Controlling the water content of never dried and reswollen bacterial cellulose by the addition of water-soluble polymers to the culture medium

For the modification of medically useful biomaterials from bacterially synthesized cellulose, fleeces of Acetobacter xylinum have been produced in the presence of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0% (m/v) carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), methylcellulose (MC), and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), respectively, in the Hestrin-Schramm culture medium. The incorporation of the water-soluble polymers into cellulose and their influence on the structure, crystal modifications, and material properties are described. With IR and solid-state ¹³C NMR spectroscopy of the fleeces, the presence of the cellulose ethers and an increase in the amorphous parts of the cellulose modifications (NMR results) have been detected. The incorporation is represented by a higher product yield, too. As demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy, a porelike cellulose network structure forms in the presence of CMC and MC. This modified structure increases the water retention ability (expressed as the water content), the ion absorption capacity, and the remaining nitrogen-containing residues from the culture medium or bacteria cells. The water content of bacterial cellulose (BC) in the never dried state and the freeze-dried, reswollen state can be controlled by the CMC concentration in the culture solution. The freeze-dried, reswollen BC-CMC (2.0%) contains 96% water after centrifugation, whereas standard BC has only 73%. About 98% water is included in a BC-MC composite in the wet state, and about 93% is included in the reswollen state synthesized in the presence of 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0% MC. These biomaterial composites can be stored in the dried state and reswollen before use, reaching a higher water absorption than pure, never dried BC. The copper ion capacity of BC-CMC composites increases proportionally with the added amount of CMC. BC-CMC (0.5%) can absorb 3 times more copper ions than original BC. In the case of 0.5 and 1.0% PVA additions to the culture solution, this polymer cannot be detected in the cellulose fleeces after they are washed. Nevertheless the presence of PVA in the culture medium effects a decreased product yield, a retention of nitrogen-containing residues in the material during purification, a reduced water absorption ability, and a slightly higher copper ion capacity in comparison with original BC. The water content of freeze-dried, reswollen BC-PVA (0.5%) is only 62%. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 463–470, 2004     

A Smplified Method for the Computation of Correlation Effects on the Band Structure of Semiconductors

We present a simplified computational scheme in order to calculate the effects of electron correlations on the energy bands of diamond and silicon. By adopting a quasiparticle picture we compute first the relaxation and polarization effects around an electron set into a conduction-band Wannier orbital. This is done by allowing the valence orbitals to relax within a self-consistent field (SCF) calculation. The diagonal matrix element of the Hamiltonian leads to a shift of the center of gravity of the conduction band while the off-diagonal matrix elements result in a small reduction of the conduction-electron bandwidth. This calculation is supplemented by the computation of the loss of ground-state correlations due to the blocked Wannier orbital into which the added electron has been placed. The same procedure applies to the removal of an electron, i.e., to the valence bands. But the latter have been calculated previously in some detail and previous results are used to estimate the energy gap in the two materials. The numerical data reported here show that the methods works, in principle, but that some extension of the scheme is also necessary to obtain fully satisfactory results.Dedicated to J.-P. Malrieu on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

The convex hull property and topology of hypersurfaces with nonnegative curvature

We prove that, in Euclidean space, any nonnegatively curved, compact, smoothly immersed hypersurface lies outside the convex hull of its boundary, provided the boundary satisfies certain required conditions. This gives a convex hull property, dual to the classical one for surfaces with nonpositive curvature. A version of this result in the nonsmooth category is obtained as well. We show that our boundary conditions determine the topology of the surface up to at most two choices. The proof is based on uniform estimates for radii of convexity of these surfaces under a clipping procedure, a noncollapsing convergence theorem, and a gluing procedure.     

Robust Adaptive Identification of Fuzzy Systems with Uncertain Data

This study presents a method of adaptive identification of parameters describing Sugeno fuzzy inference system in presence of bounded disturbances while maintaining the readability and interpretability of the fuzzy model during and after identification. This method do not require any a priori knowledge of a bound on the disturbance and noise and of a bound on the unknown parameters values. The method can be used for the robust and adaptive identification of slowly time varying nonlinear systems using fuzzy inference systems. The suggested method was used to build a fuzzy expert system that approximates the functional relationship between physical fitness and some of the measurable physiological parameters by their real measurements and opinion (human-experiences) of a medical expert.     

Indolo[3,3a,4-gh]chinoline und 10a, 6a-Iminopropano-indolo-[3,3a,4-gh]chinoline. Stereospezifische Synthesen und Umlagerungen. Teil II. 9. Mitteilung über synthetische Indolverbindungen

Alkaline hydrolysis of 1-benzyl-4, 4-dicyanoethyl-5-oxo-1,3,4,5-tetrahydro-benzo-[cd]indole under controlled conditions leads to 4-benzyl-4,6,7,8-tetrahydro-10a, 6a-iminopropanoindolo[3,3a,4-gh]quinoline-9(10H),12-dione ( 2a ), the first representative of such a ring system. Alkylation of this di-lactam affords the N-monoalkyl ( 2b ), the N, N'-dialkyl ( 3 ), and the N, O-dialkyl ( 4 ) derivatives according to the conditions employed. Treatment of compounds such as 2 with sodium in liquid ammonia results in the opening of one of the lactam rings by a stereoelectronically controlled reductive cleavage of the benzylamine bond; subsequent protonation proceeds stereospecifically to give trans-octahydroindolo[3,3a, 4-gh]quinolines (viz. 5 ). The NMR. spectra and the mechanism of the reductive ring opening are discussed.     

Über das Fluoreszenzthermochrome Acetonitrilo-Kupferjodid mit Dibenzo-18-Krone-6

About the Fluorescence Thermochromism of Acetonitrile Copper Iodide with Dibenzo-18-Crown-6 Copper iodide reacts in actonitrile solution with dibenzo-18-crown-6 to form a compound,(CuJ)₄(CH₃CN)₄(db-18-c-6), which fluoresces yellow at 298K, but pink at 77 K. It decomposes at 55.3°C. (5 Torr) by lost of acetonitrile and a heterogeneous mixture of copper iodide and polyether results. In absence of dibenzo-18-crown-6, copper iodide forms with acetonitrile a heterogeneous mixture of copper iodide and polyether results. In absence of dibenzo-18-crown-6, copper iodide forms with acetonitrile a solvate CuJ. CH₃CN. It also shows fluorescence thermochromism (yellow at 298 K, but green at 77 k) but decomposes at 0°C and 760 Torr. The luminescences pectra of the macrocyclic polyether complex at 298 K is redshifted. This probably results from intersection between the crown and the acetonitrile copper iodide.     

Homo-dinuclear σ-alkynyl complexes: past, present and opportunities

Homo-dinuclear alkynyl complexes with a distinct metal–metal bond constitute a rapidly growing field, where the focus is placed on compounds based on ruthenium, molybdenum, tungsten or rhodium. Interesting characteristics of these complexes include paramagnetism, intense charge-transfer absorptions, tunable bridging ligands, which may not be easily accessible in mononuclear acetylide systems. These complexes have significant potential for use in both molecular electronics and supramolecular chemistry. In this short account, previous work in this area is assessed, and each of the major groups of complexes is discussed in terms of both the synthetic strategies and structural motifs.