Separation of uranium from complex nuclear reaction product mixtures

A solvent extraction procedure for rapid separation of uranium from complex nuclear reaction product mixtures is suggested. The procedure has been tested in batch experiments with tracer amounts of representative elements. It has also been tested with fission products and uranium tracer using the continuous chemical separation system SISAK at the Mainz TRIGA reactor.     

A modified procedure for the Dakin-West reaction: an efficient and convenient method for a one-pot synthesis of β-acetamido ketones using silica sulfuric acid as catalyst

A one-pot, four-component condensation of an aryl aldehyde, an aryl ketone, acetyl chloride and acetonitrile in the presence of silica sulfuric acid as an active, inexpensive, recoverable and recyclable catalyst is disclosed for the synthesis of β-acetamido ketones.     

Synthesis of temperature-sensitive submicron-size composite polymer particles

Temperature-sensitive composite polymer particles were prepared by seeded emulsion copolymerization of dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate with 0.17 m-sized monodispersed polystyrene seed particles. The adsorption and desorption behaviors of low molecular weight cationic emulsifier as well as albumin were examined to determine the variation of surface properties as a function of temperature below and above 35°C.     

Rapid test methods for minor components analysis of hydraulic cement. Spectrophotometric determination of manganese oxide content of Portland cement and cement raw meal

A rapid, sensitive and highly selective spectrophotometric method for the determination of manganese oxide content of Portland cement and cement raw meal is developed. The method is based on the reaction of manganese(II) with 1,2,4 trihydroxyanthraquinone (purpurin, PURP) in 50% v/v ethanol-water solution at pH 8.5. The solution equilibria of manganese chelates are demonstrated and characterized for delineating optimal conditions of the complexation reaction and analytical aspect of the Mn-PURP system. The analysis of cement materials of variable manganese content is feasible over the concentration range 1.67-8.13 microg ml(-1) Mn, the limit of detection (at the 95% confidence level) of the method is 68 ng ml(-1) for manganese. Under optimum conditions, the use of first derivative spectrophotometry has the advantage of high sensitivity than normal spectrophotometric method and allows the determination of 0.5 microg ml(-1) of manganese.     

Cathodic stripping voltammetric determination of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole using the catalytic cobalt peak

Previously, thiols have been determined indirectly by cathodic stripping voltammetry (CSV) after accumulation as their mercury and copper(I) salts. Following a previous report of the first use of the catalytic nickel peak (for the determination of cysteine), this paper reports the first use of the catalytic cobalt peak in CSV (for the determination of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT)): only a very ill-defined catalytic cobalt peak had been observed previously with cysteine, and was unreported. MBT is accumulated at pH 4 (Britton-Robinson buffer) as its cobalt(II) complex at -0.1 V, and is then determined indirectly by observing the reduction of the cobalt(II) in the complex at -0.95 V, i.e., with a much lowered overpotential: hydrated cobalt(II) is reduced at -1.2 V. The peak is catalytic because the thiol released on reduction of the complex complexes further cobalt ions and causes their reduction. The detection limit for the determination of MBT was calculated to be 2.5 x 10(-9) M (3sigma) using an accumulation time of 1 min. The sensitivity is about three times that obtained with the corresponding catalytic nickel peak.     

A new kinetic approach to the evaluation of rate constants for the spin trapping of superoxide/hydroperoxyl radical by nitrones in aqueous media

A new kinetic approach to the evaluation of rate constants for the spin trapping of superoxide/hydroperoxyl radical by nitrones in buffered media is described. This method is based on a competition between the superoxide trapping by the nitrone and the spontaneous dismutation of this radical in aqueous media. EPR spectra are recorded as a function of time at various nitrone concentrations, and kinetic curves are obtained after treatment of these spectra using both singular value decomposition and pseudo-inverse deconvolution methods. Modelling these curves permits the determination of the rate constants k(T) and k(D) for the superoxide trapping and the adduct decay reactions, respectively. Kinetics parameters thus obtained with six nitrones, namely the 2-ethoxycarbonyl-2-methyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrrole N-oxide (EMPO), the 5-diethoxyphosphoryl-5-methyl-3,4-dihydro-5H-pyrrole N-oxide (DEPMPO), the 5,5-dimethyl-3,4-dihydro-5H-pyrrole N-oxide (DMPO), the 1,3,5-tri[(N-(1-diethylphosphono)-1-methylethyl)-N-oxy-aldimine]benzene (TN), the N-benzylidene-1-ethoxycarbonyl-1-methylethylamine N-oxide (EPPN), and the N-[(1-oxidopyridin-1-ium-4-yl)methylidene]-1-ethoxycarbonyl-1-methylethylamine N-oxide (EPPyON), indicate that cyclic nitrones trapped superoxide faster than the linear ones. However, the low k(T) values obtained for compounds show that there is still a need for new molecules with better spin trapping capacities.     

Backward errors for eigenvalues and eigenvectors of Hermitian,skew-Hermitian,H-even and H-odd matrix polynomials

We discuss the perturbation analysis for eigenvalues and eigenvectors of structured homogeneous matrix polynomials with Hermitian, skew-Hermitian, H-even and H-odd structure. We construct minimal structured perturbations (structured backward errors) such that an approximate eigenvalue and eigenvector pair (finite or infinite eigenvalues) is an exact eigenvalue eigenvector pair of an appropriately perturbed structured matrix polynomial. We present various comparisons with unstructured backward errors and previous backward errors constructed for the non-homogeneous case and show that our results generalize previous results.