Behavior Of Short Chains Research Articles

Study of the behavior of short chains in print paper subjected to a natural aging

Degradation of paper through time can be measured by monitoring the intensity changes in the band located at 620 nm of its emission fluorescence spectra. The behavior of this band is closely related to the structural stability of the short cellulose chains. A fast degradation of these cellulose chains, mainly lignin, translates in the rapid denaturation of paper occurring at its first aging state. This work proposes a method to reincorporate short cellulose chains in the structure of aged paper through its immersion during 24 h in a solution based on ethyl alcohol and extracts of wood pieces. Results of fluorescence spectra measurements indicate that the short cellulose chains in the solution get embedded in the old paper, making the shape and intensity of the fluorescence emission spectra peaks of new and old paper almost indistinguishable. This behavior provides a desirable approach to analyze, preserve and restore aged paper documents.

Single polymer gating of channels under a solvent gradient

We study the effect of a gradient of solvent quality on the coil-globule transition for a polymer in a narrow pore. A simple self-attracting, self-avoiding walk model of a polymer in solution shows that the variation in the strength of the interaction across the pore leads the system to go from one regime (good solvent) to the other (poor solvent) across the channel. This may be thought to be analogous to thermophoresis, where the polymer goes from the hot region to the cold region under the temperature gradient. The behavior of short chains is studied using exact enumeration while the behavior of long chains is studied using transfer matrix techniques. The distribution of the monomer density across the layer suggests that a gatelike effect can be created, with potential applications as a sensor.

Ionic polysaccharides. 3. Dilute solution properties of hyaluronic acid fractions.

AbstractMolecular weights by osmometry (M̄n), light scattering (M̄w), and sedimentation‐diffusion (MsD) were determined for selected fractions and unfractionated samples of hyaluronic acid in the molecular weight range 3 × 104−1.7 × 106. For the determination of MsD from the sedimentation coefficient s, a calibration procedure based on the data of Laurent, Ryan, and Pietruszkiewicz gave the following relations in 0.2M NaCl: log (s−1)0 = 14.681 − 0.413 log MsD and log D0 = −3.828 − 0.568 log MsD, where subscript, zero refers to zero concentration and D is the diffusion coefficient. The average Mandelkern‐Flory parameter β in 0.2M NaCl is 3.0 × 106. Data for the intrinsic viscosity [η] may be fitted for M > 105 by [η] = K′Ma, where K′, a are in 0.2M NaCl, 0.0228, 0.816; in 0.5M NaCl, 0.0318, 0.777; in 0.1 M HCl, 0.0279, 0.763, respectively. Below M = 105, [η] appears to fall below the values calculated, possibly due to non‐Gaussian behavior of short chains. The second virial coefficient A2 in 0.5M NaCl approaches the ideal Donnan value, decreasing slightly with increasing molecular weight. The friction parameter P is about 20% smaller than that of uncharged polymers of similar dimensions. The flexible coiling nature of this polymer is confirmed.