Surface modification for nano‐lignocellulose fiber through vapor‐phase‐assisted surface polymerization

This study addresses the inherent issues surrounding surface modification methods of nanofibers and proposes an environmentally friendly and less toxic strategy for the surface modification of hydrophilic nanofiber. From the continuation of our previous work, which discussed the easy production of nanofiber (average size: 127 nm) from oil palm mesocarp fiber (OPMF), in this work, the surface of nanofibers (M‐IL‐OPMF) were modified through vapor‐phase‐assisted surface polymerization (VASP) to improve the affinity of interface between the polymer grafted M‐IL‐OPMF and non‐polar matrix. VASP of ε‐caprolactone was successfully proceeded from the [M‐IL‐OPMF] at 70 °C for 24 h and 72 h, and compositions were estimated to be 35.7% fiber/64.3% polymer and 27.8% fiber/72.2% polymer. To confirm the grafting of PCL, size‐exclusion chromatography (SEC) and Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetry (TG), and dispersibility test in hydrophobic solvent were carried out. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 2575–2580     

Development of a solid‐phase microextraction LC–MS/MS method for determination of oxidative stress biomarkers in biofluids

Recently the connection between oxidative stress and various diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer's, attracts notice as a pathway suitable for diagnostic purposes. 8‐Oxo‐deoxyguanosine and 8‐oxo‐deoxyadenosine produced from the interaction of reactive oxygen species with DNA become prominent as biomarkers. Several methods have been developed for their determination in biofluids, including solid‐phase extraction and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays. However, still, there is a need for reliable and fast analytical methods. In this context, solid‐phase microextraction offers many advantages such as flexibility in geometry and applicable sample volume, as well as high adaptability to high‐throughput sampling. In this study, a solid‐phase microextraction method was developed for the determination of 8‐oxo‐deoxyguanosine and 8‐oxo‐deoxyadenosine in biofluids. The extractive phase of solid‐phase microextraction consisted of hydrophilic–lipophilic balanced polymeric particles. In order to develop a solid‐phase microextraction method suitable for the determination of the analytes in saliva and urine, several parameters, including desorption solvent, desorption time, sample pH, and ionic strength, were scrutinized. Analytical figures of merit indicated that the developed method provides reasonable interday and intraday precisions (<15% in both biofluids) with acceptable accuracy. The method provides a limit of quantification for both biomarkers at 5.0 and 10.0 ng/mL levels in saliva and urine matrices, respectively.     

Building an Iron Chromophore Incorporating Prussian Blue Analogue for Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation

The replacement of traditional ruthenium-based photosensitizers with low-cost and abundant iron analogs is a key step for the advancement of scalable and sustainable dye-sensitized water splitting cells. In this proof-of-concept study, a pyridinium ligand coordinated pentacyanoferrate(II) chromophore is used to construct a cyanide-based CoFe extended bulk framework, in which the iron photosensitizer units are connected to cobalt water oxidation catalytic sites through cyanide linkers. The iron-sensitized photoanode exhibits exceptional stability for at least 5 h at pH 7 and features its photosensitizing ability with an incident photon-to-current conversion capacity up to 500 nm with nanosecond scale excited state lifetime. Ultrafast transient absorption and computational studies reveal that iron and cobalt sites mutually support each other for charge separation via short bridging cyanide groups and for injection to the semiconductor in our proof-of-concept photoelectrochemical device. The reorganization of the excited states due to the mixing of electronic states of metal-based orbitals subsequently tailor the electron transfer cascade during the photoelectrochemical process. This breakthrough in chromophore-catalyst assemblies will spark interest in dye-sensitization with robust bulk systems for photoconversion applications.     

Efficient one-pot three-component method for the synthesis of highly fluorescent coumarin-containing 3,5-disubstituted-2,6-dicyanoaniline derivatives under microwave irradiation

A simple and concise approach to the synthesis of coumarin-containing highly fluorescent asymmetric/symmetric 3,5-diaryl/heteroaryl-2,6-dicyanoaniline derivatives are reported. The compounds were synthesized through base catalyzed three-component one-pot synthesis reaction of 2-(1-(7-(diethylamino)-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)ethylidene)malononitrile, aliphatic, aromatic/heteroaromatic aldehydes, and malononitrile in solvent-free reaction medium, catalyzed by piperidine under microwave irradiation method. The reaction gave the novel, highly fluorescent coumarin-containing 3,5-disubstituted-2,6-dicyanoaniline derivatives in good yields at 300?W, 80?°C in 2?min. This method provides several advantages; such as shorter reaction time, environmental friendliness, simple workup procedure, lower energy consumption and, generally, good yields with high purity. In addition, the synthesized compounds are fluorescently active dyes even in day light, except for compounds including nitro substituent, and show maximum absorption wavelengths (λ_abs.max) in the visible region in DMSO at room temperature. Thermal properties of all the synthesized compounds were also evaluated with thermal gravimetric analysis for usability as optic dye. Optical and thermal screening studies of the compounds showed that the dyes have excellent photophysical and thermal stability properties.     

Three-dimensional polarization-independent visible-frequency carpet invisibility cloak

We miniaturize all features in a previously introduced polarization-independent three-dimensional carpet invisibility cloak by more than a factor of 2. This leads to operation wavelengths in the visible. The structures are characterized by electron and optical microscopy. In contrast to our previous work at IR wavelengths, we can directly measure two-dimensional images at visible frequencies, perform control experiments from the backside, and compare the images with theory. We find excellent agreement. Furthermore, we study the wavelength dependence in the range from 900 nm down to 500 nm. Cloaking action deteriorates as the woodpile stop band at around 575 nm is approached.     

Minimal Surfaces in Three-Dimensional Riemannian Manifold Associated with a Second-Order ODE

We show that a surface corresponding to a first-order ODE is minimal in three-dimensional Riemannian manifold which is determined by the first prolongation of \({\text {d}}y/\mathrm{d}x=p(x,y)\) if and only if \(p_{yy}=0\). Accordingly, any linear first-order ODE describes a minimal surface which is not necessarily totally geodesic.     

The unique minimal dual representation of a convex function

Suppose (i) X is a separable Banach space, (ii) C is a convex subset of X that is a Baire space (when endowed with the relative topology) such that aff(C) is dense in X, and (iii) f:C→R is locally Lipschitz continuous and convex. The Fenchel-Moreau duality can be stated as