Improving the Sensitivity of a Quartz Crystal Microbalance for Biosensing by Using Porous Gold

 A quartz crystal microbalance can be used as a biosensor if biological receptor molecules (ligands) are attached to the crystal. To improve the sensitivity, the surface area of the gold electrodes on the crystal was increased by rendering the electrodes porous. This increased the response up to a factor of 3. A protein model system with human anti-myoglobin as ligand and sheep skeletal myoglobin at different concentrations as analyte was used. The quartz crystal was mounted in a flow-cell, where immobilisation, binding and regeneration of the surface were carried out. The kinetics of the model system was monitored under various experimental conditions. Received February 2, 2000. Revision June 30, 2000.     

Correlation between the cross-linking and degradation activation energy of cotton fabric treated with chitosan kinetic study by ‘model-free’ multiple heating rate methods

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The different concentrations of chitosan were applied on cotton fabrics using glutaraldehyde as a cross-linking agent. The fabric samples were...     

Photophysical Behaviour of Novel Quaternary Pyrenoyl Salts and Their Sensitivity Towards Bile Salt Micellization

The present work describes the synthesis and characterization of pyrene derivatives, N-(1-Pyrenoylmethyl) pyridinium bromide (PM-PB) and N-(1-Pyrenoylmethyl)-N,N,N-triethylammonium bromide (PM-TAB). The photophysical behavior of these molecules has been studied in various protic and aprotic solvents. Using steady state fluorescence intensity, fluorescence anisotropy and dynamic fluorescence lifetime studies, the sensitivity of these molecules towards the micellization process of bile salts has been monitored. These derivatives have been effectively used in estimating critical micellar concentration (CMC) of bile salt, sodium deoxycholate (NaDC).

     

Observation of high spin levels in131Cs from131Ba decay

The γ- and conversion electron spectra following¹³¹Ba ε-decay are investigated, using HPGe detector and mini-orange electron spectrometer. Attention is particularly focussed on identifying weak transitions associated with low energy high spin levels in¹³¹Cs level scheme earlier inferred in reaction studies but not yet observed in¹³¹Ba decay. Our experiment identifies 15 new gammas and 6 new conversion lines in this decay. Internal conversion coefficients and multipolarities of several transitions are determined. Five new levels (3 with I^π = 7/2⁺ and one each with I^π 9/2⁺ and 11/2⁻) are introduced in the¹³¹Cs level scheme based on our observations taken together with the results from reaction studies. Spin-parity assignments to a few other levels are also suggested     

Sol-Gel Synthesis of Nanocrystalline PZT Using a Novel System

A simple system has been developed for the preparation of lead zirconate titanate, Pb(Zr _x Ti_{1 – x} )O₃ powders by sol-gel process. To achieve stable and homogeneous precursor solutions, chelating ligands such as acetic acid and acetylacetone have been used for the chemical modification of titanium and zirconium starting precursors. Phase-pure PZT powders were obtained, through a pyrochlore-free pathway, from the amorphous xerogel after heat treatment at 600°C. The formation of the crystalline phase, compositional homogeneity, sinterability, dielectric and piezoelectric characteristics of PZT are reported.     

The Study of Solute–Solvent Interactions in 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Hexafluorophosphate + 2-Pyrrolidone from Volumetric,Acoustic, Optical and Spectral Properties

The density (ρ), speed of sound (u) and refractive index (n_D) of [Bmim][PF₆], 2-pyrrolidone and their binary mixtures were measured over the whole composition range as a function of temperature between (303.15 and 323.15)?K at atmospheric pressure. Experimental values were used to calculate the excess molar volumes \( \left( {V_{m}^{\text{E}} } \right) \), excess partial molar volumes \( \left( {\overline{V}_{m}^{\text{E}} } \right) \), partial molar volumes at infinite dilution \( \left( {\overline{V}_{m}^{{{\text{E}},\infty }} } \right) \), excess values of isentropic compressibility \( \left( {\kappa_{S}^{\text{E}} } \right) \), free length \( \left( {L_{\text{f}}^{\text{E}} } \right) \) and speeds of sound \( \left( {u^{\text{E}} } \right) \) for the binary mixtures. The calculated properties are discussed in terms of molecular interactions between the components of the mixtures. The results reveal that interactions between unlike molecules take place, particularly through intermolecular hydrogen bond formation between the C₂–H of [Bmim][PF₆] and the carbonyl group of pyrrolidin-2-one. An excellent correlation between thermodynamic and IR spectroscopic measurements was observed. The observations were further supported by the Prigogine–Flory–Patterson (PFP) theory of excess molar volume.     

A one-pot access to pyridine/benzo fused cyclododecanes via multi-component tandem reactions

A facile syntheses of novel poly-substituted pyridine/benzo fused cyclododecane hybrid heterocycles have been achieved through one-pot multi-component tandem strategy employing cyclododecanone, aromatic aldehydes and malononitrile.