Influence of solvents on the formation of ultrathin uniform poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) nanofibers with electrospinning

Although there have been many reports on the preparation and applications of various polymer nanofibers with the electrospinning technique, the understanding of synthetic parameters in electrospinning remains limited. In this article, we investigate experimentally the influence of solvents on the morphology of the poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) micro/nanofibers prepared by electrospinning PVP solution in different solvents, including ethanol, dichloromethane (MC) and N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF). Using 4 wt % PVP solutions, the PVP fibers prepared from MC and DMF solvents had a shape like a bead‐on‐a‐string. In contrast, smooth PVP nanofibers were obtained with ethanol as a solvent although the size distribution of the fibers was somewhat broadened. In an effort to prepare PVP nanofibers with small diameters and narrow size distributions, we developed a strategy of using mixed solvents. The experimental results showed that when the ratio of DMF to ethanol was 50:50 (w/w), regular cylindrical PVP nanofibers with a diameter of 20 nm were successfully prepared. The formation of these thinnest nanofibers could be attributed to the combined effects of ethanol and DMF solvents that optimize the solution viscosity and charge density of the polymer jet. In addition, an interesting helical‐shaped fiber was obtained from 20 wt % PVP solution in a 50:50 (w/w) mixed ethanol/DMF solvent. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 3721–3726, 2004     

Periodic solutions for a Lotka–Volterra mutualism system with several delays

In the present paper, a Lotka–Volterra type mutualism system with several delays is studied. Some new and interesting sufficient conditions are obtained for the global existence of positive periodic solutions of the mutualism system. Our method is based on Mawhin’s coincidence degree and novel estimation techniques for the a priori bounds of unknown solutions. Our results are different from the existing ones such as those in of Yang et al. [F. Yang, D. Jiang, A. Ying, Existence of positive solution of multidelays facultative mutualism system, J. Eng. Math. 3 (2002) 64–68] and Chen et al. [F. Chen, J. Shi, X. Chen, Periodicity in a Lotka–Volterra facultative mutualism system with several delays, J. Eng. Math. 21 (3) (2004) 403–409].     

Periodic solutions of a second order forced sublinear differential equation with delay

In this paper, existence criteria are established for the existence of periodic solutions of a second order sublinear differential equation with delay and forcing function. Our method is based on careful a priori estimation and continuation theorems, and our sublinear condition is an improvement of the boundedness condition in some recent results.     

Frequent oscillation in a nonlinear partial difference equation

This paper is concerned with a class of nonlinear delay partial difference equations with variable coefficients, which may change sign. By making use of frequency measures, some new oscillatory criteria are established. This is the first time oscillation of these partial difference equations is discussed by employing frequency measures.      

Synthesis of novel tetracyclic chromenes through carbanion chemistry of 4-methyl coumarins

Various substituents were introduced onto the methyl group in 4-methyl coumarins through lithiation, followed by reactions with a wide range of electrophiles. The presence of an alkoxy group on 6′-phenyl ring was found to be pivotal for the success of this reaction. This procedure provided a convenient synthetic pathway to elaborate the methyl group of 4-methylcoumarins. Application of this methodology was showcased with the synthesis of biologically important novel tetracyclic chromene ring systems (n = 1-3).     

A Minor New Flavone from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi

A new flavone,6,2′-dihydroxy-5,7,8,6′-tetramethoxyflavone,was isolated from the roots of Scutellaria baicalensis. Its structure was established on the basis of spectral evidences.     

通过密度函数理论表征炭质吸附剂的孔径分布

通过密度函数理论（DFT-DensityFunctionalTheory）对炭质吸附剂的孔径分布进行了表征。该法以多孔固体上N2吸附分子模型为依据，用一种方法对多孔固体的孔径分布从微孔到大孔范围进行确定。本文用该法对自制的聚丙烯腈活性炭纤维、国产煤质活性炭及日本产活性炭微球等六种炭质吸附剂的孔径分布进行了表征。     

Inorganic electrides

Inorganic electrides are a novel kind of ionic compounds in which the anions are electrons confined in a complex array of cavities or channels and the cations are nanoscale arrays of alkali metal ions that provide charge balance. In electrides the donated electron behaves like a low-density correlated electron gas, whereby the dimensionality of the electron gas and its electronic and magnetic properties are determined by the topology of the cavities in the host matrix. Unlike traditional electrides, in which alkali cations are encapsulated within an organic cage, inorganic electrides are thermally stable. The current inorganic electrides based on alkali metal loaded zeolites can be designed as useful reduced-dimensionality materials. Inorganic electrides are powerful reducing agents, and they are able to reduce small aromatic molecules to the radical anions within the channels of the zeolite.     

Enantioselective synthesis of (8S,13S,14R)-7-oxa-estra-4,9-diene-3,17-dione

The first enantioselective synthesis of (8S,13S,14R)-7-oxa-estra-4,9-diene-3,17-dione with the trans-C/D ring junction is described. Key features of the synthesis include Ag₂O-mediated C-O bond formation, thermodynamically controlled axial-equatorial inversion, one-pot of halogen exchange and Co/Cr-mediated C-C bond formation, and intramolecular aldol condensations.     

Parallel iterative reaction path optimization in ab initio quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical modeling of enzyme reactions

The determination of reaction paths for enzyme systems remains a great challenge for current computational methods. In this paper we present an efficient method for the determination of minimum energy reaction paths with the ab initio quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical approach. Our method is based on an adaptation of the path optimization procedure by Ayala and Schlegel for small molecules in gas phase, the iterative quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) optimization method developed earlier in our laboratory and the introduction of a new metric defining the distance between different structures in the configuration space. In this method we represent the reaction path by a discrete set of structures. For each structure we partition the atoms into a core set that usually includes the QM subsystem and an environment set that usually includes the MM subsystem. These two sets are optimized iteratively: the core set is optimized to approximate the reaction path while the environment set is optimized to the corresponding energy minimum. In the optimization of the core set of atoms for the reaction path, we introduce a new metric to define the distances between the points on the reaction path, which excludes the soft degrees of freedom from the environment set and includes extra weights on coordinates describing chemical changes. Because the reaction path is represented by discrete structures and the optimization for each can be performed individually with very limited coupling, our method can be executed in a natural and efficient parallelization, with each processor handling one of the structures. We demonstrate the applicability and efficiency of our method by testing it on two systems previously studied by our group, triosephosphate isomerase and 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerase. In both cases the minimum energy paths for both enzymes agree with the previously reported paths.