Quantitative analysis of (styrene/acrylonitrile/methyl methacrylate) co-polymer systems by infrared resonance spectroscopy

A detailed careful analysis of the infrared resonance (IR) spectra of polystyrene (PSt), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and their co-mixtures were performed. Through this study the absorption peak area to weight ratios as well as working curves were obtained to test for their reliability as well as their suitability. Satisfactory results were achieved and these working curves were then used to measure the polymerized components of binary and ternary co-polymers. By investigating the acquired data we conclude that the monomer preferential polymeric sequence is St > MMA > AN. A quantitative method to measure P (St/AN/MMA) concentrations by IR spectroscopy is proposed in this work.     

Nonlinear Effects in Asymmetric Catalysis

There is a need for the preparation of enantiomerically pure compounds for various applications. An efficient approach to achieve this goal is asymmetric catalysis. The chiral catalyst is usually prepared from a chiral auxiliary, which itself is derived from a natural product or by resolution of a racemic precursor. The use of non‐enantiopure chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric catalysis seems unattractive to preparative chemists, since the anticipated enantiomeric excess (ee) of the reaction product should be proportional to the ee value of the chiral auxiliary (linearity). In fact, some deviation from linearity may arise. Such nonlinear effects can be rich in mechanistic information and can be synthetically useful (asymmetric amplification). This Review documents the advances made during the last decade in the use of nonlinear effects in the area of organometallic and organic catalysis.     

A Palladium(II)‐Catalyzed Synthesis of Spiroacetals through a One‐Pot Multicomponent Cascade Reaction

Functionalized spiroacetals have been easily prepared in a one‐pot three‐component coupling process that involves the reaction of pentynol derivatives, salicylaldehydes, and amines in the presence of catalytic amounts of a palladium(II) complex (see scheme). Alternatively, oxygen‐substituted spiroacetals can be obtained by using orthoesters as the third component.

     

Three new coordination complexes of cobalt(III), manganese(II), and copper(II) with N,N,O-donor hydrazone ligands: syntheses and structural characterizations

Three new coordination complexes, 2{[Co(L¹)₂]ClO₄} · 0.5CH₃OH (1), [Mn(L²)₂] (2), and [Cu(HL²)(L²)]ClO₄ · 2H₂O (3) have been synthesized from two tridentate N,N,O-donor hydrazone ligands HL¹, 2-acetylpyridine-salicyloylhydrazone, and HL², 2-benzoylpyridine-salicyloylhydrazone, respectively and thoroughly characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, UV–Vis, electrochemical, and room temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements. Structures of the complexes have been unequivocally established by single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. Structural analysis reveals that 1 consists of two chemically similar but crystallographically independent cationic [Co(L¹)₂]⁺ units and 2 consists of a neutral [Mn(L²)₂] molecule while 3 consists of a cationic [Cu(HL²)(L²)]⁺ unit. Metal ions display distorted octahedral geometry in 1 and 2 while in 3 it shows a distorted square pyramidal geometry. Ligand conformations around the metal ions are stabilized by the presence of intra-ligand hydrogen bonding in all the complexes. Structure of 3 reveals that a perchlorate ion linked to the complex by hydrogen bonding via a water molecule.     

Hamiltonian cycles in -circulant digraphs

Let D be the circulant digraph with n vertices and connection set {2,3,c}. (Assume D is loopless and has outdegree 3.) Work of S. C. Locke and D. Witte implies that if n is a multiple of 6, c{(n/2)+2,(n/2)+3}, and c is even, then D does not have a hamiltonian cycle. For all other cases, we construct a hamiltonian cycle in D.     

Effect of bioparticle size on dispersion and retention in monolithic and perfusive beds

Single-component pulse response studies were used to compare the retention and transport behavior of small molecules, proteins, and a virus on commercially available monolithic and perfusive ion-exchangers. Temporal distortion and extra-column effects were corrected for using a simple algorithm based on the method of moments. It was found that temporal distortion is inversely related to the number of theoretical plates. With increasing bioparticle size, retention increased and the transition from a non-eluting to a non-adsorbing state with increasing ionic strength became more abrupt. Both of these observations are qualitatively explained by calculations of particle-surface electrostatic attractive energy. Calculations also suggest that, for sufficiently large bioparticles, such as viruses or cells, hydrodynamic drag can promote elution. Under non-adsorbing conditions, plate height increased only weakly with flow rate and the skew remained unchanged. With increasing retention, plate height increased dramatically for proteins. Plate height was scaled by permeability rather than bead diameter to enable comparison among different stationary phases.     

New three-dimensional inorganic frameworks based on the uranophane-type sheet in monoamine templated uranyl-vanadates

Seven new uranyl vanadates with mono-protonated amine or tetramethylammonium used as structure directing cations, (C₂NH₈)₂{[(UO₂)(H₂O)][(UO₂)(VO₄)]₄}·H₂O (DMetU5V4) (C₂NH₈){[(UO₂)(H₂O)₂][(UO₂)(VO₄)]₃}·H₂O (DMetU4V3), (C₅NH₆)₂{[(UO₂)(H₂O)][(UO₂)(VO₄)]₄}·H₂O (PyrU5V4), (C₃NH₁₀){[(UO₂)(H₂O)₂][(UO₂)(VO₄)]₃}·H₂O (isoPrU4V3), (N(CH₃)₄){[(UO₂)(H₂O)₂][(UO₂)(VO₄)]₃}·H₂O (TMetU4V3), (C₆NH₁₄){[(UO₂)(H₂O)₂][(UO₂)(VO₄)]₃}·H₂O (CHexU4V3), and (C₄NH₁₂){[(UO₂)(H₂O)][(UO₂)(VO₄)]₃} (TButU4V3) were prepared from mild-hydrothermal reactions using dimethylamine, pyridine, isopropylamine, tetramethylammonium hydroxide, cyclohexylamine and tertiobutylamine, respectively, with uranyl nitrate and vanadium oxide in acidic medium. The structures were solved using single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The compounds exhibit three-dimensional uranyl-vanadate inorganic frameworks built from uranophane-type uranyl-vanadate layers pillared by uranyl polyhedra with cavities in between occupied by protonated organic moieties. In the uranyl-vanadate layers the orientations of the vanadate tetrahedra give new geometrical isomers leading to unprecedented pillared systems and new inorganic frameworks with U/V=4/3. Crystallographic data: (DMetU5V4) orthorhombic, Cmc2₁ space group, a=15.6276(4), b=14.1341(4), c=13.6040(4) Å; (DMetU4V3) monoclinic, P2₁/n space group, a=10.2312(4), b=13.5661(7), c=17.5291(7) Å, β=96.966(2); (PyrU5V4), triclinic, P1 space group, a=9.6981(3), b=9.9966(2), c=10.5523(2) Å, α=117.194(1), β=113.551(1), γ=92.216(1)°; (isoPrU4V3) monoclinic, P2₁/n space group, a=10.3507(1), b=13.6500(2), c=17.3035(2) Å, β=97.551(1)°; (TMetU4V3) orthorhombic, Pbca space group, a=17.1819(2), b=13.6931(1), c=21.4826(2) Å; (CHexU4V3), triclinic P−1 space group, a=9.8273(6), b=11.0294(7), c=12.7506(8) Å, α=98.461(3), β=96.437(3), γ=105.955(3)°; (TButU4V3), monoclinic, P2₁/m space group, a=9.8048(4), b=17.4567(8), c=15.4820(6) Å, β=106.103(2).     

Photoelectrochemical determination of inorganic mercury in aqueous solutions

An analytical method using an optical probe in a photoelectrochemical cell for the sensitive and selective determination of aqueous Hg²⁺ is presented. A previously synthesized Hg²⁺ selective chemosensor, proven to be Hg²⁺ sensitive up to 2 μg L⁻¹, has been immobilized onto indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes in a composite form with polyaniline. The coated ITO electrode was placed in a photoelectrochemical cell under closed circuit conditions in which the optical recognition of the chemosensor was converted to a measurable signal. A composite of the fluorescent chemosensor, Rhodamine 6G derivative (RS), and polyaniline (PANI) was immobilized on ITO glass plates and subjected to photovoltage measurements in the absence and presence of Hg²⁺. The optical responses of the coated electrode were used to determine the sensitivity and selectivity of the immobilized sensor to Hg²⁺ in the presence of background ions. The optical response of the PANI-dye coated electrode increased linearly with increasing Hg²⁺ concentration in the range 10-150 μg L⁻¹, with a detection limit of 6 μg L⁻¹.     

Lateral cavity acoustic transducer as an on-chip cell/particle microfluidic switch

A novel on-chip microfluidic switch is demonstrated that utilizes the acoustic microstreaming generated by an oscillating air-liquid interface to switch cells/particles into bifurcating microchannels. The air-liquid interface of the Lateral Cavity Acoustic Transducers (LCATs) can be actuated by an external acoustic energy source causing the interface to oscillate. The oscillating interface results in the generation of vortex-like microstreaming flow within a localized region of the surrounding liquid. This streaming was utilized here to deflect cells/particles into a collection outlet. It was demonstrated that the switching zone could be controlled by varying the actuation time of the LCAT. An LCAT based microfluidic switch is capable of achieving theoretical switching rates of 800 cells/particles per second. It was also demonstrated that K562 cells could be switched into a collection channel with cell viability comparable to that of controls as determined by Trypan blue exclusion assay.