Hydration state of nonionic surfactant monolayers at the liquid/vapor interface: structure determination by vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy

The OH stretching region of water molecules in the vicinity of nonionic surfactant monolayers has been investigated using vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy (VSFS) under the polarization combinations ssp, ppp, and sps. The surface sensitivity of the VSFS technique has allowed targeting the few water molecules present at the surface with a net orientation and, in particular, the hydration shell around alcohol, sugar, and poly(ethylene oxide) headgroups. Dramatic differences in the hydration shell of the uncharged headgroups were observed, both in comparison to each another and in comparison to the pure water surface. The water molecules around the rigid glucoside and maltoside sugar rings were found to form strong hydrogen bonds, similar to those observed in tetrahedrally coordinated water in ice. In the case of the poly(ethylene oxide) surfactant monolayer a significant ordering of both strongly and weakly hydrogen bonded water was observed. Moreover, a band common to all the surfactants studied, clearly detected at relatively high frequencies in the polarization combinations ppp and sps, was assigned to water species located in proximity to the surfactant hydrocarbon tail phase, with both hydrogen atoms free from hydrogen bonds. An orientational analysis provided additional information on the water species responsible for this band.     

Computational studies of the cationic aluminium(chloro) hydroxides by quantum chemical ab initio methods

Cationic aluminium(chloro) hydroxide complexes with two to four aluminium atoms were studied using quantum chemical methods. Complexes were studied in both gas and liquid phase. The liquid environment was modeled by using a conductor-like screening model (COSMO). COSMO calculations were carried out as a single point calculation at the optimized gas phase structures. Water (epsilon = 78.54) was used as the solvent. The minimum energy structures obtained from the gas phase studies were mostly compact cyclic structures. Aluminium preferred to be five-coordinated in oxygen rich clusters. Core oxygen preferred three-fold coordination but in the largest clusters the four-coordinated oxygen was observed. Water reacted dissociatively with hydrogen poor clusters. The COSMO calculations showed that the optimal structures of cationic aluminium(chloro) hydroxides tend to be more open in the liquid than in the gas phase.     

Evidence of variable H-bond network for nitroxide radicals in protic solvents

This letter presents the results of a thorough computational investigation of two prototypical nitroxide spin probes in two different protic solvents, namely water and methanol, based on the combined use of Car-Parrinello molecular dynamic simulations and static cluster/continuum quantum chemical computations. Remarkable changes in solvation networks were found on going from aqueous to methanolic solutions. Moreover, despite their structural similarity, the two nitroxide probes display quite different behaviors in water. This provides a rationalization of indirect experimentally available indications. Eventually, the combination of static and dynamical ab initio methods exploited in the present study allows to dissect many subtle features of the nitroxide-solvent interaction, and also allows for an analysis of solvent effects on magnetic parameters (hyperfine coupling constants and g-tensor shift).     

Nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shifts and quadrupole couplings for different hydrogen-bonding cases occurring in liquid water: a computational study

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) parameters are determined theoretically for the oxygen and hydrogen/deuterium nuclei of differently hydrogen-bonded water molecules in liquid water at 300 K. The parameters are the chemical shift, the shielding anisotropy, the asymmetry parameter of shielding, the nuclear quadrupole coupling constant, and the asymmetry parameter of the nuclear quadrupole coupling. We sample instantaneous configurations from a Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulation and feed nuclear coordinates into a quantum chemical program for the calculation of NMR parameters using density-functional theory with the three-parameter hybrid exchange-correlation (B3LYP) functional. In the subsequent analysis, molecules are divided into groups according to the number of hydrogen bonds they possess, and the full average NMR tensors are calculated separately for each group. The classification of the hydrogen-bonding cases is performed using a simple distance-based criterion. The analysis reveals in detail how the NMR tensors evolve as the environment changes gradually from gas to liquid upon increasing the number of hydrogen bonds to the molecule of interest. Liquid-state distributions of the instantaneous values of the NMR properties show a wide range of values for each hydrogen-bonding species with significant overlap between the different cases. Our study shows how local changes in the environment, along with classical thermal averaging, affect the NMR parameters in liquid water. For example, a broken or alternatively extra hydrogen bond induces major changes in the NMR tensors, and the effect is more pronounced for hydrogen or deuterium than for oxygen. The data sheds light on the usefulness of NMR experiments in investigating the local coordination of liquid water.     

Software support for the Nordtest method of measurement uncertainty evaluation

Software support for the Nordtest method of measurement uncertainty evaluation is described. According to the Nordtest approach, the combined measurement uncertainty is broken down into two main components??the within-laboratory reproducibility (intermediate precision) s _Rw and the uncertainty due to possible laboratory bias u(bias). Both of these can be conveniently estimated from validation and quality control data, thus significantly reducing the need for performing dedicated experiments for estimating detailed uncertainty contributions and thereby making uncertainty estimation easier for routine laboratories. An additional merit of this uncertainty estimation approach is that it reduces the danger of underestimating the uncertainty, which continues to be a problem at routine laboratories. The described software tool??MUkit (measurement uncertainty kit)??fully reflects the versatility of the Nordtest approach: it enables estimating the uncertainty components from different types of data, and the data can be imported using a variety of means such as different laboratory data systems and a dedicated web service as well as manual input. Prior to the development of the MUkit software, a laboratory survey was carried out to identify the needs of laboratories related to uncertainty estimation and other quality assurance procedures, as well as their needs for a practical tool for the calculation of measurement uncertainty.     

Soluble monolayers of n-decyl glucopyranoside and n-decyl maltopyranoside. Phase changes in the gaseous to the liquid-expanded range

To examine the transition from the gaseous to the liquid-expanded monolayer state, surface tension data were recorded for n-decyl beta-d-glucopyranoside (Glu) and n-decyl beta-d-maltopyranoside (Mal) solutions at low concentrations and at different temperatures. Comparisons were also made with n-decyl beta-d-thiomaltopyranoside (S-Mal) solutions at room temperature. The transitions observed occur at very low concentrations and surface pressures, about 0.5% of the critical micelle concentration (cmc) and between 0.8 and 1 mN/m for Glu and Mal at 22 degrees C. For S-Mal the transition is recorded for a concentration of 0.5% of the cmc as well, but the surface pressure is lower, about 0.4 mN/m. The gradual change in molecular area about the transition is from about 500 to 200 A(2) and 400 to 150 A(2) for Mal and Glu, respectively, and from about 800 to 250 A(2) for S-Mal. The comparatively large molecular areas after the transitions are incompatible with the notion that a coherent hydrocarbon film would cover the entire surface already at this stage. Standard surface thermodynamics was applied to elucidate the nature of these transitions in combination with two model concepts: The formation of an infinite network of surfactant molecules and, second, the formation of surface micelles. Hard-disk simulation results were employed to quantify the additional surface pressure after the transition attributed to the formation of surface micelles. In conclusion the formation of surface micelles is plausible as the hard-disk model is capable of accounting for the additional surface pressure increase with acceptable accuracy. Further, vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy was used to investigate the transition for Mal. Using the distinct feature of the non-hydrogen-bonded OH ("free OH") at 3700 cm(-)(1) for probing the surface water state, it could be determined that the surface holds a sizable fraction of unperturbed surface water even after the transition from the Henry range. The decrease in the free OH signal was found to correlate with the increase in surface density of surface micelles.     

Headgroup and hydrocarbon tail effects on the surface tension of sugar-based surfactant solutions

Measurements of surface tension isotherms were conducted for water solutions of pure and mixed n-decyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside (C(10)-Glu) and n-decyl-beta-d-maltopyranoside (C(10)-Mal) surfactants. By applying the Gibbs surface tension equation, the surface densities of Glu and Mal were derived for different compositions and concentrations. The surface fractions were compared with theoretically calculated values where the headgroups were modeled as hard disks. Satisfactory agreement was found for hard-disk sizes of 22.9 and 11.3 A(2) in the case of a 1:1 mixture. The results of the hard-disk calculations were employed to estimate the configurational free energy of the n-decyl-hydrocarbon chain. The results obtained agree well with previous calculations for the n-dodecyl chain. Comparison with n-dodecyl beta-d-maltopyranoside (C(12)-Mal) indicated a further contribution, with the longer hydrocarbon chain giving rise to a higher surface tension in good agreement with data for hydrocarbon liquids. Furthermore, the interpenetration of the headgroup into the hydrocarbon film was studied by means of comparing surface-tension data for n-decyl- and n-dodecyl-ethylene-oxide-based surfactants and n-decyl- and n-dodecyl-beta-d-thiomaltopyranosides (C(10)-S-Mal and C(12)-S-Mal, respectively) and -maltopyranosides. It was found that lengthening the tetra(etylene oxide) chain by one segment affects the surface tension only marginally, indicating little interpenetration of the additional ethylene-oxide group into the hydrocarbon film. For the thiomaltosides, however, the corresponding effect was found to be remarkably high.     

Catalytic dehydrogenation of ethanol into acetaldehyde and isobutanol using mono- and multicomponent copper catalysts

The purpose of this work was to investigate biomass-derived ethanol dehydrogenation into acetaldehyde using several mono- and multicomponent (CuO, ZnO and Cr₂O₃)-containing catalysts supported on industrial size Al₂O₃ beads. The catalysts, prepared with either solution combustion or incipient wetness method, were characterized by using various physico-chemical methods, such as EDXA, SEM-EDXA, TEM, XRD, XPS, pyridine adsorption desorption FTIR, and ζ-potential measurements. The results revealed that the multicomponent catalysts exhibited superior activity compared to the metal oxide catalysts containing only one metal oxide. In addition, the most selective catalyst towards acetaldehyde formation, with 50% selectivity at 55% conversion of ethanol at 300 °C and WHSV 1 h^?1 was CuOCr₂O₃/Al₂O₃ prepared by using the solution combustion method, indicating that this inexpensive and rapid catalyst preparation method is promising for other applications.     

Characterisation of optical detectors using high-accuracy instruments

The facilities of the Metrology Research Institute at the Helsinki University of Technology, and methods for characterisation of optical detectors for spectral radiant intensity and irradiance responsivity, are described. The instrumentation for such characterisations includes a reference spectrometer with a number of auxiliary set-ups, and equipment for the spectral irradiance measurements with a filter radiometer based on a trap detector. The methods of realising the spectral responsivity scales based on an absolute cryogenic radiometer in house are addressed. The procedures and results of characterisation of a multipoint measuring system of photosynthetically active radiation, by employing the available facilities, are briefly described. The absolute irradiance responsivity of the device is determined by using a photometric lamp, whose spectral irradiance has been measured with the filter radiometer. The combined standard uncertainty of this set of calibrations is 3.6% at the 1σ level. The uncertainty is caused almost completely by the multipoint measuring system.     

n-Decyl-glucopyranoside and n-decyl-maltopyranoside gibbs monolayers. Phase changes in the dilute liquid-expanded range

Surface tension isotherms were recorded for n-decyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside (Glu) and n-decyl-beta-D-maltopyranoside (Mal) solutions at temperatures of 8, 22, and 29 degrees C. Comparison was made with isotherms of n-decyl-beta-D-thiomaltopyranoside (S-Mal) at 22 degrees C. In addition to the transition from the gaseous to the liquid-expanded (LE) state, a second transition was observed in the early stages of the LE regime for Glu, Mal, and S-Mal at room temperature. The adsorption isotherm of Mal and Glu obtained at 22 degrees C shows the presence of an adsorption step at an average area/molecule of about 79 A2 between, approximately, 0.02 and 0.1 mM (the critical micelle concentration (cmc) is 2 mM) and 0.015 and 0.03 mM (the cmc is 2 mM), respectively. Similarly, for S-Mal an adsorption plateau is observed at 70 A2 between 0.01 and 0.03 mM (the cmc is 0.7 mM). From the temperature dependence of the surface tension, we have seen that there are considerable differences in the adsorption of Glu and Mal. For Mal, the adsorption plateau is also observed at 29 degrees C at around 79 A2, whereas Glu exhibits no adsorption plateau at this temperature. At 8 degrees C, both Mal and Glu exhibit saturation behavior in the dilute part of the liquid-expanded range, but at this temperature the average molecular areas are lower than at 22 degrees C: around 66 A2 for Glu and 75 A2 for Mal. Thus, the temperature sensitivity of Glu is considerably greater than for Mal in this range. The saturation regime coincides with a pronounced surface entropy minimum for Mal. The transition in the dilute liquid-expanded range supposedly occurs from a state with deformed surface micelles arranged in a hexagonal pattern, referred to as the granular range, to a true LE monolayer with a fluid hydrocarbon tail layer covering the entire surface.