Dynamic Interfacial Behavior of Poly(oxyethylene) Lauryl Ether Based Surfactant Mixtures

The adsorption behavior of binary mixtures comprising nonionic surfactants at the air–water interface has been studied by bubble pressure tensiometry at concentrations above and below their critical micelle concentrations. Surfactants with the same hydrocarbon chains but different degree of ethoxylations were chosen as the components to understand their mixing behavior at equilibrium and dynamic conditions. At short times, the adsorption is found to be diffusion limited for individual components as well as for the mixtures, as predicted by the Ward and Tordai model. The effective diffusion coefficient of the monomers in the mixed state displays a dynamic synergism, consistent with the molecular thermodynamic model for dynamic surface tension. However, the equilibrium surface tension and micellar diffusion coefficient of the mixtures exhibit ideal behavior.     

Sensitive,selective and rapid determination of lafutidine in human plasma by solid phase extraction-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A simple, sensitive and high throughput liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed for the determination of lafutidine in human plasma. Sample clean-up involved solid phase extraction of lafutidine along with ranitidine as the internal standard from 100 μL of human plasma. The chromatographic separation is achieved within 2.5 min on a Grace Denali C18 (50 × 4.6 mm, 5 μ) column using 2 mM ammonium acetate, pH 3.0 adjusted with acetic acid and acetonitrile (20: 80, v/v) as the mobile phase. The precursor → product ion transitions for lafutidine (m/z 432.2 → 351.4) and IS (m/z 315.3 → 176.3) were monitored on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, operating in the multiple reaction monitoring and positive ion mode. The method is validated over a wide dynamic concentration range of 0.25–1000 ng/mL. The mean relative recovery for lafutidine across quality controls is 97.9%. The relative matrix effect between eight different plasma lots, expressed as coefficient of variation of the slopes of the calibration lines is 1.94. The method is applied to a bioequivalence study of 10 mg lafutidine tablet formulation in 26 healthy Indian male subjects under fasting condition. The reproducibility of study data is demonstrated by analysis of 93 incurred samples.     

Independent isomeric-yield ratio of 89m,gNb from 93Nb(γ, 4n), natZr(p,xn), and 89Y(α, 4n) reactions

The independent isomeric-yield ratios of ^89m,gNb for the ⁹³Nb(γ, 4n) ^89m,gNb reaction with bremsstrahlung energies of 45-, 50-, 55-, 60-, and 70-MeV were measured by the activation and the off-line γ-ray spectrometric technique at 100 MeV electron linac of the Pohang accelerator laboratory. The isomeric-yield ratios of ^89m,gNb for the ^natZr(p, xn) ^89m,gNb and the ⁸⁹Y(α, 4n) ^89m,gNb reactions were measured by using a stacked-foil activation technique with the proton energies of 19–45 MeV and alpha energies of 38.9-, 40.5-, and 42.5-MeV at the MC-50 cyclotron of Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences. The measured isomeric-yield ratio of ^89m,gNb from the ⁹³Nb(γ, 4n), ^natZr(p, xn), and ⁸⁹Y(α, 4n) reactions were compared with the similar literature data in the ⁸⁹Y(³He, 3n) reaction. It was found that the isomeric yield ratio of ^89m,gNb increases with projectile energy, which indicate the effect of excitation energy. However, for the similar compound nucleus with the same excitation energy, the isomeric-yield ratios of ^89m,gNb in the ⁸⁹Y(α, 4n) and ⁸⁹Y(³He, 3n) reactions are higher than those in the ⁹³Nb(γ, 4n) and ^natZr(p, xn) reactions, which indicates the role of input angular momentum. The isomeric-yield ratios of ^89m,gNb in the ⁹³Nb(γ, 4n), ^natZr(p, xn), ⁸⁹Y(α, 4n), and ⁸⁹Y(³He, 3n) reactions were also calculated theoretically using computer code TALYS 1.4. The theoretical isomeric-yield ratios of ^89m,gNb from four reactions increase with excitation energy. However, the theoretical value are significantly higher than the experimental data in the ⁹³Nb(γ, 4n) and ^natZr(p, xn) reactions but slightly lower or comparable in the ⁸⁹Y(α, 4n) rand ⁸⁹Y(³He, 3n) reactions.     

Synthesis of SnO2 nanostructures by ultrasonic-assisted sol–gel method

Fluorine doped SnO₂ nanostructures were grown using ultrasonic assisted sol–gel method. The gel was obtained by dissolving stannous chloride in methanol with ammonium fluoride as dopant followed by irradiation with ultrasonic vibrations. Obtained samples were characterized by structural, morphological and optical studies. All the peaks in the X-ray diffractograms are identified and indexed as tetragonal cassiterite structure. Negative slope of Williamson–Hall plots indicates compressive strain. Particle size of SnO₂ nanostructures is decreases with increases in concentration of fluorine doping. Atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy studies confirm the formation of ring like porous structures and then hollow tube like growth with increase in the fluorine concentration. Peaks in Raman spectra also indicate strong confinement in SnO₂ particles. Distinct peaks in the PL spectra make the structure suitable for photovoltaic applications.     

MAS-NMR study of lithium zinc silicate glasses and glass-ceramics with various ZnO content

Lithium zinc silicate glasses of composition (mol%): 17.5Li₂O-(72−x)SiO₂-xZnO−5.1Na₂O−1.3P₂O₅−4.1B₂O₃, 5.5?x?17.7, were prepared by conventional melt-quenched technique and converted to glass-ceramic by controlled crystallization process. ²⁹Si and ³¹P MAS-NMR was used to characterize the structure of both glass and glass-ceramic samples. Despite the complex glass composition, Q², Q³ and Q⁴ sites are identified from ²⁹Si MAS-NMR, which relative intensities are found to vary with the ZnO content, indicating a network depolymerization by ZnO. Moreover, well separated Q³ and Q⁴ resonances for low ZnO content indicates the occurrence of phase separation. From ³¹P MAS-NMR, it is seen that phosphorus is mainly present in the form of ortho-(Q⁰) and pyro-phosphate (Q¹) structural units and variation of ZnO content did not have much effect on these resonances, which provides an additional evidence for phase separation in the glass. On conversion to glass-ceramics, lithium disilicate (Li₂Si₂O₅), lithium zinc ortho-silicate (Li₃Zn_0.5SiO₄), tridymite (SiO₂) and cristobalite (SiO₂) were identified as major silicate crystalline phases. Using ²⁹Si MAS-NMR, quantification of these silicate crystalline phases is carried out and correlated with the ZnO content in the glass-ceramics samples. In addition, ³¹P spectra unambiguously revealed the presence of crystalline Li₃PO₄ and (Na,Li)₃PO₄ in the glass-ceramics.     

Design and synthesis of a unique ditopic macrocyclic fluorescent receptor containing furan ring as a spacer for the recognition of dicarboxylic acids

A macrocyclic fluorescent receptor was designed and synthesised and the binding study with three different types of dicarboxylic acids was performed with the receptor being found to have appreciable association constants. Downfield shifts of specific amide protons in 1:1 binding by ¹H NMR and the quenching in the fluorescence spectra reveal strong binding and thus unambiguously support the complexation of the receptor 1 with dicarboxylic acids.     

Phase behavior and microstructures of nonionic fluorocarbon surfactant in aqueous systems

The phase behavior and self-assembled structures of perfluoroalkyl sulfonamide ethoxylate, C8F17SO2N(C3H7)(CH2CH2O)20H (abbreviated as C8F 17EO20), a nonionic fluorocarbon surfactant in an aqueous system, has been investigated by the small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) technique. The C8F17EO20 forms micelles and different liquid crystal phases depending on the temperature and composition. The fluorocarbon micellar structure induced by temperature or composition change and added fluorocarbon cosurfactant has been systematically studied. The SAXS data were analyzed by the indirect Fourier transformation (IFT) and the generalized indirect Fourier transformation (GIFT) depending on the volume fraction of the surfactant and complemented by plausible model calculations. The C8F17EO20 forms spherical type micelles above critical micelle concentration (cmc) in the dilute region. The micelle tends to grow with temperature; however, the growth is not significant on changing temperature from 15-75 degrees C, which is attributed to the higher clouding temperature of the surfactant (>100 degrees C). On the other hand, the micellar structure (shape and size) is apparently unaffected by composition (1-25 wt %) at 25 degrees C. Nevertheless, addition of fluorocarbon cosurfactant of structure C8F17SO2N(C3H7)(CH2CH2O)H (abbreviated as C8F17EO1) to the semidilute solution of C8F17EO20 (25 wt %) favors micellar growth, which finally leads to the formation of viscoelastic wormlike micelles, as confirmed by rheometry and supported by SAXS. The onset sphere-to-wormlike transition in the structure of micelles in the C8F17EO20/water/C8F17EO1 system is due to the fact that the C8F17EO1 tends to go to the surfactant palisade layer so that the critical packing parameter increases due to a decrease in the effective cross-sectional area of the headgroup. As a result, spherical micelles grow into a cylinder, which after a certain concentration entangle to form a rigid network structure of wormlike micelles.     

Synthesis and evaluation of thermal, photophysical and magnetic properties of novel starlike fullerene–organosilane macromolecules

Thermal, photophysical and magnetic properties of some novel fullerenol–silane adducts are described. Excellent improvement of thermal stability and high char yield due to the presence of silicon is the key feature of these adducts. Highest luminescence quenching due to maximum π–π electronic interactions between phenyl ring and fullerene are observed in the aromatic-silane adducts and the quenching ability of the aromatic ring reduces with further delocalization of the π-electrons as in naphthyl silane. The alkyl vinyl silane, on the other hand, records better fluorescence intensity owing to increase population of the electron density (+I effect) and non-effective charge transfer complex formation between isolated vinylic double bond and fullerene. Emission peak positions of these adducts are comparable to fullerenol because of control derivatization of fullerene ring causing less perturbation of the symmetric π-electronic system. These adducts are paramagnetic in nature with peaks around 3515 G and higher g-values (2.005–2.009) compared to fullerenol (1.985). The fullerenol–silane adducts are synthesized using fullerenol as substrate and different chloro and alkoxy silanes as silylating agents adopting simple nucleophilic displacement and transesterification reactions. All the fullerenol–silane adducts are characterized spectroscopically.     

A mild and regioselective method for alpha-bromination of beta-keto esters and 1,3-diketones using bromodimethylsulfonium bromide (BDMS)

Bromodimethylsulfonium bromide has been found to be an effective and regioselective reagent for alpha-monobromination of beta-keto esters and 1,3-diketones. A wide variety of beta-keto esters and 1,3-diketones undergo chemoselective alpha-monobromination with excellent yields at 0-5 degrees C or room temperature. The notable advantages of this protocol are no need of chromatographic separation, use of less hazardous reagent than molecular bromine, and no added base, Lewis acid, or other catalyst.