Cobalt titanate–cobalt oxide composite thin films deposited from heterobimetallic precursor

A single molecular heterobimetallic complex, [Co₂Ti(μ₃‐O)(TFA)₆(THF)₃] (1) [TFA = trifluoroacetate, THF = tetrahydrofuran], was synthesized, structurally and spectroscopically characterized and implemented as a single‐source precursor for the preparation of CoTiO₃–CoO composite thin films by aerosol‐assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD). The precursor complex was prepared by interaction of Co(OAc)₂.4H₂O [OAc = (CH₃COO^?)] with Ti(iso‐propoxide)₄ in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid in THF, and was analysed by melting point, CHN, FT‐IR, single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. The precursor complex thermally decomposed at 480 °C to give a residual mass corresponding to a CoTiO₃–CoO composite material. Good‐quality crystalline CoTiO₃–CoO composite thin films deposited at 500 °C by AACVD and characterized through powder X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy/energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy show that the crystallites have a rose‐flower‐like morphology with an average petal size in the range of 2–6 µm. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Combined protein A imprinting and cryogelation for production of spherical affinity material

Cryogels have been demonstrated to be efficient when applied for protein isolation. Owing to their macroporous structure, cryogels can also be used for treating particle‐containing material, e.g. cell homogenates. Another challenging development in protein purification technology is the use of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). These MIPs are robust and can be used repeatedly. The paper presents a new technology that combine the formation of cryogel beads concomitantly with making imprints of a protein. Protein A was chosen as the print molecule which was also be the target in the purification step. The present paper describes a new method to produce protein‐imprinted cryogel beads. The protein‐imprinted material was characterized and the separation properties were evaluated with regard to both the target protein and whole cells with target protein exposed on the cell surface. The maximum protein A adsorption was 18.1 mg/g of wet cryogel beads. The selectivity coefficient of protein A‐imprinted cryogel beads for protein A was 5.44 and 12.56 times greater than for the Fc fragment of IgG and protein G, respectively.     

Coumarin-based D–π–A dyes for efficient DSSCs: DFT and TD-DFT study of the π-spacers influence on photovoltaic properties

Research on Chemical Intermediates - A series of D–π–A architectures dyes with Coumarin-based derivatives as difluorenylaminocoumarin (DF) and diphenylaminocoumarin (DP) have been...     

A thermostated coupled apparatus for the simultaneous determination of adsorption isotherms and differential enthalpies of adsorption at high pressure and high temperature

In order to assess and improve the quality of high pressure and temperature adsorption isotherms and differential enthalpies of adsorption on microporous and mesoporous materials, a specific thermostated device comprising a differential heat flow calorimeter coupled with a home-built manometric system has been built. The differential heat flow calorimeter is a Tian Calvet Setaram C80 model which can be operated isothermally, the manometric system is a stainless steel homemade apparatus. The thermostated coupled apparatus allows measurements for pressure up to 2.5?MPa and temperature from 303 to 423?K. Reliability and reproducibility were established by measuring adsorption isotherms on a benchmark sorbent (Filtrasorb F400). A detailed experimental study of the adsorption of pure carbon dioxide and methane has been made on activated carbons (Filtrasorb F400 and EcoSorb); a new procedure for determining the differential enthalpies of adsorption based on the stepwise method is also proposed. The error in the determination of the amount adsorbed is about 3.6%, and the error in the determination of the differential enthalpies of adsorption is 4%.     

Ionic liquid behavior and high thermal stability of silver chloride nanoparticles: Synthesis and characterization

Silver chloride was found to be stable even after calcination at 650 °C for 10 h. SEM studies revealed the morphology of silver chloride as hexagonal particles. TEM studies show the size of silver chloride particles to have an average size of 6–7 nm. Thermal studies suggest that silver chloride nanoparticles behave like ionic liquid or molten salt in the range of 455–650 °C.     

Co‐ and Counterion Effect on the Micellization Characteristics of Dodecylpyridinium Chloride

Micellization parameters, critical micelle concentration (cmc), degree of counterion dissociation (α), aggregation number (n), critical packing parameter, and hydrophobic core volume of Dodecylpyridinium chloride (DPC) micelles were determined in presence of varying concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl), sodium acetate (SAc), sodium propionate (SPr), ethylammonium chloride (EACl), diethylammonium chloride (DEACl), tetraethylammonium chloride (TEACl), and propylammonium chloride (PACl) through conductometric investigations at 298.15 K. The resulting data suggests that both counter and coions affect the cmc values‐cmc depressing tendency of the salts varies in order PACl≈NaCl>EACl>DEACl>TEACl>SPr>SAc, while the degree of counterion dissociation is dependent on the nature and concentration range of the added salt. Increasing salt concentration increases the relative hydrophobic volume of the micelles and coion has not much effect on aggregation number.     

Facile intramolecular Diels–Alder reaction of 4-(o-propargyloxy)styrylcoumarins leading to highly fluorescent coumarin-containing polycyclic compounds

The 4-(o-propargyloxy)styrylcoumarins are prepared by the condensation of O-propargylated salicylaldehyde with substituted coumarin-4-acetic acids. The intramolecular Diels–Alder reaction of 4-(o-propargyloxy)styrylcoumarins, without any catalyst gives fused-ring coumarins. The reaction in boiling nitrobenzene leads to aromatization of the initial Diels–Alder adduct and these aromatized products are highly fluorescent.     

A flow-through microfluidic chip for continuous dielectrophoretic separation of viable and non-viable human T-cells

Effective methods for rapid sorting of cells according to their viability are critical in T cells based therapies to prevent any risk to patients. In this context, we present a novel microfluidic device that continuously separates viable and non-viable T-cells according to their dielectric properties. A dielectrophoresis (DEP) force is generated by an array of castellated microelectrodes embedded into a microfluidic channel with a single inlet and two outlets; cells subjected to positive DEP forces are drawn toward the electrodes array and leave from the top outlet, those subjected to negative DEP forces are repelled away from the electrodes and leave from the bottom outlet. Computational fluid dynamics is used to predict the device separation efficacy, according to the applied alternative current (AC) frequency, at which the cells move from/to a negative/positive DEP region and the ionic strength of the suspension medium. The model is used to support the design of the operational conditions, confirming a separation efficiency, in terms of purity, of 96% under an applied AC frequency of 1.5 × 10⁶ Hz and a flow rate of 20 μl/h. This work represents the first example of effective continuous sorting of viable and non-viable human T-cells in a single-inlet microfluidic chip, paving the way for lab-on-a-chip applications at the point of need.     

Proposal for generating Fock states in traveling wave fields

We describe a proposal for the generation of a single-mode photonic number state, |N〉$|N〉$, in a traveling wave optical field. The state is obtained by state reduction from an input coherent state using Kerr media. Our method is based on a previous scheme used for hole burning in the Fock space by minimizing the Mandel Q parameter. The same method was used by Maia et al., but ours is different, it requires only one single photon injected in the entire setup and one photon detection at the end.