Biodegradability of polylactide bottles in real and simulated composting conditions

As new biodegradable polymers and their packaging applications are emerging, there is a need to address their environmental performance. In particular, there is a need to understand the time required for their complete disintegration, before these materials are deployed in commercial composting processes. Standards developed by ASTM and ISO evaluate the biodegradation of biodegradable plastic materials in simulated controlled composting conditions. However, a more detailed understanding of the biodegradation of complete packages is needed in order to have a successful composting operation. This paper investigates the biodegradation performance of polylactide (PLA) bottles under simulated composting conditions according to ASTM and ISO standards, and these results are compared with a novel method of evaluating package biodegradation in real composting conditions. Two simulated composting methods were used in this study to assess biodegradability of PLA bottles: (a) a cumulative measurement respirometric (CMR) system and (b) a gravimetric measurement respirometric (GMR) system. Both CMR and GMR systems showed similar trends of biodegradation for PLA bottles and at the end of the 58th day the mineralization was 84.2±0.9% and 77.8±10.4%, respectively. PLA bottle biodegradation in real composting conditions was correlated to their breakdown and variation in molecular weight. Molecular weight of 4100 Da was obtained for PLA bottles in real composting conditions on the 30th day. The biodegradation observed for PLA bottles in both conditions explored in this study matches well with theoretical degradation and biodegradation mechanisms; however, biodegradation variability exists in both conditions and is discussed in this paper.     

Anionic polymerization of methyl methacrylate with Cr(C5H7O2)3–Al(C2H5)3 catalyst system

A homogeneous catalyst system, Cr(C₅H₇O₂)₃–Al(C₂H₅)₃, was used for the polymerization of methyl methacrylate. The yield of polymer increased up to an Al/Cr ratio of 12 and thereafter remained almost constant with increasing Al/Cr. The rate of polymerization increased linearly with increasing catalyst and monomer concentrations at Al/Cr = 12. The molecular weight, however, decreased with increasing catalyst concentration and increased with increasing monomer concentration, indicating anionic polymerization reaction. NMR studies of the polymers indicated the presence of a stereoblock structure, which changed to heteroblock structure in presence of triethylamine and hydroquinone as additives in the catalyst. In the light of these observations, the mechanism of the polymerization is discussed.     

Metal-mediated dearomatization leading to 2-azaspiro[4.5]decanes via tandem nucleophilic aromatic addition–Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons olefination–oxidative demetalation sequences

A ruthenium-mediated dearomatization sequence has been developed that delivers structurally intriguing azaspirolactam products in stereoselective fashion. Treatment of (η⁶-arene)Ru(cyclopentadienyl) complexes bearing N-benzyl-β-amido phosphonate side chains with excess NaH results in intramolecular nucleophilic aromatic addition to the ipso position of the coordinated arenes. Subsequent Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons (HWE) reaction with added aldehydes affords olefinated spirolactam cyclohexadienyl ruthenium complexes. Mild oxidation with CuCl₂ or CuBr₂ under CO effects removal and recovery of the CpRu(II) fragment. Substituents present on the cyclohexadienyl skeleton influence the outcome of demetalation and products obtained in this study include functionalized 2-azaspiro[4.5]decanes and tetrahydroisoquinolinones.     

New scheme for underwater acoustically wireless transmission using direct sequence code division multiple access in MIMO systems

Wireless Networks - This paper proposes a new technique based on Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access for underwater acoustically wireless transmission with excessive transmission rate....     

A novel and facile iodine(III)-mediated approach for C(5)-acetoxylation of 6-hydroxyflavone and 6-hydroxyflavanones

Oxidation of 6-hydroxyflavone 1 and 6-hydroxyflavanones 2a-c with iodobenzene diacetate (IBD) in acetic acid leads to regioselective acetoxylation, thereby providing a novel and convenient route for the synthesis of 5-acetoxylated products.     

Timelike and null geodesics in the Nordström field

The timelike and null geodesics are investigated in the Nordström geometry and it is found that incoming geodesics always encounter a turning point at a finite radial distance. The limits for escape, bound and stable orbits are obtained and they are closer to the source as compared to their counterparts in the Schwarzschild’s field.     

On Isospectral Deformations of an Inhomogeneous String

For an anyon model in two spatial dimensions described by a modular tensor category, the topological S-matrix encodes the mutual braiding statistics, the quantum dimensions, and the fusion rules of anyons. It is nontrivial whether one can compute the S-matrix from a single ground state wave function. Here, we define a class of Hamiltonians consisting of local commuting projectors and an associated matrix that is invariant under local unitary transformations. We argue that the invariant is equivalent to the topological S-matrix. The definition does not require degeneracy of the ground state. We prove that the invariant depends on the state only, in the sense that it can be computed by any Hamiltonian in the class of which the state is a ground state. As a corollary, we prove that any local quantum circuit that connects two ground states of quantum double models (discrete gauge theories) with non-isomorphic abelian groups must have depth that is at least linear in the system’s diameter. As a tool for the proof, a manifestly Hamiltonian-independent notion of locally invisible operators is introduced. This gives a sufficient condition for a many-body state not to be generated from a product state by any small depth quantum circuit; this is a many-body entanglement witness.