Effect of the burning temperature on the phase composition,photovoltaic response,and electrical properties of Ag/Pd resistive films

Silver-palladium (Ag/Pd) films were grown by thick-film technology using a resistive paste consisting of Pd, Ag2O, and glass on ceramic substrates at burning temperatures of 878, 1013, and 1113 K. The effect of the burning temperature and Pd content in the initial paste on the phase composition, resistivity, photovoltaic properties of films, free carrier concentration, and mobility was studied. It was found that the films grown at a burning temperature of 878 K have the greatest factor of conversion of the pulsed laser power to the photovoltaic signal, which depends on the direction of the incident radiation wave vector. Using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and thermodynamic modeling, it was shown that the AgPd alloy and PdO oxide are the main components of the Ag/Pd film with photovoltaic properties.     

Assessment of pharmacokinetic interaction between piracetam and l‐carnitine in healthy subjects

A rapid, sensitive and specific method for quantifying piracetam in human plasma using Piracetam d‐8 as the internal standard (IS) is described. The analyte and the IS were extracted from plasma by one‐step precipitation of protein using an acetonitrile (100%). The extracts were analyzed by high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC‐MS/MS). The method had a chromatographic run time of 3.8 min and a linear calibration curve over the range 0.5–50 µg/mL (r > 0.99). This LC‐MS‐MS procedure was used to assess the bioavailability of two piracetam formulations: piracetam + l‐carnitine (Piracar®; 270/330 mg tablet) and piracetam (Nootropil®; 800 mg tablet) in healthy volunteers of both sexes. The geometric means with corresponding 90% confidence interval (CI) for test/reference percentage ratios were 88.49% (90% CI = 81.19 – 96.46) for peak concentration/dose and 102.55% (90% CI = 100.62 – 104.51) for AUC_inf/dose. The limit of quantitation of 0.5 µg/mL is well suited for pharmacokinetic studies in healthy volunteers. It was concluded that piracetam (Piracar®; 270/330 mg tablet) has a bioavailability equivalent to the piracetam (Nootropil®; 800 mg tablet) formulation with regard to both the rate and the extent of absorption. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Probing the Catalytically Active Species in POM-Catalysed DNA-Model Hydrolysis**

Phosphoester hydrolysis is an important chemical step in DNA repair. One archetypal molecular model of phosphoesters is para-nitrophenylphosphate (pNPP). It has been shown previously that the presence of molecular metal oxide [Mo₇O₂₄]⁶⁻ may catalyse the hydrolysis of pNPP through the partial decomposition of polyoxomolybdate framework resulting in a [(PO₄)₂Mo₅O₁₅]⁶⁻ product. Real-time monitoring of the catalytic system using electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) provided a glance into the species present in the reaction mixture and identification of potential catalytic candidates. Following up on the obtained spectrometric data, Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to characterise the hypothetical intermediate [Mo₅O₁₅(pNPP)₂(H₂O)₆]⁶⁻ that would be required to form under the hypothesised transformation. Surprisingly, our results point to the dimeric [Mo₂O₈]⁴⁻ anion resulting from the decomposition of [Mo₇O₂₄]⁶⁻ as the active catalytic species involved in the hydrolysis of pNPP rather than the originally assumed {Mo₅O₁₅} species. A similar study was carried out involving the same species but substituting Mo by W. The mechanism involving W species showed a higher barrier and less stable products in agreement with the non-catalytic effect found in experimental results.     

Macromol. Biosci. 1/2013

Front Cover: Highly aligned 3D silk scaffolds using directional freezing in a custom designed chamber was demonstrated. The method is versatile and holds potential to produce complex, multicomponent aligned structures for various tissue engineering and biomedical applications, needing immediate cell alignment to mimic native tissue hierarchy and function. Further details can be found in the article by B. B. Mandal, E. S. Gil, B. Panilaitis, and D. L. Kaplan* on page 48 .

     

One-Pot Synthesis of 1-Alkynylphosphonates

1-Alkynylphosphonates 3 are prepared in a one-pot procedure from diethyl phosphorochloridates 2 and alkynyllithiums 1, which are readily generated by the reaction of 1-alkynes with n-BuLi.     

Microwave‐Assisted Solid‐Phase Synthesis of a 1,2‐Disubstituted Benzimidazole Library by Using a Phosphonium Linker

An efficient and rapid microwave‐assisted solid‐phase method for the synthesis of 5‐methyl‐1,2‐disubstituted benzimidazoles derivatives has been developed. The phosphonium linker, obtained by reaction between polymer‐supported triphenylphosphine and 4‐fluoro‐3‐nitrobenzyl iodide, underwent aromatic substitution with primary amines, followed by one‐pot reaction with aldehydes in the presence of SnCl₂·2H₂O, yielded the benzimidazole system under microwave irradiation. The final products were released from the resin with NaOH under microwave irradiation and were obtained in high purity and good overall yield.     

Synthesis of New Tetrazole Derivatives of α,α‐Trehalose

Five new nitrogen heterocycles, mono‐and disubstituted tetrazoles with potential synthetic and pharmacological interest, were synthesized from α, α‐trehalose via the alkylation of commercial tetrazoles. This method appears to have broad scope with respect to the variations at positions 1 and 2 of tetrazole.     

Conformational Analysis of the Anti‐obesity Drug Lorcaserin in Water: How To Take Advantage of Long‐Range Residual Dipolar Couplings

The conformational state of 8‐chloro‐1‐methyl‐2,3,4,5‐tetrahydro‐1H‐3‐benzazepine hydrochloride (lorcaserin) in water has been determined on the basis of one‐bond and long‐range C? H residual dipolar coupling (RDC) data along with DFT computations and ³J_HH coupling‐constant analysis. According to this analysis, lorcaserin exists as a conformational equilibrium of two crown‐chair forms, of which the preferred conformation has the methyl group in an equatorial orientation.