Aluminium-thiourea inhibitors of mild steel corrosion in high specific salinity water. Compatibility with some reducing agents at various temperatures

Aluminium-thiourea inhibitors were found to provide good inhibition of mild steel in water of a high specific salinity (10,000 ppm Na₂ SO₄) considered characteristic for recirculating water of zero discharge cooling systems in steam plants. In order to enhance effectiveness of these inhibitors, reducing agents such as SnC1₂ or a mixture of SnCl₂ and KI were added, and inhibitive values Of the mixtures obtained were measured using the weight loss method according to NACE standard TM = 01-69 at 20°—40°C. It was found that these inhibitors plus additives markedly improved protection of mild steel under these conditions in steam plants. The effect is considerable up to 30°C but cannot be demonstrated at 40°C. The addition of KI alone is of little benefit.     

UTILIZATION OF ALUMINA RED MUD FOR SYNTHESIS OF INORGANIC POLYMERIC MATERIALS

Red mud is a residue coming from the metallurgical treatment of bauxite with the Bayer process. Million of tons of red mud are produced annually worldwide and disposed of on land, degrading vast areas. Therefore, red mud utilization is a first-priority issue for any alumina plant. In the present work, the potential use of red mud for synthesis of inorganic polymeric materials through geopolymerization process was studied. The main focus was the production of inorganic polymeric materials that could be used in the construction sector as artificial structural elements such as massive bricks. The geopolymerization process involves a chemical reaction between red mud and alkali metal silicate solution under highly alkaline conditions. The product of this reaction is an amorphous to semi-crystalline polymeric structure, which binds the individual particles of red mud transforming the initial granular material to a compact and strong one. The effect of main synthesis parameters—like solid-to-liquid ratio, caustic soda as well as soluble silica concentrations, and metakaolin addition—on the properties of red mud-based inorganic polymeric materials was investigated. The results showed that the produced materials have high compressive strength, very low water absorption, satisfactory apparent density, and excellent fire resistance. Therefore, this work proved that the red mud-based inorganic polymeric materials have promising properties and have the potential to be used as artificial structural elements in the construction sector.     

Improving Carob Flour Performance for Making Gluten-Free Breads by Particle Size Fractionation and Jet Milling

Many different raw materials have been proposed for producing nutritious gluten-free breads, but rarely, there is a parallel analysis of the effect of physical treatment on those ingredients. The aim of this study was to incorporate carob flour fractions of varying particle size on rice gluten-free breads prepared with carob/rice (15:85) flour blends. Carob flour particle size was controlled by fractionation or jet milling application. Quality features of gluten-free breads containing carob flour and commercially available gluten-free breads were compared. Carob flour addition led to breads with improved colour parameters, crumb structure, retarded firming and lower moisture loss compared to rice bread. Further improvement in specific volume, crumb hardness, protein and ash content and estimated glycaemic index (eGI) could be obtained by a careful selection of the particle size distribution of the carob flour. Carob breads prepared either with the coarsest or the finest fraction prepared using jet milling led to end products with the highest specific volume (≈2.2 g/cm³) and the lowest crumb hardness (≈5.5 N), although they had lower specific volume and harder crumbs than breads from commercial blends (≈3–4 g/cm³, 0.6–3.8 N). Nevertheless, rice-based bread made with the finest carob flour was superior considering its slower firming, protein content and lower eGI. The incorporation of carob flour obtained by jet milling in rice-based gluten-free breads led to end products with quality characteristics and sensory acceptance resembling commercial breads and high nutritional value.     

Examination of freshness degradation of sourdough bread made with kefir through monitoring the aroma volatile composition during storage

The aroma volatile compositions of sourdough breads containing kefir grains were monitored by SPME GC–MS analysis during a 5-day storage. Breads were made with (A) 20% w/w and (B) 10% w/w (on flour basis) kefir sourdough, and were compared with breads made with 20% w/w commercial sourdough (C) and sourdough prepared in the laboratory (D) without addition of starter culture. A dramatic decrease of volatiles was observed during storage for all samples, but the kefir sourdough breads (A and B) exhibited more complex profiles of volatiles with lower loss rates during storage. Differences in the percentages of esters on total volatiles were also observed (6.2%, 5.0%, 2.8% and 2% in the case of breads A, B, C, and D, respectively). The customer oriented sensory evaluation revealed significant differences among the tested samples, with best results scored in the case of bread A in all days of storage, agreeing with the analytical data.     

Tailoring the Surface Chemistry of PEDOT:PSS to Promote Supported Lipid Bilayer Formation

This communication reports on a versatile and substrate-agnostic method to tune the surface chemistry of conducting polymers with the aim of bridging the chemical mismatch between bioelectronic devices and biological systems. As a proof of concept, the surface of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) is grafted with a short-chain oligoethylene glycol monolayer to favor the formation of cell-derived supported lipid bilayers (SLBs). This method is tuned to optimize the affinity between the supported lipid bilayer and the conducting polymer, leading to significant improvements in bilayer quality and therefore electronic readouts. To validate the impact of surface functionalization on the system's ability to transduce biological phenomena into quantifiable electronic signals, the activity of a virus commonly used as a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2 (mouse hepatitis virus) is monitored with and without surface treatment. The functionalized devices exhibit significant improvements in electronic output, stemming from the improved SLB quality, therefore strengthening the case for the use of such an approach in membrane-on-a-chip systems.     

Solid Phase Synthesis of DNA Nanostructures in Heavy Liquid

Introduction of the solid phase method to synthesize biopolymers has revolutionized the field of biological research by enabling efficient production of peptides and oligonucleotides. One of the advantages of this method is the ease of removal of excess production materials from the desired product, as it is immobilized on solid substrate. The DNA origami method utilizes the nature of nucleotide base-pairing to construct well-defined objects at the nanoscale, and has become a potent tool for manipulating matter in the fields of chemistry, physics, and biology. Here, the development of an approach to synthesize DNA nanostructures directly on magnetic beads, where the reaction is performed in heavy liquid to maintain the beads in suspension is reported. It is demonstrated that the method can achieve high folding yields of up to 90% for various DNA shapes, comparable to standard folding. At the same time, this establishes an easy, fast, and efficient way to further functionalize the DNA origami in one-pot, as well as providing a built-in purification method for easy removal of excess by-products such as non-integrated DNA strands and residual functionalization molecules.