Magnetically induced thermal rectification

We consider far from equilibrium heat transport in chaotic billiard chains with noninteracting charged particles in the presence of nonuniform transverse magnetic field. If half of the chain is placed in a strong magnetic field, or if the strength of the magnetic field has a large gradient along the chain, heat current is shown to be asymmetric with respect to exchange of the temperatures of the heat baths. Thermal rectification factor can be arbitrarily large for sufficiently small temperature of one of the baths.     

Rapid high-performance liquid chromatography method for determination of pregabalin in a pharmaceutical dosage form following derivatization with fluorescamine

A simple, fast, and sensitive HPLC method was developed and validated for the evaluation of pregabalin in a pharmaceutical dosage form using fluorescamine as a derivatization agent for the first time. After a precolumn derivatization (5 min, room temperature), the reaction mixture was chromatographed on a C18 column with isocratic elution using 0.2% of triethylamine in a mixture of methanol and water (10 + 90, v/v). 3-Aminopentanoic acid was used as the internal standard. Using fluorescent detection (lamdaex 395 nm, lamdaem 476 nm), a low detection limit of 0.02 microg/mL was reached. The method was linear (r > 0.999) over the lower (0.125-25 microg/mL) and higher (1.25-250 microg/mL) concentration range. The intraday and interday precision of the QC samples was < 4.3%, and the accuracy was 94.2-102.5%. The samples were stable for 24 h at 4 degrees C. The robustness study showed that the derivatization is more robust than the chromatography method. The method was applied for the analysis of pregabalin content in 25, 75, and 300 mg capsules, and a good agreement was found with the declared amount of pregabalin (the relative error did not exceed 3.2%). Finally, the method was successfully used for dissolution studies of pregabalin capsules.     

Evaluation of the binding of oxovanadium(IV) to human serum albumin

The understanding of the biotransformations of insulin mimetic vanadium complexes in human blood and its transport to target cells is an essential issue in the development of more effective drugs. We present the study of the interaction of oxovanadium(iv) with human serum albumin (HSA) by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), circular dichroism (CD) and visible absorption spectroscopy. Metal competition studies were done using Cu(II) and Zn(II) as metal probes. The results show that V(IV)O occupies two types of binding sites in albumin, which compete not only with each other, but also with hydrolysis of the metal ion. In one of the sites the resulting V(IV)O-HSA complex has a weak visible CD signal and its X-band EPR spectrum may be easily measured. This was assigned to amino acid side chains of the ATCUN site. The other binding site shows stronger signals in the CD in the visible range, but has a hardly measurable EPR signal; it is assigned to the multi metal binding site (MBS) of HSA. Studies with fatted and defatted albumin show the complexity of the system since conformational changes, induced by the binding of fatty acids, decrease the ability of V(IV)O to bind albumin. The possibility and importance of ternary complex formation between V(IV)O, HSA and several drug candidates - maltol (mal), picolinic acid (pic), 2-hydroxypyridine-N-oxide (hpno) and 1,2-dimethyl-3-hydroxy-4(1H)-pyridinone (dhp) was also evaluated. In the presence of maltol the CD and EPR spectra significantly change, indicating the formation of ternary VO-HSA-maltol complexes. Modeling studies with amino acids and peptides were used to propose binding modes. Based on quantitative RT EPR measurements and CD data, it was concluded that in the systems with mal, pic, hpno, and dhp (V(IV)OL(2))(n)(HSA) species form, where the maximum value for n is at least 6 (mal, pic). The degree of formation of the ternary species, corresponding to the reaction V(IV)OL(2) + HSA -->/<-- V(IV)OL(2)(HSA) is hpno > pic ≥ mal > dhp. (V(IV)OL)(n)(HSA) type complexes are detected exclusively with pic. Based on the spectroscopic studies we propose that in the (V(IV)OL(2))(n)(HSA) species the protein bounds to vanadium through the histidine side chains.     

Strength of hydrogen bonds of water depends on local environment

In-depth knowledge of water-water potential is important for devising and evaluating simple water models if they are to accurately describe water properties and reflect various solvation phenomena. Water-water potential depends upon inter-molecular distance, relative orientation of water molecules, and also local environment. When placed at a favorable distance in a favorable orientation, water molecules exhibit a particularly strong attractive interaction called hydrogen bond. Although hydrogen bond is very important for its effects on the elements of life, industrial applications, and bulk water properties, there is no scientific consensus on its true nature and origin. Using quantum-mechanical methods, hydrogen bond strength was calculated in different local environments. A simple empirical linear relationship was discovered between maximum hydrogen bond strength and the number of water molecules in the local environment. The local environment effect was shown to be considerable even on the second coordination shell. Additionally, a negative linear correlation was found between maximum hydrogen bond strength and the distance, at which it was observed. These results provide novel insights into the nature of hydrogen bonding.     

Elastomer-Clay Nanocomposites: Effect of Elastomer Polarity

Dynamic mechanical properties of non-polar and polar elastomer-based nanocomposites with Montmorillonite clay are studied in order to ascertain differences caused by elastomer's polarity. Natural as non-polar and polychloroprene as polar rubber are used to experimentally verify predictions based on different nature of elastomer-clay interactions in the two cases. The properties foretold and elucidated in terms of van der Waals interactions in the non-polar case and dipole-dipole interactions in the polar case agree well with experiment, concurrently sustaining general depiction of these unusual nanocomposites.     

Thioglycolic acid grafted onto silica gel and its properties in relation to extracting cations from ethanolic solution determined by calorimetric technique

Thioglycolic acid was immobilized onto silica gel surface using 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane as precursor silylating agent to yield silica. The amount of thioglycolic acid immobilized was 1.03 mmol per gram of silica. This new surface displayed a chelating moiety containing nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen basic centers which are potentially capable of extracting cations from ethanolic solution, such as MCl3 ( M=Fe, Cr, and Mo). This process of extraction was carried out by the batch method when similar chemisorption isotherms were observed for all cations. The data were adjusted to a modified Langmuir equation. The sequence of the maximum retention capacity was Cr(III) > Mo(III) > Fe(III). The same adsorption was determined by calorimetric titration and the enthalpic values of -35.75 +/- 0.02, 32.90 +/- 0.15, and -84.08 +/- 0.12 kJmol(-1) for chromium, molybdenum, and iron, respectively, were obtained. From the calculated Gibbs free energy -23.4 +/- 0.2, -27.2 +/- 0.2, and -32.7 +/- 0.3 kJmol(-1), the variations in entropy obtained were 42 +/- 1, 201 +/- 1, 172 +/- 1 JK(-1)mol(-1) for the same sequence. All thermodynamic values are in agreement with the spontaneity of the proposed cation-basic center interactions for these chelating processes.     

Constructions for chiral polytopes

An abstract polytope of rank n is said to be chiral if its automorphismgroup has two orbits on flags, with adjacent flags lying indifferent orbits. In this paper, we describe a method for constructingfinite chiral n-polytopes, by seeking particular normal subgroupsof the orientation-preserving subgroup of an n-generator Coxetergroup (having the property that the subgroup is not normalizedby any reflection and is therefore not normal in the full Coxetergroup). This technique is used to identify the smallest examplesof chiral 3- and 4-polytopes, in both the self-dual and non-self-dualcases, and then to give the first known examples of finite chiral5-polytopes, again in both the self-dual and non-self-dual cases.