Elucidating the Effect of Aliphatic Molecular Plugs on Ion-Rejecting Properties of Polyamide Membranes.

Polyamide RO membranes are widely used for seawater desalination owing to their high salt rejection and water permeability; however, improved selectivity-permeability trade-off is still desired. "Molecular plugs," small molecules immobilized within the polyamide structure, offer an attractive approach; however, their overall effect on polyamide physicochemical properties poses many questions. Here, we analyze the effect of decylamine, a promising plug, and a few charged and uncharged mimics on polyamide films using several in situ techniques.

Tuning Chemical and Physical Properties of Phosphorus Corroles for Advanced Applications.

Although the affinity of metallocorroles to axial ligands is quite low, this is not the case when the chelated element is phosphorus. This work is hence focused on the mechanism of ligand exchange of six-coordinate phosphorus corroles as a tool for affecting their chemical and physical properties. These fundamental investigations allowed for the development of facile methodologies for the synthesis of a large series of complexes and the establishment of several new structure/activity profiles that may be used to understand and predict spectroscopic features and for tailor-made modification of photophysical and electrochemical properties.

Measuring the water content in freshly-deposited fingermarks.

The literature view regarding the composition of deposited fingermarks has long been that the average water content is in the range of 98-99wt.%. This value has recently been challenged by Kent, claiming that it should be 20wt.

Accumulation of Streptococcus mutans on light-cured composites and amalgam: an in vitro study.

The aim of the in vitro study was to examine the accumulation of Streptococcus mutans on light-cured composite materials and amalgam. Bacteria cultures were grown in a brain heart infusion medium, and their growth rate was determined through turbidity measurements. The data, so obtained, were evaluated statistically by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Scheffe test.