Optimization of the LC enantioseparation of chiral pharmaceuticals using cellulose tris(4‐chloro‐3‐methylphenylcarbamate) as chiral selector and polar non‐aqueous mobile phases

The resolving power of a new commercial polysaccharide‐based chiral stationary phase, Sepapak‐4, with cellulose tris(4‐chloro‐3‐methylphenylcarbamate) coated on silica microparticles as chiral selector, was evaluated toward the enantioseparation of ten basic drugs with widely different structures and hydrophobic properties, using ACN as the main component of the mobile phase. A multivariate approach (experimental design) was used to screen the factors (temperature, n‐hexane content, acidic and basic additives) likely to influence enantioresolution. Then, the optimization was performed using a face‐centered central composite design. Complete enantioseparation could be obtained for almost all tested chiral compounds, demonstrating the high chiral discrimination ability of this chiral stationary phase using polar organic mobile phases made up of ACN and containing an acidic additive (TFA or formic acid), 0.1% diethylamine and n‐hexane. These results clearly illustrate the key role of the nature of the acidic additive in the mobile phase.     

A novel nondeterministic scheme for a nondestructive two-qubit controlled phase gate with linear optics

A linear optical scheme for realizing the nondeterministic two-qubit quantum controlled phase gate is presented. The proposed setup involves a pair of product states, polarizing beam splitters, phase shifters and photon number resolving detectors. The omission of entangled ancilla input and additional single-qubit operations significantly reduces the complexity of this gate. This can be well implemented in experiment.     

Crystal structures and phonon modes of Ba(Ca1/2W1/2)O3, Ba(Ca1/2Mo1/2)O3 and Ba(Sr1/2W1/2)O3 complex perovskites investigated by Raman scattering

This work investigates the crystal structures and phonon modes of Ba(Ca_1/2W_1/2)O₃, Ba(Ca_1/2Mo_1/2)O₃ and Ba(Sr_1/2W_1/2)O₃ perovskites by Raman spectroscopy. The samples were produced by conventional solid‐state processing at 1200 °C. X‐ray diffraction showed that single‐phase homogeneous materials were produced, which are cubic or pseudo‐cubic in symmetry. The existing controversies in the literature for these complex perovskites were investigated by comparing experimental Raman data with group‐theory analysis. Ceramics with Ca and W or Mo were found to be cubic, space group Fm3 m. For these materials, four Raman‐active bands were observed and the fitting parameters showed that the Ba(Ca_1/2Mo_1/2)O₃ ceramic presents bands at lower wavenumbers if compared with the Ba(Ca_1/2W_1/2)O₃ sample. For the Ba(Sr_1/2W_1/2)O₃ material, two hypotheses were investigated for monoclinic or triclinic structures. The experimental results showed 12 Raman‐active modes for this ceramic, which is in perfect agreement with the theoretical predictions for a monoclinic (I2/m) structure. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crystal structure and phonon modes of ilmenite‐type NaBiO3 investigated by Raman and infrared spectroscopies

NaBiO₃ is an ilmenite‐type compound presenting a trigonal structure. In this work, we have performed optical spectroscopic investigations using Raman scattering and infrared reflectivity for this material. By using group‐theory calculations, it was possible to determine the number of optically active modes. Fitting procedures besides Kramers–Kronig (KK) procedures lead to a consistent collection of phonon modes. The Raman spectrum showed nine active first‐order modes, while the infrared one revealed eight polar phonons, in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. The results allowed us to confirm the R3 (#148) space group for this compound, and to establish a set of active phonons not yet reported in the literature. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coherent X-ray diffraction investigation of twinned microcrystals

Coherent X-ray diffraction has been used to study pseudo-merohedrally twinned manganite microcrystals. The analyzed compositions were Pr(5/8)Ca(3/8)MnO(3) and La(0.275)Pr(0.35)Ca(3/8)MnO(3). The prepared loose powder was thermally attached to glass (and quartz) capillary walls by gentle heating to ensure positional stability during data collection. Many diffraction data sets were recorded and some of them were split as expected from the main observed twin law: 180° rotation around [101]. The peak splitting was measured with very high precision owing to the high-resolution nature of the diffraction data, with a resolution (Δd/d) better than 2.0 × 10(-4). Furthermore, when these microcrystals are illuminated coherently, the different crystallographic phases of the structure factors induce interference in the form of a speckle pattern. The three-dimensional speckled Bragg peak intensity distribution has been measured providing information about the twin domains within the microcrystals. Research is ongoing to invert the measured patterns. Successful phase retrieval will allow mapping out the twin domains and twin boundaries which play a key role in the physical properties.     

Biocomposites based on Alfa fibers and starch‐based biopolymer

Biocomposite materials based on Alfa cellulose fibers (esparto grass plant) as reinforcing element and starch‐based biopolymer matrix were prepared and characterized in terms of mechanical performance, thermal properties, and water absorbance behavior. The fibers and the matrix were first mixed in the melted state under mechanical shearing using a plastograph and the obtained composites were molded by injection process. The tensile mechanical analysis showed a linear increase of the composite flexural and tensile modulus upon increasing the fiber content, together with a sharp decrease of the elongation at break. The fibers′ incorporation into the biopolymer matrix brings about an enhancement in the mechanical strength and the impact strength of the composite. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) investigation showed two relaxations occurring at about ?30 and 35°C. The addition of Alfa fibers enhanced the storage modulus E′ before and after T_α, which is consistent with the reinforcing effect of Alfa cellulose fibers. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prediction of wood property in Chinese Fir based on visible/near-infrared spectroscopy and least square-support vector machine

A method for the quantification of density of Chinese Fir samples based on visible/near-infrared (vis–NIR) spectrometry and least squares-support vector machine (LS-SVM) was proposed. Sample set partitioning based on joint x–y distances (SPXY) algorithm was used for dividing calibration and prediction samples, it is of value for prediction of property involving complex matrices. A stepwise procedure is employed to select samples according to their differences in both x (instrumental responses) and y (predicted parameter) spaces. For comparison, the models were also constructed by Kennard–Stone method, as well as by using the duplex and random sampling methods for subset partitioning. The results revealed that the SPXY algorithm may be an advantageous alternative to the other three strategies. To validate the reliability of LS-SVM, comparisons were made among other modeling methods such as support vector machine (SVM) and partial least squares (PLS) regression. Satisfactory models were built using LS-SVM, with lower prediction errors and superior performance in relation to SVM and PLS. These results showed possibility of building robust models to quantify the density of Chinese Fir using near-infrared spectroscopy and LS-SVM combined SPXY algorithm as a nonlinear multivariate calibration procedure.     

A Novel Production Route for Nylon-6: Aspects of Microwave-Enhanced Catalysis

Summary: Microwave irradiation was used for the amidation of a nitrile with an amine with a freshly prepared zirconium-based heterogeneous catalyst. Microwave irradiation selectively heats the catalyst which enhances its activity as compared to conventional heating. The difference between microwave heating and conventional heating disappears when Zr(OH)₄ is used instead of ZrO₂, indicating a microwave-induced shift in the hydrolysis equilibrium, i.e. the distribution of ZrO₂, ZrO(OH)₂ and Zr(OH)₄, of the zirconium-based catalyst. The catalyst efficiently catalyzes the amidation of valeronitrile with n-hexylamine with conventional as well as with microwave heating. Zr(OH)₄ was also used for the polymerization of 6-aminocapronitrile using conventional and microwave heating. With both heating methods a relatively low molecular weight polymer with a M_n of 4000 g/mol was obtained in a sealed vessel, due to the presence of water and ammonia. A post-polymerization step under microwave irradiation, with active removal of water and ammonia shifts M_n to 10000 g/mol. Pressure decrease to facilitate water removal resulted in products with higher molecular weights. A pressure reduction to 50 Pa and operation in an argon atmosphere at 230 °C resulted in nylon-6 with a M_n of 65000 in rather short reaction times. Lower pressures led to end-biting and evaporation of the volatile ε-caprolactam at 230 °C. As a consequence the resulting product has than a much lower molecular weight. The combination of a heterogeneous zirconium based catalyst and microwave heating is promising for process intensification for nylon-6 production.     

Learning Electricity with NIELS: Thinking with Electrons and Thinking in Levels

Electricity is regarded as one of the most challenging topics for students of all ages. Several researchers have suggested that na?ve misconceptions about electricity stem from a deep incommensurability (Slotta and Chi 2006; Chi 2005) or incompatibility (Chi et al. 1994) between na?ve and expert knowledge structures. In this paper we argue that adopting an emergent levels-based perspective as proposed by Wilensky and Resnick (1999), allows us to reconceive commonly noted misconceptions in electricity as behavioral evidences of “slippage between levels,” i.e., these misconceptions appear when otherwise productive knowledge elements are sometimes activated inappropriately due to certain macro-level phenomenological cues only. We then introduce NIELS (NetLogo Investigations In Electromagnetism), a curriculum of emergent multi-agent-based computational models. NIELS models represent phenomena such as electric current and resistance as emergent from simple, body-syntonic interactions between electrons and other charges in a circuit. We discuss results from a pilot implementation of NIELS in an undergraduate physics course, that highlight the ability of an emergent levels-based approach to provide students with a deep, expert-like understanding of the relevant phenomena by bootstrapping, rather than discarding their existing repertoire of intuitive knowledge.

Volatilization of Cr, Co, Mn and Ni as their pyrrolidinecarbodithioate chelates from electrothermal vaporizer for sample introduction in inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

Based on gaseous compound introduction as pyrrolidinecarbodithioate chelates of Cr, Co, Mn and Ni by electrothermal vaporization (ETV) in inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), a novel method for the determination of trace Cr, Co, Mn and Ni was developed. It was found that in the presence of ammonium pyrrolidinecarbodithioate (APDC) the trace amounts of analytes were vaporized at a low temperature of 1500 °C. The main factors affecting the formation and vaporization of analytes chelates were investigated in detail. Thermal gravimetric analysis of Cr-APDC, Co-APDC, Mn-APDC and Ni-APDC chelates and UV-vis analysis of the sample vapor collected in CHCl₃ after vaporization of their chelates indicated that the analytes were vaporized and transported into ICP as their chelates. Under the optimized conditions, the limits of detection (LOD) (3σ) and the relative standard deviations (R.S.D.) of Cr, Co, Mn and Ni were 0.36, 0.19, 0.073 and 0.32 ng, and 3.9, 4.9, 3.8 and 3.3% (c = 0.5 μg ml⁻¹, n = 7), respectively. By combination with a solvent extraction step, the proposed method had been successfully applied to analysis of Cr, Co, Mn and Ni in the artificial seawater. To evaluate the accuracy of the developed method, two certified reference materials (human hair GBW 09101 and poplar leaves GBW 07604) were also analyzed, and the determined values obtained were in good agreement with the certified values.