Mathematics in chemistry: indeterminate forms and their meaning

The mathematical language and its tools are complementary to the formalism in chemistry, in particular at an advanced level. It is thus crucial, for its understanding, that students acquire a solid knowledge in Calculus and that they know how to apply it. The frequent occurrence of indeterminate forms in multiple areas, particularly in Physical Chemistry, justifies the need to properly understand the limiting process in such cases. This article emphasizes the importance of the L’Hôpital's rule as a practical tool, although often neglected, to obtain the more common indeterminate limits, through the use of some specific examples as the radioactive decay, spectrophotometric error, Planck's radiation law, second-order kinetics, or consecutive reactions.     

Hydroxyapatite micro- and nanoparticles: nucleation and growth mechanisms in the presence of citrate species

Hydroxyapatite (HAP) particles with different morphologies were precipitated from homogeneous calcium/citrate/phosphate solutions at physiological temperature. Small variations of the starting solution pH in the range 7.4相似文献   

Solubilizing mutations used to crystallize one CFTR domain attenuate the trafficking and channel defects caused by the major cystic fibrosis mutation

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) Cl(-) channel. F508del, the most frequent CF-causing mutation, disrupts both the processing and function of CFTR. Recently, the crystal structure of the first nucleotide-binding domain of CFTR bearing F508del (F508del-NBD1) was elucidated. Although F508del-NBD1 shows only minor conformational changes relative to that of wild-type NBD1, additional mutations (F494N/Q637R or F429S/F494N/Q637R) were required for domain solubility and crystallization. Here we show that these solubilizing mutations in cis with F508del partially rescue the trafficking defect of full-length F508del-CFTR and attenuate its gating defect. We interpret these data to suggest that the solubilizing mutations utilized to facilitate F508del-NBD1 production also assist folding of full-length F508del-CFTR protein. Thus, the available crystal structure of F508del-NBD1 might correspond to a partially corrected conformation of this domain.     

Theoretical characterization of the chemical bonds of some three-membered ring compounds through QTAIM theory

Structural Chemistry - In this paper, we investigate the nature of the carbonyl and the intraring C–C, C–N, C–O, N–N, O–O and N–O bonds of cyclopropanone and the...     

The degree of the bicanonical map of a surface with

In this note it is shown that, given a smooth minimal complex surface of general type with , , for which the bicanonical map is a morphism, the degree of is not 3. This completes our earlier results, showing that if is a minimal surface of general type with , such that is free, then the bicanonical map of can have degree 1, 2 or 4.

     

Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation and Acid Reactions of Furfural and 5-(Hydroxymethyl)furfural over Hf-TUD-1 Type Catalysts

Heterogeneous catalysis, which has served well the petrochemical industry, may valuably contribute towards a bio-based economy by sustainably enabling selective reactions to renewable chemicals. Carbohydrate-containing matter may be obtained from various widespread sources and selectively converted to furanic platform chemicals: furfural (Fur) and 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (Hmf). Valuable bioproducts may be obtained from these aldehydes via catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) using alcohols as H-donors under relatively moderate reaction conditions. Hafnium-containing TUD-1 type catalysts were the first of ordered mesoporous silicates explored for the conversion of Fur and Hmf via CTH/alcohol strategies. The materials promoted CTH and acid reactions leading to the furanic ethers. The bioproducts spectrum was broader for the reaction of Fur than of Hmf. A Fur reaction mechanism based on literature data was discussed and supported by kinetic modelling. The influence of the Hf loading and reaction conditions (catalyst load, type of alcohol H-donor, temperature, initial substrate concentration) on the reaction kinetics was studied. The reaction conditions were optimized to maximize the yields of 2-(alkoxymethyl)furan ethers formed from Fur; up to 63% yield was reached at 88% Fur conversion, 4 h/150 °C, using Hf-TUD-1(75), which was a stable catalyst. The Hf-TUD-1(x) catalysts promoted the selective conversion of Hmf to bis(2-alkoxymethyl)furan; e.g., 96% selectivity at 98% Hmf conversion, 3 h/170 °C for Hf-TUD-1(50).     

Liquid–liquid miscibility and volumetric properties of aqueous solutions of ionic liquids as a function of temperature

The volumetric properties of seven {water + ionic liquid} binary mixtures have been studied as a function of temperature from (293 to 343) K. The phase behaviour of the systems was first investigated using a nephelometric method and excess molar volumes were calculated from densities measured using an Anton Paar densimeter and fitted using a Redlich–Kister type equation. Two ionic liquids fully miscible with water (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([C₁C₄Im][BF₄]) and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethylsulfate ([C₁C₂Im][EtSO₄])) and five ionic liquids only partially miscible with water (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([C₁C₂Im][NTf₂]), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([C₁C₄Im][NTf₂]), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C₁C₄Im][PF₆]), 1-butyl-3-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([C₁C₄Pyrro][NTf₂]), and butyltrimethylammonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([N₄₁₁₁][NTf₂])) were chosen. Small excess volumes (less than 0.5 cm³ · mol^?1 at 298 K) are obtained compared with the molar volumes of the pure components (less than 0.3% of the molar volume of the pure ionic liquid). For all the considered systems, except for {[C₁C₂Im][EtSO₄] + water}, positive excess molar volumes were calculated. Finally, an increase of the non-ideality character is observed for all the systems as temperature increases.     

Determination of chromium by GFAAS in slurries of fish feces to estimate the apparent digestibility of nutrients in feed used in pisciculture

This paper presents a simple, fast and sensitive method to determine chromic oxide (used as a biological marker of fish feed) in samples of fish feces by GFAAS through the direct introduction of slurries of the samples into the spectrometer's graphite tube. The standard samples of feces and of fish feed containing 0.10-1.00 mg kg⁻¹ of Cr₂O₃ were pre-frozen for 1 min in liquid nitrogen and then ground a cryogenic mill for 2 min, which reduced the samples’ grain size to less than 60 μm. The standard slurries were prepared by mixing 20 mg of standard samples of fish feed or feces with 1 mL of a solution containing 0.05% (v/v) of Triton X-100 and 0.50% (v/v) of suprapure HNO₃ directly in the spectrometer's automatic sampling glass. The final concentrations of Cr₂O₃ present in the standard slurries were 2, 4, 8, 16 and 20 μg L⁻¹. After sonicating the mixture for 20 s, 10 μL of standard slurries were injected into the graphite tube, whose internal wall was lined with a metallic palladium film that acted as a permanent chemical modifier. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) calculated for 20 readings of the blank of the standard slurries (2%, m/v of feces or feed devoid of minerals) were 0.81 and 2.70 μg L⁻¹ of Cr₂O₃ for the standard feces slurries, 0.84 and 2.83 μg L⁻¹ of Cr₂O₃ for the standard feed slurries. The proposed method was applied in studies of nutrient digestibility of different fish feeds and its results proved compatible with the results obtained from samples pre-mineralized by acid digestion.     

A non-damaging method to analyze the configuration and dynamics of nitrotyrosines in proteins

Often, deregulation of protein activity and turnover by tyrosine nitration drives cells toward pathogenesis. Hence, understanding how the nitration of a protein affects both its function and stability is of outstanding interest. Nowadays, most of the in vitro analyses of nitrated proteins rely on chemical treatment of native proteins with an excess of a chemical reagent. One such reagent, peroxynitrite, stands out for its biological relevance. However, given the excess of the nitrating reagent, the resulting in vitro modification could differ from the physiological nitration. Here, we determine unequivocally the configuration of distinct nitrated-tyrosine rings in single-tyrosine mutants of cytochrome?c. We aimed to confirm the nitration position by a non-destructive method. Thus, we have resorted to (1)H-(15)N heteronuclear single quantum coherence(HSQC) spectra to identify the (3)J(N?H) correlation between a (15)N-tagged nitro group and the adjacent aromatic proton. Once the chemical shift of this proton was determined, we compared the (1)H-(13)C HSQC spectra of untreated and nitrated samples. All tyrosines were nitrated at ε positions, in agreement to previous analysis by indirect techniques. Notably, the various nitrotyrosine residues show a different dynamic behaviour that is consistent with molecular dynamics computations.