Radiation crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl pyrrolidone/acrylic acid hydrogels: swelling,crosslinking and dye adsorption study

Iranian Polymer Journal - Hydrogels were produced from mixtures of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and acrylic acid (AAc) using γ-radiation at doses of 3, 7, and...     

Performance evaluation of a new signal processing system design to improve CANDU SDS1 trip response during large break LOCA events

Performance of a recently developed signal processing system for CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uraniu) reactor shutdown system 1 (SDS1) is evaluated in this paper. The evaluation is carried out in MATLAB/Simulink software environment as well as with an existing power measurement and signal processing system. The new signal processing algorithm is obtained based on the synthesis of several first order low pass filters with different delayed time constants. Throughout this paper, a special attention has been paid to compare the new signal processing system with the existing one. The dynamic behavior of the new signal processing system in the practical large loss of coolant accidents (LLOCA) events has also been examined. Simulation results show that during the LLOCA event, the reactor trip time, as well as the peak power, is decreased remarkably. Through the simulation studies, it has convincingly demonstrated that the new signal processing system has significant advantages over the existing system in terms of the improved trip response and accommodation of the spurious trip immunity. This advantage will significantly enhance the safety margin, or will bring economical benefits to nuclear power plants.     

Selective oxidation of olefins and aromatic alcohols with tert‐butylhydroperoxide catalyzed by polymer‐anchored transition‐metal complexes

Three polymer‐anchored metal complexes (Co, Cu, and Pd) were synthesized and characterized. The catalytic performance of these complexes was tested for the oxidation of olefins and aromatic alcohols. These complexes showed excellent catalytic activity and high selectivity. These complexes selectively gave epoxides and aldehydes from olefins and alcohols, respectively. Individually, the effect of various solvents, oxidants, substrate oxidant molar ratios, temperatures, and catalyst amounts for the oxidation of cyclohexene and benzyl alcohol were studied. Under optimized reaction conditions, 96, 81, and 71% conversions of cyclohexene and 86, 79, and 73% conversions of benzyl alcohol were obtained with Co(II), Cu(II), and Pd(II) catalysts, respectively. The catalytic results reveal that these complexes could be recycled more than five times without much loss in activity. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Exploiting Atomic Control to Show When Atoms Become Molecules

Precision-placed atom qubits in silicon offer a unique means to confine electrons and control their spins with extreme accuracy, which can be leveraged to construct powerful quantum computers. To date atom qubits in silicon have been successfully realized using electrons hosted either on a single phosphorus atom or on a multi-donor quantum dot. Here, a novel molecular regime is explored in which electrons are bound to two donor dots separated by ≈8 nm in a natural silicon substrate. The molecular state, provided by these spatially separated donors, is used to study with exquisite precision the impact of confinement potential on the electronic and spin properties of qubits. Unique spin filling measurements, performed on up to five electrons, confirm how electrons are shared between both sites of the molecule, forming hybridized molecular states. The precise atomic locations of the donor atoms in the silicon lattice are determined by combining the experimental electron spin resonance spectra and the state-of-the-art atomistic modeling of multi-electron wave-functions in presence of realistic electric fields. The donor molecule studied in this work exhibits excellent qubit properties and addresses the impact that the confinement potential has, at the atomic scale, on the desired properties of electron spin qubits.     

Catalytic activity of a reusable polymer‐anchored nickel(II)–phenanthroline complex on the oxidation of various organic substrates

A polymer‐anchored nickel(II)–phenanthroline complex [polyNi(II)–phen] was synthesized and used effectively as a reusable catalyst in various oxidation reactions in the presence of tert‐butylhydroperoxide as an oxidant in acetonitrile medium. The catalyst was characterized with elemental analysis, atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and spectrometric methods such as diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The study of the effects of the time, temperature, oxidant, catalyst concentration, molar ratio of substrate to oxidant, and solvent in the oxidation of styrene individually gave the optimized reaction conditions. Under optimized conditions, the catalyst exhibited good conversions for the oxidation reactions of various olefins, alkanes, aromatic alcohols, and thioethers. The catalyst was easily recovered by simple filtration and reused for more than five times with consistent catalytic activity. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Use of a New Polymer Anchored Cu(II) Azo Complex Catalyst for the Efficient Liquid Phase Oxidation Reactions

A new polymer anchored copper(II) azo complex has been synthesized and characterized by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), elemental analysis, atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and spectrometric methods like diffuse reflectance spectra of solid (DRS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The immobilized Cu(II) catalyst shows excellent catalytic activity in oxidation of cyclohexene, styrene, benzyl alcohol and ethylbenzene in presence of tert-butylhydroperoxide (TBHP) as an oxidant. The effects of different solvents, oxidants, temperature, substrate oxidant ratio and amount of catalyst were also studied. The catalytic results reveal that the polymer-anchored Cu(II) azo complex catalyst can be recycled more than five times without appreciable loss in the catalytic activity.     

Irradiated sodium–alginate/poly(ethylene oxide) blend films improved by methyl acrylate monomer

Sodium alginate (SA)‐based poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) blend films were improved by methyl acrylate (MA) monomer and γ irradiation toward practical application. The films were prepared by a casting method and modified by glycerol (Gol) and mustard oil (MO). The SA‐based films were successfully produced with γ irradiation (12 kGy) with 10% PEO, 15% Gol, 20% MO, and 7% MA on a mass basis as optimized. The tensile strength (TS), tear strength (TT), elongation at break (EB), Young's modulus, moisture content, water vapor permeability (WVP), and structural properties of the blended films were determined. The thermal properties of the films were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry, and the structural features were examined with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The ultimate results of this study show a rather remarkable enhancement in the tensile properties (30% TS and 67% TT) and reduction in EB (40%) of the SA‐based films with MA addition and γ irradiation. The as‐prepared SA‐based films demonstrated considerable reductions in the moisture content and WVP and also conferred a desired stability of the films. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43562.     

An Efficient Recyclable Polymer Supported Copper(II) Catalyst for C–N Bond Formation by <Emphasis Type=Italic>N</Emphasis>-Arylation

Abstract  

Polymer supported Cu(II) catalyst was prepared, characterized and employed for the N-arylation and amination reaction of N–H heterocycles with aryl halides as well as arylboronic acids to afford the corresponding coupled products in good to excellent yields. This catalyst can be used several times with consistent catalytic activity.     

Efficient liquid phase oxidation of olefins and aromatic alcohol catalyzed by reusable polymer anchored Schiff base complexes

BACKGROUND: Heterogenization of homogeneous catalyst has become an interesting process for the catalytic oxidation of olefins and aromatic alcohol. This may provide a new kind of catalyst that is not only friendly to the environment but also exhibits higher thermal and chemical stabilities. RESULTS: Polymer anchored Schiff‐base complexes of iron(III), copper(II) and cobalt(II) have been synthesized and characterized. The catalytic potential of these complexes has been tested for the oxidation of cyclohexene. The effect of varying solvent, oxidant, substrate oxidant molar ratio, temperature and catalyst amount has been studied. Under optimized reaction conditions 91, 88 and 81% conversion of cyclohexene was obtained with Fe(III), Cu(II) and Co(II) catalysts, respectively. Moreover, the oxidation of other substrates, such as styrene, benzylalcohol, toluene and 1‐hexene were also efficiently carried out by these catalysts. CONCLUSION: The immobilized complexes showed excellent catalytic activity along with high selectivity for the oxidation of olefins and alcohols. The catalysts can be recycled more than five times without any noticeable loss of catalytic activity. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Eye center localization using gradient and intensity information under uncontrolled environment

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Accurate localization of eyes in low-resolution facial images is a challenging problem in computer vision community. The existing techniques provides inaccurate...