The Effect of Cyclodextrins on the Photochemical Stability of 7-Amino-4-methylcoumarin in Aqueous Solution

The effect of -, - and -cyclodextrin onthe photochemical stability of 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (C120)was studied. Using spectroscopic techniques (UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence, fluorescence anisotropy and circular dichroism) combined with HPLC/MS and MS analysis it was demonstrated that addition of -cyclodextrin to the aqueoussolution of C120 markedly inhibits the photodegradation of that dye. This results from theformation of an inclusion complex between C120 and -cyclodextrin.     

Pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse hemicellulose hydrolysate for xylitol production byCandida guilliermondii

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - In order to remove or reduce the concentrations of toxic substances present in the sugarcane bagasse hemicellulose hydrolysate for xyloseto-xylitol...     

On finite {1,2,3}-semiaffine planes

In this paper, we investigate {1,2,3}-semiaffine planes. All such planes of order n >51 shall be classified. It turns out that they are embeddable into projective planes of the same order n in the most natural way.Work supported by National Research Project on Strutture Geometriche Combinatoria, loro applicazioni of Italian M.P.I. and G.N.S.A.G.A. of C.N.R.     

Electron transport in corona charged 12 μm teflon FEP with saturable deep traps

Surface-potential measurements carried out in negatively corona charged 12 m samples of fluorethylenepropylene (Teflon FEP) showed the following characteristics: 1) with a constant charging current, the potential initially rises linearly, and then sublinearly; 2) the potential saturates irrespectively of the charging process and 3) practically no potential decay is observed after switching off the corona. These results have been interpreted in terms of an usual model (field-independent trapping time) for charge transport in insulators, with saturable deep traps in both surface and bulk of the sample and a relatively high electron mobility in order to prevent free-space charge accumulation. The partial differential equations derived from the model are numerically solved and it was found that only the product of the mobility with the trapping time is relevant to the fitting of experimental results, provided that >10^–8 cm²/Vs. A field-dependent trapping time model leads to poorer fittings.     

Radical copolymerization of citraconic acid with styrene in dioxane solution

Styrene and citraconic acid (CA) were copolymerized in the dioxane solution ranging mole fraction of CA in feed from 0.1 to 0.9 at 70 °C. The terminal and penultimate models were used to fit the copolymer composition equation. Curve fitting, Mayo-Lewis, Joshi-Joshi, Fineman-Ross, Ezrielev-Brokhina-Roskin, Kellen-Tüd?s methods were used to solve the copolymer equation in terminal model. Besides these methods Solver in Excel 97 was used to solve copolymer equation in terminal and penultimate models of copolymerization. Experimental mole fractions of CA and those predicted from both models are agreed within the precision of the method used for the copolymer analysis, so the copolymer composition does not permit a definite choice of the adequate copolymerization model.     

Lipase from a Brazilian StrainPenicillium citrinum Cultured in a Simple and Inexpensive Medium st]Heat-Denaturation, Kinetics, and pH Stability

This work is a study of lipase production by a Brazilian strain ofPenicillium citrinum using an inexpensive and simple medium without organic nitrogen sources and of some important industrial properties, including thermostability in relation to ionic strength. The maximal lipase activity (1585 U/L) was obtained whenPenicillium citrinum was cultured on 0.75% ammonium sulfate complemented with minerals salts instead of yeast extract. Although this activity was about 55% lower than that produced in medium with yeast extract (2850 U/L), the specific activity (7.8 U/mg proteins) was higher than that obtained with the yeast extract (4.9 U/mg proteins). The morphology of fungus changed totally, with yeast extract there are smooth, solid, and spherical pellets whereas on ammonium sulfate there are small “hairy” pellets uniformly suspended in the medium. The effect of ferrous (Fe⁺⁺) ions was carried out using medium MA with and without Fe⁺⁺ ions. Lipase production byPenicillium citrinum in medium MA requires Fe⁺⁺ ions, the absence of which caused a decreased of about 50% in the specific activity (3.5 U/mg proteins). The utilization of commercial, locally available oils as carbon sources, such as soybean oil (236 U/L) and corn oil (74 U/L) resulted in lower activity compared to olive oil, showing that lipase production byPenicillium citrinum is specifically induced by olive oil. Potassium concentration in the medium can effects the production of lipase (1 mM (1585 U/L), 10 mM (1290 U/L), and 30 mM (1238 U/L), 50 mM (195 U/L), and 100 mM (2 U/L). The crude culture filtered was susceptable to thermal deactivation. It was stable at pH 6.0, but was not stable at the optimum pH (8.0-8.5) at 50 mM. At the low ionic concentration (1-25 mM) this lipase was stable at low pH (3.5-4.0). The activation energy was 22.4 ±2.2 Kcal. mol 1.     

Unusual volumetric and hydration behavior of the catanionic system sodium undecenoate: sodecyltrimethylammonium bromide

Following the studies on the effect of double bonds in the surfactant hydrophobic tail on the formation of mixed surfactant aggregates, we studied the viscosity and density of the system Sodium 10-undecenoate (SUD)–decyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB)–water. We found that the partial molar volume (pmv) and intrinsic viscosity of both, micellised and unmicellised mixtures, are non-ideal, dependent on the mixture composition and related to structural changes in micelles. These phenomena are caused by the presence of the double bond at the distal extreme of the SUD molecule, which has some affinity with water by formation of hydrogen bonds. In particular, as far as we know, this is the first report on non-ideal behavior of the pmv in mixed micelles.     

The aqueous cationic system sodium undecenoate-dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide at low concentration

The aqueous sodium undecenoate (SUD) –dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) catanionic system was studied at low concentration. The system did not precipitate, even at a 1:1 SUD:DTAB proportion, but showed the formation of a coacervate in a range of surfactant mixture compositions. Micelles have a preferential composition of 0.37 mole fraction of SUD. This behavior is attributed to the presence of the double bond at the distal extreme of the SUD molecule, which can form hydrogen bonds with water. Consequently, the –CH=CH₂ group is situated at the interface between the hydrocarbon micelle core and water, reducing the interfacial free energy. Structural computations demonstrate that the mentioned SUD proportion produces complete coverage of the micelle surface by the double bonds.     

Application of the DFT Theory to Study Cobalamin Complexes

The aim of present study is to select the best methodology in the frame of the Density Functional Theory (DFT), which may be employed to study the cobalamin complexes. Our discussion is limited to two approaches, one in which hybrid B3LYP and UB3LYP functionals are used, and the second in which geometry parameters are calculated within LDA-VWN functional, and energies of the investigated systems are computed within RPBE functional. Results of performed calculations show that both methodologies can be successfully applied to study cobalamin derivatives. Probably because of the small ligand binding energies in the studied complexes, the B3LYP and UB3LYP functionals may be used only to predict the pattern of changes in the binding energies. The use of the RPBE functional, originally parameterized to reproduce in a proper way the chemisorption energies of the small molecules on the metallic surfaces, allows to improve their values so as they fit into experimental data. Geometry parameters of the investigated complexes computed within both approaches are in good agreement with the experimental values. Interatomic distances are a little overestimated while calculated within both hybrid functionals, what is in contrast to VWN functional results. The latter, in general, gives shorter distances as observed experimentally.     

Behavior of Humic Acid as a Micellar Phase in Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography (MEKC)

The possibility of humic acids acting as micellar phase in micellar electrokinetic chromatography was evaluated. We investigated the separation of naphthalene in capillary electrophoresis using various samples of humic acids as micellar phase under different pH conditions, concentrations of humic acid, and temperature. The humic acid samples studied were from different origins including peat, vermicompost and a commercial sample acquired from Aldrich. Methanol was used as a marker for the electroosmotic flow. The results indicate that the formation of micelle depends on the number and nature of the hydrophobic association sites in an aqueous humic acid solution and on the origin and concentration of the humic acid at a defined pH. At lower pH values, the possibility of the humic acid molecule forming pseudomicelles increases due to a combination of neutralized and dissociated charged sites.