Size determination and quantification of engineered cerium oxide nanoparticles by flow field-flow fractionation coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Facing the lack of studies on characterization and quantification of cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs), whose consumption and release is greatly increasing, this work proposes a method for their sizing and quantification by Flow Field-flow Fractionation (FFFF) coupled to Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Two modalities of FFFF (Asymmetric Flow- and Hollow Fiber-Flow Field Flow Fractionation, AF4 and HF5, respectively) are compared, and their advantages and limitations discussed. Experimental conditions (carrier composition, pH, ionic strength, crossflow and carrier flow rates) are studied in detail in terms of NP separation, recovery, and repeatability. Size characterization of CeO2 NPs was addressed by different approaches. In the absence of feasible size standards of CeO2 NPs, suspensions of Ag, Au, and SiO2 NPs of known size were investigated. Ag and Au NPs failed to show a comparable behavior to that of the CeO2 NPs, whereas the use of SiO2 NPs provided size estimations in agreement to those predicted by the theory. The latter approach was thus used for characterizing the size of CeO2 NPs in a commercial suspension. Results were in adequate concordance with those achieved by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and dynamic light scattering. The quantification of CeO2 NPs in the commercial suspension by AF4-ICP-MS required the use of a CeO2 NPs standards, since the use of ionic cerium resulted in low recoveries (99 ± 9% vs. 73 ± 7%, respectively). A limit of detection of 0.9 µg L(-1) CeO2 corresponding to a number concentration of 1.8 × 1012 L(-1) for NPs of 5 nm was achieved for an injection volume of 100 µL.

Quantification of copper phases, their reducibility and dispersion in doped-CuCl2/Al2O3 catalysts for ethylene oxychlorination.

The comprehensive understanding of the composition, behaviour and reactivity of a catalyst used inside industrial plants is an extremely hard task that is rarely achieved. It requires the use of different spectroscopic techniques, applied under in situ or in operando conditions, and combined with the investigation of the catalyst activity. Often the operating experimental conditions are different from technique to technique and the different results must be compared with care. In the present contribution, we combined in situ XANES/EXAFS, IR spectroscopy of adsorbed CO, CO chemisorption and catalytic tests performed using a pulse reactor in depletive mode. This multitechnical approach resulted in the understanding of the role that dopants (LiCl, KCl, CsCl, MgCl(2) LaCl(3)) have in the nature, relative fraction, reducibility and dispersion of Cu-phases on CuCl(2)/gamma-Al(2)O(3) catalysts for oxychlorination reaction, a key step of the PVC chemistry. In the undoped catalyst two Cu phases coexist: Cu-aluminate and supported CuCl(2), being the latter the only active one [J. Catal., 2000, 189, 91]. EXAFS and XANES highlighted that all dopants contribute more or less efficiently in increasing the fraction of the active copper species, that reaches a value of almost 100% in the case of MgCl(2) or LaCl(3). EXAFS directly, and IR indirectly, proved that the addition of KCl or CsCl (and less efficiently of LiCl) results in the formation of mixed CuK(x)Cl(2+x) or CuCs(x)Cl(2+x) phases, so altering the chemical nature of the active phase. XANES spectroscopy indicates that addition of MgCl(2) or LaCl(3) does not affect the reducibility by ethylene (under static conditions) of the active CuCl(2) phase and that the reducibilility of the new copper-dopant mixed chloride are in the order CuCl(2) > CuLi(x)Cl(2+x) > CuK(x)Cl(2+x) > CuCs(x)Cl(2+x). However, when reduction is done inside a pulse reactor, a more informative picture comes out. The last technique is able to differentiate all samples, and their ability to be reduced by ethylene resulted in the order: La- > Mg- > Li-doped > undoped > K- > Cs-doped catalyst. To understand this apparent discrepancy the dispersion of the active phase, measured by CO chemisorption, was needed: it has been found that addition of LiCl increases enormously the dispersion of the active phase, LaCl(3) significantly and MgCl(2) barely, while addition of both KCl and CsCl results in a decrease of the surface area of the active phase. The mechanism of the enhancing effect of La and Mg on catalytic activity is still not clear, but it could be associated to the modification that they induce to the support surface: the Cu is so highly dispersed that almost all is in direct contact with support surface. It is finally worth noticing that the previous EXAFS and XANES study allowed us to refer the chemisorption data to the active phase only, while the IR study allowed us to fix the Cu(+)/CO surface stoichiometry. Summarizing the use of a multidisciplinary approach has been the conditio sine qua non (mandatory condition) to understand the complex role that the different additives have on the active phase of the CuCl(2)/gamma-Al(2)O(3) catalysts for ethylene oxychlorination.

Influence of additives in defining the active phase of the ethylene oxychlorination catalyst.

The understanding, at the atomic level, of the role played by additives (dopants or promoters) in the chemistry of an industrial catalyst is a very complex and difficult task. We succeeded in this goal for the ethylene oxychlorination catalyst (CuCl(2)/gamma-Al(2)O(3)), used to produce dichloroethane, a key intermediate of the polyvinyl chloride chemistry (PVC). Among the most used additives for both fluid and fixed beds technologies (LiCl, KCl, CsCl, MgCl(2), LaCl(3), CeCl(4)) we have been able to highlight that KCl, and CsCl, forming in reaction conditions a mixed phase with CuCl(2), strongly modify the catalyst behaviour. In particular, these additives are able to displace the rate determining step from the CuCl oxidation (undoped catalyst) to the CuCl(2) reduction. This results from the decrease of the rate of the latter reaction, thus the overall activity of the system. For all remaining additives the rate determining step remains the CuCl oxidation, as for the undoped catalyst. These results have been obtained coupling the catalyst activity monitored with a pulse reactor working in both non-depletive and depletive modes with time resolved XANES spectroscopy performed under in operando conditions (i.e. coupled with mass spectrometry). Formation of CuK(x)Cl(2+x) and CuCs(x)Cl(2+x) mixed phases has been proved monitoring the Cu(II) d-d transitions with UV-Vis spectrometer and the CO stretching frequency of carbon monoxide adsorbed on reduced catalyst by in situ IR spectroscopy. Finally, of high relevance is the observation that the fully oxidized catalyst is inactive. This unexpected evidence highlight the role of coordinatively unsaturated Cu(I) species in adsorbing ethylene on the catalyst surface indicating that copper, in the working catalyst, exhibits a (I)/(II) mixed valence state.

Tethered naphthalene diimide intercalators enhance DNA triplex stability.

Naphthalene diimides function as effective intercalators and when tethered to the 5'-terminus of a pyrimidine-rich oligonucleotide can contribute significantly to the overall stabilization of DNA triplexes. This stabilization can be further enhanced by alterations to the linker tethering the DNA sequence and the intercalator. Less flexible linkers, and particularly one with a phenyl ring present, appear to permit the stabilization afforded by the bound intercalator to be transferred more effectively to the three-stranded complex. The conjugate containing the phenyl linker exhibits a T(M) value that is increased by 28 degrees C relative to the unconjugated triplex. That the linker itself contributes to the observed stabilization is clear since introduction of the phenyl linker increases the observed T(M) by 11 degrees C relative to a simple flexible linker.

Long-range guanine oxidation in DNA restriction fragments by a triplex-directed naphthalene diimide intercalator.

Naphthalene diimide (NDI), a powerful oxidant that binds avidly to DNA by intercalation, is seen to damage the 5' guanine of 5'-GG-3' sites by photoactivated charge transport through DNA. When covalently tethered to the center of a triplex-forming oligonucleotide and delivered by triplex formation within a pyrimidine.purine-pyrimidine motif to a specific site on a restriction fragment, NDI can photooxidize guanine over at least 25-38 bp in each direction from the site of binding. Charge migration occurs in both directions from the NDI intercalator and on both DNA strands of the target, but the oxidation is significantly more efficient to the 3' side of the triplex. NDI and octahedral rhodium intercalators, when tethered directly to the 5' terminus of the triplex-forming strand as opposed to the center, generate significant amounts of oxidative damage only in the immediate vicinity of the intercalation site. Given that long-range charge transport depends on DNA stacking, these results suggest that the base stack is distorted at the 5' end of the triplex region in the duplex-triplex junction. Targeting of photooxidative damage by triplex formation extends our previous studies of long-range charge transport to significantly longer DNA sequences through a strategy that does not require covalent attachment of the photooxidant to the DNA being probed. Moreover, triplex targeting of oxidative damage provides for the first time a typical distance distribution for genomic charge transport of approximately 200 A around the oxidant.

Tethered naphthalene diimide-based intercalators for DNA triplex stabilization.

The synthesis and triplex stabilizing properties of oligodeoxyribonucleotides functionalized at the 5'- and/or 3'-termini with a naphthalene diimide-based (NDI) intercalator is described. The NDI intercalator was prepared in a single step from the corresponding dianhydride and was attached to the 5'-terminus of an oligodeoxyribonucleotide following a reverse coupling procedure. The DMT protecting group was removed and the sequence phosphitylated to generate the phosphoramidite derivative on the 5'-terminus of the support-bound oligodeoxyribonucleotide. The NDI intercalator with a free hydroxyl was then added in the presence of tetrazole. Attachment of the NDI to the 3'-terminus relied upon a tethered amino group that could be functionalized first with the naphthalene dianhydride, which was subsequently converted to the diimide. Using both procedures, an oligonucleo-tide conjugate was prepared having the NDI intercalator at both the 5'- and 3'-termini. Thermal denaturation studies were used to determine the remarkable gain in stability for triplexes formed when the NDI-conjugated oligonucleotide was present as the third strand in the complex.

Synthesis and triplex forming properties of pyrimidine derivative containing extended functionality.

Two pyrimidine nucleosides have been synthesized containing extended hydrogen bonding functionality. In one case the side chain is based upon semicarbazide and in the second monoacetylated carbohydrazide was employed. DNA sequences could be prepared using both analogue nucleosides in a reverse coupling protocol, and provided that the normal capping step was eliminated and that the iodine-based oxidizing solution was replaced with one based upon 10-camphorsulfonyl oxaziridine. Both derivatives exhibited moderate effects in targeting selectively C-G base pairs embedded within a polypurine target sequence.