Characterization of Ultrathin Films of Cellulose Esters

The adsorption of cellulose acetate (CA), cellulose acetate propionate (CAP) and cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) from solutions prepared in acetone onto silicon wafers led to ultrathin films, which were characterized by ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle measurements. The polysaccharides films were characterized in the air just after their formation and after annealing at temperatures higher than their glass transition temperature or melt temperature. The films thickness close to 2 nm and surface roughness did not vary significantly upon annealing. AFM images revealed the presence of small clumps dispersed on a homogeneous layer, which covered completely the Si wafers. Such topographic details were also observed after annealing. However, upon annealing the films surfaces changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, evidencing molecular re-orientation at the solid–air interface. The adhesion of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and lipase onto the cellulose esters films was quantified in order to evaluate the possibility of applying such films as selective support for biomolecules.     

接触角法研究医用聚醚聚氨酯材料表面自由能与界面自由能

<正> 表面性质在医用材料与生物体的相互作用中起着至关重要的作用,如血液相容性材料的表面对血细胞具有吸附、变形、凝血、溶血等作用。表面能和界面能是医用材料的重要研究内容之一,材料的表面能及其极性与非极性分量在影响或控制材料与生物体的相互作用之面一直是医用材料的重要课题。Raier曾提出当材料的临界表面张力在20-30erg/cm~2时,血液相容性好,也有人认为,血液与材料的界面自由能趋于零时,才能     

测接触角法确定偶联剂的最佳用量

偶联剂是一类能在无机填料和聚合物基材之间形成“分子桥”、改善两者之间相容性或提高两者之间相互作用能力的化合物。将经偶联剂改性的无机填料填充到聚合物中可以制得成本低、性能好的复合材料。由于偶联剂用量多少将对复合材料的性能产生较大影响,因此建立一种准确、简便地确定偶联剂最佳用量的方法有着十分重要的理论和实际应用意义。     

Electrokinetic and contact angle measurements of grafted carbon fibers

 The grafting method that has successfully been applied to methacrylic acid and liquid crystalline monomers was expanded to prepare amphoteric carbon fiber surfaces using 2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate as monomer. The obtained carbon fiber surfaces were characterized by contact angle and ζ-potential measurements. The expected basic behavior was not observed, instead an amphoteric character of the modified carbon fiber surface was found. The fiber surfaces display a basic character in the acidic pH-range, while they are acidic in the alkaline part of the pH-scale. An important influence is derived from the amount of initiator used to graft the monomers onto the fibers. The smaller the initiator concen-tration used during polymerization, the larger the amount of amino functionalities introduced to the carbon fiber surface. The wetting behavior versus water depends on the overall conformation of the immobilized polymer. During immersion into water the polymer acts hydrophobic, while during emersion, a hydrophilic character is observed, probably derived from conformational changes and swelling during the contact angle measure-ments in water. Received: 9 June 1998 Accepted: 13 August 1998     

Studies on the phase properties of lyotropic liquid crystals of Brij35/sodium oleate/oleic acid/water system:By means of polarizing microscope,SAXS,~2H-NMR and rheological methods

The pseudo-quaternary phase diagram of Brij35/sodium oleate/oleic acid/water systems has been investigated, and the liquid crystal area has been identified, which covers about two thirds of the whole phase diagram. The liquid crystal structure and behavior have been also studied by using polarizing texture, small angle X-ray scattering, 2H-NMR and rheometer etc. The result shows that when the composition of the system changes along the line of AA′ in this large liquid crystal region, the structural change is cubic→cubic/lamellar→lamellar→lamellar/hexagonal→hexagonal. Meanwhile, we made the first attempt of systematic study of the rheological properties of the above system. The lattice constants of cubic and hexagonal liquid crystals are 10.53 and 5.68 nm, respectively.     

Enzymatic kinetic of cellulose hydrolysis

The ethanol effect on the Trichoderma reesei cellulases was studied to quantify and clarify this inhibition type. To determine inhibition parameters of crude cellulase and purified exoglucanase Cel7A, integrated Michaelis-Menten equations were used assuming the presence of two inhibitors: cellobiose as the reaction product and ethanol as a possible bioproduct of cellulose fermentation. It was found that hydrolysis of cellulose by crude enzyme follows a model that considers noncompetitive inhibition by ethanol, whereas Cel7A is very slightly competitively inhibited. Crude cellulase is much more inhibited (K _iul=K _icl=151.9 mM) than exoglucanase Cel7A (K _icl=1.6 × 10¹⁵ mM). Also, calculated inhibition constants showed that cellobiose inhibition is more potent than ethanol inhibition both for the crude enzyme as well as exoglucanase Cel7A.     

Critical behavior of the two-dimensional first passage time

We study the two-dimensional first passage problem in which bonds have zero and unit passage times with probabilityp and 1–p, respectively. We prove that as the zero-time bonds approach the percolation thresholdp _c, the first passage time exhibits the same critical behavior as the correlation function of the underlying percolation problem. In particular, if the correlation length obeys(p) ¦p–p _c¦^–v, then the first passage time constant satisfies(p)¦p–p _c¦^v. At p_c, where it has been asserted that the first passage time from 0 tox scales as ¦x¦ to a power with 0<<1, we show that the passage times grow like log ¦x¦, i.e., the fluid spreads exponentially rapidly.     

Two-photon absorption in quadrupolar pi-conjugated molecules: influence of the nature of the conjugated bridge and the donor-acceptor separation

Quadrupolar-type substitution of pi-conjugated chromophores with donor and acceptor groups has been shown to increase their two-photon absorption (TPA) response by up to two orders of magnitude. Here, we apply highly correlated quantum-chemical calculations to evaluate the impact of the nature of conjugated bridge and the charge-transfer distance on that enhancement. We compare chromophores with phenylenevinylene-, thienylenevinylene-, polyene-, and indenofluorene-type backbones substituted by dimethylamino and cyano groups. In all compounds, we find a strongly TPA-active A(g) state (either 2A(g) or 3A(g)) in the low-energy region, as well as a higher lying TPA-active state (mA(g)) at close to twice the energy of the lowest lying one-photon allowed state; the smaller energy detuning in the mA(g) states results in very large TPA cross sections delta. We also investigate the influence of the degree of ground-state polarization on TPA. Independent of the nature of the backbone and the donor-acceptor separation, delta displays the same qualitative evolution with a maximum before the cyanine-like limit; the highest TPA cross sections are calculated for distirylbenzene- and polyene-based systems.     

具有三维交叉孔道的新型亚磷酸锌的合成与结构

本文报道了一种新型三维亚磷酸锌[HO(CH₂)₂NH₃]₂•[Zn₃(HPO₃)₄]的合成和晶体结构。在它的结构中，ZnO₄和HPO₃严格按照顶点连接的方式交替相连。骨架结构存在两个沿着不同方向无限延伸的由ZnO₄和HPO₃组成的四元环链，在[0 1 0]、[0 4 15]和[0 -4 15]三个方向形成了三个交叉8元环孔道，有机胺阳离子起着平衡电荷和稳定骨架的结构。它的晶体数据为：[HO(CH₂)₂NH₃]₂•[Zn₃(HPO₃)₄],M=640.21, 正交晶系, Fdd2空间群, a=2.8528, b=0.8426, c=1.6159nm, Z=8, V=3.884nm³, R₁=0.0219, wR₂=0.0544。     

Nanowire‐Based Electrochemical Biosensors

We review recent advances in biosensors based on one‐dimensional (1‐D) nanostructure field‐effect transistors (FET). Specifically, we address the fabrication, functionalization, assembly/alignment and sensing applications of FET based on carbon nanotubes, silicon nanowires and conducting polymer nanowires. The advantages and disadvantages of various fabrication, functionalization, and assembling procedures of these nanosensors are reviewed and discussed. We evaluate how they have been used for detection of various biological molecules and how such devices have enabled the achievement of high sensitivity and selectivity with low detection limits. Finally, we conclude by highlighting some of the challenges researchers face in the 1‐D nanostructures research arena and also predict the direction toward which future research in this area might be directed.