Induction of Oxidative Stress by Sunflower Phytotoxins in Germinating Mustard Seeds

The aim of this study was to investigate the phytotoxic effect of sunflower on physiological and biochemical processes during germination of mustard seeds (Sinapis alba L. cv. Nakielska). To exclude the involvement of osmotic stress in seed reaction to phytotoxic compounds, we compared the effect of 10% (w/v) water extract from sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. cv. Ogrodowy) leaves and 28.4% (w/v) polyethylene glycol (PEG) 8000 solution characterized by an equal Ψ = −1 MPa. We evaluated (1) the amount of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂); (2) activities of antioxidant enzymes: superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione reductase; (3) membrane permeability; and (4) level of malondialdehyde (MDA). Both, sunflower compounds and PEG solutions inhibited mustard seed germination, but only phytotoxins caused an increase in the cell membrane permeability, MDA level, H₂O₂ concentration, and alterations in activities of antioxidant enzymes. Our results demonstrate that despite the activation of the antioxidant system by sunflower phytotoxins, reactive oxygen species accumulation caused cellular damage, which resulted in the decrease of germinability and gradual loss of seed vigor. It seems that the negative effect of sunflower on germination of mustard seeds is mostly because of its toxicity and not to its contribution to osmotic potential.     

Transparent ZnS Ceramics by Sintering of High Purity Monodisperse Nanopowders

We report an efficient way of preparing transparent ZnS ceramics using the hot‐pressing technique. It has been found that the transparency is highly dependent on the purity and the grain size distribution of the starting ZnS powders. Highly pure and monodisperse ZnS powders have been obtained by posttreatment of the precipitated powders in a H₂S/N₂ flow for 2 h at 600°C. The obtained ZnS ceramics show fully dense and homogeneous microstructure with average grain size of ~1 μm and smooth grain boundaries, leading to an excellent transmission of around 70% in the mid‐ and far‐ IR regions. The preparation technique described in this study is highly reproducible.     

Structures and morphologies of cast and plastically strained polyamide 6 films as evidenced by confocal Raman microspectroscopy and atomic force microscopy

Both confocal Raman microspectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been undertaken to study the crystalline and the morphological aspects of cast PA 6 films at a sub-microscopic scale. The percentages of the different crystalline structures present within PA 6 cast films, i.e. the monoclinic α, the pseudo-hexagonal β, and the monoclinic γ, have been measured by confocal Raman microspectroscopy. In cast films, the prevailing structure is the β one. AFM has been used to characterize the morphology of the PA 6 films. Simultaneously, the deformed state has been considered as well. Our main interest has been to follow the evolution of the percentage of each crystalline structure as a function of the plastic deformation mechanisms which are responsible of the yielding of PA 6 films: shear banding for temperatures T lower than 160 °C and formation of fibrils for      

Multidimensional characterization,Landau levels and Density of States in epitaxial graphene grown on SiC substrates

Using high-temperature annealing conditions with a graphite cap covering the C-face of, both, on axis and 8° off-axis 4H-SiC samples, large and homogeneous single epitaxial graphene layers have been grown. Raman spectroscopy shows evidence of the almost free-standing character of these monolayer graphene sheets, which was confirmed by magneto-transport measurements. On the best samples, we find a moderate p-type doping, a high-carrier mobility and resolve the half-integer quantum Hall effect typical of high-quality graphene samples. A rough estimation of the density of states is given from temperature measurements.     

Synthesis and Surface-Active Properties of Uronic Amide Derivatives,Surfactants from Renewable Organic Raw Materials

Short chemical syntheses were developed to produce a new set of surfactants from uronic acids derived from widely available raw materials. Three different strategies were used to synthesize uronic amide derivatives, the structures of which were totally characterized by spectrometric methods (IR, MS, ¹H-RMN and ¹³C-RMN). The best one, using an acid chloride as the synthetic intermediate, furnished the expected amides as a mixture of anomers in 46–58% global yield. Surface-active properties (CMC, γ_cmc, Γ_max, A _min) of homologous series of uronic acid N-alkylamides from C8 to C18 were also assessed. In general, these sugar-based surfactants exhibited good surface-activities, and appeared as valuable nonionic surfactants compared to octylphenol 9–10 ethylene oxide condensate, the most well-known nonionic surfactant. Increasing the alkyl chain length influenced the CMC values for both glucuronic and galacturonic N-alkylamide derivatives. The galacturonic N-alkylamides decreased γ_cmc at slower values than their counterpart’s glucuronic N-alkylamides.     

The effect of aluminum alkyls and BHT‐H on reaction kinetics of silica supported metallocenes and polymer properties in slurry phase ethylene polymerization

In slurry and gas phase catalytic ethylene polymerization processes, aluminum alkyl (AlR₃) compounds are usually present inside the reactor and their role either as co‐catalyst or scavenger is of considerable importance. Silica supported metallocene/methyl aluminoxane (MAO) catalysts show specific interactions with AlR₃ compounds. Therefore, this study shows an attempt to analyze and compare the effect of concentration as well as type of commonly used AlR₃ on slurry phase ethylene homopolymerization kinetics of silica supported (n‐BuCp)₂ZrCl₂/MAO catalyst. The obtained results indicate that the lower the concentration of smaller AlR₃ compounds, the higher the instantaneous catalytic activity. Concerning the polymer particle size distributions, a rise in fines generation has been observed with increasing AlR₃ content inside the reactor. Finally, it has been shown that the addition of 2,6‐di‐tert‐butyl‐4‐methylphenol (a substituted phenol) into the reactor containing AlR₃ reduces the influence of AlR₃ compounds on the reaction kinetics of silica supported metallocene/MAO catalysts. Polyethylene properties remain similar in all the studied scenarios. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 45670.     

Nanostructured Polymer Blends: From Core/Shell Nanoobjects to Continuous Three‐Phase Morphologies

A PS‐b‐PIP‐b‐PMMA copolymer has been melt‐blended with homo‐PMMA with a similar molecular weight as the PMMA block. For a 50:50 wt.‐% mixture, the components form 3D bicontinuous lamellae. Upon annealing at 190 °C, a more regular network is observed, which consists of PMMA and 55 nm‐thick bilayered lamellae of triblock copolymer, both being continuous. This co‐continuity persists even when $\overline {M} _{{\rm n}} $ of the homo‐PMMA is twice that of the PMMA block in the copolymer. For 30:70 and 20:80 wt.‐% copolymer/homopolymer pair, the copolymer forms cylindrical and spherical phases, respectively. Blends have also been prepared by solvent casting. Large domains of copolymer interconnected by few lamellae are observed in the 50:50 blend that reorganize into a bicontinuous network upon annealing.

     

Effect of Cooling Press on the Optical Transmission Through Photovoltaic Encapsulants

In certain laminators for poly (ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) encapsulation process of photovoltaic modules, cooling press (CP) is applied to the module after encapsulation. Here, the effect of CP on the optical transmission through common PV encapsulants is studied. Interestingly, CP is shown to reduce drastically the scattering of the light between 400 and 700 nm traveling through the thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO)-based encapsulant. Post-annealing tests prove this effect to be stable at the temperature up to 85°C. This work has discovered a simple solution to mitigate the milky appearance of the TPO encapsulant and hence greatly enhanced its competitiveness against EVA.