Nanofibrous Tubular Membrane for Blood Hemodialysis

As the most important components of a hemodialysis device, nanofibrous membranes enjoy high interconnected porosity and specific surface area as well as excellect permeability. In this study, a tubular nanofibrous membrane of polysulfone nanofibers was produced via electrospinning method to remove urea and creatinine from urine and blood serums of dialysis patients. Nanofibrous membranes were electrospun at a concentration of 11.5 wt% of polysulfone (PS) and dimethylformamide (DMF)/tetrahydrofuran (THF) with a ratio of 70/30. The effects of the rotational speed of collectors, electrospinning duration, and inner diameter of the tubular nanofibrous membrane on the urea and creatinine removal efficiency of the tubular membrane were investigated through the hemodialysis simulation experiments. It was found that the tubular membrane with an inner diameter of 3 mm elecrospun at shorter duration with lower collecting speed had the highest urea and creatinine removal efficiency. The hemodialysis simulation experiment showed that the urea and creatinine removal efficiency of the tubular membrane with a diameter of 3 mm were 90.4 and 100%, respectively. Also, three patients’ blood serums were tested with the nanofibrous membrane. The results showed that the creatinine and urea removal rates were 93.2 and 90.3%, respectively.     

The catalytic performance of different promoted iron catalysts on combined supports Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> for carbon dioxide hydrogenation

Global warming, fossil fuel depletion and fuel price increases have motivated scientists to search for methods for the storage and reduction of the amount of greenhouse gases, especially CO₂. The hydrogenation process has been introduced as an emerging method of CO₂ capture and convertion into value-added products. In this study, new types of catalysts are introduced for CO₂ hydrogenation and are compared based on catalytic activity and product selectivity. The physical properties of the samples are specified using BET. Iron catalysts supported on γ-Al₂O₃ with different metal promoters (X = Ni, K, Mn, Cu) are prepared through the impregnation method. Moreover, Fe–Ni catalysts supported on HZSM5-Al₂O₃ and Ce–Al₂O₃ are synthesized. Samples are reduced by pure H₂ and involved in hydrogenation reaction in a fixed bed reactor (H₂/CO₂ = 3, total pressure = 10 MPa, temperature = 523 K, GHSV = 2000, 1250 nml/min). All catalysts provide high conversion in hydrogenation reactions and the results illustrate that the selectivity of light hydrocarbons is higher than that of methane and CO. It is found that Ni has a promoting effect on the conversion fluctuations throughout the reaction with 66.13% conversion. Using combined supported catalysts leads to enhancing catalytic performance. When Fe–Ni/γ–Al₂O₃—HZSM5 is utilized, CO₂ conversion is 81.66% and the stability of the Fe–Ni catalyst supported on Al₂O₃ and Ce–Al₂O₃ furthey improves.     

Recent synthetic routes for the synthesis of symmetrical <Emphasis Type="Italic">tris</Emphasis>-compound

This review article explains sensible synthesis and applications of symmetrical tris-compounds in the past few years. The aim of this review is collecting the different procedures for the synthesis of tris-compounds with special cores. Many of these compounds principally were prepared from a precursor to the tris-structure under the various conditions. One of the key purposes of this review is to collect a series of symmetrical tris-compounds which represent varied biological and synthetical applications.     

Release and extraction of letrozole in blood plasma using resorcinol functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography

In this research, carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotube was functionalized by cyanuric chloride and modified by 1,3 dihydroxybenzene (MWCNT-resorcinol). MWCNT-resorcinol was used as an adsorbent for extraction and determination of letrozole in human blood plasma prior to high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with ultraviolet detector (HPLC-UV). Synthesized carbon nanotubes were modified and characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The efficiency of the adsorbent for adsorption and release of letrozole in the blood plasma was evaluated at the optimized condition. An adsorption efficiency of 96.9% was achieved at pH of 4 and the extraction time of 20?min. A recovery percentage of 92.7% for the drug in plasma was also obtained. Lastly, the release efficiency values for letrozole from MWCNTs-resorcinol in simulated gastric fluid (pH 1.2) and simulated intestinal fluid (pH 7.4) were calculated as 91% and 70%, respectively. Such results enhanced the potential ability of the MWCNTs-resorcinol as a drug delivery substrate.     

Solid-phase extraction and simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of Co, Ni and Cu using partial least squares regression

A novel sensitive and simple method for rapid extraction, preconcentration and determination of cobalt, nickel and copper as their 1-(2-pyridilazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) complexes using polytetrafluoroethylene filter as solid phase and multivariate calibration of spectrophotometric data is presented. The analytical wavelengths of 400-700 nm were chosen and the experimental calibration matrix for partial least squares (PLS) was designed with 21 samples of 5.90-41.25, 0.30-29.35 and 0.64-41.30 ng ml⁻¹ for cobalt, nickel and copper, respectively. The cross-validation method was used for selecting the number of components. The root-mean-square errors of predictions (RMSEPs) were between 0.48 and 1.37 ng ml⁻¹. In this work we could reach preconcentration factors of 100 or even higher by using polytetrafluoroethylene as solid phase which is cheap and can be used in a wide range of pH, flow rates and for many times. The proposed method was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of Co, Ni and Cu in tap and pit water samples.     

Synthesis of high surface area nanocrystalline anatase-TiO2 powders derived from particulate sol-gel route by tailoring processing parameters

Stabilised titania sols were prepared using an additive free particulate sol-gel route, via electrostatic stabilisation mechanism, with various processing parameters. Peptisation temperature, 50°C and 70°C, and TiO₂ concentration, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 molar, were chosen as processing parameters during sol preparation. Results from TiO₂ particle size and zeta potential of sols revealed that the smallest titania hydrodynamic diameter (13 nm) and the highest zeta potential (47.7 mV) were obtained for the sol produced at the lower peptisation temperature of 50°C and lower TiO₂ concentration of 0.1 M. On the other hand, between the sols prepared at 70°C, smaller titania particles (20 nm) and higher zeta potential (46.3 mV) were achieved with increasing TiO₂ concentration up to 0.4 M. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) results of produced powders annealed at different temperatures showed that the 300°C annealed powder made from 0.1 M sol prepared at 50°C was a mixture of anatase and brookite, corresponding to a major phase of anatase (∼95% estimated), with the smallest average crystallite size of 1.3 nm and the highest specific surface area (SSA) of 193 m²/g. Furthermore, increasing TiO₂ concentration up to 0.4 molar for the sols prepared at 70°C resulted in decreasing the average crystallite size (1.9 nm at 300°C) and increasing SSA (116 m²/g at 300°C) of the powders annealed at different temperatures. Anatase-to-rutile phase transformation temperature was increased with decreasing peptisation temperature down to 50°C, whereas TiO₂ concentration had no effect on this transition. Anatase percentage increased with decreasing both peptisation temperature and TiO₂ concentration. Such prepared powders can be used in many applications in areas from photo catalysts to gas sensors.     

A novel method for the highly efficient synthesis of 1,2-benzisoxazoles under neutral conditions using the Ph3P/DDQ system

The use of Ph₃P/DDQ offers a novel, neutral and highly efficient method for the efficient conversion of 2-hydroxyaryl aldoximes and ketoximes to 1,2-benzisoxazoles in excellent yields at room temperature.     

Copper-modified gold electrode specific for monosaccharide detection Use in amperometric determination of phenylmercury based on invertase enzyme inhibition

The electrochemical oxidation of mono- and disaccharides at various copper-modified electrodes is reported: glassy carbon modified at open circuit or by electrochemical deposition of copper, gold modified by electrochemical deposition, and at bulk copper electrodes. A comparative study of these four electrodes was made by linear sweep voltammetry and amperometry. The maximum oxidation peak separation between disaccharides and monosaccharides is about 200 mV. After optimization, amperometric determination of monosaccharides was done at +0.30 versus Ag/AgCl in 0.15 M NaOH at the copper-modified gold electrode.

Using the developed method, the enzymatic activities of invertase and β-galactosidase were determined through their reaction with sucrose and lactose, respectively. Validation was carried out by a spectrophotometric method based on 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid, and it was shown that the proposed electrochemical method is more sensitive.

The analytical utility of the copper-modified gold electrode was tested for the determination of organic mercury. Addition of phenylmercury standards to the invertase solution caused a decrease in the enzyme activity, and allowed the determination of phenylmercury in pharmaceutical samples. The concentration has been determined in the 10–55 ng ml⁻¹ range.     

Effect of surfactants on wetting of super-hydrophobic surfaces

The effect of surfactants on wetting behavior of super-hydrophobic surfaces was investigated. Super-hydrophobic surfaces were prepared of alkylketene dimer (AKD) by casting the AKD melt in a specially designed mold. Time-dependent studies were carried out, using the axisymmetric drop shape analysis method for contact angle measurement of pure water on AKD surfaces. The results show that both advancing and receding contact angles of water on the AKD surfaces increase over time ( approximately 3 days) and reach the values of about 164 and 147 degrees , respectively. The increase of contact angles is due to the development of a prickly structure on the surface (verified by scanning electron microscopy), which is responsible for its super-hydrophobicity. Aqueous solutions of sodium acetate, sodium dodecyl sulfate, hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide, and n-decanoyl-n-methylglucamine were used to investigate the wetting of AKD surfaces. Advancing and receding contact angles for various concentrations of different surfactant solutions were measured. The contact angle results were compared to those of a number of pure liquids with surface tensions similar to those of surfactant solutions. It was found that although the surface tensions of pure liquids and surfactant solutions at high concentrations are similar, the contact angles are very different. Furthermore, the usual behavior of super-hydrophobic surfaces that turn super-hydrophilic when the intrinsic contact angle of liquid on a smooth surface (of identical material) is below 90 degrees was not observed in the presence of surfactants. The difference in the results for pure liquids and surfactant solutions is explained using an adsorption hypothesis.     

PVC‐Based on Thiopyrilium Derivatives Membrane Electrodes for Determination of Histamine

This study describes novel histamine‐selective electrodes, having their basis on thiopyrilium (TP) derivatives as suitable ionophores. The electrodes were prepared by incorporating the TP derivatives into plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) membranes. These electrodes demonstrate high selectivity as far as the histamine response is considered, as compared with many common inorganic anions and other kinds of amino acids. The influence of membrane composition, pH and the effect of lipophilic cationic and anionic additives on the response characteristics of the electrode were investigated. The resulting sensor based on 2,6‐bis(4‐dimethyl amino phenyl)‐4‐phenyl thiopyrilium perchlorate (TP4) responds to histamine in a wide concentration range from 5.0 × 10^?6 to 1.0 × 10^?1 M with a slope of 54.8 ± 0.6 mV decade^?1 and detection limit of 3.0 μ mol L^?1 (～0.3 ppm). The electrode illustrates fast response time and good long‐term stability (more than 2 months). The ability to design histamine‐selective electrodes based on new thiopyrilium derivatives and both to alter selectivity and improve the response characteristics through structural changes to the charged ionophore, has been investigated. The prepared electrode was used for the determination of histamine in a synthetic human serum sample. Consequently, satisfactory recovery results were obtained over a wide concentration range of histamine.