Sodium ibuprofen dihydrate and anhydrous

(R,S)-(±)-ibuprofen sodium salt (racemate) dihydrate (SID) was dehydrated and the physicochemical properties of SID and the anhydrous forms (SIA) were compared by different analytical techniques (scanning electron microscopy, helium pychnometry, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray powder diffractometry). The dehydration of SID, followed by thermogravimetry in isothermal conditions, allowed to calculate the activation energy of the dehydration process and to predict the mechanism of dehydration. Dehydration occurred in one step and the activation energy was rather low, indicating the ease of water removal from the crystal. The mechanism of dehydration followed a three dimensional diffusion (Jander equation). Similarly to the dehydration, the hydration process was followed under isothermal conditions by exposing the anhydrous powder at 64% RH at different temperatures. The mechanism of hydration was governed by a two dimensional diffusion and the energy associated to the process was very low, indicating the ease of crystal hydration. The driving force for the hydration is higher than that for the dehydration. From a thermodynamic point of view this fact may explain why the hydrated form is more stable than the anhydrous one. Solubilities, determined at different temperatures in water and in phosphate buffer (pH 6.8), showed that SID is more soluble in water than SIA for temperatures higher than approximately 283 K. On the contrary, in phosphate buffer SIA is always more soluble than SID in the temperature range considered for the experiments. Drug release reflects the solubility in water and phosphate buffer previously reported.     

Stabilization mechanism of TiO2 on flexible fluorocarbon films as a functional photocatalyst

The repetitive discoloration kinetics of the azo-dye Methyl Orange (taken as a model organic compound) was followed under solar simulated radiation (90 mW/cm²) to assess the performance of the TiO₂/Tedlar^® composite photocatalyst. The influence of solution parameters on the photo-discoloration process: pH, dye concentration, applied light intensity and concentration of H₂O₂ were systematically investigated. During the photocatalysis a modification occurs in the TiO₂/Tedlar^® composite due to the TiO₂ interaction with the Tedlar^® film. Physical insight is given for the stabilization mechanism of the TiO₂ particles in the Tedlar matrix based on the data obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The F 1s peak of the Tedlar film indicates that the TiO₂ is loaded on the Tedlar fluoro-groups. The loading of TiO₂ on the 75 μm thick Tedlar^® film was 0.9% (w/w) as determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). Attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (ATRIR) shows no formation of additional bands within the photodiscoloration reaction. This shows that an efficient catalysis taking place on the TiO₂/Tedlar^® surface. The rugosity (mean square roughness, rms) of the TiO₂/Tedlar^® film was determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) to be 19.7 nm. This value remained constant during long-term operation. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reports the thickness and coverage of TiO₂ Degussa P-25 on the Tedlar^® surface before and after photocatalysis.     

Dispersion in the Mott insulator UO2: A comparison of photoemission spectroscopy and screened hybrid density functional theory

We present a comparison between the screened hybrid density functional theory of Heyd, Scuseria, and Enzerhof (HSE06) and high-resolution photoemission (PES) measurement on a single crystal of UO(2). Angle-resolved photoemission data show a slight dispersion in the f-orbital derived bands in good agreement with the HSE band structure. The effect of spin-orbit coupling on the HSE band gap has also been calculated and found to be negligible.     

Sucrose cryo-protection facilitates imaging of whole eye sections by MALDI mass spectrometry

Sucrose is used as a cryo-preservation agent on large mammalian eyes post formalin fixation and is shown to reduce freezing artefacts allowing the collection of 12-μm thick sections from these large aqueous samples. The suitability of this technique for use in MALDI imaging experiments is demonstrated by the acquisition of the first images of lipid distributions within whole sagittal porcine eye sections.     

Electrical properties and thermal conductivity of AgTlTe2 in the solid and liquid phases

Measurements of the electrical conductivity, thermelectric power and thermal conductivity of an AgTlTe₂ semiconductor in the solid and liquid states were carried out in a wide range of temperatures. In the liquid state the data analyzed in terms of a model developed for the density of states and electrical transport in solid amorphous semiconductors. Positive thermoelectric power suggests a large predominance of holes in electrical transport.     

Gas phase anion reactions at atmospheric pressure : Atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometric studies related to the electron-capture detector

Negative ion atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry has been used to investigate the gas phase atmospheric pressure anion chemistry of N₂O₂H⁻ and . N₂O₂H⁻ has been shown to be a stronger base than . Specific types of reaction (e.g. proton abstraction, and dehydration) have been identified for each of these anions. Although the analytical significance of these reactions has not yet been demonstrated, certain compounds such as alcohols which do not readily attach electrons directly can easily be detected by observing a specific anion reaction product. The technique appears to provide an additional dimension to established gas chromatographic—mass spectrometric analyses.     

Salt Effects in the Cononsolvency of Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) Microgels

Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is well known to exhibit reentrant behavior or cononsolvency in response to the composition of a mixed solvent consisting of water and a low‐chain alcohol. Since the solvent structure plays an important role in this phenomenon, the presence of structure‐breaking/structure‐making ions in solution is expected to have a dramatic effect on the cononsolvency of PNIPAM. The present work examines the way that the presence of different salts can modify the reentrant‐phase diagram displayed by a cationic PNIPAM microgel in the mixed ethanol/water solvent. The effects of four Hofmeister anions—SO₄^2?_, Cl^?, NO₃^? and SCN^?—with different abilities to modify the solvent structure are analyzed. The species with kosmotropic or structure‐making character show a clear competition with ethanol for the water molecules, intensifying the nonsolvency of the PNIPAM with the EtOH volume fraction (?_e). However, striking results are found with the most chaotropic or structure‐breaking anion, SCN^?. In contrast to what happens in water‐rich solutions, the presence of SCN^? in alcohol‐rich solvents enhances the solubility of the polymer, which macroscopically results in the microgel swelling. Moreover, this ion displays great stabilizing properties when ?_e> is 0.2. These results have been explained by considering how chaotropic or structure‐breaking ions interact with water and ethanol molecules.     

Embeddings of canonical modules and resolutions of connected sums

For an ideal $I_{m,n}$ generated by all square-free monomials of degree m in a polynomial ring R with n variables, we obtain a specific embedding of a canonical module of $R/I_{m,n}$ to $R/I_{m,n}$ itself. The construction of this explicit embedding depends on a minimal free R-resolution of an ideal generated by $I_{m,n}$. Using this embedding, we give a resolution of connected sums of several copies of certain Artin $\mathsf{k}$-algebras where $\mathsf{k}$ is a field.