Preparation and properties of wooden fiberboards with phenol cardanol formaldehyde adhesives

The results of a study of wooden fiberboards, for which phenol cardanol formaldehyde resins with different cardanol content were used as binders, are shown. The influence of technological factors on the bending strength of fiberboards and their water absorption in the case of the use of such binders is shown.     

2-Substituted imidazoles. 1. Reactions of 1-methyl-2-(2-furyl)imidazole with electrophiles

1-Methyl-2-(2-furyl)imidazole has been synthesized. Electrophilic attack (bromination, nitration, formylation, acylation, and hydroxymethylation) occurs in most cases at the free -position of the furan ring.Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 10, pp. 1396–1400, October, 1989.     

IN SITU IR SPECTROSCOPIC STUDIES OF HCOOH DECOMPOSITION OVER V-TI-O CATALYST

Decomposition of formic acid over V-Ti-O catalysts was studied by in situ IR spectroscopy. Four surface compounds, among which are H-bonded acid, one mono- and two bidentate formates (BF1 and BF2), were identified in the temperature range of 100-190°C. The activation energy and rate of the BF2 decomposition were found equal to those for the CO formation. This equality points to the involvement of BF2 in the HCOOH decomposition into carbon monoxide.     

Synthesis and Properties of 2-(2-Furyl)- and 2-(2-Thienyl)-1-methylphenanthro[9,10-d]imidazoles

Condensation of 9,10-phenanthrenequinone with 2-furaldehyde and 2-thiophenecarbaldehyde in glacial acetic acid in the presence of ammonium acetate gave 2-(2-furyl)- and 2-(2-thienyl)phenanthro[9,10-d]imidazoles which were converted into the corresponding 1-methyl derivatives. The furan and thiophene rings in the products lose their acidophobic properties. Depending on the conditions, electrophilic substitution reactions in 2-(2-furyl)- and 2-(2-thienyl)phenanthro[9,10-d]imidazoles occur both at the furan (thiophene) and phenanthrene moieties.     

Effects of emulsifier charge and concentration on pancreatic lipolysis. 1. In the absence of bile salts

An in vitro study is performed with sunflower oil-in-water emulsions to clarify the effects of type of used emulsifier, its concentration, and reaction time on the degree of oil lipolysis, α. Anionic, nonionic, and cationic surfactants are studied as emulsifiers. For all systems, three regions are observed when surfactant concentration is scaled with the critical micelle concentration, C(S)/cmc: (1) At C(S) < cmc, α ≈ 0.5 after 30 min and increases up to 0.9 after 4 h. (2) At C(S) ≈ 3 × cmc, α ≈ 0.15 after 30 min and increases steeply up to 0.9 after 2 h for the cationic and nonionic surfactants, whereas it remains around 0.2 for the anionic surfactants. (3) At C(S) above certain threshold value, α = 0 for all studied surfactants, for reaction time up to 8 h. Additional experiments show that the lipase hydrolyzes molecularly soluble substrate (tributirin) at C(S) > cmc, which is a proof that these surfactants do not denature or block the enzyme active center. Thus, we conclude that the mechanism of enzyme inhibition by these surfactants is the formation of a dense adsorption layer on an oil drop surface, which displaces the lipase from direct contact with the triglycerides.     

Interfacial layers from the protein HFBII hydrophobin: dynamic surface tension, dilatational elasticity and relaxation times

The pendant-drop method (with drop-shape analysis) and Langmuir trough are applied to investigate the characteristic relaxation times and elasticity of interfacial layers from the protein HFBII hydrophobin. Such layers undergo a transition from fluid to elastic solid films. The transition is detected as an increase in the error of the fit of the pendant-drop profile by means of the Laplace equation of capillarity. The relaxation of surface tension after interfacial expansion follows an exponential-decay law, which indicates adsorption kinetics under barrier control. The experimental data for the relaxation time suggest that the adsorption rate is determined by the balance of two opposing factors: (i) the barrier to detachment of protein molecules from bulk aggregates and (ii) the attraction of the detached molecules by the adsorption layer due to the hydrophobic surface force. The hydrophobic attraction can explain why a greater surface coverage leads to a faster adsorption. The relaxation of surface tension after interfacial compression follows a different, square-root law. Such behavior can be attributed to surface diffusion of adsorbed protein molecules that are condensing at the periphery of interfacial protein aggregates. The surface dilatational elasticity, E, is determined in experiments on quick expansion or compression of the interfacial protein layers. At lower surface pressures (<11 mN/m) the experiments on expansion, compression and oscillations give close values of E that are increasing with the rise of surface pressure. At higher surface pressures, E exhibits the opposite tendency and the data are scattered. The latter behavior can be explained with a two-dimensional condensation of adsorbed protein molecules at the higher surface pressures. The results could be important for the understanding and control of dynamic processes in foams and emulsions stabilized by hydrophobins, as well as for the modification of solid surfaces by adsorption of such proteins.     

Spectroscopic and computational investigation of the ground and low excited states of some symmetrical heterocyclic disulfides

The electronic absorption and emission spectra of some symmetrical heterocyclic disulfides are investigated. The reversible disulfide — thione transformation in water is discussed in view of the complex equilibrium processes present. UV irradiation and pH influence on the above transformation is also studied. The emission properties at room and low temperature are related to the computed molecular geometries of the ground and low excited states of the compounds.     

Intermolecular interactions of p-nitrophenol with butyl acetate,according to IR spectroscopic data

Infrared difference spectroscopy has been used to study the association of p-nitrophenol (NP) with butyl acetate (BA) in CCl₄ and in undiluted BA. It has been shown that in CCl₄, an associate is formed, [NP·BA] ·BA (Ia), in which one molecule of BA is linked to the NP by a hydrogen bond, and the second BA molecule is linked to the H-complex NP·BA by outer-sphere (dipole-dipole) interaction. In undiluted BA with low concentrations of NP, (Ia) is formed; with high concentrations of NP, an associate [(NP)₂BA] ·mBA is formed, in which two molecules of NP are bonded successively to each other and with a BA molecule; and the number of outer-sphere BA molecules may depend on the concentration of free BA molecules in the solutions.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 3, pp. 593–599, March, 1991.     

A magnetostatic-coupling based remote query sensor for environmental monitoring

A new type of in situ, remotely monitored magnetism-based sensor is presented that is comprised of an array of magnetically soft, magnetostatically-coupled ferromagnetic thin-film elements or particles combined with a chemically responsive material that swells or shrinks in response to the analyte of interest. As the chemically responsive material changes size the distance between the ferromagnetic elements changes, altering the inter-element magnetostatic coupling. This in turn changes the coercive force of the sensor, the amplitude of the voltage spikes detected in nearby pick-up coils upon magnetization reversal and the number of higher-order harmonics generated by the flux reversal. Since the sensor is monitored through changes in magnetic flux, no physical connections such as wires or cables are needed to obtain sensor information, nor is line of sight alignment required as with laser telemetry; the sensors can be detected from within sealed, opaque or thin metallic enclosures.     

On the free scalar massless field in two-dimensional space-time

In the present paper the solutions of the quantum field problem for the free scalar massless field in two-dimensional space time are constructed. It is shown that the fields obtained cannot vanish at space-like infinity. The latter fact implies the existence of two conserved charge operators. The transformation properties of these solutions under the two-dimensional Lorentz group are examined.