Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry of cyclodextrin complexes with amino acids in incubated solutions and in eluates of gel permeation chromatography

1:1 complexes of beta-cyclodextrin (CD) with three amino acids (Gly, Phe and Trp) have been detected as ions in the gas phase using infusion positive and negative ion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). In contrast with the positive ion ESI mass spectra of simple aqueous solutions, the aggregates and adducts usually formed in the ESI process did not appear in the positive ion ESI spectra of solutions buffered with ammonium acetate (NH4Ac), even at higher analyte concentrations, These studies suggest that addition of buffer and/or use of a low analyte concentration should be used to overcome formation of aggregates and metal ion adducts in such mass spectrometry studies. Also, the deprotonated complexes are dissociated by collision induced dissociation (CID) to form an abundant product ion, the deprotonated CD, requiring transfer of a proton to the amino acid carboxyl group, To understand formation of complexes in the gas phase, gel permeation chromatography (GPC) was used to separate free amino acids (AAs) from complexes in an incubated solution. The ESI mass spectra of the GPC fractions show the presence of 1:1 complexes of both CD-aromatic amino acids and CD-aliphatic amino acids. Compared with CD-aliphatic amino acid complexes, CD-aromatic amino acid complexes appear to be destabilized in the gas phase, possibly because the hydrophobic interaction which binds the aromatic group of amino acids in the CD cavity in solution may become repulsive when solvent evaporates from the droplets during the electrospray process, whereas those complex ions formed as proton bound dimers are stabilized by electrostatic forces, the major binding force for such complexes in the gas phase. In addition, the GPC technique coupled with off-line ESI-MS can rapidly separate CD complexes by size, and provides some information on the character of the complexes in solution. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Crystallization of micelles and matrix in dilute diblock copolymer/homopolymer solutions

The crystallization, morphology, and crystalline structure of dilute solid solutions of tetrahydrofuran-methyl methacrylate diblock copolymer (PTHF-b-PMMA) in poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and PTHF have been studied with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray, and optical microscopy. This study provides a new insight into the crystallization behavior of block copolymers. For the dilute PTHF-b-PMMA/PEO system containing only 2 to 7 wt % of PTHF content, crystallization of the PTHF micellar core was detected both on cooling and on heating. Compared the crystallization of the PTHF in the dilute solutions with that in the pure copolymer, it was found that the crystallizability of the PTHF micellar core in the solution is much greater than that of the dispersed PTHF microdomain in the pure copolymer. The stronger crystallizability in the solution was presumably due to a softened PMMA corona formed in the solution of the copolymer with PEG. However, the "soft" micelles formed in the solution (meaning that the glass transition temperatures (T-g) of the micelle is lower than the T-m of the matrix phase) showed almost no effects on the spherulitic morphology of the PEO component, compared with that of the pure PEO sample. In contrast, significant effects of the micelles with a "hard" PMMA core (meaning that the T-g of the core is higher than the T-m of the PTHF homopolymer) on the nucleation, crystalline structure, and spherulitic morphology were observed for the dilute PTHF-b-PMMA/PTHF system. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Proton transfer across conducting polypyrrole membrane separated by two electrolyte solutions

Electrochemical behavior of the transfer of H+ across polypyrrole membrane (PPM) was studied. The transfer process was quasi-reversible and mainly diffusion-controlled. PPM electropolymerized in water solution has better reversibility than that in CH3CN solution for the transfer of H+. The transfer process of H+ across the two kinds of PPM indicated that the PPM electrochemically polymerized was of asymmetry.

Studies on extracting solutions of endohedral rare-earth metallofullerenes by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Thirteen extracting solutions of rare-earth metallofullerenes containing La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm and Yb respectively have been investigated by means of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-night, mass spectrometry. The influences of the positive-ion/negative-ion mode, laser intensity, matrix and mass discrimination to the analytical results are studied, based on which the optimal analytical conditions have been determined. The results show that the extracting solutions contain large quantities of rare-earth metallofullerenes brs;des empty fullerenes, On the basis of comparing their relative intensities, the different structure stabilities and solubilities of metallofullerenes with different rare-earth metals encapsulated into the fullerene cages, as well as some possible reasons to those differences, are discussed.

Barrier properties of vinylidene chloride methyl acrylate copolymer

A series of vinylidene dichloride (VDC) copolymers with methyl acrylate (MA) as comonomer (3-12wt%), was prepared by free-radical suspension copolymerization. The permeability coefficients of the copolymers to oxygen and carbon dioxide were measured at 1.0 MPa and at 30 degrees C, and those to water vapor were measured at 30 degrees C and 100% relative humidity. All the VDC/MA copolymers studied are semicrystalline. As the MA content increases, the permeability coefficients of the copolymers to oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor are progressively increased, caused by decrease in crystalline fraction and increase in free volume of VDC/MA copolymers.

Crystal structure and mechanism of (Z)-1-[2-(phenyl-bromide-chloride)vinyl]-1-cyclohexanol

The crystal structure and mechanism of the title molecule are described. This crystal is orthorhombic, belonging to space group PC21/B with a=1,002 1(2) nm, b=1.483 0(3) nm, c=2.173 6(4) nm, V=3.230 39(2) nm(3), Z=2, D-c=1.80 g/cm(3), R=0.069 3. The structure was solved by direct method. The tin atom of the title compound exists in two distorted-trigonal-bipyramidal geometry, defined by two carbon, one bromide, one chloride and one oxygen atoms leading to a five-membered chelate ring. In the structure, the five-membered ring containing the intermolecular O-->Sn has a half chair conformation.

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrite using Dawson-type tungstodiphosphate anions in aqueous solutions, adsorbed on a glassy carbon electrode and doped in polypyrrole film

The electrochemical behavior of Dawson-type P2W18O626- adsorbed on a glassy carbon electrode and doped in a polypyrrole film electrode was described. These modified electrodes all display catalytic activity for nitrite reduction, either in acid solutions or in pH > 4.0 solutions.

The miscibility of homopolymer random copolymer blends .4. Poly(vinylidene chloride-co-acrylonitrile) poly(methyl methacrylate) blends

The miscibility of blends of poly(vinylidene chloride-co-acrylonitrile) (VDC-AN) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has been studied with DSC, FT-IR, and NMR methods. The results indicate that the VDC-AN/PMMA blends are miscibile on a molecular level, and the dipole-dipole interactions between C=O and C-Cl-2 and/or interpolymer hydrogen bondings between COOCH3 and CN and CCl groups play the role on the miscibility of the blends. It is found that the -CCl2- groups have two different chemical environments in the pure VDC-AN copolymer, which may result from the different configurations of the copolymer, such as -CCl2- groups in the ''alternating'' segments and -CCl2- groups in the ''blocky'' segments as proposed. It is the -CCl2- group in the ''alternating'' segment that takes part in the dipole-dipole interaction with C=O group in PMMA.

Structure and thermal properties of vinylidene chloride/acrylics copolymers

A series of vinylidene chloride (VDC) copolymers with methyl acrylate (MA) or butyl acrylate (BA) as comonomer (not more than 10%) was prepared by free-radical suspension copolymerization. The effects of comonomer structure, copolymer composition, and reaction condition (such as polymerization temperature on crystallinity) and thermal properties (such as melting temperature and decomposition temperature) were investigated. All VDC/acrylics copolymers studied here are semicrystalline and have more than one crystalline structure. The melting temperature of MA/VDC copolymers is decreased progressively with increase in MA content. The decomposition temperature of MA/VDC copolymers is slight increased gradually with increase in MA content. MA/VDC copolymers have lower melting temperature compared with BA/VDC copolymers with same VDC composition. The melting temperature of VDC copolymers increases with increase in polymerization temperature and decomposition temperature of those is almost independent of polymerization temperature. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The application of the MPB4 theory to the interface between between two immiscible electrolyte solutions .4. The differential capacitance of the water/nitrobenzene interface in the presence of 2:2 electrolyte

We have developed a new theoretical model based on the MPB4 theory to calculate the differential capacitance of the interface of 0.05mol/L MgSO4 in water and 0.1mol/L TBATPB in nitrobenzene. Our results coincide with the experimental values very well. It indicates that our model may describe well the structure of ITIES not only in the presence of 1:1 electrolyte but also in the presence of 2:2 electrolyte.

Barrier properties of vinylidene chloride copolymers

The permeability coefficients of a series of copolymers of vinylidene chloride (VDC) with methyl acrylate (MA), butyl acrylate (BA) or vinyl chloride (VC) (as comonomer) to oxygen and carbon dioxide have been measured at 1.0 MPa and 30 degrees C, while those to water vapor have been measured at 30 degrees C and 100% relative humidity. All the copolymers are semicrystalline. VDC/MA copolymers have lower melting temperature compared with VDC/BA copolymers, while that melting temperature of VDC/VC copolymer is higher than that of VDC/acrylate copolymers with the same VDC content. The barrier property of the copolymers is predominantly controlled by crystallite, free volume fraction, and cohesive energy. The permeability coefficients of VDC/MA copolymers to oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor were successfully correlated with the ratio of free volume to cohesive energy.

Preparation of Pb-Ca-Na master alloy using molten chloride salt electrolysis

An electrolysis technique for co-deposition of Ca2+ and Na+ at the liquid lead cathode was put forward. The experiment was carried out at an electrolysis temperature below 650 degrees C and had a current efficiency of 98%, which are respectively 100 similar to 300 degrees C lower and 15% similar to 30% higher than those reported both at home and abroad.

Probe beam deflection study of the ion exchange between Prussian blue film or indium hexacyanoferrate film and electrolyte solutions

Probe beam deflection(PBD) technique together with electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry was used to study the ion exchange in prussian blue(PB) film and its analogue indium hexacyanoferrate (InHCF) chemically modified electrodes, The ion exchange mechanism of PB was verified as following: K2Fe2+FeI(CN)(6)(-e--K+)reversible arrow(+e-+K+)KFe(3+)Fe(I)(CN)(6)(-xe--xK+)reversible arrow(+xe-+xK+) [Fe3+FeI(CN)(6)](x)[KFe3+FeI(CN)(6)](1-x) where on reduction in contact with an acidic KCl electrolyte, H+ enter PB film before K+. Both the cations and anions participate concurrently in the redox process of InHCF, meanwhile K+ ion plays a major role in the whole charge transfer process of this film with increasing radii of anions.

Relationship between the dissolution behaviours and current efficiencies of La, Ce, Pr and Nd in their chloride molten salts

The dissolution behaviours of La and Nd in their chloride molten salts were studied by means of the see-through cell, electrochemical weak polarization and quantum chemistry (extended Huckel molecular orbital). The reasons for the low current efficiencies of rare earth metals and the difference between La and Nd in their own chloride electrolytes on the basis of the solubility, rate of dissolution, and existing state of the metals dissolved as well as the structure of the melts, are discussed.

THE EFFECT OF SOLUTION PH ON SYNCHRONOUS FLUORESCENCE-SPECTRA OF CYTOCHROME-C SOLUTIONS

Synchronous fluorescence spectra of cytochrome c solutions were studied. It was found that synchronous fluorescence spectra of tyrosine and tryptophan residues in cytochrome c molecules can be separated using different wavelength intervals. The changes in synchronous fluorescence spectra of cytochrome c solutions with the solution pH are different from that of free tyrosine and tryptophan and reflect the pH-induced conformational transitions of cytochrome c molecules. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.