-ethylguanine (9-EtG) showing propensity to interact with DNA bases. The complexes may kill via apoptosis as displayed from the study of 8 . The change in coordination mode and the aldehyde affected the solution stability, antiproliferative activity and mechanistic pathways. The N,N coordinated ( 5 and 6 ) exhibit arrest in the G2/M phase while the N,O coordinated 8 showed arrest in the G0/G1 phase.     

Kinetic regularities of the heat release during the reactions of aliphatic hydrocarbons with aqueous HNO3

The kinetics of the heat release during the reactions of aqueous HNO₃ withn-heptane andn-octadecane was studied. The kinetic regularities of the reactions of hydrocarbons C₇H₁₆−C₁₈H₃₈ with HNO₃ and the heats of the reactions were described. At all stages, except initial, the hydrocarbon reacts with NO₂ and nitric acid reproduces NO₂ in the reaction with NO. The accumulation of NO₂ results in the acceleration of the process. When the pressure of the hydrocarbon vapor is equilibrium, its reaction with NO₂ can also proceed in the gas phase. The contribution of this reaction to the total heat release was estimated. The additives of aromatic and unsaturated hydrocarbons to aliphatic hydrocarbons increase strongly the initial rate of the heat release and changes slightly the subsequent stages of the process. Naphthenic hydrocarbons have almost no effect on the kinetic parameters of the process. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 1, pp. 35–40, January, 1998.     

Temperature programmed retention indices: Calculation from isothermal data. Part 2: Results with nonpolar columns

The procedure for calculating linear temperature programmed indices as described in part 1 has been evaluated using five different nonpolar columns, with OV-1 as the stationary phase. For fourty-three different solutes covering five different classes of components, including n-alkanes and alkyl-aromatic compounds, both isothermal and temperature programmed indices were determined. The isothermal information was used to calculate temperature programmed indices. For several linear programmed conditions accuracies better than 0.51^T-units were usually obtained. The results are compared with published procedures. It is demonstrated that isothermal retention information obtained on one column can be transferred to another column with the same stationary phase but different column dimensions and/or phase ratio. The temperature programmed indices calculated in this way also have an accuracy better than 0.51^T-u. The temperature accuracy and precision of the GC-instrumentation used was of the order of 0.1°C. All calculations can be run with a Basic-programmed microcomputer.     

Crystallization of markoffian copolymers

An equilibrium theory is proposed for crystallization of (A, B) binary copolymers whose comonomeric unit sequences are statistically described by conditional pair probabilities P_AA, P_AB, P_BA, and P_BB. These are linked to the product of the reactivity ratios by r = r_Ar_B = (P_AAP_BB)/(P_ABP_BA). Three cases are considered here, (i) B units are rejected from the crystals, (ii) cocrystallization of A and B comonomeric units is possible in the full range of compositions within a single crystal structure (copolymer isomorphism), (iii) cocrystallization takes place either in a poly(A)-type or in a poly(B)-type structure, depending on composition (copolymer isodimorphism). For case (i) crystallization the theory demonstrates, according to expectation, that alternating copolymers (r = 0) produce the largest melting point depression, whereas in case (ii) they give rise to the smallest composition difference between the crystals and the liquid. The theory developed here further illustrates that for binary copolymers which are isodimorphic (case iii), a phase diagram is obtained similar to that for a classical binary system of small molecules.     

Analysis of commercial dyes by capillary column supercritical fluid chromatography

High resolution separations of selected commercial azo, aniline, and anthraquinone dyes by capillary column supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) are demonstrated. Supercritical n-pentane was used as a mobile phase and provided efficient separations of multi-functional, polar disperse dyes with molecular weights up to approximately 700 daltons.     

Kinetics of the thermal decomposition of bis(2,2-dinitropropyl)-N-fluoroamine

The kinetics of the thermal decomposition of bis(2,2-dinitropropyl)-N-fluoroamine are studied in the liquid phase. The reaction is autocatalytic in a melt. In dilute solution, the reaction rate is described by the first-order law. It is tens of times faster in polar sulfolan than in weakly polar dimethyl phthalate. A mechanism of the decomposition involving the formation of a cyclic transition state at the first, limiting stage of the process is suggested.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 874–877, May, 1995.This work was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project No. 94-03-08103).     

Multiphase structure of segmented polyurethanes: Its relation with spherulite structure

Small-angle light-scattering (SALS), Polarized light microscopy (PLM), differntial scanning calorimetry (DSC), and small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) were used to study morphological changes in segmented polyurethanes with 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and 1,4-butanediol (BD) as the hard segment. It was found. for the first time, that spherulites could form from the melt by quenching the polyurethanes in the melt state to annealing temperatures between 120°C and T_h, the highest annealing temperature for spherulite formation. T_h ranged from 140°C to ca. 170°C and depended upon the hard-and soft-segment compatibility. Within the range 120°C to T_h, the radius of the spherulite increased with increasing hard-segment content at each fixed annealing temperature. Annealing at 135–140°C gave rise to the largest spherulites. SAXS was used to investigate the phase-separated structures corresponding to the spherulite formation. The interdomain spacing increased with increasing hard-segment content and with increasing annealing temperature.The degree of phase separation first increased with increasing annealing temperature from room temperatures (ca. 25°C), reached a maximum at ca. 107°C, and then decreased with further increase in the annealing temperature. On the basis of these observations, the mechanisms of phase separation, crystallization, and spherulite formation are discussed. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Structure and properties of thin films of binary rodlike/flexible polyimide mixtures

Binary mixtures of a rodlike poly(p-phenylene pyromellitimide) (PMDA-PDA) and a flexible 6F-BDAF polyimide synthesized from hexafluoroisopropylidene diphthalic anhydride and 2,2-bis(4-aminophenoxy-p-phenylene) hexafluoropropane were prepared by solution-blending of the meta-PMDA-PDA poly(amic ethyl ester) and 6F-BDAF poly(amic acid) precursors, followed by solvent evaporation and thermal imidization. Mixtures containing different molecular weights of 6F-BDAF poly(amic acid) were studied. The size scale of the phase separation, as measured by light scattering, is ca. 1 μm or smaller in most cases. The domain size is primarily set by the demixing of the precursor polymers during solvent evaporation, with no significant coarsening observed during the thermal imidization. The observed variation of the domain size with molecular and process parameters such as composition, molecular weight, and film thickness is discussed in terms of the miscibility of the precursor polymers, rate of solvent evaporation, and solidification. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis and dielectric relaxation measurements indicate that the glass transition temperature of 6F-BDAF is unaffected in all of the mixtures studied, indicating complete demixing of rodlike and flexible polyimides in agreement with theory. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results show a strong surface segregation of 6F-BDAF in mixtures containing as low as 10% by weight of the 6F-BDAF component in the bulk. The mixtures with PMDA-PDA as the major matrix component therefore exhibit excellent mechanical toughness, dimensional stability up to 500°C, low coefficients of thermal expansion (< ca. 10 ppm/°C), and low dielectric constants (<3.0). On the other hand, the surface properties of the mixtures are dominated by the flexible 6F-BDAF, resulting in excellent polymer/polymer self-adhesion (lamination) properties between fully imidized films.