Comparative study between dispersive and non-dispersive dielectric permittivity in spectral remittances of chiral sculptured zirconia thin films

The transmission and reflection spectra from a right-handed chiral sculptured zirconia thin film are calculated using the piecewise homogeneity approximation method and the Bruggeman homogenization formalism using both dispersive and non-dispersive functions for axial and non-axial states. The comparison of spectral results shows that the dispersion of the dielectric function has a considerable effect on the results. In axial excitation of cross-polarized reflectances and co-polarized transmittances the dispersion effect becomes more pronounced at wavelengths further away from the homogenization wavelength. This is also true in the case of non-axial excitation of circular transmittances, while there are considerable differences for cross-polarized reflectances where (wavelength) the first Bragg peak occurs. At wavelengths in the vicinity of the homogenization wavelength the dispersion effect of the dielectric function in R_RR becomes more significant.     

Electromembrane extraction of gonadotropin‐releasing hormone agonists from plasma and wastewater samples

In the present study, for the first time electromembrane extraction followed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet detection was optimized and validated for quantification of four gonadotropin‐releasing hormone agonist anticancer peptides (alarelin, leuprolide, buserelin and triptorelin) in biological and aqueous samples. The parameters influencing electromigration were investigated and optimized. The membrane consists 95% of 1‐octanol and 5% di‐(2‐ethylhexyl)‐phosphate immobilized in the pores of a hollow fiber. A 20 V electrical field was applied to make the analytes migrate from sample solution with pH 7.0, through the supported liquid membrane into an acidic acceptor solution with pH 1.0 which was located inside the lumen of hollow fiber. Extraction recoveries in the range of 49 and 71% within 15 min extraction time were obtained in different biological matrices which resulted in preconcentration factors in the range of 82–118 and satisfactory repeatability (7.1 < RSD% < 19.8). The method offers good linearity (2.0–1000 ng/mL) with estimation of regression coefficient higher than 0.998. The procedure allows very low detection and quantitation limits of 0.2 and 0.6 ng/mL, respectively. Finally, it was applied to determination and quantification of peptides in human plasma and wastewater samples and satisfactory results were yielded.     

Reflection, transmission and circular dichroism in axially excited slab of a copper thin film helicoidal bianisotropic medium

The reflectance, transmittance and circular dichrosim in a chiral sculptured copper thin film slab of 1000-1600 nm thickness in near infra-red and visible regions based on the relative permittivity of copper in the bulk state and volumetric fraction of copper inclusion of 0.2 are obtained. At higher volumetric fraction of metallic inclusions the reflection (due to low circular Bragg phenomenon) and transmission coefficients (due to increased absorption) are too small, while for thicker slabs numerical instabilities (overflow/underflow) occur in the computation. Therefore it is recommended that the chiral sculptured thin film slab to be considered as a half space.     

Comparison of the performance of different hybrid catalysts for direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from synthesis gas

Nine hybrid catalysts have been prepared, characterized and tested in a micro reactor for the direct synthesis of dimethyl ether. The physical mixtures of H-MFI-90 with ICI or KMT catalysts showed better performance.     

Electromembrane extraction of tartrazine from food samples: Effects of nano‐sorbents on membrane performance

In the present study, for the first time electromembrane extraction followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet detection was developed and validated for the determination of tartrazine in some food samples. The parameters influencing electromembrane extraction were evaluated and optimized. The membrane consists of 1‐octanol immobilized in the pores of a hollow fiber. As a driving force, a 30 V electrical field was applied to make the analyte migrate from sample solution with pH 3, through the supported liquid membrane into an acceptor solution with pH 10. Best preconcentration (enrichment factor >21) was obtained in extraction duration of 15 min. Effects of some solid nano‐sorbents like carbon nanotubes and molecularly imprinted polymers on membrane performance and electromembrane extraction efficiency were evaluated. The method provided the linearity in the range 25–1000 ng/mL for tartrazine (R² > 0.9996) with repeatability range (RSD) between 3.8 and 8.5% (n = 3). The limits of detection and quantitation were 7.5 and 25 ng/mL, respectively. Finally, the method was applied to the determination and quantification of tartrazine from some food samples with relative recoveries in the range between 90 and 98%.     

On the dependence of circular Bragg phenomenon of noble metals helicoidally periodic sculptured thin films on visible and IR wavelengths

The concept of local homogenization in the visible and infra-red frequencies is used by estimating the permittivity dyadics of noble metals (Cu, Ag, and Au) in the form of thin film helicoidal bianisotroptic media (TFHBM). Despite the fact that the absorption transitions of dielectric to metal (percolation threshold) in metallic TFHBMs occur at long wavelengths at lower volumetric fraction of metallic particles, at these wavelengths the transition from dielectric to metal in composite relative permittivity scalar occurs at higher volumetric fraction of metallic particles. The latter is responsible for the increase of circular Bragg phenomenon.     

Synthesis of nanocrystalline γ-Al_2O_3 by sol-gel and precipitation methods for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether

The capability of sol-gel and conventional precipitation techniques for the synthesis of nanocrystalline γ-alumina was investigated. These catalysts were used for vapor-phase dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether in a fixed-bed reactor under the same operating conditions (T = 300 ?C, P = 1 bar, LHSV = 2.8, 11.7, 26.1 h?1) and characterized by means of N2 adsorption-desorption, NH3-TPD, XRD, TGA and SEM techniques. According to the experimental results, the catalysts prepared using sol-gel method in non-aqueous medium showed better performance compared with those prepared by other methods.     

Preparation of nanocrystalline γ-Al_2O_3 catalyst using different procedures for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether

A series of nanocrystalline γ-alumina are synthesized by different procedures, namely, thermal decomposition method (sample A), precipita-tion method (sample B) and sol-gel method using sucrose and hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as templates (samples C and D, respectively). Textural and acidic properties of γ-alumina samples are characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption and NH3-TPD techniques. Vapor-phase dehydration of methanol into dimethyl ether is carried out over these samples. Among them, sample C shows the highest catalytic activity. NH3-TPD analysis reveals that the sample with smaller crystallite size possesses higher concentration of medium acidic sites and consequently higher catalytic activity. Thermal decomposition method leads to decrease in both surface area and moderate acidity, therefore it is the cause of lower catalytic activity.     

Production of light olefins from methanol over modified H-ZSM-5: effect of metal impregnation in high-silica zeolite on product distribution

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Improvement of H-ZSM-5 catalyst to convert methanol to light olefins was studied in this research. High-silica H-ZSM-5 zeolite (Si/Al&nbsp;=&nbsp;200)...