The Effects of Sulphate and Tartrate Ions on the Molecular Organization of Water: Towards Understanding the Hofmeister Series (VI)

Using the 1-propanol (1P) probing methodology we have developed earlier, we characterized the effects of sulphate and tartrate anions on the molecular organization of H₂O. The results indicate that these two large anions belong to a new class of ??hydrophobe-like hydration center??. That is, sulphate and tartrate ions act as ??hydration centers?? with the hydration number 14±3 for both, and leave the bulk H₂O, away from hydration shells, unperturbed in the absence of the probing 1-propanol. As the mole fraction of the probe increases, however, the hydrogen bond probability of bulk H₂O away from hydration shells appears to decrease smoothly, as occurs with ??hydrophobes?? in H₂O. We plot the negative hydration number against the power to reduce the hydrogen bond probability of bulk H₂O for the two large anions. We also plotted the characteristic indices for ??hydrophiles?? and ??hydration centers?? whose characteristics we determined in the same manner earlier. H₂O defines the origin on this map. We found that a typical Hofmeister ranking for each anion matches reasonably well with that of the distance from the origin for each ion, in decreasing order starting from ions plotted in the north-west quadrant (representing the ??hydrophobe-like?? behavior) of the map and then in increasing order from the origin towards the south on the ordinate, the ??hydrophile-like?? behavior. These findings could be useful in understanding the Hofmeister series, pointing to the importance of the contribution made by the effect of each ion on H₂O, in addition to helping understand direct ion-protein interactions.     

Dynamical scaling analysis using the Lillie Number for vitrification of deeply supercooled glycerol

Thermal response was measured for a deeply supercooled glycerol specimen by applying calorimetric temperature scanning rate spectroscopy, cooling the specimen from liquid at a slow constant cooling rate until glass transition was observed. The effective fraction of glass as a function of temperature was determined and a new definition of glass transition temperature, T_gC, as the temperature at which the effective glass fraction to be 0.5 was presented. The relation between this and the cooling rate showed the Arrhenius behavior. The effective glass fraction curves shifted linearly as a function of ln(cooling rate). When T was scaled to the Lillie Number, the glass fraction lay on a master curve, which was successfully fitted with a Kohlrausch–Williams–Watts function. The Kohlrausch exponent, the relaxation time as a function of temperature and the kinetic fragility index were determined. The results were compared with literature values.     

Synthesis of Benzopyran-4-Amides Potassium Channel Openers Via Palladium-Catalyzed Amidation

The novel potassium channel openers benzopyran-4-amides have been synthesized via palladium-catalyzed amidation of 4-bromobenzopyrans under an atmoshere in the presence of an equivalent of potassium iodide.     

Kinetic approach to partially overlapped thermal decomposition processes

Practical usefulness of the kinetic deconvolution for partially overlapped thermal decomposition processes of solids was examined by applying to the co-precipitated basic zinc carbonate and zinc carbonate. Comparing with the experimental deconvolutions by thermoanalytical techniques and mathematical deconvolutions using different statistical fitting functions, performance of the kinetic deconvolution based on an accumulative kinetic equation for the independent processes overlapped partially was evaluated in views of the peak deconvolution and kinetic evaluation. Two-independent kinetic processes of thermal decompositions of basic zinc carbonate and zinc carbonate were successfully deconvoluted by means of the thermoanalytical measurements in flowing CO₂ and by applying sample controlled thermal analysis (SCTA). The deconvolutions by the mathematical curve fittings using different fitting functions and subsequent formal kinetic analysis provide acceptable values of the mass-loss fractions and apparent activation energies of the respective reaction processes, but the estimated kinetic model function changes depending on the fitting functions employed for the peak deconvolution. The mass-loss fractions and apparent kinetic parameters of the respective reaction processes can be optimized simultaneously by the kinetic deconvolution based on the kinetic equation through nonlinear least square analysis, where all the parameters indicated acceptable correspondences to those estimated through the experimental and mathematical deconvolutions. As long as the reaction processes overlapped are independent kinetically, the simple and rapid procedure of kinetic deconvolution is useful as a tool for characterizing the partially overlapped kinetic processes of the thermal decomposition of solids.     

Organochlorine Pesticides in Water,Sediment and Fish from the Nile River and Manzala Lake in Egypt

Abstract

To assess the risks of organochlorine pesticides discharged into the hydrospheric environment of Egypt, river and lake water, drinking water, suspended solids, sediments and fish were collected during 1993—1994 from the Nile River and Manzala Lake in Egypt and were transported to Japan for chemical analysis. Among different organochlorine pesticides analyzed, p,p′-DDE was the most predominant in fish (7.6 to 67 ng/g wet wt.), sediments (3.2 to 432 ng/g dry wt.) and suspended solids (5.3 tc 138 pg/L). However, in the dissolved phase of water samples HCH compounds predominated (α-HCH, 71 to 2,815 pg/L). Concentrations of organochlorine pesticides, except chlordane, were higher in Manzala Lake than in the River Nile. Concentrations of organochlorine pesticides in fish corresponded with those in sediments from each location. Comparison of organochlorine concentrations in Nile River water with those reported in earlier studies suggested a decrease in concentrations during the last decade. However, concentrations of p,p′-DDE has increased in fish. It appears that the release of this metabolite from contaminated sediment is the major source of p,p′-DDE in fish during recent years.     

Humidity-responsive thermal conduction properties of bacterial cellulose films

Cellulose - High hygroscopicity is an unavoidable feature of cellulose materials, and it is important for clarifying the humidity dependence of the target function toward precise utilization....     

Novel Method for the Fabrication of a Charge‐Transfer Complex Crystal by Photoirradiation

A novel method for the fabrication of a charge‐transfer complex crystal was developed. Photoirradiation of a solution of TPP[Co(tbp)(CN)₂] and TPP[Co(Pc)(CN)₂] (tbp=tetrabenzoporphyrin, Pc=phthalocyanine, TPP=tetraphenylphosphonium) gave a molecular conducting crystal of a charge‐transfer complex TPP[Co(tbp)(CN)₂]₂, which was produced by the process in which the photoexcited electron in tbp was transferred from the LUMO of tbp to that of Pc.     

Mesoporous Silica Particles as Topologically Crosslinking Fillers for Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) Hydrogels

Here it is demonstrated that mesoporous silicas (MPSs) can be used as effective “topological crosslinkers” for poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) hydrogels to improve the mechanical property. Three‐dimensional bicontinuous mesporous silica is found to effectively reinforce the PNIPA hydrogels, as compared to nonporous silica and two‐dimensional hexagonally ordered mesoporous silica.