Characterization of molecular transport in poly(dimethylsiloxane) microchannels for electrophoresis fabricated with synchrotron radiation-lithography and UV-photolithography

In the present paper, a study was undertaken of molecular transport in ploy(dimethylsiloxane) microchannels that were fabricated by ultraviolet (UV)-photolithography and synchrotron radiation (SR)-lithography characterized and compared for microchip capillary electrophoresis by evaluating in-channel molecular dispersion. A fluorescent tag, sulforhodamine B was used as the probing molecule. It was found that microchannels made by SR-lithography fabrication were superior to those made by UV-photolithography fabrication in terms of molecular transport performance. A deep insight into surface conditions characterized by scanning electron microscopy suggested it was related to the difference in surface roughness. Chromatographic retention in electropherograms further supported such a conclusion, which depended on the phase ratio of the channel surface. The results revealed for PDMS microchannels in this work were in good agreement with the phenomenon found for glass microchannels in the literature.     

Controlled-rate thermal analysis

Controlled-rate thermal analysis (CRTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to investigate the adsorbed water layers and the surface properties of different commercial activated carbons. A simple method is proposed to obtain information on the properties of the adsorbed water film and the surface heterogeneity of the materials studied. This method utilizes TG mass loss and the first derivative of the DTG mass loss curves with respect to temperature and time, obtained during programmed liquid thermodesorption. The obtained TG mass loss curves, which reflect the energetic heterogeneity, consisted of steps and inflections which were associated with the mechanism of wetting of the solid surfaces. The heights of these steps and inflections depend on the adsorption capacity, the adsorption potential and the nature and number of the active centers of the carbon samples studied. The values of the total porosity and the surface phase capacity obtained by this method are in good agreement with those estimated on the basis of independent methods. The behaviour of water/carbon samples was studied by means of DSC at subambient and elevated temperatures. The experimental results provided novel data on the structural heterogeneity, the thermal stability of the water/carbon interface and its phase and structural transitions.Support from the Research Council of Kent State University (Ohio, USA) is acknowledged. The author is pleased to thank Drs M. Jaroniec, R. K. Gilpin, J. Choma and R. Dobrowolski for fruitful discussions and the active carbon samples.     

THE ROLE OF DIOXYGEN SPECIES IN THE BASE- AND COBALT-CATALYZED OXYGENATION OF HINDERED PHENOLS

Abstract— The mechanisms by which 4-substituted 2,6-di- t -butylphenols are oxygenated by base- and Co(II) Schiff base complex-catalysis into o - or p -peroxyquinols and their Co(III) complexes, respectively, have been investigated. For the base-catalyzed oxygenation, a one-step ionic mechanism involving no radical species is suggested to be the most probable one. For the formation of the peroxycobalt(III) complexes, the following stoichiometry is concluded: ArOH + Co(II) + 5/4 O₂→ peroxycobalt(III) complex + 1/2 H₂O. A mechanism involving an electron transfer between the phenols and the Co(II)-O₂ complex followed by further electron transfer between the formed phenoxy radicals and the Co(II) complex to give the corresponding phenolate anions is proposed.     

Photophysical and (photo)electrochemical properties of a coumarin dye

A new coumarin dye, cyano-{5,5-dimethyl-3-[2-(1,1,6,6-tetramethyl-10-oxo-2,3,5,6-tetrahydro-1H,4H,10H-11-oxa-3a-aza-benzo[de]anthracen-9-yl)vinyl]cyclohex-2-enylidene}-acetic acid (NKX-2753), was prepared and characterized with respect to photophysical and electrochemical properties. It was employed as a dye sensitizer in dye-sensitized solar cells and showed efficient photon-to-electron conversion properties. The photocurrent action spectrum exhibited a broad feature with a maximum incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 84% at 540 nm, which is comparable to that for the famous red dye RuL2(NCS)2 (known as N3), where L stands for 2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid. The sandwich-type solar cell with NKX-2753, under illumination of full sun (AM1.5, 100 mW cm(-2)), produced 16.1 mA cm(-2) of short-circuit photocurrent, 0.60 V of open-circuit photovoltage, and 0.69 of fill factor, corresponding to 6.7% of overall energy conversion efficiency using 0.1 M LiI, 0.05 M I2, 0.1 M guanidinium thiocyanate, and 0.6 M 1,2-dimethyl-3-n-propyl-imidazolium iodide in dry acetonitrile as redox electrolyte. In comparison with its analogue NKX-2586 (Langmuir 2004, 20, 4205), NKX-2753 with an extra side ring on the alkene chain produced much higher IPCE values at the same conditions. The side ring acted as a spacer to efficiently prevent dye aggregation when adsorbed on the TiO2 surface, resulting in significant improvements of short-circuit photocurrent, open-circuit photovoltage, and fill factor compared with NKX-2586 that aggregated on the TiO2 surface.     

MYCOCHROME SYSTEM AND CONIDIAL DEVELOPMENT IN CERTAIN FUNGI IMPERFECTI

Abstract. A photoreceptor system, “mycochrome”, is involved in a blue and near UV reversible photo-reaction which in turn plays an important role in the photocontrol of conidial development in Alternaria tomato, Botrytis cinerea and Helminthosporium oryzae. Conidial development was controlled by alternating exposures to blue and near UV light with the final response being determined by the final light received. When the final light was near UV a conidium developed; when it was blue, conidiation was inhibited and a “sterile” conidiophore was formed. The effects of the two lights were alternatively reversible. Blue and near UV reversible photoreaction was also found in a light-minus-dark difference spectrum of an intracellular particulate fraction isolated from dark-grown mycelia of A. tomato, and two pigments, P_B (blue absorbing type) and P_NUV (near UV absorbing type), were contained in that photoreaction. P_B was tightly bound to the particulate fraction and P_NUV was either soluble in the cytoplasm or very loosely bound to the particulate fraction. Blue and near UV reversible photoreaction occurred only under the coexistence of P_B and P_NUV. That is, a dip in the near UV region and peak absorbance in the blue region was induced by irradiation with near UV light; however, both conditions were partially dissipated with a subsequent irradiation of blue light. These absorbance changes were revers-ibly repeated by alternating doses of blue and near UV light. When molecular oxygen was introduced after exposure to near UV light, peak absorbance in the blue region rapidly disappeared, and these absorbance changes were repeatedly reversible. Similar results were obtained by treatment with sodium hydrosulfite and molecular oxygen. Thus, it was concluded that the mycochrome system suggested in photo-conidiation was consistent with certain active substances showing blue and near UV reversible absorbance changes and caused by photooxidation reduction reaction.     

Polymerization of coordinated monomers. III. Copolymerization of acrylonitrile–zinc chloride,methacrylonitrile–zinc chloride or methyl methacrylate–zinc chloride complex with styrene

The 1:1 or 2:1 complex of acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, or methyl methacrylate with ZnCl₂ was copolymerized with styrene at the temperature of 0–30°C without any initiator. The structure of the copolymer from methyl methacrylate complex and styrene was examined by NMR spectroscopy. The complexes of acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile with ZnCl₂ gave a copolymer containing about 50 mole-% styrene units. The complexes of methyl methacrylate yielded an alternating copolymer when the feed molar ratio of methyl methacrylate to styrene was small, but with increasing feed molar ratio the resulting copolymer consisted of about 2 moles of methyl methacrylate per mole of styrene. The formation of a charge-transfer complex of styrene with a monomer coordinated to zinc atom was inferred from the ultraviolet spectra. The regulation of the copolymerization was considered to be effected by the charge-transfer complex. The copolymer resulting from the 2:1 methyl methacrylate–zinc chloride complex had no specific tacticity, whereas the copolymer from the 1:1 complex was richer in coisotacticity than in cosyndiotacticity. The change of the composition of the copolymer and its specific tacticity in the polymerization of the methyl methacrylate complex is related to the structure of the complex.     

Synthesis and characterization of polystyrene‐b‐poly (1,2‐isoprene‐ran‐3,4‐isoprene) block copolymers with azobenzene side groups

Polystyrene‐b‐poly(1,2‐isoprene‐ran‐3,4‐isoprene) block copolymers with azobenzene side groups were synthesized by the esterification of azobenzene acid chloride with polystyrene‐b‐hydroxylated poly(1,2‐isoprene‐ran‐3,4‐isopenre) block copolymers for creating new photochromic materials. The resulting block copolymers with azobenzene side groups were characterized for structural, thermal, and morphological properties. IR and NMR spectroscopies confirmed that the polymers obtained had the expected structures. Differential scanning calorimetric measurements by heating runs clearly showed the glass transitions of polystyrene and polyisoprene main chains and two distinct first‐order transitions at temperatures of azobenzene side groups around 48 and 83 °C. The microstructure of these block copolymer films was investigated using both transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and near‐field optical microscopy (NOM). TEM images revealed typical microphase‐separated morphologies such as sphere, cylinder, and lamellar structures. The domain spacing of microphase‐separated cylindrical morphology in the NOM image agreed with that of the TEM results. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 2406–2414, 2002     

Role of the special pair in the charge-separating event in photosynthesis

We synthesized special-pair/electron-acceptor systems consisting of a complementary slipped cofacial dimer of imidazolyl-substituted zinc porphyrin, bearing pyromellitdiimide as the electron acceptor. In the case of the dimer, the first and second oxidation potentials were split into a total of four peaks in the differential pulse voltammetry measurement. Furthermore, the shift values of the first oxidation potentials obtained by changing the solvent polarity for the dimer were almost half of those observed for the monomer. These results indicate that the radical cation is delocalized over the whole pi system of the dimer. Time-resolved transient absorption measurements revealed that, relative to the corresponding monomer, the dimer accelerated the charge separation rate, but decelerated the charge recombination rate. The smaller reorganization energy of the slipped cofacial dimer relative to that of the monomeric system demonstrates the significance of the special-pair arrangement for efficient charge separation in photosynthesis.     

Synthetic studies on (+)-aplasmomycin. 1. Stereoselective synthesis of the C-12˜C-17 segment

The C-12˜C-17 segment of (+)-aplasmomycin ( ) was synthesized stereoselectively starting from (−)-malic acid based on the stereoselective ketone reduction.