Research on the vesicle-micelle transition by 1H NMR relaxation measurement

We have investigated how the dynamics of surfactant molecules changes with the vesicle-micelle transition by (1)H NMR relaxation studies on the sodium decyl sulfate (SDeS)-decyltrimethylammonium bromide (DeTAB)-deuterium oxide system. The study has been planned with reference to the phase diagram of the SDeS-DeTAB-water system deduced from thermodynamic analysis of the surface tension data. The spin-lattice relaxation time (T(1)) and the spin-spin relaxation time (T(2)) are measured at 90 and 400 MHz at various total molalities, m, and compositions, X(2), of the surfactants. The data were analyzed according to the "two-step" model developed by Wennerstr?m et al. and molecular dynamics of the surfactant is discussed from the viewpoint of correlation time tau(f) associated with the local fast motion of the surfactant molecule, correlation time tau(s) associated with the slow overall motions of the aggregate and surfactant molecules within it, and local order parameter S. We find tau(s) of vesicles is an order of magnitude larger than that of micelles signifying that the tumbling of vesicle particles and surfactant diffusion over the vesicle are much slower than those for micelle. Tau(f) and S for vesicles are also larger than those for micelles. Molecular environments of the surfactant are also discussed from the dependence of the chemical shifts on m at constant X(2) or from that on X(2) at constant m. When the chemical shifts in vesicle and micelle are compared at constant m, the chemical shifts in vesicle are displaced to a lower magnetic field than those in micelle, which implies that the surfactant molecules are arranged more closely to each other in the vesicle than in the micelle.     

Strong Poincaré recurrence theorem in MV-algebras

The classical Poincaré strong recurrence theorem states that for any probability space (Ω, ℒ, P), any P-measure preserving transformation T, and any A ∈ ℒ, almost all points of A return to A infinitely many times. In the present paper the Poincaré theorem is proved when the σ-algebra ℒ is substituted by an MV-algebra of a special type. Another approach is used in [RIEČAN, B.: Poincaré recurrence theorem in MV-algebras. In: Proc. IFSA-EUSFLAT 2009 (To appear)], where the weak variant of the theorem is proved, of course, for arbitrary MV-algebras. Such generalizations were already done in the literature, e.g. for quantum logic, see [DVUREČENSKIJ, A.: On some properties of transformations of a logic, Math. Slovaca 26 (1976), 131–137.     

Terwilliger algebras of wreath products of one-class association schemes

In this paper, we study the wreath product of one-class association schemes K _n =H(1,n) for n≥2. We show that the d-class association scheme \(K_{n_{1}}\wr K_{n_{2}}\wr \cdots \wr K_{n_{d}}\) formed by taking the wreath product of \(K_{n_{i}}\) (for n _i ≥2) has the triple-regularity property. Then based on this fact, we determine the structure of the Terwilliger algebra of \(K_{n_{1}}\wr K_{n_{2}}\wr \cdots \wr K_{n_{d}}\) by studying its irreducible modules. In particular, we show that every non-primary module of this algebra is 1-dimensional.     

Design of a rate- and time-programming drug release device using a hydrogel: pulsatile drug release from κ-carrageenan hydrogel device by surface erosion of the hydrogel

We have found that a repetitive pulsatile drug release with a certain time interval is observed from a monolithic hydrogel device by surface erosion of the hydrogel. As a model system of pulsatile drug release, dibucaine hydrochloride and κ-carrageenan hydrogel were chosen as a drug and a device, respectively. Electrostatic interactions between dibucaine hydrochloride and κ-carrageenan polymer segments are strong, since dibucaine hydrochloride is positively charged and each disaccharide repeating unit of κ-carrageenan chains has one sulfate group. Dibucaine hydrochloride was loaded into the hydrogel by immersing dry κ-carrageenan hydrogel disks in a dibucaine hydrochloride solution for 24 h. The pulsed release of dibucaine hydrochloride from the device was observed every 50 min between 30 and 250 min after the release starts. The weight of κ-carrageenan hydrogel decreases in an oscillatory manner with time in distilled water. The oscillatory changes observed in the hydrogel weight in distilled water are considered to be caused by influx and efflux of water molecules into and from the surface and core of the hydrogel and by polymer liberation from the hydrogel. This phenomenon was well explained by our kinetic model [Colloids and Surfaces B 8 (1996) 93–100]. The time interval between pulses observed in drug release coincides with that observed in the oscillatory weight change of the hydrogel. From these, it was concluded that the pulsatile release of dibucaine hydrochloride from the device was caused by the pulsatile liberation of swollen κ-carrageenan hydrogel from the surface of the device.     

Preparation of β-Cyclodextrin Derivatives Possessing Two Trimethylammonio Groups on Their Primary Hydroxy Sides as Chiral Guest Selectors

Three isomers of -cyclodextrin derivatives 2a–c possessing two trimethylammonio groups on their C(6) atoms were prepared by reaction of the corresponding regioisomers of diamino compounds with methyl iodide. These derivatives recognize chiral guests through three-point interactions composed of both Coulomb interactions by the two cationic moieties and hydrophobic interaction by the molecularcavity.     

The kurzweil construction of an integral in ordered spaces

This paper generalizes the results of papers which deal with the Kurzweil-Henstock construction of an integral in ordered spaces. The definition is given and some limit theorems for the integral of ordered group valued functions defined on a Hausdorff compact topological space T with respect to an ordered group valued measure are proved in this paper.     

Effects of micellar charge density on the coefficient of the Corrin-Harkins relation

Effects of the micelle composition (ionic species fraction alpha(M)) on the coefficient of the Corrin-Harkins relation (k(CH)) of ionic/nonionic mixed micelles were examined in the case of dodecyldimethylamine oxide. Long alkyl chain amine oxides exist either in the nonionic or the cationic (protonated form) species depending on the pH of solutions and hence the control of the micelle composition near the critical micelle concentration (cmc) is possible by adjusting the pH of the solutions. On the basis of the cmc data from the surface tension measurements and the hydrogen ion titration curves, we evaluated the k(CH) values as a function of the micelle composition alpha(M) for the first time. The obtained k(CH) values were compared with the degree of the counterion binding, theta, in the solutions without added salt. The k(CH) values increased with alpha(M), and were approximately identical with theta for alpha(M)>0.4. In the range alpha(M)<0.4, it is likely that theta is greater than k(CH). An empirical relation proposed by D. G. Hall et al. ("Mixed Surfactant Systems," Am. Chem. Soc., Washington, D.C. 1992) on the relation between theta and the micelle composition was also compared with these experimental results. Experimental values, k(CH) and theta, followed the empirical relation for alpha(M)>0.4; however, both k(CH) and theta increased steeply in the range alpha(M) 0.25-0.3.     

Effects of phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine content on partitioning of triflupromazine and chlorpromazine between phosphatidylcholine-aminophospholipid bilayer vesicles and water studied by second-derivative spectrophotometry

To assess the affinity of psychotropic phenothiazine drugs, triflupromazine (TFZ) and chlorpromazine (CPZ), for the membranes of central nervous system and the other organs in the body, the partition coefficients (Kps) of these drugs to phosphatidylcholine (PC)-phosphatidylserine (PS) and PC-phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) small and large unilamellar vesicles (SUV, LUV) were examined by a second-derivative spectrophotometric method, since PS is abundantly contained in the membranes of the central nervous system and PE is distributed widely in the membranes of the organs in the body. Size and preparation methods of the vesicles did not affect the Kp values at each aminophospholipid content suggesting that the partition of the phenothiazine drugs was not affected by the structural differences in the vesicles such as their curvature or asymmetric distribution of the phospholipids between the outer and inner layers of the bilayer membranes. However, the Kp values of both drugs increased remarkably according to the PS content in the bilayer membranes, i.e., the Kp values for the vesicles of 30 mol% PS content were about 3 times of that for the vesicles of PC alone, while both Kp values slightly reduced with the increase in the content of PE in the bilayer membranes of PC-PE vesicles. The results indicate that both drugs have higher affinity for the PC-PS bilayer membranes than for the PC and PC-PE membranes, which can offer an evidence for the fact that TFZ and CPZ are predominantly distributed and accumulated in the brain and nerve cell membranes that contain PS abundantly.     

A new entry to carbocycles: synthesis of cyclopentene and cyclohexene derivatives through endo-mode ring closure of allenyl sulfones

Treatment of dimethyl 4-(phenylsulfonyl)-4,5-hexadiene-1,1-dicarboxylate with potassium tert-butoxide in tert-butanol at room temperature effected successive endo-mode ring closure at the sp-hybridized carbon center and demethoxycarbonylation of the resulting malonate derivative leading to the exclusive formation of methyl 2-methyl-3-(phenylsulfonyl)-1-cyclopentenecarboxylate. An additional seven allenyl sulfones having a 1,3-dicarbonyl functionality gave the corresponding cyclopentene or cyclohexene derivatives in high yields.     

Insulinomimetic zinc(II) complexes with natural products: in vitro evaluation and blood glucose lowering effect in KK-Ay mice with type 2 diabetes mellitus

In vitro insulinomimetic activities of Zn(II) complexes with three natural products, betaine, L-lactic acid, and D-(-)-quinic acid (qui), were found in rat adipocytes treated with epinephrine in terms of the inhibition of free fatty acid release. Based on the results, the blood glucose lowering effect in KK-A(y) mice with type 2 diabetes mellitus was observed by daily i.p. injections of a monomeric zinc(II) complex, Zn(qui)(2), for 13 d.