Efficient <Emphasis Type="Italic">Candida rugosa</Emphasis> lipase immobilization on Maghnite clay and application for the production of (<Emphasis Type="Italic">1R</Emphasis>)-(−)-Menthyl acetate

This work focused on the identification of natural, economical, and efficient supports for immobilization of Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) to catalyze the resolution of (±)-menthol. To this purpose, CRL has been immobilized on natural montmorillonite from Algeria (Maghnite-H), ion-exchange resins (Amberjet^®1200-H and Amberjet^®4200-Cl), and diatomaceous earth (Celite^®545). After a preliminary screening of supports, the immobilization of CRL led to a markedly improved enantioselectivity. Excellent enantioselectivity (E ≥ 134) was achieved by the four supported lipases (E = 68 for free enzyme). Compared to the three other supports tested, higher enantioselectivity was observed with Maghnite-H used as immobilization matrix. In this work, the effects of solvent, reaction time, and temperature, on the conversion as well as on enantioselectivity were investigated. The maximum of conversion (% C = 43%) with high enantiomeric excess of products (eep > 99) was obtained when the reaction is catalyzed by CRL immobilized on Maghnite-H at 30 °C for 24 h, and using toluene as selected solvent. Immobilized CRL on Maghnite-H exhibited good thermostability over a wide temperature range (30–90 °C) compared to the free one. These results suggest that CRL immobilized on Maghnite-H has good potential as biocatalyst for the production of (1R)-(?)-menthyl acetate.     

Simulation of column efficiency in temperature programmed gas-liquid chromatography

Summary If the dependence of HETP on temperature is specified under isothermal conditions, it is possible to predict the HETP for programmed temperature elution and subsequently peak width at half-height. This requires knowledge of isothermal retention time at retention temperature, which is computed by means of a model including the variation with temperature of dead time estimated from 3 homologs with carbon number: n, (n+j), (n+jk), where n, j and k are any integers. Predicted and measured peak widths corresponded within 4–9%.     

Modified auxiliary boundary conditions method for an ill-posed problem for the homogeneous biharmonic equation

In this paper, we are interested in the inverse problem for the biharmonic equation posed on a rectangle, which is of great importance in many areas of industry and engineering. We show that the problem under consideration is ill-posed; therefore, to solve it, we opted for a regularization method via modified auxiliary boundary conditions. The numerical implementation is based on the application of the semidiscrete finite difference method for a sequence of well-posed direct problems depending on a small parameter of regularization. Numerical results are performed for a rectangle domain showing the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Synthesis of Highly Fluorinated Aryl N-Acylsulfamates and Evaluation of Their Surfactant Properties

Abstract

Reaction of highly fluorinated carboxylic acids with aroxysulfonylisocyanates in the presence of triethylamine allowed the preparation of the corresponding highly fluorinated aroxy-N-sulfonylsulfamates. The reaction proceeds with good yield in toluene at room temperature or more rapidly in the same solvent at 60 °C. Surface tension measurement at the air/water interface showed that these compounds constitute new excellent nonionic surfactants exhibiting high surface activity in the range of the best nonionic fluoro surfactants, already described in the literature. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) has been calculated from the surface tension measurements on surface aqueous solutions.     

Sharp ultimate bounds of solutions to a class of second order linear evolution equations with bounded forcing term

We establish a precise estimate of the ultimate bound of solutions to some second order evolution equations with possibly unbounded linear damping and bounded forcing term.     

Regioselective routes towards 14-hydroxyabietane diterpenes. A formal synthesis of immunosuppressant (−)-triptolide from (+)-abietic acid

Two procedures to introduce an oxygenated function into the C-14 of abietane diterpenes with complete regioselectivity have been developed. Utilizing these, the synthesis of the antileishmanial quinone (−)-12-deoxyroyleanone (1) and a formal synthesis of antitumour and immunosuppressant (−)-triptonide (7) and (−)-triptolide (8) from (+)-abietic acid (13) have been carried out.     

Block LU-factorization of confluent Vandermonde matrices

In this note we show that an asymptotically fast algorithm may be designed in order to realize a block LU-factorization of confluent Vandermonde matrices. This result is based on a displacement structure satisfied by confluent Vandermonde matrices and on factorizations of the block elements in terms of triangular Toeplitz matrices.     

Simulation of column efficiency in temperature programmed gas-liquid chromatography

Summary If the dependence of HETP on temperature is specified under isothermal conditions, it is possible to predict the HETP for programmed temperature elution and subsequently peak width at half-height. This requires knowledge of isothermal retention time at retention temperature, which is computed by means of a model including the variation with temperature of dead time estimated from 3 homologs with carbon number: n, (n + j), (n + jk), where n, j and k are any integers. Predicted and measured peak widths corresponded within 4–9 %.     

Poly(butyl methacrylate)-grafted alginate/Fe3O4 nanocomposite: Synthesis and its application for removal of dyes

This study involved the utilization of a free radical-graft copolymerization reaction for the development of a novel adsorbent, namely, poly(butyl methacrylate)-grafted alginate/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite (PBMA-gft-Alg/Fe₃O₄). Transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction patterns analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were carried out for the characterization of Fe₃O₄ NPs and PBMA-gft-Alg/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites. The capability of nanocomposites and nanoparticles to adsorb dyes such as MG and MB, resulting in their removal from aqueous media, was evaluated under different conditions such as pH, temperature, contact time, and dose of adsorbent. Optimum parameters for adsorption of dyes were found to be pH of 10, 50°C, contact time of 180 min, and 0.2 g of adsorbent. Efficiency of the PBMA-gft-Alg/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite was found to be significantly greater than that of Fe₃O₄ NPs for eliminating the desired dye. Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips, and Temkin models were used for testing the experimental data. Freundlich model was the one that best described the adsorption.