Synthesis and Liquid Crystalline Behavior of Random Copolymer of Poly(ethylene oxide) Macromonomer and Liquid Crystalline Monomer by the Photon Transmission Technique

Random copolymers of poly(ethylene oxide) macromonomer with p‐vinylbenzyl end‐functional group (PEOVB) and liquid crystalline monomer, namely 6‐(4‐cyanobiphenyl‐4′‐oxy)hexyl acrylate (COA), were prepared by conventional free radical polymerization. A living anionic polymerization technique was employed for the synthesis of PEO macromonomers bearing p‐vinylbenzyl moiety at one end. The photon transmission method was also applied to study the phase transitions of COA monomer and its random copolymer with PEO. It was found that, for both samples, the nematic‐smectic A transition is continuous, but the critical fluctuation regions do not allow to obtain 3D XY values. Instead, we have obtained the values close to mean field regime. Scaling of thermal hystersis for random copolymer sample near the nematic‐isotropic transition was studied as well. Thermal hysteresis loops were produced under linearly varying temperature. It was shown that the areas of the hysteresis loops scale with the temperature scanning rate with an exponent being equal to 0.614 which is in good agreement with the field‐theoretical value.     

Synthesis of Some Polymer‐Metal Complexes and Elucidation of their Structures

In this study, the nine coordination polymers of Fe(III), Co(II) and Ni(II) salts have been synthesized using polyacrylamide (PAA), polt(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and their structures were characterized by magnetic and conductivity measurements, ultraviolet‐visible (UV‐VIS), FTIR spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The structures of Fe(III) complexes in the all coordination polymers were found as tetrahedral. The structures of PAA‐Co(II) coordination polymer was determined as octahedral geometry whereas PEG‐Co(II) and PVA‐Co(II) complexes showed as tetrahedral structure. PAA‐Ni(II) and PEG‐Ni(II) complexes have octahedral geometry, whereas PVA‐Ni(II) has a square planar structure. Besides, the stress‐strain experiments of PVA‐metal coordination polymers obtained rubber‐like structure were carried out and the value of breaking‐strain of PVA‐Ni(II) complex was found to be about 17% of vulcanized natural rubber. The conductivities of the resulting polymer‐metal complexes were measured by four‐probe technique and were found in the range 10^?5?10^?6 Scm^?1. Thus, it was suggested that they can be used in the field potential application of conducting polymers. TGA results revealed that among the complexes PEG‐Fe(III) and PVA‐Fe(III) complexes have the highest thermally stable.     

Synthesis and Metal Ion Recognition Properties of a Novel Chiral Calix[4](azoxa)crown-7

A novel chiral calix[4](azoxa)crown-7 (9) has been synthesized and its metal ion recognition properties investigated. The starting reagents, chiral diamine 5 and calix[4]arene diacid chloride derivative 8, were prepared according to literature methods. ¹H and ¹³C NMR data show that 9 exists in a cone conformation. In liquid–liquid extraction experiments, 9 exhibits selectivity for Li⁺ among the other alkali metals and a good extraction ability for transition metal cations, suggesting its potential use in different fields, such as a sensor for ions as well as for chiral molecules.     

Synthesis, characterization, thermal and optical properties of styrene derivatives having pendant p-substituted benzylic ether groups

The derivatives of styrene monomer, 4-chlorophenyl-4-vinylbenzyl ether (M1), 4-methoxyphenyl-4-vinylbenzyl ether (M2), 4-ethylphenyl-4-vinylbenzyl ether (M3) and 1-naphtylphenyl-4-vinylbenzyl ether (M4) were synthesized. The normal free radical polymerization of monomers in 1,4-dioxane were performed by using 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator at 65 °C. The monomers and their homopolymers were characterized by FT-IR, NMR and elemental analyses measurements. The thermal stability of polymers was investigated by thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric analysis. Thermal degradation activation energies of the polymers were calculated by the Ozawa and Kissinger methods. In addition, photo-stability tests of the polymers under near-UV irradiation were performed.     

Computational Enzyme Design

Recent developments in computational chemistry and biology have come together in the “inside‐out” approach to enzyme engineering. Proteins have been designed to catalyze reactions not previously accelerated in nature. Some of these proteins fold and act as catalysts, but the success rate is still low. The achievements and limitations of the current technology are highlighted and contrasted to other protein engineering techniques. On its own, computational “inside‐out” design can lead to the production of catalytically active and selective proteins, but their kinetic performances fall short of natural enzymes. When combined with directed evolution, molecular dynamics simulations, and crowd‐sourced structure‐prediction approaches, however, computational designs can be significantly improved in terms of binding, turnover, and thermal stability.     

In vitro study of the interaction of cysteine with a thiazide diuretic (hydrochlorothiazide) at different ph by voltammetric and spectroscopic techniques

The interaction of cysteine (RSH) with a thiazide diuretic, hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) was characterized by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and square-wave voltammetry in Britton-Robinson (B-R) buffer solution (with pH 5, 7 and 9). On the square-wave voltamogram of cysteine, the reduction peak current of mercurous cysteine thiolate (Hg₂(RS)₂) decreased and its peak potential shifted to more positive values with the addition of HCTZ. This results showed that the RSH interacted with HCTZ. The stoichiometry of HCTZ-RSH molecular complex was determined by voltammetric data with the result of 1: 1. By using linear regression analysis of the voltammetric data at pH 5, 7 and 9, the apparent formation constants of HCTZ-RSH complex were calculated to be 9.54 × 10³, 2.80 × 10⁴ and 2.55 × 10⁴ M^?1, respectively. At the same time, this interaction was also supported by UV-Vis spectroscopic measurements. According to the voltammetric and spectroscopic results, it was suggested that the interaction mode between RSH and HCTZ molecules might be a combination of hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds.     

Application of Different Zeolites for Improvement of the Characteristics of a pH‐FET Biosensor Based on Immobilized Urease

Different modifications of the zeolites Na⁺‐Beta and LTA were applied for improving the working characteristics of a urea biosensor. The bioselective membrane of the biosensor was based on urease and different zeolites co‐immobilized with bovine serum albumin on the surface of a pH‐FET. It was shown that the biosensors modified with the zeolites H⁺‐Beta30 and H⁺‐Beta50 are characterized by increased sensitivity to urea. The influence of the zeolite concentration on the sensitivity of the biosensors was studied. The optimal concentration of the zeolites H⁺‐Beta30 and H⁺‐Beta50 in the bioselective membrane was 15 %. Different variants of co‐immobilization of urease and zeolite H⁺‐Beta30 were studied and the optimal method was selected. Thus, a general conclusion is that the urea biosensor sensitivity can be improved using zeolite H⁺‐Beta30 for urease immobilization in the bioselective membrane.     

The Pharmacokinetic Profiles of Pre-Operative Prophylactic Cefepime Application in Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Women Undergoing Surgical Interventions Using a Fully Validated Liquid Chromatographic Method

Pregnancy alters pharmacokinetic profile of many drugs, because of altering body volume and metabolism rate. Therefore, dosage rates and concentrations of drugs must be controlled during pregnancy. Here, we identified the pharmacokinetic profile of pre-operatively given cefepime in caesarean section and gynecological operations using a simple, rapid, cost-effective and valid liquid chromatographic method. The chromatographic separation was performed using 40 mM, pH 3.2 phosphate buffer containing 6 % methanol as mobile phase at 0.30 mL min^?1 flow rate. Gradient elution with methanol was applied to get shorter analysis time without any interference from plasma endogens. During analyses, temperature of column, autosampler and detector were set as 30, 10 and 40 °C, respectively. The detection wavelength was 260 nm and ceftizoxime was used as internal standard. At the optimum conditions, the cefepime analysis from plasma samples was completed in 7 min. Cefepime was extracted from plasma samples using perchloric acid with a very high recovery rate (99.3 %). The method was fully validated according to the Food and Drug Administration guidelines for bioanalytical method validation, and found to be selective, linear, repeatable, reproducible and robust. After validation studies, the method was applied to five caesarean-sectioned and four non-pregnant sectioned women treated with pre-operative, prophylactic single intravenous dose of cefepime (1 g Maxipime^®) in order to determine pharmacokinetic profile of cefepime. Peak serum concentrations of cefepime in caesarean-sectioned women at the arterial port after infusion was 70.11 ± 10.74 μg mL^?1. The mean elimination half-life, volume of distribution and calculated area under the concentration–time curve (AUC)_0–∞ were 1.10 ± 0.23 h, 14.22 ± 2.29 L and 101.55 ± 10.99 μg h mL^?1 for caesarean-sectioned women; and 1.14 ± 0.21 h, 14.76 ± 2.92 L and 104.71 ± 36.34 μg h mL^?1 for non-pregnant sectioned women, respectively. The area under curve, elimination half-life, maximum plasma concentration and the mean distribution volume of cefepime were not changed in case of pregnancy.     

Synthesis and characterization of new 4,5-dihydropyrazol-1-yl derivatives

In this study, first, a series of chalcone compounds S1–S6 were synthesized from various acetophenone derivatives (acetophenone, p-methyl acetophenone, and p-methoxy acetophenone) and aromatic aldehyde derivatives (benzaldehyde, p-methyl benzaldehyde, and p-methoxy benzaldehyde) by the Claisen–Schmidt condensation reaction. These S1–S6 compounds were then used in the preparation of 4,5-dihydropyrazol-1-yl derivatives S7–S15. Finally, four new compounds S16–S19 were synthesized from compound (S7, S8, S9, and S12) and 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine. Therefore, three known and ten new heterocyclic compounds were synthesized and completely characterized using ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, IR, and elemental analysis.