Thermal extrusion of cellulose using hydroxypropyl methylcellulose

Cellulose - Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), a cellulose derivative, is highly water soluble, viscoelastic, and thermoplastic. However, the thermoplasticity of HPMC has not yet been studied in...     

A birational construction of projective compactifications of ℂ3 with second Betti number equal to onewith second Betti number equal to one

We give an explicit construction of all projective compactifications of ℂ³ with second Betti number equal to one. Dedicated to K.-N. Hatsue Entrata in Redazione il 30 novembre 1998.     

Imposing accurate wall boundary conditions in corrective‐matrix‐based moving particle semi‐implicit method for free surface flow

Corrective matrix that is derived to restore consistency of discretization schemes can significantly enhance accuracy for the inside particles in the Moving Particle Semi‐implicit method. In this situation, the error due to free surface and wall boundaries becomes dominant. Based on the recent study on Neumann boundary condition (Matsunaga et al, CMAME, 2020), the corrective matrix schemes in MPS are generalized to straightforwardly and accurately impose Neumann boundary condition. However, the new schemes can still easily trigger instability at free surface because of the biased error caused by the incomplete/biased neighbor support. Therefore, the existing stable schemes based on virtual particles and conservative gradient models are applied to free surface and nearby particles to produce a stable transitional layer at free surface. The new corrective matrix schemes are only applied to the particles under the stable transitional layer for improving the wall boundary conditions. Three numerical examples of free surface flows demonstrate that the proposed method can help to reduce the pressure/velocity fluctuations and hence enhance accuracy further.     

Synergistic Biophysical Techniques Reveal Structural Mechanisms of Engineered Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides in Lipid Model Membranes

In the quest for new antibiotics, two novel engineered cationic antimicrobial peptides (eCAPs) have been rationally designed. WLBU2 and D8 (all 8 valines are the d -enantiomer) efficiently kill both Gram-negative and -positive bacteria, but WLBU2 is toxic and D8 nontoxic to eukaryotic cells. We explore protein secondary structure, location of peptides in six lipid model membranes, changes in membrane structure and pore evidence. We suggest that protein secondary structure is not a critical determinant of bactericidal activity, but that membrane thinning and dual location of WLBU2 and D8 in the membrane headgroup and hydrocarbon region may be important. While neither peptide thins the Gram-negative lipopolysaccharide outer membrane model, both locate deep into its hydrocarbon region where they are primed for self-promoted uptake into the periplasm. The partially α-helical secondary structure of WLBU2 in a red blood cell (RBC) membrane model containing 50 % cholesterol, could play a role in destabilizing this RBC membrane model causing pore formation that is not observed with the D8 random coil, which correlates with RBC hemolysis caused by WLBU2 but not by D8.     

All Non-Carbon B3NO2 Exotic Heterocycles: Synthesis,Dynamics, and Catalysis

The B₃NO₂ six-membered heterocycle (1,3-dioxa-5-aza-2,4,6-triborinane=DATB), comprising three different non-carbon period 2 elements, has been recently demonstrated to be a powerful catalyst for dehydrative condensation of carboxylic acids and amines. The tedious synthesis of DATB, however, has significantly diminished its utility as a catalyst, and thus the inherent chemical properties of the ring system have remained virtually unexplored. Here, a general and facile synthetic strategy that harnesses a pyrimidine-containing scaffold for the reliable installation of boron atoms is disclosed, giving rise to a series of Pym-DATBs from inexpensive materials in a modular fashion. The identification of a soluble Pym-DATB derivative allowed for the investigation of the dynamic nature of the B₃NO₂ ring system, revealing differential ring-closing and -opening behaviors depending on the medium. Readily accessible Pym-DATBs proved their utility as efficient catalysts for dehydrative amidation with broad substrate scope and functional-group tolerance, offering a general and practical catalytic alternative to reagent-driven amidation.     

Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Gold Halide Perovskites: Structural Diversity through Cation Size

Crystal structures of a series of organic–inorganic hybrid gold iodide perovskites, formulated as A₂[Au^II₂][Au^IIII₄] [A=methylammonium (MA) ( 1 ) and formamidinium (FA) ( 2 )], A′₂[I₃]_1−x[Au^II₂]_x[Au^IIII₄] [A′=imidazolium (IMD) ( 3 ), guanidinium (GUA) ( 4 ), dimethylammonium (DMA) ( 5 ), pyridinium (PY) ( 6 ), and piperizinium (PIP) ( 7 )], systematically changed depending on the cation size. In addition, triiodide (I₃⁻) ions were partly incorporated into the AuI₂⁻ sites of 3 – 7 , whereas they were not incorporated into those of 1 and 2 . Such a difference comes from the size of the organic cation. Optical absorption spectra showed characteristic intervalence charge-transfer bands from Au^I to Au^III species, and the optical band gap increased as the size of the cation became larger.     

Radiation-induced degradation of aqueous 2–chlorophenol assisted by zeolites

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - This study aims to demonstrate that zeolite has the potential to increase the efficiency of radiolysis treatment of aqueous organic pollutants by...