The proton NMR spectra of ethane, propane, and n-butane codissolved and orientationally ordered in two liquid-crystal solvents that exhibit both nematic (N) and smectic A (SmA) phases (one of which also has a reentrant nematic (RN) phase) are analyzed using CMA-ES (covariance-matrix adaptation evolution strategy). To deal with problems arising from the broad liquid-crystal background signal, a ...

Two sulfated zirconia catalysts were prepared via sulfation and calcination at 873 K of zirconium hydroxide aged at room temperature for 1 h (SZ-1) or aged at 373 K for 24 h (SZ-2). SZ-1 was active for n-butane isomerisation at 373 K; SZ-2 reached similar performance only at 473 K. Both materials contained about 9 wt% sulfate and were tetragonal. Due to a BET lower surface area (105 m/g vs. 148...

Recently, dimethyl ether (DME) has been paid much attention as a clean fuel. DME has many advantages as a substitute for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Sulfur oxides (SOx), and particulate matters (PM) are not produced at the combustion. Infrastructures and equipments for LPG can be used with slight improvements, because physical properties of DME are similar to those of light hydrocarbons, pro...

A method to characterize the surface sites of catalysts in their active state by adsorption microcalorimetry was developed. A calorimeter cell was used as a flow-type reactor, and the skeletal isomerization of n-butane (1 kPa) at 378 K and atmospheric pressure proceeded at comparable rates and with the same states of induction period, maximum and deactivation phase as in a tubular reactor. The ...

To efficiently recover the waste heat from a diesel engine exhaust, a regenerative organic Rankine cycle (RORC) system was employed, and butane, R124, R416A, and R134a were used as the working fluids. The resulting diesel engine-RORC combined system was defined and the relevant evaluation indexes were proposed. First, the variation tendency of the exhaust energy rate under various diesel engine...

BACKGROUND Bacterial production of anionic sulphide is increased in the colon of ulcerative colitis and sulphides can cause metabolic damage to colonocytes. AIMS To assess the reversal of the damaging effect of sulphide to isolated colonocytes by methionine and methionine derivatives. METHODS AND SUBJECTS Isolated colonocytes were prepared from rat colons and 12 human colectomy specimens. I...

The contribution of proteases in the central vacuole of Chara corallina internodal cells to overall cellular protein degradation was examined. I measured the decrease in the trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-precipitable radioactivity in the cell for a 6-d chase period after labeling cellular proteins with [3H]leucine. The kinetics of [3H]leucine-labeled protein disappearance showed that the half-life...

Chloroform-vapor annealing of thin films of propoxyethyl perylene tetracarboxylic diimide (PE-PTCDI, an n-type semiconductor) deposited on glass or mica leads to formation of well-defined one-dimensional self-assemblies (e.g. nanobelts), which show optically uniaxial properties as demonstrated by the linearly polarized emission.

Electron-deficient pyrene-1,2,6,7-tetracarboxylic diimide () and its cyano derivative () have been designed and synthesized as a new family of aromatic diimides. PyrDI has two unexpected five-membered imide rings and can form excimers facilely in the solid state. These new pyrene derivatives are promising n-type semiconductors for organic electronics.