Preparation and characterization of new photosensitive and optically active poly(amide-imide)s from N-trimellitylimido-L-amino acid and dibenzalacetone moiety in the main chain

Six new photosensitive and optically active poly(amide-imide)s 8a–8f with good inherent viscosities based on dibenzalacetone moiety were synthesized from the direct polycondensation reaction of N-Trimellitylimido-L-amino acids 3a–3f with 2,5-bis(4-aminobenzylidene)cyclopentanone 7 by two different methods such as direct polycondensation in a medium consisting of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone/triphenyl phosphite/calcium chloride/pyridine and direct polycondensation in a tosyl chloride/pyridine (py)/N,N-dimethylformamide system. Diamine 7 was synthesized by using a two-step reaction. At first 2,5-bis(4-nitrobenzylidene)cyclopentanone 6 was prepared from the reaction of two equimolars 4-nitrobenzaldehyde 5 and one equimolar cyclopentanone 4 and dinitro compound 6 was reduced by using Na2S. Also N-trimellitylimido-L-amino acids 3a–3f were synthesized by the condensation reaction of trimellitic anhydride 1 with two equimolars of various L-amino acids 2a–2f in an acetic acid solution. The polymerization reactions produced a series of photosensitive and optically active poly(amide-imide)s with high yield and good inherent viscosity. The resulted polymers were fully characterized by means of FTIR and ¹H-NMR spectroscopy, elemental analyses, inherent viscosity, specific rotation, solubility tests, UV-VIS spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimeter, thermogravimetric analysis, and derivative of thermogravimetric. These macromolecules exhibited maximum UV-VIS absorption at around 395 and 265 nm in a N,N-dimethylformamide solution.     

Molecular-Microscopic Properties and Preferential Solvation in Protic Ionic Liquid Mixtures

Structural and molecular-microscopic properties of the solvatochromic probes 4-nitroaniline, 4-nitroanisole, and Reichardt’s dye were investigated in binary mixtures of ethylammonium propionate with methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol and 2-propanol. Solvatochromic parameters (α, hydrogen-bond donor acidity; β, hydrogen-bond acceptor basicity; π*, dipolarity/polarizability; $ E_{\text{T}}^{\text{N}} $ , normalized polarity parameter) in different binary mixtures of ionic liquid with molecular solvents were determined with UV–Vis spectroscopy. The $ E_{\text{T}}^{\text{N}} $ parameters show nearly ideal trends in all solvent mixtures, but the other parameters show different behavior in the mixtures. The π* parameters show a negative deviation from ideality in the ionic liquid/methanol system. In contrast, the α parameters have severe positive deviations from ideal behavior in ionic liquid/1-propanol and ionic liquid/2-propanol solvent mixtures. A synergistic solvation effect is observed for the π* parameters in IL/methanol mixtures. Specific solute–solvent interactions or solvent–solvent interactions, which cause non-ideal trends in some parameters, are justified and interpreted by the preferential solvation model.     

Comparison of the Rheological Behavior of Solutions and Formulated Oil-in-Water Emulsions Containing Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)

In this study, it was aimed to compare the rheological properties of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) in aqueous solutions and their corresponding emulsions containing 0.05, 0.1, 0.25, and 0.5% CMC in the aqueous phase. Samples with 0.05 and 0.1% CMC showed Newtonian behavior, but shear-thinning behavior was observed in CMC solutions and emulsions with increasing CMC concentrations to 0.25% and 0.5%. Rheological behavior of all samples were modeled by Power law (R ² = 0.986–197) and Casson models (R ² = 0.968–1). According to the Ostwald–de Waele model, the consistency index of all samples was increased and the flow behavior index decreased with increasing CMC concentration. Comparison of our data with four predicting models (Einstein, Larson, Pal, and Dougherty-Krieger equations) showed that the viscosity of continuous phase controls the viscosity of emulsions with high CMC concentrations and these models are not applicable for such situations. Addition of CMC increased the emulsion stability of O/W emulsions. This stability was increased with increasing CMC concentrations.     

Electrochemical studies of determination of C.I. Direct Red 80 based on a gold nanoparticles-modified carbon paste electrode

In this paper, a simple, convenient and sensitive electrochemical method has been developed for the determination of C.I. Direct Red 80. A gold nanoparticle modified carbon paste electrode was fabricated and used for study and sensitive determination of Direct Red 80 by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. The overall analysis involved a two-step procedure: an accumulation step under open-circuit conditions, followed by voltammetric measurements of Direct Red 80 in a 0.1?M phosphate buffer solution at pH?=?3.0. The experimental conditions, such as the medium, pH and accumulation time, were optimised. The oxidation peak current was proportional to the concentration of Direct Red 80 from 5.0?×?10^?8 to 5.0?×?10^?7?M and 5.0?×?10^?7 to 3.0?×?10^?6?M, and the detection limit was 1.15?×?10^?8?M (S/N?=?3). The proposed method was used to detect Direct Red 80 in natural water and sewage with good accuracy.     

Enhancement of Nanoclay Dispersion and Exfoliation in Epoxy Using Aminic Hardener Treated Clay

Exfoliation and dispersion of nanoclays in epoxy matrices plays an important role in achieving better physical and mechanical properties of resultant nanocomposites. In this article, modification of clay with an aminic hardener for the increment of dispersion and exfoliation into the epoxy matrix has been investigated. In the solvent media, a slurry of hydrophilic Na-Montmorrilonite was mixed and treated with isophoronediamine (IPDA). The nanocomposites containing epoxy and IPDA-modified clay were produced through a recently developed “slurry compounding” method. Dispersion and exfoliation of the modified clay and the microstructure of the resultant nanocomposite were studied by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The samples were then compared with the high shear mixed and sonicated nanocomposites containing commonly used quaternary ammonium modified clays. The comparison showed that dispersion and exfoliation of hardener-modified organoclays in epoxy have been improved due to the treatment of clay and the compounding method.     

GRID: A high‐resolution protein structure refinement algorithm

The energy‐based refinement of protein structures generated by fold prediction algorithms to atomic‐level accuracy remains a major challenge in structural biology. Energy‐based refinement is mainly dependent on two components: (1) sufficiently accurate force fields, and (2) efficient conformational space search algorithms. Focusing on the latter, we developed a high‐resolution refinement algorithm called GRID. It takes a three‐dimensional protein structure as input and, using an all‐atom force field, attempts to improve the energy of the structure by systematically perturbing backbone dihedrals and side‐chain rotamer conformations. We compare GRID to Backrub, a stochastic algorithm that has been shown to predict a significant fraction of the conformational changes that occur with point mutations. We applied GRID and Backrub to 10 high‐resolution (≤ 2.8 Å) crystal structures from the Protein Data Bank and measured the energy improvements obtained and the computation times required to achieve them. GRID resulted in energy improvements that were significantly better than those attained by Backrub while expending about the same amount of computational resources. GRID resulted in relaxed structures that had slightly higher backbone RMSDs compared to Backrub relative to the starting crystal structures. The average RMSD was 0.25 ± 0.02 Å for GRID versus 0.14 ± 0.04 Å for Backrub. These relatively minor deviations indicate that both algorithms generate structures that retain their original topologies, as expected given the nature of the algorithms. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Corrosion Inhibition of Mild Steel by Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) Extract: Polarization,EIS, AFM,SEM, EDS,and Artificial Neural Network Modeling

Inhibitory action of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) extract (SE) was investigated in hydrochloric acid solution through electrochemical (polarization, EIS), and surface analysis (optical microscopy/atomic force microscopy (AFM)/scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)) techniques. In addition, Inhibition efficiency was predicted by neural network (NN) modeling in elevated temperatures and different acid concentrations. The thermodynamic adsorption parameters propose that this inhibitor retard both cathodic and anodic processes through physical adsorption and blocking the active corrosion sites. Surface analysis techniques confirm the inhibitor adsorption on the metal surface, which is in accordance with the variation of apparent activation energy of corrosion. Finally, inhibition efficiency is discussed in terms of protective film formation.     

Optimized preparation and preliminary evaluation of [64Cu]–DOTA–trastuzumab for targeting ErbB2/Neu expression

Breast cancer radioimmunoscintigraphy targeting HER2/neu expression is a growing field of work in nuclear medicine research. Trastuzumab is a monoclonal antibody that binds with high affinity to HER2/neu, which is over expressed on breast and other tumors. Developing new tracers for the detection of this cancer is of great interest. In this study, trastuzumab was successively labeled with [⁶⁴Cu]CuCl₂ after conjugation with DOTA-NHS-ester. The conjugate was purified by molecular filtration, the average number of DOTA conjugated per mAb was calculated and total concentration was determined by spectrophotometric method. DOTA–trastuzumab was labeled with ⁶⁴Cu produced by ⁶⁸Zn(p,αn)⁶⁴Cu nuclear reaction (30 MeV protons at 180 μA). Radiochemical purity, integrity of protein after radiolabeling and immunoreactivity of radiolabeled mAb trastuzumab with HER2/neu antigen and SkBr3 cell line were performed by RIA. In vitro stability of radiolabeled mAb in human serum was determined by thin layer chromatography. In vitro internalization studies were performed with the SkBr3 cell line and the tissue biodistribution of the ⁶⁴Cu–DOTA–trastuzumab was evaluated in wild-type rat (90 ± 5.5 μCi, 2, 6, 12, 24 h p.i.). The radioimmunoconjugate was prepared with a radiochemical purity of higher than 96 ± 0.5 % (ITLC) and specific activity as high as 5.3 μCi/μg. The average number of chelators per antibody for the conjugate used in this study was 5.8/1. The sample was showed to have similar patterns of migration in the gel electrophoresis. The ⁶⁴Cu–DOTA–trastuzumab showed high immunoreactivity towards HER2/neu antigen and SkBr3 cell line. In vitro stability of the labeled product was found to be more than 94 % in PBS and 82 ± 0.5 % in human serum over 48 h. In vitro internalization studies of the ⁶⁴Cu–DOTA–trastuzumab showed that up to 11.5 % of the radioimmunoconjugate internalized after 10 h. The accumulation of the radiolabeled mAb in liver, skin, intestine, lung, spleen, kidney and other tissues demonstrates a similar pattern to the other radiolabeled anti-HER2 immunoconjugates. ⁶⁴Cu–DOTA–trastuzumab is a potential compound for molecular imaging of PET for diagnosis and treatment studies and follow-up of HER2 expression in oncology.     

Gas Sensing Ability of a Nanostructured Conducting Polypyrrole Film Prepared by Catalytic Electropolymerization on Cu/Au Interdigital Electrodes

Nanostructured conductive polypyrrole has been prepared electrochemically on the surfaces of Cu/Au interdigital electrodes in the presence of Fe(II) as catalyst and ClO₄^? as anion dopant by using constant potential amperometry and cyclic voltammetry. The morphology of the conducting films was examined by field emission scanning electron microscopy, indicating a dependence from the processing technique. The synthesized polymer was used to investigate the properties of the gas sensing ability. The effect of the catalyst concentration on the oxidation mechanism of pyrrole was discussed. The PPy‐ClO₄ gas sensors had demonstrated fast response time and high sensitivity to VOCs.