Obtainment of chelating agents through the enzymatic oxidation of lignins by phenol oxidase

Oxidation of lignin obtained from acetosolv and ethanol/water pulping of sugarcane bagasse was performed by phenol oxidases: tyrosinase (TYR) and laccase (LAC), to increase the number of carbonyl and hydroxyl groups in lignin, and to improve its chelating capacity. The chelating properties of the original and oxidized lignins were compared by monitoring the amount of Cu²⁺ bound to lignin by gel permeation chromatography. The Acetosolv lignin oxidized with TYR was 16.8% and with LAC 21% higher than that of the original lignin. For ethanol/water lignin oxidized with TYR was 17.2% and with LAC 18% higher than that of the original lignin.     

Viscoelastic and thermal characterization of crosslinked PVC

Soft PVC is employed for the manufacturing of a wide range of products with different properties and a relatively low cost. The utilization of soft PVC is restricted by the poor thermal, chemical and mechanical resistance properties. Also, plasticizer migration can modify the properties or can make useless the materials for some applications because of toxicity or a general loss of properties. PVC crosslinking is the most effective way to improve mechanical and transport properties of rigid or flexible PVC at high temperatures, but at the same time the thermal stability of PVC may be significantly reduced. In this work, the crosslinking reaction of plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) through difunctional amines was studied. The mechanisms involved in the crosslinking reaction were explained by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis. The thermal activated crosslinking reaction was studied by cone and plate rheometry, analyzing the evolution of viscoelastic properties of the suspension as a function of time and temperature. The effect of the addition of crosslinking agents on the thermal stability of the polymer was studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), which revealed that crosslinking reactions promote thermal degradation phenomena in the polymer matrix. This is attributed to the formation of HCl and other species promoting polymer degradation during crosslinking, thus leading to higher weight loss during thermal treatment with respect to unmodified PVC plastisols. This was also confirmed by an evident yellowing after crosslinking, especially at higher temperatures.     

Flow-injection spectrophotometric determination of arylamines and sulphonamides by diazotization and coupling in a micellar medium

In a sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) micellar solution, the rate of coupling of a diazonium ion with N-(1- naphthyl)ethylenediamine (NED) increases greatly, the protonation of the resulting azo dyes takes place at higher pH values and the dyes are more soluble. These favourable features were applied to the development of a simple flow-injection spectrophotometric procedure for the determination of diazotizable substances of pharmaceutical interest. Limits of detection in the range 0.2–0.5 μg ml^?1 (signal-to-noise ratio=3), with relative standard deviation of 0.7–3% (n=3) for 5 μg ml^?1 standards, were obtained.     

RP-HPLC analysis of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in beverages and plant extracts using a CoulArray detector

Methods were developed for the analysis of natural antioxidants including phenolic compounds and flavonoids in beverages and plant extracts using gradient HPLC with multi-channel electrochemical coulometric detection. Suitability of various reversed-phase columns for this purpose was compared; pH and mobile phase gradients were optimized with respect to the separation selectivity and sensitivity of detection. Because of different target compounds in various sample types, the overlapping resolution maps and the normalized resolution product approaches described earlier were used to select optimum columns and gradients to suit the analysis of the individual sample types. The methods were applied to the analysis of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in beer, wine, tea, and yacon extracts. 32 phenolic compounds were identified and determined, including derivatives of benzoic and cinnamic acids, flavones, and a few related glycosides. Eight-channel CoulArray detection offers high selectivity and sensitivity with limits of detection in the low microg L(-1) range, at least an order of magnitude lower than single-channel coulometric detection using the Coulochem detector. No special sample pretreatment is necessary and, because of the compatibility of the CoulArray detector with gradient elution, phenolic antioxidants of different polarities can be determined in a single run. In addition to the retention times, the ratios of the areas of the pre-dominant and post-dominant peaks to the area of the dominant peak can be used for improved identification of natural antioxidants.     

A fluorescence-based method for direct measurement of submicrosecond intramolecular contact formation in biopolymers: an exploratory study with polypeptides.

A fluorescent amino acid derivative (Fmoc-DBO) has been synthesized, which contains 2,3-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2-ene (DBO) as a small, hydrophilic fluorophore with an extremely long fluorescence lifetime (325 ns in H2O and 505 ns in D2O under air). Polypeptides containing both the DBO residue and an efficient fluorescence quencher allow the measurement of rate constants for intramolecular end-to-end contact formation. Bimolecular quenching experiments indicated that Trp, Cys, Met, and Tyr are efficient quenchers of DBO (k(q) = 20, 5.1, 4.5, and 3.6 x 10(8) M(-1) x s(-1) in D2O), while the other amino acids are inefficient. The quenching by Trp, which was selected as an intrinsic quencher, is presumed to involve exciplex-induced deactivation. Flexible, structureless polypeptides, Trp-(Gly-Ser)n-DBO-NH2, were prepared by standard solid-phase synthesis, and the rates of contact formation were measured through the intramolecular fluorescence quenching of DBO by Trp with time-correlated single-photon counting, laser flash photolysis, and steady-state fluorometry. Rate constants of 4.1, 6.8, 4.9, 3.1, 2.0, and 1.1 x 10(7) s(-1) for n = 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10 were obtained. Noteworthy was the relatively slow quenching for the shortest peptide (n = 0). The kinetic data are in agreement with recent transient absorption studies of triplet probes for related peptides, but the rate constants are significantly larger. In contrast to the flexible structureless Gly-Ser polypeptides, the polyproline Trp-Pro4-DBO-NH2 showed insignificant fluorescence quenching, suggesting that a high polypeptide flexibility and the possibility of probe-quencher contact is essential to induce quenching. Advantages of the new fluorescence-based method for measuring contact formation rates in biopolymers include high accuracy, fast time range (100 ps-1 micros), and the possibility to perform measurements in water under air.     

Ferromagnetism and chirality in two-dimensional cyanide-bridged bimetallic compounds

The combination of hexacyanoferrate(III) anions, [Fe(CN)(6)](3)(-), with nickel(II) complexes derived from the chiral ligand trans-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine (trans-chxn) affords the enantiopure layered compounds [Ni(trans-(1S,2S)-chxn)(2)](3)[Fe(CN)(6)](2).2H(2)O (1) and [Ni(trans-(1R,2R)-chxn)(2)](3)[Fe(CN)(6)](2).2H(2)O (2). These chiral systems behave as ferromagnets (T(c) = 13.8 K) with a relatively high coercive field (H(c) = 0.17 T) at 2 K. They also exhibit an unusual magnetic behavior at low temperatures that has been attributed to the dynamics of the magnetic domains in the ordered phase.     

Nonreductive Enantioselective Ring Opening of N-(Methylsulfonyl)dicarboximides with Diisopropoxytitanium α,α,α′,α′-Tetraaryl-1,3-dioxolane-4,5-dimethanolate

The bicyclic and tricyclic meso-N-(methylsulfonyl)dicarboximides 1a–f are converted enantioselectively to isopropyl [(sulfonamido)carbonyl]-carboxylates 2a–f by diisopropoxytitanium TADDOLate (75–92% yield; see Scheme 3). The enantiomer ratios of the products are between 86:14 and 97:3, and recrystallization from CH₂Cl₂/hexane leads to enantiomerically pure sulfonamido esters 2 (Scheme 3). The enantioselectivity shows a linear relationship with the enantiomer excess of the TADDOL employed (Fig.3). Reduction of the ester and carboxamide groups (LiAlH₄) and additional reductive cleavage of the sulfonamido group (Red-Al) in the products 2 of imide-ring opening gives hydroxy-sulfonamides 3 and amino alcohols 4 , respectively (Scheme 4). The absolute configuration of the sulfonamido esters 2 is determined by chemical correlation (with 2a,b ; Scheme 6), by the X-ray analysis of the camphanate of 3e (Fig. 1), and by comparative ¹⁹F-NMR analysis of the Mosher esters of the hydroxy-sulfonamides 3 (Table 1). A general proposal for the assignment of the absolute configuration of primary alcohols and amines of Formula HXCH₂CHR¹R², X = O, NH, is suggested (see 11 in Table 1). It follows from the assignment of configuration of 2 that the Re carbonyl group of the original imide 1 is converted to an isopropyl ester group. This result is compatible with a rule previously put forward for the stereochemical course of reactions involving titanium TADDOLate activated chelating electrophiles ( 12 in Scheme 7). A tentative mechanistic model is proposed ( 13 and 14 in Scheme 7).