Search results for "Colloid"

Surface Relaxivity of Cement Hydrates

2014

Numerous aspects of the physical chemistry of colloidal systems are conditioned by the solid–liquid interface, and this is also the case for hydrated cement systems. Estimating the surface area is thus essential for studying the kinetics of cement hydration and admixture adsorption. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation techniques have already proven useful for this objective, but, for hydrating cements at early ages, it is necessary to know the surface relaxivities of all of the individual phases present to correctly interpret the relaxation data. This paper reports the results of a comparison of NMR relaxometry and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller gas adsorption measurements on various…

XPS study of supported gold catalysts:the role of Au0 and Au+? species as active sites.

2006

Gold nanoparticles supported on different oxides (SiO2, CeO2 and TiO2) were prepared by the SMAD (solvated metal atom dispersion) and deposition–precipitation (DP) techniques. The physical and chemical characterization of the catalysts was performed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the catalytic activity was tested during the reaction of low temperature CO oxidation. The structural and surface analyses evidenced the presence of small gold crystallites (cluster size ∼2–5 nm) in all the SMAD-prepared samples and oxidized gold species in the case of the DP catalysts. A different surface distribution of ionic gold species was found on the different suppo…

Enzymatic effects on reactant and transition states. The case of chalcone isomerase.

2007

Chalcone isomerase catalyzes the transformation of chalcone to naringerin as a part of flavonoid biosynthetic pathways. The global reaction takes place through a conformational change of the substrate followed by chemical reaction, being thus an excellent example to analyze current theories about enzyme catalysis. We here present a detailed theoretical study of the enzymatic action on the conformational pre-equilibria and on the chemical steps for two different substrates of this enzyme. Free-energy profiles are obtained in terms of potentials of mean force using hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics potentials. The role of the enzyme becomes clear when compared to the counterpart eq…

Nanocarriers for antioxidant resveratrol: formulation approach, vesicle self-assembly and stability evaluation.

2013

In this work we studied various nanoformulations of resveratrol in phospholipid vesicles. Conventional phophatidylcholine liposomes were prepared and characterized in parallel with PEVs (Penetration Enhancer-containing Vesicles) obtained by adding one of eight selected amphiphilic penetration enhancers (PEs; 0.2% w/v; HLB range 1-16) to the composition. All vesicles were around 100 nm, negatively charged (∼-30 mV) and able to incorporate resveratrol in good yields (>74%). The structure and the lamellar self-organization of the vesicles were investigated by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Small and Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (SWAXS). These analyses showed that the lamellarity of …

Atomically Precise Alkynyl-Protected Metal Nanoclusters as a Model Catalyst: Observation of Promoting Effect of Surface Ligands on Catalysis by Metal…

2016

Metal nanoclusters whose surface ligands are removable while keeping their metal framework structures intact are an ideal system for investigating the influence of surface ligands on catalysis of metal nanoparticles. We report in this work an intermetallic nanocluster containing 62 metal atoms, Au34Ag28(PhC≡C)34, and its use as a model catalyst to explore the importance of surface ligands in promoting catalysis. As revealed by single-crystal diffraction, the 62 metal atoms in the cluster are arranged as a four-concentric-shell Ag@Au17@Ag27@Au17 structure. All phenylalkynyl (PA) ligands are linearly coordinated to the surface Au atoms with staple "PhC≡C-Au-C≡CPh" motif. Compared with reporte…

Insights on the origin of catalysis on glycine N-methyltransferase from computational modeling.

2018

The origin of enzyme catalysis remains a question of debate despite much intense study. We report a QM/MM theoretical study of the SN2 methyl transfer reaction catalyzed by a glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) and three mutants to test whether recent experimental observations of rate-constant reductions and variations in inverse secondary α-3H kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) should be attributed to changes in the methyl donor−acceptor distance (DAD): is catalysis due to a compression effect? Semiempirical (AM1) and DFT (M06-2X) methods were used to describe the QM subset of atoms, while OPLS-AA and TIP3P classical force fields were used for the protein and water molecules, respectively. The …

Gold nanoparticles stabilized by modified halloysite nanotubes for catalytic applications

2018

Large-Cavity Coronoids with Different Inner and Outer Edge Structures

2020

Coronoids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with geometrically defined cavities, are promising model structures of porous graphene. Here, we report the on-surface synthesis of C168 and C140 coronoids, referred to as [6]- and [5]coronoid, respectively, using 5,9-dibromo-14-phenylbenzo[m]tetraphene as the precursor. These coronoids entail large cavities (>1 nm) with inner zigzag edges, distinct from their outer armchair edges. While [6]coronoid is planar, [5]coronoid is not. Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and noncontact atomic force microscopy unveil structural and electronic properties in accordance with those obtained from density functional theory calculation…

Geometric Structure and Torsional Potential of Biisothianaphthene. A Comparative DFT and ab Initio Study

1997

We present a study of the torsional potential of biisothianaphthene and compare it to that of bithiophene. The calculations are performed at the ab initio and semiempirical Hartree−Fock (HF), ab initio post-Hartree−Fock, and density functional theory (DFT) levels. Our study has two major aims:  (i) on the physico-chemical side, to asses the optimal conformation of biisothianaphthene and evaluate the rotational barriers toward coplanar structures and (ii) on the methodological side, to asses the usefulness of DFT approaches. In contrast to previous estimates, the torsional potential of biisothianaphthene is found to differ markedly from that of bithiophene. For biisothianaphthene, strongly r…

Simultaneous measurement of rotational and translational diffusion by forced Rayleigh scattering. Colloid spheres in suspension

1996

Abstract It is shown that the technique of forced Rayleigh scattering, traditionallyemployed to probe translational diffusion, can be employed to probe rotational diffusion as well. Thus with a single experiment both quantities are measured. The system under investigation is colloid spheres suspended in a glass-forming liquid. Furthermore, it is shown that the Stokes-Einstein and Debye-Stokes-Einstein relations for translational and rotational diffusion, respectively, are valid for spherical colloid particles in a supercooled liquid matrix in the vicinity of the glassy state.