Use of oxide minerals to abate fluoride from water

The removal of fluoride from aqueous solutions has been investigated using various oxide ores such as refractory grade bauxite, feed bauxite, manganese ore, and hydrated oxides of manganese ores (WAD). The refractory grade bauxite showed promising results. The studies were carried out as functions of contact time, pH, concentration of adsorbents, concentration of adsorbate, and temperature. The adsorption was rapid during the initial 5 min but equilibrium was attained within 120 min. The adsorption followed first-order kinetics. The present system followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. Various thermodynamic parameters such as free energy, enthalpy, entropy, and equilibrium constants were calculated. The isosteric heat calculations showed that the adsorption process followed a heterogeneous model.     

Polyol Process Synthesis of Monodispersed FePt Nanoparticles

Monodispersed FePt nanoparticles are synthesized by reduction of iron(II) acetylacetonate and platinum(II) acetylacetonate with 1,2-hexadecanediol as the reducing reagent in the polyol process. As-prepared FePt nanoparticles are chemically disordered with fcc phase. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images show a self-assembled particle array with an average particle size of 3 nm and a standard deviation about 10%. The transformation from chemically disordered fcc to chemically ordered L10 phase is achieved by annealing at 650 degrees C for 30 min in Ar atmosphere where the oxygen level is less than 1 ppm. Magnetic hysteresis measurements show a coercivity of 9.0 kOe at 293K, and 16.7 kOe at 5 K for the annealed FePt nanoparticles.     

Mixed-ligand complexes of osmium(III)/(IV) 8-quinolinolates: synthesis,characterization and redox behaviour

Summary A group of mixed-tris chelates of osmium(III) and osmium(IV) of type [OsAQ₂]^{0/1 +} [HA = glycine (glyH), picolinic acid (PicH) and quinaldic acid (qndH); HQ = 8-quinolinol] were prepared and characterized by physicochemical, magnetic and spectroscopic methods. The complexes exhibit several spin-allowed and spin-forbidden absorption bands and shoulders in the 200–700 nm region. The new chelates are electroactive and display nearly reversible Os^IV-Os^III and Os^III-Os^II couples in the ca. –1.1 to +0.3 V range versus s.c.e. The stability of metal oxidation states is discussed in terms of the electrochemical results.     

Far-infrared and mid-infrared absorption in (Bi,Pb)-Sr-(Ca,Y)-Cu-O

The reflectivities of seven films belonging to the Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O family, with T_c ranging from 60 to 95 K, and of a single crystal of insulating Bi-Sr-Y-Cu-O, have been measured at room temperature in the normal phase. The optical conductivity has been analyzed in terms of Drude (D), mid-infrared (MIR), and charge-transfer (CT) contributions. As T_c increases, the spectral weight within the charge-transfer gap (D+MIR) increases. Meanwhile, the peak frequency of the MIR band moves towards the far-infrared and the optical conductivity becomes more similar to that of a normal metal.     

Synergistic catalysis of anthrone Diels-Alder reactions

[reaction: see text] The combination of an amine base and Lewis acid (Li+) leads to synergistic catalysis of the Diels-Alder reaction of anthrone with methyl crotonate and some other less reactive dienophiles. These cycloadditions either do not occur with the individual catalysts used separately or they are greatly accelerated by the combined catalysts. DMSO solvent allows the use of LiCl as the Lewis acid source and can provide greater control of subsequent conversion to Michael adduct.     

Rheological properties and orientational distributions of dilute ferromagnetic spherocylinder particle dispersions. Part II. Analysis for the two typical magnetic field directions

We have investigated the orientational distributions and rheological properties of dilute colloidal dispersions, which consist of ferromagnetic spherocylinder particles. First, the governing equation of the orientational distribution function has been derived for the typical two cases of magnetic field directions: the direction parallel to the shear flow and the direction parallel to the angular velocity vector of the shear flow. The equation has been solved approximately by Galerkin's method. With these numerical solutions we have obtained the results of the orientational distribution and viscosity. The results obtained for the magnetic field in the shear flow direction are summarized as follows. In the case of a weak magnetic field, the particle tends to orient nearly toward the shear flow direction and its opposite direction. As the magnetic field increases, the orientation of the particle is restricted and the viscosity increases significantly. As the influence of the magnetic field becomes dominant, an overshoot in the viscosity curve appears. This is due to the fact that there is a maximum deviation of the averaged particle direction from the magnetic field direction. When the strength of the magnetic field increases significantly, the particle inclines close to the magnetic field direction and the viscosity converges to a constant value. Particles with a larger aspect ratio give rise to a larger increment in the viscosity since such elongated particles induce larger resistance in a flow field. We also have obtained results for the case of the magnetic field in the direction parallel to the angular velocity vector of the shear flow. When the flow field is dominant over both the rotational Brownian motion and the magnetic interaction, the particle rotates in the plane nearly perpendicular to the magnetic field direction. As the magnetic field increases, the particle inclines toward the magnetic direction. For this direction of field, the viscosity is independent of the magnetic field and is always zero.     

New algorithms for processing and peak detection in liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry data

Two new algorithms for automated processing of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) data are presented. These algorithms were developed from an analysis of the noise and artifact distribution in such data. The noise distribution was analyzed by preparing histograms of the signal intensity in LC/MS data. These histograms are well fit by a sum of two normal distributions in the log scale. One new algorithm, median filtering, provides increased performance compared to averaging adjacent scans in removing noise that is not normally distributed in the linear scale. Another new algorithm, vectorized peak detection, provides increased robustness with respect to variation in the noise and artifact distribution compared to methods based on determining an intensity threshold for the entire dataset. Vectorized peak detection also permits the incorporation of existing algorithms for peak detection in ion chromatograms and/or mass spectra. The application of these methods to LC/MS spectra of complex biological samples is described.