Oxygen is electroreduced to water on a "wired" enzyme electrode at a lesser overpotential than on platinum

The first enzyme-based catalyst that is superior to platinum in the four-electron electroreduction of oxygen to water is reported. The smooth Pt cathode reached half and 90% of the mass transport-limited current density at respective overpotentials of -0.4 and -0.58 V in 0.5 M sulfuric acid, and only at even higher overpotentials in pH 7.2 phosphate buffer. In contrast, the smooth "wired" bilirubin oxidase cathode reached half and 90% of the mass transport-limited current density at respective overpotentials as low as -0.2 and -0.25 V. The mass transport-limited current density for the smooth "wired" enzyme cathode in PBS was twice that with smooth Pt in 0.5 M sulfuric acid. Under 1 atm O2 pressure, O2 was electroreduced to water on a polished carbon cathode, coated with the "wired" BOD film, in pH 7.2 saline buffer (PBS) at an overpotential of -0.31 V at a current density of 9.5 mA cm-2. At the same overpotential, the current density of the polished platinum cathode in 0.5 M H2SO4 was 16-fold lower, only 0.6 mA cm-2.     

Irradiation-induced magnetism in carbon nanostructures

Nitrogen (15N) and carbon (12C) ion implantations with implant energy of 100 keV for different doses were performed on nanosized diamond (ND) particles. Magnetic measurements on the doped ND show ferromagnetic hysteresis behavior at room temperature. The saturation magnetization (M(s)) in the case of 15N implanted samples was found to be higher compared to the 12C implanted samples for dose sizes greater than 10(14) cm(-2). The role of structural modification or defects along with the carbon-nitrogen (C-N) bonding states for the observed enhanced ferromagnetic ordering in 15N doped samples is explained on the basis of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements.     

Oxidative polymerization of aromatic hydrocarbons: A study of kinetics and mechanism

Aromatic hydrocarbons were homopolymerized by means of an oxidative polymerization reaction with the use of the catalyst system anhydrous aluminum chloride–cupric chloride. The kinetics of the benzene homopolymerization carried out under different experimental conditions was followed by the determination of the amounts of cuprous ion and polymeric product formed in the reaction. Cuprous ion was spectrophotometrically titrated in the form of its complex with 2,2′-biquinolyl (cuproine). The experimental results do not agree with cationic mechanism for this reaction previously proposed in the literature. Ethylbenzene was kinetically studied under the same experimental conditions. In view of the experimental evidences obtained in this work and on some literature data, a mechanism based on formation of cation-radicals is proposed for the oxidative polymerization reaction when carried out under the studied conditions.     

Lipid-based nanotubes as functional architectures with embedded fluorescence and recognition capabilities

A limited combinatorial strategy was used to synthesize a small library of soft lipid-based materials ranging from structurally unordered fibers to highly uniform nanotubes. The latter nanotubes are comprised of a bilayer structure with interdigitated alkyl chains associated through hydrophobic interactions. These tubes contain accessible 2,6-diaminopyridine linkers that can interact with thymidine and related nucleosides through multipoint hydrogen bonding, thereby quenching the intrinsic fluorescence of the aromatic linker. These results are the first example of a systematic strategy to design functional lipid nanotubes with precise structural and functional features.     

The remote-oxyfunctionalization of unactivated carbons in (5 beta)-3-oxobile acids by 2,6-dichloropyridine N-oxide catalyzed by ruthenium-porphyrin and HBr: a direct lactonization at C-20

Remote-oxyfunctionalization induced by 2,6-dichloropyridine N-oxide (DCP N-oxide) as an oxygen donor and a (5,10,15,20-tetramesitylporphyrinate) ruthenium(II) carbonyl complex (Ru-porphyrin) and HBr as catalysts was examined for a series of methyl ester-peracetylated derivatives of (5 beta)-3-oxobile acids. Using the DCP-N-oxide/Ru-porphyrin/HBr system, 5 beta-hydroxylation predominated for the substrates having a 12-acetoxyl substituent due to steric hindrance, but the presence of a 7-acetoxyl substituent decreased the reactivity of the 5 beta-position allowing for the competitive (20S)-20-oxyfunctionalization, subject to electronic constraints. A variety of novel 5 beta-hydroxylation and (20S)-24,20-gamma-lactonization products, as well as their double-oxyfunctionalization and dehydration products, were obtained in one-step. The alkaline hydrolysis of the gamma-lactones gave the corresponding stereoselective (20S)-20-hydroxy-carboxylic acids.     

Effects of the strain rate and temperature in stress–strain tests: study of the glass transition of a polyamide-6

In this work new insights are presented on the measurement of the tangent and secant moduli from stress–strain curves in polymeric systems. Expressions for the strain-rate and strain dependence of both moduli are derived for systems characterised by a distribution of relaxation times. The equivalent frequency of the stress–strain experiments is shown to be dependent on the strain rate and on the strain at which the measurements are carried out. Such considerations enable using quasi-static tensile stress–strain tests to study relaxational processes in polymeric materials. The tensile behaviour of a 30% glass fibre reinforced polyamide 6 was characterised at different strain rates and temperatures, covering the glass transition region. A master curve of the tangent modulus as a function of strain rate was successfully constructed by simple horizontal shifting of the isothermal data. The temperature dependence of the shift factors was well described by the WLF equation. It was also possible to fit the master curve considering a polymeric system with a distribution of relaxation times, relevant parameters such as the KWW β parameter being extracted. The results were found to be consistent with dynamic mechanical analysis results.     

Natural Polymer Characterization

Summary : A review about the characterization of natural polymers is given, describing the polymers found in Nature, methods to distinguish natural from syntheticpolymers, and what modern Polymer Science can learn from Nature     

Quantitative determination of paclitaxel and its metabolites, 6α‐hydroxypaclitaxel and p‐3′‐hydroxypaclitaxel,in human plasma using column‐switching liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

A column‐switching liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry to determine paclitaxel and its metabolites, 6α‐hydroxypaclitaxel and p‐3′‐hydroxypaclitaxel, in human plasma was developed. The analytical system had a Shim‐Pack MAYI‐ODS (10 × 4.6 mm i.d.) trapping column with deproteinization ability that concentrates analytes and removes water‐soluble components. This method covered a linearity range of 5–5000 ng/mL of concentrations in plasma for paclitaxel, a range of 0.87–870 ng/mL for 6α‐hydroxypaclitaxel and a range of 0.87–435 ng/mL for p‐3′‐hydroxypaclitaxel. The intra‐day precision and inter‐day precision of analysis were less than 11.1%, and the accuracy was within ±14.4% at concentrations of 5, 50, 500 and 5000 ng/mL for paclitaxel, 0.87, 8.7, 87 and 870 ng/mL for 6α‐hydroxypaclitaxel, and 0.87, 8.7, 87 and 435 ng/mL for p‐3′‐hydroxypaclitaxel. The total run time was 30 min. Our method was successfully applied to clinical pharmacokinetic investigation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.