Promising Applications

As further research on fullerenes and carbon nanotubes materials is carried out, it is expected, because of the extreme properties exhibited by these carbon-based materials, that other interesting physics and chemistry will be discovered, and that promising applications will be found for fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and related materials. 

Although the Paterno-Buchi reaction is of high synthetic potential, its use in organic synthesis is still not far developed. In recent years some promising applications in the synthesis of natural products have been reported. The scarce application in synthesis may be due to the non-selective formation of isomeric products that can be difficult to separate—e.g. 6 and 7—as well as to the formation of products by competitive side-reactions such as Norrish type-I- and type-II fragmentations. 

The aim of this chapter is to summarize some of the research findings on xylan, a natural polymer extracted from corn cobs, which presents a promising application in the development of colon-specific drug carriers. Physicochemical characterization of the polymer regarding particle size and morphology, composition, rheology, thermal behavior, and crystallinity will be provided. Additionally, research data on its extraction and the development of microparticles based on xylan and prepared by different methods will also be presented and discussed. 

Recently, unique vesicle-forming (spherical bUayers that offer a hydrophilic reservoir, suitable for incorporation of water-soluble molecules, as well as hydrophobic wall that protects the loaded molecules from the external solution) setf-assembUng peptide-based amphiphilic block copolymers that mimic biological membranes have attracted great interest as polymersomes or functional polymersomes due to their new and promising applications in dmg delivery and artificial cells [ 122]. However, in all the cases the block copolymers formed are chemically dispersed and are often contaminated with homopolymer. 

A promising applicant should be given a tour of the facility. During such a tour, he or she will be introduced to current workers, whose comments should not be overlooked. 

The newly synthesized heavy analogs of the 67r-electron compounds have found a very promising application as ligands for a new generation of transition metal... 

It was concluded that the storage block is the most promising application. A prototype with approx. 4.1 kWh latent heat storage capacity was then built and is currently operated at Grammar. The storage (Figure 177) is charged via a 20 m2 collector with an air flow of 180-300 m3/h. 

Chemical reduction is used to transform a toxic substance with a higher valence to a nontoxic or less-toxic substance with lower valence. The most promising application is the reduction of hexava-lent chromium to trivalent chromium. This method is also applicable to other multivalent metals such as lead and mercury. Commonly used chemical agents for this purpose are sulfite salts, sulfur dioxide, and base metals (e.g., iron and aluminum).22 24... 

One of the most promising applications of nuclear magnetic resonance to vitamin Bj.2-chemistry is the use of carbon-13 NMR (145). The use of 13C fourier transform NMR has greatly increased the applicability of 13C NMR in that it permits one to obtain high quality spectra with natural abundance 13C. 

The potentially most promising application of high pressure photochemistry is in catalysis. Most industrial processes are catalytic, and many of these require high temperatures and pressures. Activation of the catalysts by light can lead to higher activity and selectivity or to novel reaction paths which yield products not obtained under conventional thermal conditions. 

One of the most promising applications of enzyme-immobilized mesoporous materials is as microscopic reactors. Galameau et al. investigated the effect of mesoporous silica structures and their surface natures on the activity of immobilized lipases [199]. Too hydrophilic (pure silica) or too hydrophobic (butyl-grafted silica) supports are not appropriate for the development of high activity for lipases. An adequate hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance of the support, such as a supported-micelle, provides the best route to enhance lipase activity. They also encapsulated the lipases in sponge mesoporous silicates, a new procedure based on the addition of a mixture of lecithin and amines to a sol-gel synthesis to provide pore-size control. 

In the light of promising applications offered by these supramolecular glycoconju-gate structures, notably for the intrinsic optical and electrochemical properties of metal complexes, this underexploited research area is undoubtedly in its infancy and holds promise for such systems as biomarkers or sensitive biosensors. 

In the last few years there have been new creative methods of preparation of novel hydrophilic polymers and hydrogels that may represent the future in drug delivery applications. The focus in these studies has been the development of polymeric structures with precise molecular architectures. Stupp et al. (1997) synthesized self-assembled triblock copolymer, nanostructures that may have very promising applications in controlled drug delivery. Novel biodegradable polymers, such as polyrotaxanes, have been developed that have particularly exciting molecular assemblies for drug delivery (Ooya and Yui, 1997). 

One promising application for C60 is as an optical limiter. Optical limiters are used to protect people and materials from damage by high light intensities usually associated with intense pulsed sources. Optical limiting is accom-... 

A recent and very promising application of the reachability analysis of TA is scheduling. This development, however, required the introduction of the notion of cost. In contrast to the verification of whether a behavior fulfills a specification or not, costs introduce a quantitative measure to evaluate the individual behaviors. Successful applications of priced TA [15, 16] by using the standard and a special version of Uppaal are documented in [17-19]. The first application to deterministic job-shop scheduling was published by Abdeddaim [20] and Abdeddaim and Maler [21], In order to further motivate the use of TA, the next section shows how the schedule in Figure 10.2 and the plant on which the operations are scheduled naturally translate into a set of timed automata. 

Hence, BEVs are still largely applied in niche markets, such as for inner urban traffic. In this context electric vehicles will further profit from the introduction of environmental zones and toll charges on ICE vehicles in cities.13 Another promising application is the electric two-wheeler (scooter), which is becoming increasingly popular in Asian megacities. 

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