Release of Terpenes from Fir Wood during Its Long-Term Use and in Thermal Treatment

Building structures made from fir wood are often attacked by wood-destroying insects for which the terpenes it contains serve as attractants. One of the possibilities for extending the lifetime of structures is to use older wood with a lower content of terpenes and/or thermally modified wood. The study evaluated the levels of terpenes in naturally aged fir wood (108, 146, 279, 287 and 390 years) and their decrease by thermal treatment (the temperature of 60 °C and 120 °C, treatment duration of 10 h). Terpenes were extracted from wood samples by hexane and?analyzed by gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS). The results indicate that recent fir wood contained approximately 60 times more terpenes than the oldest wood (186:3.1 mg/kg). The thermal wood treatment speeded up the release of terpenes. The temperature of 60 °C caused a loss in terpenes in the recent fir wood by 62%, the temperature of 120 °C even by >99%. After the treatment at the temperature of 60 °C the recent fir wood had approximately the same quantity of terpenes as non-thermally treated 108 year old wood, i.e., approximately 60-70 mg/kg. After the thermal treatment at the temperature of 120 °C the quantity of terpenes dropped in the recent as well as the old fir wood to minimum quantities (0.7-1.1 mg/kg). The thermal treatment can thus be used as a suitable method for the protection of fir wood from wood-destroying insects.     

Anti-bacterial treatment of polyethylene by cold plasma for medical purposes

Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most widely used polymers in many industrial applications. Biomedical uses seem to be attractive, with increasing interest. However, PE it prone to infections and its additional surface treatment is indispensable. An increase in resistance to infections can be achieved by treating PE surfaces with substances containing antibacterial groups such as triclosan (5-Chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol) and chlorhexidine (1,1'-Hexamethylenebis[5-(4-chlorophenyl)biguanide]). This work has examined the impact of selected antibacterial substances immobilized on low-density polyethylene (LDPE) via polyacrylic acid (PAA) grafted on LDPE by low-temperature barrier discharge plasma. This LDPE surface treatment led to inhibition of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus adhesion; the first causes intestinal disease, peritonitis, mastitis, pneumonia, septicemia, the latter is the reason for wound and urinary tract infections.     

Komplexbildung mit 1,2-bis (o-Aminobenzylidenamino)-ethan als neutralem Liganden

Compounds [Co(H₂ L]X ₂(X=Cl, Br, I, NO₃, ClO₄), [Co(H₂ L–Br₂)]Br₂, [Co(H₂ L–Br₂)·py ₂]Br₂ and [Co(H₂ L)Cl]Cl₂ were isolated. They were investigated by means of thermoanalysis, IR and VIS spectroscopy, magnetochemistry and molar conductivity.

     

Structures and energetics of helium cluster cations: equilibrium geometries revisited through the genetic algorithm approach

Equilibrium geometries and dissociation energies of He(N)(+) clusters have been calculated for N=3-35 using an extended genetic algorithm approach and a semiempirical model of intracluster interactions [P. J. Knowles, J. N. Murrell, and E. J. Hodge, Mol. Phys. 85, 243 (1995)]. A general aufbau principle is formulated for both ionic cores and neutral solvation shells, and the results are thoroughly compared with other theoretical data available for helium cluster cations in literature.     

Determination of photoredox properties of individual kinetically labile complexes in equilibrium systems

The paper evaluates the possibilities and limitations in characterising photochemical properties of individual kinetically labile species being in mutual equilibrium. A model of calculating quantum yield values is elaborated and applied to azidokojic iron(III) complexes in aqueous solutions. Based on the known speciation of the complexes as a function of pH, Fe(III) and azidokojic acid concentrations, electronic absorption spectra of individual species, and the determined overall quantum yield of Fe(II) photoformation at irradiation with monochromatised radiation at 366 nm, the quantum yield of Fe(III) to Fe(II) photoreduction was obtained for each of the complexes present in the investigated systems.     

Ankeny-Artin-Chowla type congruences modulo p 3

The goal of this paper is to use algebraic techniques to compute sums of powers of roots of certain polynomials and derive congruences of Ankeny-Artin-Chowla types modulo p ³.     

Chemo‐ and Regioselective Ethynylation of Tryptophan‐Containing Peptides and Proteins

Ethynylation of various tryptophan‐containing peptides and a single model protein was achieved using Waser's reagent, 1‐[(triisopropylsilyl)ethynyl]‐1,2‐benziodoxol‐3(1 H)‐one (TIPS‐EBX), under gold(I) catalysis. It was demonstrated by NMR that the ethynylation occured selectively at the C2‐position of the indole ring of tryptophan. Further, MS/MS showed that the tryptophan residues could be modified selectively with ethynyl functionalities even when the tryptophan was present as a part of the protein. Finally, the terminal alkyne was used to label a model peptide with a fluorophore by means of copper‐catalyzed click chemistry.     

Electrochemical electron transfer and its relation to charge transport in single molecule junctions

Ability to control charge transport at nanometer scale lies in the heart of design of fast reliable electronic devices. Molecular electronics thrive to use functional molecules for such transport. If the molecule contains redox center(s), a diode-like or transistor-like behavior can be easily explored by controlling not only the voltage difference between two metallic contacts of the molecular junction but also the potential of one of the contacting electrodes with respect to some reference. Thus, one needs to understand the relationship between electrochemical electron transfer and charge transport in metal–molecule–metal junctions. This review presents latest theoretical approaches toward understanding of such relationship and discusses pivotal experimental works to validate them. Tunneling and hopping pathways may operate in parallel (two-channel model), but experimental conditions dictate the channel preference.     

Determination of ζ‐potential,charge, and number of organic ligands on the surface of water soluble quantum dots by capillary electrophoresis

The number of charges and/or organic ligands covalently attached to the surface of CdTe quantum dot nanoparticles has been determined from their electrophoretic mobilities measured in capillaries filled with free electrolyte buffers. Three sizes of water soluble CdTe quantum dots with 3‐mercaptopropionic and thioglycolic acids as surface ligands were prepared. Their electrophoretic mobilities in different pH and ionic strength values of separation buffers were measured by capillary electrophoresis with laser induced fluorescence detection. The ζ‐potentials determined from electrophoretic mobilities using analytical solution of Henry function proposed by Ohshima were in the range from ?30 to ?100 mV. Charges of QDs were calculated from ζ‐potentials. As a result, numbers of organic ligands bonded to QDs surface were determined to be 13, 14, and 15 for the sizes of 3.1, 3.5, and 3.9 nm, respectively. The dissociation constants of organic ligands bonded on QDs surfaces estimated from the dependence of QDs charge on pH of the separation buffer were 7.8 and 7.9 for 3‐mercaptopropionic acid and 6.9 for thioglycolic acid.