On-line Method for Montelukast Determination in Bile Salt Medium with Multivariate Optimization and Fluorescent Detection

Journal of Analytical Chemistry - The present development involved a flow injection strategy using a mini-column of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and fluorescent detection (λex of 283 nm,...     

Influence of Polarity and Activation Energy in Microwave–Assisted Organic Synthesis (MAOS)

The aim of this work was to determine the parameters that have decisive roles in microwave-assisted reactions and to develop a model, using computational chemistry, to predict a priori the type of reactions that can be improved under microwaves. For this purpose, a computational study was carried out on a variety of reactions, which have been reported to be improved under microwave irradiation. This comprises six types of reactions. The outcomes obtained in this study indicate that the most influential parameters are activation energy, enthalpy, and the polarity of all the species that participate. In addition to this, in most cases, slower reacting systems observe a much greater improvement under microwave irradiation. Furthermore, for these reactions, the presence of a polar component in the reaction (solvent, reagent, susceptor, etc.) is necessary for strong coupling with the electromagnetic radiation. We also quantified that an activation energy of 20–30 kcal mol⁻¹ and a polarity (μ) between 7–20 D of the species involved in the process is required to obtain significant improvements under microwave irradiation.     

A system of parabolic equations in nonequilibrium thermodynamics including thermal and electrical effects

The time-dependent equations for a charged gas or fluid consisting of several components, exposed to an electric field, are considered. These equations form a system of strongly coupled, quasilinear parabolic equations which in some situations can be derived from the Boltzmann equation. The model uses the duality between the thermodynamic fluxes and the thermodynamic forces. Physically motivated mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions and initial conditions are prescribed.The existence of weak solutions is proven. The key of the proof is (i) a transformation of the problem by using the entropic variables, or electro-chemical potentials, which symmetrizes the equations, and (ii) a priori estimates obtained by using the entropy function. Finally, the entropy inequality is employed to show the convergence of the solutions to the thermal equilibrium state as the time tends to infinity.     

Spectrophotometric Study of Luminol in Dimethyl Sulfoxide–Potassium Hydroxide

The spectrophotometric study of luminol (LH₂) in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), DMSO-water solutions, and alkaline DMSO and DMSO-water solutions has been done, focusing on the effect of the KOH additon on LH₂ absorption and fluorescence properties. The absorption spectra indicate an acid-base equilibrium, and the luminol dianion (L^2–) formation at 3 × 10^–4 – 2.4 × 10^–3 M KOH. The decrease of the fluorescence intensity and the variation of the excitation spectra of LH₂-DMSO-KOH solutions with KOH concentration have been similarly explained. The acid-base process is reversible. The addition of HCl to the solution with 3.0 × 10^–3 M KOH leads to an increase of the fluorescence intensity to its highest value, observed in pure DMSO. The addition of HCl to the LH₂-DMSO solution leads to the decrease of the fluorescence intensity as a result of the LH⁺ ₃ cation formation. In LH₂-DMSO-water, the fluorescence band is shifted from 405 nm to 424 nm and increased in the intensity. In the presence of KOH (in LH₂-DMSO-water-KOH solution) a new band appears, with the maximum at 485 nm and the band at 405 nm decreased. The changes in fluorescence lifetimes also evidence the different chemical species formed.     

Romanovski polynomials in selected physics problems

We briefly review the five possible real polynomial solutions of hypergeometric differential equations. Three of them are the well known classical orthogonal polynomials, but the other two are different with respect to their orthogonality properties. We then focus on the family of polynomials which exhibits a finite orthogonality. This family, to be referred to as the Romanovski polynomials, is required in exact solutions of several physics problems ranging from quantum mechanics and quark physics to random matrix theory. It appears timely to draw attention to it by the present study. Our survey also includes several new observations on the orthogonality properties of the Romanovski polynomials and new developments from their Rodrigues formula.     

A Nonlinear Drift - Diffusion System with Electric Convection Arising in Electrophoretic and Semiconductor Modeling

A multi-dimensional transient drift-diffusion model for (at most) three charged particles, consisting of the continuity equations for the concentrations of the species and the Poisson equation for the electric potential, is considered. The diffusion terms depend on the concentrations. Such a system arises in electrophoretic modeling of three species (neutrally, positively and negatively charged) and in semiconductor theory for two species (positively charged holes and negatively charged electrons). Diffusion terms of degenerate type are also possible in semiconductor modeling. For the initial boundary value problem with mixed Dirichlet - Neumann boundary conditions and general reaction rates, a global existence result is proved. Uniqueness of solutions follows in the Dirichlet boundary case if the diffusion terms are uniformly parabolic or if the initial and boundary densities are strictly positive. Finally, we prove that solutions exist which are positive uniformly in time and globally bounded if the reaction rates satisfy appropriate growth conditions.     

Some characterisations of supported algebras

We give several equivalent characterisations of left (and hence, by duality, also of right) supported algebras. These characterisations are in terms of properties of the left and the right parts of the module category, or in terms of the classes L₀ and R₀ which consist respectively of the predecessors of the projective modules, and of the successors of the injective modules.     

Alloy model for high-temperature superconductors

An alloy model is proposed for the electronic structure of high-temperature superconductors. It is based on the assumption that holes and extra electrons are localized in small copper-oxygen clusters, that would be the components of such an alloy. This model, when used together with quantum chemical calculations on small clusters, can explain the structure observed in the experimental densities of states of both hole and electron superconductors close to the Fermi energy. The main point is the strong dependence of the energy level distribution and composition on the number of electrons in a cluster. The alloy model also suggests a way to correlate T_c with the number of holes, or extra electrons, and the number of adequate clusters to locate them.     

The Low Energy Limit of String Theory and its Compactifications with Background Fluxes

String theory is consistently defined in ten dimensions. In order to extract any information about four-dimensional physics, we need to understand the properties of the six-dimensional compact manifold orthogonal to our four-dimensional universe. A possibility that is being very much explored lately is to look at manifolds on which background fluxes are turned on. In this article, we present an introduction to string theory, focusing on its massless sector. We then review traditional compactifications to four–dimensions, and finally motivate and describe the so-called flux compactifications. We interpret the allowed six-dimensional manifolds from the point of view of generalized complex geometry.