Dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment of corn stover at high solids concentrations

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - The enzymatic digestibility of a pretreated substrate is enhanced by increasing the severity of the pretreatment conditions, apparently because a greater...     

Use of participant EQA results to assess sample homogeneity and stability for qualitative analytes

International requirements for PT and EQA state that providers must demonstrate that samples are homogeneous and stable. However, testing for homogeneity and stability can be expensive, use samples that could otherwise serve as quality-control materials, and can also fail to detect significant inhomogeneity and instability. In some situations it may be preferable to use the results from participants to identify problems with sample lots, if historic results follow predictable distributions and a statistical decision rule can be produced. An unusually high proportion of incorrect results may indicate that samples were inhomogeneous or unstable. Conditions under which this can be demonstrated are discussed, and the efficacy of the proposal is demonstrated with two examples. This procedure is especially effective when there are a large number of participants and/or a historic small proportion of incorrect results. Providers who adopt this proposal will need to retain samples for testing and assume the risk of distributing bad samples.Presented at the Eurachem PT Workshop September 2005, Portorož, Slovenia     

Stable attachment of redox groups for modified electrodes via cyanuric chloride

Methylaminopropylviologen (MAV) was covalently attached to glassy carbon electrodes via cyuranic chloride. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis confirmed the presence of bound MAV on the electrode surfaces. Electrochemical experiments of these electrodes indicated that the bound MAV was stable and electrochemically active for extended periods of time in aqueous media. The surface coverage of MAV was in the range, of 2.0–3.0×10^?10 mol cm^?2.     

Rotational contour analysis of the electronic origin band in the emission spectrum of the orthoxylyl radical at 4683 Å

The rotational contour of the 4683 Å emission band of the o-xylyl radical was studied at high resolution. Calculations of the rotational contour of this hybrid band were made in the rigid rotor approximation for various sets of values of the excited state rotational constants and directions of the transition moment μ. Matching of computed and experimental rotational features showed that μ is oriented at +37° or ?37° with respect to the b inertial axis. The nature of the excited states of o-xylyl and the methyl-to-ring interaction are discussed with respect to these two possible assignments     

Oxygenolysis of flavonoid compounds: DFT description of the mechanism for quercetin.

Flavonoids are naturally occurring phenol derivatives present in substantial amounts in a large variety of plants, fruits and vegetables daily eaten by humans. Most of these compounds exhibit several interesting biological activities, such as antiradical and antioxidant actions. Indeed, by complexation with specific enzymes, flavonoids are notably liable to metabolize molecular dioxygen. On the basis of experimental results describing oxygenolysis of the flavonoid quercetin, activated by the enzyme quercetin 2,3-dioxygenase (2,3-QD),ur attention has focused on the role of metal center in the activation of the substrate quercetin. Thus, in the present study, by means of DFT calculations at the B3LYP/ 6-31(+)G* level on model molecular systems, we describe different mechanisms for dioxygen metabolization by quercetin. Stationary points are described, and energetic and structural analyses along the reaction paths are reported. Our calculations show that the copper cation must act as an oxidant towards the substrate and that the reaction proceeds through a 1,3-cycloaddition.     

Tradeoff between mixing and transport for electroosmotic flow in heterogeneous microchannels with nonuniform surface potentials

Electroosmotic flow (EOF) is a phenomenon associated with the movement of an aqueous solution induced by the application of an electric field in microchannels. The characteristics of EOF depend on the nature of the surface potential, i.e., whether it is uniform or nonuniform. In this paper, a lattice Boltzmann model (LBM) combined with the Poisson-Boltzmann equation is used to simulate flow field in a rectangular microchannel with nonuniform (step change) surface potentials. The simulation results indicate that local circulations can occur near a heterogeneous region with nonuniform surface potentials, in agreement with those by other authors. Largest circulations, which imply a highest mixing efficiency due to convection and short-range diffusion, were found when the average surface potential is zero, regardless of whether the distribution of the heterogeneous patches is symmetric or asymmetric. In this work, we have illustrated that there is a trade-off between the mixing and liquid transport in EOF microfluidics. One should not simply focus on mixing and neglect liquid transport, as performed in the literature. Excellent mixing could lead to a poor transport of electroosmotic flow in microchannels.     

3,7-Dioxaazelaamides as Ionophores for Lithium Ion Selective Liquid Membrane Electrodes

Lipophilic neutral carriers were synthesized which show Li⁺/Na⁺ selectivities of up to ca. 80 in highly lipophilic liquid membranes. The sensor membranes exhibit improved response times and increased lifetimes as compared to systems described earlier. They allow reliable measurements of Li⁺ in blood serum within the clinical concentration range. A 1:1 Li⁺/ionophore complex of one representative (N,N,N′,N′-tetracyclohexyl-5,5-dimethyl-3,7-dioxaazelaamide) has been prepared, and its structure was elucidated by X-ray analysis.     

Magnetism of metal cyanide networks assembled at interfaces

Studies of metal cyanide thin films prepared directly at interfaces are reviewed. The systems range from monolayers, single-layer analogs of Prussian blue-like networks, to bulk powders prepared as thin films. Monolayer networks are prepared at the air/water interface and transferred to solid supports using Langmuir-Blodgett film methods. Films of bulk materials are prepared directly on solid surfaces using a templated sequential deposition procedure. The magnetic properties of the films have been explored, and in some cases, these monolayers and surface films give rise to new behavior that is only possible because of the fabrication method or thin film architecture. The methods of synthesis can generate oriented samples, even when the materials are poorly crystalline. Furthermore, the interface-assembled networks are inherently anisotropic, leading to phenomena not present in the solid-state analogs, such as anisotropic photomagnetism in a thin film of Rb_jCo_k[Fe(CN)₆]_l·nH₂O.