Polytriphenylamines synthesized by interfacial and microemulsion oxidative polymerization

Two triphenylamine-based polymers were successfully prepared by the interfacial and microemulsion oxidative polymerization of triphenylamine and 4-(diphenylamino)benzyl 2-bromo-2-methylpropanoate. Ammonium peroxodisulfate ((NH₄)₂S₂O₈) was used as a chemical oxidant and dichloromethane/water was used as a solvent. Sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate was employed as a surfactant in the microemulsion system. Polytriphenylamines were characterized via Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra and ¹H-NMR and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy. Molecular weights were determined by gel permeation chromatography and redox properties were studied by cyclic voltammetry. The surface morphology of thin polymer films was determined by atomic force microscopy.     

On-site manipulation of single chromosomal DNA molecules by using optically driven microstructures

We report a novel method for manipulation of single giant DNA molecules under a video microscope. Using optically driven microstructures, we manipulated chromosomal DNA of length in the order of millimetres, extended by electroosmotic flow without DNA breakage in aqueous solution: we picked up DNA, using microfabricated hooks and wound it around microfabricated bobbins.     

Dyson orbitals for ionization from the ground and electronically excited states within equation-of-motion coupled-cluster formalism: theory, implementation, and examples

Implementation of Dyson orbitals for coupled-cluster and equation-of-motion coupled-cluster wave functions with single and double substitutions is described and demonstrated by examples. Both ionizations from the ground and electronically excited states are considered. Dyson orbitals are necessary for calculating electronic factors of angular distributions of photoelectrons, Compton profiles, electron momentum spectra, etc, and can be interpreted as states of the leaving electron. Formally, Dyson orbitals represent the overlap between an initial N-electron wave function and the N-1 electron wave function of the corresponding ionized system. For the ground state ionization, Dyson orbitals are often similar to the corresponding Hartree-Fock molecular orbitals (MOs); however, for ionization from electronically excited states Dyson orbitals include contributions from several MOs and their shapes are more complex. The theory is applied to calculating the Dyson orbitals for ionization of formaldehyde from the ground and electronically excited states. Partial-wave analysis is employed to compute the probabilities to find the ejected electron in different angular momentum states using the freestanding and Coulomb wave representations of the ionized electron. Rydberg states are shown to yield higher angular momentum electrons, as compared to valence states of the same symmetry. Likewise, faster photoelectrons are most likely to have higher angular momentum.     

In Vitro Antioxidant,Antitumor and Photocatalytic Activities of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized Using Equisetum Species: A Green Approach

The ethanolic extracts of three Equisetum species (E. pratense Ehrh., E. sylvaticum L. and E. telmateia Ehrh.) were used to reduce silver ions to silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The synthesized AgNPs were characterized using UV-Vis spectrophotometry, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) measurements. FTIR data revealed the functional groups of biomolecules involved in AgNPs synthesis, such as O-H, C-H, C=O, C-O, and C-C. EDX spectroscopy was used to highlight the presence of silver, while DLS spectroscopy provided information on the mean diameter of AgNPs, that ranged from 74.4 to 314 nm. The negative Zeta potential values (−23.76 for Ep–AgNPs, −29.54 for Es–AgNPs and −20.72 for Et–AgNPs) indicate the stability of the obtained colloidal solution. The study also focused on establishing the photocatalytic activity of AgNPs, which is an important aspect in terms of removing organic dyes from the environment. The best photocatalytic activity was observed for AgNPs obtained from E. telmateia, which degraded malachite green in a proportion of 97.9%. The antioxidant action of the three AgNPs samples was highlighted comparatively through four tests, with the best overall antioxidant capacity being observed for AgNPs obtained using E. sylvaticum. Moreover, the biosynthesized AgNPs showed promising cytotoxic efficacy against cancerous cell line MG63, the AgNPs obtained from E. sylvaticum L. providing the best result, with a LD₅₀ value around 1.5 mg/mL.     

Stability properties of a two-dimensional system involving one Caputo derivative and applications to the investigation of a fractional-order Morris–Lecar neuronal model

Adaptive infinite impulse response filters have received much attention due to its utilization in a wide range of real-world applications. The design of the IIR filters poses a typically nonlinear, non-differentiable and multimodal problem in the estimation of the coefficient parameters. The aim of the current study is the application of a novel hybrid optimization technique based on the combination of cellular particle swarm optimization and differential evolution called CPSO–DE for the optimal parameter estimation of IIR filters. DE is used as the evolution rule of the cellular part in CPSO to improve the performance of the original CPSO. Benchmark IIR systems commonly used in the specialized literature have been selected for tuning the parameters and demonstrating the effectiveness of the CPSO–DE method. The proposed CPSO–DE method is experimentally compared with two new design methods: the tissue-like membrane system (TMS), the hybrid particle swarm optimization and gravitational search algorithm (HPSO–GSA), the original CPSO-outer and CPSO-inner, and classical implementations of PSO, GSA and DE. Computational results and comparison of CPSO–DE with the other evolutionary and hybrid methods show satisfactory results. The hybridization of CPSO and DE demonstrates powerful estimation ability. In particular, to our knowledge, this hybridization has not yet been investigated for the IIR system identification.     

Thermal behaviour of the system Fe(NO3)3?·?9H2O–Bi5O(OH)9(NO3)4?·?9H2O–glycine/urea and of their generated oxides (BiFeO3)

Activated carbons (AC), particularly those containing sulphur, are effective adsorbents for mercury (Hg) vapour at elevated temperatures. Activated carbon-based technologies are expected to become a major part of the strategy for controlling mercury emission from coal-fired power plants. Understanding the mechanism of mercury adsorption on sulphur impregnated activated carbons (SIAC) is essential to optimizing activated carbons for better mercury removal efficiency and to developing technologies for the handling of the spent AC. In this work thermal analysis before and after mercury uptake was carried out for the SIAC prepared under various conditions from oil-sand petroleum coke using a simultaneous differential thermal analyzer. Samples were heated at 20°C min⁻¹ under nitrogen in the temperature range from ambient to 1000°C. The DSC curves suggest both endothermic and exothermic changes during heating. The endothermic processes were attributed to evaporation of moisture and other volatile components. The exothermic processes existed in a wide temperature range of 150–850°C likely due to the oxidation reactions between carbon and adsorbed oxygen, oxygen-containing surface groups. The enthalpies of liquid mercury interaction with SIAC at different Hg/AC mass ratio were also measured at 30, 40 and 50°C using a differential scanning calorimeter. The combination of thermal analysis and calorimetry techniques enabled confirmation that the interaction of mercury with SIAC involves both physical and chemical processes.     

Coupling-isomerization-N,S-ketene acetal-addition sequences--a three-component approach to highly fluorescent pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridines, [1,8]naphthyridines, and pyrido[2,3-b]azepines

Annelated 2-amino pyridines such as pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridines, [1,8]naphthyridines, and pyrido[2,3-b]azepines can be synthesized in moderate to good yields in a consecutive one-pot three-component process by a coupling-isomerization-enamine-addition-cyclocondensation sequence of an electron-poor (hetero)aryl halide, a terminal propargyl N-tosylamine, and an N,S-ketene acetal. After the coupling-isomerization sequence, a Diels-Alder reaction with inverse electron demand of the intermediate enimine and the N,S-ketene acetal and subsequent aromatization furnish annelated 2-amino pyridines 4 that were unambiguously characterized by numerous X-ray structure analyses. These heterocycles are highly fluorescent and partially pH sensitive, and their electronic structure was studied with spectroscopic and computational methods.     

Novel nanocomposite membranes from cellulose acetate and clay‐silica nanowires

In this study, a new class of heterogeneous membranes based on cellulose acetate (CA) polymer and a complex filler clay‐silica nanowires (SiO₂NWs) was investigated for potential biomedical applications. SiO₂NWs were synthesized using natural clay through a facile sol–gel method and were dispersed in the polymer solution by sonication in the 1.25, 2.5, and 5% weight ratio to the CA acetate polymer. Membranes were subsequently prepared via phase inversion by precipitation of the CA polymer in water. The pristine CA membrane and SiO₂NWs based nanocomposites membranes were characterized using different characterization techniques. The presence of the SiO₂NWs in the CA membrane was found to significantly enhance the protein retention, water wettability and thermal as well as mechanical properties in comparison to the pristine CA membrane. Water flows studies at different temperatures and the retention of bovine serum albumin have been studied and the nanocomposite membranes were found to exhibit superior performances compared with the pristine CA membranes. SiO₂NWs‐CA membranes showed a much higher stability to the water temperature change during separation than CA membranes. Morphological changes clearly revealed that the composite membrane were much more compact than the pristine CA membranes. The rabbit dermal fibroblasts cell viability in cultures after 72 hr of incubation was found to be greater than 80%. These newly synthesized composite membranes exhibit a high potential to be used for various medical applications because of their non‐cytotoxic characteristics. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.