Direct catalytic oxidation of n-butane to to tetrahydrofuran

The feasibility of partially oxidizing n-butane to tetrahydrofuran in the presence of promoted V-P-O catalyst was demonstrated. Tetrahydrofuran formation was identified by means of chromatography and mass spectrometry. From the relationship between its concentration and reaction temperature tetrahydrofuran could be proposed as a possible intermediate in the transformation of n-butane into maleic anhydride.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 159–162, March–April, 1992.     

Pyrolysis of D-Glucose to Acrolein

Despite of its great importance, the detailed molecular mechanism for carbohydrate pyrolysis remains poorly understood. We perform a density functional study with a newly developed XYG3 functional on the processes for D-glucose pyrolysis to acrolein. The most feasible reaction pathway starts from an isomerization from D-glucose to D-fructose, which then undergoes a cyclic Grob fragmentation, followed by a concerted electrocyclic dehydration to yield acrolein. This mechanism can account for the known experimental results.     

Biomodification of coal to remove mercury

A biological process for removal of mercury from coal is under investigation. Iron and sulfur oxidizing bacteria have previously been used for desulfurization of coal and for mineral mining. We have shown that removal of mercury from coal is also possible via the same principles. Two pure cultures, Leptospirillum ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and four environmental consortium samples obtained from an acid mine drainage site were studied for mercury removal from coal. Four different coal samples were included in the study and the preliminary results have shown that up to 20% of the mercury can be removed in batch cultures compared to control. Additional parameters such as media composition and inoculum size were also studied. This is the first report demonstrating successful leaching of mercury from coal using biological treatment.     

Application of arsenic to electrophotoreceptors

Arsenic has been applied to many electronic devices such as electrophotoreceptors, gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductors and solid-state image pickup devices. For electrophotoreceptors selenium–arsenic (Se? As) alloys are coated onto the conductive substrate of the receptors. Arsenic is mostly used in electophotoreceptors in electronic devices. During the coating process, a part of the gaseous arsenic is released through an exhaust system. In order to avoid arsenic being discharged to the atmosphere, bag filters and high-efficiency particulate air filters are set before the exhaust port. Any arsenic which still exists in the waste water after washing tools and jigs from the coating process is collected by sedimentation before discharging. The Ames salmonella/microsome plate test for As₂Se₃ indicated no mutagenic activity under the test system used. For the safety of workers engaged in arsenic-related jobs, they received a medical examination once every six months. No negative trends from the examination was found in 428 men who received the examination from Autumn 1980 to Spring 1987.     

Stereoselective addition of dimethyl thiophosphite to imines

Dimethyl thiophosphite (DMTP) was synthesized from dimethyl phosphite, and the diastereoselective addition of DMTP to benzaldimines bearing chiral auxiliary groups was examined. Yields of the product alpha-aminophosphonothionates ranged from 17% to 75% after chromatography. The addition of DMTP to the benzaldimine derived from (S)-phenylglycinol afforded the highest diastereoselectivity (83:17), whereas addition of DMTP to the benzaldimine derived from threonine methyl ester and alanine methyl ester were far less diastereoselective, affording 38:62 and 61:39 ratios, respectively. Addition of DMTP to the benzaldimine derived from (R)-alpha-methylbenzylamine (78:22) and (S)-serine methyl ester (73:27) were intermediate in selectivity. DMTP addition to the imines formed between serine methyl ester and acetaldehyde and isobutyraldehyde gave 55:45 and 70:30 ratios, respectively, with the diastereoselectivity corresponding roughly to the size of the alpha-alkyl group. The stereochemistry of the newly formed alpha-stereocenters resulting from the addition of DMTP to (S)- and (R)-phenylglycinol benzaldimines was confirmed by conversion of the product alpha-aminophosphonothionates to the known enantiomers of phosphonophenylglycine.     

Conversion of biomass to ethanol

In theEscherichia coli cell-free system, the modification of cell extract can be achieved by preparation of the strains carrying additional property or those being induced with a certain gene expression prior to harvesting. In this study, we analyzed the cell-free system with S30 extract containing T7 RNA polymerases (S30 extract-T7pol) prepared from E.coli BL21(DE3) strain, which includes T7 RNA polymerase from extrinsic genes by IPTG induction, as a model for the improvement of the cell-free system. The fact that a significant degree of mRNA degradation was observed in the cell-free system with S30 extract-T7pol indicates the increase of ribonuclease activity was an unfavorable influence derived from the cell-extract modification process. We also showed that this influence was settled by the addition of an effective ribonuclease inhibitor, such as copper (II) ion, to the reaction mixture.     

Utilization of thermodesorption coupled to GC-MS to study stability of different wood species to thermodegradation

Thermodesorption coupled to gas chromatography coupled to mass spectroscopy (TD-GC-MS) has been investigated to identify volatile degradation products generated during wood heat treatment by mild pyrolysis. For this purpose, wood samples of different softwood and hardwood species have been heat treated under nitrogen for different temperatures comprised between 180 and 230 °C during 15 min in the glass thermal desorption tube of the thermodesorber and the volatile wood degradation products trapped. The trapped products were then thermodesorbed and analysed by GC-MS. Chromatograms of the different samples indicated the formation of different products resulting from degradation of lignin and hemicelluloses. Hardwoods were shown to be more sensitive to thermodegradation than softwoods, for which degradation products appear at slightly higher temperature. The important formation of acetic acid is concomitant with the formation of most of degradation products and at the origin of the difference of reactivity observed between softwoods and hardwoods.     

Assessment of metals bound to marine plankton proteins and to dissolved proteins in seawater

Studies based on laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA–ICP-MS) have been performed to assess metal bound to dissolved proteins and proteins from marine plankton after two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE). Dissolved proteins were pre-concentrated from surface seawater (60 L) by tangential ultrafiltration with 10 kDa molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) membranes and further centrifugal ultrafiltration (10 kDa) before proteins isolation by methanol/chloroform/water precipitation. Proteins isolation from plankton was assessed after different trichloroacetic acid (TCA)/acetone and methanol washing stages, and further proteins extraction with a phenol solution. LA–ICP-MS analysis of the electrophoretic profiles obtained for dissolved proteins shows the presence of Cd, Cr, Cu, and Zn in five spots analyzed. These proteins exhibit quite similar molecular weights (within the 10–14 kDa range) and pIs (from 5.8 to 7.3). Cd, Cr, Cu, and Zn have also been found to be associated to proteins isolated from plankton samples. In this case, Cd has been found to be bound to proteins of quite different molecular weight (9, 13 and 22 kDa) and pIs (4.5, 5.2, 5.5, and 10). However, trace elements such as Cr, Cu and Zn appear to be mainly bound to plankton proteins of low molecular weight and variable pI.     

Genetic risks to man from exposure to long-lived radionuclides

Ionizing radiation, irrespective of whether it is received from external sources or from internally-deposited radionuclides, is capable of causing genetic damage that will be transmitted from one generation to the next. Since strictly relevant human data is limited at present, there is no alternative to the use of data collected in experimental mammals for estimating genetic risks associated with the exposure of human populations to ionizing radiation.Animal studies reveal that plutonium reaching the testes and concentrates in the interstitial tissue but is later aggregated by macrophages, apparently leading to a reduction in effectiveness. For protracted alpha irradiation from testicular plutonium in the mouse, the RBE (relative biological effectiveness) for genetic effects of concern may be in a range of between 10 and 20, relative to chronic gamma irradiation. In female mice, plutonium appears to be much less effective although the data is very limited.Studies with beta emitters provide reasonable grounds for believing that in the case of chronic exposures to tritium, the RBE value may be about 2, whereas for others such as carbon-14, it may not be significantly different from unity.These and other results support the view that for plutonium alpha rays, the genetic risks following exposure of human males may be 10–20 times that estimated for chronic, low level, low LET irradiation, per unit absorbed testicular dose; for tritium exposures, the risks may be higher by a factor of 2, (again, relative to chronic gamma ray exposures) while for carbon-14, the risks are the same as that for chronic gamma irradiation. For estimating genetic risks following exposure of human females to radionuclides, in the absence of adequate data, it would be prudent to assume that the risks will be similar to those for irradiation of males.     

The lignol approach to biorefining of woody biomass to produce ethanol and chemicals

Processes that produce only ethanol from lignocellulosics display poor economics. This is generally overcome by constructing large facilities having satisfactory economies of scale, thus making financing onerous and hindering the development of suitable technologies. Lignol Innovations has developed a biorefining technology that employs an ethanol-based organosolv step to separate lignin, hemicellulose components, and extractives from the cellulosic fraction of woody biomass. The resultant cellulosic fraction is highly susceptible to enzymatic hydrolysis, generating very high yields of glucose (>90% in 12–24h) with typical enzyme loadings of 10–20 FPU (filter paper units)/g. This glucose is readily converted to ethanol, or possibly other sugar platform chemicals, either by sequential or simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. The liquor from the organosolv step is processed by well-established unit operations to recover lignin, furfural, xylose, acetic acid, and a lipophylic extractives fraction. The process ethanol is recovered and recycled back to the process. The resulting recycled process water is of a very high quality, low BOD₅, and suitable for overall system process closure. Significant benefits can be attained in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, as per the Kyoto Protocol. Revenues from the multiple products, particularly the lignin, ethanol and xylose fractions, ensure excellent economics for the process even in plants as small as 100 mtpd (metric tonnes per day) dry woody biomass input—a scale suitable for processing wood residues produced by a single large sawmill.     

Toxicity of Pesticides to Humans

Russian Journal of General Chemistry - Theoretical and applied aspects of the problem of extrapolation of toxicological data from animals to humans have been considered. A statistically significant...     

Photobinding of carprofen to protein

Carprofen is a non-steroidal antiinflammatory drug with marked photosensitising properties. In order to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of drug-protein photobinding, mixtures of the drug and human serum albumin were irradiated under different experimental conditions. After irradiation and subsequent gel-filtration chromatography of the photomixture, the eluting protein fraction was analysed by means of fluorescence spectroscopy. The formation of drug-protein photoadducts could be evidenced by the characteristic emission properties of the carbazole chromophore. The photobinding of the drug to human serum albumin appears to involve the formation of aryl radicals resulting from carbon-halogen photocleavage. This mechanistic interpretation is supported by the observed variations in the intensity of the fluorescence spectra, which can be correlated with the lower quantum yield emission of chlorocarbazoles as compared to non-halogenated analogues. The results from laser flash photolysis studies are also in agreement with this proposal.     

尿液中纳米微晶的团聚促进泌尿系结石的形成

采用纳米粒度仪和透射电子显微镜(TEM)比较研究了尿石症患者与健康对照者尿液中纳米微晶的尺寸、粒度分布、聚集状态、自相关函数和ξ电位随放置时间的变化. 患者尿样放置3 h后, 其尿微晶平均粒径(D_a)由506 nm增至958 nm, 粒度分布范围变宽, 自相关时间由1.84 s延长到3.93 s, ξ电位由-1.34 mV降低至-3.89 mV; 而健康对照者尿微晶的D_a仅由330 nm增加至416 nm, 自相关时间由1.44 s延长至2.10 s, ξ电位由-8.35 mV降低至-8.90 mV. 此结果表明, 尿石症患者和健康对照者尿液中的纳米微晶不但在尺寸、粒度分布、聚集、自相关函数和ξ电位等方面存在明显的差异, 而且患者尿微晶的稳定性比对照者的差; 随着时间的延长, 患者尿液中的纳米微晶会逐渐团聚, 而对照者尿微晶的团聚要轻微得多. 从两类尿液中尿大分子和小分子抑制剂的浓度、尿微晶表面形成双电层的稳定性等方面进行了分析, 结果表明, 尿微晶的聚集是泌尿系结石生长的关键因素.     

Highly chemoselective oxidation of dithioester enethiolates to sulfenates: application to the synthesis of ketene dithioacetal s-oxides

Enethiolates derived from dithioesters were efficiently converted into the corresponding vinyl sulfenates by oxidation with a unique N-sulfonyloxaziridine 1a derived from pinacolone. Subsequent alkylation with alkyl halides led to ketene dithioacetal S-oxides in good to excellent yields.     

Isolation of smooth-type lipopolysaccharides to electrophoretic homogeneity

The high structural heterogeneity of smooth-type lipopolysaccharides (LPS) enormously complicates the isolation of their constituent molecular species. Proof of concept is given here on the feasibility of using preparative slab-PAGE to isolate highly homogeneous smooth-type LPS glycoforms. LPS species (from 3.6 to 14.2 kDa) from Escherichia coli K-235 were separated by preparative slab-PAGE and recovered by utilizing the combined on-gel LPS reverse staining, extrusion, and passive elution techniques. As a result, 15 electrophoretically pure LPS fractions were obtained. The LPS content in the recovered fractions ranged from 280 ng (intermediate mobility glycoforms) to 411 mug (highest mobility glycoforms). The quantities of LPS fractions were sufficient to allow quantitation of the Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) activities of these distinct-molecular-mass LPS species, in the range from (1.1 +/- 0.1)x10(3) to (8.7 +/- 0.3)x10(5) endotoxin units (EU)/mL, by standard LAL assay. We have thus definitively demonstrated that slab-PAGE may be a suitable platform to more selectively purify individual glycoform fractions from smooth-type LPS.     

Corrections to scaling and crossover from good- to theta-solvent regimes of interacting polymers

We exploit known properties of universal ratios, involving the radius of gyration R(g), the second and third virial coefficients B(2) and B(3), and the effective pair potential between the centers of mass of self-avoiding polymer chains with nearest-neighbor attraction, as well as Monte Carlo simulations, to investigate the crossover from good- to theta-solvent regimes of polymers of finite length L. The scaling limit and finite-L corrections to scaling are investigated in the good-solvent case and close to the theta temperature. Detailed interpolation formulas are derived from Monte Carlo data and results for the Edwards two-parameter model, providing estimates of universal ratios as functions of the observable ratio A(2)=B(2)/R(g) (3) over the whole temperature range, from the theta point to the good-solvent regime. The convergence with L (L< or =8000) is found to be satisfactory under good-solvent conditions, but longer chains would be required to match theoretical predictions near the theta point, due to logarithmic corrections. A quantitative estimate of the universal ratio A(3)=B(3)/R(g) (6) as a function of temperature shows that the third virial coefficient remains positive throughout, and goes through a pronounced minimum at the theta temperature, which goes to zero as 1/ln L in the scaling limit.     

Calculation of the transport properties of aqueous species at pressures to 5 KB and temperatures to 1000°C

The limiting equivalent conductances at temperatures from 0° to 1000°C and pressures from 1 to 5000 bars of a large number of aqueous ions have been calculated from limiting equivalent conductances of electrolytes reported in the literature. The limiting equivalent conductances of individual ions typically increase by a factor of about 15 with increasing temperatures from 0° to 1000°C and decrease about 30 percent with increasing pressure from 1 to 5 kb. The equivalent conductance of H₂O approximated by the sum of the limiting equivalent conductances of H⁺ and OH^– is essentially independent of pressure, but increases from about 350 to a maximum of approximately 1800 S-cm²-equiv^–1 in response to an increase in temperature from 0° to 500°C at 1kb. Stokes' law radii and Walden products generated from the computed limiting equivalent conductances of ions exhibit changes over the temperature and pressure range of interest by as much as 100 percent for all of the ions except H⁺ and OH^–, which vary by an order of magnitude. Apparent solvation numbers calculated as a function of pressure and temperature from the Stokes' law radii using the volume and dielectric constant of H₂O and Born coefficients of the individual ions approach infinity at the critical point of H₂O. Residual friction coefficients as a general rule approach zero as temperatures increases to 1000°C. The excess limiting equivalent conductances of the hydrogen and hydroxyl ions computed from the differences between the limiting equivalent conductances of HCl and KCl, and NaOH and NaCl, respectively, increases with increasing pressure, and maximize at 250°C.     

Application of the Pitzer Model to Assignment of pH to Phthalate Standard Buffer Solutions

Stoichiometric ionization constants of phthalic acid have been determined in potassium chloride solutions at temperatures from 10 to 40 °C, with molalities up to 3 mol⋅kg⁻¹, from potentiometric titrations of potassium hydrogen phthalate. The procedure described by Gans and O’Sulliven (Talanta 51:33–37, 2000) was followed to calibrate the electrochemical cell in terms of hydrogen ion concentration and the SUPERQUAD program was used for the calculations. Pitzer’s ion-interaction equation was applied to this system for the calculation of activity coefficients and a good fit was observed at all temperatures. From these results and from phthalic acid solubilities, Pitzer model coefficients were determined which enabled the evaluation of the activity coefficient of each chemical species, including that of the chloride ion, that are necessary for the establishment of phthalate pH standards at ionic strengths higher than 0.1 mol⋅kg⁻¹(the upper limit of applicability of the Bates-Guggenheim convention).     

Addition of nitroalkanes to formalazine

Conclusions 1,1-Dinitroethane adds on to formalazine to form symmetrical bis(2,2-dinitropropyl)hydrazine.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR. Seriya Khimicheskaya, pp. 1908–1910.