Lichens as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon bioaccumulators used in atmospheric pollution studies

The aim of this work has been to determine the possibility of using lichens as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) bioaccumulators for the evaluation of atmospheric pollution in the city of Rieti. A lichen sample collected in a remote unpolluted area was divided into 18 sub-samples. These were collocated in nine different stations in the city of Rieti and every 5 months the PAH concentrations were determined. Only phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene and chrysene were found at concentrations over the limit of quantification. In the meantime a continuous increase of their concentrations was observed.     

Characterization of hydrocarbon waxes and polyethylenes by DSC

Thermal analysis, originally the technique of DTA, and more recently that of DSC, has been proposed as a means of characterizing waxes. Alternative methods of analysis (refractive index, infrared spectroscopy, etc.) give only a limited amount of information when applied to hydrocarbon waxes. DSC, on the other hand, not only offers a means of distinguishing between microcrystalline, paraffinic, Fischer—Tropsch synthetic, and polyethylene waxes, but offers a scheme by which various hydrocarbon waxes may be fingerprinted. Good agreement between DSC data and the TAPPI system, which utilizes melting point and refractometry, is demonstrated.     

DSC studies of solid polymeric electrolytes

Relations are demonstrated between the conductivity, phase structure and thermal history of some solid polymeric electrolytes. The results obtained for systems based on commercially available polymers, e.g. (ethylene oxide), and for specially synthesized materials are presented. Special emphasis is placed on the correlation between the crystallinity, glass transition temperature, melting temperature and conduction properties of the polymeric electrolytes.This work was supported financially by the Rector of Warsaw University of Technology according to research program 503/164/220/1.     

Analysis of intermediates from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon biodegradation

A major difficulty in assessing bioremediation in hydrocarbon impacted field sites is the determination of the extent and products of contaminant biodegradation. Previously, various analytical techniques, including mass spectrometry and chromatography, have been used to characterize components in mixtures resulting from biodegradation. In this work, the applicability of capillary electrophoresis (CE) to this area of research is demonstrated. CE methods were optimized for analysis of compounds that are known metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) biodegradation.     

Synthesis of a three-dimensional spiro-annulated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

We describe the results of our investigation on the preparation, structural characterization, and optical properties of a spiro-annulated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon prepared by the cyclodehydrogenation of a hexa{2-(9,9′-spirobifluorenyl)}benzene precursor molecule. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the anthracene backbone adopts one of the largest end-to-end twists thus far reported.     

Effective molecular polarizabilities in some aromatic hydrocarbon crystals

Two equivalent methods of calculating effective molecular polarizabilities from crystal electric susceptibilities are compared. For monoclinic crystals containing two molecules per unit cell, there is no unique solution. The range of solutions is examined for naphthalene, anthracene, biphenyl, p-terphenyl and phenanthrene, treated as polarizable points. For all these molecules the largest polarizability component is unacceptable, owing to the point molecule approximation. When the interactions between molecules are calculated as averages between aromatic rings, more realistic polarizabilities result, showing variations consistent with the molecular geometry. Comparable results are obtained for benzene (orthorhombic). It is concluded that reliable polarizabilities should become available by developments of such an approach.     

Electrochemical DNA biosensor for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon detection

Four DNA electrochemical biosensors using four types of DNA (calf thymus ssDNA, calf thymus dsDNA, salmon testis ssDNA and salmon testis dsDNA) were constructed using graphite screen printed electrodes. These biosensors were exploited as analytical tool to detect polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons-DNA interactions using benzo(a)anthracene and phenantrene as model analytes, the guanine oxidation peak variation being the signal revealing the interaction between PAHs and immobilized DNA. The salmon testis ssDNA biosensor resulted as the most promising device and was further evaluated for benzo(a)anthracene, fluorene, indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, anthracene, and phenanthrene in 5–40 ng mL^?1 solutions, and for benzo(a)pyrene (5–50 ng mL^?1). A concentration dependent variation of the DNA guanine oxidation peak was observed for all compounds. The effect of benzo(a)pyrene ultraviolet (UV) activation on the benzo(a)pyrene (BaP)-DNA interaction was evaluated at concentration levels of 20 and 50 ng mL^?1, and a 3.5- and 2.7-fold increases of the guanine oxidation peak was measured respectively. The salmon testis ssDNA biosensor was examined with PAHs contaminated samples of Mytilus galloprovincialis. Upon UV irradiation of three sample extracts exceeding the BaP maximum level, a positive variation of the DNA guanine oxidation was obtained. An average 2.4-fold increase of the guanine oxidation peak was detected demonstrating that the sensor can be used to detect toxic degradation products of PAHs.     

Suppressing aggregation in a large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

With the approach presented herein, a large aromatic pi-system is synthesized, which shows extraordinarily high solubility and an effective suppression of aggregation. This was due to a distortion of the aromatic core by bulky tert-butyl groups and the solubilizing effects of alkyl chains in the corona of the aromatic core. Therefore not only the processing and cleaning of the materials with standard laboratory techniques became possible, but moreover the first structure-rich UV/vis and a resolved (1)H NMR spectra for an aromatic system two times larger than hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene were recorded. The bulk properties in an extruded fiber as well as on the surface showed a columnar self-assembly including a phase in which a homeotropic alignment on a substrate was observed, which turns the material into an interesting candidate for future applications in electronic devices.     

Intermolecular potential calculations for polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon clusters

Calculations of intermolecular potentials are presented for homo-molecular and hetero-molecular clusters of 24 peri-condensed PAH spanning monomer masses ranging from 78 to 1830 Da. Binding energies of homo-molecular dimers rise rapidly with molecular size and asymptotically approach the experimentally established exfoliation energy for graphite of 5.0 kJ mol(-1) (carbon atom)(-1). Binding energies of hetero-molecular dimers correlate well with the reduced mass of the pair. From calculations of homo-molecular stacks, binding energies were observed to increase with each added molecule and rise asymptotically, approaching a limit which scales linearly with monomer molecular mass. These results are reviewed in the context of molecular growth in flames and in the context of astrophysical observations.     

Model calculations for reactivities of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites

Structure-resonance theory calculations correlate reactivities and mutagenicities of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites.     

Closed-shell polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon cations: a new category of interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Density functional theory has been employed to calculate the harmonic frequencies and intensities of a range of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) cations that explore both size and electronic structure effects on the infrared spectroscopic properties of these species. The sample extends the size range of PAH species considered to more than 50 carbon atoms and includes several representatives from each of two heretofore unexplored categories of PAH cations: (1) fully benzenoid PAH cations whose carbon skeleton is composed of an odd number of carbon atoms (C(odd) PAHs); and (2) protonated PAH cations (HPAH+). Unlike the radical electronic structures of the PAH cations that have been the subject of previous theoretical and experimental work, the species in these two classes have a 'closed'-shell electronic configuration. The calculated spectra of circumcoronene, C54H18, in both neutral and (radical) cationic form are also reported and compared with those of the other species. Overall, the C(odd) PAHs spectra are dominated by strong CC stretching modes near 1600 cm(-1) and display spectra that are remarkably insensitive to molecular size. The HPAH+ species evince a more complex spectrum consistent with the added contributions of aliphatic modes and their generally lower symmetry. Finally, for both classes of closed-shell cations, the intensity of the aromatic CH stretching modes is found to increase with molecular size far out of proportion with the number of CH groups, approaching a value more typical of neutral PAHs for the largest species studied.     

TG and DSC studies of filled porous copolymers

A complex approach including thermogravimetry, differential thermal analysis and differential scanning calorimetry was applied to study characteristics of non-filled and filled porous copolymers of divinylbenzene with styrene or some acrylic monomers: di(methacryloyloxymethyl)naphthalene, methacrylic ester of p,p’-dihydroxydiphenylpropane diglycidyl ether, and dimethacrylglycolethylene. High disperse silicas with the grafted methyl and silicon hydride groups in the surface layer were used as fillers. The kinetic parameters of thermal degradation for composites obtained were determined by different methods.     

DSC studies of binary inorganic ammonium compound systems

The thermal behaviour of the binary systems HNH₂SO₃-NH₄NH₂SO₃ (I), HNH₂SO₃-(NH₄)₂SO₄ (II), HNH₂SO₃-NH₄HSO₄ (III), NH₄NH₂SO₃-(NH₄)₂SO₄ (IV), NH₄NH₂SO₃-NH₄HSO₄ (V), (NH₄)₂SO₄-NH₄HSO₄ (VI) was investigated with a Du Pont Thermal Analyzer supplied with a DSC module. The corresponding single compounds and freshly prepared (NH₄)₂S₂O₇ were examined under the same conditions in preliminary experiments. The ΔH _f values of HNH₂SO₃, NH₄NH₂SO₃, (NH₄)₂S₂O₇ and (NH₄)₂SO₄ · NH₄HSO₄ determined in the absence of air were 11.9, 16.8, 11.7 and 11.7 kJ/mole. Due to the moisture content of the atmosphere, an repeated heating in air the DSC curves showed more endothermic peaks than under air-free conditions. Exothermic additive reactions took place for binary systems (I) and (III), resulting in the formation of (NH₄SO₃)₂NH and (NH₄)₂S₂O₇, respectively, and for systems (II) and (VI), producing a new compound on melting.     

Indium-catalyzed construction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon skeletons via dehydration

Polycyclic aromatic compounds can be synthesized from 2-benzylic- or 2-allylbenzaldehydes using a catalytic amount of In(III) or Re(I) complexes. By using this method, polycyclic aza-aromatic compounds can also be prepared efficiently. In these reactions, only water is formed as a side product.     

van der Waals interactions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon dimers

Density functional theory is in principle exact and includes also long-range interactions, such as the van der Waals interactions. These are, however, part of the exchange-correlation energy functional that needs to be approximated, and are absent in the local and semilocal standard implementations. Recently a density functional which includes van der Waals interactions for planar systems has been developed, which we show can be extended to provide a treatment of planar molecules. We use this functional to calculate binding distances and energies for dimers of three of the smallest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)--naphthalene, anthracene, and pyrene.     

DSC study of charge-transfer complexes of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons with nitroaromatic acceptors

Charge-transfer, crystalline complexes of 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB), 2,4,7- trinitro-9-fluorenone (TNF). and 2,4,5,7-tetranitro-9-fluorenone (TENF) with eleven polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons were compared for thermal stability, ΔH and ΔS of melting. Factors possibly influencing the above parameters are discussed.Melting does not induce separation of the components; these complexes can be repeatedly crystallized and melted without variation of the ΔH of melting, thereby indicating high thermal stability.With a few exceptions, melting temperatures of the complexes increase in the order TNB<TNF<TENF: so do ΔH and ΔS of melting. A number of crystal transitions were observed.     

Spectrophotometric studies of complexation of [60]fullerene with series of aromatic hydrocarbon molecules containing flexible phenyl substituents

The absorption spectra of the electron donor-acceptor complexes of [60]fullerene with five different aromatic hydrocarbon (AH) molecules containing flexible phenyl substituents have been investigated in toluene medium. An absorption band due to charge transfer (CT) transition is observed in each case in the visible region. The experimental CT transition energies are well correlated with the vertical ionization potentials of the AHs studied (through Mulliken's equation) from which we extract degrees of charge transfer, oscillator and transition dipole strengths of the CT complexes. The degrees of CT in the ground state of the complexes have been found to be very low (0.49-0.55%). The formation constants (K) for the complexes of [60]fullerene with the aromatic hydrocarbons have been determined by UV-vis spectroscopy. Both K values and PM3 calculations on [60]fullerene/AH complexes reveal that nature of substitution in the donor moiety as well as steric compatibility with the acceptor molecule govern the process of EDA complex formation.