Sorption of uranium by non-living water hyacinth roots

Summary Many studies have shown that water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) roots can be used to accumulate high concentrations of organic as well as inorganic pollutants. They are currently used to remediate aquatic environments and aqueous solutions. In the present study, sorption of uranium from aqueous solutions by using dried roots of water hyacinth has been investigated. The sorption of uranium was examined as a function of initial concentration, pH, weight of roots and contact time. Five different concentrations 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 μg ^. ml^-1 were used. Sorption proves to be very rapid and depend on pH, weight of roots and concentration of uranium. Maximum sorption capacity of water hyacinth roots was 64,000 U⁶⁺ μg/g. The sorption of uranium by water hyacinth roots follows a Langmuir isotherm.     

Constraint Variational Calculations on Excited States

The difficulties of the SCF and MCSCF calculations on excited states have been reviewed. Three constraint variational methods are then developed which can perform the SCF and MCSCF calculations on excited states in the scheme of the generalized Brillouin theorem method. The proper constraints and the ways to incorporate the constraints into the variational calculations on excited states have been studied and the comparison with other approaches have been accessed.     

Conjugated enynes as a new type of substrates for olefin metathesis

[reaction: see text] It has been demonstrated for the first time that conjugated enynes can be employed as a facile substrate in olefin metathesis with the use of a bispyridine-substituted ruthenium benzylidene catalyst. Cross-metathesis of the enynes with alkenes turns out to proceed with preferential formation of (Z)-isomers over (E)-isomers up to >25:1 in moderate to good yields. The intramolecular version of conjugated enynes affords novel butadienyl cycloalkenes, which are a highly useful synthetic building blocks, in acceptable yields.     

Stabilization of γ‘ phase in Bi<Subscript>4</Subscript>V<Subscript>2-x</Subscript>Fe<Subscript>x</Subscript><Superscript>II</Superscript>O<Subscript>11-1.5x</Subscript> series

Summary This work reports the room-temperature stabilization of the Bi₄V_2-xFe_x^IIO_11-1.5x γ ‘ phase, a promising ionic conductive material that finds application in solid oxide fuel cell and oxygen sensor devices. The Fe(II) cation proved to be a better stabilizer than Fe(III), which was previously used, since a lower substitution degree of V⁵⁺ is needed for the former. Powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry were used in these experiments.     

Trennung,Identifizierung und Bestimmung von Bactericiden auf der Basis von halogenierten Aromaten mittels Gas-Chromatographie

The separation of a mixture of 22 bactericides has been achieved by gas chromatography on columns with silicone rubber W-982 as stationary phase with temperatures between 100° and 300°C. The unchanged compounds as well as their silylation products have been used. The latter are more conveniently used especially for the quantitative determination. To be able to calculate the retention indices after Kovats gas chromatography has been performed isothermally at 180°C for the more volatile compounds and at 250°C for all other bactericides.The retention indices obtained under these conditions are tabulated together with the limits of detection.     

Reactivity ratios for copolymerization of vinyl chloride with 2-methylpentyl vinyl brassylate by computerized linearization

A computerized version of the Fineman-Ross linearization procedure was used to determine reactivity ratios for copolymerization of vinyl chloride (monomer 1) and 2-methylpentyl vinyl brassylate (monomer 2). From differential refractometry data for the products of low-conversion copolymerization, the procedure gave r₁ = 1.06 and r₂ = 0.234. The ratios computed from chlorine contents of the same products were r₁ = 1.10 and r₂ = 0.239. The polarity factor (e₂) and general monomer reactivity (Q₂) calculated for monomer 2 from these ratios were, respectively, ?0.95 to ?0.98 and 0.032–0.033. The interquartile range for the copolymerization of a mixture of 60% monomer 1 and 40% monomer 2 was 1.4%. These values suggest that from suitable proportions of reactants, sufficiently homogeneous distribution of monomers can be achieved in copolymers of vinyl chloride and 2-methylpentyl vinyl brassylate to offer the possibility of effective internal plasticization.     

Tetracyclic triterpenoids from Melia azedarach, L.—III

From petroleum ether extracts of the bark of M. azedarach four novel tetracyclic triterpenoids have been isolated and characterized to be C₃₀ compounds of the euphane (20R) series. Previously known triterpenoids from Meliaceae have all been 20S compounds. Kulinone 1 is the first known euphane or tirucallane (20S) derivative oxygenated in the D ring; kulactone 2, kulolactone 3 and methyl kulonate 4 are additionally oxygenated in the side chain. Compounds 2 and 3 have a 2-oxa-trans-bicyclo[3,3,0]-octanone structure.     

Synthesis of 4b,5,10a,11-tetrahydroindeno[1,2-b]quinolin-10-ones from Baylis-Hillman adducts

We developed an efficient synthetic method for indenoquinoline skeletons from Baylis-Hillman adducts. 4b,5,10a,11-Tetrahydroindeno[1,2-b]quinolin-10-ones and 7H-indeno[2,1-c]quinolines were prepared from Baylis-Hillman adducts in polyphosphoric acid.     

Oxidation resistant germanium nanowires: bulk synthesis, long chain alkanethiol functionalization, and Langmuir-Blodgett assembly

A simple method is developed to synthesize gram quantities of uniform Ge nanowires (GeNWs) by chemical vapor deposition on preformed, monodispersed seed particles loaded onto a high surface area silica support. Various chemical functionalization schemes are investigated to passivate the GeNW surfaces using alkanethiols and alkyl Grignard reactions. The stability of functionalization against oxidation of germanium for various alkyl chain lengths is elucidated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Among all schemes tested, long chain alkanethiols (> or = C12) are found to impart the most stable GeNW passivation against oxidation upon extended exposure to ambient air. Further, the chemically functionalized oxidation-resistant nanowires are soluble in organic solvents and can be readily assembled into close-packed Langmuir-Blodgett films potentially useful for future high performance electronic devices.     

2-Amino-4-bromobutanoic Acid

(2S)- and (2R)-2-Amino-4-bromobutanoic acid were prepared starting from N-Boc-glutamic acid α tert-butyl ester. The double tert-butyl protection was necessary to prevent a partial racemisation during Barton’s radical decarboxylation used to transform the γ-carboxylic group into a bromide. This bromide reacted with different nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur nucleophiles to give nonnatural amino acids characterised by basic or heterocyclic side chains. The title compound was also used to prepare a conformationally constrained peptidomimetic.