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Switchable surfaces, also called smart surfaces or controllable surfaces, respond to changes in their local environment resulting in altered surface properties. There are various environmental perturbations that can cause changes to the surface properties but the focus of this thesis is on the affect of electrostatic potential. Significant evidence is provided from previous reports on electrochemical and infrared spectroscopic experiments suggesting that self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) undergo protonation-deprotonation by the application of an electric field. However, there are plenty of aspects of this electric field driven protonation-deprotonation mechanisms using carboxylic acid terminated SAMs that are not well understood. Most importantly, there is a lack of model independent measurements to validate this process. As such, experimental techniques utilizing infrared spectroscopy were employed to correlate electrochemical measurements and models.<p> This body of work demonstrates the importance of the intermolecular hydrogen bonding network on the measured voltammetric peak associated with the protonation-deprotonation of these SAMs. The voltammetric peak height diminishes with increasing exposure to an electrolyte solution. This behaviour is attributed to the replacement of the carboxylic acid protons with electrolyte cations and ultimately the disruption of the hydrogen bonded network.<p> We attempted to further our ex-situ infrared measurements by using an in-situ spectroelectrochemical technique. We had some initial successes, presented within, but more work is needed to complete this picture and is beyond the scope of this thesis. To summarize, the protonated state of SAMs of 4-MBA can be driven by the application of an electric field providing a potential platform to build a controllable smart surface.

Switchable surfaces, also called smart surfaces or controllable surfaces, respond to changes in their local environment resulting in altered surface properties. There are various environmental perturbations that can cause changes to the surface properties but the focus of this thesis is on the affect of electrostatic potential. Significant evidence is provided from previous reports on electrochemical and infrared spectroscopic experiments suggesting that self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) undergo protonation-deprotonation by the application of an electric field. However, there are plenty of aspects of this electric field driven protonation-deprotonation mechanisms using carboxylic acid terminated SAMs that are not well understood. Most importantly, there is a lack of model independent measurements to validate this process. As such, experimental techniques utilizing infrared spectroscopy were employed to correlate electrochemical measurements and models.<p> This body of work demonstrates the importance of the intermolecular hydrogen bonding network on the measured voltammetric peak associated with the protonation-deprotonation of these SAMs. The voltammetric peak height diminishes with increasing exposure to an electrolyte solution. This behaviour is attributed to the replacement of the carboxylic acid protons with electrolyte cations and ultimately the disruption of the hydrogen bonded network.<p> We attempted to further our ex-situ infrared measurements by using an in-situ spectroelectrochemical technique. We had some initial successes, presented within, but more work is needed to complete this picture and is beyond the scope of this thesis. To summarize, the protonated state of SAMs of 4-MBA can be driven by the application of an electric field providing a potential platform to build a controllable smart surface.

With the inevitable depletion of the petroleum supply and increasing energy demands in the world, interest has been growing in bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass (e.g., sugarcane bagasse). Lignocellulosic biomass is an abundant, inexpensive, and renewable resource. Most of current conversion technologies require expensive enzymes and sterility. In contrast, the patented MixAlco process requires no enzymes or sterility, making it attractive to convert lignocellulosic biomass to transportation fuels and valuable chemicals. This study focuses on pretreatment and thermophilic fermentation in the MixAlco process. Ammonium bicarbonate (NH4HCO3) was discovered to be a better pH buffer than previously widely used calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in anaerobic fermentations under thermophilic conditions (55°C). The desired pH should be controlled within 6.5 to 7.5. Over 85% acetate content in the product was found in paper fermentations and bagasse fermentations. Hot-lime-water-treated bagasse countercurrent fermentations buffered by ammonium bicarbonate achieved 50–60% higher total product concentrations than those using calcium carbonate. It was nearly double in paper batch fermentations if the pH was controlled around 7.0. Ammonium bicarbonate is a “weak” methane inhibitor, so a strong methane inhibitor (e.g., iodoform) is still required in ammonium bicarbonate buffered fermentations. Residual calcium salts did not show significant effects on ammonium bicarbonate buffered fermentations. Lake inocula from the Great Salt Lake, Utah, proved to be feasible in ammonium bicarbonate buffered fermentations. Under mesophilic conditions (40°C), the inoculum from the Great Salt Lake increased the total product concentration about 30%, compared to the marine inoculum. No significant fermentation performance difference, however, was found under thermophilic conditions. The Continuum Particle Distribution Model (CPDM) is a powerful tool to predict product concentrations and conversions for long-term countercurrent fermentations, based on batch fermentation data. The experimental acid concentrations and conversions agree well with the CPDM predictions (average absolute error < 15%). Aqueous ammonia treatment proved feasible for bagasse. Air-lime-treated bagasse had the highest acid concentration among the three treated bagasse. Air-lime treatment coupled with ammonium bicarbonate buffered fermentations is preferred for a “crop-tofuel” process. Aqueous ammonia treatment combined with ammonium bicarbonate buffered fermentations is a viable modification of the MixAlco process, if “ammonia recycle” is deployed.

In this work, 80% lime-treated rice straw and 20% lime-treated chicken manure were used as substrates in rotary fermentors. Countercurrent fermentation was performed at various volatile solid loading rates (VSLR) and liquid residence times (LRT). The highest acid productivity of 1.69 g/(L·d) was at a total acid concentration of 32.4 g/L. The highest conversion and yield were 0.692 g VS digested/g VS fed and 0.29 g total acids/g VS fed, respectively. The continuum particle distribution model (CPDM) was used to predict product concentrations at various VSLR and LRT. CPDM predicted the experimental total acid concentration and conversion at an average error of 6.41% and 6.55%, respectively. A fixed-bed fermentation system was designed to perform pretreatment and fermentation in the same unit. High product concentrations (~48 g/L) as well as high conversions (0.741 g VS digested/g VS fed, F4, Train B) were obtained from the same fermentor. CPDM was extended to predict product concentrations in the fixed-bed fermentation system. The model gave a good estimate of the product concentrations and retention time. After biomass fermentation, the residue can be combusted to generate heat. For pretreatment purposes, the use of ash can replace lime. A study was performed using ash as a potential pretreatment agent. Ash from raw poplar wood was effective in pretreating poplar wood; however, ash from bagasse fermentation residues was not useful in pretreating bagasse. Previous modeling studies indicate that a conversion of 95% could be achieved with bagasse using countercurrent fermentation. Because lignin constitutes 13% of the dry weight of bagasse, this means lignin would have to be digested to obtain a conversion of 95%. Experiments on the fermentation of enzymatically liberated lignin from both poplar wood and bagasse do not show that solubilized lignin was fermented to organic acids by using a mixed culture of marine microorganisms. Two buffer systems (ammonium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate) were used to compare product concentrations of carboxylic acid fermentations using office paper and chicken manure. It has been demonstrated that the total product concentration using ammonium bicarbonate is almost double the product concentration using calcium carbonate.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Institute of Paper Chemistry, 1972. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-113).

Glycation is a series of chemical interactions occurring in food and biological systems between reducing sugars and proteins leading to the formation of Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs). Ingestion of dietary AGEs and/or their formation in-vivo are mainly associated with cardiovascular and other age-related diseases and complications of long term diabetes. Potential strategies to prevent AGE formation can help to reduce risk factors associated with thermal processing of many foods. The overall objective of this research was focused on the identification of potential AGE inhibitors and investigation of their activity in glucose and ribose-based model systems containing lysozyme. The carboxylic acid functional group was chosen as a potential candidate based on their ability to interact with Schiff bases in addition to their ability to form amide bonds and carboxylate salts with the lysine side chains of proteins. The model systems were incubated with and without selected carboxylic acids (maleic, acetic, oxalic and citraconic) at 50&deg;C for 12, 24 and 48h at pH 6.5. The effect of carboxylic acids on the glycation of lysozyme was studied by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The experimental results showed that none of the carboxylic acids were able to form amide linkages with lysozyme under the experimental conditions and only maleic acid was able to form carboxylate salts, however, oxalic acid was the only acid able to interact with the Schiff base and form 1,3-oxazolidine-4,5-dione intermediate and thus hinder its rearrangement into Amadori product and consequently inhibit glycation. As a result the percentage of free or unreacted lysozyme was the highest in oxalic acid model systems (9.4% in the case of glucose, 7.1% in the case of ribose system) and was even higher than the control systems (6.0% in the case of glucose, 1.2% in the case of ribose system) of both glucose and ribose. In addition, all carboxylic acids were able to modify the relative distribution of different glycoforms generated during the incubation period however oxalic acid was the most efficient in shifting the distribution of glycoforms to lower molecular weight clusters which can additionally contribute to its anti-glycation activity.

The thesis involves a study of the thermodynamics of ternary liquid mixtures involving carboxylic acids with nitriles, hydrocarbons including cycloalkanes, and water. Carboxylic acids are an important class of compounds with a great number of industrial uses and applications. In many parts ofthe world the separation of carboxylic acids (in particular acetic and propanoic acid) is an important and desirable task. In South Africa, these carboxylic acids together with many other oxygenates and hydrocarbons are produced by SASOL using the Fischer - Tropsch process. The separation of these acids from hydrocarbons and from water is a commercially lucrative consideration, and is the raison d' etre for this study. The work focussed on the use of nitriles in effecting separation by solvent extraction and not by the more common method of distillation. The nitrile compounds were chosen because of their high polarity. The carboxylic acids used in this study always refer to: acetic acid, propanoic acid, butanoic acid, 2-methylpropanoic acid, pentanoic acid and 3-methylbutanoic acid. The first part of the experimental programme is devoted to the determination of excess molar volumes of mixtures of (a carboxylic acid + nitrile compound), where the nitrile refers to acetonitrile, butanenitrile or benzonitrile, respectively. Densimetry was used to determine the excess molar volumes. The work was done in order to get some idea of the interactions involved between a carboxylic acid and a nitrile. The second part of the experimental study is concerned with the determination of excess molar enthalpies of mixtures of( a carboxylic acid + nitrile compound), where the nitrile refers to acetonitrile, butanenitrile or benzonitrile, respectively. The excess molar enthalpies were determined using flow microcalorimetry Again, this work was done in order to gain some insight into the interactions involved between a carboxylic acid and a nitrile. The third part of the experimental work consists ofternary liquid-liquid equilibria of mixtures of (acetonitrile + a carboxylic acid + heptane or cyclohexane), (benzonitrile + a carboxylic acid + water); and (butanenitrile + a carboxylic acid + water), at 298.15 K. The purpose was to investigate the use of nitriles as solvent extractors in separating carboxylic acids from hydrocarbons and also carboxylic acids from water. Ternary liquid-liquid equilibrium data are essential for the design and selection of solvents used in the liquid-liquid extraction process. The final section deals with the fitting of models of liquid mixtures to the experimental data collected in this work. The NRTL (Non-random, two liquid), UNIQUAC (Universal quasichemical), and FBT (Flory-Benson-Treszczanowicz) models were used. The modelling work served three purposes: • to summarise the experimental data • to test theories of liquid mixtures • prediction of related thermodynamic properties / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal,Durban, 2003.

This thesis describes the synthesis of novel lead(IV) tetracarboxylates and the development of their use in carbon-carbon bond formation processes, with a particular emphasis on the construction of chiral, quaternary centres. Organolead(IV) tricarboxylates have been widely used in the functionalisation of a range of β-dicarbonyl compounds, and the available evidence suggests that these reactions occur by a ligand coupling mechanism. For this reason, by using chiral lead(IV) compounds, it may be possible to achieve a transfer of asymmetry in the bond formation reaction. A variety of achiral and chiral dicarboxylic acid ligands were synthesised, either by reaction of phthalic or camphoric anhydride with a range of diols, or by elaboration of the camphoric acid skeleton directly. A range of novel lead(IV) compounds were constructed using these ligands, both as bis-complexes and as mixed ligand complexes. The complexes were characterised by a combination of IR and NMR techniques, including ²⁰⁷Pb NMR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. The reactivity of some of the complexes was demonstrated via reaction with allyltributyltm. The lead(IV) complexes were used in the α-phenylation of a range of β-dicarbonyl substrates. Yields ranged from poor to excellent, but in all cases the enantiomeric excesses of the reactions were found to be no greater than 12%. Studies of these complexes by ²⁰⁷Pb NMR spectroscopy revealed that each complex was present as more than one species in solution, which is thought to be the reason for the poor overall transfer of chirality in the phenylation reactions. The arylation procedure uses catalytic mercury(II) acetate, which can in turn introduce further potential ligands to the exchanging system. It was found that alternative catalysts, such as mercury(II) chloride, could be used successfully in the α-phenylation reaction.