A Two‐Step Interval and Modified Rosenbrock Method for Kinetic Parameter Estimation in Copolymerization Systems: A Robust and Reliable Approach

Summary: The kinetics of solution free radical copolymerization of isobutyl methacrylate (i‐BMA) and lauryl methacrylate (LMA) in benzene, initiated with 2,2‐azoisobutyronitrile (AIBN) were studied at different monomer feed compositions at low conversion levels. In order to avoid the complications of copolymerization kinetics, the pseudo‐kinetic rate constant method was applied in constant and variable volume polymerization systems. A two‐step procedure based on interval analysis and the modified Rosenbrock method was used to estimate the kinetic parameters of copolymerization. In the first step, initiation, coupled propagation‐termination and transfer rate parameters were determined from steady state kinetic equations using interval analysis. Since the objective function is non‐linear, non‐convex and has multiple local optima, a robust computational technique, based on the Interval Newton/Generalized Bisection (IN/GB) algorithm, was developed to solve this set of non‐linear algebraic equations. This method was used with mathematical and computational guarantees of certainty to find the global optimum. In the second step, the system of mole balance, population balance and moment equations, which are highly stiff ordinary differential equations, were discritized and solved by the modified Rosenbrock method. The results of the first computational step were inserted as an active or equality constraint in the second step to calculate the individual elementary rate parameters of the reaction. Statistical analysis indicated that the copolymer composition is well described by the terminal unit model (TUM), but the implicit penultimate unit effect (IPUE) model of Fukuda and coworkers is more suitable for describing the rate data. In contrast to most previously studied systems, it was found that propagation and coupled rate parameters are greater than those predicted by the TUM.

Variation of number average molecular weight of the copolymer in polymerization system for various initial monomer feed compositions at different reaction times (solid lines are computed results).     

Bayesian Modeling and Markov Chain Monte Carlo Simulations for a Kinetic Study of Homo‐ and Co‐ Polymerization Systems

A Bayesian modeling and Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation was developed for a kinetic study of homopolymerization and copolymerization systems at the molecular scale. Two copolymerization models – the terminal unit model and the penultimate unit model – were considered. Prior estimates of the kinetic parameters were obtained by L₁‐norm robust statistics. Using the structure of experimental data through a likelihood function, Bayesian modeling was employed to update the prior estimates. The joint posterior probability regions and shimmer bands were calculated for updated reactivity ratios. A method for assessing the power of experimental data in discrimination between copolymerization models is presented. This method was validated for free radical polymerization in binary systems. The evolution of species and radical populations during the course of polymerization were determined. The computational time was considerably decreased by calculating the propagation step from lifetime of the polymer chain and local monomer concentration. To avoid inaccuracies in the results caused by poor choice or false computation of the time step, the time step between successive Monte Carlo events was adapted to the time scale of the fastest reaction. The simulation algorithm is exact, in the sense that it takes full account of the fluctuations and correlations.

     

In Vitro Phytobiological Investigation of Bioactive Secondary Metabolites from the Malus domestica-Derived Endophytic Fungus Aspergillus tubingensis Strain AN103

Endophytic fungi including black aspergilli have the potential to synthesize multiple bioactive secondary metabolites. Therefore, the search for active metabolites from endophytic fungi against pathogenic microbes has become a necessity for alternative and promising strategies. In this study, 25 endophytic fungal isolates associated with Malus domestica were isolated, grown, and fermented on a solid rice medium. Subsequently, their ethyl acetate crude extracts were pretested for biological activity. One endophytic fungal isolate demonstrated the highest activity and was chosen for further investigation. Based on its phenotypic, ITS ribosomal gene sequences, and phylogenetic characterization, this isolate was identified as Aspergillus tubingensis strain AN103 with the accession number ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"KR184138","term_id":"937227303"}}KR184138). Chemical investigations of its fermented cultures yielded four compounds: Pyranonigrin A (1), Fonsecin (2), TMC 256 A1 (3), and Asperazine (4). Furthermore, ¹H-NMR, HPLC, and LC-MS were performed for the identification and structure elucidation of these metabolites. The isolated pure compounds showed moderate-to-potent antibacterial activities against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli (MIC value ranged from 31 and 121 to 14.5 and 58.3 μg/mL), respectively; in addition, the time–kill kinetics for the highly sensitive bacteria against isolated compounds was also investigated. The antifungal activity results show that (3) and (4) had the maximum effect against Fusarium solani and A. niger with inhibition zones of 16.40 ± 0.55 and 16.20 ± 0.20 mm, respectively, and (2) had the best effect against Candida albicans, with an inhibition zone of 17.8 ± 1.35 mm. Moreover, in a cytotoxicity assay against mouse lymphoma cell line L5178Y, (4) exhibited moderate cytotoxicity (49% inhibition), whereas (1–3) reported weak cytotoxicity (15, 26, and 19% inhibition), respectively. Our results reveal that these compounds might be useful to develop potential cytotoxic and antimicrobial drugs and an alternative source for various medical and pharmaceutical fields.     

Effect of inorganic oxide supports on the activity of chromium‐based catalysts in ethylene trimerization

Novel heterogeneous catalysts were prepared using immobilization of bis(2‐decylsulfanylethyl)amine–CrCl₃ (Cr‐SNS‐D) on various supports, namely commercial TiO₂, Al₂O₃ and magnetic Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ nanoparticles, to yield solid catalysts denoted as support@Cr‐SNS‐D. The structure of the catalysts was confirmed on the basis of spectroscopic analyses, N₂ adsorption–desorption and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis. The surface areas of Al₂O₃@Cr‐SNS‐D, Fe₃O₄@SiO₂@Cr‐SNS‐D and TiO₂@Cr‐SNS‐D catalysts were determined to be 70, 23 and 41 m² g^?1, respectively. A decrease in surface area from that of the supports clearly establishes accurate immobilization of Cr‐SNS‐D catalyst on the surface of the parent carriers. The loading of Cr was determined to be 0.02, 0.16 and 0.11 mmol g^?1 for Cr‐SNS‐D supported on TiO₂, Al₂O₃ and Fe₃O₄@SiO₂, respectively, using ICP analysis. After preparation and full characterization of the catalysts, ethylene trimerization reaction was accomplished in 40 ml of dry toluene, at 80°C and 25 bar ethylene pressure and in the presence of methylaluminoxane (Al/Cr = 700) within 30 min. The supported chromium catalysts were found to be efficient and selective for the ethylene trimerization reaction. The highest activity (74 650 g_1‐hexene g_Cr^?1 h^?1), as well as no polyethylene formation during reaction processes, was observed when TiO₂ was used as the catalyst support.     

Twisted Orlicz algebras,II

Let G be a locally compact group, let be a 2‐cocycle, and let () be a complementary pair of strictly increasing continuous Young functions. We continue our investigation in [14] of the algebraic properties of the Orlicz space with respect to the twisted convolution ? coming from Ω. We show that the twisted Orlicz algebra posses a bounded approximate identity if and only if it is unital if and only if G is discrete. On the other hand, under suitable condition on Ω, becomes an Arens regular, dual Banach algebra. We also look into certain cohomological properties of , namely amenability and Connes‐amenability, and show that they rarely happen. We apply our methods to compactly generated group of polynomial growth and demonstrate that our results could be applied to variety of cases.     

Why do RuO2 electrodes catalyze electrochemical CO2 reduction to methanol rather than methane or perhaps neither of those?

The electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) on RuO₂ and RuO₂-based electrodes has been shown experimentally to produce high yields of methanol, formic acid and/or hydrogen while methane formation is not detected. This CO₂RR selectivity on RuO₂ is in stark contrast to copper metal electrodes that produce methane and hydrogen in the highest yields whereas methanol is only formed in trace amounts. Density functional theory calculations on RuO₂(110) where only adsorption free energies of intermediate species are considered, i.e. solvent effects and energy barriers are not included, predict however, that the overpotential and the potential limiting step for both methanol and methane are the same. In this work, we use both ab initio molecular dynamics simulations at room temperature and total energy calculations to improve the model system and methodology by including both explicit solvation effects and calculations of proton–electron transfer energy barriers to elucidate the reaction mechanism towards several CO₂RR products: methanol, methane, formic acid, CO and methanediol, as well as for the competing H₂ evolution. We observe a significant difference in energy barriers towards methane and methanol, where a substantially larger energy barrier is calculated towards methane formation than towards methanol formation, explaining why methanol has been detected experimentally but not methane. Furthermore, the calculations show why RuO₂ also catalyzes the CO₂RR towards formic acid and not CO(g) and methanediol, in agreement with experimental results. However, our calculations predict RuO₂ to be much more selective towards H₂ formation than for the CO₂RR at any applied potential. Only when a large overpotential of around −1 V is applied, can both formic acid and methanol be evolved, but low faradaic efficiency is predicted because of the more facile H₂ formation.

Energy barriers are calculated for the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction on the RuO₂(110) surface towards methanol, methane, formic acid, methanediol, CO and the competing H₂ formation and compared with experimental literature.     

Indirect exchange interaction in Rashba-spin-orbit-coupled graphene nanoflakes

We study the indirect exchange interaction, named Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) coupling, between localized magnetic impurities in graphene nanoflakes with zig-zag edges in the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI). We calculate the isotropic and anisotropic RKKY amplitudes by utilizing the tight-binding (TB) model. The RSOI, as a gate tunable variable, is responsible for changes of the RKKY amplitude. We conclude that there is not any switching of the magnetic order (from ferro- to antiferro-magnetic and vice versa) in such a system through the RSOI. The dependence of the RKKY amplitude on the positions of the magnetic impurities and the size of the system is studied. The symmetry breaking, which can occur due to the Rashba interaction, leads to spatial anisotropy in the RKKY amplitude and manifests as collinear and noncollinear terms. Our results show the possibility of control and manipulation of spin correlations in carbon spin-based nanodevices.