Impact of crystallinity of poly(lactide) on helium and oxygen barrier properties

The helium and oxygen gas barrier properties of poly(lactide) were investigated as a function of stereochemistry and crystallinity degree. Poly(l-lactide) and poly(d,l-lactide) films were obtained by extrusion and thermally cold crystallized in either α′- or α-crystalline form with increasing crystallinity degree. Annealing of the films at low temperatures yielded to α′-crystals as well as the creation of a rigid amorphous fraction in the amorphous phase. Unexpectedly, the quantity of the rigid amorphous fraction was highest in poly(l-lactide) crystallized under α′-form. Unexpectedly, the gas permeability increased with increasing quantity of α′-crystals in poly(l-lactide) and remained constant with increasing quantity of α′-crystals in poly(d,l-lactide). A gain in gas barrier properties was obtained upon crystallization at higher temperatures yielding α-crystals. The analysis of the oxygen transport parameters, in particular the diffusion and the solubility coefficient showed that the diffusion was accelerated upon crystallization, while the solubility coefficient decreased in an expected manner which led to conclude that it remained constant in the amorphous phase. The acceleration of the diffusion seems to be correlated to the occurrence of the rigid amorphous fraction, which holds larger free volume. To conclude, for optimization of poly(lactide) gas barrier properties by focussing on the decrease of the diffusion coefficient it can be suggested to work with poly(d,l-lactide) and to aim a crystallization in α-form avoiding the formation of a rigid amorphous fraction.     

Selective removal of nitrate by using a novel macroporous acrylic anion exchange resin

An anion exchange resin NDP-5 has been prepared successfully and applied on the selective removal of nitrate from SO₄^2-/ NO₃^- binary co-existence system.The composition and morphology of NDP-5 were confirmed by FT-IR and SEM.The NDP-5 resin exhibits the completely different behavior on the adsorption capacity,adsorption kinetic and the effect of the completing anion in the absence or presence of sulfate,compared to D213.And,the resultants of kinetic are well fitted by the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models.These results are very important to develop novel resins with great features.     

Salimabromide: Unexpected Chemistry from the Obligate Marine Myxobacterium Enhygromxya salina

Marine myxobacteria (Enhygromyxa, Plesiocystis, Pseudoenhygromyxa, Haliangium) are phylogenetically distant from their terrestrial counterparts. Salimabromide is the first natural product from the Plesiocystis/Enhygromyxa clade of obligatory marine myxobacteria. Salimabromide has a new tetracyclic carbon skeleton, comprising a brominated benzene ring, a furano lactone residue, and a cyclohexane ring, bridged by a seven‐membered cyclic moiety. The absolute configuration was deduced from experimental and calculated CD data. Salimabromide revealed antibiotic activity towards Arthrobacter cristallopoietes.     

Nanospheres,Nanotubes, Toroids,and Gels with Controlled Macroscopic Chirality

The interaction of a highly dynamic poly(aryl acetylene) (poly‐ 1 ) with Li⁺, Na⁺_, and Ag⁺ leads to macroscopically chiral supramolecular nanospheres, nanotubes, toroids, and gels. With Ag⁺, nanospheres with M helicity and tunable sizes are generated, which complement those obtained from the same polymer with divalent cations. With Li⁺ or Na⁺, poly‐ 1 yields chiral nanotubes, gels, or toroids with encapsulating properties and M helicity. Right‐handed supramolecular structures can be obtained by using the enantiomeric polymer. The interaction of poly‐ 1 with Na⁺ produces nanostructures whose helicity is highly dependent on the solvation state of the cation. Therefore, structures with either of the two helicities can be prepared from the same polymer by manipulation of the cosolvent. Such chiral nanotubes, toroids, and gels have previously not been obtained from helical polymer–metal complexes. Chiral nanospheres made of poly(aryl acetylene) that were previously assembled with metal(II) species can now be obtained with metal(I) species.     

HLLC scheme with novel wave‐speed estimators appropriate for two‐dimensional shallow‐water flow on erodible bed

This paper presents a first‐order HLLC (Harten‐Lax‐Van Leer with contact discontinuities) scheme to solve the Saint‐Venant shallow‐water equations, including morphological evolution of the bed by erosion and deposition of sediments. The Exner equation is used to model the morphological evolution of the bed, while a closure equation is needed to evaluate the rate of sediment transport. The system of Saint‐Venant–Exner equations is solved in a fully coupled way using a finite‐volume technique and a HLLC solver for the fluxes, with a novel wave‐speed estimator adapted to the Exner equation. Wave speeds are usually derived by computing the eigenvalues of the full system, which is highly time‐consuming when no analytical expression is available. In this paper, an eigenvalue analysis of the full system is conducted, leading to simple but still accurate wave‐speed estimators. The new numerical scheme is then tested in three different situations: (1) a circular dam‐break flow over movable bed, (2) an one‐dimensional bed aggradation problem simulated on a 2D unstructured mesh and (3) the case of a dam‐break flow in an erodible channel with a sudden enlargement, for which experimental measurements are available. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.