Alkali metal salts of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid: a structural and educational study.

As part of an educational exercise designed to introduce school students to the technique of single-crystal X-ray diffraction and enhance their understanding of primary and secondary bonding, a group of nine secondary school students was given the opportunity to prepare new compounds and to solve and refine data collected on the crystalline materials they had prepared. Their investigation of the alkali metal salts of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (H2hba) yielded nine new compounds and their structures are described in this article. Whilst the salts might be expected to have similar atomic arrangements, there are significant differences in their structures. Although H2hba is a relatively simple organic molecule, it displays remarkable coordinative flexibility, forming ionic solids containing the uncharged molecule, the monoanion Hhba- or the dianion hba2-. A common feature of the structures is their layered arrangement: alternating hydrophilic layers made up of closely packed metal-oxygen polyhedra separated by the hydrophobic component of the hydroxybenzoate linking units. Close packing of these units seems to be a dominant influence in determining the overall structure. The hydroxybenzoate units are usually both parallel and antiparallel with their immediate neighbours, with packing that can be edge-to-face, face-to-face or a mixture of the two. Hydrogen bonding plays a key role in the structure of most compounds and a short strong hydrogen bond (SSHB) is observed in two of the networks. The compounds of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, C7H6O3, described here are: poly[di-µ-aqua-µ-4-oxidobenzoato-dilithium], [Li2(C7H4O3)(H2O)2]n, 1, poly[triaqua-µ-4-oxidobenzoato-dilithium], [Li2(C7H4O3)(H2O)3]n, 2, poly[µ-4-hydroxybenzoato-lithium], [Li(C7H5O3)]n, 3, catena-poly[4-hydroxybenzoate [[diaquasodium]-di-µ-aqua]], {[Na(H2O)4](C7H5O3)}n, 4, poly[di-µ-aqua-aqua-µ-4-hydroxybenzoato-potassium], [K(C7H5O3)(H2O)3]n, 5, poly[µ-aqua-µ-4-hydroxybenzoato-potassium], [K(C7H5O3)(H2O)]n, 6, poly[aqua-µ-4-hydroxybenzoato-rubidium], [Rb(C7H5O3)(H2O)]n, 7, poly[aqua-µ-4-hydroxybenzoato-caesium], [Cs(C7H5O3)(H2O)]n, 8, poly[[µ-aqua-aqua(µ-4-hydroxybenzoato)(4-hydroxybenzoic acid)sodium] monohydrate], {[Na(C7H5O3)(C7H6O3)(H2O)2]·H2O}n, 9, poly[[(µ-4-hydroxybenzoato)(µ-4-hydroxybenzoic acid)rubidium] monohydrate], {[K(C7H5O3)(C7H6O3)]·H2O}n, 10, and poly[[(µ-4-hydroxybenzoato)(µ-4-hydroxybenzoic acid)rubidium] monohydrate], {[Rb(C7H5O3)(C7H6O3)]·H2O}n, 11.

Design and construction of a Maxwell-type induction coil for magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia.

Purpose: We describe a modified Helmholtz induction coil, or Maxwell coil, that generates alternating magnetic fields (AMF) having field uniformity (≤10%) within a = 3000 cm3 volume of interest for magnetic hyperthermia research.Materials and methods: Two-dimensional finite element analysis (2D-FEA) was used for electromagnetic design of the induction coil set and to develop specifications for the required matching network. The matching network and induction coil set were fabricated using best available practices and connected to a 120 kW industrial induction heating power supply. System performance was evaluated by magnetic field mapping with a magnetic field probe, and tests were performed using gel phantoms.Results: Tests verified that the system generated a target peak AMF amplitude along the coil axis of ∼35 kA/m (peak) at a frequency of 150 ± 10 kHz while maintaining field uniformity to >90% of peak for a volume of ∼3000 cm3.Conclusions: The induction coil apparatus comprising three independent loops, i.e., Maxwell-type improves upon the performance of simple solenoid and Helmholtz coils by providing homogeneous flux density fields within a large volume while minimizing demands on power and stray fields. Experiments with gel phantoms and analytical calculations show that future translational research efforts should be devoted to developing strategies to reduce the impact of nonspecific tissue heating from eddy currents; and, that an inductor producing a homogeneous field has significant clinical potential for deep-tissue magnetic fluid hyperthermia.

Modified Solenoid Coil That Efficiently Produces High Amplitude AC Magnetic Fields With Enhanced Uniformity for Biomedical Applications.

In this paper, we describe a modified solenoid coil that efficiently generates high amplitude alternating magnetic fields (AMF) having field uniformity (≤10%) within a 125-cm3 volume of interest. Two-dimensional finite element analysis (2D-FEA) was used to design a coil generating a targeted peak AMF amplitude along the coil axis of ~100 kA/m (peak-to-peak) at a frequency of 150 kHz while maintaining field uniformity to >90% of peak for a specified volume. This field uniformity was realized by forming the turns from cylindrical sections of copper plate and by adding flux concentrating rings to both ends of the coil. Following construction, the field profile along the axes of the coil was measured. An axial peak field value of 95.8 ± 0.4 kA/m was measured with 650 V applied to the coil and was consistent with the calculated results. The region of axial field uniformity, defined as the distance over which field ≥90% of peak, was also consistent with the simulated results. We describe the utility of such a device for calorimetric measurement of nanoparticle heating for cancer therapy and for magnetic fluid hyperthermia in small animal models of human cancer.