Endpoint Fragmentation Index: A Method for Monitoring the Evolution of Microbial Degradation of Polysaccharide Feedstocks

We describe a simple method for tracking the course of microbial degradation of polysaccharide-rich feedstocks. The method involves determining total polysaccharides present in the feedstock, measured in glucose equivalents, relative to the fractional component of polysaccharides exhibiting 2,3-dinitrosalycylic acid aldehyde activity. The ratio of total polysaccharide to aldehyde activity, defined as the end-point fragmentation (EPF) index, is then calculated and tracked as it shifts as microbial degradation of polysaccharide-rich feedstock progresses. While degradation occurs, the EPF index falls. It bottoms out at an asymptotic limit marking the point in time where further degradation of the polysaccharide-rich feedstock has ceased. The EPF index can be used to follow the progressive breakdown of composting polysaccharide-rich waste. It may also have applicability as a means of tracking the turnover of polysaccharides in other complex environments including soil, sediments, wetlands, and peat bogs.     

New Method for Theoretical Spinodals Corresponding to Ternary Solutions with an Amphiphile Component

A new method is presented to obtain a theoretical spinodal for ternary solutions with an amphiphile component. This method uses a generalized Wheeler-Widom model representing the ternary solution, and considers local fitting conditions with the experimental binodal, imposing that the theoretical binodal must pass through a point on the experimental binodal, and also that the slope of the theoretical binodal has to be as close as possible to the slope of the representative experimental binodal. Using the previously specified fitting conditions, the corresponding spinodal is derived. The results are in agreement with an older method of local fitting between the generalized Wheeler-Widom model and the experimental data, where the fitting condition implied the coincidence of the theoretical tie-line with the experimental tie-line.     

Interdisciplinary study on pottery experimentally impregnated with wine

Experimentally developed ceramic pots, with two different sizes of grain, were half-filled with wine and subjected to thermal alteration at constant elevated temperature ((60 ± 2)°C) in darkness for 12 weeks. This work sought to characterise the samples thereby obtained from chemical and mineralogical perspectives using scanning electron microscopy and an energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis system (SEM-EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) with UV detection as an alternative to chromatographic methods, due to its good resolution, automation, simplicity, high speed, low consumption of chemicals and short time required for sample preparation. The capillary electrophoresis method was used for the detection of five wine biomarkers: succinic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid and lactic acid. In general, it was noted that the fine-grained ceramic assortment retained the organic material better than the coarser-grained ceramics. An interesting observation derived from this study was that not only could tartaric acid be considered as a biomarker for wine residues in archaeological pottery, but malic acid could also act similarly for white wine and lactic acid for red wine.     

Synthesis,characterization and controlled toxicity of a novel hybrid material based on cisplatin and docetaxel

This paper is focused on the synthesis and characterization of a novel hybrid material based on cisplatin and docetaxel-loaded functionalized simultanously carbon nanotubes able to be used in cancer therapy as drug delivery system with controlled toxicity. This material was physico-chemically investigated by determining the structure, as evidenced by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, transmission electronmicroscopy (TEM) and its stability was studied with the aid of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The amount of platinum ions released into the solution of simulated body fluid (SBF) was highlighted by coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Toxicology experiments were performed with MDA-MB 231 breast cancer epithelial cells. The performance of the new drug delivery hybrid material was compared with functionalised carbon nanotubes with therapeutic agents functionalized with a single therapeutic agent.      

Aqueous Sulfate Separation by Crystallization of Sulfate–Water Clusters

An effective approach to sulfate separation from aqueous solutions is based on the crystallization of extended [SO₄(H₂O)₅²⁻]_n sulfate–water clusters with a bis(guanidinium) ligand. The ligand was generated in situ by hydrazone condensation in water, thereby bypassing the need for elaborate syntheses, tedious purifications, and organic solvents. Crystallization of sulfate–water clusters represents an alternative approach to the now established sulfate separation strategies that involve encapsulation of the “naked” anion.     

A fluorescence anisotropy method for measuring protein concentration in complex cell culture media

The rapid, quantitative analysis of the complex cell culture media used in biopharmaceutical manufacturing is of critical importance. Requirements for cell culture media composition profiling, or changes in specific analyte concentrations (e.g. amino acids in the media or product protein in the bioprocess broth) often necessitate the use of complicated analytical methods and extensive sample handling. Rapid spectroscopic methods like multi-dimensional fluorescence (MDF) spectroscopy have been successfully applied for the routine determination of compositional changes in cell culture media and bioprocess broths. Quantifying macromolecules in cell culture media is a specific challenge as there is a need to implement measurements rapidly on the prepared media. However, the use of standard fluorescence spectroscopy is complicated by the emission overlap from many media components. Here, we demonstrate how combining anisotropy measurements with standard total synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy (TSFS) provides a rapid, accurate quantitation method for cell culture media. Anisotropy provides emission resolution between large and small fluorophores while TSFS provides a robust measurement space. Model cell culture media was prepared using yeastolate (2.5 mg mL^–1) spiked with bovine serum albumin (0 to 5 mg mL^–1). Using this method, protein emission is clearly discriminated from background yeastolate emission, allowing for accurate bovine serum albumin (BSA) quantification over a 0.1 to 4.0 mg mL^–1range with a limit of detection (LOD) of 13.8 μg mL^–1.     

Anion separation by selective crystallization of metal-organic frameworks

A novel approach for the separation of anions from aqueous mixtures was demonstrated, which involves their selective crystallization with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) containing urea functional groups. Self-assembly of Zn2+ with the N,N'-bis(m-pyridyl)urea (BPU) linker results in the formation of one-dimensional MOFs including various anions for charge balance, which interact to different extents with the zinc nodes and the urea hydrogen-bonding groups, depending on their coordinating abilities. Thus, Cl-, Br-, I-, and SO4(2-), in the presence of BPU and Zn2+, form MOFs from water, in which the anions coordinate the zinc and are hydrogen-bonded to the urea groups, whereas NO3- and ClO4- anions either do not form MOFs or form water-soluble discrete coordination complexes under the same conditions. X-ray diffraction, FTIR, and elemental analysis of the coordination polymers precipitated from aqueous mixtures containing equivalent amounts of these anions indicated total exclusion of the oxoanions and selective crystallization of the halides in the form of solid solutions with the general composition ZnCl(x)Br(y)I(z).BPU (x + y + z = 2), with an anti-Hofmeister selectivity. The concomitant inclusion of the halides in the same structural frameworks facilitates the rationalization of the observed selectivity on the basis of the diminishing interactions with the zinc and urea acidic centers in the MOFs when going from Cl- to I-, which correlates with decreasing anionic charge density in the same order. The overall crystal packing efficiency of the coordination frameworks, which ultimately determines their solubility, also plays an important role in the anion crystallization selectivity under thermodynamic equilibration.     

Concentration and saturation effects of tethered polymer chains on adsorbing surfaces

We consider end-grafted chains at an adsorbing surface under good solvent conditions using Monte Carlo simulations and scaling arguments. Grafting of chains allows us to fix the surface concentration and to study a wide range of surface concentrations from the undersaturated state of the surface up to the brushlike regime. The average extension of single chains in the direction parallel and perpendicular to the surface is analyzed using scaling arguments for the two-dimensional semidilute surface state according to Bouchaud and Daoud [J. Phys. (Paris) 48, 1991 (1987)]. We find good agreement with the scaling predictions for the scaling in the direction parallel to the surface and for surface concentrations much below the saturation concentration (dense packing of adsorption blobs). Increasing the grafting density we study the saturation effects and the oversaturation of the adsorption layer. In order to account for the effect of excluded volume on the adsorption free energy we introduce a new scaling variable related with the saturation concentration of the adsorption layer (saturation scaling). We show that the decrease of the single chain order parameter (the fraction of adsorbed monomers on the surface) with increasing concentration, being constant in the ideal semidilute surface state, is properly described by saturation scaling only. Furthermore, the simulation results for the chains' extension from higher surface concentrations up to the oversaturated state support the new scaling approach. The oversaturated state can be understood using a geometrical model which assumes a brushlike layer on top of a saturated adsorption layer. We provide evidence that adsorbed polymer layers are very sensitive to saturation effects, which start to influence the semidilute surface scaling even much below the saturation threshold.