Elaboration of hydrophilic aminodextran containing submicron magnetic latex particles

Aminodextran containing submicron magnetic latex particles were prepared in two steps: (a) transformation of oil-in-water magnetic emulsion into structured magnetic latex particles via combination of seed and miniemulsion-like polymerization process and (b) immobilization (adsorption and chemical grafting) of prepared aminodextran onto negatively charged seed magnetic latex particles. The elaborated magnetic latex particles were characterized in terms of particle size, size distribution, morphology, surface charge density, chemical composition, magnetic properties, and also colloidal stability. The results showed that the morphology of the prepared seed magnetic latex is core–shell like and the cationic latex particles are hydrophilic and of high colloidal stability, irrespective of the aminodextran immobilization process.     

Polyethylenimine-impregnated mesoporous silica: effect of amine loading and surface alkyl chains on CO2 adsorption

Poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) supported on pore-expanded MCM-41 whose surface is covered with a layer of long-alkyl chains was found to be a more efficient CO(2) adsorbent than PEI supported on the corresponding calcined silica and all PEI-impregnated materials reported in the literature. The layer of surface alkyl chains plays an important role in enhancing the dispersion of PEI, thus decreasing the diffusion resistance. It was also found that at low temperature, adsorbents with relatively low PEI contents are more efficient than their highly loaded counterparts because of the increased adsorption rate. Extensive CO(2) adsorption-desorption cycling showed that the use of humidified feed and purge gases affords materials with enhanced stability, despite limited loss due to amine evaporation.     

Adsorption of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-containing gas mixtures over amine-bearing pore-expanded MCM-41 silica: application for CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> separation

Adsorption of CO₂, N₂, CH₄ and H₂ on triamine-grafted pore-expanded MCM-41 mesoporous silica (TRI-PE-MCM-41) was investigated at room temperature in a wide range of pressure (up to 25 bar) using gravimetric measurements. The material was found to exhibit high affinity toward CO₂ in comparison to the other species over the whole range of pressure. Column-breakthrough dynamic measurements of CO₂-containing mixtures showed very high selectivity toward CO₂ over N₂, CH₄ and H₂ at CO₂ concentrations within the range of 5 to 50%. These conditions are suitable for effective removal of CO₂ at room temperature from syngas, flue gas and biogas using temperature swing (TS) or temperature-pressure swing (TPS) regeneration mode. Moreover, TRI-PE-MCM-41 was found to be highly stable over hundreds of adsorption-desorption cycles using TPS as regeneration mode.     

A new bacterial biosensor for trichloroethylene detection based on a three-dimensional carbon nanotubes bioarchitecture

Trichloroethylene (TCE), a suspected human carcinogen, is one of the most common volatile groundwater contaminants. Many different methodologies have already been developed for the determination of TCE and its degradation products in water, but most of them are costly, time-consuming and require well-trained operators. In this work, a fast, sensitive and miniaturised whole cell conductometric biosensor was developed for the determination of trichloroethylene. The biosensor assembly was prepared by immobilising Pseudomonas putida F1 bacteria (PpF1) at the surface of gold interdigitated microelectrodes through a three-dimensional alkanethiol self-assembly monolayer/carbon nanotube architecture functionalised with Pseudomonas antibodies. The biosensor response was linear from 0.07 to 100 μM of TCE (9–13,100 μg L⁻¹). No significant loss of the enzymatic activity was observed after 5 weeks of storage at 4 °C in the M457 pH 7 defined medium (two or three measurements per week). Ninety-two per cent of the initial signal still remained after 7 weeks. The biosensor response to TCE was not significantly affected by cis-1,2-dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride and, in a limited way, by phenol. Toluene was the major interference found. The bacterial biosensor was successfully applied to the determination of TCE in spiked groundwater samples and in six water samples collected in an urban industrial site contaminated with TCE. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometric analysis of these samples confirmed the biosensor measurements.     

A new method for constructing a minimal PERT network

A project is an enterprise consisting of several activities which are to be carried out in some specific order. The activities and the order in which they need to be carried out can be represented by a PERT network. The PERT technique is a traditional, well-known approach to the expert of project management. When networks are used, it often becomes necessary to draw dummy activities. Since the computation of project completion time is proportional to the number of arcs, including dummy arcs, it is desirable to draw a network with as few dummy activities as possible.In this paper, we propose a new method for constructing, for a given project scheduling problem, a PERT network having as small as possible the number of dummy arcs by using some results on line graphs. This algorithm deals with the existence of transitive arcs. The paper contains illustrative examples, proofs of some theoretical results as well as a comparative study with a similar algorithm known in the literature. Computational results showed the superiority of our algorithm.     

Utility of 2‐[4‐(3‐oxobenzo[f]‐2H‐chromen‐2‐yl)‐1,3‐thiazol‐2‐yl]ethanenitrile in heterocyclic synthesis

Pyrazolo[4,3‐d]pyrimidines, pyrazolo[4,3‐d]triazolino[4,3‐a]pyrimidines, 3‐(2‐thiazolyl)thiophenes, thiazolo[3,2‐a]pyridine and pyrazolo[1,5‐a]pyrimidines were synthesized from 2‐[4‐(3‐oxobenzo[f]‐2H‐chromen‐2‐yl)‐1,3‐thiazol‐2‐yl]ethanenitrile. The newly synthesized compounds were elucidated by elemental analysis, spectral data, chemical transformation and alternative synthesis route whenever possible.     

Equations des variétés de Kummer

Sans résumé

---

     

A two parameter mixed interior-exterior penalty algorithm

In this paper, we analyze the mixed penalty methods introduced in the classic book of Fiacco and McCormick usingtwo distinct penalty parametersr, t. The two penalty coefficients induce a two-parameter differentiable trajectory. We analyze the numerical behaviour of an extrapolation strategy that follows the path of the two-parameter trajectory. We show also how to remove the ill-conditioning by suitable transformations of the equations. In the resulting theory, we show that function values as well as distances to the optimum are both governed by the same behaviour as interior methods (two-step superlinearly convergent, with limiting exponent 4/3).Research partially supported by NSERC grant OGP0036512.Research partially supported by NSERC grant OGP0005491.     

Bioactive Chemical Constituents of Cladiella Species

From the methanolic extract of Cladiella sp., collected from the Andaman Island, India, a new sesquiterpene, cladidiol ( 2 ), and three known diterpenes, cladiellaperoxide ( 3 ), (6E)‐2α,9α‐epoxyeunicella‐6,11(12)‐dien‐3β‐ol ( 4 ), and polyanthellin A ( 5 ) were isolated. The structures of these compounds were established by extensive spectroscopic studies. Compound 2 exhibited modest acetylcholinesterase‐inhibition activity, and compounds 3 – 5 showed antibacterial activities against Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.     

Polarographic reduction and tautomeric structure of 2-amino-5-arylazothiazoles

The polarographic behaviour of a series of 2-amino-4-phenyl-5-arylazothiazoles has been investigated at a dropping mercury electrode. Each of the compounds studied exhibits one wave which was shown to correspond to the reductive cleavage of the azo linkage by a 4e irreversible step. On the basis of the polarographic data, it was concluded that the compounds exist only in one tautomeric form, namely the aminoazo structure 1 . The results of E_1/2 — σ_X correlations and HMO calculations of bonding energies of the various possible tautomeric forms 1–3 indicate that the aminoazo form 1 is the most stable structure of the compounds examined.