The non-oxidative thermal degradation of poly (Di-2-chloroethyl itaconate)

The non-oxidative thermal degradation of poly (di-2-chloroethyl itaconate) (PD2CEI) was studied by TG and by analysing the thermal products. The major processes occurring during thermal analysis are crosslinking, depolymerisation and carbonisation. The thermal degradation activation energy increased with increasing sample mass loss. The thermal degradation of PD2CEI was compared to that of the structurally similar poly(2-chloroethyl methacrylate) (P2CMA).     

Discrete Hf18 Metal-oxo Cluster as a Heterogeneous Nanozyme for Site-Specific Proteolysis

The selective hydrolysis of proteins by non-enzymatic catalysis is difficult to achieve, yet it is crucial for applications in biotechnology and proteomics. Herein, we report that discrete hafnium metal-oxo cluster [Hf₁₈O₁₀(OH)₂₆(SO₄)₁₃⋅(H₂O)₃₃] ( Hf₁₈ ), which is centred by the same hexamer motif found in many MOFs, acts as a heterogeneous catalyst for the efficient hydrolysis of horse heart myoglobin (HHM) in low buffer concentrations. Among 154 amino acids present in the sequence of HHM, strictly selective cleavage at only 6 solvent accessible aspartate residues was observed. Mechanistic experiments suggest that the hydrolytic activity is likely derived from the actuation of Hf^IV Lewis acidic sites and the Brønsted acidic surface of Hf₁₈ . X-ray scattering and ESI-MS revealed that Hf₁₈ is completely insoluble in these conditions, confirming the HHM hydrolysis is caused by a heterogeneous reaction of the solid Hf₁₈ cluster, and not from smaller, soluble Hf species that could leach into solution.     

Principal component analysis of the main factors of line intensity enhancements observed in oscillating direct current plasma

Enhancement of emission line intensities by induced oscillations of direct current (DC) arc plasma with continuous aerosol sample supply was investigated using multivariate statistics. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to evaluate enhancements of 34 atomic spectral lines belonging to 33 elements and 35 ionic spectral lines belonging to 23 elements. Correlation and classification of the elements were done not only by a single property such as the first ionization energy, but also by considering other relevant parameters. Special attention was paid to the influence of the oxide bond strength in an attempt to clarify/predict the enhancement effect. Energies of vaporization, atomization, and excitation were also considered in the analysis. In the case of atomic lines, the best correlation between the enhancements and first ionization energies was obtained as a negative correlation, with weak consistency in grouping of elements in score plots. Conversely, in the case of ionic lines, the best correlation of the enhancements with the sum of the first ionization energies and oxide bond energies was obtained as a positive correlation, with four distinctive groups of elements. The role of the gas-phase atom-oxide bond energy in the entire enhancement effect is underlined.     

nvolutorial Płonka sums

The construction of the sum of a direct (semilattice ordered) system of algebras introduced by J. Plonka – later known as the Plonka sum – is one of the most important methods of composition in universal algebra, having a number of applications in different algebraic theories, such as semigroup theory, semiring theory, etc. In this paper we present a more general way for constructing algebras with involution, that is, algebraic systems equipped with a unary involutorial operation which is at the same time an antiautomorphism of the underlying algebra. It is the sum – involutorial Plonka sum, as we call it – of an involution semilattice ordered system of algebras. We investigate its basic properties, as well as the problem of its subdirect decomposition.     

Asymptotic Cones of Finitely Generated Groups

Answering a question of Gromov [7], we shall present an exampleof a finitely generated group and two non-principal ultrafiltersA, B such that the asymptotic cones Con_A and Con_B are nothomeomorphic. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification 20F06,20F32.     

Phenolic natural products of the wines obtained from three new Merlot clone candidates

This work aimed to evaluate the total contents of polyphenolics (the Ribereau-Gayon–Maurié procedure), anthocyanins (using pH differential method) and tannins (the Nègre procedure) as well as the content of phenolic acids (using UPLC/MS chromatography), respectively of the wines obtained from three new Merlot clone candidates in the perennial clonal selection. The aforementioned chemical parameters were determined in the samples covering the period 2009–2012. In comparison both with the standard Merlot wine (mother vine) and the wines obtained from other two clone candidates, the Merlot wine of the clone candidate No. 022 was found to have the highest total content of all three examined components 1.89 ± 0.05 g/L (polyphenolics), 185.59 ± 5.00 mg/L (anthocyanins) and 1.11 ± 0.03 g/L (tannins), as well as six phenolic acids including gallic acid (25.49 ± 0.27 mg/L). These findings are in good agreement with the observed trend for the viticultural parameters indicating the clone candidate No. 022 as more promising than mother.     

Maharam algebras and Cohen reals

We show that the product of any two nonatomic Maharam algebras adds a Cohen real. As a corollary of this and a result of Shelah (1994) we obtain that the product of any two nonatomic ccc Souslin forcing notions adds a Cohen real.

     

Low-lying spectrum of the Y-string three-quark potential using hyper-spherical coordinates

We calculate the energies of three-quark states with definite permutation symmetry (i.e. of SU(6) multiplets) in the N=0, 1, 2 shells, confined by the Y-string three-quark potential. The exact Y-string potential consists of one term, the so-called three-string term, and three angle-dependent two-string terms. Due to this technical complication we treat the problem at three increasingly accurate levels of approximation: (1) the (approximate) three-string potential expanded to first order in trigonometric functions of hyper-spherical angles; (2) the (approximate) three-string potential to all orders in the power expansion in hyper-spherical harmonics, but without taking into account the transition(s) to two-string potentials; (3) the exact minimal-length string potential to all orders in a power expansion in the hyper-spherical harmonics, and taking into account the transition(s) to two-string potentials. We show the general trend of improvement of these approximations: the exact non-perturbative corrections to the total energy are of the order of one per cent, as compared with approximation (2), yet the exact energy differences between the [20,1⁺],[70,2⁺],[56,2⁺],[70,0⁺]-plets are shifted to 2:2:0.9, from the Bowler and Tynemouth separation rule 2:2:1, which is obeyed by approximation (2) at the one per cent level. The precise value of the energy separation of the first radial excitation (“Roper”) [56^′,0⁺]-plet from the [70,1⁻]-plet depends on the approximation, but does not become negative, i.e. the “Roper” remains heavier than the odd-parity [70,1⁻]-plet in all of our approximations.     

The thermal degradation kinetics of poly(di-n-alkylitaconates)

The non-oxidative thermal degradation kinetics of poly(di-n-alkyl itaconates), ranging from the methyl to then-octyl derivatives, were studied by non-isothermal and isothermal TG. The thermal degradation activation energy and characteristic mass loss temperatures were found to decrease with increasing substituent size. The shapes of the DTG curves were dependent on the size of the alkyl substituent. The different DTG maxima were ascribed to various modes of initiation of depolymerisation. The thermal stability of poly(di-n-hexyl itaconate) was found to be independent of the initial molar mass of the sample in the range ofM _w from 10⁴ to 10⁷ g/mol.

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Zusammenfassung Mittels nichtisothermer und auch isothermer TG wurde die nichtoxidative thermische Zersetzungskinetik von Poly(di-n-alkylitakonaten) untersucht, dabei bewegt sich die Länge der Alkylkette von Methyl bisn-Oktyl. Die Aktivierungsenergie der thermischen Zersetzung und die charakteristischen Masseverlusttemperaturen nehmen mit steigender Substituentlänge ab. Aussehen der DTG-Kurven hängt von der Größe der Alkylkette ab. Die verschiedenen DTG-Maxima wurden verschiedenen Initiierungs schritten der Depolymerisierung zugeschrieben. Man fand, daß im Intervall M_w zwischen 10⁴ und 10⁷ g·mol die thermische Stabilität der Poly(di-n-hexylitakonate) unabhängig von der anfänglichen molaren Masse der Probe ist.