Square-wave voltammetric determination of cefoperazone in a bacterial culture,pharmaceutical drug,milk, and urine

Use of square-wave voltammetry (SWV) for determination of cefoperazone (CFPZ) in some buffers, bacterial culture, urine, and milk is described. CFPZ provides a specific voltammetric signal which is affected by pH and solution components. Determination of CFPZ in Britton–Robinson buffer, pH 4.4, is sensitive with a low detection limit (about 0.5 nmol L^–1). In a more complex medium (bacterial 2YT medium, pH 7.2) the detection limit was approximately 1.5 mol L^–1. We provide evidence that SWV is a suitable and quick method for CFPZ determination in a culture of living bacteria without separation of biomass. We have found big differences between methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) in cultivation in the presence of CFPZ, depending on time. When CFPZ is cleaved by penicillinase, a new SWV peak b appears at more positive potentials. This peak rises both with increasing concentration of enzyme and with cleavage time while the original CFPZ peak is simultaneously decreasing. We determined the concentration of CFPZ in the drug Pathozone by the standard addition method and achieved good agreement with the declared value of CFPZ in the drug. With a simple pretreatment procedure it is possible to determine CFPZ in milk; for urine no pretreatment was required. Using SWV we could detect CFPZ concentrations as low as 500 nmol L^–1 in bovine milk and human urine.     

Ultrafast collective dynamics in the charge-density-wave conductor K(0.3)MoO(3)

Low-energy coherent charge-density wave excitations are investigated in blue bronze (K(0.3)MoO(3)) and red bronze (K(0.33)MoO(3)) by femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. A linear gapless, acousticlike dispersion relation is observed for the transverse phasons with a pronounced anisotropy in K(0.33)MoO(3). The amplitude mode exhibits a weak (opticlike) dispersion relation with a frequency of 1.67 THz at 30 K. Our results show for the first time that the time-resolved optical technique provides momentum resolution of collective excitations in strongly correlated electron systems.     

Preparation and mechanical properties of thermal energy storage microcapsules

A series of heat energy storage microcapsules was prepared using melamine-formaldehyde resin as the shell material and the mechanical properties of the shell were investigated. A phase change material whose melting point was 24 °C was used as core and the quantity of heat involved in phase transition was 225.5 J/g. Average diameter of the microcapsules varied from 5 to 10 μm, and the globular surface was smooth and compact. The mechanical properties of the shell were evaluated by observing the surface morphological structure change after application of pressure by means of scanning electron microscopy. When the mass ratio of the core and shell material is 3:1, a yield point of about 1.1×10⁵ Pa was found and when the compression was increased beyond this point the microcapsules showed plastic behavior. This has been attributed to the cross-link density and to the high degree of reaction of the shell material. Different yield points subsequently reflected differences in the mechanical behavior. It was also found that the mechanical intensity of double-shell microcapsules was better than that of single shelled ones.     

Consistent treatment of inter- and intramolecular polarization in molecular mechanics calculations

A protocol is described for the treatment of molecular polarization in force field calculations. The resulting model is consistent in that both inter- and intramolecular polarization are handled within a single scheme. An analytical formula for removing intramolecular polarization from a set of atomic multipoles for an arbitrary static structure or conformation is given. With the help of the intramolecular polarization, these permanent atomic multipoles can then be applied in modeling alternative conformations of a molecule. Equipped with this simple technique, one can derive transferable electrostatic parameters for peptides and proteins using flexible model compounds such as dipeptides. The proposed procedure is tested for its ability to describe the electrostatic potential around various configurations of the N-methylacetamide dimer. The effect of different intramolecular polarization schemes on the accuracy of a force field model of the electrostatic potential of alanine dipeptide is investigated. A group-based scheme for including direct intramolecular polarization is shown to be most successful in accounting for the conformational dependence of electrostatic potentials.     

First-order mean spherical approximation for inhomogeneous fluids

The first-order mean-spherical approximation (FMSA) [Y. Tang, J. Chem. Phys., 118, 4140 (2003)] is extended to the studies of inhomogeneous fluids by combining with Rosenfeld's perturbative method [Y. Rosenfeld, J. Chem. Phys. 98, 8126 (1993)]. In the extension, the key input-direct correlation function of FMSA-is applied to constructing the free energy density functional. Preserving its high fidelity at the bulk limit, the FMSA shows satisfactory performance for Yukawa fluids near hard and attractive walls. The results are better than or comparable to several other theories reported before for the geometry. The FMSA is found, in particular, more satisfactory than the traditional mean-field theory for predicting density profiles around hard walls. The FMSA is also compared with the full MSA for inhomogeneous fluids, showing no appreciable differences. The inhomogeneous FMSA goes successfully through the self-consistency test for reproducing the radial distribution function of the bulk Yukawa fluid. As far as the computation is concerned, the FMSA can be executed much faster than any nonmean-field theories, and the speed is virtually identical to that of the mean-field theory.     

Cure reaction and phase behavior of liquid crystalline epoxides-anhydride systems

A series of novel liquid crystalline epoxides with lateral substituents were cured with anhydrides and the cure kinetics was investigated by non-isothermal DSC technique. The results showed that the lengths of lateral substituents have great effect on the value of Ea. The curing reaction became less active, when the liquid crystalline epoxides have long lateral substituents and were controlled by diffusion at the late stage of cure. A nematic structure was observed by POM and XRD.     

Curing reaction characteristics and phase behaviors of biphenol type epoxy resins with phenol novolac resins

Diglycidyl ether of 4,4′-dihydroxybiphenol (BPDGE) is a liquid crystalline epoxy. The biphenyl epoxy (diglycidyl ether of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethyl-4,4′-biphenyl, TMBPDGE) has found great applications in plastic encapsulated semiconductor packaging. Phenol novolac (PN) was used as curing agent. The reaction kinetics of BPDGE/PN and TMBPDGE/PN systems in the presence of triphenylphosphine (TPP) were characterized by an isoconversional method under dynamic conditions using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements. The results showed that the curing of epoxy resins involves different reaction stages and the values of activation energy are dependent on the degree of conversion. The effects of curing temperature on their phase structure have been investigated with polarized optical microscopy and Wide-angle X-ray diffraction. With proper curing process, BPDGE showed a nematic phase when cured with PN.     

Structural Study on NMR and X-Ray of Lactucopicrin—A Guaianolide Ester

The guaianolide ester is a potent inhibitor of cancer cells. Lactucopicrin, a guaianolide, shows analgesic, antitussic, and sedative activities. In order to investigate its structure, ¹H and ¹³C NMR and 2D NMR have been carried out at a proton field strength of 400 MHz and a carbon field strength of 100 Mhz in DMSO-d ₆ at 20°C. Resonances for all protons and carbons have been assigned. The results of HMQC and HMBC experiments suggest that the structure of lactucopicrin is as shown in Fig. 1. Its stereostructure is verified by the X-ray experiment. ¹H and ¹³C NMR of lactucopicrin are reported. Its 2D NMR and X-ray are reported for the first time.     

Study of the winter and summer changes of the air composition in the church of Szalowa, Poland, related to conservation

The St. Michael Archangel’s Church in Szalowa, Poland, was selected for closer investigation with respect to the indoor/outdoor air exchange and its influence on the air quality and work arts preservation. Chemical composition, size and abundance of particulate matter and concentration of gases NO₂, SO₂, O₃ inside and outside the church were determined. To study seasonal variation of the weather condition (temperature, inversion level, wind direction) and the influence of seasonal sources of the air pollution (like heating of the nearby houses), samples were collected in winter and summer time. It was stated that suspended particulate matter inside the wooden church has in general an outdoor source. Several groups of particles were distinguished such as the organic ones, soil dust, nitrates and sulphates. In case of organic and soil dust particles, the concentration inside was higher than outside. From the results, in comparison to literature data, one can conclude that accumulation of particulate suspended matter in the church is more intense than in other types of buildings. Gaseous pollutants were detected but their concentration was negligible.     

The Direct Resolution of the Enantiomers of Four Chiral Pesticides

Cellulose-tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate)(CDMPC) were synthesized as highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) chiral stationary phase(CSP). The successful resolution of four chiral pesticides on the CSP was realized and the influence of the temperature on the separation was studied.