Characterization and adsorption capacity of Brazilian kaolin

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - This study has evaluated chemical, radiological composition and determined the cation exchange capacity (CEC) for three commercially available...     

Recent advances and challenges in the recovery and purification of cellular exosomes

Exosomes are nanovesicles secreted by most cellular types that carry important biochemical compounds throughout the body with different purposes, playing a preponderant role in cellular communication. Because of their structure, physicochemical properties and stability, recent studies are focusing in their use as nanocarriers for different therapeutic compounds for the treatment of different diseases ranging from cancer to Parkinson's disease. However, current bioseparation protocols and methodologies are selected based on the final exosome application or intended use and present both advantages and disadvantages when compared among them. In this context, this review aims to present the most important technologies available for exosome isolation while discussing their advantages and disadvantages and the possibilities of being combined with other strategies. This is critical since the development of novel exosome‐based therapeutic strategies will be constrained to the effectiveness and yield of the selected downstream purification methodologies for which a thorough understanding of the available technological resources is needed.     

Partial least-squares modelling of dye fastness to light

Several physicochemical properties (¹³C-n.m.r., spectrophotometric, chromatographic, calorimetric) were measured for a series of 38 azo dyes in order to test the existence of relationships between one or more of these data sets and the fastness of the dyes on polyester fabric. The partial least-squares method was applied; it had previously proved useful in establishing structure/property relationships for the same dyes. It is shown that ¹³C-n.m.r. data can be used successfully to predict dye fastness to light. These data are quickly and cheaply obtained with small amounts of compound.     

Impact of the urea–matrix combustion method on the HDS performance of Ni-MoS2/γ-Al2O3 catalysts

A detailed study has been made of the different steps involved upon the preparation of γ-Al₂O₃-supported Ni-Mo HDS catalyst precursors by urea–matrix combustion (UMxC) method. Catalyst performance was evaluated using a tubular fixed-bed reactor and the hydrodesulfurization of thiophene under normal pressure as a model reaction. The oxidic and sulfurized states of the HDS catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), laser Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) in order to correlate their oxidic and sulfurized properties with the catalytic behaviour. During the UMxC process several consecutive stages such as melting, dissolution and chemical reactions occurred. There was no evidence of residual carbon and well-dispersed Ni- and Mo-oxo-species supported on alumina were formed.

Urea employed as fuel not only increases the combustion rate, but also undergoes a decomposition process (endothermic reaction) that could contribute to the reduction of the combustion temperature. The urea–matrix combustion method permit to synthesize highly active γ-Al₂O₃-supported Ni-Mo HDS catalysts with a comparable promoter effect than that of corresponding catalyst prepared by impregnation method. In addition, an opposite relation between the activity and the hydrogenation properties was observed indicating that highly active HDS catalyst requires low consumption of hydrogen. Finally, both the ignition temperature and the urea-oxidizer ratio produce no significant changes in the HDS catalytic properties of Ni-Mo-based catalysts.     

Programmable Temperature Vaporizer (PTV) Applied to the Triglyceride Analysis of Milk Fat

The PTV (Programmable Temperature Vaporizer) is a split/splitless injector which allows the sample to be introduced at a relatively low temperature, thus affording accurate and reproducible sampling. After injection the PTV is rapidly heated to transfer the vaporized components into the capillary column. This type of injector has proved to be an efficient tool for the evaluation of fatty acids, essential oils, and pesticides in food analysis. In this work the suitability of PTV for the analysis of milk fat purity by the Official EU method was evaluated. This method is based on the gas chromatographic determination of triglycerides only according to their total number of carbon atoms followed by the application of formulae deriving from multiple linear regressions. The analysis is currently carried out with a packed column or a short capillary column and an on-column injection system. Several samples of pure milk fat and mixtures of milk fat with foreign fat were analyzed with the same capillary column and by using both PTV and on-column injection systems. The results show that the gas chromatographic profile obtained by PTV is comparable with that obtained by the on-column injector, while repeatability and reproducibility data meet the requirements indicated in the Official Method. Therefore, this study demonstrates that it is possible to use the PTV instead of the on-column injector to determine the purity of milk fat with this method.     

Organocatalyzed Domino [3+2] Cycloaddition/Payne‐Type Rearrangement using Carbon Dioxide and Epoxy Alcohols

An unprecedented organocatalytic approach towards highly substituted cyclic carbonates from tri‐ and tetrasubstituted oxiranes and carbon dioxide has been developed. The protocol involves the use of a simple and cheap superbase under mild, additive‐ and metal‐free conditions towards the initial formation of a less substituted carbonate product that equilibrates to a tri‐ or even tetrasubstituted cyclic carbonate under thermodynamic control. The latter are conveniently trapped in situ, providing overall a new domino process for synthetically elusive heterocyclic scaffolds. Control experiments provide a rationale for the observed cascade reactions, which demonstrate similarity to the well‐known Payne rearrangement of epoxy alcohols.     

HTMoL: full-stack solution for remote access,visualization, and analysis of molecular dynamics trajectory data

Research on biology has seen significant advances with the use of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The MD methodology enables explanation and discovery of molecular mechanisms in a wide range of natural processes and biological systems. The need to readily share the ever-increasing amount of MD data has been hindered by the lack of specialized bioinformatic tools. The difficulty lies in the efficient management of the data, i.e., in sending and processing 3D information for its visualization. In this work, we present HTMoL, a plug-in-free, secure GPU-accelerated web application specifically designed to stream and visualize MD trajectory data on a web browser. Now, individual research labs can publish MD data on the Internet, or use HTMoL to profoundly improve scientific reports by including supplemental MD data in a journal publication. HTMoL can also be used as a visualization interface to access MD trajectories generated on a high-performance computer center directly. Furthermore, the HTMoL architecture can be leveraged with educational efforts to improve learning in the fields of biology, chemistry, and physics.     

Excess enthalpies of some aromatic aldehydes in n-hexane, n-heptane and benzene

Calorimetric measurements of molar excess enthalpies, H^E, at 298.15 K, of mixtures containing aromatic aldehydes of general formula C₆H₅(CH₂)_mCHO (with m = 0, 1 and 2) + n-hexane, n-heptane or benzene are reported, together with the values of H^E at equimolar composition compared with the corresponding values of H^E for the aromatic ketones in the same solvents. The experimental results clearly indicate that the intermolecular interactions between the carbonyl groups (CHO) are influenced by the intramolecular interactions between the carbonyl and phenyl groups, particularly for the mixtures containing benzaldehyde.