Investigation of arsine-generating reactions using deuterium-labeled reagents and mass spectrometry

Mass spectrometry was used to detect transfer of deuterium from labeled reagents to arsines following hydride-generation reactions. The arsine gases liberated from the reactions of arsenite, arsenate, methylarsonic acid, and dimethylarsinic acid with HCl and NaBD(4) in H(2)O, or with DCl and NaBH(4) in D(2)O, were examined. Differences in the mode of deuterium incorporation for the various arsines were detected. These results may help explain some of the observed variations in arsine-generation efficiency for various arsenic compounds present in environmental and biological samples.     

pH-dependent mucoadhesion of a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) copolymer reveals design rules for drug delivery

This study investigated the mucoadhesive property of a hydrophobically modified copolymer N-isopropylacryamide and glycidylacrylamide NIPAM-N-Gly-(C18)2 (NIPAM-Gly). Prior studies demonstrated that the interfacial properties of this copolymer are pH dependent and that the chains form strong hydrogen bonds at pH < 7 via the carboxylic acid side chains of the glycine moieties. Mucin interactions with the copolymer brushes were investigated by surface plasmon resonance and by direct force measurements. Mucin adsorption was determined as a function of pH, ionic strength, and mucin concentration. It adsorbs to the copolymer strongly at pH 5, but the adsorption decreases with increasing pH. The adsorbed amount is also ionic-strength dependent, decreasing with increasing monovalent salt concentrations at all pH values investigated. When compared with similar investigations with poly(ethylene oxide), these results provide insights into both the chemical characteristics and the solution conditions that determine the mucoadhesive properties of polymers.     

PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PVA COATED MAGNETIC NANOPARTICLES*

Polyvinyl alcohol coated magnetic particles (PVA ferrofluids) have been synthesized by chemical co-precipitationof Fe(Ⅱ)/Fe(Ⅲ) salts in 1.5 mol/L NH_4OH solution at 70℃ in the presence of PVA. The resultant colloidal particles havecore-shell structures, in which the iron oxide crystallites form the cores and PVA chains form the shells. The hydrodynamicdiameter of the colloidal particles is in the range of 108 to 155 nm, which increases with increasing PVA concentration from5 wt% to 20 wt%. The size of the magnetic cores is ca. 5～10 nm, which is relatively independent of PVA concentration.Under transmission electron microscopic (TEM) examination, the magnetic cores exhibit somewhat irregular shapes varyingfrom spherical, oval, to cubic. Magnetometry measurement revealed that the PVA coated magnetic particles aresuperparamagnetic. The saturation magnetization of 5 wt% and 20 wt% PVA ferrofluids at 300 K is 54 and 49 emu/g.respectively. All the PVA ferrofluids exhibited excellent colloidal stability in pure water and phosphate buffer saline (PBS,pH=7.4). The ferrofluids can remain stable in above solutions for more than three months at 4℃.     

Hydrocarbon dispersions of acrylic microspheres with polar surface functionality

Submicron and micron sized particles containing a crosslinked core and a polar shell were prepared by 3-stage nonaqueous dispersion [NAD] polymerization in an aliphatic hydrocarbon medium. When a poly (12-hydroxystearic acid) [PHS] comb stabilizer was used in all three stages, the particles produced were spherical, submicron in size, and had a relatively broad size distribution. If the monomer mixture in the third stage contained relatively large amounts of butyl acrylate, stable dispersions of sponge-like aggregates, 3–5 μm in size, were obtained. When butyl rubber was employed as a stabilizer precursor in the seed formation step, the shape of the final particles depended upon whether a crosslinker was employed in the second stage polymerization. When a crosslinker was present, the second-stage particles and the subsequent third-stage particles had a shrunken, raisin-like appearance. When no crosslinker was present, spherical particles were obtained. In both cases, the resulting third-stage particles were easily dispersed in water containing a small amount of amine base, indicating that ? COOH and ? OH groups are located at the surface (or in a shell at the surface) in these NAD particles. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Redox-induced synthesis and encapsulation of metal nanoparticles in shell-cross-linked organometallic nanotubes

A new approach to encapsulate silver nanoparticles inside block copolymer nanotubes is reported and involves an in situ redox reaction between a polyferrocenylsilane (PFS) inner wall and silver ions. Partial preoxidation of the PFS domains was found to be a key step for the efficient formation of one-dimensional arrays of silver nanoparticles confined within the nanotubes.     

Photocleavage of the acetate of a hydroxyphenyl benzotriazole UV absorber: The search for a photo-Fries rearrangement product

The acetate ester of 2-(2H-benzotriazol-2-yl)-4-methyl phenol [Tinuvin P] upon irradiation, either in methylene chloride solution or in poly(methyl methacrylate) films, undergoes a photocleavage reaction to regenerate Tinuvin P. No photo-Fries rearrangement product can be detected.     

Electron transfer contributions to the quenching of aromatic ketone phosphorescence by electron—poor olefins

The rate constant k_ir for quenching diaryl ketone triplet states by electron poor olefins in CCl₄ at room temperature decreases with decreasing reduction potential of the olefin. Unlike in previous cases, our data here fit the Weller equation, which predicts that en k_ir ≈ 1/RT.     

Fluorescent polymer particles by emulsion and miniemulsion polymerization

We describe the synthesis and characterization of latex particles labeled with a brightly fluorescent yellow dye (HY) based on the benzothioxanthene ring structure. Three dye derivatives were synthesized with different spacers connecting the HY nucleus to a methacrylate group. For one of the dyes (HY2CMA, r_A), we show that the reactivity ratios with styrene (r_A = 0.71, r_B = 0.25) and butyl methacrylate (r_A = 0.87, r_B = 0.14) should lead to random dye incorporation if the amount of dye in the feed is small. Seeded emulsion polymerization fails to lead to significant dye incorporation unless large amounts of nonionic surfactant are present. In contrast, miniemulsion polymerization worked well to yield latex particles of polystyrene, poly(butyl methacrylate), and poly(methyl methacrylate) with high monomer conversion and essentially quantitative dye incorporation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 766–778, 2003     

Exchange mechanisms for sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles: high salt concentration

Solute exchange experiments for the pyrene-labeled triglyceride TG-Py solubilized in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles in the presence and absence of salt show that the "observed" rate constant k(obs) for solute exchange varies by over 6 orders of magnitude as the free sodium ion concentration [Na(+)](aq) is varied between 10 and 850 mM. There is a sharp break in the log-log plot of k(obs) versus [Na(+)](aq) in the range of [Na(+)](aq) = 200 mM, with the exchange rate showing a weaker dependence on [Na(+)](aq) above this concentration. Up to 100 mM added NaCl, this exchange takes place essentially exclusively by a micelle fission mechanism in which each submicelle carries off one of the solutes. At higher salt concentrations, a bimolecular process becomes increasingly important. This fusion process, which involves formation of a transient supermicelle followed by fission back to two normal micelles, becomes the dominant process at high salt concentrations. The fission rate appears to level off for salt concentrations above 300-400 mM. These fission and fusion processes are related in an intimate way to the changes in the size and shape of the SDS micelles with increasing salt concentration.