Enlarging the Kerr constant of polymer-stabilised blue phases with a novel chiral monomer

Polymer-stabilised blue phase liquid crystals (PS-BPLC) have attracted many attentions in the area of display and photonic applications because of the superior electro-optical properties. Before application, the problem of high driving voltage should be resolved first. In this report, a new chiral monomer (C5011) has been synthesised and its influence on PS-BPLC was investigated. By adopting this chiral monomer, the Kerr constant of the PS-BPLC could be increased dramatically, which means improved driving capacity can be achieved.     

Polarizability and first-order hyperpolarizability of cyclic imides

Dipole moment, polarizability, and first-order hyperpolarizability of cyclic imides (maleimide, succinimide, phthalimide and some of their derivatives) have been investigated using ab initio and density functional theory calculations. It is found that 4,5-dichloro-, and 3,4,5,6-tetrachlorophthalimide have highest mean polarizabilities and total hyperpolarizabilities among the studied molecules. Furthermore, polarized continuum model has been employed to investigate solvent effects on the nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of succinimide; results indicate that solvent polarity has considerable influence on the NLO response of the molecules.     

A method for enlarging the Kerr constant of polymer-stabilised blue phases

Polymer-stabilised blue phase (PSBP) is one of the most promising materials for display devices because of its superior electro-optical properties compared with conventional nematics. However, the application of the PSBP has a serious practical issue in that the driving voltage required is too high to drive with thin film transitors, that is, the magnitude of the Kerr constant of PSBPs is insufficient. We present a useful method for increasing the Kerr constant based on the control of polymer aggregation structure using a cross-linker with a chiral structure. The director distortion arising from polymer networks in the PSBP seems to be responsible for the resulting improvement.     

Application of the electro-optic Kerr effect to investigation of the intermolecular H-bond

The intermolecular H-bond plays an important role in chemical and biological systems and processes. This review considers various aspects of the application of the electro-optic Kerr effect in the investigation of the intermolecular H-bond. Current approaches to the determination of structures of H-bonded molecular complexes are described. From the measurements of the electro-optic and molar Kerr constants of the complexes and their individual components these methods produce the basic parameters of the H-bonded complexes, including the complex formation equilibrium constant (K) and the H-bond dipole moment (μ_H). The importance of a new parameter, namely, the structural additive difference of the molar Kerr constants (ΔmK)_S is illustrated. The prospects of future progress in the studies of the intermolecular H-bond by the electro-optic methods are discussed.     

The magnitude and temperature dependence of the Kerr constant in liquid crystal blue phases and the dark conglomerate phase

A new method of evaluating the Kerr constant in liquid crystals (LCs) is used to determine the temperature dependence of the Kerr effect in blue phases I and II (BPI and BPII) and to investigate the Kerr constant of the isotropic dark conglomerate (DC) phase. This method employs relatively small driving voltages and a vertical field switching (VFS) device geometry. An unusually large Kerr constant, K, is determined in the BPs of a non-polymer-stabilised material, ～3×10^?9 mV^?2 (BPI). The large value of K is attributed to significant pre-transitional values of the dielectric anisotropy and birefringence. K follows an inverse dependence on temperature and we consequently suggest that BPI demonstrates properties best suited to electro-optic devices. The new methodology has the advantage of revealing the dispersion of K in a single measurement. It is also possible to deconvolute the influence of the Kerr effect from measurements of electrostriction of the BP lattice. Finally, the Kerr effect has been measured for the first time in the DC phase of an oxadiazole bent-core liquid crystalline material, and is found to take rather low values, ～1×10^?11 mV^?2, which can be understood in the context of the physical properties of the material.     

Synthesis and Kerr effect of p-phenylene vinylene oligomers

The molecular dynamics of p-phenylene vinylene (PPV) oligomers, synthesised by a condensation reaction and separated by molecular distillation, have been investigated using the electrooptic Kerr effect. The experimental Kerr constants of these materials change sign from positive to negative in going from n = 1 to n = 2 and are not in good agreement with theoretical results. The discrepancies, which increase in magnitude as n increases, can be attributed to solvent-solute interactions, the nonplanar nature of PPV oligomers, or the nonvalidity of the additivity scheme chosen for calculation of theoretical quantities. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Analysis of food proteins and peptides by chromatography and mass spectrometry

The research topics and the analytical strategies dealing with food proteins and peptides are summarized. Methods for the separation and purification of macromolecules of food concern by both high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on conventional packings and perfusion HPLC are examined. Special attention is paid to novel methodologies such those based on multi-dimensional systems that comprise liquid-phase based protein separation, protein digestion and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of food peptide and proteins. Recent applications of chromatography and MS-based techniques for the analysis of proteins and peptides in food are discussed.     

Brillouin scattering and optical Kerr effect study of dimethacrylates: temperature effects

In this paper we report a temperature study of Brillouin scattering and optical Kerr effect in the ethane-1,2-diol dimethacrylate, pentane-1,5-diol dimethacrylate and hexane-1,6-diol dimethacrylate belonging to the series of dimethacrylate homologues. Using these methods we have studied the temperature behaviour of the hypersonic velocity, adiabatic compressibility and optical Kerr constant in the temperature range from 283 to 323 K.

The obtained results are compared to those obtained earlier from Brillouin scattering and optical Kerr effect experiments for butane-1,4-diol dimethacrylate and 2,2′-thiodiethyl dimethacrylate (a sulfur-containing monomer). The results are also discussed in terms of changes in the intermolecular interactions and arrangement in the liquid compounds under study.     

Analytical methods for the characterization of proteins and peptides in wines

Although proteins and peptides are minor constituents of wine, they make a significant contribution to its quality. Proteins can cause a number of technological problems during vinification and may be responsible for the appearance of turbidity in bottled wine. Peptides exhibit surfactant and sensory properties that can influence the organoleptic characteristics of wine. These reasons make protein and peptide analysis a necessity. In this paper, some of the applications in sample preparation, electrophoretic and chromatographic analysis, and detection of proteins and peptides in wine are examined. Special attention is paid to the methodologies that the authors have used in previously published studies, in some cases developed by them, and in other cases taken from the literature and used routinely in their laboratory.     

Dissociation constant of aqueous trifluoroacetic acid by cryoscopy and conductivity

The dissociation constant of trifluoroacetic acid in aqueous solution has been determined at 25°C by electrical conductivity (0.65 mol-l^–1) and at 0°C by cryoscopy (1.05 mol-l^–1) and electrical conductivity (0.98 mol-l^–1). The good agreement between the values of the constant determined by cryoscopy and conductivity at 0°C lends confidence to the value at 25°C determined by electrical conductivity. The constant determined at 25°C is in reasonable agreement with values determined by differential refractometry (0.92 mol-l^–1) and from acidity function data (0.80 mol-l^–1) reported by other workers. This work renews confidence in the electrical conductivity method for determining dissociation constants of moderately strong acids.     

Kerr constants and dipole moments of aminobenzoic acids in dioxane

Aminobenzoic acids in dioxane have been investigated by dipole moment and Kerr effect methods.m-Aminobenzoic acid exists in a solution mainly (60 %) in thesyn-form. Inp-aminobenzoic acid, conjugation flattens the pyramidal configuration of the nitrogen atom, which is even more flattened ino-aminobenzoic acid owing to an intramolecular hydrogen bond.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 859–861, May, 1994.     

Effects of T-tubules on dielectric spectra of skeletal muscle simulated by boundary element method with two-dimensional models

In order to investigate the origin of large intensity the alpha-relaxation in skeletal muscles observed in dielectric measurements with extracellular electrode methods, effects of the interfacial polarization in the T-tubules on dielectric spectra were evaluated with the boundary-element method using two-dimensional models in which the structure of the T-tubules were represented explicitly. Each model consisted of a circular inclusion surrounded by a thin shell corresponding to the sarcolemma. The T-tubules were represented by simplified two types of invagination of the shell: straight invagination along the radial directions, and branched one. Each of the models was subjected to two kinds of calculations relevant to experiments with the extracellular and the intracellular electrode methods. Electrical interactions between the cells were omitted in the calculations. Both calculations showed that the dielectric spectra of the models contained two relaxation terms. The low-frequency relaxation term assigned to the alpha-relaxation depended on the structure of the T-tubules. Values of the relaxation frequency of the alpha-relaxation obtained from the two types of calculations agreed with each other. At the low-frequency limit, the permittivity obtained from the extracellular-electrode-type calculations varied in proportion to the capacitance obtained from the intracellular-electrode-type ones. These results were consistent with conventional lumped and distributed circuit models for the T-tubules. This confirms that the interfacial polarization in the T-tubules in a single muscle cell is not sufficient to explain the experimental results in which the intensity of the alpha-relaxation in the extracellular-electrode-type experiments exceeded the intensity expected from the results of the intracellular-electrode-type experiments. The high-frequency relaxation term that was assigned to the beta-relaxation was also affected by the T-tubule structure in the calculations relevant to the extracellular-electrode-type experiments.     

SMART: A solvent-accessible triangulated surface generator for molecular graphics and boundary element applications

Summary An algorithm is presented for generating a representation of the solvent-accessible molecular surface as a smooth triangulated manifold. The algorithm, called SMART (SMooth moleculAR surface Triangulator), divides the contact and reentrant portions of the solvent-accessible molecular surface into curvilinear three-sided elements. In contrast to the author's earlier implementation of this general approach [Zauhar, R.J. and Morgan, R.S., J. Comput. Chem., 11 (1990) 603], the SMART algorithm defines elements directly on the appropriate geometric surface types (rather than using interpolation over cubic elements), and has special features to handle highly distorted regions which often appear in deep crevices and internal cavities. While the method is designed for use with boundary element techniques in continuum electrostatics, it can also be applied to the accurate computation of molecular surface areas and volumes, and the generation of shaded surfaces for display with interactive computer graphics. Availability: Programs (in C) for surface generation, area and volume computation are available from the author. Also available is a graphics display program which runs on Silicon Graphics workstations.     

Phase diagram and electro-optical Kerr effect of nematic mixtures containingtolane and biphenyl cores

An experimental phase diagram for two types of nematic liquid crystals and their binary mixtures was established by polarised optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry methods. The mixtures comprised a tolane-base liquid crystal, 4-heptyl-3-fluoro-4-isothiocyanatotolane (7TOLF), and a biphenyl-base nematogen, 4-heptyl-3-fluoro-4-isothiocyanatobiphenyl (7BF). The static Kerr effect and third-order non-linearity were investigated for 7TOLF and 7BF and their nematic mixtures within the isotropic phase. Both the compounds have a positive and large Kerr constant. The second-order phase-transition temperatures, T?, were determined for these mixtures. The linear dependence of (T - T?)^??1 on the Kerr constant is found to be in good agreement with the predications of the Landau–de Gennes model. The third-order non-linear susceptibility,χ⁽³⁾, values were determined for these mixtures.     

Effects of Electron Donor and Different Solvents on Polarizability and Second Hyperpolarizability of Diradical Complex Involving X(X=B,Al, Ga)

The polarizability(a)and second hyperpolarizability(γ)were systemically investigated for singlet diradical complex involving X(X=B,Al,Ga)atom.The results show that both the a and γ can be effectively t...     

Recent applications of capillary electromigration methods to separation and analysis of proteins

This review article describes the significant recent developments in analysis of proteins by capillary electromigration (CE) methods (zone electrophoresis, isotachophoresis, isoelectric focusing, affinity electrophoresis, electrokinetic chromatography and electrochromatography) during the period 2011–2015. Improvements in sample preparation, preconcentration, suppression of adsorption and control of electroosmotic flow, separations by particular CE methods, and the detection schemes used in the analysis of proteins are discussed. Innovative applications of the above CE methods for quality control of protein biopharmaceuticals, protein determination in complex biomatrices, peptide mapping of proteins, and determination of physicochemical parameters of proteins are presented.     

Rare earth element complexation by fluoride ions in aqueous solution

Rare earth fluoride stability constants for Ce, Eu, Gd, Tb and Yb at 25°C have been determined by examining the influence of fluoride ions on the distribution of rare earths between tributyl phosphate (TBP) and 0.68M NaClO₄. Our results indicate that rare earth mono and difluoro complexation constants show a steady increase as a function of atomic number from La to Tb but remain relatively constant after Dy. This behavior is similar to that which has been observed for dicarboxylic acids. Stepwise stability constant ratios, K₂/K₁, obtained in our work (where K₁=[MF²⁺][M³⁺]^–1[F^–]^–1 and K₂=[MF ₂ ⁺ ]^–1[MF²⁺]^–1[F^–]^–1) indicated that, for all rare earths, K₂/K₁=0.09±0.03.     

New physically adsorbed polymer coating for reproducible separations of basic and acidic proteins by capillary electrophoresis

In this work, a new physically adsorbed coating for capillary electrophoresis (CE) is presented. The coating is based on a N,N-dimethylacrylamide-ethylpyrrolidine methacrylate (DMA-EPyM) copolymer synthesized in our laboratory. The capillary coating is simple and easy to obtain as only requires flushing the capillary with a polymer aqueous solution for 2 min. It is shown that by using these coated capillaries the electrostatic adsorption of a group of basic proteins onto the capillary wall is significantly reduced allowing their analysis by CE. Moreover, the DMA-EPyM coating provides reproducible separations of the basic proteins with RSD values for migration times lower than 0.75% for the same day (n = 5) and lower than 3.90% for three different days (n = 15). Interestingly, the electrical charge of the coated capillary wall can be modulated by varying the pH of the running buffer which makes possible the analysis of basic and acidic proteins in the same capillary. The usefulness of this coating is further demonstrated via the reproducible separation of whey (i.e. acidic) proteins from raw milk. The coating protocol should be compatible with both CE in microchips and CE-MS of different types of proteins.     

Kerr constants and structure of benzoic acid in dioxane and CCl4

The dipole moment and Kerr effect methods showed that the dimer of benzoic acid has a conformation close to the twist form with a dihedral angle of 10°. The fraction of atomic polarization of the dimer is anomalously high (P_a 50% P_e), and it retains some polarity (DM 0.58 D).A. E. Arbuzov Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry, Kazan' Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 420083 Kazan'. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 1069–1072, May, 1992.     

Determination of mineral and trace element concentrations in pine needles by ICP-OES: evaluation of different sample pre-treatment methods

In the present study, the determination of mineral and trace elements (Al, B, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P and Zn) from pine needles using three sample pre-treatment methods followed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, was examined. Sample pre-treatment methods tested were microwave digestion, ultrasound-assisted digestion and dry ashing. The new ultrasound-assisted digestion method was optimised by the analysis of the standard reference material (SRM) 1575a (pine needles) sample. The speed of dry ashing method was significantly increased by ultrasound dissolution after ashing. All the ICP-OES measurements were performed in robust plasma conditions which were tested by measuring the Mg II 280.270 nm/Mg I 285.213 nm line intensity ratios. The microwave digestion resulted generally in slightly higher element concentrations than ultrasound-assisted digestion. B, Cu and Na resulted in such low concentrations that they could not be accurately determined by using the microwave digestion method. The t-tests found no significant differences between the certified and the determined element concentrations of the SRM 1575a using the dry ashing method followed with ultrasound dissolution.