Elimination of man-made radionuclides from natural waters by applying a standard coagulation-flocculation process

We studied the effectiveness of potable water treatment processes that consist of the stages of coagulation-flocculation-decantation, using iron-based coagulants, in eliminating gamma-emitting man-made radioisotopes of cesium, strontium, and americium from two natural waters with different degrees of mineralization. The resulting decontamination was found to depend on the chemical behavior of each of the radionuclides considered, on the pH at which the process of coagulation is carried out, and on the concentration of the other stable cations present. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Deformations of arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay subvarieties of pn

We show that every arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay two-codimensional subscheme ofP ⁿ can be deformed to a reduced union of two-codimensional linear subvarieties. This problem (classical for curves with the name of Zeuthen problem) was solved for curves by F.Gaeta.     

Kinetic study of the oxidation of ethanol by 3,4-lutidine chromium(VI) peroxide in dichloromethane solution

The oxidation kinetics of ethanol with 3,4-lutindine chromium(VI) peroxide (LCP) were investigated by monitoring the absorbance change at 565 nm in dichloromethane solution. The reaction had a first-order dependence on oxidant and a fractional (one half) dependence on reactant. The stoichiometric ratio between LCP and ethanol was 1 : 2. The activation parameters were determined from temperature dependence of the reaction rate. It was found that the cleavage of the peroxide groups of LCP is primarily responsible for the oxidant of ethanol to acetaldehyde. Based on the kinetic results obtained (including deuterium isotope effect) a plausible mechanism is proposed. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Manifestation of diamagnetic chemical shifts of proton NMR signals by an anisotropic shielding effect of nitrate anions

A remarkable upfield shift of the py_α protons of complexed 2,2′-bipyridine in [cis-Pd(bpy)(NO₃)₂] is observed which is considered to originate from the anisotropic influence of suitably positioned coordinated nitrate anions around the Pd(II) centre of the molecule. A typical complexation-induced downfield shift is observed for the NH₂ protons in [cis-Pd(en)(NO₃)₂] where ‘en’ stands for ethylenediamine.     

HPLC and GC Methods for Determination of Lubricants and Their Evaluation in Analysis of Real Samples of Polyethylene

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC) are introduced for analysis of polymer lubricants (stearamide, oleamide and erucamide). In the HPLC method, a reverse phase octadecylsilane (ODS) column along with acetonitrile/methanol (60:40) as a mobile phase were used. Detection of analytes was performed by a UV detector at 202 nm. The analysis time was less than 8 min. In the GC method, polar capillary column and flame ionization detector (FID) were used for separations and detection, respectively. The analysis time by GC was longer than HPLC and was about 30 min. Limits of detection, linear range and repeatability of both methods are similar, but determination of oleamide in real samples by HPLC method is difficult due to complexity of the initial part of HPLC chromatogram in polyethylene samples. That problem is not observed in the GC method. Detection limits in both methods for all analytes are lower than 0.003% which are much lower than the amount of lubricants in commercial polymers (0.05–0.2%).     

Flow-through optical fiber sensor for automatic sulfide determination in waters by multisyringe flow injection analysis using solid-phase reflectometry

A software-controlled flow-through optical fiber diffuse reflectance sensor capitalized on the implementation of disk-based solid-phase pre-concentration schemes in a multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) set-up is proposed for the trace determination of sulfide in environmental waters and wastewaters. The fully automated flowing methodology is based on Fischer's coupling reaction of sulfide with N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DMPD) in the presence of Fe(iii) as oxidizing reagent in a 0.5 M HCl medium. The on-line generated methylene blue dye is subsequently delivered downstream to a dedicated optode cell furnished with an octadecyl-chemically modified (C(18)) disk, while continuously recording the diffuse reflectance spectrum of the pre-concentrated compound. A double regeneration protocol is finally executed to warrant minimum background noise and negligible baseline. Under the optimized chemical and hydrodynamic conditions, the optosensing MSFIA method features coefficients of variation better than 0.7%(n= 10) at 50 microg l(-1) concentration, a linear working range of 20-200 microg l(-1) sulfide, a 3sigma(blank) detection limit of 2.9 microg l(-1) sulfide and an injection throughput of 8 h(-1) for a pre-concentration sample volume of 2.9 ml. The interfacing of the robust and versatile multisyringe flow injection-based optode with a plug-in spectrophotometer furnished with a light emitting diode assures the miniaturization of the overall flow analyzer, which is, thus, readily adaptable to real-time monitoring schemes. The potential of the multisyringe flow method was assessed via the determination of sulfide traces in water samples of different complexity (namely, freshwater, seawater and wastewater).     

The addition of pentafluorosulfur bromide to fluoroolefins II

This paper reports the preparation, properties, and structure of new SF₅Br-fluoroolefin adducts. The extent and direction of SF₅Br addition to fluoroolefins have been studied with seven fluoroolefins. Steric factors appear to be important for this addition.     

Anion-receptor molecules: Macrocyclic and macrobicyclic effects on anion binding by polyammonium receptor molecules

The stability constants for anion binding by the acyclic hexaamine 1 , its macrocyclic analogue 2 , and the bicyclic compound 3 in their protonated forms are reported. Compound 3 forms stable and selective complexes with halide ions, the stability sequence being I^? > Br^? > Cl^?. Compound 2 forms more stable complexes with sulfate, oxalate, and malonate dianions than its acyclic analogue 1 and shows a better selectivity pattern. Compound 3 forms stronger complexes with oxalate^2? than 2 and shows a remarkably high binding selectivity between oxalate^2? and malonate^2?. The comparison of the ability of 1–3 to complex anions demonstrates the macrocyclic and macrobicyclic effects on anion binding stability and selectivity.     

A new dodecylsulfate-selective supported liquid membrane electrode based on its N-cetylpyridinium ion-pair

A supported liquid and a poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)-based membrane selective for dodecylsulfate (DS⁻) ion are described. The active element is a membrane containing a dissolved ion association complex of DS⁻ with cetylpyridinium (CP⁺) cation. The supported liquid membrane electrode (acetophenone as solvent) showed a Nernstian response towards the DS⁻ anion over the concentration range of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) from 8.3×10⁻³ to 1.0×10⁻⁶ mol dm⁻³ at 25 °C. The proposed electrode also showed a super-Nernstian potential response (108±2 mV decade⁻¹) at low concentrations (1.0×10⁻⁹ to 1.0×10⁻⁶ mol dm⁻³). Moreover, this electrode showed good selectivity and precision (R.S.D.?2.0%), and was usable within the pH range 4.0-6.8. The proposed electrode revealed a lower limit of detection of 6.3×10⁻⁷ mol dm⁻³ and improved selectivity in comparison with the some previously reported DS⁻ ion selective electrodes. The isothermal temperature coefficient of this electrode amounted to −0.001 V °C⁻¹. The liquid membrane electrode may find application in the direct determination of SDS by the standard addition method at pH 5.0, and in the physicochemical studies of surfactant solutions.