Effects of hypochlorite treatment on the surface morphology and mechanical properties of polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes

Polyethersulfone membranes are widely used for ultrafiltration and microfiltration especially in the dairy industry, but they are believed to degrade when exposed to the sodium hypochlorite solution that is used to sanitize the processing equipment. Such membranes were exposed to sodium hypochlorite for up to 25,000 ppm-day at 55 °C, and pH 9 and 12. Mechanical properties as measured by dynamic mechanical analysis and tensile strength did not change greatly, but surface properties measured by FTIR-ATR, field emission scanning electron microscopy and associated energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy detected significant changes in the surface. Surface pitting was observed and was found to be most severe at pH 9. It was thought that pitting was the likely cause of degradation in performance of the membranes and that pits could act as stress raisers leading to cracking.     

Development of a thermal neutron-sensitive liposome for a novel drug delivery system aiming for radio-chemo-concurrent cancer therapy

A thermal neutron-sensitive liposome has been developed focusing on irradiation site-specific-controlled release of a medicine. We recommended a ¹⁰B-borocaptate dimer as a detonator of liposome in expectation of effects of low-energy heavy ions produced by ¹⁰B(n, α)⁷Li reaction. As a result, an X-ray-sensitive liposome incorporating the detonator was vulnerable enough to release an anticancer agent, carboplatin, at a dose/dose–rate near clinical use. These results reveal, moreover, that the liposomes are also applicable to a heavy-ion beam.     

Excitation energies, electron affinities and ionization potentials of the transition metals V, Cr and Mn

 Configuration interaction calculations were carried out for neutral ground and excited states and positively and negatively ionized states of the V, Cr and Mn atoms. Energy convergence with respect to systematic expansion of both the one-electron and configuration bases was investigated for valence correlation. Contributions from core electrons to the differential correlation energies and relativistic effects were evaluated separately. Assuming additivity of these contributions, excitation energies, electron affinities and ionization potentials of the atoms were obtained. All calculated values were in excellent agreement with the observed values within a deviation of 0.056 eV except for the electron affinity of the V atom, which had a calculated value 0.110 eV larger than the experimental value. Received: 9 August 2000 / Accepted: 26 October 2000 / Published online: 3 April 2001     

fac‐Trichloro(quinolin‐8‐ylimido‐N,N′)(triphenylphosphine‐P)rhenium(V)

The Re atom in [Re(C₉H₆N₂)Cl₃(C₁₈H₁₅P)] is octahedrally coordinated by three Cl atoms in facial positions, two N atoms from 8‐imido­quinoline (imq) and one P atom from tri­phenyl­phosphine. The Re—N(imido) distance [1.760 (9) and 1.772 (8) Å] for imq is very short and implies double‐bond character. The trans influence of the P atom is indicated. Intra‐ and intermolecular π–π interactions between the π‐rings in the complex are also observed.     

Ruthenium- and Copper-Catalyzed Propargylic Substitution Reactions of Propargylic Alcohol Derivatives with Hydrazones

Ruthenium- and copper-catalyzed propargylic substitution reactions of propargylic alcohol derivatives with N-monosubstituted hydrazones as ambident nucleophiles are achieved in which N-monosubstituted hydrazones exhibit impressive different reactivities depending on different catalytic systems, behaving as carbon-centered nucleophiles to give the corresponding propargylic alkylated products in ruthenium catalysis, or as nitrogen-centered nucleophiles to afford the corresponding propargylic aminated products in copper catalysis. DFT calculations were carried out to investigate the detailed reaction pathways of these two systems. Further transformation of propargylic substituted products affords the corresponding multisubstituted pyrazoles as cyclization products in good to high yields.     

Improving the knowledge and design of end groups in polymers produced by free radical polymerization

Several techniques have been used to probe polymer end groups. The nitroxide radical trapping technique has been used (i) to show that initiator-derived unsaturated end groups in polymethyl methacrylate can be minimized by using t-hexyl peroxypivalate as the initiator (ii) to predict the end and penultimate groups in acrylonitrile/ethyl vinyl ether copolymer produced by t-butoxyl initiation by analogy with the initiation mechanism (iii) to predict probable end groups in polyacrylonitrile and polystyrene produced by cyanoisopropyl initiation in the presence of adventitious oxygen. NMR techniques have been used to show that the end groups of functionalized oligomers, made from styrene and methacrylonitrile by the addition-fragmentation chain transfer technique with allylic sulphides, conform to the expected structures. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tricyclic diterpenoids of the dolastane ring system from the marine alga dictyota divaricata

Four new oxygenated tricyclic diterpenoids have been isolated from the Caribbean brown alga Dictyota divaricata. The structures of these new compounds were secured by an X-ray analysis of a convenient diol derivative, followed by interconversion where possible. The new diterpenoids belong to the dolastane group first isolated from the herbivorous mollusc Dolabella auricularia and their isolation here indicates that the sea hare most likely derived these compounds from brown seaweeds of the family Dictyotaceae.     

Nanorheology measurement on single circularly permuted green fluorescent protein molecule

The force measurement mode of an atomic force microscope (AFM) has enabled us to measure the mechanical properties of biological materials at the single molecular level. In a conventional quasi-static force measurement on a single circularly permuted green fluorescent protein (cpGFP), we could unfold it by unraveling several sub-domains in a distinct sawtooth pattern at a slow stretching speed. In order to elucidate more detailed conformational changes at each extension length, we further measured dynamic relax-stress response of cpGFP molecules. In this measurement, several cycles of sinusoidal movement were applied to the sample during the stretching process. We found the protein molecule showed in-phase response to the sinusoidal input in most case of measurements.     

痕量硒催化测定法反应机理的研究

本文研究了Kawashima,Kai and Takashima制定的痕量硒催化测定法的反应机理。提出在这类反应中由芳肼氧化生成的重氮盐只有一小部分和偶联剂生成可测的染料,催化反应中ClO_3~-与Se之间的氧还原反应需有Cl~-参加,并提出可能的反应历程。建议在芳肼和偶联剂的选择以及反应条件的控制上作进一步研究,有可能找到更为灵敏可靠的方法。