Application of umbelliferone molecularly imprinted polymer in analysis of plant samples

The molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were synthesised and the influence of the type of porogen, the nature of sample solvent, and the binding capacity of material were tested by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Umbelliferone was used as the template for imprint formation. Methacrylic acid was used as the monomer and acetonitrile, ethanol, and chloroform as porogen. Non-imprinted polymers (NIPs) were prepared by the same procedure. The highest value of the specific binding capacity (269 μg of umbelliferone per 100 mg of polymer) was obtained for polymers prepared in chloroform as porogen and methanol/water (φ _r = 1: 1) as the sample solvent. The group-selective MIP was used as sorbent for the SPE pre-treatment of umbelliferone from plant extracts prior to HPLC analysis. Analysis of the spiked samples showed good recoveries (> 77 %). The limit of detection, limit of determination, and repeatability of the method were also calculated.     

Pore Development during the Carbonization Process of Lignin Microparticles Investigated by Small Angle X-ray Scattering

Application of low-cost carbon black from lignin highly depends on the materials properties, which might by determined by raw material and processing conditions. Four different technical lignins were subjected to thermostabilization followed by stepwise heat treatment up to a temperature of 2000 °C in order to obtain micro-sized carbon particles. The development of the pore structure, graphitization and inner surfaces were investigated by X-ray scattering complemented by scanning electron microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy. Lignosulfonate-based carbons exhibit a complex pore structure with nanopores and mesopores that evolve by heat treatment. Organosolv, kraft and soda lignin-based samples exhibit distinct pores growing steadily with heat treatment temperature. All carbons exhibit increasing pore size of about 0.5–2 nm and increasing inner surface, with a strong increase between 1200 °C and 1600 °C. The chemistry and bonding nature shifts from basic organic material towards pure graphite. The crystallite size was found to increase with the increasing degree of graphitization. Heat treatment of just 1600 °C might be sufficient for many applications, allowing to reduce production energy while maintaining materials properties.     

Intensive 2-phenylethanol production in a hybrid system combined of a stirred tank reactor and an immersed extraction membrane module

Bioconversion of l-phenylalanine to 2-phenylethanol using Saccharomyces cerevisiae is connected with the growth of biomass strongly limited by product inhibition. Therefore, fermentation can proceed only at low conversions of l-phenylalanine with very low yield of the desired product, which allows reaching the maximum concentration of 2-phenylethanol, 4 g L^?1, in an ordinary batch, fed-batch, or chemostat bioreactor. To minimize capital and operating costs in the bioproduction of chemical specialties where the product inhibits the bioreaction, using a hybrid system based on the application of membrane extraction integrated in the bioreactor to remove the product is a suitable solution. Integration can be done by an external module for membrane extraction or, as a more efficient solution, by an extraction membrane module immersed directly in the bioreactor. Such a hybrid system can be used to remove 2-phenylethanol from the fermentation media and thus to overcome the product inhibition of the biotransformation process. In this paper, a hybrid system consisting of a stirred tank bioreactor (3.5 L) and an immersed extraction hollow fiber membrane module was studied. In the proposed system, the kinetics of 2-phenylethanol extraction from a water solution with and without biomass in the bioreactor to alkanes at different operational conditions was measured. Extraction kinetics was compared with the predictions obtained by a mathematical model. In the hybrid system, two extractive biotransformation experiments were performed and compared with that without product removal. Experimental data were also mathematically predicted with good accuracy between the simulation and the experiment.     

On some consequences of an external magnetic field applied to HTS coils

A computational model which enables to evaluate the distribution of the critical currents, electric fields and the voltage in the winding of a solenoidal high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets subjected to an external magnetic field parallel with the magnet axis, was developed. The model comes out from the well-known power law between the electric field and the transport current of the HTS tape short sample. It allows to predict the voltage–current V(I) characteristics of both the pancake coils and the complete magnet. The model was applied to the magnet system consisting of 22 pancake coils made of multifilamentary Bi(2223)/Ag tape at 20 K, which is subjected to an external uniform magnetic field parallel with the coil axis. A rather unexpected behavior of the magnet at different operating conditions (operating current and external magnetic field strength) is predicted, analyzed and reported together with a theoretical explanation. On one hand, the external uniform magnetic field parallel with the coil axis increases the resulting magnetic field strength, however, on the other hand it simultaneously decreases the angle between the resulting magnetic field and the tape surface. Thus, the effect of higher magnetic loading caused by the presence of an external magnetic field strength which is acting on individual turns located close to the coil’s flanges is compensated by more favorable orientation of the tape with respect to the resulting magnetic field. As a result, increase in the critical currents of these turns is expected. Further, the results indicate, that in case of the high field HTS insert coils the anisotropy in the I_c(B) characteristic does not play a substantial role. As a consequence, the technology of the production of the tapes for high field insert HTS coils should concentrate rather on the tapes having the current carrying capacity as high as possible, than on the attempt how to decrease the anisotropy in the I_c(B) by changing the architecture of the filaments in the tape.     

Highly hydrated poly(allylamine)/silica magnetic resin

The creation of multifunctional nanomaterials by combining organic and inorganic components is a growing trend in nanoscience. The unique size-dependent properties of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) make them amenable to numerous applications such as carriers of expensive biological catalysts, in magnetically assisted chemical separation of heavy metals and radionuclides from contaminated water sources. The separation of minor actinides from high-level radionuclide waste requires a sorbent stable in acidic pH, with ease of surface functionalization, and a high capacity for binding the molecules of interest. For the described experiments, the MNPs with 50 nm average size were used (size distribution from 20 to 100 nm and an iron content of 80–90 w/w%). The MNPs that have been double coated with an initial silica coating for protection against iron solubilization and oxidation in nitric acid solution (pH 1) and a second silica/polymer composite coating incorporating partially imbedded poly(allylamine) (PA). The final product is magnetic, highly swelling, containing >95% water, with >0.5 mmol amines g^?1 available for functionalization. The amine groups of the magnetic resin were functionalized with the chelating molecules diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) and N,N-dimethyl-3-oxa-glutaramic acid (DMOGA) for separation of minor actinides from used nuclear fuel.     

Phase diagrams of the mixed spin-1 and spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg model on the diamond-like decorated Bethe lattice

The ground-state and finite-temperature behavior of the mixed spin-1 and spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg model on the diamond-like decorated Bethe lattice is investigated within the framework of two rigorous methods: the decoration-iteration transformation and exact recursion relations. The model under consideration describes a hybrid classical-quantum system consisting of the Ising and Heisenberg spins, which interact among themselves either through the Ising or XXZ Heisenberg nearest-neighbor interaction. Both sublattice magnetizations of the Ising and Heisenberg spins are exactly calculated with the aim to examine phase diagrams, thermal variations of the total and sublattice magnetizations. The finite-temperature phase diagrams form continuous (second-order) phase transition lines only, which exhibit a small reentrant region if the diamond-like decorated Bethe lattice with a sufficiently high coordination number is considered.     

Non-orientable Regular Maps of a Given Type over Linear Fractional Groups

It is known that for any given k and m such that 1/k + 1/m < 1/2 there exist infinitely many regular maps M of valence k and face length m on orientable surfaces such that the automorphism group of M is isomorphic to a linear fractional group over a finite field. We examine the pairs (k, m) for which this result can be extended to regular maps on non-orientable surfaces.     

On the Ramsey number of the triangle and the cube

The Ramsey number r(K ₃,Q _n ) is the smallest integer N such that every red-blue colouring of the edges of the complete graph K _N contains either a red n-dimensional hypercube, or a blue triangle. Almost thirty years ago, Burr and Erd?s conjectured that r(K ₃,Q _n )=2 ⁿ⁺¹?1 for every n∈?, but the first non-trivial upper bound was obtained only recently, by Conlon, Fox, Lee and Sudakov, who proved that r(K ₃,Q _n )?7000·2 ⁿ . Here we show that r(K ₃,Q _n )=(1+o(1))2 ⁿ⁺¹ as n→∞.     

On the multi‐colored Ramsey numbers of cycles

For a graph L and an integer k≥2, R_k(L) denotes the smallest integer N for which for any edge‐coloring of the complete graph K_N by k colors there exists a color i for which the corresponding color class contains L as a subgraph. Bondy and Erdos conjectured that, for an odd cycle C_n on n vertices, They proved the case when k = 2 and also provided an upper bound R_k(C_n)≤(k+ 2)!n. Recently, this conjecture has been verified for k = 3 if n is large. In this note, we prove that for every integer k≥4, When n is even, Sun Yongqi, Yang Yuansheng, Xu Feng, and Li Bingxi gave a construction, showing that R_k(C_n)≥(k?1)n?2k+ 4. Here we prove that if n is even, then © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 69: 169‐175, 2012     

Reentrant phase transitions and multicompensation points in the mixed-spin Ising ferrimagnet on a decorated Bethe lattice

A mixed-spin Ising model on a decorated Bethe lattice is rigorously solved by combining the decoration–iteration transformation with the method of exact recursion relations. Exact results for critical lines, compensation temperatures, total and sublattice magnetizations are obtained from a precise mapping relationship with the corresponding spin-1/2 Ising model on a simple (undecorated) Bethe lattice. The effect of next-nearest-neighbour interaction and single-ion anisotropy on magnetic properties of the ferrimagnetic model is investigated in particular. It is shown that the total magnetization may exhibit multicompensation phenomenon and the critical temperature vs. the single-ion anisotropy dependence basically changes with the coordination number of the underlying Bethe lattice. The possibility of observing reentrant phase transitions is related to a high enough coordination number of the underlying Bethe lattice.