Blends of starch with ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymers: effect of water,glycerol, and amino acids as plasticizers

Blends of thermoplastic starch with poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl alcohol) copolymer (EVOH) were melt extruded with water/glycerol as plasticizer and a series of amino acid additives. The biggest factor in end‐use mechanical properties proved to be the relative humidity (RH) during storage. Plasticized starch‐EVOH blends stored at 0 and 50% RH changed significantly over time, with, for example, the tensile strength (TS) of the glycerol‐plasticized blend increasing from 4.7 to 26.3 MPa over 8 weeks when maintained at 0% RH. In contrast, the TS of this same sample stored at 75% RH remained unchanged for 8 weeks. Amino acids provided relatively minor, but significant changes in mechanical properties with time. Based on TS, elongation‐to‐break, and modulus, it may be concluded that β‐alanine, sarcosine, and L ‐proline were more effective than glycerol at maintaining strong flexible blends. Increases in crystallinity and changes in morphology with time, as described by modulated DSC were correlated to these changes in mechanical properties. Published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conformational studies of basic poly (α-amino acid)s in reversed micelles

The conformation of various basic poly (-amino acid)s was investigated by CD measurements in aqueous solutions containing bis (2-ethylhexyl)sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT) as well as in the AOT reversed micelles. The addition of AOT into an aqueous solution of poly(L-lysine) induces the conformational transition from coil to ordered structure, followed by aggregation. On the other hand, poly(L-lysine) assumes-structure in the reversed micelles at low w_ovalue (w_o=[H₂O]/[AOT]). Similarly to poly(L-lysine), poly(L-ornithine) takes an ordered structure in the aqueous solution containing AOT and-structure in the reversed micelles. In this case, however, these ordered structures are not so stable, compared with that of poly(L-lysine). Poly(L-arginine) undergoes the conformational transition from coil to helix by addition of AOT into the aqueous solution. Further addition of AOT allows transformation into-structure. Copoly(L-lysyl-L-leucine) with 63% leucine residue was shown to take a stable helical conformation even in pure water. In the reversed micelles, however, this ordered structure is significantly changed probably because the hydrophobic interaction among the leucyl residues is lowered in the reversed micelles.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of thiosulphate by hexachloroplatinate(IV)

Summary Rate constants for the oxidation of thiosulphate by hexachloroplatinate(IV) have been measured. The kinetics of the oxidation of thiosulphate follow a second-order rate law, first order with respect to thiosulphate and first order with respect to platinum(IV). The influence of pH is small. The rates are found to depend on the nature and concentration of the cations and follow the order: Cs⁺>Rb⁺>K⁺>Na⁺>Li⁺. The activation parameters calculated from the temperature studies are: H=42.9 k J mol^–1 and S=–102 JK^–1 mol^–1. A mechanism of the reaction in terms of intermediate formation of free radicals followed by the formation of tetrathionate is postulated to explain the kinetic behaviour.     

Net information measures for modified Yukawa and Hulthén potentials

The dimensional analyses of the position and momentum variances‐based quantum mechanical Heisenberg uncertainty measure, as well as the entropic information measures given by the Shannon information entropy sum and the product of Fisher information measures are carried out for two widely used nonrelativistic isotropic exponential‐cosine screened Coulomb potentials generated by multiplying the superpositions of (i) Yukawa‐like, ?Z(e^?μr/r), and (ii) Hulthén‐like, ?Zμ(1/(e^μr ? 1)), potentials by cos(bμr) followed by addition of the term a/r², where a and b ≥ 0, μ are the screening parameters and Z, in case of atoms, denotes the nuclear charge. Under the spherical symmetry, all the information measures considered are shown to be independent of the scaling of the set [μ, Z] at a fixed value of μ/Z, a, and b and the other parameters defining the superpositions of the potentials. Numerical results are presented, which support the validity of the scaling properties. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Relative reactivities of glycerophosphates towards permanganate in perchloric acid medium

Summary The reactivities of - and -glycerophosphates towards MnO ₄ ^– in HClO₄ medium have been examined. The reactions between glycerophosphates and MnO ₄ ^– are first order with respect to [glycerophosphate], [MnO ₄ ^– ] and [H⁺]. There is no evidence for cleavage of the C–O–P bond rather than the terminal –CH₂OH group being oxidized to the respective phosphoglyceraldehyde.     

Further study of theE/f 1 (1420) meson in central production

We have studied the reactions \(({{\pi ^ + } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\pi ^ + } p}} \right. \kern-0em} p})p \to ({{\pi ^ + } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\pi ^ + } p}} \right. \kern-0em} p})(K\bar K\pi )p\) where the \(K\bar K\pi \) system is centrally produced, at 85 GeV/c and 300 GeV/c using the CERN Omega spectrometer. A spin-parity analysis of theK _S ⁰ K ^± π ^? system shows the presence of a strongJ ^PC=1⁺⁺ signal which we identify as theE/f ₁ (1420) meson. We also find evidence for the decayE/f ₁(1420)→K _S ⁰ K _S ⁰ π ⁰ which determines theC-parity of this state to be positive. Alternative explanations of the data have been tested and ruled out. Hence we obtain the quantum numbers of theE/f ₁ (1420) to beI ^G(J^PC)=0⁺(1⁺).     

基于三维静电势参数研究C60溶解性的构效关系

在量子化学从头算基础上,对一系列溶剂化合物分子进行了结构优化和三维静电势参数计算,运用多元线性回归分析和神经网络方法对C60在121种不同溶剂的溶解性与计算的结构参数进行了构效关系研究.用建立起来的QSPR 关系式对15种不同结构类型溶剂进行了预测,并阐述了C60溶质与不同溶剂之间的相互作用,获得了满意的结果.