Standardization of Methods for Characterizing the Surface Geometry of Solids

Since a comprehensive survey published in 1999 [1] much work was done in standardizing measuring methods to characterize the surface geometry of dispersed and/or porous solids and to certify reference materials. The present paper is an extension of a short communication [2]. It gives a survey on existing standards and reports on new drafts and proposals.     

Deactivation reactions in the modeled 2,2,6,6‐tetramethyl‐1‐piperidinyloxy‐mediated free‐radical polymerization of styrene: A comparative study with the 2,2,6,6‐tetramethyl‐1‐piperidinyloxy/acrylonitrile system

The competitiveness of the combination and disproportionation reactions between a 1‐phenylpropyl radical, standing for a growing polystyryl macroradical, and a 2,2,6,6‐tetramethyl‐1‐piperidinyloxy (TEMPO) radical in the nitroxide‐mediated free‐radical polymerization of styrene was quantitatively evaluated by the study of the transition geometry and the potential energy profiles for the competing reactions with the use of quantum‐mechanical calculations at the density functional theory (DFT) UB3‐LYP/6‐311+G(3df, 2p)//(unrestricted) Austin Model 1 level of theory. The search for transition geometries resulted in six and two transition structures for the radical combination and disproportionation reactions, respectively. The former transition structures, mainly differing in the out‐of‐plane angle of the N? O bond in the transition structure TEMPO molecule, were correlated with the activation energy, which was determined to be in the range of 8.4–19.4 kcal mol^?1 from a single‐point calculation at the DFT UB3‐LYP/6‐311+G(3df, 2p)//unrestricted Austin Model 1 level. The calculated activation energy for the disproportionation reaction was less favorable by a value of more than 30 kcal mol^?1 in comparison with that for the combination reaction. The approximate barrier difference for the TEMPO addition and disproportionation reaction was slightly smaller for the styrene polymerization system than for the acrylonitrile polymerization system, thus indicating that a β‐proton abstraction through a TEMPO radical from the polymer backbone could diminish control over the radical polymerization of styrene with the nitroxide even more than in the latter system. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 232–241, 2007     

How much sweetness is there in the universe?

We continue investigations of forcing notions with strong ccc properties introducing new methods of building sweet forcing notions. We also show that quotients of topologically sweet forcing notions over Cohen reals are topologically sweet while the quotients over random reals do not have to be such. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Multipeak distributions of first passage times in bistable dynamics in a model of a thermochemical system.

A master equation is used to study transitions between the stable limit cycle and stable focus in the two-variable bistable system. The distribution function of the mean first passage time between these attractors and the relative dispersion of the mean first return time from the stable focus to itself as a function of the intensity of fluctuations are calculated and discussed. A coherence resonance is observed for the return time from the focus to itself.     

Coupled Hartree-Fock calculation of the H-bond chemical shift in FHF

A coupled Hartree-Fock calculation of the proton shielding constant in FHF⁻ with a reasonably good basis set of contracted gaussian orbitals leads to an extremely large upfield H-bond chemical shift with respect to the HF molecule. An approximate scheme, based on the requirement of the gauge origin independence of the finite basis set coupled Hartree-Fock calculations of the magnetic susceptibility, provides a considerable improvement of the computed proton shielding constant and results in the required downfield H-bond chemical shift of the proton resonance. The computed H-bond shift for FHF⁻ agrees with the experimental data.     

Use of carbon suboxide to obtain block and graft copolymers. I. Grafting of carbon suboxide on polyamide 6

Polyamide 6 in the form of film was grafted by gaseous carbon suboxide in the form of toluene solutions. The influence of temperature on the extent of grafting was studied. It was concluded that in a sufficiently high temperature a copolymer of high structure appears. The influence of substances that initiate homopolymerization of suboxide upon the course of grafting reaction was studied. It was found that the substances do not increase the effectiveness of grafting. However a significant increase of effectiveness of grafting is produced by introducing into the reaction environment some small quantities of methanol. By the addition of methanol a graft copolymer of a maximum effectiveness of 43.1% was obtained. The copolymer was subjected to further tests and appeared to be c.l. poly(amide-6–g-carbon suboxide). Additional tests indicated that the polyamide film graft with carbon suboxide shows some interesting properties.     

An investigation of the reliability of the Galerkin-Petrov method

It is shown that the Galerkin-Petrov method if applied in a controlled way yields reliable results for excited states of the same symmetry classifications as the ground state. Computations are performed for the 2¹ S and 3¹ S states of He. The problem of optimizing nonlinear parameters of the basis functions by means of the GP method is discussed. A special optimization scheme is suggested and numerically illustrated for someS states of He.     

The use of bathoferroine for extraction-spectrophotometric determinations of microamounts of perchlorate and perrhenate

Bathoferroine can be used for anion determinations by a method based on selective ion-pair extraction if the selectivity of extraction has been enhanced by addition of nonelectrolyte to the water phase. The method of perchlorate and perrhenate determinations characterizes parameters similar to those obtained by methods in which other cation complexes have been used. The advantage of the proposed method is the possibility of considerable concentration of ion association compound extracts by nitromethane reextraction.     

3′-Methylsulfinyl-3,4′-diquinolinyl sulfides

Reactions of 4-methoxy- or 1,4-dihydro-4-oxo-3′-methylthio-3,4′-diquinolinyl sulfides 1 and 7 with a nitrating mixture ran as the 3′-methylthio group 5-mono-oxidation followed by C₆- and C₈-nitration and led to the mixture composed of products 3, 4, 5 and 6 (in the case of substrate 1 ) or compounds 5 and 6 (for substrate 7 ). In the reaction with hydrochloric acid 4-methoxy-3′-methylsulfinyl-3,4′-diquinolinyl sulfides 3 and 4 could be hydrolysed to 3′-methylsulfinyl-4(1H)-quinolinones 5 or 6 respectively, the methylsulfinyl group remaining unaffected.     

Novel C60 Fullerenol-Gentamicin Conjugate–Physicochemical Characterization and Evaluation of Antibacterial and Cytotoxic Properties

This study aimed to develop, characterize, and evaluate antibacterial and cytotoxic properties of novel fullerene derivative composed of C₆₀ fullerenol and standard aminoglycoside antibiotic–gentamicin (C₆₀ fullerenol-gentamicin conjugate). The successful introduction of gentamicin to fullerenol was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy which together with thermogravimetric and spectroscopic analysis revealing the formula of the composition as C₆₀(OH)₁₂(GLYMO)₁₁(Gentamicin)_0.8. The dynamic light scattering (DLS) revealed that conjugate possessed ability to form agglomerates in water (size around 115 nm), while Zeta potential measurements demonstrated that such agglomerates possessed neutral character. In vitro biological assays indicated that obtained C₆₀ fullerenol-gentamicin conjugate possessed the same antibacterial activity as standard gentamicin against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli, which proves that combination of fullerenol with gentamicin does not cause the loss of antibacterial activity of antibiotic. Moreover, cytotoxicity assessment demonstrated that obtained fullerenol-gentamicin derivative did not decrease viability of normal human fibroblasts (model eukaryotic cells) compared to control fibroblasts. Thus, taking into account all of the results, it can be stated that this research presents effective method to fabricate C₆₀ fullerenol-gentamicin conjugate and proves that such derivative possesses desired antibacterial properties without unfavorable cytotoxic effects towards eukaryotic cells in vitro. These promising preliminary results indicate that obtained C₆₀ fullerenol-gentamicin conjugate could have biomedical potential. It may be presumed that obtained fullerenol may be used as an effective carrier for antibiotic, and developed fullerenol-gentamicin conjugate may be apply locally (i.e., at the wound site). Moreover, in future we will evaluate possibility of its applications in inter alia tissue engineering, namely as a component of wound dressings and implantable biomaterials.