Interaction of the low-molecular weight salts with cationic polyelectrolytes

The interaction of several mono-, di-, and trivalent anions with cationic polyelectrolytes having different contents in N,N-dimethyl-2-hydroxypropylen ammonium chloride units (polymer A) or tertiary amine N-atoms and PEG (polymer PEGA) in the main chain was studied by viscosimetric and conductometric measurements. Both methods have shown a stronger interaction for tri- and bi- than for univalent counterions. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 35 : 2571–2581, 1997     

Macromolecular design of new cationic polyelectrolytes

Methods were elaborated for the synthesis of new monomers, derivatives of diallylguanidine and macromers, which contain fragments of polytetrahydrofuran and diallylic nitrogencontaining end groups (diallylamine, alkyldiallylammonium, diallylguanidine both in base and acetate forms). Alkylation of a macromer with a diallylamine end group was carried out with methyl iodide in various organic solvents. The possibility of synthesis of diallylguanidine acetate homopolymer as well as its statistical copolymer with diallyldimethylammonium chloride was shown. For the first time, block copolymers based on synthesized macromers were obtained.Translated fromIzyestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 11, pp. 1976–1982, November, 1994.The work was supported in part by the Russian Foundation For Basic Research (project code 94-03-08924a).     

Effect of surface charge on adsorption of bovine serum albumin as studied by ellipsometry 1. Adsorption on cationic monolayer

The adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) onto a cationic monolayer (N,N-dimethyl-N,N-dialkylammonium chloride) spread at the air/water interface was studied by ellipsometry. Both thicknesses and refractive indices of the BSA layer adsorbed at the monolayer/solution interface are estimated from the observed change in phase difference and the ratio of reflection coefficients. The amount of adsorption of BSA resembles a Langmuir type isotherm. The adsorption changes with pH asymmetrically with respect to the pH of maximum adsorption, which was calculated to be 5.06 ± 0.47 mg/m². The amount of maximum adsorption implies that the BSA molecule adsorbs to the surface in a mode intermediate between side-on and end-on.     

Calorimetric studies of cationic surfactant adsorption at low surface coverages on different silica samples

Calorimetric measurements of adsorption for the surfactant (benzyldimethyldodecylammonium bromide) and its polar head-group (benzyltrimethylammonium bromide) from aqueous solutions on two different silica surfaces (hydrophilic and hydrophobic one) allow a more detailed picture of the subsequent stages of the adsorption process to be drawn. It is possible to determine more precisely a boundary between the adsorption of individual molecules and the formation of surface aggregates. The local disruption of the structure of the interfacial water molecules by surfactant cations gives an endothermic contribution to the total enthalpy of displacement. This contribution depends on the length of alkyl chain as well as on the type and the origin of solid surface.     

The mechanism and stability of thermal transitions in hair keratin

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) has been applied to study the interactions between components of human hair keratin. Keratin is a biopolymeric composite made of several proteins forming basically two phases: amorphous matrix and crystalline microfibrillar phase. Water, the content of which depends on atmospheric humidity, is also an integral part of keratin structure. The following processes are apparent from the DSC: removal of loosely bound water (ca. 70°C), a transition in the amorphous phase (155°C) and melting/denaturation of the -crystalline phase (233°C). The process occurring in keratin at ca. 155°C has an opposite character to a glass transition; we refer to this process as the toughening transition. The area of the -keratin peak increases significantly upon annealing at temperatures from 80°C to 150°C and decreases for higher annealing temperatures. Water affects both the crystalline and amorphous phases of keratin. The process similar in nature to annealing — induced recrystallization in synthetic polymers is strictly correlated with removal of strongly bound fraction of water in keratin.     

The adsorption behavior of cationic surfactant onto human hair fibers

Quaternary ammonium surfactants are important ingredients that are frequently formulated into hair care products to modify the properties of hair surface. The adsorption kinetics, isotherms and association structures of cationic surfactants on hair surface, however, are not fully understood due to the heterogeneous nature of human hair fibers. In this work, a quaternary ammonium of surfactant, dimethylpabamidopropyl laurdimonium tosylate (DDABDT) was chosen as a probe to investigate the adsorption behavior of cationic surfactant on cuticles of scalp hair. The results reveal that the adsorption kinetics fit to a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the adsorption isotherms fit to the Freundlich adsorption model. With the increase of DDABDT adsorption, the wettability of hair fibers changes from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. The association structure could be monolayer or bilayer depending on the initial concentration of the surfactant. In the monolayer structure, the ‘anchor’ surfactant molecules are believed to adsorb vertically on the surface of hair fibers through electrostatic interaction. In the bilayer structure, the second layer molecules may then pile up on top of the first layer with charged groups orienting outward. The thickness of DDABDT film on hair fibers treated with 5 × 10^?4 mol/l DDABDT solution is measured to be 5.42 nm on average with a force–distance method. This figure is very close to the two times of the theoretical molecular size of the DDABDT molecule.     

The effects of the charge density and structure of the polymer on the dye-binding characteristics of some cationic polyelectrolytes

The interaction of various structurally different water-soluble cationic polyelectrolytes with methyl orange, an anionic dye, has been studied. The changes in the UV-Vis spectra of methyl orange in the presence of methyl and benzyl quaternized polyvinylpyridines and trialkylammonium and triphenylphosphonium salts of polyvinylbenzyl chloride have been used to investigate the effect of the structure on the dye-binding characteristics of the polycations. The results are interpreted in the light of a simple theory of cooperative binding to a linear lattice. The extent of binding of the dye aggregates on the polymers has been calculated. The binding ability of the above-mentioned polyelectrolytes has been found to depend on the nature of the substituent on the polycation. The contribution of the coulombic forces on binding of the dye by these polymers has been emphasized. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Single-particle electrophoresis for studying the adsorption of cationic polymers onto anionic particles

Understanding the adsorption of polymers onto particles is crucial for many technological and biomedical applications. Even though polymer adsorption on particles is a dynamic process, most experimental techniques can only study the adsorption indirectly, in equilibrium and on the ensemble level. New analysis methods are required to overcome these limitations. We investigated the use of single-particle electrophoresis to study the adsorption kinetics of cationic polymers onto anionic particles and compared the resulting data to a theoretical model. In this approach, the electrophoretic mobility of single polystyrene (PS) particles, exposed to different concentrations of poly(2-guanidinoethyl methacrylate), was measured as a function of time. The polymer adsorption leads to an electrophoretic mobility change of the PS particle over time, from the initial negative value to a positive value at equilibrium. By fitting the kinetics data to the Langmuir model, the adsorption rate, desorption rate and equilibrium constant were determined. Finally, the adsorption kinetics of several other polymers was investigated. This showed that the presented technique enables direct analysis and comparison of the kinetics of polymer adsorption on the single-particle level.     

Comparisons between cationic polyelectrolytes and nonionic polymers for the protection of palladium and platinum nanocatalysts

Several palladium and platinum nanocatalysts protected by cationic polyelectrolytes were prepared by the in-situ reduction of palladium chloride, PdCl₂, and dihydrogen hexachloroplatinate, H₂PtCl₆. The particle sizes and size distributions were determined by transmission electron microscopy, and the colloids were further characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy. The catalytic activity of these nanoparticles was qualitatively investigated by the hydrogenation and conversion of cyclohexene as a model reaction and compared to palladium and platinum colloids protected by a selection of water-soluble, nonionic polymers. The results show that the catalytic activity is strongly influenced by the protective polymer chosen, as well as particle size and morphology. The use of cationic polyelectrolytes decreases the catalytic activities significantly, in comparison to several water-soluble, nonionic polymers investigated. The effects depend strongly on the particular metal, as illustrated in this case by differences observed between palladium and platinum. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 35: 3151–3160, 1997     

Effect of introduced charge in cellulose gels on surface interactions and the adsorption of highly charged cationic polyelectrolytes

The interaction between cellulose surfaces in aqueous solution has been measured using colloidal probe microscopy. Cellulose thin films with varying charge through carboxyl group substitution were used in this study with the surface forces fit to DLVO theory. It was found that the surface potential increased, as expected, with increasing carboxyl substitution. Furthermore, for a given degree of substitution, the surface potential increased as a function of increasing pH. At low pH, the surface forces interaction were attractive and could be fit to the non-retarded Hamaker equation using a constant of 3 x 10(-21) J. At pH greater than 5, the force interactions were monotonically repulsive, regardless of the ionic strength of the solution for all charge densities of the cellulose thin films. The adsorption of polyDADMAC to these charged cellulose films was also investigated using the quartz crystal microbalance. It was found that for the low charge film, a low surface excess of PDADMAC was sensed and that the adsorbed conformation was essentially flat. However for the higher charged cellulose film, a spontaneous de-swelling was observed resulting in no possibility of quantitatively determining the sensed mass using QCM.     

Viscometric and conductometric study of polyelectrolytes of low charge density in salt free aqueous solutions

Viscometric and conductometric measurements have been performed on dilute, salt free solutions of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(vinyl alcohol, vinyl sulphate ester) copolymer salts in order to get information on transition from a neutral to charged macromolecules. With increasing linear charge density from a very low value to a moderate one a non linear dependence of polyelectrolyte effect on copolymer composition was observed. A comparison has shown that there is a close analogy between the expansion of polyanions and swelling of polyelectrolyte networks at comparable linear charge density range. Due to the intra- and inter-molecular mobile ionic bridges a considerable contraction was pointed out by viscometry for barium, magnesium and copper salts. However, the differences in properties of counterions of higher charge number indicates that in addition to the valency, there is a definite chemical effect, too. It has been revealed by the electric conductance measurements that the transition from a neutral to charged macromolecules could be a very complex one calling for a new and more detailed theoretical consideration of polyelectrolyte solutions.     

Synthesis of core-shell material rich in carboxyl groups and its application in the selective adsorption of cationic peptides

The ability to extract peptides and proteins from biological samples with excellent reusability, high adsorption capacity, and great selectivity is essential in scientific research and medical applications. Inspired by the advantages of core-shell materials, we fabricated a core-shell material using amino-functionalized silica as the core. Benzene-1,3,5-tricarbaldehyde and 3,5-diaminobenzoic acid were used as model organic ligands to construct a shell coating by alternately reacting the two monomers on the surface of silica microspheres. The resultant material featured an outstanding capability for the adsorption of cationic peptides, most likely owing to its porous structure, a large number of carboxylic functional groups, and low mass-transfer resistance. The maximum saturated adsorption capacity reached 833.3 mg/g and the adsorption process took only 20 min. Under optimized adsorption conditions, the core-shell material was used to selectively adsorb cationic peptides from the tryptic digestive solution of lysozyme and bovine serum albumin, Specifically, the analysis results showed seven cationic peptides in the eluate and twenty anionic peptides in the supernatant, which indicates the efficient trap of most cationic peptides in the digestive solution.     

SiO2@松香基阳离子交换树脂对水中微量Cd吸附

以硅胶为核,马来海松酸丙烯酸乙二醇酯和甲基丙烯酸为功能单体,采用涂覆悬浮聚合法合成了核壳型SiO₂@松香基阳离子交换树脂(SiO₂@RCER),研究了其对水中微量Cd²⁺的静态吸附性能。结果表明,在Cd²⁺溶液浓度为0.5 mg·L^-1,pH=6.0,温度为303 K,吸附剂用量为10 g·L^-1时,Cd²⁺去除率可达到100%;SiO₂@RCER对Cd²⁺的吸附符合准二级动力学方程以及Langmuir吸附等温线,表明吸附过程为单分子层化学吸附。吸附前后材料的XPS图谱表明:SiO₂@RCER对Cd²⁺吸附主要涉及Na⁺以及溶液中的Cd²⁺的阳离子交换。该吸附剂在对Cd²⁺、Pb²⁺浓度超标的矿区废水吸附处理后,高毒重金属浓度均达到国家生活饮用水水源水质一级标准(CJ3020-93),其他离子浓度也有所降低。     

Lubrication properties of bottle-brush polyelectrolytes: an AFM study on the effect of side chain and charge density

The effect of side chain to charge ratio on the frictional properties of adsorbed layers formed by bottle-brush polyelectrolytes with poly(ethylene oxide) side chains has been investigated. The brush polyelectrolytes were preadsorbed from 0.1 mM NaNO(3) solutions onto mica and silica surfaces; the interfacial friction was then measured in polyelectrolyte-free solutions via AFM (with the silica surface acting as the colloidal probe). It was concluded that the decisive factor for achieving favorable lubrication properties is the concentration of nonadsorbing poly(ethylene oxide) side chains in the interfacial region. However, contrary to what may be expected, the results showed that an ideal brush layer structure with the adsorbed polymers adopting comb-like conformation is not necessary for achieving a low coefficient of friction in the asymmetric mica-silica system. In fact, the lowest coefficient of friction (<0.01) under applied pressures as high as 30 MPa was observed for a system with a side chain to charge ratio of 9:1, incapable of forming brush-like layers.     

The fabrication of a nanoscale polyoxometalate based magnetic adsorbent and its selective adsorption on cationic dyes

Amino group-functionalized Fe₃O₄ is loaded on a coordination complex-modified polyoxometalate nanoparticle. In this composite material, Fe₃O₄ and coordination complex-modified polyoxometalate are connected with intense hydrogen bonds as suggested by FTIR. This composite material exhibits excellent methylene blue (MB) adsorption, with adsorption capacity of 175.5 mg g^?1. It also possesses selective separation ability between cationic and anionic dye molecules. In binary solution of MB and methyl orange (MO), MB adsorption efficiency reaches 75%, but it exhibits almost no effect on the adsorption of methyl orange. The saturation magnetization value of this composite material is 18.89 emu g^?1, allowing magnetic separation, which facilitates the recycle and reuse of this composite adsorbent.     

The effects of polyelectrolytes on the inhibition and aggregation of calcium oxalate crystallization

The influence of polyelectrolytes with different architecture on spontaneous batch crystallization of calcium oxalate was investigated. A series of acidic acrylate block copolymers were been made, by radical polymerization, with defined molecular weight and structure. Radical polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) was carried out in the presence of α‐thiopolyethylene glycol monomethylether as a chain transfer agent to produce poly(ethylene glycolblockacrylic acid) copolymers. Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) block length in the copolymers was controlled by using three different molecular weight chain transfer agents (M_n = 350, 750 and 2000 g/mol). The presence of copolymers inhibited the crystal growth of calcium oxalate possibly through adsorption onto the active growth sites for crystal growth due to the charge and hydrophilic effects. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Semicontinuous seeded cationic emulsion polymerization of styrene: The effects of the concentration and type of cationic surfactant

The objective of this work was to analyze the effects of the concentration and type of cationic surfactant on the kinetic features (instantaneous and overall conversions) and colloidal characteristics [mean particle diameter, particle size distribution (PSD), and surface charge density] in the semicontinuous seeded cationic emulsion polymerization of styrene. 2,2′‐Azobis(N,N′‐dimethyleneisobutyramidine)dihydrochloride was used as an initiator. The surfactants were dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTAB). So that the evolution of some polymeric and colloidal characteristics of the synthesized latices could be followed, the overall and instantaneous conversions were defined and determined gravimetrically. The PSDs and average particle diameters were determined by transmission electron microscopy and photon correlation spectroscopy. The surface charge density was determined by conductimetric titration. The evolution of the instantaneous conversions, the total number of particles, and the PSDs of the different reactions were related to the nucleation, growth, and coagulation processes taking place in the semicontinuous seeded emulsion polymerizations. The PSDs obtained from the reactions carried out with the emulsifier DTAB, at a concentration equal to its critical micelle concentration (cmc) and at a concentration twice its cmc, presented more and smaller particles than those obtained by the addition of HDTAB to the polymerization recipe. At lower emulsifier concentrations equal to half of the cmc, the system had lower colloidal stability with DTAB. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 2322–2334, 2003     

The influence of UV irradiation on the properties of chitosan films containing keratin

The mechanical, thermal and surface properties of chitosan and chitosan containing keratin hydrolysates have been studied and the influence of UV irradiation on these properties has been compared. The surface properties of chitosan films containing 5%, 15% and 30% of keratin hydrolysate before and after UV irradiation (λ = 254 nm) were investigated by means of contact angle measurements allowing the calculation of surface free energy. The chemical and structural changes during UV irradiation were studied by UV-vis and FTIR-ATR spectroscopy.The changes in mechanical properties such as breaking strength, percentage elongation and Young’s modulus have been investigated. The results have shown that the mechanical properties of the chitosan/keratin films were greatly affected by UV irradiation, but the level of the changes of these properties was smaller in the blend than in pure chitosan and strongly dependent on the time of irradiation and composition of the samples. The contact angle and the surface free energy were altered by UV irradiation, which indicates photooxidation and an increase of polarity of specimens. The range of these changes point to greater susceptibility of chitosan to photooxidation in the presence of keratin.     

The effect of the nature of included metal cations on the structure and the adsorption and acidic characteristics of VFI aluminophosphates

For a series of metal aluminophosphate zeolites with the VFI structure it was established that the cations of alkaline-earth and transition metals are mostly included isomorphously at the octahedral positions of the framework with substantial deformation of the structure. The strength of the Brönsted acid centers decreases greatly in the series of substituent cations Mg >> Ca > Sr ≥ Ba and increases in the series Cu ≤ Ni ≤ Mn < Co < Zn < Cr < Mg. This is probably determined by the combined effect of the electronegativity and the radius of the metal cation on the Me-O(H)-P bond angle and the strength of the acid centers.