Abraham Model Correlations for Transfer of Neutral Molecules to Tetrahydrofuran and to 1,4-Dioxane,and for Transfer of Ions to Tetrahydrofuran

Data have been compiled from the published literature for the partition coefficients of solutes and vapors into anhydrous tetrahydrofuran and 1,4-dioxane. The logarithms of the water-to-ether partition coefficients, log₁₀ P, and gas-to-ether partition coefficients, log₁₀ K, were correlated with the Abraham solvation parameter model. The derived correlations described the observed log₁₀ P and log₁₀ K values for both ether solvents to within average standard deviations of 0.16 log₁₀ units or less. The log₁₀ P correlation for tetrahydrofuran was extended to include the partition of ions by inclusion of a cation-solvent and an anion-solvent term.     

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography for the analysis of synthetic and crude-derived jet fuels

Fully synthetic jet fuel (FSJF) produced via Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology was recently approved by the international aviation fuel authorities. To receive approval, comparison of FSJF and crude-derived fuel and blends on their qualitative and quantitative hydrocarbon composition was of utmost importance. This was performed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) in the reversed phase mode. The hydrocarbon composition of synthetic and crude-derived jet fuels is very similar and all compounds detected in the synthetic product are also present in crude-derived fuels. Quantitatively, the synthetic fuel consists of a higher degree of aliphatic branching with less than half the aromatic content of the crude-derived fuel. GC×GC analyses also indicated the presence of trace levels of hetero-atomic impurities in the crude-derived product that were absent in the synthetic product. While clay-treatment removed some of the impurities and improved the fuel stability, the crude-derived product still contained traces of cyclic and aromatic S-containing compounds afterwards. Lower level of aromatics and the absence of sulphur are some of the factors that contribute to the better fuel stability and environmental properties of the synthetic fuel. GC×GC was further applied for the analysis of products during Jet Fuel Thermal Oxidation Testing (JFTOT), which measures deposit formation of a fuel under simulated engine conditions. JFTOT showed the synthetic fuel to be much more stable than the crude-derived fuel.     

Liquid Microjunction Surface Sampling Probe Fluid Dynamics: Computational and Experimental Analysis of Coaxial Intercapillary Positioning Effects on Sample Manipulation

A coaxial geometry liquid microjunction surface sampling probe (LMJ-SSP) enables direct extraction of analytes from surfaces for subsequent analysis by techniques like mass spectrometry. Solution dynamics at the probe-to-sample surface interface in the LMJ-SSP has been suspected to influence sampling efficiency and dispersion but has not been rigorously investigated. The effect on flow dynamics and analyte transport to the mass spectrometer caused by coaxial retraction of the inner and outer capillaries from each other and the surface during sampling with a LMJ-SSP was investigated using computational fluid dynamics and experimentation. A transparent LMJ-SSP was constructed to provide the means for visual observation of the dynamics of the surface sampling process. Visual observation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, and experimental results revealed that inner capillary axial retraction from the flush position relative to the outer capillary transitioned the probe from a continuous sampling and injection mode through an intermediate regime to sample plug formation mode caused by eddy currents at the sampling end of the probe. The potential for analytical implementation of these newly discovered probe operational modes is discussed.     

Study of Interaction of Silver Nanoparticles with Bovine Serum Albumin Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy

The interaction between silver nanoparticles (SNPs) and Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) was investigated at physiological pH in an aqueous solution using fluorescence spectroscopy. The analysis of fluorescence spectrum and fluorescence intensity indicates that SNPs have a strong ability to quench the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA by both static and dynamic quenching mechanisms. Resonance light scattering (RLS) spectra indicated the formation of a complex between BSA and SNP. The number of binding sites ‘n’ and binding constants ‘K’ were determined at different temperatures based on fluorescence quenching. The thermodynamic parameters namely ∆H^°, ∆G^°, ∆S^° were calculated at different temperatures and the results indicate that hydrophobic forces are predominant in the SNP-BSA complex. Negative ∆G^° values imply that the binding process is spontaneous. Synchronous fluorescence spectra showed a blue shift which is indicative of increasing hydrophobicity.     

Study of dipole dynamics and pre-transitional effects at isotropic to nematic phase transition by low-frequency dielectric relaxation measurements

Thermal microscopy (TM) as well as low-frequency (LF) dielectric relaxation studies are carried out on a nematic liquid crystal (NLC), viz E7 (Merck Ltd, UK). The isotropic to nematic (IN) transition temperatureT _IN determined by TM and LF-dielectric permittivity measurements agrees with the available data. Dielectric loss studies in the frequency region of 5–10?MHz indicate a relaxation (in the kHz region) akin to Debye type off-centered dispersion. The observed nematic relaxation is found to correspond to reorientation (about the short axis) of the nematic dipole to the external field. The temperature variation of the nematic relaxation frequencyf _R is found to follow an Arrhenius shift, with an activation energy of 1.7?eV. Temperature variation of the dielectric strength (Δε = ε _o ? ε_∞) and the distribution parameter α in the nematic phase are discussed. The dynamic response of the nematic dipoles and growth of pre-transitional fluctuations are found to be nonlinear in the vicinity of the IN transition. The value of the exponent α_eff = 0.072 indicates weak growth of transitional fluctuations across the IN transition.     

High-throughput protein precipitation method with 96-well plate for determination of doxepin and nordoxepin in human plasma using LC–MS/MS

The aim of this study was to establish a high-throughput and sensitive LC–MS/MS method for the determination of doxepin and its major active metabolite nordoxepin in human plasma. It has been designed for bioequivalence study for formulations containing 25 mg of doxepin. Doxepin and nordoxepin were extracted from human plasma samples by protein precipitation with acetonitrile by using protein precipitation 96-well plates. The analyte was separated using a Phenomenex Kinetex Biphenyl column (100 × 2.1 mm, 2.6 μm) using isocratic elution with a mobile phase of 20 mM ammonium formate (30%) and acetonitrile:methanol 3:7 v:v (70%) at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min and an injection volume of 10 μL. The detection was performed using a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer by multiple reaction monitoring mode to monitor the precursor-to-product ion transitions of m/z 280.4 → 107.0 and 283.4 → 235.0 for doxepin and doxepin-D3, respectively, and 266.3 → 106.9 and 269.3 → 235.0 for nordoxepin and nordoxepin-D3, respectively, in positive electrospray ionization mode. The total run time was 3.5 min. The method was validated over a concentration range of 50–10,000 pg/mL using a Triple Quad 4500 MS System (Sciex) for both analytes. The developed and validated method can be successfully used to study the bioequivalence/pharmacokinetics of doxepin and nordoxepin.     

Influence of Perfluorohexane-Enriched Atmosphere on Viscoelasticity and Structural Order of Self-Assembled Semifluorinated Alkanes at the Air-Water Interface

Abstract : Semifluorinated alkanes FnHm self-assemble into nanometer-sized surface micelles at the air-water interface. In this study, we investigated how an atmosphere enriched with perfluorohexane (PFH) influences the interfacial viscoelasticity and structural order of a monolayer of FnHm by the combination of dilational rheology and grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). The monolayers behaved predominantly elastic which can be attributed to the strong dipole repulsions of the surface domains. Enrichment of the atmosphere with PFH lead to an increase of the compressibility and a decrease of the elastic modulus without altering the structural ordering of the FnHm molecules into highly correlated nanodomains, suggesting the adsorption of PFH molecules to the free spaces between the domains. The capability of FnHm domains to retain the structural integrity in the presence of PFH gas is promising for the fabrication of stable microbubbles for sonographic imaging.     

Improving the Teleportation Cost in Distributed Quantum Circuits Based on Commuting of Gates

International Journal of Theoretical Physics - Distributed quantum system is a well-known method to overcome the problems of designing and manufacturing large quantum systems to achieve higher...     

A Better Understanding of Diethylstilbestrol Electro-oxidation: Towards the Design of an Electrochemical Sensor

The obstacle for the development of a reliable electrochemical technique to trace diethylstilbestrol (DES) lies in the complex electrochemical behavior of this illicit hormone. The present study targeted to thoroughly investigate and understand the electro-oxidation of DES in acetonitrile on gold electrode by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV) techniques. DES voltammogram has shown two anodic peaks, implicating two successive and irreversible processes. Adsorption and diffusion properties were studied and characterized using electrochemical, spectroscopic and morphological techniques. Avoiding adsorption, and under diffusion process only, a good linear correlation between peak current and DES concentration in the range of 0.25 to 1000 μmol/L was obtained with a detection and quantification limits of 0.2 μmol/L and 0.7 μmol/L, respectively, and a sensitivity of 0.016 A/mM. Competitivity tests, between DES and its structural analog hexestrol (HS), were carried out by chronoamperometry and SWV. HS even added in excess was found to merely affect DES electrochemical measurement. The established method exhibited high precision and reproducibility, and allows the easy and successful determination of DES in poultry feed sample. With a deep insight into its complex electrochemical behavior, this work paves the way to the development of selective, sensitive and easy-to-use electrochemical sensors directed towards this synthetic hormone and the related chemicals such as phenolic compounds.     

On the Existence of Solutions of Two Optimization Problems

In this paper, we prove the existence of solutions for the minimization problem of the shell weight for a given minimal frequency of the shell vibrations as well as for the maximization problem of the minimal frequency for a given shell weight. We consider an optimal control problem governed by an eigenvalue problem for a system of differential equations with variable coefficients. The form of the shell is considered as a control. Some of the coefficients are non-measurable. Earlier, we introduced certain special weighted functional spaces. By using these spaces, we establish the continuity of the considered minimal frequency functional and obtain the existence of solutions of both optimal control problems. At the end, we prove the Lipschitz continuity of the eigenvalue problem.