Planar and tubular perovskite-type membrane reactors for the partial oxidation of methane to syngas

Dense planar and tubular oxygen separation membranes of La_0.6Ca_0.4Fe_0.75Co_0.25O_3– were investigated as reactors for the partial oxidation (POX) of methane to syngas. Their permeation properties were measured in an air/argon pO₂ gradient as a function of temperature. At 900 °C, the oxygen flux through a 1.26-mm-thick membrane was 0.075 mol/cm²·s and through a 0.25-mm-thick tube, 0.24 mol/cm²·s.For the POX measurements, a catalyst was added to the membrane and methane was introduced on the argon side. This resulted in a gradual increase of the oxygen flux with increasing concentration of methane, reaching 2 mol/cm²·s at 900 °C with pure methane. For the planar reactor, the CO selectivity reached 99% and the CH₄ conversion 75% at 918 °C with pure methane. For the tubular reactor, the CO selectivity and CH₄ conversion were 83 and 99%, respectively, under the same conditions. After 1,400 h of operation in a tubular POX reactor, the membrane was examined revealing phase demixing and local decomposition.Presented at the OSSEP Workshop Ionic and Mixed Conductors: Methods and Processes, Aveiro, Portugal, 10–12 April 2003     

β-Tricarbonyl compounds. I. 2,4-Disubstituted 1,3-cyclopentanediones

Summary Stable enolic isomers of 2-aroyl-4-aracyl-1,3-cyclopentanediones such as3 and4 were prepared by condensation of aryl methyl ketones and diethyl maleate using an excess of sodium ethoxide (Aryl=C₆H₅, 4-C₆H₄CH₃, 4-C₆H₄Br and 4-C₆H₄Cl).

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-Tricarbonyl Verbindungen. I. 2,4-Disubstituierte 1,3-Cyclopentandione

Zusammenfassung Stabile Enol-Isomere von 2-Aroyl-4-aracyl-1,3-cyclopentandionen wie3 und4 wurden durch Kondensation von Arylmethylketonen und Diethylmaleat mit einem Überschuß von Natriumethoxid dargestellt (Aryl=C₆H₅, 4-C₆H₄CH₃, 4-C₆H₄Br und 4-C₆H₄Cl).

     

A study for quality evaluation of Taxilli Herba from different hosts based on fingerprint-activity relationship modeling and multivariate statistical analysis

In this study, a fingerprint-activity relationship modeling between chemical fingerprints and antirheumatic activity was established, and multivariate statistical analysis was used to evaluate the quality of Taxilli Herba (TH) from different hosts. Characteristic fingerprints of 20 batches of TH samples were generated by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-Triple TOF-MS/MS), and the similarity analysis was calculated based on thirteen common characteristic peaks by hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). Subsequently, nine efficacy markers were discovered by combining fingerprints and antirheumatic activity through grey correlation analysis (GCA) and bivariate correlation analysis (BCA). Meanwhile, the content of 5 constituents in 9 markers was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-QTRAP-MS/MS). The comprehensive quality of TH was assessed using multivariate statistical analysis, including principal components analysis (PCA) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The results showed that a high dose of TH extract could markedly ameliorate arthritis damage compared to other doses, with flavonoids playing an important role in the antirheumatic activity. The comprehensive quality of samples from Morus alba L. (SS) was superior to those from Liquidambar formosana Hance (FXS). The present study will demonstrate the markers associated with efficacy, and provide an applicable strategy for more comprehensive quality control and evaluation of TH.     

The electronic spectrum of VCr

The electronic spectrum of VCr has been studied using the complete-active-space self-consistent field complete-active-space second-order perturbation theory approach. Potential-energy curves for 12 electronic states have been computed. Transition energies, with respect to the X² ground state, for some of the calculated electronic states are (with possible experimental values within parentheses) 0.53 eV (0.56) for A²⁺, 1.03 eV (1.14) for A⁴, 1.20 eV (1.14) for B², 1.45 eV (1.51) for B⁴, 1.60 eV (1.51, 1.78) for C², and 1.61 eV (1.63) for A^4–. AcknowledgementsThe research reported in this communication was supported by a grant from the Swedish Natural Science Research Council (NFR). S. Alex and D.G. Leopold are acknowledged for providing results from their negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy on VCr.Contribution to Björn Roos Honorary Issue     

Synthesis of 4,4′-bis(4-aminophenoxy)benzophenone and polyimides based on this compound

Synthesis of 4,4-bis(4-aminophenoxy)benzophenone was performed starting from chloral. Various polyimides were obtained by reactions of 4,4 -bis(4-aminophenoxy)benzophenone with aromatic tetracarboxylic acid dianhydrides. Some of the polyimides obtained are crystalline compounds.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 3, pp. 673–676, March, 1996.     

Thermoanalytical methods in the study of inorganic thin films

Thermoanalytical (TA) methods are relatively seldom applied for assessing the physical and chemical proeprties of thin films, but they can be used in studies of composition, phase transitions and film—substrate interactions. In the present paper the possibilities of TA methods in thin film studies are reviewed. The thermoanalytical methods considered are the classical TG and DTA/DSC methods but some complementary methods will also be briefly mentioned. The main emphasis is given to true thin films. Details of sample preparation are also given. An important application of TA methods is characterization of precursors for the CVD growth of thin films, and this is also discussed.     

On the Hydrolytic Stability of Organic Ligands in Al-, Ti- and Zr-Alkoxide Complexes

The complexation degrees of Al-, Ti- and Zr-butoxide (M) with unsaturated and saturated -diketones (3-allylpentane-2.4-dione-APD, acetylacetone-ACAC) and -ketoesters (methacryloxyethyl-acetoacetate-MEAA, allylacetoacetate-AAA, ethylacetoacetate-EAA) as organic ligands (L) were examined by IR and ¹³ C NMR spectroscopy and were found to be L:M 1.5. The hydrolytic stability of the ligands of the metal alkoxide complexes (L:M = 1) during hydrolysis/condensation reactions at the molar ratio h (H₂O : OR) = 0.5–2.0 decreases with increasing H$$₂O:complex ratio. Furthermore, the ligand stability depends on the type of metal in the complexes and decreases in the order Al- > Zr- > Ti-butoxide complexes at h=1. The ACAC ligand likewise shows in the Al-, Ti- and Zr-butoxide complexes a high hydrolytic stability (95–100%) at h=1 within 7 days. The Ti- and Zr-butoxide complexes with -ketoesters as ligand show at h=1> a release to a different extent e.g., up to 60% in the case of the MEAA-ligand in the Ti-butoxide complex after 2 days. In general, the hydrolytic stability of the ligands in the Ti-butoxide complexes (L:M = 1, h=1) decreases in the order ACAC > APD > AAA > EAA MEAA. The hydrolysis/condensation reaction of complexes having a weak ligand stability leads to larger particle sizes in the sols than those with stable ACAC ligands. The results contribute to a more controlled synthesis of sols and of new inorganic-organic hybrid polymers via the sol-gel process.     

Induced Absorption of C60 and a Water-Soluble C60-Derivative in SiO2 Sol-Gel Matrices

Porous sol-gel glasses, either impregnated with pure C₆₀ or doped with a methanofullerene derivative, have been studied and induced absorption or reverse saturable absorption (RSA) has been observed in both types of solid materials. The samples impregnated by pure C₆₀ mainly contain well-dispersed fullerene molecules. Unlike crystalline films of C₆₀, their absorption dynamics can be well described by a 5-level model, developed for non-interacting C₆₀-molecules in solutions. Methanofullerene samples, on the other hand, show signs of micellar aggregation and therefore RSA dynamics that are influenced by solid state effects. We observe an important decrease of transmission at high fluences for both kinds of samples, a shortened singlet-state lifetime to that observed in solution, but nonetheless, a triplet yield, that cannot be considered as negligible. In the case of pure C₆₀ in a sol-gel matrix, we can explain the faster de-excitation dynamics, relative to behavior in solution, mainly by the absence of stabilizing aromatic solvents and also by the interaction of the amorphous environment with the molecules. Concerning the methanofullerene samples, the acceleration of the de-excitation dynamics can be principally attributed to solid-state effects due to the micellar aggregation.     

IR spectra simulation as auxiliary tool for gas chromatography/Fourier transform IR spectroscopy/mass spectrometry identification of unknown compounds. 2. PM3, AM1, MNDO and MINDO3 simulations for simple nitriles

A set of the semi-empirical methods (PM3, AM1, MNDO and MINDO3) supplied by the HyperChem™ package has been tested to find the best auxiliary tool for the gas chromatography/Fourier transform IR spectroscopy/mass spectrometry identification of nitriles, taking 23 relatively simple nitriles as test compounds. Of the four methods, MNDO can be considered as the most advantageous since: (1) for 17 compounds of 23 tested, the IR spectra simulated by this method best match the experimental spectra (and in additional 3 cases, the results are as good as those obtained by AM1 method); (2) within the range of experimental wavenumbers of 900–3100 cm⁻¹, MNDO provides the best linearity between the calculated and experimental values (with a correlation coefficient of 0.989). A scaling factor of 0.85 can be used to afford better correspondence between the calculated and experimental wavenumbers. A disadvantage of the MINDO simulations is underestimation of ν_CN (and sometimes ν_CH) band intensities.     

Identification of low molecular weight proteins isolated by 2-D liquid separations

Proteins with molecular mass (M(r)) <20 kDa are often poorly separated in 2-D sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In addition, low-M(r) proteins may not be readily identified using peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) owing to the small number of peptides generated in tryptic digestion. In this work, we used a 2-D liquid separation method based on chromatofocusing and non-porous silica reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography to purify proteins for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometric (MALDI-TOFMS) analysis and protein identification. Several proteins were identified using the PMF method where the result was supported using an accurate M(r) value obtained from electrospray ionization TOFMS. However, many proteins were not identified owing to an insufficient number of peptides observed in the MALDI-TOF experiments. The small number of peptides detected in MALDI-TOFMS can result from internal fragmentation, the few arginines in its sequence and incomplete tryptic digestion. MALDI-QTOFMS/MS can be used to identify many of these proteins. The accurate experimental M(r) and pI confirm identification and aid in identifying post-translational modifications such as truncations and acetylations. In some cases, high-quality MS/MS data obtained from the MALDI-QTOF spectrometer overcome preferential cleavages and result in protein identification.