Potential technological applications

In this section the main physiological roles and potential technological applications of PPO are reviewed. 

The growing interest in supramolecular chirality stems not only from the intrinsic relevance of such studies for the origin of chirality in life processes, but also from the potential technological applications, such as the separation of optical isomers for the pharmaceutical or food industries. 

In conclusion, the interdisciplinary aspect of any study of self-organization phenomena, and potential technological applications of nonlinear electrochemical behaviors, together ensure that the study of self-organization phenomena in electrochemistry will remain a vital field of research. 

This chapter does not aim to give a complete treatise on the extensive literature on nitrile bioconversions, but rather aims at presenting an overview of enzymatic nitrile hydrolysis with a selection of recent and significant examples. Several reviews on the bioconversions of organic nitriles and their potential technological applications have been published namely by Banerjee et al. (2002), Mylerova and Martinkova (2003), Martinkova and Kren (2002). 

Research in the area of fast-ion transport in solids has been extremely active in recent years, partly because of the many potential technological applications of solid electrolytes. These applications include high-energy-density... 

P- and p"-aluminas. The jS-aluminas are one of the most important and widely investigated family of solid electrolytes. They permit not only fast Na+ diffusion, but also the diffusion of other alkali ions, protonic species, divalent and even trivalent cations. The -aluminas combine interesting chemistry with wide-ranging potential technological applications. 

Metal alkoxides and aryloxides, of the general formnla M(OR)x, can be considered as derived from the alcohol ROH by replacement of the hydroxylic hydrogen atom by the metal. These complexes have been known for many years Ti(OEt4) was prepared in 1924 by Bischoff and Adkins/ and the synthesis was attempted as early as 1875 by Demargay although pure product was apparently not obtained. Potential technological applications have resulted in increased activity in this area in recent years (see Sol-Gel Synthesis of Solids)... 

The ability to sculpt surfaces of polymers well below Tg with light is certainly a novel and unexpected phenomenon with many potential technological applications. Moreover, as far as fundamental science is concerned, the study... 

Nanomaterials are systems that contain particles with one dimension in the nanometer regime. The past decade has witnessed a growing intense interest from biologists, chemists, physicists, and engineers in the application of these materials -the so-called nanotechnology , which is sometimes referred to as the next industrial revolution [1]. The reasons for such interest are the unusual properties and potential technological applications that are exhibited by these materials when compared to their bulk counterparts [2-10]. In this chapter, attention will be focused onrather simple ionic solids, where the interatomic attractions are predominantly coulombic forces, and the dimensions are predominantly <100 nm. Such systems have been termed nanoionics [11,12]. 

Interest toward spin-state crossover in iron(II) complexes is increasing because of potential technological applications,198199 such as intelligent contrast agents for biomedical imaging, as temperature/pressure threshold indicators, and as optical elements... 

In addition to the potential technological applications of electrochemical modification of catalytic activity, the ability of solid electrolytes to dose reversibly, precisely, and in situ catalyst surfaces with promoters, by "knob-turn" variation of the catalyst potential and work function, provides a unique opportunity for the systematic study of the role of promoters and poisons in Heterogeneous Catalysis. 

Aside from potential technological applications, the use of p"-Al203 as the solid electrolyte allows for a detailed, in situ and systematic investigation of the role of alkali promoters in heterogeneous catalysis. 

Fullerene-containing polymeric materials have received much attention for their potential technological applications [143-158]. The polymeric fullerene materials under active investigations can roughly be classified into three categories. One category includes copolymers of fullerenes and comonomers [148-154], such as fullerene-styrene and fullerene-methyl methacrylate copolymers. With... 

The ferromagnetic properties of layer perovskites (RNH3)2(CrXJ, where R is an alkyl or aryl group and X = Cl or Br, are of considerable interest because only a few samples of ferromagnetic insulators are known. In addition, they are transparent in the visible region, and therefore they are interesting not only for academic reasons but also because of their potential technological applications in optical modulation devices. ... 

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