Radiation grafting from binary monomer mixtures. I. Vinyl ether of monoethanolamine and vinyl ether of ethyleneglycol

Gamma-radiation grafting of vinyl ether of monoethanolamine and vinyl ether of ethyleneglycol (VEEG) on polyethylene films has been studied from binary monomer mixtures. The effect of co-monomer composition and total exposure radiation dose on the grafting process is investigated. A combination of potentiometric and gravimetric techniques is applied to determine the grafting degree of each monomer in the final graft copolymer. The presence of more active monomer VEEG in the mixture was found to enhance the grafting of both monomers because the increasing of copolymerization rate which in turn increases the total grafting degree. The modification of the hydrophilic properties of the graft copolymer is studied by examining the grafted films for water- and copper (II) ions uptake.     

Synthesis and Visible Spectral Behaviour of Some New N‐Bridgehead Heterocyclic Cyanine Dyes Incorporating Pyrazolo (4,5‐b) Indolizine (Benzoindolizine)

The new unsymmetrical N‐bridgehead, apo (zeromethine), mono‐methine, dimethine, meso substituted tetramethine and styryl cyanine dyes incorporating pyrazolo (4,5‐b) indolizine (benzoindolizine) nuclei were prepared. Structural confirmation was carried out by elemental analyses, IR, H‐NMR, mass spectra and ¹³C‐NMR with the aid of carbon DEPT spectral data. The visible absorption spectra for the newly synthesized cyanines were examined in 95% ethanol.     

Ultrasonic characterization of heavy metal TeO2–WO3–PbO glasses below room temperature

The longitudinal ultrasonic attenuation measurements have been made using pulse echo method at fundamental frequencies of 2, 4, 6 and 8 MHz in 20WO₃–(80−x) TeO₂–xPbO ternary tellurite glasses (x=10, 12.5, 15, 17.5 and 20 mol%) in the temperature range 160–280 K. The results showed the presence of a broad peak which shifts to higher temperature with increasing frequency. The ultrasonic attenuation peaks suggest that the experimental behavior is controlled by thermally activated structural relaxations. The internal friction, acoustic activation energy, deformation potential, relaxation strength, number of loss centers and density of state have been calculated both as a function of temperature and PbO content. The acoustic activation energy was found to decrease from 0.156 to 0.135 eV with the increase of PbO content. The results showed that both the number of loss centers and their activation energy decrease with the atomic ring size. An increase in the density of state is observed with addition of PbO content at the same frequency in the whole range of temperature which is associated with structural units formed when PbO is added.     

Studies on Fused Azoles: Synthesis of Several Polyfunctionally Substituted Fused Azoles

The synthesis of several new polyfunctionally substituted fused pyrazoles via reaction of 5‐amino‐3‐methylthio‐1H‐pyrazole‐4‐carboxylate ( 2 ) with different reagents is described.     

Synthesis of Some New Fused/Spiroheterocyclic Compounds Incorporating Quinone Compounds

A series of fused and spiro pyrazolones, isoxazolines, pyrimidines, β‐lactams, and thiazolidinones incorporating 4‐amino‐2‐methyl‐5,10‐dioxo‐1,5,10,11‐tetrahydrobenz[g]quinoline 3‐carbonitrile 1 and 4‐amino‐2‐methyl‐5,6,11‐trioxo‐1,4,4a,5,6,11,12,12a‐octahydro‐1,12‐diazanaphthacene 3‐carbonitrile 2. 7,8a‐c, 15,16a‐c, 19,20a‐d, 21,22a‐d , have been synthesised by cyclocondensation addition reaction and cycloaddition reaction of hydrazines, hydroxylamine, urea, thiourea, monochloroacetyl chloride and mercaptoacetic acid with the synthesised 15,16a‐c and 17,18a‐c .     

A study of primary nucleation of calcium oxalate monohydrate: I‐Effect of supersaturation

There are various organic and inorganic constituents in kidney stones. Among them, calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) is the primary inorganic constituent of kidney stones. However, the mechanisms of formation of kidney stones are not well understood. In this regard, a basic study is carried out for better understanding of nucleation, crystal growth and/or aggregation of formed COM crystals. The primary nucleation of calcium oxalate monohydrate is studied at the laboratory scale using turbidity measurements. Calcium chloride and potassium oxalate solutions are mixed and then added to a Turbidimeter tube for continuous recording of turbidity. Induction time (time to induce formation of detectable crystals) is estimated from time‐turbidity graphs. The effect of some urinary species, such as oxalate and calcium, on nucleation and crystallization characteristics of COM is determined by particle size distribution analysis, measuring weight of crystals and calculation of relative supersaturation. The classical nucleation theory is applied at high supersaturation ratios (SR) ranging from 1.6 to 2.2. The results indicate that nucleation rate increases with increasing supersaturation ratio from 0.81 × 10²⁸ nuclei/cm³.sec at 1.6 SR, to 18.02 × 10²⁸ nuclei/cm³.sec at 2.2 SR. On the other hand, free energy change and radius of critical nucleus are decreased as supersaturation ratio is increased. The nucleation rates are higher than those reported in literature. Such discrepancy is discussed on the bases of differences in experimental techniques. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Crystallization of calcium sulfate dihydrate at different supersaturation ratios and different free sulfate concentrations

Free Sulfate is a major parameter affecting gypsum crystallization during phosphoric acid production. Gypsum crystal size, shape and filtration rate are significantly affected by the concentration of free sulfate. It is, therefore, important to evaluate the effectiveness of different sulfate levels from 1.5% to 3.5% on induction time and gypsum morphology. The crystallization of gypsum was carried out under simulated conditions of phosphoric acid production by the dihydrate process. Calcium hydrogen phosphate and sulfuric acid were mixed with dilute phosphoric acid at 80 °C, and the turbidity of the reaction mixture was measured at different time periods to calculate the induction time of gypsum crystals formation. With increasing free sulfate concentration, the induction time was significantly decreased. Chemical processing of Central and South Florida phosphate concentrates under different concentrations of free sulfate from 1.5% to 5.5% was carried out. The change on crystal size distribution and filtration rate were traced with free sulfate concentrations. The results show that, filtration rate of phosphogypsum was correlated to the mean diameter of crystals. In addition, induction time and co‐crystallized (lattice) P₂O₅ % in gypsum are decreased with increasing free sulfate content from 1.5% to 3.5%. Morphology of formed gypsum crystals at different sulfate contents and different supersaturation ratios are investigated. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Fluorescence and Electrochemical Sensing of Pesticides Methomyl, Aldicarb and Prometryne by the Luminescent Europium-3-Carboxycoumarin Probe

This work describes the application of time resolved fluorescence in microtiterplates and electrochemical methods on glassy carbon electrode for investigating the interactions of europium-3-carboxycoumarin with pesticides aldicarb, methomyl and prometryne. Stern-volmer studies at different temperatures indicate that static quenching dominates for methomyl, aldicarb and prometryne. By using Lineweaver-Burk equation binding constants were determined at 303 K, 308 K and 313 K. A thermodynamic analysis showed that the reaction is spontaneous with ΔG being negative. The enthalpy ΔH and the entropy ΔS of reactions were all determined. A time-resolved (gated) luminescence-based method for determination of pesticides in microtiterplate format using the long-lived europium-3-carboxycoumarin has been developed. The limit of detection is 4.80, 5.06 and 8.01 μmol L⁻¹ for methomyl, prometryne and aldicarb, respectively. This is the lowest limit of detection achieved so far for luminescent lanthanide-based probes for pesticides. The interaction of the probe with the pesticides has been investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse polarography (DPP), square wave voltammetry (SWV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) on a glassy carbon electrode in I = 0.1 mol L⁻¹ p-toluenesulfonate at 25 °C. The diffusion coefficients of the reduced species are calculated. The main properties of the electrode reaction occurring in a finite diffusion space are the quasireversible maximum and the splitting of the net SWV peak for Eu(III) ions in the ternary complex formed . It was observed that the increase of the cathodic peak currents using LSV is linear with the increase of pesticides concentration in the range 5 × 10⁻⁷ to 1 × 10⁻⁵ mol L⁻¹. The detection limit (DL) were about 1.01, 2.23 and 1.89 μmolL⁻¹ for aldicarb, methomyl and prometryne, respectively. In order to assess the analytical applicability of the method, the influence of various potentially interfering species was examined. Influence of interfering species on the recovery of 10 μmol L⁻¹ pesticides has been investigated.     

Effect of citric acid and 1,2‐dihydroxybenzene 3,5‐disulfonic acid on crystallization of calcium sulfate dihydrate under simulated conditions of phosphoric acid production

The effect of citric acid and 1,2‐dihydroxybenzene 3,5‐disulfonic acid (DHBDSA), as additives, on the crystallization of gypsum was studied under simulated conditions of the of phosphoric acid production. Calcium hydrogen phosphate and sulfuric acid were mixed with dilute phosphoric acid at 80 °C, and the turbidity of the reaction mixture was measured at different time periods to calculate the induction time of gypsum crystals formation. Addition of citric acid increased the induction time and decreased the growth efficiency while addition of DHBDSA decreased the induction time and increased the growth efficiency compared with in absence of additives. The crystals mean and median diameters were found to decrease in the presence of citric acid and increased in the presence of DHBDSA. The surface energy decreased with citric acid and increased with DHBDSA compared to the baseline (without additives). Interestingly, the majority of the formed crystals are tabular with DHBDSA and needle‐like type with citric acid and baseline     

Ti functionalized carbon and boron nitride chains: a promising material for hydrogen storage

The geometries, electronic structures, thermochemical properties, polarizabilities, and hyperpolarizabilities of high capacity hydrogen storage media consisting of alkali metal such as Li or transition metal as Ti, that is, functionalized at the end of C and BN chains have been investigated theoretically using density functional theory (DFT). Fundamental aspects such as interaction energy, natural bond orbital (NBO), charge transfer, energy gap, and the projected density of states (PDOS) are elucidated to analyze the adsorption properties of H₂ molecules. Our results revealed that H₂ is introduced sequentially on the Ti-C₇, Ti_(B)-B₄N₃, and Ti_(N)-B₃N₄ complexes and the H₂ uptake capacity are found to be 10.89, 10.80, and 10.58 wt%, respectively. Moreover, two Ti atoms can be adsorbed concomitantly to the ends of C₇, B₄N₃, and B₃N₄ chains where Ti sites can accommodate 16 H₂ molecules, with 8 per Ti center, leading to a storage capacity of up to 26.40, 26.28, and 25.94 wt%, respectively. In addition, two binding mechanisms contribute to the adsorption of hydrogen molecules: polarization of the H₂ under the electric field produced by the Ti–chain dipole and hybridization of the 3d orbitals of Ti with σ orbitals of H₂. These lead to the hydrogen binding energies within the range of 0.22–0.56 eV/H₂, open a prospect of a promising material system for hydrogen storage at ambient temperature. The large difference in charge transfer and interaction between the metal and chains is responsible for the large hyperpolarizability. Moreover, the C and BN chains can be stabilized effectively by C₂₀ fullerene termination and store 8 H₂ with an average binding energy of 0.22 eV/H₂. The hydrogen desorption energies and temperatures indicate that the Ti-C₇,Ti_(B)-B₄N₃, Ti_(N)-B₃N₄, Ti-C₇-Ti, Ti_(B)-B₄N₃-Ti_(B), Ti_(N)-B₃N₄-Ti_(N), Ti-C₇-C₂₀, Ti_(B)-B₄N₃-C₂₀, and Ti_(N)-B₃N₄-C20 complexes are easy to desorb H2 molecules.