Structures, electronic properties and solid state luminescence of Cu(I) iodide complexes with 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline and aliphatic aminomethylphosphines or triphenylphosphine

The luminescent complexes of triphenylphosphine and two interesting aminomethylphosphines: P(CH(2)N(CH(2)CH(2))(2)NCH(3))(3) and P(CH(2)N(CH(2)CH(2))(2)O)(3) with copper(I) iodide and 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (dmp): [CuI(dmp)PPh(3)], [CuI(dmp)P(CH(2)N(CH(2)CH(2))(2)NCH(3))(3)] and [CuI(phen)P(CH(2)N(CH(2)CH(2))(2)O)(3)] are presented in this work. These complexes were characterized in solution by means of NMR spectroscopy and their structures were crystallographically determined in the solid state. All complexes crystallize as the discrete dimers bound by π-stacking interactions between dmp rings. The coordination geometry about the Cu(I) centre is pseudo-tetrahedral showing small flattening and large rocking distortions. The investigated compounds exhibit intense orange photoluminescence in the solid state (emission peaks at r.t.: λ(max) = 588-592 nm; τ = 1.7-2.2 and 6.4-10.0 μs; at 77 K: λ(max) = 605-612 nm; τ = 4.8-6.5 and 32-47 μs), which is several orders higher than the luminescence of the analogous complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline (phen). Electronic and structural properties of the [CuI(dmp/phen)PR(3)] complexes were characterized using DFT methods to interpret their photophysics. On the basis of TDDFT calculations the broad CT bands observed in UV-Vis spectra are interpreted as the two mixed transitions from σ(CuI) bond with a small admixture of σ(CuP) bond to π* phen or dmp ligand: (MX,MPR(3))LCT, while the emissions most probably occur from two triplet states which are in thermal equilibrium.     

New Insight on Carbon Dioxide-Mediated Hydrogen Production**

A new approach to hydrogen production from water is described. This simple method is based on carbon dioxide-mediated water decomposition under UV radiation. The water contained dissolved sodium hydroxide, and the solution was saturated with gaseous carbon dioxide. During saturation, the pH decreased from about 11.5 to 7–8. The formed bicarbonate and carbonate ions acted as scavengers for hydroxyl radicals, preventing the recombination of hydroxyl and hydrogen radicals and prioritizing hydrogen gas formation. In the presented method, not yet reported in the literature, hydrogen production is combined with carbon dioxide. For the best system with alkaline water (0.2 m NaOH) saturated with CO₂ under UV-C, the hydrogen production amounted to 0.6 μmol h⁻¹ during 24 h of radiation.     

Supravital fluorometric apoptosis detection in a single mouse embryo using lab-on-a-chip

Detection of apoptosis is one of the main criteria of preimplantation embryo growth potential assessment. Recent developments in lab-on-a-chip techniques has led to apoptosis detection and monitoring on a single cell or embryo level. However, single embryo apoptosis detection without a change in embryo developmental competence and post-examination "recovery" still remains a challenge. In this paper we present a lab-on-a-chip, co-working with miniaturized optical instrumentation, which allows supravital examination of single embryos for the presence of apoptotic blastomers with full after lab-on-a-chip study "recovery" and maintenance of their further developmental capacity.     

Brownian dynamics simulations on CPU and GPU with BD_BOX

There has been growing interest in simulating biological processes under in vivo conditions due to recent advances in experimental techniques dedicated to study single particle behavior in crowded environments. We have developed a software package, BD_BOX, for multiscale Brownian dynamics simulations. BD_BOX can simulate either single molecules or multicomponent systems of diverse, interacting molecular species using flexible, coarse-grained bead models. BD_BOX is written in C and employs modern computer architectures and technologies; these include MPI for distributed-memory architectures, OpenMP for shared-memory platforms, NVIDIA CUDA framework for GPGPU, and SSE vectorization for CPU.     

Quasi-Banach spaces of almost universal disposition

We show that for each p∈(0,1]$p\in (0,1]$ there exists a separable p  -Banach space _Gp${\mathbb{G}}_p$ of almost universal disposition, that is, having the following extension property: for each ε>0$\epsilon >0$ and each isometric embedding g:X→Y$g:X\to Y$, where Y is a finite-dimensional p-Banach space and X   is a subspace of _Gp${\mathbb{G}}_p$, there is an ε  -isometry f:Y→_Gp$f:Y\to {\mathbb{G}}_p$ such that x=f(g(x))$x=f(g(x))$ for all x∈X$x\in X$.     

Photochemical stability of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) in the presence of collagen

The photochemical stability of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) in the presence of 1%, 3% and 5% of collagen has been studied by UV-vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry analysis (TG) and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG). Surface properties have been studied by contact angle measurements. PVP samples and samples containing 1%, 3% and 5% of collagen were irradiated with UV light of wavelength λ = 254 nm in air for up to 24 h. The amount of gel created during UV irradiation was estimated.PVP in the presence of 1%, 3% and 5% of collagen is less stable both thermally and photochemically. Collagen enhances photochemical processes leading to crosslinking of PVP. The contact angle measurements and values of surface free energy showed that the wettability of PVP films was changed by the addition of collagen and by UV irradiation. The increase of polarity of samples indicates an efficient photooxidation on the surface upon UV irradiation.     

Experimental investigation of convective mass/heat transfer in short minichannel at low Reynolds numbers

An experimental investigations of convective mass/heat transfer in short circular channel with small inner diameter at Re numbers ranging from 20 to 250 were performed. Mean values of convective mass transfer coefficients were measured using electrochemical technique – limiting current method. The results of dimensionless mass transfer coefficient Sh were compared with conventional theory. It was observed the increase of experimental Sh in compare with data from classical correlation relative to channels of conventional size. The heat transfer correlation was obtained on the basis of mass/heat transfer analogy. Chilton–Colburn analogy was applied. The effects were compared with the available literature experimental thermal balance results.     

A note on Srivastava and Hui’s tests of multivariate normality

The aim of the paper is to point out some imprecision in Srivastava and Hui’s tests for multivariate normality. A correction for their tests is proposed.