Zeolite Synthesis in the Presence of Metallosiloxanes for the Quantitative Encapsulation of Metal Species for the Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) of NOx

Metal encapsulation in zeolitic materials through one-pot hydrothermal synthesis (HTS) is an attractive technique to prepare zeolites with a high metal dispersion. Due to its simplicity and the excellent catalytic performance observed for several catalytic systems, this method has gained a great deal of attention over the last few years. While most studies apply synthetic methods involving different organic ligands to stabilize the metal under synthesis conditions, here we report the use of metallosiloxanes as an alternative metal precursor. Metallosiloxanes can be synthesized from simple and cost-affordable chemicals and, when used in combination with zeolite building blocks under standard synthesis conditions, lead to quantitative metal loading and high dispersion. Thanks to the structural analogy of siloxane with TEOS, the synthesis gel stabilizes by forming siloxane bridges that prevent metal precipitation and clustering. When focusing on Fe-encapsulation, we demonstrate that Fe-MFI zeolites obtained by this method exhibit high catalytic activity in the NH₃-mediated selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO_x along with a good H₂O/SO₂ tolerance. This synthetic approach opens a new synthetic route for the encapsulation of transition metals within zeolite structures.     

Multiple Phases of Liquid Water

The history of the study of the anomalies of liquid water, from the 17th century up to the present, is reviewed and the current view on the origin of these anomalies is summarized. The hypothesis of the multiple liquid–liquid transitions of water in the supercooled region is consistent with the available experimental and simulation data and provides physical explanation of water behavior in a wide thermodynamic range. The general character of the liquid–liquid transitions of fluids is discussed and the remaining questions are formulated.     

Nitrate ion photochemistry at interfaces: a new mechanism for oxidation of alpha-pinene

The photooxidation of 0.6-0.9 ppm alpha-pinene in the presence of a deliquesced thin film of NaNO(3), and for comparison increasing concentrations of NO(2), was studied in a 100 L Teflon(R) chamber at relative humidities from 72-88% and temperatures from 296-304 K. The loss of alpha-pinene and the formation of gaseous products were followed with time using proton transfer mass spectrometry. The yields of gas phase products were smaller in the NaNO(3) experiments than in NO(2) experiments. In addition, pinonic acid, pinic acid, trans-sobrerol and other unidentified products were detected in the extracts of the wall washings only for the NaNO(3) photolysis. These data indicate enhanced loss of alpha-pinene at the NaNO(3) thin film during photolysis. Supporting the experimental results are molecular dynamics simulations which predict that alpha-pinene has an affinity for the surface of the deliquesced nitrate thin film, enhancing the opportunity for oxidation of the impinging organic gas during the nitrate photolysis. This new mechanism of oxidation of organics may be partially responsible for the correlation between nitrate and the organic component of particles observed in many field studies, and may also contribute to the missing source of SOA needed to reconcile model predictions and field measurements. In addition, photolysis of nitrate on surfaces in the boundary layer may lead to oxidation of co-adsorbed organics.     

"Depth-profiling" and quantitative characterization of the size, composition, shape, density, and morphology of fine particles with SPLAT, a single-particle mass spectrometer

A significant fraction of atmospheric particles are composed of inorganic substances that are mixed or coated with organic compounds. The properties and behavior of these particles depend on the internal composition and arrangement of the specific constituents in each particle. It is important to know which constituent is on the surface and whether it covers the particle surface partially or entirely. We demonstrate here an instrument consisting of an ultrasensitive single-particle mass spectrometer coupled with a differential mobility analyzer to quantitatively measure in real time individual particle composition, size, density, and shape and to determine which substance is on the surface and whether it entirely covers the particle. For this study, we use NaCl particles completely coated with liquid dioctyl phthalate to generate spherical particles, and NaCl particles partially coated with pyrene, a solid poly aromatic hydrocarbon, to produce aspherical particles with pyrene nodules and an exposed NaCl core. We show that the behavior of the mass spectral intensities as a function of laser fluence yields information that can be used to determine the morphological distribution of individual particle constituents.     

Performance and scaling effects in a multilayer microfluidic extracorporeal lung oxygenation device

Microfluidic fabrication technologies are emerging as viable platforms for extracorporeal lung assist devices and oxygenators for cardiac surgical support and critical care medicine, based in part on their ability to more closely mimic the architecture of the human vasculature than existing technologies. In comparison with current hollow fiber oxygenator technologies, microfluidic systems have more physiologically-representative blood flow paths, smaller cross section blood conduits and thinner gas transfer membranes. These features can enable smaller device sizes and a reduced blood volume in the oxygenator, enhanced gas transfer efficiencies, and may also reduce the tendency for clotting in the system. Several critical issues need to be addressed in order to advance this technology from its current state and implement it in an organ-scale device for clinical use. Here we report on the design, fabrication and characterization of multilayer microfluidic oxygenators, investigating scaling effects associated with fluid mechanical resistance, oxygen transfer efficiencies, and other parameters in multilayer devices. Important parameters such as the fluidic resistance of interconnects are shown to become more predominant as devices are scaled towards many layers, while other effects such as membrane distensibility become less significant. The present study also probes the relationship between blood channel depth and membrane thickness on oxygen transfer, as well as the rate of oxygen transfer on the number of layers in the device. These results contribute to our understanding of the complexity involved in designing three-dimensional microfluidic oxygenators for clinical applications.     

QSAR modeling of endpoints for peptides which is based on representation of the molecular structure by a sequence of amino acids

The representation of the molecular structure by a system (sequence) of amino acids has been used to establish quantitative structure–property/activity relationships (QSPR/QSAR) which can be used for (i) bioactivities of epitope-peptides, (ii) antibacterial potencies of polypeptides, and (iii) the binding affinity of peptides that bind to the class I major histocompatibility complex molecule HLA-A*0201. The representation of the peptide structure has been done via 1-letter abbreviations of amino acids, i.e., A (alanine), C (cysteine), D (aspartic), etc. This approach allows classifying amino acids according to their function in a biochemical process (promoters of increase or decrease of an endpoint).     

Deca-heterosubstituted corannulenes

The Cu(I)-catalyzed Ullmann condensation reaction between aliphatic alcohols and sym-pentachlorocorannulene provides a convenient entry to 1,3,5,7,9-pentaalkoxycorannulenes. The latter are easily converted to novel deca-heterosubstituted derivatives, such as 1,3,5,7,9-penta-X-2,4,6,8,10-penta-Y-corannulenes by electrophilic aromatic substitution.     

Dielectric response of imidazolium-based room-temperature ionic liquids

We have used microwave dielectric relaxation spectroscopy to study the picosecond dynamics of five low-viscosity, highly conductive room temperature ionic liquids based on 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium cations paired with the bis((trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl)imide anion. Up to 20 GHz the dielectric response is bimodal. The longest relaxation component at the time scale of several 100 ps reveals strongly nonexponential dynamics and correlates with the viscosity in a manner consistent with hydrodynamic predictions for the diffusive reorientation of dipolar ions. Methyl substitution at the C2 position destroys this correlation. The time constants of the weak second process at the 20 ps time scale are practically the same for each salt. This intermediate process seems to correlate with similar modes in optical Kerr effect spectra, but its physical origin is unclear. The missing high-frequency portion of the spectra indicates relaxation beyond the upper cutoff frequency of 20 GHz, presumably due to subpicosecond translational and librational displacements of ions in the cage of their counterions. There is no evidence for orientational relaxation of long-lived ion pairs.     

Synthesis of some new spiro naphtho[2,3‐d][1,3]dithiole‐4,9‐dione derivatives

2(1‐Acetyl‐2‐oxopropylidene)naphtho[2,3‐d][1,3]dithiole‐4,9‐dione 1 reacts with a variety of bidentates reagents to give some new functionally substituted spiro naphthodithiole‐4,9‐dione derivatives.     

Efficient Synthesis of 4-Amino-4-deoxy-L-arabinose and Spacer-equipped 4-Amino-4-deoxy-L-arabinopyranosides by Transglycosylation Reactions

Methyl 4-azido-4-deoxy-β-L-arabinopyranoside has been synthesized in five steps starting from methyl β-D-xylopyranoside in a multigram scale without chromatographic purification in 78% overall yield. The transformation relied on selective tosylation/nosylation at O-4 followed by acylation, S(N)2 displacement with sodium azide and subsequent deprotection. The methyl 4-azido-4-deoxy-arabinoside was then converted into allyl, propenyl, ω-bromohexyl and chlorethoxyethyl spacer glycosides by transglycosylation with the respective alcohols in good yields and fair anomeric selectivity. Reduction of the azido group and further transformations of the aglycon afforded ω-thiol-containing spacer derivatives. Coupling to maleimide-activated BSA provided a potent immunogen which was used to generate murine and rabbit polyclonal sera binding to LPS-core epitopes containing 4-amino-4-deoxy-arabinose residues.