Intercalation and Electrochemical Studies of Nitroprusside Anion into Zn-Al Layered Double Hydroxide

The aim of the present work was to investigate the synthesis,characterization and electrochemical properties of the nitroprusside anions (NP)into zinc and aluminium layered double hydroxides (LDHs). The materials were prepared by thecoprecipitation method under constant pH, followed by a hydrothermal treatment. Theprepared materials were characterised by a set of analysis methods, such as powderX-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetry(TG), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The resultsshowed that the electrochemical response of NP ions into LDH structure is similar to thatfound for complex ions free in solution. In addition, our results reveal the dependence ofthe electrochemical response on the nature of the supporting electrolyte, for either cationic oranionic species.     

Voltammetric response of diclofenac-molecularly imprinted film modified carbon electrodes

A voltammetric sensor for the determination of diclofenac was developed, based on the molecular recognition of the analyte by molecularly imprinted methacrylate-ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate co-polymers. Pre-polymerisation solutions were deposited onto the surface of a glassy carbon electrode and a polymer film was obtained after spin coating control of thickness and in situ thermal polymerisation. After the template extraction from the resultant film, re-binding of diclofenac is performed from acetonitrile solutions containing the analyte. The amount of bonded diclofenac was then evaluated by differential pulse voltammetry in different electrolytes. The best results were obtained in 0.025 M citrate solution pH 6 containing 10% of acetonitrile. This medium favours the release of diclofenac from the polymer binding sites. In this way, the voltammetric transduction of the molecular recognition event is achieved. Voltammetric selectivity measurements revealed negligible interferences from diclofenac family of anti-inflammatory drugs, such as niflumic or meclofenamic acids.     

The Mechanism of Contact Elimination,A Contribution to Understanding the Function of Polar Catalysts

The current ideas of organic chemists based on the work of Ingold and his school are applied to heterogeneous catalytic eliminations (mostly from haloalkanes and aliphatic alcohols). It is deduced from the activity of the catalysts, the reactivity of the substrates (reactants), and the primary product distribution that these eliminations proceed by a heterolytic mechanism similar to that involved in the liquid phase. The activity of the catalysts (salts and oxides) increases with increasing charge and decreasing radius of the cations and with increasing basicity of the anions. The reactivity of the substrates behaves in much the same manner as in the liquid phase. In contrast with the liquid-phase reaction, the cis-olefins are frequently favored as primary products. The stereospecificity of the reaction is determined from the relative strengths of the interactions between the catalyst cation and the leaving group X^?, and between the catalyst anion and the leaving proton. Only trans elimination has so far been found in the concerted mechanism.     

Optimization of an acoustic test chamber involving the fluid-structure interaction by FEM and experimental validation

The aim of this work is to determine the optimal design of two acoustic test chambers using systems of optimization by means of finite elements. In this way, we have modelled a set of tests composed of a source chamber and a receiving chamber according to the basic requirements of the standard rule. The constructive element whose acoustical behaviour is being evaluated is placed between both chambers. Applying the finite element method (FEM), a two-dimensional coupled finite element model with fluid-structure interaction has been made, using finite elements of the fluid-type both for the air and fluid-structure interface, and finite elements of solid-type with its elastic properties for a multilayered wall. The geometry of the chambers has been parameterized as design variables (DVs) and an objective function has been defined from the absolute value of the difference between the transmission loss (TL) values of the laboratory test and the TL of the numerical simulation in order to minimize it. To find an optimal design of the geometry of the acoustic chamber, a new cascade optimization procedure has been successfully developed. Finally, the numerical simulation results are compared with the acoustic laboratory results, and conclusions are exposed.     

Microbiological Decontamination of Water: Improving the Solar Disinfection Technique (SODIS) with the Use of Nontoxic Vital Dye Methylene Blue

Rational use of water is a major challenge for governments and global organizations, with easy and inexpensive interventions being sought by communities that are not supplied with drinking water. In this context, solar disinfection (SODIS) has shown great efficiency for water disinfection. To speed up the process and improve inactivation, we studied the effects of methylene blue (MB) as a photodynamic agent because of its ability to absorb visible light (red wavelength) and generate singlet oxygen as a reactive species, thereby inactivating bacteria and viruses present in water. In this study, samples of clean mineral water were artificially contaminated with Gram‐positive (Staphylococcus epidermidis or Deinococcus radiodurans) or with Gram‐negative strains (Escherichia coli or Salmonella typhimurium) and exposed to traditional SODIS or to MB‐SODIS. A lethal synergistic effect was observed when cultures were illuminated in the presence of MB. The obtained results indicate that bacterial inactivation can be achieved in a much shorter time when using MB associated with SODIS treatment. Therefore, this technique was able to provide safe water for consumption through the inactivation of microorganisms in general, including pathogens and some strains resistant to the traditional SODIS procedure, thus allowing its use in areas usually less exposed to sunlight.     

Current strategies for electrochemical detection of DNA with solid electrodes

A review of current strategies aimed at detecting nucleic acids (NA) using NA-modified solid electrodes reveals the versatility and potential of electrochemical detection in this field. What emerged at the beginning of 90s as a very promising detection system in DNA technology is now resulting in the first commercial devices. Many aspects of the experimental design, for example surface immobilisation and detection schemes, are outlined and evaluated. Although most approaches use hybridisation as the recognition reaction, those not based on hybridisation are also included. As is finally shown, great advances have been achieved, although further developments are required if electrochemical devices are to be suitable for routine measurement.Abbreviations A Adenine - a.c.V Alternating current voltammetry - Amp. Amperometry - Apo E Apolipoprotein E - BCB Brilliant cresyl blue - BLM Bilayer lipid membrane - bp Base pairs - BPPG Basal planar pyrolytic graphite - bpy 2,2-Bipyridine - C Cytosine - CMV Citomegalovirus - CPE Carbon paste electrode - CPSA Constant-current chronopotentiometric stripping analysis - Cronoamp. Chronoamperometry - CSPE Carbon screen-printed electrode - CV Cyclic voltammetry - dmb 4,4-Dimethyl-2,2-bipyridine - dmphen Dimethylphenanthroline - DPPZ Dipyrido[3,2-a.2,3-c]phenazine - DPV Differential pulse voltammetry - dsDNA Double-stranded DNA - EtBr Ethidium bromide - Fc Ferrocene - Fc-CA Ferrocenecarboxaldehyde - Fc-CTPPZ Di[1-ferrocenecarbamoylpropyl)tetrahydropyrazine-4-(propylcarbamoylpyridine)]phenazine - Fc-NH₂ Aminoferrocene - FET Field-effect transistor - G Guanine - GCE Glassy carbon electrode - HBV Hepatitis B virus - HGH1 Human growth hormone 1 - HIV Human immunodeficiency virus - HRP Horseradish peroxidase - HOPGE Highly oriented pyrolytic graphite electrode - IPA Intermittent pulse amperometry - ISFET Ion-selective field-effect transistor - ITO Tin-doped indium oxide electrode - LSV Linear sweep voltammetry - Nano-Au Au nanoparticles - NMP Nucleotide monophosphate - ODN Oligodeoxynucleotide - ox. Oxidation - PCR Polymerase chain reaction - PET Poly(ethylene terephthalate) - PGE Pyrolytic graphite electrode - phen 1,10-Phenanthroline - PNA Peptide nucleic acid - Ppy Polypyrrole - (PQQ)GDH Pyrroline quinone glucose dehydrogenase - red. Reduction - SAM Self-assembled monolayer - SBP Soybean peroxidase - SNP Single nucleotide polymorphism - ssDNA Single-stranded DNA - SWV Square-wave voltammetry - T Thymine - Th Thionine - TTV TT virus - Ep Difference of peak potential     

Azo dyes derived from Aminophenylbenzacridinones. VIII

The preparation of novel azo-dyes from p-aminophenylbenzacridinones is described. The structure of all the products was corroborated by ir, mass spectrometry and ¹H-nmr.     

Quantitative structure activity relationships of 5-nitrofuran derivatives

Summary Quantitative structure-activity relationships were performed on a set of 5-nitrofuran derivatives. The correlation parameters used were hydrophobicity and connectivity. The former was measured by means of the capacity factor (log k _o ) obtained by HPLC and the latter through the molecular valence connectivity index^{1 v} obtained by computational methods. The biological activity data considered were growth inhibition percentages ofT. cruzi (GI % (48 h)) and half-maximal inhibitory concentration of Glutathione Reductase (I_{0.5 (max)}). Good adjustment, r=0.98, was obtained if a logarithmic model is used for I_{0.5 (max)} correlations. When GI% is considered, correlations were poorer and the consideration of both structural parameters was necessary for their improvement, r=0.94.     

Direct Extraction of Cohesive Fracture Properties from Digital Image Correlation: A Hybrid Inverse Technique

The accuracy of an adopted cohesive zone model (CZM) can affect the simulated fracture response significantly. The CZM has been usually obtained using global experimental response, e.g., load versus either crack opening displacement or load-line displacement. Apparently, deduction of a local material property from a global response does not provide full confidence of the adopted model. The difficulties are: (1) fundamentally, stress cannot be measured directly and the cohesive stress distribution is non-uniform; (2) accurate measurement of the full crack profile (crack opening displacement at every point) is experimentally difficult to obtain. An attractive feature of digital image correlation (DIC) is that it allows relatively accurate measurement of the whole displacement field on a flat surface. It has been utilized to measure the mode I traction-separation relation. A hybrid inverse method based on combined use of DIC and finite element method is used in this study to compute the cohesive properties of a ductile adhesive, Devcon Plastic Welder II, and a quasi-brittle plastic, G-10/FR4 Garolite. Fracture tests were conducted on single edge-notched beam specimens (SENB) under four-point bending. A full-field DIC algorithm was employed to compute the smooth and continuous displacement field, which is then used as input to a finite element model for inverse analysis through an optimization procedure. The unknown CZM is constructed using a flexible B-spline without any “a priori” assumption on the shape. The inversely computed CZMs for both materials yield consistent results. Finally, the computed CZMs are verified through fracture simulation, which shows good experimental agreement.