Ethylenically unsaturated polycarbosiloxanes for novel silicone hydrogels: synthesis,end‐group analysis,contact lens formulations,and structure–property correlations

A series of novel mono‐ethylenically unsaturated polycarbosiloxanes macromonomers as compatibilizer materials for soft silicon hydrogels were prepared from the anionic ring‐opening polymerization (AROP) of 2,2,5,5‐tetramethyl‐2,5‐disila‐1‐oxacyclopentane followed by methacrylation. The characterization was performed by end‐group analysis and included the determination of molecular weight, molecular weight distributions, end‐group functionality, and impurity profiles using gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry, gel permeation chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry. The synthetic procedure was optimized to minimize the formation of any dimer that would have the potential to act as a low molecular weight cross linker. In addition, the novel di‐ethylenically unsaturated polycarbosiloxanes were synthesized by cationic polymerization. Use of these silicone derivatives was explored in the formulation of contact lenses, and the structure–property relationship was examined. When copoymerized with hydrophilic monomers, these were able to give transparent and wettable films with desired properties, particularly a low moduli for contact lenses. Contact lens with high modulus is often shown to impart a higher degree discomfort when worn upon the eye. It was clear from the structure–property relationship that the modulus and the tensile strength of the formulated material depend on the nature and length of the polycarbosiloxane used and may be tuned for the purpose as needed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spectrophotometric Determination of Piperazine,Piperazine Salts and Diethylcarbamazine Citrate with Chloranilic Acid

Abstract

A rapid and sensitive spectrophotometric method is developed for the quantitative determination of piperazine, piperazine salts and diethylcarbamazine citrate. The method is based on the formation of donor-acceptor complexes between the compound and chloranilic acid. The interaction product has a characteristic absorption maximum at about 345 nm. The system obeys Beer's law in the concentration range of 1–10 ugml^?1 of piperazine hexahydrate, adipate, phosphate, citrate and diethylcarbamazine citrate. The effects of several experimantal variables have been studied and the stoichiometric composition of the complex has been determined. The developed procedure has been found to be simple, rapid and precise and its application to various dosage forms was demonstrated and yields results comparable with the standard method.     

Versatile chromatographic method for catechin determination in development of topical formulations containing natural extracts

Catechin is found in several natural sources, as Eugenia dysenterica and Syzygium cumini extracts. Its antioxidant and UV‐protective properties suggest a potential use in cosmetic and dermatological formulations. A simple analytical method capable of giving support to experiments performed along the development of topical formulations containing this natural substance (i.e. drug assay, skin permeation and stability studies), however, is still needed. Thus, this work aimed to develop and validate a selective HPLC method for catechin determination during the development of topical formulations. Separation was achieved using an RP‐C₁₈ column (300 × 3.9 mm; 10 μm), with a mobile phase of methanol–phosphoric acid 0.01 m (15: 85, v/v), a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min, temperature set at 40°C and UV detection at 230 nm. The method was linear in a range from 0.5 to 10.0 μg/mL (r = 0.9998), precise with an overall variation coefficient of 5.5% and accurate with catechin recovery from the skin layers >85%. Additionally, the method was sensitive (limit of detection, 0.109 μg/mL; limit of quantification, 0.342 μg/mL) and selective against plant extracts, skin matrices and formulation interferents, as well as catechin degradation products. It was also robust regarding both methodology parameters and analytical stability.     

An ALE finite element method for a coupled Stefan problem and Navier–Stokes equations with free capillary surface

In this article, an ALE finite element method to simulate the partial melting of a workpiece of metal is presented. The model includes the heat transport in both the solid and liquid part, fluid flow in the liquid phase by the Navier–Stokes equations, tracking of the melt interface solid/liquid by the Stefan condition, treatment of the capillary boundary accounting for surface tension effects and a radiative boundary condition. We show that an accurate treatment of the moving boundaries is crucial to resolve their respective influences on the flow field and thus on the overall energy transport correctly. This is achieved by a mesh‐moving method, which explicitly tracks the phase boundary and makes it possible to use a sharp interface model without singularities in the boundary conditions at the triple junction. A numerical example describing the welding of a thin‐steel wire end by a laser, where all aforementioned effects have to be taken into account, proves the effectiveness of the approach.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Cambridge Structural Database in Retrospect and Prospect

The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) was established in 1965 to record numerical, chemical and bibliographic data relating to published organic and metal–organic crystal structures. The Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) now stores data for nearly 700 000 structures and is a comprehensive and fully retrospective historical archive of small‐molecule crystallography. Nearly 40 000 new structures are added each year. As X‐ray crystallography celebrates its centenary as a subject, and the CCDC approaches its own 50th year, this article traces the origins of the CCDC as a publicly funded organization and its onward development into a self‐financing charitable institution. Principally, however, we describe the growth of the CSD and its extensive associated software system, and summarize its impact and value as a basis for research in structural chemistry, materials science and the life sciences, including drug discovery and drug development. Finally, the article considers the CCDC’s funding model in relation to open access and open data paradigms.     

A convergence for vector valued functions

We give a definition of gamma-convergence (epi-convergence) for the case of vector valued sequences of functions and prove some related properties analogous to the scalar case. We obtain one of the main variational theorems about convergence of ?-minimizers. In the convex case, we consider also variable domains and obtain stability of efficient points and minimal values.     

Dynamic analysis and regulation of the flexible pipe conveying fluid with a hard-magnetic soft segment

Applied Mathematics and Mechanics - The recently developed hard-magnetic soft (HMS) materials can play a significant role in the actuation and control of medical devices, soft robots, flexible...     

Existence of nontrivial solutions for fractional Schrödinger equations with critical or supercritical growth

In this paper, we study the following fractional Schrödinger equation with critical or supercritical growth where 0 < s < 1, N > 2s, λ > 0, , , ( ? Δ)^s denotes the fractional Laplacian of order s and f is a continuous superlinear but subcritical function. Under some suitable conditions, we prove that the equation has a nontrivial solution for small λ > 0 by variational methods. Our main contribution is related to the fact that we are able to deal with the case .     

A new numerical model for simulations of wave transformation,breaking and long‐shore currents in complex coastal regions

In this paper, we propose a model based on a new contravariant integral form of the fully nonlinear Boussinesq equations in order to simulate wave transformation phenomena, wave breaking, and nearshore currents in computational domains representing the complex morphology of real coastal regions. The aforementioned contravariant integral form, in which Christoffel symbols are absent, is characterized by the fact that the continuity equation does not include any dispersive term. A procedure developed in order to correct errors related to the difficulties of numerically satisfying the metric identities in the numerical integration of fully nonlinear Boussinesq equation on generalized boundary‐conforming grids is presented. The Boussinesq equation system is numerically solved by a hybrid finite volume–finite difference scheme. The proposed high‐order upwind weighted essentially non‐oscillatory finite volume scheme involves an exact Riemann solver and is based on a genuinely two‐dimensional reconstruction procedure, which uses a convex combination of biquadratic polynomials. The wave breaking is represented by discontinuities of the weak solution of the integral form of the nonlinear shallow water equations. The capacity of the proposed model to correctly represent wave propagation, wave breaking, and wave‐induced currents is verified against test cases present in the literature. The results obtained are compared with experimental measures, analytical solutions, or alternative numerical solutions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.