Model studies of colloidal silica precipitation using biosilica extracts from<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Equisetum telmateia</Emphasis>

Structural materials containing silicon are produced in single celled organisms through to higher plants and animals. Hydrated amorphous silica is a colloidal mineral of infinite functionality that is formed into structures with microscopic and macroscopic form. Proteins and proteoglycans are suggested to play a critical role in the catalysis of silica polycondensation and in structure direction during the formation of these magnificent structures. This article extends knowledge on the effect of protein containing biosilica extracts from Equisetum telmateia on the kinetics of silica formation and structure regulation. Utilising potassium silicon catecholate as the source of soluble silicon, bioextracts obtained from plant silica by dissolution of the siliceous phase with aqueous HF following extensive acid digestion of the plant cell wall were found to modify the kinetic rate constants for the formation of small silicic acid oligomers under circumneutral pH conditions and to modify the solubility of silicic acid in solution. Addition of the bioextracts at ca. 1 wt% to the reaction medium reduced the sizes and range of sizes of the fundamental silica particles formed and led to the formation of crystalline polymorphs of silica under conditions of ca. neutral pH, room temperature and in the absence of multiply charged cations, conditions assumed to be relevant to the biological mineralization environment. The ability of biological organisms to regulate the formation of silica structures with prevention of crystallinity is discussed as are the implications of this study in terms of the generation of new materials with specific form and function for industrial application.     

Characterization of mechanically sheared ethylene–propylene copolymers by high resolution NMR

We report high-resolution solution-state NMR experiments on chain ends generated in ethylene–propylene copolymers by mechanical shearing in an extruder. The use of the higher resolution of the ¹³C-NMR spectrum, in a two-dimensional ¹H-¹³C chemical shift correlation experiment, has allowed the complete resolution and assignment of the olefinic chain-end region of the ¹H-NMR spectrum. Simultaneously, the assignments of the ¹³C olefinic resonances, previously identified [A. C. Kolbert, J. G. Didier, and L. Xu, Macromolecules, 29 , 8591 (1996)] are confirmed. An iterative method for calculating the average molecular weight, based on quantitative measurements of the olefinic ¹H-NMR peak intensities is introduced and these results are compared with measurements from ¹³C-NMR and size exclusion chromatography and correlated to reduced viscosities. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 35: 1955–1961, 1997     

Singularities of the solution of a mixed problem for a general second order elliptic equation and boundary stabilizationof the wave equation

We deal here with a second order elliptic mixed problem which is posed in a regular open bounded domain of . We study the regularity of its solution. We apply our results to the boundary stabilization of the wave equation.     

Photoionization of highly charged ions using an ECR ion source and undulator radiation

Photoionization of Xe4+ to Xe7+ ions was studied by combining an electron cyclotron resonance ion source with synchrotron radiation. Multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock calculations were performed to interpret the data. Many autoionization lines were measured and identified, resulting from excitation of a 4d electron into nf and np orbitals followed by Auger decay of the excited states. Continuum photoionization is negligible for the higher members of the isonuclear series.