Microcantilevers modified with a self-assembled monolayer respond sensitively to specific ion concentrations. Here, we report the detection of trace amounts of CrO4(2-) using microcantilevers modified with a self-assembled monolayer of triethyl-12-mercaptododecylammonium bromide. The self-assembled monolayer was prepared on a silicon microcantilever coated with a thin layer of gold on one side. The microcantilever undergoes bending due to sorption of CrO4(2-) ions on the monolayer-modified side. It was found that a concentration of 10(-9) M CrO4(2-) can be detected using this technology in a flow cell. Other anions, such as Cl-, Br-, CO3(2-) (or HCO3-), and SO4(2-), have minimal effect on the deflection of this cantilever. The mechanics of the bending and the chemistry of cantilever modification are discussed.
There have been relatively few detailed studies of PAH photochemical degradation mechanisms and products at solid/air interfaces under controlled conditions. Results from mechanistic studies on particulate simulants are important in understanding the fates of PAH sorbed on similar materials in natural settings. In this study, the photolysis of phenanthrene (PH) on silica gel, in the presence of air, has been carefully examined. Once sorbed onto the silica surface, PH is not observed to repartition into the gas phase, even under vacuum, and dark reactions of PH are not observed at the silica/air interface. Photolysis (254 nm) of PH leads to the formation of 2,2‘-biformylbiphenyl (1), 9,10-phenanthrenequinone (2), cis-9,10-dihydrodihydroxyphenanthrene (3), benzocoumarin (4), 2,2‘-biphenyldicarboxylic acid (5), 2-formyl-2‘-biphenylcarboxylic acid (6), 2-formylbiphenyl (7), 1,2-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (8), and phthalic acid (9). These products account for 85−90% of the reacted PH. The photoproducts are independent of excitation wavelength (254 and 350 nm), and the reaction proceeds entirely through an initial step involving the addition of singlet molecular oxygen to the ground state of phenanthrene with subsequent thermal and/or photochemical reactions of the initially formed product. Singlet molecular oxygen is produced through quenching of the lowest triplet state of PH at the silica gel/air interface. The high material balance and detailed mechanistic information provided by this study serve as a standard for comparisons with the products and mechanism of PH photochemical oxidation on environmentally derived inorganic oxide particulates.
The relative spacing of amines in 3-aminopropylsilyl-grafted silica is studied by solid-state fluorescence spectroscopy of 1-pyrenecarboxylic acid (PCA) and 1-pyrenebutyric acid (PBA) bound to traditionally prepared, deprotected benzyl- or deprotected trityl-spaced aminosilicas. Thermogravimetric analysis and FT-Raman spectroscopy results show evidence that the protected imine can be cleaved to yield the corresponding amine in essentially quantitative yield. The steady-state fluorescence spectroscopic data of either PCA or PBA indicate that the number of amine pairs on the surface separated by a distance of 1 nm or less decreases as the total amine loading decreases. Both the intensity ratio of the excimer band to the monomer band (I 470/I 384 or I exc/I mon) and lifetime decay studies of the fluorophore are useful probes of the amine spacing. Separation of amines on the surface can be achieved by either use of a protected synthesis route or through reduction of the concentration of the unprotected 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane used in the grafting solution. However, the two routes lead to materials with significantly different average amine spacings. Due to clustering of unprotected amines in solution before grafting or on the surface during the grafting process, amine−amine distances on the surface of materials prepared by an unprotected synthesis are on average smaller than when a protected synthesis is used. With the protected synthesis, evidence suggests that the amines are more isolated, with larger average amine−amine distances when compared to corresponding materials with a similar amine loading prepared via an unprotected synthesis. This is attributed to both the steric influence of the protecting groups and a reduction in silane clustering in solution due to protection of the amines before grafting. Thus, the mechanism of surface amine spacing when using the protection−deprotection strategy appears to involve both of these factors (especially in the case of trityl-spaced samples).
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