Coupled Sliding Discharges: A Scalable Nonthermal Plasma System Utilizing Positive and Negative Streamers on Opposite Sides of a Dielectric Layer

A nonthermal plasma system based on simultaneously formed positive and negative streamers on either side of a dielectric layer is described. The coupled sliding discharge (CSD) reactor based on this concept was found to be scalable by stacking and operating multiple electrode assemblies in parallel, similarly to the shielded sliding discharge (SSD) reactor reported earlier. A comparison of the two systems showed that although the energy density in the CSD reactor was lower, the efficiency for NO conversion and ozone synthesis from dry air were significantly higher. The energy cost for 50 % NO removal was ~30 eV/molecule compared to ~60 eV/molecule in the case of the SSD under the same conditions of 330 ppm initial NO concentration in air. The energy cost decreased to ~12 eV/molecule in both cases when NO was mixed with plasma-activated air at the outlet of the reactor to utilize ozone for NO conversion i.e., indirect plasma treatment. The energy yield for ozone generation from dry air was at ~70 g/kWh, comparable in both systems. The results show that the concept of a CSD, as that of SSDs, allows the construction of compact, efficient plasma reactors.     

Gold-surface binding of molecular switches studied by M?ssbauer spectroscopy

The nonanuclear coordination compound [Mo^IV{(CN)Fe^III(3-methyl-saldptn)}₈]Cl₄ exhibits multiple spin transitions (3-methyl-saldptn = N,N′-bis(3′′-methyl-2′′-hydroxy-benzyliden)-1,7-diamino-4-azaheptane). This spin crossover cluster is bound via a self-assembled monolayer onto a two dimensional array gold surface. M?ssbauer spectroscopy indicates that the thermally and optically induced spin crossover of the compound is maintained. Thereby, the foundation for its potential practical application (e.g. in the field of information storage) was laid.     

A modified sequential extraction method for arsenic fractionation in sediments

A modified sequential extraction method was developed to characterize arsenic (As) associated with different solid constituents in surficial deposits (sediments), which are unconsolidated glacial deposits overlying bedrock. Current sequential extraction methods produce a significant amount of unresolved As in the residual fraction, but our proposed scheme can fractionate >90% of the As present in sediments. Sediment samples containing different As concentrations (3–35 μg g⁻¹) were used to assess the developed method. The pooled amount of As recovered from all the fractions using the developed method was similar (83–122%) to the total As extracted by acid digestion. The concentrations of As in different fractions using the developed scheme were comparable (89–106%) to the As fractions obtained by other existing methods. The developed method was also evaluated for the sequential extraction of other metals such as copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr) and strontium (Sr) in the sediment samples. The pooled concentrations of these four individual metals from all the fractions were similar (96–104%) to their total concentrations extracted by acid digestion. During method development, we used extractants that did not contain chloride to eliminate formation of polyatomic ions of argon chloride (⁴⁰Ar³⁵Cl) that interfered with ⁷⁵As when analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). The results suggest that the developed method can reliably be employed for complete As and other metals’ fractionation in sediments using ICP-MS.     

Biomimetic design of amphiphilic polycations and surface grafting onto polycarbonate urethane film as effective antibacterial agents with controlled hemocompatibility

The synthetic polycations are ideal candidates as antimicrobial agents, because they resemble natural antimicrobial peptides, but to render hemocompatibility to these materials is a great challenge. Herein, we used 2‐(tert‐butyl‐aminoethyl) methacrylate (TBAEMA), to synthesize its homopolymer and pegylated random and diblock copolymers with polyethyleneglycol methacrylate (PEGMA, M_n = 360 Da) by single‐electron transfer–living radical polymerization (SET‐LRP). In the second step, the secondary amino groups in the precursor polymers were quaternized with iodomethane and bromohexane, to obtain three series of quaternized polymers. The antimicrobial properties of these quaternized polymers were evaluated against Escherichia coli (E. coli), by studying the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) which ranged between 32 and 200 mg L^?1 and showed higher values for the quaternized random than the diblock copolymers. In addition to, we have also demonstrated the grafting of these polycations onto polycarbonate urethane film surfaces, which showed good killing efficacy against E. coli. Furthermore, the hemolysis of these materials was investigated against human red blood cells, which indicated that except the quaternized homopolymers that showed highest hemolysis, all other amphiphilic polycations exhibited very low hemolytic activity. Therefore, our designed materials with controlled structures and functionality, synthesized from cheaply available resources could serve as useful agents in the field of biomedicines and implantable materials. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 3166–3176     

Studies of Protonation of Some Aminopolycarboxylates by Carbon-13 NMR Spectroscopy

¹³C nmr chemical shifts are used to evaluate successive protonations of the aminopolycarboxylate systems diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) and triethylenetetraminehexaacetic acid (TTHA).     

Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Biodegradable Di‐ and Tri‐Block Copolymers Based on Ethylene Carbonate Polymer as Hydrophobic Segment

Synthesis of novel amphiphilic biodegradable block copolymers based on ethylene carbonate is reported in this study. Polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether (MeO‐PEO) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) of varying molar masses are used as macro‐initiator for ring‐opening polymerization of ethylene carbonate in the presence of sodium stannate trihydrate as a heterogeneous transesterification catalyst. Earlier elution of block copolymer from macro‐initiator in size exclusion chromatography (SEC) indicated the successful synthesis of the block copolymers. Ratios of both types of blocks are varied systematically. Liquid chromatography at critical conditions is used for the analysis of the non‐critical individual blocks, and if there are any critical segments that are not attached to the non‐critical block. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the synthesis of ethylene carbonate‐based amphiphilic block copolymers. Chromatographic critical conditions of the ethylene carbonate polymer are also reported for the first time. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 1887–1893     

Novel phenothiazine-based chalcone derivatives with various N-substituted rhodanines induce growth inhibition followed by apoptosis in leukemia cells

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Eight new series of novel phenothiazine-based chalcone derivatives with various N-substituted rhodanines (10a–g to 17a–g) were synthesized by...     

Synthesis of α-alkenyl-α-amino esters via addition of potassium Alkenyltrifluoroborate salts to imine in the presence of Yb(OTf)3

A simple protocol which led to an effective construction of α-alkenyl-α-amino esters was achieved under mild conditions. This transformation proceeded by Yb-catalyzed addition of alkenyltrifluoroborates across the imine double bond. A variety of functional groups could be applicable to both partners.