Flow-Injection Spectrophotometric Determination of Hydrazine

A flow-injection spectrophotometric method for the determination of hydrazine is described. The method is based on the inhibitory effect of hydrazine on the reaction of thionine with nitrite in acidic media. The decolorization of thionine by the reaction with nitrite was used to monitor the reaction spectrophotometrically at 602 nm. The variables that affected the reaction rate were fully investigated and the optimum conditions were established. Hydrazine can be determined in the range 2.0–40.0 μg/ml with a limit of detection of 1.0 μg/ml. The relative standard deviation for 10 replicate determinations of 7.0 μg/ml hydrazine is 3.3%. The method is simple, rapid, and widely applicable.     

On perfectly two-edge connected graphs

This paper studies the graphs for which the 2-edge connected spanning subgraph polytope is completely described by the trivial inequalities and the so-called cut inequalities. These graphs are called perfectly 2-edge connected. The class of perfectly 2-edge connected graphs contains for instance the class of series-parallel graphs. We introduce a new class of perfectly 2-edge connected graphs. We discuss some structural properties of graphs which are (minimally with respect to some reduction operations) nonperfectly 2-edge connected. Using this we give sufficient conditions for a graph to be perfectly 2-edge connected.     

Effects of plasticiser on the lithium ionic conductivity of polymer electrolyte PVC-LiCF3SO3

Solid polymer electrolyte films based on poly(vinyl chloride)-lithium triflate (PVC-LiCF₃SO₃) have been prepared by the solution-cast technique in various concentrations. The film with the highest conductivity was used to prepare plasticised polymer electrolyte films by using poly(ethlene glycol) (PEG) of different molecular weights, i.e., 200, 400 and 600 gmol⁻¹. These films were prepared to study the effects of addition of low molecular weights PEG on the lithium ionic conduction of the PVC based polymer electrolyte. The films were characterised by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Fourier transform infrared-spectroscopy (FTIR). Results indicate that the molecular weight has an inverse effect on the conductivity and this has been accounted for by FTIR. Paper presented at the International Conference on Functional Materials and Devices 2005, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 6 – 8, 2005.     

Mixed-ligand complexes of copper(I) with diimines and phosphines: Effective catalysts for the coupling of phenylacetylene with halobenzene

New copper(I) mixed-ligand complexes 1–4 of the formula Cu(N–N)PR₃X, where N–N = 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy), 5,5′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (5,5′dimbpy) and PR₃ = tricyclohexylphosphine, tris(2-cyanoethyl)phosphine and isopropyldiphenylphosphine, have been synthesized. The complexes were characterized by EA, IR, NMR and single crystal X-ray diffraction. The solution fluorescence emission spectra were measured. The single crystal X-ray analysis showed that the copper(I) ion is four-coordinate with a distorted tetrahedral geometry. The complexes catalyze the formation of diphenylacetylene from the coupling of halobenzene with phenylacetylene. The complex Cu(5,5′-dimethylbpy)P{(cyhexyl)₃}I showed the highest catalytic activity. At room temperature all four complexes exhibit, in dichloromethane, emission maxima in the 329–344 nm range, corresponding to intra-ligand excited states.     

Sorption phenomena of organic solvents in polymers: Part I

In this work we use the vapor-sorption equilibrium data to show the degree of solvent upturn in each solvent-polymer system. For this purpose, 23 isothermal data sets for four polymer + solvent binaries, one block copolymer + solvent binary and for the corresponding polymer pairs have been used in the temperature range of 25-70 °C. Solvents studied are benzene, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform and pentane. Homopolymers studied are polyisobutylene, poly(ε-caprolactone), poly(ethylene oxide), n-heptadecane, polystyrene, poly(vinyl chloride), poly(vinyl methyl ether), and n-tetracosane.According to these data sets, solvent weight fraction in the polymer is plotted against solvent-vapor activity that is calculated assuming an ideal gas phase of pure solvent vapor neglecting the vapor pressure of the polymer. We use the Flory-Huggins theory to obtain dimensionless interaction parameter, χ. Also the Zimm-Lundberg clustering theory and non-ideality thermodynamic factor, Γ are used to interpret the equilibrium data.     

Effect of zero-point energy on the dielectric behavior of strontium titanate

Barrett formula has been obtained in the framework of the effective field approach by including the zero-point energy. By fitting with experimental data of dielectric constant of SrTiO₃, we find that they agree in the whole temperature range fairly well if the zero-point energy is assumed to change from a small value at low temperature to a large value at high temperature.     

Crystallographic report: Chlorodiphenyltin(IV) piperidine‐1‐carbodithioate

A trigonal bipyramidal C₂ClS₂ coordination geometry for tin is found in Ph₂Sn(S₂CN(CH₂)₅)Cl. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aspiration Based Simulated Annealing Algorithm

An aspiration based simulated annealing algorithm for continuousvariables has been proposed. The new algorithm is similar to the one givenby Dekkers and Aarts (1991) except that a kind of memory is introduced intothe procedure with a self-regulatory mechanism. The algorithm has beenapplied to a set of standard global optimization problems and a number ofmore difficult, complex, practical problems and its performance comparedwith that of the algorithm of Dekkers and Aarts (1991). The new algorithmappears to offer a useful alternative to some of the currently availablestochastic algorithms for global optimization.     

Magnetic properties of iron nitride-alumina nanocomposite materials prepared by high-energy ball milling

The structural and magnetic properties of the granular iron nitride-alumina composite materials, (Fe_xN)_0.2(Al₂O₃)_0.8 and (Fe_xN)_0.6(Al₂O₃)_0.4, fabricated using high-energy ball milling have been determined by using X-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and magnetization measurements. The Mössbauer spectra, fit with a distribution of hyperfine fields between zero and 40 T, indicate that the weighted average field decreases with increasing milling time. The isomer shift increases with milling time because of a reduced iron 4s-electron density at the grain boundaries. Coercive fields as high as 325 and 110 Oe are obtained for (Fe_xN)_0.2(Al₂O₃)_0.8 at 5 and 300 K, respectively; the increase in the coercive field upon cooling indicates the presence of superparamagnetic particles. The coercive field increases with milling time because of the reduced particle size. The decrease in the magnetization results from the increase in both the superparamagnetic fraction and the concentration of surface defects with increased milling time.     

On some problems of Petrich concerning Bruck and Reilly semigroups

For an inverse semigroupS with its idempotents dually well-ordered, we prove thatS is isomorphic to the semigroup of all one-to-one partial right translations ofS. Also, we prove for a Bruck semigroupS=B(T, α) thatS isE-unitary if and only ifT isE-unitary and α is an idempotent pure homomorphism. Moreover, we characterize allE-unitary covers ofB(T, α), whereT is a finite chain of groups.