Review on the production process and uses of controlled rheology polypropylene—Gamma radiation versus electron beam processing

Controlled rheology polypropylene grades are established commodities in the polymer processing market. However, new types, mainly the so-called high melt strength polypropylene (HMSPP) grades, are being introduced in the last two decades and radiation processing has played an important role. The melt strength properties of a polymer increases with molecular weight and with long-chain branching due to the increase in the entanglement level. As polypropylene (PP) is a linear polymer, the way to improve its elongational viscosity is by the production of a bi-modal polymer. Basell's patents claim the production of long-chain branching on PP by irradiating with electrons under oxygen free atmosphere, followed by two heating steps to allow radical recombination and annihilation reaction. Some other companies have issued patents using electron beam processing, but so far there is no actual production other than the Basell one. As a result of a research joint effort, IPEN, BRASKEM (the biggest Brazilian polymer producer) and EMBRARAD (the major Brazilian radiation processing center) developed a new process to produce HMSPP based on gamma processing. This paper will address some characteristics of each technology and the main industrial opportunities.     

Some Synergistic Effects of Antioxidants in Natural Rubber

Some synergistic effects of antioxidants in natural rubber were investigated considering results obtained by differencial scanning calorimetry (DSC). Rubber formulations were obtained with mixtures of diaminic(DPPD, IPPD, HPPD) and monoaminic (ADPA, PBN) stabilizers and evaluated. The samples containing the mixture diamine/ADPA stabilizers showed synergistic effects while, for those containing diamine/PBN, no effect was observed. Additionally, the diffusion constants determined by use of vulcanized rubber disks confirmed the molar mass dependence of the stabilizer. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Crystal structure of triaquamaleatostrontium(II) monohydrate, [Sr(C4H2O4)(OH2)3]·H2O

[Sr(C₄H₂O₄)(OH₂)₃]·H₂O is monoclinic, P2₁/n, witha=11.476(2),b=7.027(1),c=12.344(2) Å, =115.74(3)°,V=896.67 ų,Z=4. The Sr atom is surrounded by nine oxygen atoms which come from four different maleate anions and three water molecules. The Sr–O distances range from 2.546(2) to 2.808(2) Å. The C–O distances are equal within the standard deviation 1.263(3) to 1.258(3) Å). In the maleate anion, the planes that contain the carboxylate groups form an angle of 74.44(9)°. Both carboxylate groups deviate significantly from planarity. The different coordination modes of the carboxylate group and the extensive hydrogen bonding present are responsible for the polymeric nature of the structure.     

Basicity and solvent effects on hydrogen bonding in NR3···HCOOH (R=H,CH3) model systems

The effect of the basicity of methyl‐amines on hydrogen bonding (HB) with HCOOH is examined in both gas and solution phases. In the gas phase, the strength of HB may be related to the proton affinity (PA) difference between the carboxylate anion and the methyl‐amine, ΔPA=PA(HCOO⁻)−PA(NR₃). The changes in the driving potential ΔPA are explained on the basis of electronic substituent effects. The electronic substituent effects are rationalized in terms of local reactivity indices such as the Fukui function and the local hardness and softness at the basic center. A simple model is then proposed to explain the enhancement HB in the solution phase. The HB pattern in the solution phase is changed by electrostatic and nonelectrostatic solvation of the zwitterionic and neutral species in equilibrium. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 74: 387–394, 1999     

Highly Conducting Polyaniline Gels

An improved method, based on mechanical stirring and a controlled solvent evaporation process, is proposed to obtain PANI(CSA)_0.5/m‐cresol solutions, which lead to gels with conductivities in the range 3 to 150 S/cm, preserving the elasticity associated to the gel network. Such high conductivity values have only been found for brittle films cast from PANI solutions. According to our experimental results, there is no justification for an analogy between the elastic modulus and the conductivity of physical networks.     

Quantitation of nifedipine in human plasma by on-line solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography

An analytical methodology for nifedipine quantitation in plasma by on-line solid-phase extraction (SPE) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is described. The SPE cartridges contain C₂ and the analytes nifedipine and nitrendipine (internal standard) are separated on a C₁₈ column with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile–13 mM phosphate buffer pH 7 (65:35, v/v) followed by UV detection at 338 nm. Validation of the method demonstrated good recoveries (>90%), sensitivity (limit of quantification, 2 ng/ml), based on a 500 μl sample volume, accuracy and precision (<5.5% in concentrations greater than the limit of quantitation). This methodology has been used for bioequivalence studies.     

Solving Strategies and Well-Posedness in Linear Semi-Infinite Programming

In this paper we introduce the concept of solving strategy for a linear semi-infinite programming problem, whose index set is arbitrary and whose coefficient functions have no special property at all. In particular, we consider two strategies which either approximately solve or exactly solve the approximating problems, respectively. Our principal aim is to establish a global framework to cope with different concepts of well-posedness spread out in the literature. Any concept of well-posedness should entail different properties of these strategies, even in the case that we are not assuming the boundedness of the optimal set. In the paper we consider three desirable properties, leading to an exhaustive study of them in relation to both strategies. The more significant results are summarized in a table, which allows us to show the double goal of the paper. On the one hand, we characterize the main features of each strategy, in terms of certain stability properties (lower and upper semicontinuity) of the feasible set mapping, optimal value function and optimal set mapping. On the other hand, and associated with some cells of the table, we recognize different notions of Hadamard well-posedness. We also provide an application to the analysis of the Hadamard well-posedness for a linear semi-infinite formulation of the Lagrangian dual of a nonlinear programming problem.     

Development and Validation of a Densitometric HPTLC Method for Quantitative Analysis of Levofloxacin in Human Plasma

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC -     

Stability of Indices in the KKT Conditions and Metric Regularity in Convex Semi-Infinite Optimization

This paper deals with a parametric family of convex semi-infinite optimization problems for which linear perturbations of the objective function and continuous perturbations of the right-hand side of the constraint system are allowed. In this context, Cánovas et al. (SIAM J. Optim. 18:717–732, [2007]) introduced a sufficient condition (called ENC in the present paper) for the strong Lipschitz stability of the optimal set mapping. Now, we show that ENC also entails high stability for the minimal subsets of indices involved in the KKT conditions, yielding a nice behavior not only for the optimal set mapping, but also for its inverse. Roughly speaking, points near optimal solutions are optimal for proximal parameters. In particular, this fact leads us to a remarkable simplification of a certain expression for the (metric) regularity modulus given in Cánovas et al. (J. Glob. Optim. 41:1–13, [2008]) (and based on Ioffe (Usp. Mat. Nauk 55(3):103–162, [2000]; Control Cybern. 32:543–554, [2003])), which provides a key step in further research oriented to find more computable expressions of this regularity modulus. This research was partially supported by Grants MTM2005-08572-C03 (01-02) and MTM2006-27491-E (MEC, Spain, and FEDER, E.U.), ACOMP06/117-203 and ACOMP/2007/247-292 (Generalitat Valenciana, Spain), and CIO (UMH, Spain).     

Effects of activated carbon properties on the adsorption of naphthalene from aqueous solutions

The aim of this work was to investigate the role of porous and chemical heterogeneities of activated carbons in the adsorption of naphthalene from aqueous media. A commercially available activated carbon was used as the adsorbent, and its surface heterogeneity was systematically altered by heat treatment at 450 and 850 °C, obtaining a series of carbons with various oxygen contents and similar surface functionalities. The results confirmed that the adsorption of naphthalene depends strongly on the pore size distribution of the adsorbent, particularly narrow microporosity. Moreover, oxygen functionalities reduced the accessibility and affinity of naphthalene to the inner pore structure via formation of hydration clusters. Consequently, the hydrophobic/hydrophilic character of the adsorbent is important, since it dominates the competitive adsorption of water. Adsorbents with a high non-polar character (i.e., low oxygen content) have proven to be more efficient for naphthalene adsorption.