XANES speciation of mercury in three mining districts – Almadén,Asturias (Spain), Idria (Slovenia)

The mobility, bioavailability and toxicity of mercury in the environment strongly depend on the chemical species in which it is present in soil, sediments, water or air. In mining districts, differences in mobility and bioavailability of mercury mainly arise from the different type of mineralization and ore processing. In this work, synchrotron‐based X‐ray absorption near‐edge spectroscopy (XANES) has been taken advantage of to study the speciation of mercury in geological samples from three of the largest European mercury mining districts: Almadén (Spain), Idria (Slovenia) and Asturias (Spain). XANES has been complemented with a single extraction protocol for the determination of Hg mobility. Ore, calcines, dump material, soil, sediment and suspended particles from the three sites have been considered in the study. In the three sites, rather insoluble sulfide compounds (cinnabar and metacinnabar) were found to predominate. Minor amounts of more soluble mercury compounds (chlorides and sulfates) were also identified in some samples. Single extraction procedures have put forward a strong dependence of the mobility with the concentration of chlorides and sulfates. Differences in efficiency of roasting furnaces from the three sites have been found.     

Highly Diastereoselective [3+2] Cycloadditions Between Non-Racemic p-Tolylsulfinimines and Iminoesters: An Efficient Entry to Enantiopure Imidazolidines and Vicinal Diaminoalcohols

Abstract

Readily available p-tolylsulfinimines undergo highly stereoselective [3 + 2] cycloadditions with azomethine ylides generated from α -iminoesters and LDA to produce N-sulfinylimidazolidines. In the presence of Lewis acids, p-tolylsulfinimines react with glycine iminoester enolates to produce N-sulfinylimidazolidines, after cyclization of open chain intermediates. These mechanistically diverse processes take place with excellent regio-, stereo-, and facial selectivities, and the latter is opposite to most known reactions involving sulfinimines. Some of the resulting imidazolidines have been transformed into examples of a novel class of nonsymmetrical vicinal diamines using reductive and/or hydrolytic protocols.     

Structural Basis for Carbapenemase Activity of the OXA-23 β-Lactamase from Acinetobacter baumannii

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Pyrolysis study of hydrophobic tholins By TG-MS, TG, DTA and DSC methods

This study presents the thermogravimetry (TG) of hydrophobic tholins, obtained from different simulation experiments of prebiotic synthesis carried out in a CH₄/N₂/H₂ atmosphere with spark discharge activation of aqueous aerosols and liquid water. Differential thermal analysis and differential scanning calorimetry were also used to evaluate the thermal behaviour of these complex organic compounds that could play an important role in prebiotic chemistry. A coupled thermogravimetry-mass spectrometry system allowed us to analyse the principal volatile thermal decomposition and fragmentation products of the hydrophobic tholins under dynamic conditions and an inert atmosphere. During their thermal degradation, which occurs in two stages, a wide variety of hydrocarbon products including methane, vinyl monomers (such as ethylene and propylene), acetylene, oligomers, and some other unknown compounds are found. Besides, a thermally stable structure is present (graphitic structure) in these particular organic substances. Finally, data collected from TG experiments in an oxidative atmosphere showed significant differences at temperatures above 240 °C. According to these results, the different techniques of thermal analysis here applied have proved to be an adequate methodology for the study and characterization of these complex systems, structures of which remain controversial even in these days.     

Hydration of high alumina cement–silica fume composite with addition of Portland cement or sodium polyphosphate under hydrothermal treatment

Various hydrothermal curing regimes were used to investigate the hydration and physical characteristics of two kinds of inorganic binder composites: high alumina cement–silica fume–Portland cement and high alumina cement–silica fume–sodium polyphosphate. Simultaneous thermal analysis (DTA and TG) was used to identify temperature ranges of thermal decomposition of cured samples and to characterize the nature of hydrate products. Two kinds of products are formed. The first ones consist of C₃AH₆, AH₃, calcium carbonate (C–C) as a product of carbonation, and C₃AH_1.5 resulted from the partial decomposition of C₃AH₆ under higher hydrothermal pressure. The second ones are the products formed by acid–base reaction between monocalcium aluminate and sodium polyphosphate to form NaCaPO₄·xH₂O and Al₂O₃·xH₂O that could convert to chemically bonded ceramic binders like hydroxyapatite (Ca₅(PO₄)₃OH) and gibbsite (Al(OH)₃). These two hydroceramic products formed under these conditions act also as binder and could be useful as cement binders for the protection of petroleum, gas, or geothermal wells. Mercury intrusion porosimeter was used for the estimation of the pore structure parameters of the composites. It turned up that longer curing time coupled with higher hydrothermal pressure has improved the pore structure of the first composite, while that of the second has remained unchanged.     

Layered-double-hydroxide-modified electrodes: electroanalytical applications

Two-dimensional inorganic solids, such as layered double hydroxides (LDHs), also defined as anionic clays, have open structures and unique anion-exchange properties which make them very appropriate materials for the immobilization of anions and biomolecules that often bear an overall negative charge. This review aims to describe the important aspects and new developments of electrochemical sensors and biosensors based on LDHs, evidencing the research from our own laboratory and other groups. It is intended to provide an overview of the various types of chemically modified electrodes that have been developed with these 2D layered materials, along with the significant advances made over the last several years. In particular, we report the main methods used for the deposition of LDH films on different substrates, the conductive properties of these materials, the possibility to use them in the development of membranes for potentiometric anion analysis, the early analytical applications of chemically modified electrodes based on the ability of LDHs to preconcentrate redox-active anions and finally the most recent applications exploiting their electrocatalytic properties. Another promising application field of LDHs, when they are employed as host structures for enzymes, is biosensing, which is described considering glucose as an example.

Chemoselective hydrosilylation of hydroxyketones

A chemoselective method for the hydrosilylation of ketones has been developed, using the combination of triphenylsilane and a catalyst prepared from Ni(COD)₂ and the simple N-heterocyclic carbene IMes. The most notable feature of this method is that free hydroxyls are largely unaffected, thus providing a simple one-step procedure for the conversion of hydroxyketones to mono-protected diols, wherein the protecting group is exclusively installed on the ketone-derived hydroxyl. The process is typically high yielding with both simple ketones and more complex hydroxyketone substrates.     

Determination of UV filters in river water samples by in‐line SPE‐CE‐MS

The use of SPE coupled in‐line to CE using electrospray MS detection (in‐line SPE‐CE‐ESI‐MS) was investigated for the preconcentration and separation of four UV filters: benzophenone‐3, 2,2‐dihydroxy‐4‐methoxybenzophenone, 2,4‐dihydroxybenzophenone and 2‐phenylbenzimidazole‐5‐sulphonic acid. First, a CE‐ESI‐MS method was developed and validated using standard samples, obtaining LODs between 0.06 μg/mL and 0.40 μg/mL. For the in‐line SPE‐CE‐ESI‐MS method, three different sorbents were evaluated and compared: Oasis HLB, Oasis MCX, and Oasis MAX. For each sorbent, the main parameters affecting the preconcentration performance, such as sample pH, volume, and composition of the elution plug, and sample injection time were studied. The Oasis MCX sorbent showed the best performance and was used to validate the in‐line SPE‐CE‐ESI‐MS methodology. The LODs reached for standard samples were in the range between 0.01 and 0.05 ng/mL with good reproducibility and the developed strategy provided sensitivity enhancement factors between 3400‐fold and 34 000‐fold. The applicability of the developed methodology was demonstrated by the analysis of UV filters in river water samples.     

Drop Size Distribution Bimodality and Its Effect on O/W Emulsion Viscosity

The research work on why and how distribution bimodality tends to reduce the viscosity of a particulate suspension is reviewed. The transfer of the corresponding concepts to emulsions requires some statistical tools, and becomes particularly easy with probability scale plotting which is reviewed. Viscosity reduction can be attained for different kinds of fine and coarse emulsion associations. The results are shown to depend on the characteristics of the base emulsions as well as on the way they are mixed.