An investigation of convective diffusion to a stationary electrode in salt melts

Methods are proposed for determining the thickness of the diffusion layer and the ion diffusion coefficient D in melts, using potential-time and current-time curves. In developing the equations used for calculation, current ideas on the mass transfer of the depolarizer to the electrode are used. To illustrate the possibilities of the method, the diffusion of lead and cadmium ions is investigated in a eutectic mixture of potassium and lithium chlorides at 450C. The use of liquid electrodes of the same metals eliminates experimental errors due to chemical overpotential and capacity currents. The results obtained reveal that the equations proposed are applicable over the whole range of the experimental curves, and give reliable values for and D.     

Oscillatory symmetry breaking in the Soai reaction

A kinetic model of spontaneous amplification of enantiomeric excess in the autocatalytic addition of diisopropylzinc to prochiral pyrimidine carbaldehydes is extended by a negative feedback process. Simulations based on the extended model result in large-amplitude oscillations both in a continuous-flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and in a semibatch configuration under optimized initial conditions. When sustained oscillations are maintained in a CSTR, no enantiomeric product distribution could be observed in the calculated series; the system keeps its initial enantiomeric ratio endlessly. During damped oscillations, or steady-state conditions, however, chiral amplification from a very small initial enantiomeric excess to more than 99% occurs in a semibatch configuration. Calculations indicated spontaneous enantiomeric product enrichment (i.e., accumulation of one of the enantiomers at the cost of the other one) from strictly achiral starting conditions in a semibatch configuration due to the inherent numerical error of the integrator method, which can be regarded as a model of the statistical fluctuation in the numbers of enantiomeric molecules.     

Diffusion-controlled instabilities and stationary structures in a model for a ferroin-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction

A model for the bromate-ferroin-bromomalonic acid reaction has been used to examine the conditions under which the homogeneous state loses stability as a result of Turing bifurcation. Stationary periodic structures with small or large amplitudes can exist. There is also a structure modification effect.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 440–449, July–August, 1988.I am indebted to A. M. Zhabotinskii and Yu. A. Kuznetsov for useful discussions, and also to I. I. Goryanin for providing access to his software suite for defining a curve in n-dimensional space.     

Membrane assembly driven by a biomimetic coupling reaction

One of the major goals of synthetic biology is the development of non-natural cellular systems. In this work, we describe a catalytic biomimetic coupling reaction capable of driving the de novo self-assembly of phospholipid membranes. Our system features a coppercatalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition that results in the formation of a triazole-containing phospholipid analogue. Concomitant assembly of membranes occurs spontaneously, not requiring preexisting membranes to house catalysts or precursors. The substitution of efficient synthetic reactions for key biochemical processes may offer a general route toward synthetic biological systems.     

Organic reactions in supramolecular gel media: reaction driven release of reagents in a macrocyclisation reaction

A bifunctional reactive organogelator containing p-nitrophenyl carbamate moieties has been reacted with (1R,2R)-(+)-1,2-diphenyl-1,2-ethanediamine to produce a l-valine derived macrocyclic bisurea. The macrocyclisation can be carried out very efficiently in the presence of the supramolecular gel formed by the biscarbamate, although the results indicate that the reaction takes place on the soluble species present in the system. The reversible nature of a supramolecular gel together with the high active surface of its fibrillar network permits the behaviour of the studied gel as an on-demand supplier of reagents to the solution phase.     

Diffusion driven instability to a drift driven one: Turing patterns in the presence of an electric field

We report a general formula for the critical electric field required to trigger a pattern formation in a Turing system in the presence of an electric field (drift term). Our result encompasses all situations from pure diffusion to pure drift.     

A gravity driven micro flow injection wetting film extraction system on a polycarbonate chip

A micro flow injection wetting film liquid-liquid extraction system has been developed for trace analyte concentration and on-chip detection. A hydrophobic channel fabricated on a polycarbonate chip was used to support the wetting film, and hydrostatic pressure generated by the difference in liquid levels was employed to drive the fluids. Sequential injection of segments of aqueous sample solution and organic solvent was conducted by switching the sample- or solvent-containing vials to an on-chip sampling probe, and detection was performed by a co-focused, laser induced fluorescence detector. Using butyl rhodamine B as a model analyte and butanol as the solvent for both film-coating and elution, various experimental conditions such as hydrostatic pressure, coating time, channel length, sampling volume, and sample acidity were investigated. Under optimized conditions, a 24-fold enrichment factor was obtained with the consumption of about 3 μL sample solution, and a detection limit (3σ) of 6.0 × 10⁻⁹ M butyl rhodamine B was achieved at the sampling rate of 19 h⁻¹. Eleven consecutive runs of a 1.0 × 10⁻⁵ M butyl rhodamine B solution produced a relative standard deviation of 1.5% for the detected fluorescence signals.     

Behavior of neutral solutes in pressurized flow driven electrochromatography using a mixed stationary phase of ODS and anion-exchange

The behavior of neutral sample solutes in pressurized flow driven electrochromatography using a mixed stationary phase, which consisted of ODS and anion-exchange (ODS-SAX), was studied. Applications of both positive and negative voltage on a column induced increases in retention factors of sample solutes. The direction of an electroosmotic flow under applications of positive and negative voltage were the same, therefore, the sign of the surface charge density under positive and negative voltage was opposite. We proposed a new equation for the relationship between applied voltage and surface charge density, and the practical electroosmotic flow conformed to this equation. Studying the electroosmotic flow using our proposed equation revealed that the applied negative voltage accelerates the protonation of the quaternary ammonium group and dissociation of the silanol group on packing materials. The retention behavior of a neutral solute was affected by the existence of the charged functional groups. We propose that this phenomenon is applicable to the control of the retention behavior of a sample solute using an electric field.     

Wave patterns driven by chemomechanical instabilities in responsive gels

The first experimental evidence of a chemomechanical mechanism leading to morphogenetic instabilities is demonstrated experimentally. The system consists of a pH-responsive gel that swells at high pH and shrinks at low pH, and a bistable reaction system exhibiting an acid steady state (pH approximately 2) and an alkaline steady state (pH approximately 10). Within the gel, the steady state selection depends on the gel size. We show that in a constant and uniform nonequilibrium chemical environment, the responsive gel undergoes large amplitude dynamical deformations under the form of travelling contraction waves and complex spatio-temporal volume oscillations. These deformations are coupled to concentration patterns of protons. We present different sequences of dynamical behaviors observed under various controlled chemical conditions. A simple heuristic model is proposed to account for the observations. These experiments open a new route for pattern formation driven by chemical energy, in soft matter systems.     

Energetically driven reorganization of a modified catalytic surface under reaction conditions

The compositional and structural rearrangements at the catalyst surface during chemical reactions are issues of great importance for understanding and modeling the catalytic processes. Low-energy electron microscopy and photoelectron spectromicroscopy studies of the real-space structure and composition of a Au-modified Rh(110) surface during water formation reveal reorganization processes due to Au mass transport triggered by the propagating reaction fronts. The temporal evolution of the surface reaction results in a 'patterned' surface consisting of separated Au-rich and Au-poor phases with different oxygen coverage, Rh surface structure, and reactivity. The experimental results are complemented by ab initio electronic-structure calculations of the O and Au adsorption phases, which demonstrate that the reorganization of the Au adlayer by the propagating reaction fronts is an energetically driven process. Our findings suggest that reaction-induced spatial inhomogeneity in the surface composition and structure is a common feature of metal catalysts modified with adatoms which become mobile under reaction conditions.     

Electrically driven flow near a colloidal particle close to an electrode with a Faradaic current

To elucidate the nature of processes involved in electrically driven particle aggregation in steady fields, flows near a charged spherical colloidal particle next to an electrode were studied. Electrical body forces in diffuse layers near the electrode and the particle surface drive an axisymmetric flow with two components. One is electroosmotic flow (EOF) driven by the action of the applied field on the equilibrium diffuse charge layer near the particle. The other is electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow arising from the action of the applied field on charge induced in the electrode polarization layer. The EOF component is proportional to the current density and the particle surface (zeta) potential, whereas our scaling analysis shows that the EHD component scales as the product of the current density and applied potential. Under certain conditions, both flows are directed toward the particle, and a superposition of flows from two nearby particles provides a mechanism for aggregation. Analytical calculations of the two flow fields in the limits of infinitesimal double layers and slowly varying current indicate that the EOF and EHD flow are of comparable magnitude near the particle whereas in the far field the EHD flow along the electrode is predominant. Moreover, the dependence of EHD flow on the applied potential provides a possible explanation for the increased variability in aggregation velocities observed at higher field strengths.     

Sustained self-organizing pH patterns in hydrogen peroxide driven aqueous redox systems

Many pattern developments in nature are believed to result from the interplay between self-activated (bio)chemical processes and the diffusive transport of constituents. Though the details are difficult to work out, the relevance of reaction-diffusion processes is widely accepted in many aspects of biological development. Due to their easier manipulation and control, aqueous phase chemical reactions are commonly preferred to probe the patterning capacity of reaction-diffusion processes. Nonetheless, sustained patterns of such a type were observed only in reactions involving oxyhalogen compounds. We report on halogen free solution chemistry systems which lead to stationary or oscillatory spatiotemporal pH patterns. They are based on the acid autocatalytic oxidation of sulfite ions by hydrogen peroxide in combination with two significantly different proton consuming feedback reactions. Besides the chemical novelty, yet experimentally and even theoretically undocumented pattern dynamics are uncovered. This success, based on a well-defined method, further paves the way to the discovery of stationary patterns in delicate biochemical reactions.     

Oscillatory behavior in the reaction of 3-alizarin-sulfonic acid sodium salt with acidic bromate

Uncatalyzed and catalyzed oscillatory behavior in the redox potential in the oxidation of 3-alizarin-sulfonic acid sodium salt with acidid (H₂SO₄) bromate is reported. Optimum and boundary conditions for each reactant exhibiting oscillatory behavior have been studied and a probable mechanism is suggested.

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- 3-- (H₂SO₄) . , .

     

A method to study reaction kinetics over finely-dispersed catalysts in stationary and non-stationary conditions

The application of a small-volume gradientless flow reactor with a vibrofluidized catalyst bed, mass-spectrometric analysis of the reaction products and a membrane turbulizer for alternate purging of the reactor filters by the reaction mixture permits to study the kinetics of complex catalytic reactions over catalysts with 50–100m grains in both stationary and nonstationary conditions.

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, - 50–100 .