Numerical study of nitrogen desorption by rapid oxygen purge for a medical oxygen concentrator

Efficient desorption of selectively adsorbed N₂ from air in a packed column of LiX zeolite by rapidly purging the adsorbent with an O₂ enriched gas is an important element of a rapid cyclic pressure swing adsorption (RPSA) process used in the design of many medical oxygen concentrators (MOC). The amount of O₂ purge gas used in the desorption process is a sensitive variable in determining the overall separation performance of a MOC unit. Various resistances like (a) adsorption kinetics, (b) column pressure drop, (c) non-isothermal column operation, (d) gas phase mass and thermal axial dispersions, and (e) gas-solid heat transfer kinetics determine the amount of purge gas required for efficient desorption of N₂. The impacts of these variables on the purge efficiency were numerically simulated using a detailed mathematical model of non-isothermal, non-isobaric, and non-equilibrium desorption process in an adiabatic column. The purge gas quantity required for a specific desorption duty (fraction of total N₂ removed from a column) is minimum when the process is carried out under ideal, hypothetical conditions (isothermal, isobaric, and governed by local thermodynamic equilibrium). All above-listed non-idealities (a?Ce) can increase the purge gas quantity, thereby, lowering the efficiency of the desorption process compared to the ideal case. Items (a?Cc) are primarily responsible for inefficient desorption by purge, while gas phase mass and thermal axial dispersions do not affect the purge efficiency under the conditions of operation used in this study. Smaller adsorbent particles can be used to reduce the negative effects of adsorption kinetics, especially for a fast desorption process, but increased column pressure drop adds to purge inefficiency. A?particle size range of ??300?C500???m is found to require a?minimum purge gas amount for a given desorption duty. The purge gas requirement can be further reduced by employing a pancake column design (length to diameter ratio, L/D<0.2) which lowers the column pressure drop, but hydrodynamic inefficiencies (gas mal-distribution, particle agglomeration) may be introduced. Lower L/D also leads to a smaller fraction of the column volume that is free of N₂ at the purge inlet end, which is required for maintaining product gas purity. The simulated gas and solid temperature profiles inside the column at the end of the rapid desorption process show that a finite gas-solid heat transfer coefficient affects these profiles only in the purge gas entrance region of the column. The profiles in the balance of the column are nearly invariant to the values of that coefficient. Consequently, the gas-solid heat transfer resistance has a minimum influence on the overall integrated N₂ desorption efficiency by O₂ purge for the present application.     

ChemInform Abstract: Two New Compounds, β-ScTe and Y3Au2, and a Reassessment of Y2Au.

The title compounds are prepared by solid state reaction of the elements (Ta containers; 1573 K, 200 h for β-ScTe and 1323 K, 7 d for Y₃Au₂ and Y₂Au).     

Synthesis and Characterization of Dendrimer‐Encapsulated Bimetallic Core‐Shell PdPt Nanoparticles

Using a successive method, PAMAM dendrimer‐encapsulated bimetallic PdPt nanoparticles have been successfully prepared with core‐shell structures (Pd@Pt DENs). Evidenced by UV‐vis spectra, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X‐ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), the obtained Pd@Pt DENs are monodispersed and located inside the cavity of dendrimers, and they show a different structure from monometallic Pt or Pd and alloy PdPt DENs. The core‐shell structure of Pd@Pt DENs is further confirmed by infrared measurements with carbon monoxide (IR‐CO) probe. In order to prepare Pd@Pt DENs, a required Pd/Pt ratio of 1:2 is determined for the Pt shell to cover the Pd core completely. Finally, a mechanism for the formation of Pd@Pt DENs is proposed.     

Heterologous expression and genetic engineering of the tubulysin biosynthetic gene cluster using Red/ET recombineering and inactivation mutagenesis

Although the tubulysin (tub) biosynthetic gene cluster has been located in two myxobacterial strains, it appears in both cases to be incomplete as obvious candidates for acyl transfer and oxidation functions are lacking. Here, we report the engineering of?a heterologous expression system for the tub biosynthetic pathway from strain Cystobacter sp. SBCb004. The entire tub core cluster was reconstituted from two cosmids using Red/ET recombineering and heterologous expression achieved in strains Pseudomonas putida and Myxococcus xanthus. Availability of the heterologous expression system and the natural producer strain SBCb004 provided a platform for the functional investigation of various biosynthetic genes by targeted inactivation. In addition, BLAST analysis of SBCb004 genome data was?used to identify multiple candidate monooxygenases, whose involvement in tubulysin assembly was evaluated using a combination of knockout mutagenesis and heterologous expression.     

Effect of electrospun non-woven mats of dibutyryl chitin/poly(lactic acid) blends on wound healing in hairless mice

The aim of this study was to examine the proliferative ability of dibutyryl chitin (DBC) on scratch wounds in HaCaT keratinocytes and to evaluate the effect of nanoporous non-woven mat (DBCNFM) on skin wound healing in hairless mice using the advantages of DBCNFM, such as high porosity and high surface area to volume. The cell spreading activity of DBC was verified through a cell spreading assay in scratched human HaCaT keratinocytes. Scratch wound experiments showed that DBC notably accelerates the spreading rate of HaCaT keratinocytes in a dose dependent manner. The molecular aspects of the healing process were also investigated by hematoxylin & eosin staining of the healed skin, displaying the degrees of reepithelialization and immunostaining on extracellular matrix synthesis and remodeling of the skin. Topical application of DBCNFM significantly reduced skin wound rank scores and increased the skin remodeling of the wounded hairless mice in a dose dependent way. Furthermore, DBCNFM notably increased the expression of the type 1 collagen and filaggrin. These results demonstrate that DBC efficiently accelerates the proliferation of HaCaT keratinocytes and DBCNFM notably increases extracellular matrix synthesis on remodeling of the skin, and these materials are a good candidate for further evaluation as an effective wound healing agent.     

Atmospheric pressure aminocarbonylation of aryl iodides using palladium nanoparticles supported on MOF-5

An efficient amide synthesis by atmospheric pressure aminocarbonylation using palladium nanoparticles supported on MOF-5 is reported. Interestingly, only 0.5 wt% palladium loading was required to achieve high yields. The catalyst is recyclable and offers negligible palladium leaching.     

Significant role of the DNA backbone in mediating the transition origin of electronic excitations of B-DNA--implication from long range corrected TDDFT and quantified NTO analysis

We systematically investigate the possible complex transition origin of electronic excitations of giant molecular systems by using the recently proposed QNTO analysis [J.-H. Li, J.-D. Chai, G. Y. Guo and M. Hayashi, Chem. Phys. Lett., 2011, 514, 362.] combined with long-range corrected TDDFT calculations. Thymine (Thy) related excitations of a B-DNA biomolecule are then studied as examples, where the model systems have been constructed by extracting from the perfect or an X-ray crystal (PDB code 3BSE) B-DNA structure with at least one Thy included. In the first part, we consider the systems composed of a core molecular segment (e.g. Thy, or di-Thy) and a surrounding physical/chemical environment of interest (e.g. backbone, adjacent stacking nucleobases) in gas phase and examine how the excitation properties of the core vary in response to the environment. We find that the orbitals contributed by the DNA backbone and surrounding nucleobases often participate in a transition of Thy-related excitations affecting their composition, absorption energy, and oscillator strength. A vast number of strongly backbone-orbital involved excitations are also found at an absorption wavelength below ～180 nm predicted by TD-ωB97X. In the second part, we take into account geometrically induced variation of the excitation properties of various B-DNA segments, e.g. di-Thy, dTpdT etc., obtained from different sources (ideal and 3BSE). It is found that the transition origin of several Thy-related excitations of these segments is sensitive to slight conformational variations, suggesting that DNA with thermal motions may from time to time exhibit very different photo-induced physical and/or chemical processes.     

Assessment of density functional approximations for the hemibonded structure of the water dimer radical cation

Due to the severe self-interaction errors associated with some density functional approximations, conventional density functionals often fail to dissociate the hemibonded structure of the water dimer radical cation (H(2)O)(2)(+) into the correct fragments: H(2)O and H(2)O(+). Consequently, the binding energy of the hemibonded structure (H(2)O)(2)(+) is not well-defined. For a comprehensive comparison of different functionals for this system, we propose three criteria: (i) the binding energies, (ii) the relative energies between the conformers of the water dimer radical cation, and (iii) the dissociation curves predicted by different functionals. The long-range corrected (LC) double-hybrid functional, ωB97X-2(LP) [J.-D. Chai and M. Head-Gordon, J. Chem. Phys., 2009, 131, 174105], is shown to perform reasonably well based on these three criteria. Reasons that LC hybrid functionals generally work better than conventional density functionals for hemibonded systems are also explained in this work.     

Rhodium(III)-catalyzed oxidative mono- and di-olefination of isonicotinamides

[RhCp*Cl(2)](2) can catalyze the oxidative coupling of secondary isonicotinamides with activated olefins using Cu(OAc)(2) as an oxidant. The selectivity can be controlled by the solvent. In MeCN, the mono-olefination and two-fold oxidation reaction is the major pathway, while in THF this reaction gave mostly diolefination products. In both cases, the coupled products contain an exocyclic C=C bond.     

Simultaneous determination of ascorbic acid,dopamine, uric acid and tryptophan on gold nanoparticles/overoxidized-polyimidazole composite modified glassy carbon electrode

A novel electrode was developed through electrodepositing gold nanoparticles (GNPs) on overoxidized-polyimidazole (PImox) film modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The combination of GNPs and the PImox film endowed the GNPs/PImox/GCE with good biological compatibility, high selectivity and sensitivity and excellent electrochemical catalytic activities towards ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA), uric acid (UA) and tryptophan (Trp). In the fourfold co-existence system, the peak separations between AA–DA, DA–UA and UA–Trp were large up to 186, 165 and 285 mV, respectively. The calibration curves for AA, DA and UA were obtained in the range of 210.0–1010.0 μM, 5.0–268.0 μM and 6.0–486.0 μM with detection limits (S/N = 3) of 2.0 μM, 0.08 μM and 0.5 μM, respectively. Two linear calibrations for Trp were obtained over ranges of 3.0–34.0 μM and 84.0–464.0 μM with detection limit (S/N = 3) of 0.7 μM. In addition, the modified electrode was applied to detect AA, DA, UA and Trp in samples using standard addition method with satisfactory results.