MOLECULAR AGGREGATION IN LIPID-WATER DISPERSION PHASES

Polar lipids from aqueous liquid-crystalline phases which are the basis for the understanding of their functionality in technical applications. The structural characteristics of these phases and the relation between chemical structure of lipid molecules and their phase properties are reviewed. Special attention is given to new results on cubic phases, the most complex of lipid-water phases. The lipid bilayer is curved in space so that there are no selfintersections. There are two water-channel systems separated by the bilayer. The characteristic feature of the cubic phases is that the lipid bilayer has zero average curvature in all points.     

COLLOIDAL DISPERSIONS OF ORDERED LIPID-WATER PHASES

Aqueous dispersions of colloidal aggregates of liquid-crystalline lipid-water phases are described. The lamellar liquid-crystalline phase can form liposomal dispersions, which are wellknown from extensive studies of these particles in drug delivery. Less is known about dispersions of cubic and hexagonal phases. The preparation of such colloidal dispersions, their structure and physical properties are summerised. The dispersed cubic phase is compared to liposomal dispersions, and it is concluded that an important application of the cubic particles will involve encapsulation of proteins and protection of their native conformation.     

A new, robust method for measuring average fibre wall pore sizes in cellulose I rich plant fibre walls

A new, robust method for measuring the average pore size of water-swollen, cellulose I rich fibres is presented. This method is based on the results of solid-state NMR, which measures the specific surface area (area/solids mass) of water-swollen samples, and of the fibre saturation point (FSP) method, which measures the pore volume (water mass/solids mass) of water-swollen samples. These results are suitable to combine since they are both recorded on water-swollen fibres in excess water, and neither requires the assumption of any particular pore geometry. The new method was used for three model samples and reasonable average pore size measurements were obtained for all of them. The structural characterization of water-swollen samples was compared with the dry structure of fibres as revealed using BET nitrogen gas adsorption after a liquid exchange procedure and careful drying. It was concluded that the structure of the water-swollen fibres sets an upper limit on what is obtainable in the dry state.     

The diethyl dithiophosphate complex of tetraphenylantimony(V) and its solvated form, [Sb(C6H5)4{S2P(OC2H5)2}] · 1/2 C6H6: Synthesis, crystal structure, and 13C, 31P CP/MAS NMR study. an example of monodentate coordination of dithio ligands

The O,O′-diethyl dithiophosphate complex of tetraphenylantimony(V) [Sb(C₆H₅)₄{S₂P(OC₂H₅)₂}] (I) and its benzene-solvated form I · 1/2C₆H₆ (II) were synthesized and studied by high-resolution solid-state ¹³C and ³¹P NMR (MAS NMR). The diethyl dithiophosphate (Dtph) groups in I and II were quantitatively characterized by the ³¹P chemical shift anisotropy (δ_aniso), the asymmetry parameter (η), and the principal values of chemical shift tensors (δ _xx , δ _yy , δ _zz ). The calculation of the anisotropy parameters included construction of χ² statistic diagrams from full ³¹P MAS NMR spectra. In both complexes, the Dtph groups were found to have mainly axially symmetric ³¹P chemical shift tensors (for δ _zz < δ _xx ≈ δ _yy ) with similar anisotropy parameters (δ_aniso and η), which is due to their identical S-monodentate function. According to X-ray diffraction data, II has a trigonal bipyramidal (TBP) molecular structure with Smonodentate coordination of Dtph in the TBP axial position and outer-sphere position of the benzene molecule. The desorption of the outer-sphere benzene solvent molecules from structure II, which was noted in MAS NMR experiment, passes through the formation of three intermediate solvated forms with benzene content n < 1/2.     

Thermodynamic fluctuations in canonical shock–turbulence interaction: effect of shock strength

In this work, we use numerical simulation and linear inviscid theory to study the thermodynamic field generated by the interaction of a shock wave with homogeneous isotropic turbulence. Fluctuations in density, pressure, temperature and entropy can play an important role in shock-induced mixing, combustion and energy transfer processes. Data from shock-captured direct numerical simulations (scDNS) are used to investigate the variation of thermodynamic fluctuations for varying shock strengths, and the results are compared with linear interaction analysis (LIA). The density, pressure and temperature variances attain large values at the shock, followed by, in general, a rapid decay in the downstream flow. The rapid variation behind the shock makes it difficult to compare numerical results with theoretical predictions. A threshold method based on instantaneous shock dilatation is used to overcome this problem, and it gives excellent match between scDNS and LIA. We find cases with non-monotonic variation with Mach number as well as local peaks in density fluctuations behind the shock. These are explained in terms of the contribution of the post-shock acoustic and entropy modes in the LIA solution and their cross-correlation. Budget of the transport equations reveals interesting insight into the physics governing the thermodynamic field behind the shock wave. It is found that the variances are primarily determined by the competing effects of dilatational and dissipation mechanisms. The dominant mechanisms are identified for a range of conditions, and their implication for developing predictive models is highlighted.