Ethanol loading in an inductively coupled plasma

Changes to the fundamental and analytical parameters of a plasma have been investigated when ethanol has been added to aqueous or organic solutions. Excitation temperature, electron number density, and intensity of the H(alpha) line increased when ethanol has been added to aqueous solutions, while an electron density decrease and signal reduction have been found when ethanol has been added to xylene. The sensitivity has been improved for all ethanol concentrations when water has been the solvent, but the reverse has been found for xylene solutions.     

Facile synthesis methodology and characterization studies of silica-decorated hybridized anisotropic nanotubes and nanosheets

Carbonaceous nanomaterials and their derivatives have been inspired tremendous enthusiasm in the scientific community. They have been excogitated as the encouraging attributes and the qualified dispersed phase to develop multi-functional composites. Particularly, graphene and carbon nanotube (anisotropic fillers) have gained substantial research interest owing to their promising characteristics. This highlights an innovative technique to synthesize hybridized nanotube and nanosheet. Initially, parent materials have been synthesized: The pristine CNT has been modified by acid mixture solution, and reduced graphene oxide has been prepared by chemical reduction method. Henceforth, the self-assembly in situ sol–gel technique has been endorsed here. The synthesized nanohybrids have been characterized by different spectroscopic techniques: FTIR, Raman, UV, and XPS to confirm the attachment of multifunctionalities; meanwhile, the composition and stability have been investigated from XRD and TGA plots. The magnitude of surface charge and particle size distribution have been evaluated for the parent and hybridized products; further, morphology of all the samples has been authenticated from FESEM and TEM.     

30 years of research in thermal analysis and calorimetry

The research in thermal analysis and calorimetry, conducted by the author over the period 1964 to 1993, is summarised and concisely reviewed. The major investigations have focussed on thermal analysis studies of coordination compounds, particularly the metal dithiocarbamate complexes. A significant solution calorimetric study of some metal dithiocarbamate complexes has also been undertaken. DSC has been applied to determine the sublimation enthalpies of many metal dithiocarbamate and metal pentane-2,4-dionate complexes and solution calorimetry has been applied to study the thermochemistry of the latter group of complexes. Thermal analysis investigations of several inorganic molten salt systems have been initiated. Thermometric titrimetry has been applied to study metal-macrocyclic ligand systems in aqueous media and particularly those systems of environmental significance. Temperature calibration standards for TMA have been proposed and TMA has been applied to study the mechanical properties of several common inorganic compounds. DTA has been applied to study a wide variety of phenols and has subsequently been applied as an analytical technique to determine the components of solid state phenol mixtures. Thermometric titrimetry has been applied to determine the phenolic content of wines. A comprehensive thermal analysis study of Australian brown coal has been undertaken, involving the DSC determination of coal specific energy, a TG/DTA study of the coal pyrolysis and combustion processes and a TG/DTA and EGA study of the cation catalytic effect on the coal pyrolysis process. Thermal analysis and calorimetric techniques have been extensively publicised and promoted by the publication of specialist reviews, the presentation of symposia review papers and the oral presentation of short courses, particularly in the SE Asian region. This review essentially reveals the diversity of possible application of thermal analysis and calorimetric techniques and the primary significance of thermodynamic data in the fundamental rationalisation of chemical phenomena.     

Interaction between polyelectrolyte gels and surfactants of opposite charge

Investigations dealing with fundamental aspects of the interaction between covalently cross-linked polyelectrolyte gels and oppositely charged surfactants are reviewed. For reference, a brief summary of results from recent studies of associative phase separation in linear polyelectrolyte/surfactant mixtures is also included. It is found that great progress has been made in several sub-areas since the first reports appeared in the early 1990's. The frequently observed surfactant-induced volume transition has been studied in detail. Its relation to associative phase separation in solutions and the important role of polyion-mediated micelle–micelle attractions have been clarified. Phase separation in gels, in particular core/shell structures, has been studied in great detail. The importance of network mediated elastic forces between two phases coexisting in the same gel has been demonstrated and some of their consequences have been clarified. Hydrophobic interactions between polyion and micelle have been found to have strong effects on both binding and swelling isotherms. The effect of salt, which has been found to sometimes disfavor, sometimes promote surfactant binding, is quite well understood. The microstructure of gels in the collapsed state has been studied in great detail and is often found to be highly ordered, resembling liquid crystalline phases common to surfactant/water systems. The kinetics of surfactant binding and the associated volume change has been investigated to some extent. Progress has been made for gels displaying phase separation during the volume transition.     

Contactless Conductivity Detection in Capillary Electrophoresis: A Review

The popularity of contactless conductivity detection in capillary electrophoresis has been growing steadily over the last few years. Improvements have been made in the design of the detector in order to facilitate its handling, to allow easy incorporation into available instruments or to achieve higher sensitivity. The understanding of its fundamental working principles has been advanced and the detection approach has also been transferred to lab‐on‐chip devices. The range of applications has been extended greatly from the initial work on small inorganic ions to include organic species and biomolecules. Concurrent determination of cations and anions by dual injection from opposite ends has been demonstrated as well as sample introduction by using flow‐injection systems for easy automation of the process.     

Ethanol loading in an inductively coupled plasma

Changes to the fundamental and analytical parameters of a plasma have been investigated when ethanol has been added to aqueous or organic solutions. Excitation temperature, electron number density, and intensity of the H line increased when ethanol has been added to aqueous solutions, while an electron density decrease and signal reduction have been found when ethanol has been added to xylene. The sensitivity has been improved for all ethanol concentrations when water has been the solvent, but the reverse has been found for xylene solutions.     

Total Syntheses of 11-Acetoxy-4-deoxyasbestinin D, 4-Deoxyasbestinin C,Asbestinin-10, -20, -21 and -23

Six members of the asbestinin family of marine diterpene natural products have been synthesized in an efficient and stereoselective manner from a single oxa-bridged intermediate. Five of these natural products have not been synthesized previously and the structures of four of them have been confirmed as those proposed originally or following revisions to the original structures. The fifth natural product—asbestinin-21—has been shown to be a diastereomer of the compound that had been proposed previously.     

A FLASH PHOTOLYSIS STUDY OF INTERMEDIATES IN PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS OF CHLOROPHYLL

Abstract— The photochemical reactions of chlorophyll intermediates in vitro have been studied by the flash photolysis method. The flash excitation of pigment solutions has been shown to involve the population of a chlorophyll triplet state where the oxidation-reduction processes occur. The mechanism and kinetics of pigment triplet decay have been investigated from 20°to — 50°C and the ability of chlorophyll molecules to carry out triplet-triplet energy transfer has been established. The latter phenomenon has been used to show up the role of chlorophyll triplets in the reversible photooxidation reaction with P -quinone. There have been studied initial products of pigment photoreduction with ascorbic acid and phenylhydrazine. Experimental data of the mechanism of the initial oxidation and reduction in chlorophyll photosensitized reactions have been analysed. There have been also obtained the differential spectra of chlorophyll triplets and radicals. A calculation has been made of rate constants for a few elementary reactions.     

Nuclear reactivity indices in the context of spin polarized density functional theory

In this work, the nuclear reactivity indices of density functional theory have been generalized to the spin polarized case and their relationship to electron spin polarized indices has been established. In particular, the spin polarized version of the nuclear Fukui function has been proposed and a finite difference approximation has been used to evaluate it. Applications to a series of triatomic molecules demonstrate the ability of the new functions to predict the geometrical changes due to a change in the spin multiplicity. The main equations in the different ensembles have also been presented.     

Determination of antioxidant migration levels from low-density polyethylene films into food simulants

An analytical method for the determination of specific migration levels of phenolic antioxidants from low-density polyethylene (LDPE) into food simulant has been developed. The screening and response surface experimental designs to optimize the liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) of these antioxidants have been tested and the analyses have been carried out by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with ultraviolet diode-array detector. The procedure developed has been applied to specific migration tests in different commercial LDPE films. The considered antioxidants have not been found upper the legislation limits although Ethanox 330 and Irgafos 168 have been found at trace level.     

Radioimmunoassay of human placental lactogen

A sensitive and specific radioimmunossay procedure (RIA) has been developed for the measurement of Human Placental Lactogen (HPL). Pure HPL has been labelled with¹²⁵I and a specific activity of 100 μCi/μgm of HPL has been attained. Dextran-coated charcoal has been employed to separate the bound from the free hormone in radioimmuno-assay. The sensitivity of this technique has been found to be 0.2 ng of HPL. Intraassay and inter assay variations have been found to be less than 10%. This procedure has been adopted to establish the normal range of HPL in pregnant women at different periods of gestation, and to evaluate risk pregnancies.     

Improvement of properties of silica‐filled styrene‐butadiene rubber composites through plasma surface modification of silica

The performance of plasma surface modified silica filler in styrene‐butadiene rubber (SBR) matrix has been analyzed. The conditions of plasma modification have been optimized by taking secant modulus as a standard parameter and the occurrence of the modification has been confirmed by surface area determination and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The plasma‐modified surface of silica has been found to be composed of carbon–carbon double bonds and carbon–hydrogen bonds. Silane treatment also has been carried out on silica filler surface for a comparative assessment of its influence in the curing behavior and filler–rubber interaction. The cure reactions of all the rubber compounds have been found to be proceeded according to first‐order kinetics. A reduction in the cure reaction rate constant has been observed with the loading of unmodified and surface modified silica, emphasizing the cure deactivation of the matrix rubber by the silica filler. The filler dispersion, as revealed by scanning electron microscopy, has been found to be greatly improved by the plasma as well as silane treatment. The filler–rubber interaction has been found to be greatly improved by both surface treatments, but the best balance of mechanical properties has been observed with plasma surface modification only. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ionization probability of the hydrogen atom suddenly released from confinement

The problem of the stability of a confined atom when it is extracted from the confining cavity has been investigated, modeled by a spherical hard wall potential. The ionization probability when the atom is released from confinement has been obtained. The dependence of the ionization probability on the confinement radius and on the quantum numbers of the initial confined state has been studied. The probability density function of the ionization energy of the ejected electron has been obtained for the different cases considered. The oscillatory structure of this distribution function, with a principal maximum located in the neighborhood of the energy of the initial state and minima very close to zero has been elucidated. The sudden approximation has been applied and the analytic continuation method has been used to calculate the different stationary states.     

Electrokinetic studies on a thorium oxide membrane : I. Electroosmosis and electrophoresis

Electroosmotic transport of dimethyl formamide through a thorium oxide plug membrahe has been studied and the data have been analysed from the standpoint of thermodynamics of irreversible processes. Electroosmotic flow and eleetroosmotic pressure have been found to be nonlinearly dependent on the applied potential difference. Various phenomenological coefficients have been evaluated from the nonlinear transport equation. Onsager's reciprocity relation has been verified by measurements of streaming potentials. The electrophoretic velocity of thorium oxide particles dispersed in dimethyl formamide has also been found to be nonlinear. Zeta potentials have been evaluated from electroosmotic and electrophoretic data. The results have been explained on the basis of the change in the structure of the electrical double layer. The degree of coupling and the efficiency of electrokinetic energy conversion have been calculated for both electroosmosis and streaming potential.     

Overpressured thin-layer chromatography

The properties, apparatus and applications of overpressured thin-layer chromatography (OPTLC) have been reviewed. In the Introduction planar chromatography has been briefly characterized, with particular attention to TLC. The general properties of OPTLC and methods of development of chromatograms in this technique have been then given. The construction of chambers and equipment for OPTLC has been described, paying attention to two-dimensional columns. The properties of chambers for OPTLC have been characterized considering the flow of eluent, sorbent-eluent interactions and the efficiency of various systems. OPTLC, TLC and HPTLC have been compared and also a comparison between OPTLC with a constant (linear) eluent flow-rate and with a decreasing eluent flow-rate has been made. Analytical applications of OPTLC have been described and examples of separations of mixtures have been given.     

Poly(amidoamine) dendrimers peripherally modified with 1,8-naphthalimides. Photodegradation and photostabilization on polyamide matrix

Some novel fluorescent poly(amidoamine) dendrimers supported by a polyamide-6 matrix have been prepared and studied for the first time. The colour characteristics of the novel materials have been determined and found to be dependent on the nature of 1,8-naphthalimides bonded to their periphery amino groups. The materials have been treated with protons and cuprum cations. The resulting into changes in the colour characteristics and photostability of the dendrimers has been investigated. It has been shown that these ions inhibit the photodegradation of dendrimers molecules studied.     

Phase structure of silanol-modified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers

For (ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer)-tetraethoxysilane and (ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer)-polydimethylsiloxane systems, the solubility of components has been studied in a wide range of temperatures and compositions. Phase diagrams have been constructed, pair interaction parameters have been calculated, and diffusion coefficients and activation energies of diffusion have been estimated. The temperature and concentration ranges of a change in solubility related to chemical interactions between the components have been revealed, and the structure of the modified copolymers has been studied. On the basis of the kinetic data on the movement of isoconcentration planes in diffusion zones of component mixing, time intervals corresponding to the onset of the chemical reaction between the components have been determined and the apparent activation energies of the process have been computed. Complex-shaped binodal and boundary curves have been interpreted within the framework of the classical Flory-Huggins theory.     

A study of human coagulation factor XIII A-subunit by electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry

A study of factor XIII A-subunit has been made by electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry. Factor XIII has been isolated and rigorously purified, and the intact A-subunit protein has been analysed to confirm its molecular weight accurately for the first time. Thrombin proteolysis of the A-subunit has been monitored and the resulting cleavage products, the activated A-subunit protein and the Activation Peptide, have been analysed by electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry to confirm the site of proteolysis. Facile and rapid separation of the Activation Peptide from the activated A-subunit protein has been achieved using simple on-line separation techniques. The molecular weight measurements have been repeated numerous times to provide an indication of the precision and variability of the analyses.     

Thermodynamic properties of DCl in D2O solution from 5 to 50°C

The themodynamic properties of solutions of deuterium chloride (DCl) in deuterium oxide (D₂O) have been determined from emf measurements of the electrochemical cell without transference from 5 to 50°C, and from 0.002 to 1.0 mol-kg^–1. The standard potential of the silver/silver chloride electrode relative to the platinum/deuterium electrode has been determined. An equation for the Gibbs energy as a function of temperature has been derived from which the enthalpy, entropy, and heat capacity have been computed. Equations for the activity coefficient and the osmotic coefficient of DCl in D₂O have been developed. The excess Gibbs energy of the solution and the excess partial molar free energy as a function of temperature have been calculated, from which the other excess thermodynamic properties have been computed. The values for the heat capacity and the apparent molar heat capacity have been compared with calorimetric data in the literature. The relative partial molar enthalpy has been calculated. The solvent isotope effect on the excess thermodynamic functions is discussed.     

Alpha-cyclodextrin functionalized CdS nanocrystals for fabrication of 2/3 D assemblies

Different types of cyclodextrins (CDs) have been tested as mediators for the water phase transfer of organic-capped CdS nanocrystals (NCs), and alphaCD has been demonstrated to be the most effective system. The formation of a complex based on alphaCDs and colloidal NCs has been considered to be responsible for the phase transfer process and extensively investigated by optical, structural, and calorimetric measurements, as a function of the experimental parameters (pH and NC and CD concentration). A mechanism for the complexation phenomena has been suggested. The fabrication of 2/3 D supramolecular architectures has been proposed according to two different strategies. First, a layer-by-layer procedure has been used to obtain multilayered structures where polyelectrolyte layers have been intercalated with negatively charged alphaCD-CdS NC complexes by exploiting electrostatic interaction between polyelectrolyte and cyclodextrin OH groups. Second, a monolayer of CdS NCs has been deposited onto a self-assembled monolayer of sulfated CDs, thus combining the use of an electrostatic-force-based approach and host-guest chemistry. The important role played by host-guest interactions has then been revealed.