Polymer Brushes via ATRP: Role of Activator and Deactivator in the Surface‐Initiated ATRP of Styrene on Planar Substrates

The role of activator and deactivator species in the surface‐initiated atom‐transfer radical polymerization of styrene using CuBr/CuBr₂/pentamethyldiethylenetriamine as a model system is described. The influence of initially added deactivator with respect to the degree of controlling the layer growth and thickness is studied. Variation of the activator concentration results in changes of the kinetics as well as brush thicknesses consistent with the well‐known rate laws of ATRP.     

Drug release from hydrazone-containing peptide amphiphiles

Hydrolytically-labile hydrazones in peptide amphiphiles were studied as degradable tethers for release of the drug nabumetone from nanofiber gels. On-resin addition of the novel compound tri-Boc-hydrazido adipic acid to a lysine ε-amine allowed for precise placement of a hydrazide in a peptide sequence.     

Discrimination between ethanol inhibition models in a continuous alcoholic fermentation process using flocculating yeast

Discrimination between different rival models for describing the inhibitory effect of ethanol both on yeast growth and on fermentation was studied for a continuous process of alcoholic fermentation in a tower reactor with recycling of flocculating cells. Models tested include linear, parabolic, hyperbolic, exponential, and generalized nonlinear power-law types. The best expressions were identified under the criteria that all the kinetic parameters should assume acceptable values in a feasible range and should result in the best fit of the experimental data. The kinetic parameters were estimated from steady-state data of several sugar concentrations in feeding stream (S₀ = 160, 170, 180, 190, 200 g/L), constant dilution rate (D = 0.2 h^-1), recycle ratio (α = 13.6), and temperature (T = 30°C). The best model for the yeast growth was of power-law type, whereas for the product formation the best model was of linear type. These models were able to reproduce the trends of the process variables satisfactorily.     

Binary and ternary poly(lactic acid)/poly(ϵ-caprolactone) blends: The effects of oligo-ϵ-caprolactones upon mechanical properties

Oligo-ε-caprolactones(o-CL) have been utilized as principle secondary components within poly(lactic acid)[PLA]-based blends as well as additives within larger-sized PCL/PLA blends in an effort to fully complement the mechanical attributes of the respective polyesters. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis(DMTA) shows that the presence of o-CL plasticizes the PLA non-crystalline phase with a more pronounced effect seen as the size of o-CL is reduced. Moreover, it appears that the size of o-CL could also affect the static mechanical properties of the ternary systems as material stiffness and strength reside between those properties measured for high molecular weight PCL/PLA binary blends and the PLA homopolyester. Future work will examine the ability of these blends to sustain these properties during hydrolytic exposure.     

Method Development for the Speciation of Chromium in River and Industrial Wastewater Using GFAAS

A simple, sensitive and inexpensive method for the speciation of Cr(VI) and Cr(III) in river and industrial wastewater was developed, optimized and validated. Samples were collected, filtered and then chromium species were determined in the filtrate. In the filtrate, total Cr was determined directly by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (GFAAS). A portion of the filtered sample was buffered to pH 6.4, extracted with Amberlite LA-2/MIBK and finally Cr(VI) was determined in the organic extract and Cr(III) in the aqueous phase using GFAAS. The method was evaluated by analysis of the certified reference material, CRM 544, and good accuracy was obtained. The limit of detection for Cr(VI) and Cr(tot)/Cr(III) was found to be 0.30 and 0.08 µg L⁻¹, respectively, and a precision expressed as relative standard deviation of better than 11% was achieved for nine replicates. A number of water samples from the Tinishu Akaki River, Ethiopia, and wastewater samples from a chemical plant in Germany, were analysed. In addition to the GFAAS method, Cr(tot) was also determined using ICP-MS (in CRM 544, lyophilized water, and Tinishu Akaki River water samples) and Cr(tot) and Cr(VI) using UV-VIS spectrophotometry (in CRM 544 and industrial wastewater samples). Good agreement between the different methods was found.     

Mirror image nanostructures

Chiral molecules that self-assemble to form chiral supramolecular structures exhibit interesting structural features reminiscent of tertiary and quaternary structures of proteins and have applications in catalysis and nonlinear optics. Often, these structures are hierarchical, with their chiral structure difficult to interpret on the molecular scale. In this communication, we observe chiral assembling molecules that form well-defined helices with a pitch of 28 nm. We observe the behavior in both R- and S-enantiomers of the molecule, forming mirror image nanostructures. The molecular chirality is determined by the dimethyloctyl alkyl coil of the molecule and is located more than 4 nm from the hydrogen-bonding segment. The nanostructures observed are not hierarchical, which could be a result of the significant separation between the stereocenter and hydrogen-bonding dendron. The subtle structural modification at the periphery of the molecule biases the supramolecular assembly, which is driven primarily by strong hydrogen-bonding and pi-pi stacking interactions.     

Supramolecular fluorophores for biological studies: phenylene vinylene-amino acid amphiphiles

We report here on a family of self-assembling fluorescent organic amphiphiles with a biomolecular L-lysine hydrophile and a photonically active phenylene vinylene hydrophobe. Unlike conventional amphiphiles, these segmented dendrimers feature a rigid, branched hydrophobe, and have packing characteristics controlled by the ratio of cross-sectional areas of the hydrophobe and hydrophile. In dilute solution, the amphiphiles form supramolecular aggregates, which are easily taken in by cells through an endocytic pathway, and have no discernible effect on cell proliferation or morphology. An analogous pyrene-based amphiphile was cytotoxic, suggesting that cell survival may be linked either to the self-assembling nature of the amphiphiles, or to the specific properties of the phenylene vinylene segment. The combination of photonic and biological components in these amphiphiles provides great potential for applications in sensing or delivery of molecules to intracellular targets.