Temperature stabilized optical waveguide modulator

A low drive-voltage optical modulator using a Ti-diffused UNbO₃ optical waveguide has been fabricated. Stabilization against ambient temperature change was realized by using a miniature halfwave plate. The halfwave voltage, 3 dB bandwidth, optical insertion loss and extinction ratio were 3·8 V (at 1·06m wavelength), 850 MHz, 10 dB and 13 dB, respectively. A reduction scheme for the optical absorption caused by metallic electrodes, and an analysis of the modulator high frequency response are also reported.     

Solubilization of oleyl alcohol by pure and mixtures of surfactants

The solubilization behavior of oleyl alcohol by pure and mixtures of surfactants systems have been studied in terms of the maximum additive concentration (MAC), the solubilizing power, and the particle sizes of micelles with or without oleyl alcohol. The surfactants used are amphoteric (N,N-dimethyl-N-lauroyl lysine, DMLL; N,N,N-trimethyl-N-lauroyl lysine, TMLL; N,N-dimethyl-N-(carboxymethyl)-lauryl ammonium, DMCL), anionic (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS) and nonionic (alkyl polyoxyethylene ethers).The maximum additive concentration of oleyl alcohol by pure surfactants is larger by nonionic surfactants than by others.For a nonionic surfactant system mixed with DMLL, the mixing effect of surfactant on the increase in the MAC is not recognized. While, for DMLL mixed with SDS, the MAC becomes larger than that by pure surfactants. This may be attributed to the fact that the large micellar size will result in increasing the maximum additive concentration.     

Effects of carbonyl and aldehyde groups in the graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate on cellulose with a ceric salt

Graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate on cellulosic materials of various carbonyl and aldehyde contents with the use of a ceric salt as an initiator was studied. It was found that the concentration of the ceric salt which gives the maximum per cent grafting is in good agreement with the equivalent of total carbonyl content in the cellulosic material, and the number of grafted chains in copolymers is roughly proportional to it. However, the molar ratio of the number of grafted chains to total carbonyl content is quite small, being approximately 1:50, and the graft copolymerization can be explained kinetically on the assumption that the number of radicals produced on cellulose by the ceric salt leading to branching is very much smaller than the number of radicals destroyed by the ceric salt, and growing radicals can be stabilized by the termination reaction with the ceric salt or with a cellulose radical. Although both aldehyde and carbonyl groups contribute to the formation of grafted chains, the former are effective mainly at low concentrations of the ceric salt; both groups participate in the production of graft copolymers showing the maximum per cent grafting.     

Reagentless biosensor for isocitrate using one step modified Pt-Ir microelectrode

The Pt-Ir microelectrode modified through one step electropolymerization is proposed for the isocitrate amperometric biosensor construction. The enzyme (isocitrate dehydrogenase-ICDH), coenzyme (NADP(+)) and mediator (Meldola's Blue) were immobilized onto the microelectrode surface in one step from a PIPES buffer solution containing pyrrole. The optimized experimental conditions were 25 cycles of cyclic voltammetric in a solution containing 3.58 10(-5) mol l(-1) of mediator, 3.51 10(-4) mol l(-1) of coenzyme and 2.68 U ml(-1) of enzyme. In contrast to the biosensor for isocitrate reported in literature, just one enzyme was immobilized and no coenzyme addition in the solution of analysis was necessary. Catalytic currents were proportional to the isocitrate concentration between 7.7 10(-6) and 1.04 10(-4) mol l(-1), showing good repeatability. The detection limit of the proposed biosensor was 3.50 10(-6) mol l(-1), the response time was lower than 20 s, the lifetime was about 30 determinations and no significant interference of sugars and citric acid was verified. Orange juice samples were analysed by both methodology biosensor and spectrophotometric commercial kit, and the obtained results presented a good correlation. The data demonstrated that the developed biosensor is suitable for isocitrate determination in orange juice without matrix interferences.     

Infrared spectroscopic study on the reaction mechanism of CO hydrogenation over Pd/CeO2

In situ infrared spectroscopy was applied to elucidate the reaction mechanism of CO hydrogenation over Pd/CeO₂. Instead of direct dissociation of CO, a new reaction pathway is proposed for methane formation, involving geminal dicarbonyl intermediates and (HCO)₂(a) intermediates, which may be located on the surface of Pd covered with thin layers of reduced ceria (SMSI effect). Transformation of methane formation sites into methanol formation ones by the oxidation with water vapor formed during the CO?H₂ reaction is proposed, which may be located on the Pd (111) planes adjacent to ceria support.     

Photo-induced cellulose radicals capable of initiating graft copolymerization

The decay behavior of cellulose radicals produced by photo-irradiation at room temperature and the characteristics of photo-irradiated cellulose samples to initiate graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) were investigated. ESR spectra of such untreated, swollen, oximated, and ferric ion-sensitized samples irradiated at room temperature were constructed mainly of a single absorption line with a line width of 20 to 22 gauss and a g value of 2.003, and it is surely conceivable that the radicals showing a singlet spectrum should agree with those of alkoxy end produced at either the C₁ or C₄ position of the glucose unit by the scission of glucosidic bonds. The decay of radicals was accelerated by contact of various solvents with the samples, the activity decreasing in the order, water ≈ methanol ? acetone > dioxane. On the other hand, the decay of radicals by vinyl monomers became smaller in the order, methacrylic acid > MMA ≈ styrene. Graft copolymerization of MMA by a photo-irradiated sample was effectively initiated with the use of a certain amount of water or methanol, but not with acetone and dioxane. As no initiation can occur with the unirradiated sample, it is concluded that the initiation of graft copolymerization on the photo-irradiated sample is attributable to cellulose radicals showing a singlet spectrum which are formed in photo-irradiation at room temperature.     

Polyhydrazides. III. N-methylated polyhydrazides by ring-opening of poly-p-phenylene-1,3,4-oxadiazole

A new ring-opening reaction of 1,3,4-oxadiazole by methylating reagents was developed in fuming sulfuric acid or polyphosphoric acid and then, by applying this reaction to poly-p-phenylene-1,3,4-oxadiazole, a high molecular weight poly-N-methylterephthalylhydrazide was obtained. Various methylating reagents were investigated as ring-opening reagents. The degrees of ring-opening in polymers were estimated and related to the properties of the polymers.     

Accuracy in the precise coulometric titration of ammonia and ammonium ion with electrogenerated hypobromite

A precise and accurate method in which ammonia and ammonium ions are coulometrically titrated with electrogenerated hypobromite was studied. Through the measurement of the current efficiency for generating hypobromite and the dependencies of titration results on electrolysis current and delay time between sampling and starting electrolysis, precision and accuracy of 0.01 and 0.02%, respectively, were obtained. The accuracy of the titration was compared with that of acidimetric coulometric titration of ammonia.     

Interaction between peroxide ion and phenol group which are coordinated to the same iron(III) ion

We have prepared several new iron(III) complexes with ligands which contain a phenol group; these are tetradentate [(X-phpy)H, X and H(phpy) represent the substituents on the phenol ring and N,N-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)-N-(2-hydroxybenzyl)amine, respectively] and pentadentate ligands [(R-enph-X)H; R=ethyl(Et) or methyl(Me) derivative and H(Me-enph) denotes N,N-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)-N″-methyl-N″-(2″-hydroxyl-benzylamine)ethylenediamine] and have determined the crystal structures of Fe(phpy)Cl₂, Fe(5-NO₂-phpy)Cl₂, and Fe(Me-enph)ClPF₆, which are of a mononuclear six-coordinate iron(III) complex with coordination of one or two chloride ion(s). These compounds are highly colored (dark violet) due to the coordination of phenol group to an iron(III) atom. When hydrogen peroxide was added to the solution of the iron(III) complex, a color change occurs with bleaching of the violet color, indicating that oxidative degradation of the phenol moiety occurred in the ligand system. The bleaching of the violet color was also observed by the addition of t-butylhydroperoxide. The rate of the disappearance of the violet color is highly dependent on the substituent on the phenol ring; introduction of an electron-withdrawing group in the phenol ring decreases the rate of bleaching, suggesting that disappearance of the violet band should be due to a chemical reaction between the phenol group and a peroxide adduct of the iron(III) species with an η¹-coordination mode and that in this reaction the peroxide adduct acts as an electrophile towards phenol ring. The intramolecular interaction between the phenol moiety and an iron(III)-peroxide adduct may induce activation of the peroxide ion, and this was supported by several facts that the solution containing an iron(III) complex and hydrogen peroxide exhibits high activities for degradation of nucleosides and albumin.     

NMR and quantum chemical study on the OH...pi and CH...O interactions between trehalose and unsaturated fatty acids: implication for the mechanism of antioxidant function of trehalose

Trehalose is a disaccharide that attracts much attention as a stress protectant. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of the antioxidant function of trehalose. The spin-lattice relaxation times (T(1)) of (1)H and (13)C NMR spectra were measured to investigate the interaction between trehalose and unsaturated fatty acid (UFA). We selected several kinds of UFA that differ in the number of double bonds and in their configurations (cis or trans). Several other disaccharides (sucrose, maltose, neotrehalose, maltitol, and sorbitol) were also analyzed by NMR. The T(1) values for the (1)H and (13)C signals assigned to the olefin double bonds in UFA decrease with increasing concentration of trehalose and the changes reaches plateaus at integer ratios of trehalose to UFA. The characteristic T(1) change is observed only for the combination of trehalose and UFA with cis double bond(s). On the other hand, from the (13)C-T(1) measurements for trehalose, the T(1) values of the C-3 (C-3') and C-6' (C-6) are found to change remarkably by addition of UFA. (1)H[bond](1)H NOESY measurements provide direct evidence for complexation of trehalose with linoleic acid. These results indicate that one trehalose molecule stoichiometrically interacts with one cis-olefin double bond of UFA. Computer modeling study indicates that trehalose forms a stable complex with an olefin double bond through OH...pi and CH...O types of hydrogen bonding. Furthermore, a significant increase in the activation energy is found for hydrogen abstraction reaction from the methylene group located between the double bonds that are both interacting with the trehalose molecules. Therefore, trehalose has a significant depression effect on the oxidation of UFA through the weak interaction with the double bond(s). This is the first study to elucidate the antioxidant function of trehalose.