A Facile Method for the Separation of Methionine Sulfoxide Diastereomers,Structural Assignment,and DFT Analysis

Methionine (Met) oxidation is an important biological redox node, with hundreds if not thousands of protein targets. The process yields methionine oxide (MetO). It renders the sulfur chiral, producing two distinct, diastereomerically related products. Despite the biological significance of Met oxidation, a reliable protocol to separate the resultant MetO diastereomers is currently lacking. This hampers our ability to make peptides and proteins that contain stereochemically defined MetO to then study their structural and functional properties. We have developed a facile method that uses supercritical CO₂ chromatography and allows obtaining both diastereomers in purities exceeding 99 %. ¹H NMR spectra were correlated with X-ray structural information. The stereochemical interconversion barrier at sulfur was calculated as 45.2 kcal mol⁻¹, highlighting the remarkable stereochemical stability of MetO sulfur chirality. Our protocol should open the road to synthesis and study of a wide variety of stereochemically defined MetO-containing proteins and peptides.     

Synthesis and characterization of cellulose acetate from cellophane industry residues. Application as acetaminophen controlled-release membranes

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Cellophane film production generates cellulosic residues from scraps, edges, and low-quality films. In this work, cellophane was used as a raw material...     

Electrochemical Sensing of Uric Acid Using Glassy Carbon Modified with Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes Dispersed in Polyethylenimine

This work reports the advantages of using glassy carbon electrodes modified with multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) dispersed in polyethylenimine (PEI). The presence of MWCNTs wrapped by PEI largely facilitated the strong adsorption of uric acid (UA) and allowed its highly sensitive and selective quantification even in the presence of high excess of ascorbic acid. The selected conditions for the electrochemical sensing were 5 s accumulation at ?0.300 V under stirring and quantification in a 0.050 M phosphate buffer solution pH 7.40 by differential pulse voltammetry adsorptive‐stripping after medium exchange. The platform allowed the successful application in the quantification of UA in urine.     

Electrochemical technologies for treating petroleum industry wastewater

This review focuses on recent developments in electrochemical technology (with special emphasis on electrocoagulation, electro-oxidation, and electro-Fenton) to treat petroleum industry effluents (offshore and hydraulic fracturing extraction, as well as refinery effluents). In addition, an overview is given of what these processes face to position themselves as consolidated technologies.     

Two negative minima of the first normal stress difference in a cellulose‐based cholesteric liquid crystal: Helix uncoiling

The shear rate dependence of material functions such as shear viscosity (η) and the first normal stress difference (N₁) were given and interpreted earlier by Kiss and Porter. Their widely accepted work revealed the possibility of having a negative minimum of N₁ for polymeric liquid crystals. In this work, we disclose for the first time the evidence of two negative N₁ minima on a sheared cellulosic lyotropic system. The lower shear rate minimum is ascribed to the uncoiling of the cholesteric helix, as theoretically predicted earlier. Our findings contribute also to the understanding of the other minimum already reported in the literature and attributed to the nematic director tumbling mode. Moreover, the elastic change that the LC‐HPC sample undergoes during the helix unwinding of the cholesteric structure is also by means of oscillatory measurements. This study is a contribution for the understanding of the structure‐properties relationship linked with the complex rheological behavior of chiral nematic cellulose‐based systems and may help to improve their further processing. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 821–830     

Simple Characterization of Green-Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles by Capillary Electrophoresis

The development of methodologies for the characterization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesized using natural products has received increasing attention, especially to monitoring its stability and size for further application. In this paper, a capillary electrophoretic (CE) method is presented for characterization of AgNPs synthesized using honey or glucose as reducing agents. A simple electrolyte solution composed of 20 mM sodium borate and 20 mM sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) at pH 8.5 was used for separation of AgNPs within a short analysis time (<12 min). The obtained results were compared with the traditional characterization techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), showing satisfactory correlation in terms of size distribution. In addition, valuable information about electrophoretic mobility and zeta potential values of AgNPs was obtained by applying the CE-UV/Vis method. Thus, the proposed methodology represents a straightforward tool for the fast and cost-effective characterization of AgNPs within a single analysis, employing minimal amounts of reagents and samples.     

Monitoring abiotic degradation of branched polyethylenes formulated with pro-oxidants through different mechanical tests

The mechanical properties of two linear low density and low density polyethylenes containing a pro-oxidant additive were monitored during accelerated aging (60 °C in a convection oven) and weather exposure. Tearing tests (trouser) were performed for the first time in polyethylenes subjected to oxo-degradation revealing a transition from an extensible to a non-extensible material, at exposure times when standard tensile tests were not able to detect any changes in the materials. The essential work of fracture (EWF) technique was also applied and the results were in agreement with those of trouser tests. The specific essential work of fracture first increased with exposure time until the sample experienced a transition to a less ductile state where EWF was no longer applicable. EWF and trouser tear tests were more sensitive detecting the onset of degradation probably because they employ notched specimens that impose more critical stress concentration conditions than conventional tensile tests.