Long-term acid resistance and selectivity of NF membranes in very acidic conditions

The aim of the study was to test commercial and experimental NF membranes for their separation efficiency and acid resistance in a long-term filtration experiment. Several NF membranes (NF 270, Desal-5 DK, Desal KH, BPT-NF-1 and BPT-NF-2) were tested for their separation efficiency and stability when a solution containing 25 g/L CuSO₄ and 8 wt.% H₂SO₄ was continuously filtered at 40 °C for 2 months. Filtration experiments were carried out with a new five-cell flat-sheet laboratory apparatus. Commercial NF membranes showed good selectivity, retaining most of the copper sulphate and letting most of the sulphuric acid pass into the permeate. However, only the membranes designed to be acid resistant (Desal KH and BPT-NF-2) maintained their separation efficiency during the 2 months of separation. The Desal KH membrane gave better copper retention values (92–95%) than the BPT-NF-2 (60–88%), but the overall selectivity was best with the BPT-NF-2 membrane due to its good sulphuric acid permeation.     

Use of a membrane reactor to improve selectivity to intermediate products in consecutive catalytic reactions

Through modeling it has been shown that a concentric-tube catalytic membrane reactor can be used to increase the selectivity for the intermediate products of a consecutive reaction scheme. The reactants are fed to the tube-side of the reactor where the catalyst is also located. The wall of the tube is permeable, allowing the intermediate products to pass through to the annular space instead of undergoing further reaction. The annular space is swept by an inert gas flow and contains no catalyst. Both permselective and non-permselective membranes have been considered in both co-current and counter-current flow regimes. In contrast to most catalytic membrane reactor applications where reactions are reversible and thermodynamically limited, in the present study the reactions considered are irreversible and are under kinetic control.     

The Use of 3 and 12 Micron Particulate Stationary Phases in Voltage-Assisted Micro-LC for the Separation of Mixtures Containing Neutral, Basic and Acidic Analytes

The application of voltage-assisted micro-LC using CEC instrumentation (capable of applying 1.2 MPa of pressure to supplement the electroosomotic flow) has been demonstrated. This has been achieved by the use of 100 m × 24 cm capillaries packed with 12 m stationary phase material; alternatively 7.5 cm capillaries packed with 3 m material using the short-end injection approach with reversed polarity can be used. The paper highlights how both approaches can be successfully employed to control the separation selectivity of a range of mixtures containing acidic, basic and neutral components by the concomitant addition of voltage (either positive or negative) to the applied micro-LC flow.     

Solvent optimization in normal-phase liquid chromatography of selected steroids

Summary Resolution (R_s) is a function of three factors: efficiency, retentivity and selectivity. A procedure for optimization of mobile phase selectivity was demonstrated using a reversed-phase (RP) separation of compounds with various functionalities. In this paper, the same procedure is used with normal bonded-phase (NP) chromatography to develop a separation of structurally similar steroids. The optimization of mobile-phase selectivity provided increased problem-solving capability and decreased the analysis time.A brief summary of this work has been published in September 1981, in the form of a du Pont Application Study.     

Effect of frit size on sintering, crystallization and electrical properties of wollastonite glass-ceramics

Wollastonite glass-ceramics were prepared through pressureless sintering. The sinterability of the prepared samples of the glassy powder in the system (SiO₂-CaO-Na₂O-Fe₂O₃-WO₃) was investigated in the temperature range 720-900 °C and soaking time of 180 min. The influence of the increase in the glass powder particle size on the sinterability and dielectric properties of the glass-ceramic samples was studied.The sintered specimens were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. XRD analysis revealed that wollastonite was the main crystalline phase in the sintered glass-ceramics. Dielectric properties such as dielectric constant and dielectric loss were measured via a network analyzer at 10 GHz.It was observed that the increase of the glassy powder particle size improved the sinterability and dielectric properties of the glass-ceramic specimens. Wollastonite glass-ceramics with 16 μm particle size had maximum constant and minimum loss (ε_r = 10.10 and tan δ = 0.005) compared with the other glass-ceramics.     

Azide‐based Cross‐Linking of Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs) for Condensable Gas Separation

Cross‐linked polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIM)s for gas separation membranes, were prepared by a nitrene reaction from a representative PIM in the presence of two different diazide cross‐linkers. The reaction temperature was optimized using TGA. The homogenous membranes were cast from THF solutions of different ratios of PIM to azides. The resulting cross‐linked structures of the PIMs membranes were formed at 175 °C after 7.5 h and confirmed by TGA, XPS, FT‐IR spectroscopy and gel content analysis. These resulting cross‐linked polymeric membranes showed excellent gas separation performance and can be used for O₂/N₂ and CO₂/N₂ gas pairs, as well as for condensable gases, such as CO₂/CH₄, propylene/propane separation. Most importantly, and differently from typical gas separation membranes derived from glassy polymers, the crosslinked PIMs showed no obvious CO₂ plasticization up to 20 atm pressure of pure CO₂ and CO₂/CH₄ mixtures.

     

Molecular and functional diversity of vascular endothelial growth factors

Summary Members of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family are crucial regulators of neovascularization and are classified as cystine knot growth factors that specifically bind cellular receptor tyrosine kinases VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, and VEGFR-3 with high but variable affinity and selectivity. The VEGF family has recently been expanded and currently comprises seven members: VEGF-A, VEGF-B, placenta growth factor (PlGF), VEGF-C, VEGF-D, viral VEGF (also known as VEGF-E), and snake venom VEGF (also known as VEGF-F). Although all members are structurally homologous, there is molecular diversity among the subtypes, and several isoforms, such as VEGF-A, VEGF-B, and PlGF, are generated by alternative exon splicing. These splicing isoforms exhibit differing properties, particularly in binding to co-receptor neuropilins and heparin. VEGF family proteins play multiple physiological roles, such as angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, while exogenous members (viral and snake venom VEGFs) display activities that are unique in physiology and function. This review will highlight the molecular and functional diversity of VEGF family proteins.     

Reactivities of mixed organozinc and mixed organocopper reagents. Part 7. Comparison of the transfer rate of the same group in allylation of mixed and homo diorganozinc reagents

A detailed direct kinetic study has been carried out to compare the reaction rate of transferable group, Ph in mixed phenylzinc reagents, RPhZn (R = n‐alkyl) and in homo diphenylzinc reagent, Ph₂Zn in their reactions with allyl bromide in THF at 25–(?15) °C. Empirical rata law and activation parameters are consistent with a second‐order substitution reaction. The allylation rate of transferable group Ph in RPhZn (R = n‐alkyl) has been found higher than the rate of Ph group in Ph₂Zn. A mechanism which accommodates the kinetic data and higher allylation rate of transferable group Ph in RPhZn than that in Ph₂Zn is given. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring structure–selectivity relationships of biogenic amine GPCR antagonists using similarity searching and dynamic compound mapping

We design and analyze compound selectivity sets of antagonists with differential selectivity against seven biogenic amine G-protein coupled receptors. The selectivity sets consist of a total of 267 antagonists and contain a spectrum of in part closely related molecular scaffolds. Each set represents a different selectivity profile. Using these com- pound sets, a systematic computational analysis of structure-selectivity relationships is carried out with different 2D similarity methods including fingerprints, recursive partitioning, clustering, and dynamic compound mapping. Screening calculations are performed in a background database containing nearly four million molecules. Fingerprint searching and compound mapping are found to enrich target-selective antagonists over family-selective ones. Dynamic compound mapping effectively discriminates database compounds from GPCR antagonists and consistently retains target-selective antagonists during the final dimension extension levels. Furthermore, the widely used MACCS key fingerprint displays a strong tendency to distinguish between target- and family-selective GPCR antagonists. Taken together, the results indicate that different types of 2D similarity methods are capable of distinguishing closely related molecules having different selectivity. The reported compound benchmark system is made freely available in order to enable selectivity-oriented analyses using other computational approaches.