On colour non-singlet representations of the quark–gluon system at finite temperature

We use a group theoretical technique to project out the partition function for a system of quarks, antiquarks and gluons onto a particular representation of the internal symmetry group SU(3): the colour singlet, colour octet and colour 27-plet, at finite temperature. We do this to calculate the thermodynamic quantities for those representations. We also calculate the change in free energy of the plasma droplet formed from the hot hadronic gas. We find that the size of the droplet in the colour-octet representation is smaller than that in the colour-singlet representations at different temperatures in the vicinity of the critical temperatures of the phase transitions. Received: 1 February 1999 / Revised version: 24 February 2000 / Published online: 18 May 2000     

Copper(II)-mediated oxidative transformation of vic-dioxime to furoxan: evidence for a copper(II)-dinitrosoalkene intermediate

The mononuclear copper(II) complex [Cu(H(2)L(1))(2)(H(2)O)](ClO(4))(2) (1) (where H(2)L(1) = 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dioxime) reacts with copper(II) perchlorate in acetonitrile at ambient conditions in the presence of triethylamine to afford a copper(II) complex, [Cu(L(3))(2)(H(2)O)](ClO(4))(2) (2a), of 1,10-phenanthroline furoxan. A similar complex [Cu(L(3))(2)Cl](ClO(4)) (2) is isolated from the reaction of H(2)L(1) with copper(II) chloride, triethylamine, and sodium perchlorate in acetonitrile. The two-electron oxidation of the vic-dioxime to furoxan is confirmed from the X-ray single crystal structure of 2. An intermediate species, showing an absorption band at 608 nm, is observed at -20 °C during the conversion of 1 to 2a. A similar blue intermediate is formed during the reaction of [Cu(HDMG)(2)] (H(2)DMG = dimethylglyoxime) with ceric ammonium nitrate, but H(2)DMG treated with ceric ammonium nitrate does not form any intermediate. This suggests the involvement of a copper(II) complex in the intermediate step. The intermediate species is also observed during the two-electron oxidation of other vic-dioximes. On the basis of the spectroscopic evidence and the nature of the final products, the intermediate is proposed to be a mononuclear copper(II) complex ligated by a vic-dioxime and a dinitrosoalkene. The dinitrosoalkene is generated upon two-electron oxidation of the dioxime. The transient blue color of the dioxime-copper(II)-dinitrosoalkene complex may be attributed to the ligand-to-ligand charge transfer transition. The intermediate species slowly decays to the corresponding two-electron oxidized form of vic-dioxime, i.e. furoxan and [Cu(CH(3)CN)(4)](ClO(4)). The formation of two isomeric furoxans derived from the reaction of an asymmetric vic-dioxime, hexane-2,3-dioxime, and copper(II) perchlorate supports the involvement of a dinitrosoalkene species in the intermediate step. In addition, the oxidation of 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dioxime (H(2)L(2)) to the corresponding furoxan and subsequent formation of a copper(I) complex [Cu(L(4))(2)](ClO(4)) (3) (where L(4) = 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline furoxan) are discussed.     

Growth kinetics of sulfur nanoparticles in aqueous surfactant solutions

Sulfur is an important element has many practical applications when present as nanoparticles. Despite the practicable applications, limited studies are available in the literature related to synthesis of sulfur nanoparticles. Growth kinetics of colloidal sulfur particles synthesized from aqueous solutions using different surfactants have been studied here. The effects of different parameters such as reactant concentration, temperature, sonication, types of acids, types of surfactants, and even surfactant concentration are studied on the growth kinetics. Since the reaction rate is fast, particle growth depends on the parameters which affect diffusion of sulfur molecules. There is a linear relationship found among the reactant concentration and the particle coarsening rate constant. The growth kinetics was studied in the presence of different surfactants such as nonionic (poly(oxyethylene) p-tert-octylphenyl ether, TX-100), anionic (sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, SDBS), cationic (cetyltrimethyammonium bromide, CTAB) and results show the coarsening constant changes according to the following order: water>TX-100>SDBS>CTAB. The particle growth rate also depends on the surfactant concentration, coarsening rate constant decreases with the increase in surfactant concentration and become constant close to the critical micellar concentration (CMC). The coarsening rate constant also highly depends on the types of acid used as catalyst.     

Cu(dap)2Cl] as an efficient visible-light-driven photoredox catalyst in carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions

Copper sees the light of day: [Cu(dap)(2)Cl] proved to be an excellent photoredox catalyst for atom-transfer radical addition reactions, as well as for allylation reactions (see scheme), providing an attractive alternative to commonly used iridium- and ruthenium-based catalysts.     

Diquark structure in heavy quark baryons in a geometric model

Using a geometric model to study the structure of hadrons, baryons having one, two and three heavy quarks have been studied here. The study reveals diquark structure in baryons with one and two heavy quarks but not with three heavy identical quarks.     

Surfactant-enhanced remediation of organic contaminated soil and water

Surfactant based remediation technologies for organic contaminated soil and water (groundwater or surface water) is of increasing importance recently. Surfactants are used to dramatically expedite the process, which in turn, may reduce the treatment time of a site compared to use of water alone. In fact, among the various available remediation technologies for organic contaminated sites, surfactant based process is one of the most innovative technologies. To enhance the application of surfactant based technologies for remediation of organic contaminated sites, it is very important to have a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in this process. This paper will provide an overview of the recent developments in the area of surfactant enhanced soil and groundwater remediation processes, focusing on (i) surfactant adsorption on soil, (ii) micellar solubilization of organic hydrocarbons, (iii) supersolubilization, (iv) density modified displacement, (v) degradation of organic hydrocarbon in presence surfactants, (vi) partitioning of surfactants onto soil and liquid organic phase, (vii) partitioning of contaminants onto soil, and (viii) removal of organics from soil in presence of surfactants. Surfactant adsorption on soil and/or sediment is an important step in this process as it results in surfactant loss reduced the availability of the surfactants for solubilization. At the same time, adsorbed surfactants will retained in the soil matrix, and may create other environmental problem. The biosurfactants are become promising in this application due to their environmentally friendly nature, nontoxic, low adsorption on to soil, and good solubilization efficiency. Effects of different parameters like the effect of electrolyte, pH, soil mineral and organic content, soil composition etc. on surfactant adsorption are discussed here. Micellar solubilization is also an important step for removal of organic contaminants from the soil matrix, especially for low aqueous solubility organic contaminants. Influences of different parameters such as single and mixed surfactant system, hydrophilic and hydrophobic chain length, HLB value, temperature, electrolyte, surfactant type that are very important in micellar solubilization are reviewed here. Microemulsion systems show higher capacity of organic hydrocarbons solubilization than the normal micellar system. In the case of biodegradation of organic hydrocarbons, the rate is very slow due to low water solubility and dissolution rate but the presence of surfactants may increase the bioavailability of hydrophobic compounds by solubilization and hence increases the degradation rate. In some cases the presence of it also reduces the rate. In addition to fundamental studies, some laboratory and field studies on removal of organics from contaminated soil are also reviewed to show the applicability of this technology.     

Theoretical calculation of the pKa values of some drugs in aqueous solution

In this work, calculations of pK_a values have been performed on benzoic acid and its para‐substituted derivatives and some drugs by using Gaussian 98 software package. Gas‐phase energies were calculated with HF/6‐31 G** and B3LYP/6‐31 G** levels of theory. Free energies of solvation have been computed using the polarizable continuum model (PCM), conductor‐like PCM (CPCM), and the integral equation formalism‐PCM at the same levels which have been used for geometry determination in the gas‐phase. The results that show the calculated pK_a values using the B3LYP are better than those using the corresponding HF. In comparison to the other models, the results obtained indicate that the PCM model is a suitable solvation model for calculating pK_a values. For the investigated compounds, a good agreement between the experimental and the calculated pK_a values was also observed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011