Measurement and prediction of solubilities and diffusion coefficients of carbon dioxide in starch–water mixtures at elevated pressures

The solubility and diffusion coefficient of carbon dioxide in intermediate‐moisture starch–water mixtures were determined both experimentally and theoretically at elevated pressures up to 16 MPa at 50 °C. A high‐pressure decay sorption system was assembled to measure the equilibrium CO₂ mass uptake by the starch–water system. The experimentally measured solubilities accounted for the estimated swollen volume by Sanchez–Lacombe equation of state (S‐L EOS) were found to increase almost linearly with pressure, yielding 4.0 g CO₂/g starch–water system at 16 MPa. Moreover, CO₂ solubilities above 5 MPa displayed a solubility increase, which was not contributed by the water fraction in the starch–water mixture. The solubilities, however, showed no dependence on the degree of gelatinization (DG) of starch. The diffusion coefficient of CO₂ was found to increase with concentration of dissolved CO₂, which is pressure‐dependent, and decrease with increasing DG in the range of 50–100%. A free‐volume‐based diffusion model proposed by Areerat was employed to predict the CO₂ diffusivity in terms of pressure, temperature, and the concentration of dissolved CO₂. S‐L EOS was once more used to determine the specific free volume of the mixture system. The predicted diffusion coefficients showed to correlate well with the measured values for all starch–water mixtures. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 607–621, 2006     

Melting behaviors,crystallization kinetics,and spherulitic morphologies of poly(butylene succinate) and its copolyester modified with rosin maleopimaric acid anhydride

This article investigated the melting behaviors, crystallization kinetics, and spherulitic morphologies of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) and its copolyester (PBSR) modified with rosin maleopimaric acid anhydride, using wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), and polarized optical microscope. Subsequent DSC scans of isothermally crystallized PBS and PBSR exhibited two melting endotherms, respectively, which was due to the melt‐recrystallization process occurring during the DSC scans. The equilibrium melting point of PBSR (125.9 °C) was lower than that of PBS (139 °C). The commonly used Avrami equation was used to describe the isothermal crystallization kinetics. For nonisothermal crystallization studies, the model combining Avrami equation and Ozawa equation was employed. The result showed a consistent trend in the crystallization process. The crystallization rate was decreased, the perfection of crystals was decreased, the recrystallization was reduced, and the spherulitic morphologies were changed when the huge hydrogenated phenanthrene ring was added into the chain of PBS. The activation energy (ΔE) for the isothermal crystallization process determined by Arrhenius method was 255.9 kJ/mol for PBS and 345.7 kJ/mol for PBSR. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 900–913, 2006     

Probing the use of small‐angle light scattering for characterizing structure of titanium dioxide/low‐density polyethylene nanocomposites

Small‐angle light scattering (SALS) measurements were used to study the structure of titanium dioxide (TiO₂)/low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposites. The results showed that the scattering from LDPE crystalline structures and the scattering from TiO₂ nanoparticles can be resolved and separated. It is shown that the independent effects of crystallization conditions and the presence of nanoparticle aggregates on the spherulitic structure of the LDPE matrix can be determined by analyzing the scattering patterns using the methods proposed. From the SALS results, we conclude that the nanoparticle surface chemistry affects both nucleation of spherulites and their structure particularly under rapid cooling conditions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 1084–1095, 2006     

Metallocene copolymers of propene and 1‐hexene: The influence of the comonomer content and thermal history on the structure and mechanical properties

The relationships between the structure and properties have been established for copolymers of propylene and 1‐hexene synthesized with an isotactic metallocene catalyst system. The most important factor affecting the structure and properties of these copolymers is the comonomer content. The thermal treatment, that is, the rate of cooling from the melt, is also important. These factors affect the thermal properties, the degree of crystallinity, and therefore the structural parameters and the viscoelastic behavior. A slow cooling from the melt favors the formation of the γ phase instead of the α modification. Regarding the viscoelastic behavior, the β relaxation, associated with the glass‐transition temperature, is shifted to lower temperatures and its intensity is increased as the 1‐hexene content raises. The microhardness values are correlated with those of the storage modulus deduced from dynamic mechanical thermal analysis curves, and good linear relations have been obtained between these parameters. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 1253–1267, 2006     

Characterization and electrical properties of polypyrrole/multiwalled carbon nanotube composites synthesized by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization

This study describes the preparation of polypyrrole (PPy)/multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) composites by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization. Various ratios of MWNTs, which served as hard templates, were first dispersed in aqueous solutions with the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide to form micelle/MWNT templates and overcome the difficulty of MWNTs dispersing into insoluble solutions of pyrrole monomer, and PPy was then synthesized via in situ chemical oxidative polymerization on the surface of the templates. Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), field‐emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were used to characterize the structure and morphology of the fabricated composites. Structural analysis using FESEM and HRTEM showed that the PPy/MWNT composites were core (MWNT)–shell (PPy) tubular structures. Raman and FTIR spectra of the composites were almost identical to those of PPy, supporting the idea that MWNTs served as the core in the formation of a coaxial nanostructure for the composites. The conductivities of these PPy/MWNT composites were about 150% higher than those of PPy without MWNTs. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 1413–1418, 2006     

Rapid determination of vitellogenin in fish plasma by anion exchange high performance liquid chromatography using postcolumn fluorescence derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde.

An analytical method involving anion exchange high performance liquid chromatographic determination of vitellogenin (Vtg) in fish plasma after postcolumn fluorescence derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) was developed. The retention time of Vtg was about 11 min. The reagent variables for derivatization were optimized. The fluorophore was excited at 335 nm and detected at 435 nm. A calibration curve was established ranging from 0.13 to 11.28 microg. The determination limit of Vtg was found to be as low as 0.13 microg. The spiked recovery was 93.6% and interassay variability was less than 4%. The method developed was used to determine Vtg in fish plasma obtained from red sea bream (Pagrosomus major), black porgy (Sparus macrocephalus) and skew band grunt (Hapalogenys nitens), without complicated sample pretreatment. The results confirmed that the method showed advantages of being simple, rapid, reproducible and sensitive.     

Novel photoswitching dithienylethenes with ferrocene units

Two novel dithienylethenes with ferrocene units were synthesized by Wittig reaction. The structure of 2a has been established by X‐ray diffraction studies. They could reversibly interconvert between two thermally stable forms, an open and a closed one, using light of different wavelengths as triggers. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Retracted: Determination of scutellarin isomer,a predominant metabolite of scutellarin,in human plasma by HPLC/tandem mass spectrometry and its application to a pharmacokinetic study in Chinese healthy volunteers

Retraction: The following article from Biomedical Chromatography, “Determination of scutellarin isomer, a predominant metabolite of scutellarin, in human plasma by HPLC/tandem mass spectrometry and its application to the pharmacokinetic study in Chinese healthy volunteers” by Chun‐hua Xia, Yu‐qing Xiong, and Guang‐ji Wang, published online on 21 June 2007 in Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/bmc), has been retracted at the authors' request.     

Molecular dynamics studies on octadecylammonium chloride at the air/liquid interface

Molecular dynamics simulations on surfactant octadecylammonium chloride at the air/liquid interface were performed. It was found that the alkyl chains of octadecylammonium would change to order with increasing the concentration of octadecylammonium at the air/liquid interface. Some functions, such as the concentration distributions, the radial distribution function and the mean squared displacement (MSD) were evaluated to investigate the structural properties of interface. We found that the salts can affect octadecylammonium aggregate at the interface: (1) univalent ions, such as chloride and sodium ions, affect slightly the structure of monolayer and (2) bivalent ions, such as sulfate or calcium ions, affect greatly, especially for the bivalent negative ions.